B10[mg]

Sometimes you get bored and want to read some semi-interesting blog entries. Unfortunately, BoK's Blog isn't too interesting, so I decided to make it a little nicer for him.

My new Greasemonkey userscript, titled BoK Worthwhile, grabs a random LiveJournal entry and adds it on BoK's blog.

Now we have something interesting to read!

Update: here's a screenshot (the top post is the random LJ post, not BoK's):

NB: BoK, I was just bored and wanted to check out the AJAX possibilities in Greasemonkey user scripts ;-)

greasemonkey, user script, AJAX, BoK

Sometimes you get bored and want to read some semi-interesting blog entries. Unfortunately, BoK's Blog isn't too interesting, so I decided to make it a little nicer for him.

My new Greasemonkey userscript, titled BoK Worthwhile, grabs a random LiveJournal entry and adds it on BoK's blog.

Now we have something interesting to read!

Update: here's a screenshot (the top post is the random LJ post, not BoK's):

NB: BoK, I was just bored and wanted to check out the AJAX possibilities in Greasemonkey user scripts ;-)

greasemonkey, user script, AJAX, BoK

Greasemonkey is still cool, yet I haven't really paid attention to it lately.

Today I checked my account at userscripts.org and started browsing for new scripts. I came across Dont Require Email. The description of that script says:

Pre-fill a fake email address on WordPress / MT / TypePad comment forms

Fun, yet not good enough ;-) So I came up with PrEmail which takes "Dont Require Email" a little step further. Instead of limiting email fields in WordPress, MT and TypePad, my script "works" with all forms and fills in your email address like "user+domain@my.doma.in", so if my email address was bill@microsoft.com, filling out my comment form would give you "bill+menno.b10m.net@microsoft.com". Exactly what I need.

Go install it and test it at the test page

greasemonkey, user script, PrEmail

Greasemonkey is still cool, yet I haven't really paid attention to it lately.

Today I checked my account at userscripts.org and started browsing for new scripts. I came across Dont Require Email. The description of that script says:

Pre-fill a fake email address on WordPress / MT / TypePad comment forms

Fun, yet not good enough ;-) So I came up with PrEmail which takes "Dont Require Email" a little step further. Instead of limiting email fields in WordPress, MT and TypePad, my script "works" with all forms and fills in your email address like "user+domain@my.doma.in", so if my email address was bill@microsoft.com, filling out my comment form would give you "bill+menno.b10m.net@microsoft.com". Exactly what I need.

Go install it and test it at the test page

greasemonkey, user script, PrEmail

Today I received my "student card" for the new course I'll be following soon: Bahasa Indonesia (the Indonesian Language).

I promised my in-laws that I'd be speaking the language by the time I returned to Indonesia, so this is my first step. It is supposed to be a fairly easy language to learn, so let's hope I can do it (hey, I can read and understand Perl, so Bahasa Indonesia shouldn't be too hard ;-)

Finally a real reason to use Joffie's Learning words the nerdy way! (Terima kasih, Joffie!)

Bahasia Indonesia

In the past, I have praised Insipid already. It's a beautiful system to store your bookmarks in. The authors claim it's close to del.icio.us, yet I disagree, this is better ;-)

A little while ago, a new version came out, together with the Firefox extension and of course I had to check that out. Last night, I finally found time to do so and I must say I should've done it faster. The Firefox integration is just beautiful and awesome. No more need for bookmarklets!

insipid, del.icio.us

Paying attention to the CPAN uploads RSS feed sometimes leads you to nice things.

Not too long ago, I saw VOIP::VOIPBuster come by on that feed and it got my attention. I think I've seen VoipBuster before, yet never really looked into it.

The Perl module comes with a little script, called vbcall. This little tool allows you to start (limited) free international phone calls. I've tried a few national tests and the work fairly good!

Now only if I knew someone in Andorra, I could call them. Maybe I should call random Italian people, to congratulate them with the soccer world cup?

VOIP, VoipBuster, international phonecalls, VOIP::VOIPBuster, Perl

Paying attention to the CPAN uploads RSS feed sometimes leads you to nice things.

Not too long ago, I saw VOIP::VOIPBuster come by on that feed and it got my attention. I think I've seen VoipBuster before, yet never really looked into it.

The Perl module comes with a little script, called vbcall. This little tool allows you to start (limited) free international phone calls. I've tried a few national tests and the work fairly good!

Now only if I knew someone in Andorra, I could call them. Maybe I should call random Italian people, to congratulate them with the soccer world cup?

VOIP, VoipBuster, international phonecalls, VOIP::VOIPBuster, Perl

Nu.nl is probably the best Dutch news site, and one of the reasons that I don't need a newspaper. The site is moving fast, multiple new items are added all the time, so the site is pretty dynamic.

Dynamic content can give some unexpected results, which are rather funny though. Take for instance the article about McDonalds' removal of offending urinals.

Translation:

McDonalds removes controversial urinals

HEERLEN - The McDonalds establishment at the Breukerweg in Heerlen removes the urinals that are shaped like an opened female mouth. That happened after complaints of a shocked American to the Executive Board of the fastfood concern about the urinals, that look like wide opened bright red lips.

Obviously, the Mick Jagger picture on the right (linking to a story on the Rolling Stones' new tour) is not the best image to put there ;-)

Nu.nl is probably the best Dutch news site, and one of the reasons that I don't need a newspaper. The site is moving fast, multiple new items are added all the time, so the site is pretty dynamic.

Dynamic content can give some unexpected results, which are rather funny though. Take for instance the article about McDonalds' removal of offending urinals.

Translation:

McDonalds removes controversial urinals

HEERLEN - The McDonalds establishment at the Breukerweg in Heerlen removes the urinals that are shaped like an opened female mouth. That happened after complaints of a shocked American to the Executive Board of the fastfood concern about the urinals, that look like wide opened bright red lips.

Obviously, the Mick Jagger picture on the right (linking to a story on the Rolling Stones' new tour) is not the best image to put there ;-)

[Prague is the] prettiest gem in the stone crown of the world...
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I have to agree with Goethe here. Prague is simply beautiful, but I haven't seen all the other gems in the stone crown of the world, so I won't be that firm about it.

Anyways, yes, my honeymoon in Prague was wonderful. We planned around 5 days there and I feared that would be too many. Yet I haven't been bored there at all and haven't even seen everything. Of course we've seen the highlights, such as the Old Town with its' Astronomical Clock, the Charles Bridge which connects the Lesser Quarter to the Old and New Town (which contains the Wenceslas Square with the National Museum at the end of the square (it's really rectangular, not a perfect square ;-)) But of course we've also seen the Prague Castle with its' magnificent St Vitus Cathedral.

But the highlight (to me) was (again), the Sedlec Ossuary in Kutna Hora. Very bizarre! The fine art made out of human bones is just marvelous to see.

I did notice Prague got (more) expensive though. When I first got there, you could get half a liter of Pilsner Urquell for about one, two guilders (roughly half to one euro). Now you would pay two to almost three euro for it. Still cheaper than The Netherlands, yet the bars seem to have embraced the expensive euro and taken full adventage of it. Luckilly a somewhat decent chinese meal would only cost you two euro.

And of course it was awesome to hear the famous greeting, used very often by Borat: Jak se mas!

Feel free to look at my pictures (and yes, I did buy an Ushanka ;-)

Prague, Sedlec Ossuary

Being the 30^th of June my birthday, I invited my family over to celebrate this somewhat happy occasion (yeah, one year closer to my death, yay!). And the good part about birthday parties: presents!

Since I lost my never ending wishlist (I always knew a million things when I was a kid), it's extremely hard to find nice gifts for me. But this year, my dad decided it was time for me to get some work done myself (so he doesn't have to come over for everything ;-) So he bought me a hammer-drill and cordless screwdriver!

Call me Tim -the toolman- Taylor or whatever you like, but these testosterone level raising tools are just awesome. After the family was gone, I started drilling holes straight away (to put the towel hanger-thingy on the bathroom wall). After succeeding, I felt the urge to go hunting and eat raw meat.

But luckily my wife appreciates the less masculine and true nerd side of me too, by giving me the TFT monitor :-)

Almost 3 months after my (first) marriage in Indonesia, we finally go on our honeymoon (yay!). Since my beloved wife has been everywhere already, except for Prague, Czech Republic, we will hang out in the city for about a week.

I have been there once before and can't wait to go back. The city is (or at least was, when I was there) really beautiful and fun. Can't wait to take pictures of the Sedlec Ossuary!

So, for about a week, don't expect much updates. Well ... Prague has many semi-decent Internet Cafes, so who knows ;-)

... but since I leave the country, my server will probably break down, as usual