For a change I tried to remember that I study Electrical Engineering and not CS or AI, MAS, AOSE or whatever ... so how can I prove this to myself ?
Well, I gutted an old PS2, in hope to fix it ... how hard could it be?
Actually not at all !!!
OK, let me be a little bit more precise; my ex-flat-mate sold me his old PS2, TV, games and several other stuff at a really low price (actually the cab I got to carry the stuff home costed 1/3 of the total). And if you have looked at this blog a couple of times you can guess that I wanted to play japanese import games ( say Melty Blood ). But, to do that I had to use Swap Magic and consequently "break" open the DVD tray, which as a dump dojiko (clumsy child), managed to really break it. Thereafter trying to fix all the damaged done to the DVD-drive and who knows what else !?
After gutting the whole thing (the ~30 screws seen above), cleaning the laser lenses (sorry, no images there, due to the sensitivity of the photo-electric components) the culprit was found ... a god damn disconnected flat data cable !!!
That simple !!! So even if you are even a 10 year old can figure that! Just consult a credible source and you can fix the usually simple problems that you get!
I hope I get a chance to explain within the academic year how you can use all this really powerful hardware for video and audio processing ;-)
Read more!
2008/09/24
fixing a PS2
2007/12/14
10 TV series you must see
I am not really a big TV fan, hell I don't even have a TV home, I could never really find any point in owning one. But there are 10 exceptions, which challenged my mindset. These "live-action" series are the best moments that TV offered. Some of them have actually defined gernes, while others are the best of their kind, but all are pretty much better then 99% of the films that are produced each year.
Twin Peaks
By far the best series that has ever aired! Especially the central plot is amazingly complex, with an intricate and unique mythology that will amaze anyone who can pay attention to it. That is not to say that the side-plots of the second seasons arcs are not good, though some better then others.
Unfortunately the series has many shortcoming. Distributors and networks never liked this innovative and unorthodox series, they always wanted something mainstream and politically correct to air, so the time-slot the series got was late-night, to reduce the potential audience, the DVD-rights were scattered so people must thoroughly search to acquire the series as it was conceived and intended to be seen, etc. It is really a pity that people with power intentionally feed others with trash, in order to maintain their power, instead of "guiding" them, in order to acquire equivelent and competative peers [/end-of-rant].
Desppite these shortcoming, the creators (David Lynch & Mark Frost) have created an amazing series that really worths the trouble to acquire it.
Carnivale
TV-tropes, IMDb, wiki, official
An attempt to recreate Twin Peak's atosphere, though in a different setting. Hell, it even stars the dwarf from Lynch's works! Visually stunning, though somewhat lacking in storytelling, specifically the plot's unveiling is rather flat, never climaxing or drawing attention. Originally, the series was conceived in 6 seasons, but low ratings cut it short after the first two. Despite this the major plot-lines reach a closure, though not all questions posed are answered.
Riget
IMDb I, IMDb II, wiki
Danish mini-series about a haunted hospital. This is a masterpiece, despite its low-budget, the acting is over-the-top, directing and storytelling were original and still very influential (outside Hollywood). The sad part is that the actors of major characters died before Lars von Trier had a chance to shoot the third part of the series, thus there is no closure to the series.
TV-tropes, IMDb, wiki
Another low-budget mini-series, this time from the island, later reworked into a novel by its creator, Niel Gaiman. Originally, shot for a VHS release, later rework to become a film, to finally be aired on the TV. This Odyssey, led to significant loss in quality, but added to the weird atmosphere of the plot. Acting might seem below average in the beginning, but it is loyal to the inhuman nature of the characters. All-in-all, it is a very different from what you can usually see.
Six Feet Under
TV-tropes, IMDb, wiki, official
Slice of life show, though not your run of the mill life. The cast is not composed of the average stereotypes you usually see in series, despite the fact that they are ordinary (maybe too ordinary) people. Episodes are usually centered around a funeral, which the Fisher family organizes, while exploring slowly the life of the family itself. The storytelling balances, almost perfectly, between drama and comedy ... expect a lot of nihilism and black humor ;-)
Northern Exposure
TV-tropes, wiki
Nihilistic and dark, but still a show everyday life and the extra-ordinary strength that requires to face reality without getting depressed for not being an idiot and see things for what they are. Visually it very close to Twin Peaks and also features extensive dream sequences, as well as symbolism, though there no intricate mythology behind it.
Millenium
TV-tropes, IMDb, wiki, official
Dark and brooding series about occult, fused masterfully in a modern setting. Created by Chris Carter, who also created X-Files, the show centers around Frank Black (played by Lance Herniksen) as a profiler and investigator. The shows three season have significant differences in theme, mood and structure because the executive committee was every time totally different. Also the series ends without resolving all mysteries, some kind of closure can be found in an X-Files episode, featuring the character of Frank Black, which fortunately was included with the DVD release of the series. 
Buffy
&
Angel
TV-tropes, IMDb, wiki, official (Buffy)
1999-2004, 110 episodes, ~42 minutes each (Angel)
TV-tropes, IMDb, wiki, official (Angel)
Ridiculing and breaking stereotypes is the trademark of both shows. Buffy is a petite, no-so-bright and kind of slutty cheerleader, who instead of being a monster's victim is its slayer. On the other hand Angel moves away from the adolescence angst, which is abundant in Buffy and deals with adulthood, still with a healthy dose of comedy accompanying its neo-noir setting. 
Battlestar Galactica
TV-tropes, IMDb, wiki, official
This was the first non-anime sci-fi series that I actually enjoyed. It distances itself form the commercial mass-production cousins (StarTrek, Babylon 5, Stargate, etc) by fusing mysticism and occult to a degenerate gerne. Also there is very critical commentary on war and religion, which most modern series avoid like hell.
Read more!
2007/09/28
one year after
But let me first put things into context for those who are not acquainted with the situation. In Germany, engineering is very unpopular among students, but very popular among employers. Also is one of those unfortunate big european countries (along with UK, France, Spain and Italy) where the population is usually incompetent to hold a non-casual conversation in a foreign language. This creates a very weird situation in all engineering departments, where half the students are foreigners. A solution tried was the creation of bilingual and even strictly english departments (like mine), but these were quickly filled out with more foreigners. German students that pursue in their home country an academic degree continue to choose the easiest options (whether based on language or field). Now since most of public universities have strong ties with industries, not providing the required human resources (because the vast majority of foreign students return to their homelands) or by providing german students who can not read an english manual or communicate with their abroad, puts them in very awkward position and threatens this successful relationship.
In my opinion there is a number of reasons that this situation came to be. In general some have to do with the universities themselves and the way they operate and on the other hand there are some structural problems in modern german society (some though are pan-european) . Engineering by itself is considered a boring and complicated subject, since it requires an advanced knowledge of the infamous mathematics, usually combined with physics and/or chemistry. And though there is no way to make them easier (and shouldn't), it can be made much more accessible, if the teachers and professors stop just filling the students heads with endless formulas and excersises and for a change make them understand what and why they are learning. Most students finish university and even then they don't understand basic concepts, like the correlation between integrals & surfaces or derivatives, rates & tangents. Most attention is being paid on the ability to solve standardized exercises quickly then understanding the principles of science and thus beign able to solve and most importantly understand complex and advanced problems.
Another problem is that many teachers consider their work in university only as means of gaining a lot of money and social status. Especially this hurts education, since they don't really care about the education of the students, but their image among the rest of their peers. Fortunately this is not such a common occurrence in Germany as it was in Greece, but one such person in a key subject is enough to create a lot of damage. For example in electrical engineering, if the teacher isn't capable of making students understand a couple of concepts and principles, all his students however good they performed in the final exam, the y are bound to spend endless hours in analog & digital electronics, system theory and so on learning what they should have, but didn't. This has the follow up effect of alienating the students from their professors, instead of seeing them as their assistants, they begin to perceive them as hindrances of their future. Even more examples can be found in primary and secondary education.
Another important point where Technical Universities fail miserably is that their greatest asset, the laboratory training, becomes their most obvious failure. Practical training is imperative for engineers, but most students before having at least some lab experience think that it is forced and unnecessary. Most even have no idea what and why they are doing the labs. One way around this is the integration of lectures and labs, if this can be coupled with in a project that will gradually cover the subjects material, it would make lab work interesting and sought, as well as the lecture attendance will increase. Another closely related point is the practical examination of a students skill and not an exam disconnected from practical reality. Most graduates are paralyzed when they first have to work because they might be able to solve an exercise in paper, but never realized the bond this has with real practical problems they face at work.
And as this is not enough, TUs have some incomprehensible names for their departments so that no student can understand what he is studying until he is half way through. Who knows the difference between communication and information engineering or between the later and informatics. This has such an easy solution, one of my professor just show a mobile phone and explained which engineer develops what part of the the phone. If in any of those presentation this took place it would give a very clear picture about what we study and then it would very easy to explain what is interesting and challenging.
Obviously there are two sources for these problems, society and management. In a limited state-control mass-consuming society, social recognition is dominated by the "american dream", fast and easy money. This has a profound extent to education, easy subjects become popular, finance/management departments become popular. Whatever needs seer intellect is a turn-off, even engineering becomes a combination of theoretical science and simplified application. It is no surprise that during the last decade engineers recycle and improve old technology instead of making new inventions. On the other hand, universities market their studies instead of informing students about them. They point out how advanced equipment they have, how many parties they throw, how cool are their dorms and so on. They never explain what an information engineer does for a living, they never explain what and more importantly why students learn and study their subjects.
2007/09/25
... and here we go ...
this is the lanch post, in which I would just write some crap, in order to see how things work. Generally, I plan to write about anime, movies, role-playing, V:tES, Iaido, programming, life in Hamburg and other boring stuff. For those wondering I put Aoi from Tokyo Majin Gakuen on the title. As for the title and URL of my blog, they refer to an emotional state that always intrigued me; the dissolution of identity and the gradual (usually under conditioning) assumption of another.
