Improved wallpaper checker

I’ve decided to update the wp_filter.py script. I fixed a good deal of bugs and at the same time I added a simple text-driven menu in order to simplify the program use, and I also added a readme file that describes operation and other requirements. You can download the program in [tar.gz format]({{ site.url }}/files/wp_filter.tar.gz) or in [zip format]({{ site.url }}/files/wp_filter.zip). For basic requirements, refer to my [previous blog post]({{ site.

December 29, 2006

Nanoha StrikerS... Nanoha?

Recently I’ve came across a promotional poster for the upcoming Nanoha StrikerS anime. However I think that this highly anticipated third instalment in the series will disappoint a few people, including myself. Why?

December 28, 2006

Relic 4/5

On the day after Christmas I went to do Dynamis-Beaucedine with United. I had to be the main assist for this run, and surprisingly everything went well. Not only that, the run had really **loads_ _**of drops (including a 100 currency piece), as the relevant thread says. Most importantly, I finally obtained the Valor Breeches. I had never seen them drop in Beaucedine Glacier, and luckily I was the only one lotting (I managed to lot of the ridicolously low amount of 172).

December 23, 2006

Wallpaper size checker

UPDATE: Some stupid bugs had crept in the code, so I updated the archives. Sorry for the inconvenience.

I’ve writtern a small Python script to find wallpapers with right size or aspect ratio I needed, and now I’m releasing it to the public. It may come in handy especially when you download lots of desktop wallpapers (archives, torrents) and you don’t know which ones are suited for your monitor.

December 16, 2006

Update disappointment

I noticed recently that Square Enix has announced a new event in FFXI, namely Salvage. Apparently this looks like an Assault with other modifications (such as special conditions forced on the players) thrown in. To me, this is a huge disappointment, as I expected more integration in the extremely fragmented ToAU landscape. Everything looks incomplete, and adding another incomplete part will not cut it. Not to mention that the only rewards are items… items that can only be used with the “regular” activities.

December 13, 2006

Final Fantasy XII

I recently completed Final Fantasy XII. Overall it lasted over a month of play (1 hour per day, approximately), so at least I can say that I spent my money decently. The game is **very **reminiscent of FFXI, in some areas even identical. It is also quite big, with many sub-quests and monsters to hunt. Not to mention that it is very impressive from a technical point of view. However, the main plot is awful.

December 13, 2006

Working with Genome Browser data

In the past two days I’ve been tackling an annotation problem. I’m trying to provide annotations for genes found in regions that are significantly altered, DNA copy-number wise (thanks to the STAC method). The idea would be to annotate those regions (that span one megabase) using UCSC Table Browser. However, the task was impractical, so I decided to automate it a bit. I converted the data into ranges and then used the KnownGene annotation file (downloaded from UCSC) to obtain which genes were in which reagion.

December 9, 2006

GRUB hell

Two days ago I decided to install Linux on the new computer I had obtained, so I just got a Kubuntu 6.10 alternate CD and went through the steps. THe network card was not detected, but by reading around I found it was just a matter of the r1000 module not being present in the installation kernel. The problems arose when GRUB was installed. Actually, that part of the installation went fine, but once rebooted I got “error 21”, which meant “disk not found”.

December 7, 2006

Zealotry

I’m really saddened by the fanatic tone that a part of FOSS community is using to criticize the Novell-Microsoft deal. It should be noted that personally I don’t like the deal at all, since Microsoft has a good history of stomping on its partners when they’re no loner needed. But still, the reactions from the community are too strong, sometimes leading to (involuntary) disinformation.

December 1, 2006

Probably useless, but...

A post I wrote ended up on the front page of nodalpoint.org. I liked that, even though it may not seem a lot to many: at least it shows that some of my concerns are shared with other people in the scientific community. Also after viewing some presentations about Web 2.0 at the EMBL, I decided to make a del.icio.us account. I find it quite handy so far to organize bookmarks and such.