Gargolito Knows

Chunk of Wisdom

2009-11-15T11:58:00.000-05:00

All feelings come from perceptions that are fed by what we assume. Thus no feeling is invalid, but our assumptions can and often are so.

-- Gargolito

Desktop Nexus Wallpaper Galleries

2009-11-09T20:35:00.000-05:00

Desktop Nexus Wallpaper Galleries

Best free wallpapers site I've encountered in a while.

Chunk of Wisdom

2009-11-09T18:45:00.002-05:00

The man in the mirror, with pride, smiles at me.
-- Gargolito

Fathom of the Opera

2009-11-07T20:41:00.001-05:00

It is not news to anyone that going to the movies these days involves overpriced concessions and having to watch commercials on a theater size screen. One of the ubiquitous campaigns in theaters is for Fathom Events. A company that broadcasts live events in HD to movie theaters all over the country. I've always been curious about these broadcasts. The last time I saw one of these Fathom commercials was for The Metropolitan Opera House in New York and a series of opera broadcasts. One of which was for Puccini's Turandot with which I was familiar thanks to the viral youtube video of Paul Potts on Brittain's Most Talented where he sings the famous aria, Nessun Dorma from Turandot. I've always wanted to attend the opera and specially to see Turandot. Here were two good reasons for me to try, and I am not disappointed in the least.

The broadcast was plagued by with partial and full signal loss. Most of the time only the sound would cut out, specially during the first and third acts. During the second act the sound did not cut out, but the whole signal was lost more than once. And both picture and sound were lost a few times in the third act. While this was very annoying, it did not take from the brilliantly produced show.

This production of Turandot was incredible. The budget for costumes and sets must have been a fortune and the stage crew were equally as impressive. I know this, because the broadcast takes you back stage to watch the crew striking and resetting. The thing I found awkward with this backstage view besides the odd cast interviews is that the illusion the theater is lost a little bit. Sometimes I don't want to see the man behind the curtain. Damn that Toto!

Opera performers are not humble.
This was my first full blown opera and one thing I did not like was the cast coming out after each act for a curtain call. Yes, just as if you just watched the show end three times. I have been to the theater a few times and this is standard fair for the END of the show, not intermission. How needy are these opera players?
Though I have no point of reference to how good their voices are (I found all of them very pleasant) the acting by the title character, played by Maria Guleghina was just horrendous. I've seen more genuine emotions on infomercials. These broadcasts could be a detriment to the careers of some, since they take you in for close-ups, angles and swooping shots of the stage. Performances that could be masked by the static nature of the theater but can not be so easily hidden in a live broadcast. I realize that it would be difficult to cast the part of what is supposed to be an angelic beauty that is also an amazing soprano, but Miss Guleghina looked more like a lighter version of Camryn Manheim, lighter more for the lack of earrings than for her abundant size. That is a minor gripe, since the bulk of the story follows Calaf and her singing was beautiful to hear. The rest of the cast was spot on, specially Marcello Giordani, who plays The Unknown Prince (Calaf). He is brilliant throughout and his performance of Nessun Dorma brought chills to my spine and earned the applause from the remote audience I was part of. The story is sometimes tragic, uplifting and surprisingly sometimes, very funny. The three ministers (Ping, Pang and Pong) are the comic relief and they deliver - the scene where they try to talk Calaf out of accepting Turandot's challenge is extremely humorous.

The show was 3:45 minutes long, due to the two twenty minute intermissions between acts, the time flew by however. Even with the broadcasting issues, I would recommend anyone who wants to attend the opera in more affordable and informal setting to look up one of these Fathom broadcasts. I am chalking up the technical problems to a bad day and I am giving Fathom Events a second chance in January when I go see Carmen.

Chunk of Wisdom

2009-11-07T15:20:00.002-05:00

Happiness is an oil lamp that must be kept aflame with passion. Oily, greasy passion.
-- Gargolito

The girl who silenced the world for 5 minutes

2009-11-07T09:52:00.002-05:00

Transcription of the speech.

How to Fix Snort sid search links in BASE

2009-11-05T10:01:00.002-05:00

The snort.org website was re-designed in the past few months leaving BASE users with broken links to search for snort signature id's (SID). I discovered today that they had a working rules search at the snort.org site and figured out what the proper URL to do searches from BASE is.

Edit base_conf.php and replace the line that says:
'snort'     => array('http://www.snort.org/pub-bin/sigs.cgi?sid=', ''),
with
'snort'     => array('http://www.snort.org/search/results?q=sid:', ''),
or (Thanks Anonymous)

'snort'     => array('http://www.snort.org/search/sid/', ''),

Their search is still broken, so on ocassion you will get a 500 error, but if you refresh a few times, the signature description will show up.

Chunk of Wisdom

2009-11-04T22:18:00.001-05:00

Success is not permanent, it is fleeting. Being successful means to continually take advantage of opportunities to succeed.

-- Gargolito

visualcomplexity.com | A visual exploration on mapping complex networks

2009-11-02T19:33:00.000-05:00

visualcomplexity.com | A visual exploration on mapping complex networks

Visualize the world

Dinner Delivered

2009-10-31T15:13:00.000-04:00

I was hungry earlier tonight.
I'm not hungry anymore.
You see, I took action.
I picked up my phone.
I speed-dialed "Canton of A Street".
I understood the man's broken English.
I gave him my address because he did not recognize my number on the caller-id.
He questioned my origins - how dare he?
I chose to forgive this minor transgression.
I ordered a pint of house fried rice, special.
I also ordered two egg-rolls.
I waited behind my door, looking at the doorknob.
Listening for a car.
Listening for footsteps.
I waited 18 and a half minutes.
I zoned out only to be awakened by a light rap at my door.
I unlocked and opened my door, reached in pocket and and while I paid, my cat tried to sneak out.
I used my sneakers to block his escape.
Pancho is a wily cat.
After ingesting my delicious meal, I remembered the two treats awaiting me. They contained wisdom, knowledge and possibly, the winning lottery numbers. I carefully opened the crisp, translucent plastic baggie and released the sweet crackly cookie from its confinement.
I split open my yellowish dessert. A small sliver of paper fell on my counter.
The cookie disapointed me with its staleness. The "fortune" it contained the word "Nangua", Chinese for pumpkin. My least favorite gourd.
The wisdom it contained sounded like Tarzan spoke it. It said: "When more become too much, it's same a being not enough".
I doubt, after all that, that my lucky numbers will be anything of the kind.

Chunk of Wisdom

2009-10-31T11:17:00.002-04:00

Smart people believe weird things because they are skilled at defending beliefs they arrived at for non-smart reasons.
-- Michael Shermer (2003)

Cell Size and Scale

2009-10-31T03:17:00.003-04:00

Cell Size and Scale
Goodsell, David S. (1998). The Machinery of Life. New York: Springer-Verlag.

Dinosaurs - In the realm of the giants at Wetten Dass.

2009-10-07T23:37:00.002-04:00

Chunk of Wisdom

2009-10-07T08:17:00.001-04:00

Faith is a cop-out. If the only way you can accept an assertion is by faith, then you are conceding that it can’t be taken on its own merits.
- Dan Barker

Chunk of Wisdom

2009-10-02T18:55:00.002-04:00

You can't be a scientist if you are uncomfortable with ignorance because we live at the boundary of what is known or unknown in the universe.

- Neil deGrasse Tyson

BREAKING NEWS: Osama Bin Laden releases tape congratulating the US on capture of infidel Roman Polanski.

2009-09-28T21:55:00.003-04:00

By Aman Atoz
Riyad

In an unusual move, the head of al-Qaeda praises the US for its unrelenting hunt for mastermind child predator Roman Polanski. In the tape Bin Laden goes on to add that finally the US is moving towards a better society by fully embracing fundamentalism, even if it is not for the true god Allah, and his prophet Mohamed - praise be upon them. "In pursuing this dangerous criminal, the US has shown the world that they have got their priorities straight." Osama is heard commenting in the tape after delivering an inspiring speech that should help motivate the L.A. police department to finally apprehend the monster who hacked Paris' blackberry. In the tape, the elusive terrorist leader also displays a deep understanding of American society by pointing out that most Americans did not know that the Swedish had law enforcement and are capable of more than manufacturing cheap, difficult to assemble furniture and delicious meatballs.

How To run NFS server on Windows

2009-09-16T22:42:00.000-04:00

How To NFS on Windows XP

English - Beagle: In het kielzog van Darwin

2009-09-14T08:30:00.000-04:00

English - Beagle: In het kielzog van Darwin

The mysterious equilibrium of zombies - The Boston Globe

2009-09-14T08:22:00.000-04:00

The mysterious equilibrium of zombies - The Boston Globe

Placebos Are Getting More Effective. Drugmakers Are Desperate to Know Why.

2009-09-10T00:13:00.000-04:00

Placebos Are Getting More Effective. Drugmakers Are Desperate to Know Why.

Uzbl - a browser that adheres to the unix philosophy.

2009-09-06T13:23:00.001-04:00

Uzbl - a browser that adheres to the unix philosophy.

pdfpirate.net - free, online and no limits pdf restriction remover

2009-09-06T13:23:00.000-04:00

pdfpirate.net - free, online and no limits pdf restriction remover

TechPosters: Technical Posters and Cheats for IT Guys

2009-09-06T13:22:00.000-04:00

TechPosters: Technical Posters and Cheats for IT Guys

Science Videos Search Engine

2009-08-29T14:48:00.000-04:00

Science Videos Search Engine

No More Roaches

2009-08-04T19:17:00.001-04:00

No More Roaches

Get rid of them bastards!

Boric acid powder
Karo syrup - you may substitute honey or maple syrup or pancake syrup
Rice flour - you may substitute any flour you have on hand
1 Popsicle stick
1 Mixing bowl

Amounts as follows:

2 parts Boric acid
1 part rice flour
enough Karo syrup to make a peanut butter like consistency mixture