Recent news about upcoming file systems on Linux haven’t always been that “easy on the eye”, e.g. with EXT4 which needed to be fixed to avoid possible data loss, and of course the tragedy around Reiser4, Namesys corp. and the murder of Nina Reiser.
But the latest scoop could turn out to be promising with respect to improving the Linux kernel features: IBM considering to acquire SUN Microsystems.
Ars has an analysis of what that might mean for IBM and for the Open Source world:
Wow! No word for this… Bliss, rapture, plain elation:
The Big Bang Theory – has been confirmed for another two seasons!
Need..to..breathe..again…
Do you know the situation where you have a brilliant idea, put some time and effort into it, and think you have devised something new?
Of course, just to eventually find out that someone else has had this idea way earlier, rendering your whole efforts a vain endeavour?
Hrmpf. This just happened to me.
Perhaps you know the musical instrument called the theremin.
It’s most salient feature is that you can play it without touching any part of it. It’s also one of the very first electronic musical instruments, which makes it an interesting piece of equipment for every geek to have…
Now, I really thought, I had designed the most simple way to build such an instrument, using only half a dozen inexpensive electronic parts, completely assembled in less than 15 minutes. This “cool hack” had to go on a website, I immediately realized, and prepared a nice little construction plan: images, circuit description, demo video…
The rest of it you can imagine: I discovered exactly the same design on YouTube, right before uploading my own version…
This is the clip I found on YouTube: Minimum Theremin.
To make things short, I thought this little story fits perfectly within this weblog’s eponymous theme.
Anyway, maybe the diagrams I made are still useful for someone who wants to build the circuit himself.
This is my setup:
Last, a slightly improved version with better decoupling of the oscillators and using four NAND gates instead of the XORs: Improved theremin circuit
(ul/The Redundant Blog)
Solar power, installed in the desert. Obviously the right idea. Or is it?
Well, turns out that “desert” is not all sand and rocks as one might think. At least, there might be cases where the significant land consumption of photovoltaic and solar-thermal installations does harm the environment – even in the desert.
EarthQuaker also has an excellent article about the topic:
“Solar Power and the destruction of desert ecology”
I suspect there are enough places where “desert” is desert enough. Legislation should make sure that vast solar installations are installed in the right places.
(ul/The Redundant Blog)
