Der Kartoffel

First sketch

2008-12-01T06:54:00.000-08:00

Since I couldn't get solidworks to work in Ubuntu I installed windows instead.

Today I drew some CAD sketches to try and get the proportions right, I have no doubt I'll need to redo these over and over again.

I was also at the library to check out some nature movies, which I'll watch later.

Recently started thesis

2008-11-26T06:54:00.000-08:00

I recently started my thesis, dancing robots. Currently I am trying to get everything running on my computer, old p4 with ubuntu. Unfortunately my CAd software solidworks doesn't seem to work on linux yet, so I may have to dual boot for it.

I am currently compiling the latest version of wine to see if it works any better.

New CPU

2008-11-09T05:12:00.000-08:00

I just ordered some upgrade parts for my computer, PSU CPU and motherboard.

As I'll have to reinstall windows anyway, or rather I would have had to do it if I was planning to continue with windows, this is an excellent opportunity to upgrade my OS.

So I am currently creating a Ubuntu live USB memory stick in preparation for when I get the hardware. I used my knoppix live DVD to get my WLAN card working, unfortunately I had some problems with encryption but it least it worked... I can worry about how to get encryption running later.

Haiku

2008-10-12T05:42:00.000-07:00

Because I can write vague under satisfied sentences too! Without even trying...

猫澤東(マオゼドン)
一番人気
猫わけだ

猫澤東 is my version of 毛泽东 (Mao Zedong), just replacing the initial character with cat, a character that has similar pronunciation. In a way this is a wordplay.
Mao Zedong (cat Zedong) is the subject of the sentence. The prenoun/adjective(technically all adjectives are prenouns) 一番人気な had it's な cut off to adhere to haiku rules. The final noun and copula was tricky, it was going to be either 猫　or にゃんこ, requiring either 1 mora or 3 mora for the copula. At the end I ended up using わけだ from lesson 51, because I wanted to use that ending. That of course implied me having to use 猫 as a noun, which fits the initial 猫　good in my opinion. As for the translation, I get it to: "It is only expected that "Mao Zedong" is the most liked cat".

Another one that crossed my mind:
頑張れよ
飽きるとすれば
失敗だ

This is pretty much sums up my views on persistence. In English my views would be "The only way to fail is to stop trying" or similar. Alternatively if you give up you fail, as the result ended up at. I just felt that would make a good haiku so I had to make it work.

I started with laying the grammatical framework
頑張れ
飽きれば
失敗だ
which doesn't fit, well nothing a little bit of fudge won't fix.

First line misses on mora, so a よ for emphasis could be inserted. I guess I could also have gone with ね, but I liked よ　more.

Second line is 4 mora, I need 3 more. Lesson 45 contained some alternative conditionals, the とする series having the correct amount of mora. The ending とすれば　should hopefully have the same prerequisite implication as ーえば.

Some lines I'm lucky, like the last line which has the correct amount of mora already, no need for adjustments.

<3 HP

2008-10-11T10:16:00.000-07:00

Recently reinstalled the OS on my HP-computer.
Sure it went fine, until I encountered the code purple error. As it turns out HP's software checks the system configuration after a recovery, and wasn't that satisfied about my new graphics card. While I managed to disable it by editing of the python source code (run.py) by removing the infinitive message loop, I shouldn't need to do this.

Nonetheless it's a good thing I've got that knoppix live CD, that thing has saved me countless of times.

Another thing that annoys me is the hidden BIOS. While playing wow I checked the CPU temperature and fan utilization, 62 degrees hot and around 40% utilization, critical temperature is 70 degrees. So I tried to find out why the fans were underutilized this close to critical temperature. Regular BIOS (press F1 to enter BIOS setup) showed nothing, until I stumbled across a post describing how to enter hidden BIOS setup (F11).

Apparently, fan control was set up this way:
48 degrees - start ramping up fan speed
68 degrees - (safe guard) full fan power
(70 degrees - critical temperature, CPU shuts off)
88 degrees - full fan power

Now, there's (at least) two things wrong with this IMO...

Hidden BIOS, can't change hardware and (IMO) bizarre heat sink control, HP never again.

Grammar notes 52

2007-07-12T11:30:00.000-07:00

While chapter 52 has focus on formal letter writing, I have sufficient problems with the normal stuff without mixing that in. Therefore at the time being I will neglect the majority of this chapter and consider myself done with this book. Unfortunately I don't think I've learned much.

から。。。にかかて is similar to から。。。まで which stresses the total aspect.

Grammar notes 51

2007-07-11T06:40:00.000-07:00

Some descriptive verbs may take　ーしている as an ending such as 忙しくしている. First the verb was made dynamic by the appending of する, and then stative by the transformation of する into present progressive.

The expression in order to (do) [A] [B] must occur can, in addition to ために, be formed with のに such as [A]のに[B]. A must be written in imperfective (base 3). The general rule is to use ために when the verb in B is dynamic, and のに when the verb in B is stative.

The pattern [sentence A]ように[sentence B] when A is in imperfective means [subject] does B in order for A.

The pattern [sentence A]よう(だったら|なれば)[sentence B] carries the meaning of if it turns out that A then B.

わけだ at the end of a sentence carries the meaning that the implications of the sentence are what was expected. Sort of "It is only to be expected that A" if A would be the sentence proceeding わけだ.

Grammar notes 50

2007-07-07T06:35:00.000-07:00

そりゃあ is an abbreviation for ぞれは.

The word かえって carries the meaning contrary or contrary to expectations, and is used in the pattern.
かえって, which basically means "contrary to S T".

ようになった if the verb is in base 3 means "it has come to be that S". Note that this may not be used with negative verbs. For negative verbs a construction like making the verb in なくてなった may be used.

次第 carries the meaning "depending on N".
次第 carries the meaning "as soon as"

次第 may also be used as an adverb meaning gradually.

Grammar notes 49

2007-06-25T06:07:00.000-07:00

でございます　and でいらっしゃいます is the deferential form of the copula. でございます is restricted for oneself only, when speaking about the addressee or a object connected with the addressee でいらっしゃいます must be used.

The honorific form of a verb is formed by the pattern お(になる|です), where N is a verb in base 2. Should a more honorific sentence be required です can be replaced with いらっしゃいます.

When transforming a verbal noun into honorific, they take the pattern 御[noun N]なさる where N is a verbal noun. While the use of passive, Nされる is still possible, it is not frequently used.

Humble verbs are formed with the pattern お(します|いたします) where V is a verb in base 2. For a verbal noun a 御 is overriding the start to form 御[noun N](します|いたします)

Causatives may be used for requests. The pattern (もらいます|いただきます), V is a verb in ーて form, is not really a request, merely stating what you intend to do in a polite way. The pattern (くる|下さい|もらいたい|ほしい|いただきたい) is however used for strong requests or demands.

出来るだけ simply means "as much as possible", and is used such that 出来るだけ[sentence S] where S is an arbitrary sentence.

(もの|もん) may be inserted before with final verb in a sentence for sympathy.

Grammar notes 48

2007-06-19T06:45:00.000-07:00

There are two ways to express percentage. One is to utilize the loanword パーセント, the other is by using 割 for 10% and 分 for one percent so that x割y分 = x*0.1+y*0.01.

Brusque positive commands are formed by going to base 5. If a negative command is desired な needs to be appended in base 3.

Grammar notes 47

2007-05-21T14:12:00.000-07:00

Female endings include, but are not limited to (の｜もの｜わ), male endings include but are no limited to (だい｜のこ｜なあ).

A colloquial equivalent to いけない and ならない can be to replace it with だめだ.

わけにはいかない is a phrase appended at the end of a sentence meaning "it's impossible to ...". わけではい is a similar phrase meaning "it's not a case of ...".

Grammar notes 46

2007-04-25T05:36:00.000-07:00

Another way to express obligation is with the て form of ーない, ーなくては(いけ|なら)ない.

と may be used at the end of a sentence to produce a differential, akin to when/if.

ーないで is used when the following sentence is a subordinate to the previous statement, but not an underlying cause. On the other hand ーなくて implies there is a reason, so that first statement is the reason of the following statement.

なくはない is a phrase, as such any closer look would be redundant, it would be equivalent to "you could that that, but you could also do this".

Grammar notes 45

2007-04-20T08:22:00.000-07:00

ーたら is another conditional. It it creating by for yodan
Replacing ending with
る　->　ったら
く　->　いたら
う　->　ったら
す　->　したら
つ　->　ったら
む　->　んだら

For itidan replace the final kana with たら.

としたら　or とすれば or とすると is another conditional, the condition being stressed. It used used in the pattern Nとしたら where N is a verb in base 3.

ーたら　vs ーえば is according to the textbook hard to explain. I concur.
ーたら is more oriented with timing, while ーえば may be seen more as a prerequisite for the following statement.

Grammar notes 44

2007-04-03T01:10:00.000-07:00

If can be expressed in two ways. One of them is to vowelshift the last character to え and appending ば, ーえば form. The implication of this form is that if A happens B will happen as a natural consequence of A. AえばB.

A second way to express if is by the word なら/ならば.

The pattern ーえばいい(良い) could be consider the english equivalent to "You should".

The pattern "the more/the less" is tricky. But basically it's
AーえばするほどB
The more of A, the more of B.

ーなければなりません is used to express obligation to do things, although ーなければいけません when you are obliging others.

Grammar notes 43

2007-02-19T06:07:00.000-08:00

Nearing the finish now.

When すぐ(に) follows a verb it て form, it would mean immediately upon.
AてすぐにB would imply immidietly after A, B would apply.

ている, while being continuing in transitive verbs, will refer to a result when used with a intransitive verb.

てある has a simular meaning to ている, but ている together with a transitive verb implies someone has made something, while no such implications are done with intransitive and てある.

Grammar notes 42

2007-02-07T07:10:00.000-08:00

When a stative verb exists, the subject should be marked by には rather than は or が.

A transitive verb acts on other things, and should therefore be restricted to animate subjects. Where the subject is inanimate intransitives should be used.

Intransitives are prefered over transitive verbs when it comes to forming passive.

Grammar notes 41

2007-02-05T01:33:00.000-08:00

"How does one" is usually expressed どうやって, where やる is a colloquial equivalent to する.

While one should never sue the polite さん about oneself, an exception would be when parents are talking to children as they tend to use names that reflect the childs point of view.

Appending もいい or mayhaps also も良い at the end of a sentance in て form is a way of asking for permission.

Grammar notes 40

2007-01-31T06:19:00.000-08:00

Most of this chapter covered things I already knew. There was hovewer one new thing.

ーておく which basically means "I left something for you" has another form, ーてある which means the same thing, but it de-emphatises the favour.

Grammar notes 39

2007-01-31T05:57:00.000-08:00

Another chapter done.

上 at the end of a sentance can mean "in addition to". Hovewer it's use is almost exlusivly used for written language.

The suggestive form + と思う is another, less direct way of stating your intent, simular to つもり.

とのこと, or ということ(だ|です) for complete form (I love regular expressions.) is another way of expressing hearsay.

ーて行く and ーて来る are tricky. ていく　expresses the concept of doing something before leaving, or a concept that is going to proceed in the future. ーてくる　would signify doing something and then coming back.

Grammar notes 38

2007-01-29T10:07:00.000-08:00

のに can be appended after a plain verb in the form AのにB, meaning somewhat despite A, B occured.

When も is following a verb in て form, the meaning would be "even though". AてもB, even though A is true, B is also true. The same thing can be created by the copula でも.

While these seem simular, the if element in ても is stronger, and のに cannot be used in future context.

Suggestive form + とする indicates an action that is about to be interrupted.
昼食しようとする電話かけられた <--- example

何度も and any other simular constructions the 何度も part would indicate many.

かける would be sumular to 始める, but gives the impression of less control over the action and that it may be interrupted.

Grammar notes 37

2007-01-22T04:48:00.000-08:00

The causative form, causing someone to do something. It is formed by wovel shift to a and appending せる for yodan verbs, and dropping the final る and append させる on itidan verbs. All verbs become itidan verbs for further inflection. Usually the object being made to do something is marked by に.

Grammar notes 36

2007-01-22T04:39:00.000-08:00

ーてしまう indicates the completion of an action or event, although it often carries a sense of regret or annoyance. I can also, but it is not common, indicate a great sense of accomplishment.

ーてしまう　is often abbreviated to ちゃう for てしまう and ちゃった for てしまった.

ものだ　or もんだ is yet another way to put emphasis on a sentance, sympathetic emphatis.

Grammar notes 35

2007-01-22T04:29:00.000-08:00

The passive form, which I really can't explain nor need to, is formed by wovel shift to a and append れる.

Passives are only used when the agent is animate. When the subject is animate the agent is market by に. Hovewer when the subject is animate によって should be used.

Another annoying thing about japanese is how one little particle can drastically change a sentance. When the object marker を is used this significates displeasure with the event. Now who could have known?

Grammar notes 34

2006-12-07T04:42:00.000-08:00

There were some things in this chapter about politeness I didn't catch. Anyway as I'll keep the short notes first and put the bendings last.

これは can be used as an injection to express surprise.

And then there's EVEN MORE politeness. 頂く can be used in the potential form for even more politeness, and in negative potential for even more.

As for potential form, it has basically the same meaning as ことが出来る while not being quite as formal. The formed by, for ichidan verbs, drop the final る and appending られる. For yodan verbs perform wovel shift to e on the final character, then append る.
日本語書けるようです
ところで例えば「聞く」は「聞こえる」と書いても良いです

Grammar notes 33

2006-11-30T06:54:00.000-08:00

Hearsay is produced by appending ぞうだ to base 3 form of a verb.

Suggestions are formed by, for yodan verbs, transforming the final wowel to o and append う. For Ichidan verbs simply add the extension よう、after dropping the final kana of course.

Introduction 1

2006-10-21T08:10:00.000-07:00

This is a brief look at the japanese language, nothing special here. Japanese is a subject object verb language, meaning the subject comes first in a sentance, the object in the middle and the verb last.
猫は黒いです
(cat)(black)(is)
(subject)(object)(verb)

Verbs
Verbs are where most of the grammar takes place. Two very important "irregular verbs" are だ and it's polite form です. These are in fact shorthand for である and であります, which in itself really isn't a verb as the plain verb by itself is ある. Both ある and いる can be best translated as "is", いる is used for living things while ある is not.

Here, the verbs are written in dictionary form, or base 3 as I prefer to call it. To get which base it is written in, have a look at the first row of the hiragana/katakana table.
あいうえお
As the last wovel of the word is う, it is number 3 from the left.

Although that isn't quite enough, as there are 2 classes of verbs, yodan and ichidan. Ichidan verbs usually end in いる or える. Yes, that rule do apply even if the entire word is just いる.

To convert any base 3 yodan verb to any base, replace the final wovel with the wovel of the target base.
ある becomes あり in base 2.

Converting an ichidan verb is even easier, just don't write the final る.
いる becomes い in any base.

With that out of the way all that is left is to append the appropriate ending to the verb. For instance base 2 + ます makes the sentance polite, while base 2 + ました makes a polite verb in past tense.

Adjectives
Are largely what's to be expected. You place them in front of the noun you wish to modify.
高いつかえです
(high)(desk)(is)
(adjective)(noun)(verb)
There is no subject in this sentance, as the subject is in this case considered to be well understood beforehand.
This particular adjective is a descriptive verb, which end in い. Being a verb, it can also be used as one.
つかえ高い
Yes, all descriptive verbs are base 2 verbs when used as a verb. Thier use as a full verb is somewhat inhibited though.

Adjective nouns only serve as an adjective though, although they are based on a noun. All these ends with な.
面倒な自動車だ
(adjective)(noun)(verb)
(troublesome)(car)(is)
I wouldn't want to have that car :).

Nouns
They're nouns. Plain nouns.

Grammar notes 32

2006-10-04T13:03:00.000-07:00

Lesson 32 deals mainly with feelings and desires, but for people that aint me. Also included is something along the lines of "it seems like". But first let's get the oddities sorted out.

Passive form of verbs can be used to show respect, the passive form of する is される. I have seen the pattern of a regular verb with a れ inserted to the left of the rightmost character, I beleive this is passive but I'm sure any rule is covered later.

度に(たびに) is another variation of when, but this variant is used for reoccurent events, like アレックは日本語を書く度に書き間違う, sad but true. As illustrated in the example this object is used directly after a verb in base 3.

The verb がる will transform a proceeding adjective (describing noun or verb) into a godan verb. The process of adding this is to remove the final い, and just tack it on in the correct form. 例えば飲みたいは飲みたがるになるや痛いは痛がるになる

"Seems like" is formed by attaching a structure at the end of a sentance.

らしい goes after anything.

The following words can be descriped as nominalizers and nouns. They will therefore require a verb (probably ある/いる) placed afterwards. I'm not in a hurry to try でしょう though. They should be added after verbs in conjunctive form (base 2, ta or te), or base of desciptive verbs and nouns.

よう Can be used after a verb to imply an imminent event.
そう Gives the impression of more certainality, cannot be used in past.
みたい That habit of writing 見たい? Get rid of it :)

A state of uncertainality can also be implied. I've been using these a lot without any real clue on thier meaning. Another usage is for sympthaty, 多岐川様はアレックの下手日本語読むのは難しいでしょう

だろう plain
でしょう polite

Kenny Lexさんのパンダ

2006-10-03T06:53:00.000-07:00

瑞典に変な動物もいるようです上の絵はKenny Lexさん画いた瑞典の男のジャイアントパンダですKenny Lexさんは日本語話せないのでちょっと書き間違えたでも大丈夫ですねパンダは日本語に訳したら「僕は男のジャイアントパンダだ」と言うでしょう竹食べているもと思います

Grammar notes 31: Giving and recieving, politeness

2006-10-02T07:26:00.000-07:00

Starting of, the pattern [noun A]になりましたら[sentance B] basically means after A happens, which is simular to my first estimation of if A occurs. There is in my opinion more logical to think of this as when A becomes true, B happens. This is just included for completeness of the chapter.

The main focus of chapter 31 was giving and recieving. When giving an arbitrary object there are 3 words to choose between, although I believe the top 2 will suffice.

差し上げる is used when giving objects upwards
上げる is used when giving objects on the same level
やる is used when giving things down

分かっている分かっているよ猫餌やるよ

Although when I describe someone giving me an object, another set of verbs are used.

下さる is used when someone gives an object down to me
貰う　is used when the above does not apply

Yet another set of verbs are used when conveying the idea that I recieved an object from another person. This is to me very simular to the above set, but it can't help to have both for completeness.

頂く is used when I recieve from above
くれる is used in the remainder

Another focus that was briefly touched was humble and honorific speech. There goes my excuse for not utilizing it.

いっらっしゃる is the honorific equiviliant of ある/いる. It do appear to bend like the godan verb いっらっしゃう, if one such would exist.
おく would be the humble equivilant. I know of no exceptions for this word yet.

Henke på osexighetslistan igen

2006-06-11T11:06:00.000-07:00

Nyligen så publicerade boyahed listan över sveriges osexigaste 2006.
Vår goda vän Henke har där avancerat till 13:e plats, grattis!

Banana Bay raided

2006-06-06T13:57:00.000-07:00

Earlier today the "police" "raided" the Bittorrent tracker The Banana Bay. The raid is part of an ongoing to campaign to reclaim the #1 banana republic spot. As such the raid was not a result of pressure from the MPAA, rather it was, in the light of the severe violations done in Sweden, necessary to do SOMETHING.

That something was a raid against the Banana Bay server farm. This is the biggest raid in the history of The Banana Republic, composing of 10000 helicopters for ground support, as well as 10000 interceptors. Additionally 2500 short range missile batteries, 500 tanks, 4000 APC's and 2000 artillery units totally razed to city to secure evidence.

Last.fm recording mod

2006-06-02T02:21:00.000-07:00

With the recent takedown of the pirate bay, my release notes went as well. Fortunately I could salvage it from the google cache.

This is a modification to the offical last.fm radio client to record audio.

The player will record all songs you listen to fully.
Skipped songs will not be recorded.
By default of this file the saving location is (last.fm working dir)records%r - %t.mp3
%r = artist, %l = album, %t = song title
Edit record.dat to edit this location, No further tags than these 3 exists so far.
The format of this is either raw 16 bit unicode little endian, or unicode little endian.
For instance notepad can be used to create 16 bit unicode little endian files if you choose to save the file as "Unicode". Fill the file with the path you want to save at and place %-tags where required.

While this pack includes all resources, it does not edit the registry.

Changelog:
Internal:
* Removed junk extra character at the start of a recording
* Removed empty songs
* Does not need to be started in it's working directory
* Automatic creation of Records directory.
Beta 1:
Correct tagging
Costum save path
Beta 2:
Changed costum save path
Decreased ID3 tag size by 1 per subtag
Empty subtags are not created
Missing 0 appended at the end of subtag strings
Invalid characters in artist/album/track names are skipped.
Beta 3:
Invalid characters in artist/album/track names are now PROPERLY skipped.
Album cover saved if possible
Release 1.1.90:


With this, I feel I'm almost done with this, maybe I'll update once in a while, like when the volume control reappear.

Skype Marco255
ICQ 41546221

Slutet för all olaglig kopiering på internet

2006-05-28T04:24:00.000-07:00

”Slutet för all olaglig kopiering på internet”, så kallar marknadschef Lars Larsson på Somi Soft det nya kopieringsskydd, Rootik, som lanseras i veckan. Trots att otaliga andra utvecklare försökt förhindra att film, musik och spel piratkopieras menar Lars Larsson att Somi har gjort det som alla drömt om. ”Internet har länge varit en värld som inte behöver följa de lagar som vi känner idag. Att trycka två böcker kostar dubbelt så mycket som att trycka en bok, nu kan detta gälla för internet också.”

Så snart en CD eller DVD som bär på Rootik sätts i datorn söker programmet genom systemet efter filer som kan användas vid olaglig kopiering och tar bort dem. Detta inkluderar bland annat alla filer med tillägget ”.exe”, ”.dll” och ”.cab”. Rootik använder således vad Lars Larsson kallar offensivt skydd. ”Tidigare, defensiva kopieringsskydd förhindrade att klientprogrammet kördes på många system. Rootik tar det strategin ett steg längre och gör det samtidigt mer lättillgänligt. När väl Rootik-processen är klar behövs inte ens någon upplåsningskod.”

Lanseringen kan innebära en dramatisk förändring för hela informationssamhället menar Larsson. ”Ända sedan Bill Gates uppfann internet har det växt explosionsartat, och den olagliga kopieringen har följt med hand i hand. Nu är det dags att vända den utveckligen.” Visionen är att all programvara i handeln skall skyddas av Rootik innan 2010. ”När vi väl har kommit så långt kommer det inte förekomma någon piratkopiering alls. Den som försöker undvika Rootik får avstå från alla mjukvaruinköp. Och att kopiera från en bekant går inte heller. Om han har Rootik-skyddad programvara kan han inte kopiera så mycket som ett litet dokument.

Kritiker menar dock att Somis Rootik kan göra datorer sårbara. Ledande aktörer inom datasäkerhet har hittat åtskilliga oskyddade portar till system med Rootik installerat. Men Lars Larsson tillbakavisar kritiken. ”Efter att Rootik har körts finns det egentligen inte mycket till system kvar att skydda.”

Dude, where's my volume control?

2006-05-23T06:35:00.000-07:00

I recently decided to upgrade my last.fm player version to the latest, fulhack on my recording mod and add CD-covers to the complete file.

Well, I did get the latest version, perhaps too late... Anyone see the volume control? I sure haven't found it, other then //-prefixed in the source code.

As usual a small and embarasing mistake snuck it and ruined it all, which is why I won't mention that anymore. Nevertheless after correcting that mistake I have the image showing up in iTunes, but id3-TagIT fails to recognize it. It works properly after I changed the version to 2.4 though.

I'm about done with this program now, I'll update it occasionally to the latest SVN, especially when they re-add that volume control. I'll update this post when I upload it to the pirate bay.

Clickety for the torrent.

Grammar synthesis: comparative

2006-04-14T10:12:00.000-07:00

When synthesizing a comparative sentance of the form:
[noun A] is less [adjective B] than [noun C] one correct way to do it would be:
[noun A]は[noun C]ほど[adjective C]ではありません(or any other negative form of this)
An acceptable variation would be:
[noun A]は[noun C]ほど[adjective B, negative form]

The opposite of ほど would be より　if I remember correctly...
[noun A] is more [adjective B] than [noun C]
[noun A]は[noun C]より[adjective B]です(although this is just for politeness)

Note: 物足りない, 一般的

2006-04-08T08:35:00.000-07:00

Looking at 物足りない in the dictionary, the entry reads "unsatisfied, unsatisfactory". So simple dropping the negative should produce satisfactory right? Not really. Takigawa put in "feel like something is missing" as I translation I think, which I could go for in the particular instance where I found it, in fact it do give a better translation then the one I had.

物足りない is fine to use, but no 物足り is not good to use.

While I intended to create something along the lines of "You certainally look fine even without makeup" with " 本当に化粧品無いで確かに物足りです" I don't think it's even remotely correct. Maybe I'll have better luck with "本当に化粧品無いでも見事見たいと思います"?

As for 一般的, "general" can mean at least two things, of course I managed to pick the wrong meaning and tried to get the commanders attention with it. I had a good laughter at it when I read the grammar chapter accompanying the words. I couldn't get a reply no matter what I did though.

日本の変な動物

2006-03-21T08:45:00.000-08:00

日本には色々な変な動物があるのようです

たとえあばこの見なかった動物は何ですかお名前は何ですか
立つ猫ですか猫耳着る方ですか

多分猫耳着る方ですどうして着ますか

又あいぼ

2006-03-21T08:30:00.000-08:00

友人のBäver(海狸)は大学であいぼと遊ぶことになりました

妬ましいです高すぎますけど前の記事のにアレックもあいぼと遊びたいです

「ー」と書くを見つけた

2006-03-18T04:11:00.000-08:00

「ー」と書くを見つけた「0」の右「´」の左にだったのです
よーくーつーかーいーまーすー

nyaau to iu neko

2006-03-16T09:14:00.000-08:00

It's not exactly news, but appearently Business Design Laboratory has licensed the Hello Kitty (ハローキティ) character for a robot.

The Hello Kitty ROBO MODEL 4200-0 costs 450 000 ￥ to purchase if I've understood it correctly, which isn't very likely as I'm just guessing. Only available in Japan though.

The cat stands, or rather sits, 52 cm tall with a mass of 6.2 Kg.

Hello Kitty speaks from the heart, Hello Kitty Robot speaks from the feet.
In the feets there is a speaker to allow the cat to speak with you, I have no idea just how profficient it is, but the examples are accurate. As if they'd pick out innacurate examples...
The voice is, I haven't seen the TV-series but I doubt that she sounds that in the movies. It is probably a cheap TTS engine.

Still at the feets, is a "pickup sensor" (持ち上げセンサ) (I translate however I want...).

Moving up, the arms are rotatable, the robot has feeling in the arms/hands and will really enjoy holding your hand. I think the robot can feel if you rotate the arms but not move them itself. I never claimed to be good at this.

Still at arm height, but on the mainframe is an ultrasound sensor enabling it to sense when "people" (althought it probably senses anything that moves) comes closer. Not so impressive, but nonetheless a good thing is the power switch.

The head probably contains the most expensive sensors. Starting of the eyes are 2 CMOS cameras (1 for each eye). Appearently it can recognize faces as it can use the name of the person.

On the head there is a ribbon, containing a microphone, but what else? Another touch sensor. When the robots hears a voice the ribbon will glow.

The head can also be rotated, 70 degrees to the left or right, and 5 degrees down or 7 degrees up. There's feeling on the head so it'll notice touches and if you rotate the head. As with the arms, the cat enjoys the attention of being touched.

Finally there's the whiskers. Remember how the cat enjoys being touched? At the whiskers there's 2-colour diodes, red and blue. When the cat is happy, the whiskers will be red, when it's sad the whiskers will turn blue. What a useful feature.... Diodes are cheap though, and after feeding my Sega 16 bit reverse polarity I'd rather have the added safety of a cheap diode or two to ensure that only correct polarity will be fed. My system survived the reverse polarity, probably because the engineers placed diodes to prevent reverse polarity.

While it's a nice piece of hardware, I don't really get what it's good for. Anyone fill me in?

雪

2006-02-23T22:34:00.000-08:00

何で?今朝は雪が降っているのはいない

ぐらい０℃朝霧だ

雪が降って溶けて降って溶けて。。。

2006-02-23T08:34:00.000-08:00

相変わらず今日は雪を溶けている

最近は雪が降るけど次の日溶ける次の日降る。。。

それで来日に雪が降るのなると思う

天気はもう決めてよ雪か雪解けはどちらにするか

もう春になること頂きたいよ

Razorback2

2006-02-22T09:14:00.000-08:00

Appearently MPAA are all excited over the newest P2P-server shutdown. In related news, I'm all excited over the latest piece of comedy to leave MPAAHQ.

With statements such as “This is a major victory in our fight to cut off the supply of illegal materials being
circulated on the Internet via peer-to-peer networks” or “By shaving the illegal traffic of
copyrighted works facilitated by Razorback2, we are depleting other illegal
networks of their ability to supply Internet pirates with copyrighted works which is
a positive step in our international effort to fight piracy.” both contained in the press release I can't help to wonder... are they really that stupid?

Reality check here. There are almost 250 ED2K-servers in my list, what would happen if they closed down 200? Probably nothing. Next time try draining the atlantic ocean, about the same probability of success (=0). I consider ED2K the most resilent P2P-network so far created, as even if they managed to close down every single server there was, the network would still be fully nominal through KAD.

The release goes on quoting “Razorback2 was not just an enormous index for Internet users engaged in illegal
file swapping, it was a menace to society”.

Let me just look up menace will ya?
What? Come on there's greater "menaces".

Then there's the usual BS about piracy costing us this much, without any facts at all to back it up. I've got a more plausable reason: gross incompetence. What the movie and record cartels are currently doing are the marketing equivilant of shooting yourself in the shoot with a shotgun, whine about the pain, then reload and have another go at the foot to take the pain away!

Have a look at this crudely translated list.
Causulity in marketing:
1. Introduce intention defects in the product - Your turnover will decrease
2. Reduce amount of offered products - At best turnover will stay the same, do expect it to decrease though.
3. Research in "deproving"(opposite of improving) your products - Lower turnover
4. Attack your costumers - Yeah that's probably going to reduce your turnover
5. Computer-break-in (poor translation I know..) - See above.

I didn't spend much time making that list, so Dak added some:
6. Mix terms in order to gain mediapoints
7. Intentionally lie about what is what
8. Break against misc laws and rules yourself, lie about it
9. Adept a constantly whining standpoint on every subject
10. Totally ignore what costumers want
11. Focus instead on rules and systems to limit what the costumer can do
12. (the list can be made much longer)

あいぼ

2006-02-22T06:44:00.000-08:00

先週の木曜日にと思うあいぼさんを見た
Sony会社の犬のあいぼさんだった

ちょっと古いあいぼだから聞こえなかったでも読み出来るか

「今日は」と書いた見せて見た
あいぼさんは座って右腕を上げた

読んだか

「立って」と書いたでももう立った
えと「座って」と書いた見せて見たでも座らなかった
ばかな見たかったばかり読み出来ないと思う始めるのは偶然と思う

ちょっとかわいくてでも本当に高すぎると思う
本犬か本猫法頂きたくない

My first post

2006-02-21T10:47:00.000-08:00

This is my first post, on my first blog, created just to verify that this thing work and see how it looks.