Good News

After years of struggling with supervisors about the minimum amount 0f time a person (that person is me) should spend in work, or working, or do anything but work, talk about work, and even dream of work, an article from lifedev, an internet site about the numerous ways to increase your productivity, by be focused on the work, who many times have I heard that single word, clearly argues for the exact opposite. Taking short, or long, brakes, letting your mind wonder, working but few hours per day, was common schedule, some of them never had one, of great people of world history.

What that article doesn't comment, but I hope that it implies it, is the fact that during the time we consider as working hours should be dedicated for that purpose.

So in titles the 10 way's history's finest kept focused at work

1. Don’t work long hours (tell that to my supervisor)

2. Take breaks

3. Take even longer breaks (that one is my favorite)

4. Stop work and sit down for meals (I'm already into this one)

5. Don’t work in the afternoons (actually I'm trying not to work even in the morning)

6. Mix it up (done that)

7. Aim low (all I need is a roof above my head, a plate of food to eat, and a woman to love)

8. Take time to relax (isn't that one consistent with points 2,3,4,5?)

9. Get up early(?) (I couldn't argue more with question mark, but waking up early has some advantages, I can recall none of them right now, feel free to add some)

10. Exercise! (no comments)

VerveEarth

Today I got this message from the CEO of an new site, still in Beta, but it looks OK:

Trotos,

Your blog Navy, a playground for bigger kids caught our attention.
I'm the founder of a recently launched startup for bloggers. We are searching
the internet for the world's best blogs by geography, and we found yours for
Greece. I would like to invite you to our site which plots the content of the
internet on an interactive map of the world. VerveEarth is an entirely new way
to surf the net. It shows spatial and geographic connections that a blog search
engine could never reveal. The site is http://www.verveearth.com/. Once on board, you can easily claim your blog a place in the VerveEarth world. The site is free to use
and a way to drive new traffic to your blog. If our vision resonates with you,
please give us a mention or add our widget to your blog. Please see our FAQ for any
questions, and we welcome your feedback. The VerveEarth team will make a timely
reply.http://www.verveearth.com/
Kind Regards,
Clayton CEO VerveEarth.comEmail clayton@verveearth.com,

First of all my thanks to VerveEarth's CEO, but I do not believe that my blog is even close to be described as one of the "best blogs by geography". It seems to me that this mail is nothing more than a polite invitation, randomly generated by a script. It could be a clever way to invite one more blogger (I think I dislike this word, blogger) to register to theirs site and grow it bigger, fine by me. The invitation is welcomed but I do not thing that exaggerations such as best blogs is suitable.
So I registered, at the end a few more readers never harm anyone, right?

It seems that till now 32 other people from Greece received the same e-mail. Haven't checked their blogs yet, till now I'm preoccupied with other activities (NAVY, my thesis (actually on hold at the time), women (if I can find any)), so I only have time to read and sometimes comment my friends' blogs.

...less than a month now...

Radiohead, a new album, but not a review

I believe that most of you know that Radiohead (Ραδιοκέφαλος) have finished recording their latest album, In Rainbows, the forthcoming cd/vinyl release should be available after the 3rd of December. I am also aware that a great deal of you also have visited the corresponding site and downloaded the album either free or by paying a fee (those not informed of this, will now be considered as such!!!). No big deal right?
Not quite...
...Radiohead are not just a group, since they considered to be one of the greatest bands in the world. So when Radiohead decide to "sell" their new album, directly from their site, by giving us the chance to pay as much as we want, to download the album, (or to preorder a great edition of it, double cd, vinyl and a hardcover illustration book, I'm drooling here, without the labels) it will be an opportunity for various sources to do their hypothesis and conclusions about the outcome.
From Bittorrent search engines to market analysts. even slashdot.com, all making their comments on this movement, as do I, while others, go even farther, considering it to be a hard kick in the balls for the music industry.
Even TIME magazine has an article on this, including a piece from an interview of Thom York, describing the music industry as a decaying business model. A statement, that is backed up by:

an A&R executive at a major European label:
"This feels like yet another death knell, If the best band in the world doesn't want a part of us, I'm not sure what's left for this business."

As of 12th of October Radiohead Made $6-$10 Million on Initial Album Sales (depending on the average amount payed for downloading the album) as I was informed from WIRED

I'm thinking...will they got a lawsuit from RIAA, from music corporations, for "freely" distributing an album via the internet, even if Radiohead has finished with EMI from 2004, and by doing so, encouraging the "leeching/seeding" community to burn up some more the copper telephone wires?

A few more artists seem to follow this business plan, one of the Trent Raznor, the Nine Inch Nails man, as well as Prince(?couldn't find that one). Even a record label as magnatune and artists as Saul Williams.

And this lovable guy (Trent Raznor) has said:

A few months ago, Trent Reznor (frontman of the band Nine Inch Nails), was in Australia doing an interview when he commented on the outrageous prices of CDs there. Apparently now his label, Universal Media Group is angry at him for having said that. During a concert last night, he told fans, '...Has anyone seen the price come down? Okay, well, you know what that means — STEAL IT. Steal away. Steal and steal and steal some more and give it to all your friends and keep on stealin'. Because one way or another these mother****ers will get it through their head that they're ripping people off and that's not right.

And to finish this read that one:

The Impact of Music Downloads and P2P File-Sharing on the Purchase of Music: A Study for Industry Canada

Description: Industry Canada undertook a music file sharing study during 2006-07 to measure the extent to which music downloads over peer-to-peer file sharing networks, for which the sound recording industry receives no remuneration, affect music purchasing activity in Canada. The data used for this analysis are from a Decima Research survey conducted between April and June, 2006, on behalf of Industry Canada. The report, prepared by University of London researchers, Birgitte Andersen and Marion Frenz, found that music downloads have a positive effect on music purchases among Canadian downloaders but that there is no effect taken over the entire population aged 15 and over.

that's all for now...keep on sharing...

Battlestar Galactica

What? You thing I would leave my favorite show out of this blog? I though so...So let's started.

Battlestar Gallactica as of 2002 is a remake of the naive (to the point of horrible) TV show of 1978. But as a kid I loved it in full grayscale. Back then we were lucky to even have a black/white TV. Anyway, as you already know (?) In the original series the purpose of Cylons (androids/cyborgs) was the complete extermination of the human race, but for the pleasure of the viewers in the recent series a few twists have been introduced.

During the BG history war raging between Cylons and humans, when the first rebelled against the latter. Give them brains and they will use them to destroy you. Humans prevailed and throw Cylons on a planet to live. But Cylons want more... so the creation (Cylons) search for their creators (humans) in order to destroy them, a rather phylosophical point, creation VS creator, son VS father...As we learn from the 2002 "pilot" movie, in a station were represantives of both humans and cylons should meet, once a year, for establicing every year the truce. In the past 40 years, only humans show up. Until the time a not so ordinary Cylon, not from metal and electrical connections, shows up to the meeting point asking human's representive:

"...are you alive? then prove it..."

so the story begins and with it one of the best series I've ever seen.

The rest goes as...Cylons trick humans (that includes some old fashion manipulation and trickstery OF COURSE) and destroy all 12 colonies (actually we are in deep space, were humanity is spread out to 12 colonies, named after the zodiac circle) in one blast, leaving something more than 40,000 living souls to drift into space under the leadership of the last battlestar, the Galactica. But there might be a solution for the last survivors, to find the mythical 13 colony, the legendary one mentioned at the holy manuscripts of the holy book, EARTH. So the remaining survivors set up for a witch-hunt after earth.

But as the intoduction to the series informes us:

"The Cylons were created by Man.
They Rebelled.
They Evolved.
They Look
And Feel
Human.
Some are programmed to think they are Human.
There are many copies.
And they have a Plan."

So there are Cylons who look like humans feel like humans, live among humans and this option make things a little bit more intresting, since the aspect of trust is more important than anything since anyone around you could be a Cylon programed to kill and this anyone could be your best friend, your lover, anyone. But, frankly, the main question till the end of the 3rd season is "what is the Plan?", and a subquestion since they find earth THEN WHAT?

After 3 glorious seasons Battlestar Galactica WILL END to the forthcoming 22-episodes-season. As producers said:

"Over the course of the last year, the story and the characters have been moving strongly toward that end, and we've decided to listen to those internal voices and conclude the show on our own terms. And while we know our fans will be saddened to know the end is coming, they should brace themselves for a wild ride getting there: We're going out with a bang."

I'm drooling.

So, what makes this series different from any other I've attended to?

First of all the characters.

I've never before attended to a show that creates real life characters under a sci-fi costum. Characters actions determined by their personality, not by the hand of "writter" and eventualy get what they deserve for every single action they take. The effect of counter action is always there.

I also liked the fact that there are no distinctive good-bad persons, the fact of incorporating conteporary politics, as the continous treatment of "terrorism" by the president of U.S.A. as a Large Scale WAR, every mulsalism as a terrorist, everyone who thinks in a different way as enemy. Also critisism withstands religion, humans are believers to the twelve Gods of ancient Greece, whereas Cylons tend to believe to the one and only loving and carring Cylon God. Monotheism versus Polytheism.

As the story goes the plot thickens, as both humans and Cylons reach earth the tension rises. And I'm waiting for the end of the series to amaze me.

Here is a preview of BG.S4 (not sure if it is the real thing) with presentation of every seasons in chronological order.

Then for season 2

Season 3

The last 5 min of season 3 last episode

and last but not least a 5min video clip including all episodes, music by rob zombie

but it includes SPOILER so be carefull

and for the final sneak peek of season 4

News

OK, so after a long time let me write about a few things that raised my curiosity.

...In The Beginning

talking about billions of years before of our times, to be exact, 13.2 billion years ago, +/- a "few "million of years probably, a star was formed, now coded as HE 1523-0901. So what is the big deal?
Apart from the obvious and jaw drooping 13.2 BILLion YEARS?????????????OK let's see what I can come up with:
First concentration of metal is low ( I do not know the significant of that one, probably has to do with the age determination), it is located in the Milky Way (which has a diameter of around 100,000 light years, those are the years we are looking back to the past watching the far end of our galaxy), aaaaaand keep in mind that the BIG BANG is located like 13,7 billion years ago, this one is one of the oldest stars founded and still active (I cannot find its distance from earth, so I do not know how much back in time the good fellows looking at). Soooooooo, as physorg calls it, it is a true galactic fossil, alive and kicking.








Our beautifull "milky way" as seen from death valey in U.S.

The next one is just a note of something else I read at physorg.
SKorea's LG Philipps develops first A4 colour e-paper. No more paper, tons of it are going to waste anyway, so why produce more, I would love to have one of that in my pocket, full of newspapers, books, comics, art, anything... but hush my foolish heart, the time for revolution is not here yet!
For more technical data, as we read from engadget.com:

A4-sized rendition of the vivid bendable display has successfully been developed in its labs. The panel reportedly measures just 35.9-centimeters diagonally, is 0.3-millimeter thick, and can display up to 4,096 colors while maintaining the energy efficient qualities that inevitably come with using energy only when the image changes. Unsurprisingly, the company plans on marketing the device as one of convenience and doesn't hesitate to tout its greenness in the process, but unfortunately, it failed to mention when this would find its way out into the general public.

Next on somedayitwillbe...

Another scientific thing, and cosmology again from newscientist.com. It's a vast and unknown universe (but sometimes is better to focus on the one we are standing on)



Those lovable darlings (who never misses a chance to attend a meeting, a scientific one, and get stoned/drunk at the dinner/parties) found out a planet coded GJ 436 with a four times the width of Earth surrounded by "hot ice". An exotic form of water that although it is under 300° C or more the gravity keeps it in "liquid" form.





PARTHENOGENESIS

About another thing I wanted to talk about is the finding of female sharks that are able to fertilize themselves, without the need of a male, a PURE PARTHENOGENESIS. The offsprings are genetically identical to their mother. And I quote:

Mahmood Shivji -- Nova Southeastern's Guy Harvey Research Institute director and one of the paper's authors -- said that he and his colleagues determined that a byproduct formed when sharks produce eggs, known as a sister polar body, had fused with an unfertilized egg to produce the baby shark, whose DNA had only half as much genetic variability as the mother.

"Yes, indeed this is a virgin birth," Shivji said in an interview, adding that this could help explain why other sharks have suddenly been born in captivity, like a bamboo shark that appeared in Detroit's Belle Isle Aquarium in 2002.

"We have now demonstrated that sharks are actually able to use an alternative, previously unknown reproductive pathway, which is parthenogenesis. The problem here is that this alternative reproductive pathway results in offspring that have much lower genetic diversity," he said.

That's all for now folks. It's 00:05 and I need FOOD, and a beer but the fridge is empty. CRAP, pfffffffffffffff

No Comments

...only that this is from a movie poster (as far as I know), of Good Luck Chuck debuted this past week at Cannes festival (picture from IGN).
Jesus Shaves

NEWS, wireless power

Well the news you will never read from anywhere else except from here, or the other sites that mentioning them, are...
First of all THE one and only

Plastic sheet delivers wireless power

Anyone who has access to this article could read it. As for all the others could go to the links provided and read what I've learned. So go here or here. All the others could read this small but complete abstract by myself.
So T Sekitani et al, were able by using a plastic sheet of 4 layers to deliver remotely 40Watt to different appliances. The whole idea is based to something that was first described by Faraday in 1831 called electromagnetic induction. Transmission of power was a common knowledge (when electrical energy can be transmitted without direct contact of the source and the battery), the thing that makes a difference is the fact that

it can transmit high power selectively to the position of electronic objects

as the researchers said, as the fact that this is a rather simple a cheap way to do it.
Well do you plan for a wireless home? I think it could be happen.

DEATH NOTE

I still cannot belive how good is the two soundtracks from the anime death note. Not as good as the Cowboy Bebop's soundtrack but it does has some excellent themes, more like post-rock, there is a theme that reminds of mogwai's auto rock. And the series, just when you say you have figured everything out...great story, great animation, great dialogs, great characters. Just superb.
For a few info also check those blogs.
NOVASTORM
Random Curiosity

FOOD

well as they say..

once hungry always hungry

so after alcohol, or even better, before, or in parallel with alcohol, food is what I believe to be my TOP priority. I;m not going to present as my first post about food a site of weird recipes, or exotic dishes, but a most scientific matter.
It is called,

molecular gastronomy

just Google it and you'll see what I'm talking about. But, you are lazy bastards, so I'm going to make a brief presentation of it.
It all started when chemistry has advanced so that it could determine what kind of chemical reactions could take place while a food is being prepared (yes it is called molecular gastronomy but actually not like molecular biology, chemistry and physics are the main aspects). So a good fellow, Hervé This, with another good fellow, Nicholas Kurti, started what at the begining was refered as Molecular and Physical Gastronomy.
The basics of it as described at This theses are:

(1) investigating the culinary and gastronomical proverbs, sayings, old wives tales…
(2) exploring the recipes;
(3) introducing in kitchens new tools, ingredients and methods
(4) inventing new dishes based on 2
(5) using Molecular Gastronomy to help the general public understand how science can contribute to the well being of the society.

the reason behind this idea and the “International Workshop on Molecular and Physical Gastronomy” were as it was described by This himself:

Each aspect of our environment is studied by a specific scientific discipline, using the experimental method, introduced Francis Bacon and later by Galileo Galilei. Why should gastronomy be an exception?

So to continue, his idea is to collect old fashion cooking recipes, and put their statement under the harsh experimental procedures, and also introduce new methods to ameliorate the cooking experience (I mean the aftertaste). Nicholas Kurti is no longer with us, but This is active and also recently had a publication on EMBO regarding molecular gastronomy.
To give you an example lets find out what happens when you do BBQ. Meat turns brownish. NO SHIT!!!. What happens inside meat to turn to brown? Well at about 65 Celsius degrees, aminoacids compine with reducing sugar by no enzymatic means, producing Schiff bases, as posted by Maillard in 1912, Maillard reaction, and that results in the changing of color. The point is that during this reaction meat gets its flavor.

Also, for the industry, the goal is to maximize food flavor through the heat-induced Maillard reaction without impairing nutritive value or creating carcinogenic heterocyclic amines, which are formed during high temperature cooking of foods like meat and chicken that contain high amounts of protein

. And again, the reaction will give different flavor according to the chemical substances of meat, not all meat are the same. So, chefs around the world try to find ways to increase the flavor of cooked meat, without being either raw or harmfull, overcooked (the Greek way).
So how good it is? Now that is the question. Well, first of all one of the achievements of molecular is to successfully combine ingredients, that according to tradition are incompatible, with amazing results. One of this is the combination of caviar and white chocolate. I do not know if it tastes as good as they say, but it should be good, as combining cheese feta with chocolate from papadopoulou biscuits γεμιστά (one of my achievements as a youngster). And if you think about anything else let me tell you that in Fat Duck restaurant at Bray-on-Thames, a meal costs about 120 euros per person (or that's what i've read from somewhere else)...and to eat there you should reserve a table ages ago.
JAW DROPPING

interview
molecular gastronomy news
a brief listing of links
blog dedicated to molecular gastronomy
molecular gastronomy is dead?
article on Heston Blumenthal, chef of Fat Duck
Fat Duck, images form dishes served

How to

You planed for a really nice excursion in the forest, in the wild, to get away from work, routine, wife, parents, anything you need to get away from. But as most of mountain roads danger lurks in every turn of the road. You never know when and how the bad turn will arise and you might then find yourself hanging in middle air. As you sitting in your car, balancing, half of it in the void and the other half on the road, a thought crossed your mind: Why haven't I read the "how to get out of a car that's hanging over a cliff"?
Good question, the other one is why someone ever wrote a guide like that one? there are many more, like how to get out from a sinking car, etc.

Radio Over The Internet

So I recomend you two links for web2.0 services regarding internet radio. The first one is the pandora radio, and the other the LastFm. Both of them working as a automated juckebox that provides you with songs based on your first selection, either a group/artist or song. The latter also provides you software that incoporate a plug-in for Windows Media Player that feeds your playlist to your LastFm page, in order to create an internet playlist based on your selections, or to be avalaible for other people to check it out (look at the left panel, nice isnt it?).