Georghe Zamfir

Ar fi intrebat Georghe Zamfir odata un muzicant amator, uitandu-se la un pom:

-Vezi tu frunza aia care se misca in bataia vantului?
-Da, o vad! i-a raspuns cel intrebat

La care maestrul a raspuns:
– Eu, o simt!

Link la video aici

How to remove the ads from Yahoo Messenger 10

I don’t much like ads. I think nobody does. Besides, I’m ad-blind. So I thought that there are more useful ways of using the space on my HDD than storing a 2K add that ends up filling the whole allocation unit anyway.

There’s a simple way of removing these ads that is completely reversible and involves no hacking your registry or anything of the sort:
Open your hosts file (C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts) in your favorite text editor (Notepad++ for me) and add the following 3 lines to it:
127.0.0.1 ad.yieldmanager.com
127.0.0.1 insider.msg.yahoo.com
127.0.0.1 content.yieldmanager.edgesuite.net

Presto! You’re add free in yahoo messenger!

What this does is “redirects” the requests going to those 3 servers to your localhost (127.0.0.1) and, in doing so, rids you of adds.

Cheers!

Bricked Dell Xps 1340

Hey all,

I’ve recently had the pleasure to brick a friend’s XPS 1340. The notebook presented the notorious blocking problem that the XPS 1340 has and I tried a bios update that froze half way through, rendering the machine inoperable. Here is the recovery procedure.

1. Head to Dell support and download the latest bios. This will be an exe file.

2. Extract the rom image from that file by using the following command line switch: /WriteRomFile (that means run the following command: 1340_A11.exe /WriteRomFile). This results in a file called 1340_A11.ROM being placed in the same folder as the 1340_A11.exe file.

3. Grab a usb stick (try to find an old one that only shows as a single drive) and format it to FAT. Not FAt32, not NTFS just plain old FAT.

4. Rename your ROM file to BIOS.WPH and place it on the usb stick along with PHLASH16.EXE (phoenix flash utility) and MINIDOS.SYS (from minidos).

5. Remove the battery from your Dell and unplug the power chord. Plug the USB stick in a free USB slot. Press the End key, plug the power and release the END key. This will power on the laptop and make it search for a valid PHLASH16.EXE and BIOS.WPH on the usb stick. If your usb stick has a led indicating activity this should be blinking for about 2~3 minutes. Once the led stops blinking the actual flashing will be performed. This will take another 3~4 minutes. Once the flashing is completed the machine will restart and boot.

Took me 4 days to figure this out.

Special thaks go out to Andrew (BULFORCE G M A I L C O M) for the archive he put together. I’m also posting a link to it and I do suggest you use it.

Dirge without Music

I am not resigned* to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground.
So it is, and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind:
Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely. Crowned
With lilies and with laurel they go; but I am not resigned.

Lovers and thinkers, into the earth with you.
Be one with the dull, the indiscriminate dust.
A fragment of what you felt, of what you knew,
A formula, a phrase remains, — but the best is lost.

The answers quick & keen, the honest look, the laughter, the love,
They are gone. They have gone to feed the roses. Elegant and curled
Is the blossom. Fragrant is the blossom. I know. But I do not approve.
More precious was the light in your eyes than all the roses in the world.

Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave
Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind;
Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave.
I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.

by Edna St. Vincent Millay

*I am not resigned: I do not accept it

A Thousand Kisses Deep

Don’t matter if the road is long
Don’t matter if it’s steep
Don’t matter if the moon is gone
And the darkness is complete
Don’t matter if we lose our way
It’s written that we’ll meet
At least, that’s what I heard you say
A thousand kisses deep

I loved you when you opened
Like a lily to the heat
You see, I’m just another snowman
Standing in the rain and sleet
Who loved you with his frozen love
His second hand physique
With all he is and all he was
A thousand kisses deep

I know you had to lie to me
I know you had to cheat
You learned it on your father’s knee
And at your mother’s feet
But did you have to fight your way
Across the burning street
When all our vital interests lay
A thousand kisses deep

I’m turning tricks
I’m getting fixed
I’m back on boogie street
I’d like to quit the business
But I’m in it, so to speak
The thought of you is peaceful
And the file on you complete
Except what I forgot to do
A thousand kisses deep

Don’t matter if you’re rich and strong
Don’t matter if you’re weak
Don’t matter if you write a song
The nightingales repeat
Don’t matter if it’s nine to five
Or timeless and unique
You ditch your life to stay alive
A thousand kisses deep

The ponies run
The girls are young
The odds are there to beat
You win a while, and then it’s done
Your little winning streak
And summon now to deal with your invincible defeat
You live your life as if it’s real
A thousand kisses deep

I hear their voices in the wine
That sometimes did me seek
The band is playing Auld Lang Syne
But the heart will not retreat
There’s no forsaking what you love
No existential leap
As witnessed here in time and blood
A thousand kisses deep
by Leonard Cohen

Noaptea Sfântului Andrii

Zgomot trist în câmp răsună!
Vin strigoii, se adună,
Părăsind a lor secrii.
Voi, creştinelor popoare,
Faceţi cruci mântuitoare,
Căci e noaptea-ngrozitoare,
Noaptea Sfântului Andrii!

Vântul suflă cu turbare!
A picat stejarul mare,
Cerul s-a întunecat!
Luna saltă-ngălbenită,
Printre nouri rătăcită,
Ca o luntre părăsită
Pe un ocean turbat.

Bufnele posomorâte,
În a lor cuiburi trezite,
Ţipă cu glas amorţit.
Lupii urlă împreună,
Cu ochi roşi ţintiţi la lună,
Câmpul geme, codrul sună,
Satan pe deal s-a ivit!

Iată-l! iată, Satan vine,
Răzbătând prin verzi lumine,
Pe-un fulger scânteietor.
Umbre, stafii despletite,
Cucuveici, iele zburlite
Şi Rusaliile pocite
Îl urmează ca un nor!

Sus, pe turnul fără cruce,
Duhul-rău zbierând se duce,
Şi tot turnul s-a clintit!
Miezul nopţii-n aer trece
Şi, lovind arama rece,
Ore negre douăsprezece
Bate-n clopotul dogit.

Strigoimea se-ndeseşte,
Horă mare învârteşte
Lângă turnul creştinesc.
Iar pe lângă alba lună
Nouri vineţi se adună,
Se-mpletesc într-o cunună
Şi-mprejuru-i se-nvârtesc.

Voi, cu suflete curate,
Cu credinţi nestrămutate,
Oameni buni, femei, copii!
Voi, creştinelor popoare,
Faceţi cruci mântuitoare,
Căci e noaptea-ngrozitoare,
Noaptea Sfântului Andrii!

Acum iată, pe mormânturi,
Clătinaţi, bătuţi de vânturi,
Toţi strigoii s-au lăsat.
Aşezaţi într-un rond mare,
Adânciţi în întristare,
Pe sicriu-şi fiecare
Oasele-şi a rezemat.

Unul zice: Eu în viaţă
Cu o mână îndrăzneaţă
Multe drepturi am răpit!
Răpit-am pâinea de hrană
Unei gingaşe orfană
Ce, pierdută şi sărmană,
În mizerie-a pierit!

Altul zice: Eu în lume
Am avut putere, nume,
Căci am fost stăpânitor!
Dar în oarba-mi lăcomie,
Pentru-o seacă avuţie,
Am împins în grea urgie
Pe sărmanul meu popor!

Altul zice: Eu în ţară
Fost-am o cumplită fiară,
Plină de amar venin!
Împotriva ţării mele
Făptuit-am multe rele,
Ş-am legat-o-n lanţuri grele
Ş-am vândut-o la străin!

Foc şi ură-n vecinicie
Pe voi cadă, pe voi fie!
Strigă-atunci un glas ceresc.
Şi pe loc cad în morminte
Păcătoasele-oseminte.
Iar pe zidurile sfinte
Trece-un foc dumnezeiesc!

Vasile Alecsandri – Iaşi, 1857

Commercial espresso machine

Most of us would surely like a commercial espresso machine at home. And that’s for a number of reasons. When it comes to practicality though, the main reason is making 6 cups of coffee without spending 20 minutes doing this: the ability to pull shot after shot. Of course you have your routine finely tuned and maybe you know a few tricks to cope with entertaining five or six friends but in the end you are technologically limited by the espresso machine you have, be it a Silvia or the cheapest thing money could buy. Sorry for taking a long way round in coming to the point. I’m going to present a trick that you may want to try the next time you’re faced with a fine gathering of friends.

The main problem in that situation is the heatup time that your machine needs in between the shots and your aim is to minimize that as much as possible. You can reduce this time by landing a hand to your overwhelmed espresso machine, using a simple kettle to preheat the water that goes in your tank. Don’t overdo it! You don’t want boiling water to liquefy your rubber tubing. Instead think that every little extra helps. By fiddling around with various temperatures you will be able to get a feeling for the temperature of the water that should go in your tank.

Bottom line: you can reduce the time that your boiler takes to come to temperature in between shots by prewarming the water in your tank. That’s it, no heat exchanger, no thounsands of euros blown on a commercial machine.

Enjoy!

Quotations

Just a random mambo jumbo of quotations that I like

“Few areas in computer science deserve both these words: computer and science”
“Not every problem is a nail so having more tools than a hammer is a good idea”
“Every victory has a taste that’s bitersweet”
“I like deleting code almost as much as I like writing it”
“Diplomacy is the art of saying ‘Nice doggy’ until u find a rock”
“We would never like the same five lines of code to appear twice in any application”
“A good coffee is black as the devil, hot as hell, pure as an angel and sweet as love”
“Go with your gut! (and please don’t come back)”
“I find Internet Exploder an excelent tool for downloading Firefox”
“They all agreed that they needed a critical section; what they could not agree on was how critical it should be”
“Thank God for electricity because otherwise you’d still be watching TV by candlelight”

(11^2)*3

I sit beside the fire and think
of all that I have seen,
of meadow-flowers and butterflies
In summers that have been;

Of yellow leaves and gossamer
in autumns that there were,
with morning mist and silver sun
and wind upon my hair

I sit beside the fire and think
of how the world will be
when winter comes without a spring
that I shall ever see

For still there are so many things
that I have never seen:
in every wood in every spring
there is a different green

I sit beside the fire and think
of people long ago,
and people who will see a world
that I shall never know

But all the while I sit and think
of times there were before,
I listen for returning feet
and voices at the door…

What do you do with your empty Illy cans?

I used some of them (8) to build a small shelf over miss Silvia:

Unfortunately another bunch of them is piling up… anyone got any ideas?