Blograscheln Dec 2008

Downtown Montreal

Camera: Sony Ericsson K770i
Exposure: 1/8 s, Mode: Auto, F2.5
Flash: No, compulsory

Mont Royal

Camera: Sony Ericsson K770i
Exposure: 1/8 s, Mode: Auto, F2.5
Flash: No, compulsory

Downgrading from KDE 4 to KDE 3

I have been using KDE 4 for some months now, but a couple of days ago it simply could not take it anymore. It simply unbearably slow on some crucial things like ALT-F2, and to add insult to injury, everything seems to be made more gnome-ish but more unusuable. The last straw was trying to add a launcher for Opera onto the main panel, and ending up instead with my KDE menu un-moveable on the right edge of the main panel next to the clock (I will skip the details). So, downgrade time! I had installed the KDE 4 packages from the experimental repository and had added an entry to the /etc/apt/preferences, so that packages once installed from experimental would be included on apt-get upgrades, like this:

Package: *
Pin: release a=experimental
Pin-Priority: 101

A quick Google reminded me of how to downgrade in Debian: I added an entry for the normal unstable with an elevated priority:

Package: *
Pin: release a=unstable
Pin-Priority: 1001

And after that, it was a simple matter of cycling through apt-get (dist-)upgrade and apt-get -f install until all packages where downgraded and their dependencies resolved. A apt-show-versions -b |grep /experimental provided me with a list of packages that remained to be removed manually. Finally, I had to apt-get install kde-base to have the KDE choice in KDM again, and I had my old KDE back- even the config remained intact, KDE 4 on Debian uses ~/.kde4. The only thing I miss is Dolphin and the nice integration on removable media.

Fixed comments

Comments now work without giving an error when you leave out the E-Mail address. Furthermore, the notification mail is actually delivered.

Garage

Camera: Sony Ericsson K770i
Exposure: 1/8 s, Mode: Auto, F2.5
Flash: No, compulsory

Rachel & Clark

Camera: Sony Ericsson K770i
Exposure: 1/8 s, Mode: Auto, F2.5
Flash: No, compulsory

Eis am Fenster

Was erkennst Du für Figuren?

Camera: Sony Ericsson K770i
Exposure: 1/100 s, Mode: Auto, F2.5
Flash: No, compulsory

Ice

After a quit dip above zero degrees the pavements are partially covered by 5-10cm thick solid ice.

Camera: Sony Ericsson K770i
Exposure: 1/8 s, Mode: Auto, F2.5
Flash: No, compulsory

Moccachino

Camera: Sony Ericsson K770i
Exposure: 1/20 s, Mode: Auto, F2.5
Flash: No, compulsory

Bagel Classique

avec soupe du jour (tomate, boeuf et bl&eaigu noir) (chez Fairmount Bagels & Coffee sur Av. Mont-Royal)

Camera: Sony Ericsson K770i
Exposure: 1/30 s, Mode: Auto, F2.5
Flash: No, compulsory

Car...

... that has not been used for three days.

Camera: Sony Ericsson K770i
Exposure: 1/250 s, Mode: Auto, F2.5
Flash: No, compulsory

Molson Stadium

Camera: Sony Ericsson K770i
Exposure: 1/3200 s, Mode: Auto, F2.5
Flash: No, compulsory

Rue St-Dominique & Pins

Analog photo, scanned by Noritsu Koki QSS

Piano

Analog photo, scanned by Noritsu Koki QSS

Avenue du Mont-Royal

You can make out the olympic stadium.

Analog photo, scanned by Noritsu Koki QSS

View from my Window

Analog photo, scanned by Noritsu Koki QSS

First Glimpse at Montreal from the Flybus

Analog photo, scanned by Noritsu Koki QSS

Way home

Camera: Sony Ericsson K770i
Exposure: 1/8 s, Mode: Auto, F2.5
Flash: No, compulsory

Hô'tel Dieu de Montr&eaigu;al

Camera: Sony Ericsson K770i
Exposure: 1/8 s, Mode: Auto, F2.5
Flash: No, compulsory

View from conference room

Camera: Sony Ericsson K770i
Exposure: 1/160 s, Mode: Auto, F2.5
Flash: No, compulsory

Espresso Macchiato

At Art Java, every coffee gets latte art.

Camera: Sony Ericsson K770i
Exposure: 1/10 s, Mode: Auto, F2.5
Flash: No, compulsory

McConnell Engineering Building

This is where I work.

Camera: Sony Ericsson K770i
Exposure: 1/100 s, Mode: Auto, F2.5
Flash: No, compulsory

Ice everywhere

Camera: Sony Ericsson K770i
Exposure: 1/200 s, Mode: Auto, F2.5
Flash: No, compulsory

Montreal Downtown

Camera: Sony Ericsson K770i
Exposure: 1/250 s, Mode: Auto, F2.5
Flash: No, compulsory

Snow Plow

These small ones go on the sideways (at amazing speed).

Camera: Sony Ericsson K770i
Exposure: 1/8 s, Mode: Auto, F2.5
Flash: No, compulsory

Houses in Montreal

Analog photo, scanned by Noritsu Koki QSS

Still cold

Nothing much happened- the snow thawed a bit (I wonder why, it has never been above zero degrees as far as I can see) and then froze again, with -14 degrees today- so everything is really icy and slippery. Sorry for the reappearing pictures, stupid subversion (rename=delete+readd) + stupid user who forgot that. There is a new post that was causing the broken blog (now 'fixed') before them.

Rue St-Urbain

In front of the house I live this month.

Camera: Sony Ericsson K770i
Exposure: 1/8 s, Mode: Auto, F2.5
Flash: No, compulsory

Montreal Downtown

Camera: Sony Ericsson K770i
Exposure: 1/8 s, Mode: Auto, F2.5
Flash: No, compulsory

McGill University - Molson Stadium

Camera: Sony Ericsson K770i
Exposure: 1/8 s, Mode: Auto, F2.5
Flash: No, compulsory

Rue Saint-Denis, Montreal

Camera: Sony Ericsson K770i
Exposure: 1/200 s, Mode: Auto, F2.5
Flash: No, compulsory

Java U

On Rue Saint-Denis

Camera: Sony Ericsson K770i
Exposure: 1/15 s, Mode: Auto, F2.5
Flash: No, compulsory

Bagels in Space

Winter ist da! Und wie: -18 Grad Celsius sagt das Thermometer- dabei knallender Sonnenschein und fast kein Wind- also nicht so schlimm wie es sein koennte. Gestern hat es auch zum ersten Mal geschneit. Die mitgebrachte Kleidung hat sich bisher als ausreichend herausgestellt, einzig eine Maske fuers Gesicht werde ich bei Wind wohl noch kaufen :) Heute Mittag war ich mit Nicolas im Eaton-Center-Food-Court, danach einen Espresso Macchiato (mit Latte Art) in der Downtown-Filiale von Art Java - die sich direkt in der Naehe des McGill Campus befindet (oh oh, schon mein dritter Besuch nach zweien am Wochendende in der anderen Filiale). Am Wochenende habe ich mich die meiste Zeit im Plateau und im Mile-End rumgetrieben, versucht recherchierte Laeden zu finden und andere entdeckt. Ich war im Café Olympico und in den verschiedenen Bagel-Shops. Es gibt unzaehlige Cafés und Second-Hand-Buecherlaeden hier, und ich habe mir Cryptonomicron gekauft um es diesmal wirklich durchzulesen. Nachdem ich eine moegliche zukuenftige Bude (die momentane hab ich nur fuer Dezember) besucht habe, hab ich meinen ersten Film entwickeln lassen - am Sonntag, in einer Stunde, ich konnte ihn noch um 17h abholen UND die Scans haben eine hohe Aufloesung. Und schliesslich: meine Versuche im Franzoesisch-Sprechen werden immer oefter auch beantwortet- wenn man zoegert oder nachfragt, wird sofort auf Englisch umgeschaltet und man hat seine Chance vertan.

Weather, Food + Internet

Weather: After my first day to the university I immediately started feeling a cold coming up- seems the climate is really something to adapt to. The first days were cloudy and much like the weather back in Bielefeld, but today we had blue sky, with temperatures falling below zero again and a bit of snow falling on the way home.

Food: At lunchtime, I had to face the problem of getting food in the University for the first time- the on-campus food is apparently really bad and everyone brings their own food or goes to a restaurant. On Wednesdays (my first day), the SRL group orders Thai food from "Cuisine Bangkok" (yum!). The only one really nearby is a Libanese fast food shop, so I went there and had couscous with vegetables- yum. This will burn my money fast, I fear.

Internet: The long way home:

From the university (ssh feels sluggish)

traceroute to xxx.techfak.uni-bielefeld.de (129.70.133.xx), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
 1  142.157.xx.x (142.157.xx.x)  1.632 ms  1.824 ms  1.963 ms                               
 2  132.216.xxx.xx (132.216.xxx.xx)  2.972 ms  3.312 ms  3.569 ms                           
 3  mcgill-gw-canet.risq.net (206.167.128.49)  3.897 ms  4.189 ms  5.049 ms                 
 4  mcgill-canet.dmtrl-rq.risq.net (132.202.32.89)  5.065 ms  5.294 ms  5.361 ms            
 5  c4.risq.net (132.202.80.50)  5.586 ms  6.065 ms  6.326 ms                               
 6  c4-mon01.canet4.net (205.189.32.226)  6.535 ms  1.758 ms  2.580 ms                      
 7  c4-tor01.canet4.net (205.189.32.17)  26.264 ms  26.880 ms  27.057 ms                    
 8  canarie.rt1.nyc.us.geant2.net (62.40.124.221)  114.782 ms  114.905 ms  115.462 ms       
 9  so-6-2-0.rt1.fra.de.geant2.net (62.40.112.57)  115.594 ms  116.340 ms  116.376 ms       
10  dfn-gw.rt1.fra.de.geant2.net (62.40.124.34)  125.919 ms  125.977 ms  126.218 ms         
11  zr-han1-te0-7-0-5.x-win.dfn.de (188.1.145.125)  138.579 ms  138.631 ms  139.141 ms      
12  xr-bie1-te2-1.x-win.dfn.de (188.1.145.10)  139.098 ms  136.642 ms  138.524 ms           
13  kr-uni-bielefeld.x-win.dfn.de (188.1.86.210)  137.632 ms  135.518 ms  136.193 ms        
14  * * *                                                                                   
15  * * *                                                                                   
16  xxx.techfak.uni-bielefeld.de (129.70.133.xx)  137.347 ms  141.863 ms  142.005 ms

From home

traceroute to xxx.techfak.uni-bielefeld.de (129.70.133.xx), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
 1  192.168.2.1 (192.168.2.1)  7.059 ms  7.432 ms  8.190 ms                                 
 2  bas16-montreal02_lo0_SYMP.net.bell.ca (64.230.197.43)  16.117 ms  16.859 ms  17.829 ms  
 3  dis23-montreal02_GE_7_8.net.bell.ca (64.230.171.249)  20.324 ms  20.729 ms  21.737 ms   
 4  core4-montreal02_gig12-2.net.bell.ca (64.230.170.137)  22.243 ms  23.002 ms  24.827 ms  
 5  core2-newyork83_pos8-0-0_core.net.bell.ca (64.230.207.154)  34.375 ms  37.204 ms  38.327 ms
 6  bx4-newyork83_pos_4_0_0.net.bell.ca (64.230.187.22)  40.009 ms  20.865 ms  19.837 ms       
 7  Telia-bx3-newyork83.net.bell.ca (64.230.187.2)  23.163 ms  23.529 ms  24.659 ms            
 8  nyk-bb2-link.telia.net (213.248.83.65)  25.611 ms  28.400 ms  29.065 ms                    
 9  ldn-bb2-pos7-1-0.telia.net (213.248.65.93)  101.590 ms  102.168 ms ldn-bb1-link.telia.net (80.91.249.248)  106.167 ms
10  hbg-bb1-link.telia.net (80.91.250.220)  122.234 ms hbg-bb2-link.telia.net (80.91.254.218)  123.065 ms  124.667 ms    
11  hbg-b2-link.telia.net (80.91.251.78)  127.837 ms  129.777 ms  130.910 ms                                             
12  dante-116543-hbg-b2-c.telia.net (213.248.69.34)  119.789 ms  111.598 ms  111.753 ms
13  zr-han1-te0-7-0-0.x-win.dfn.de (188.1.145.209)  119.150 ms  120.153 ms  119.472 ms
14  xr-bie1-te2-1.x-win.dfn.de (188.1.145.10)  124.136 ms  117.066 ms  118.777 ms
15  kr-uni-bielefeld.x-win.dfn.de (188.1.86.210)  122.689 ms  124.579 ms  124.156 ms
16  * * *
17  * * *
18  xxx.TechFak.Uni-Bielefeld.DE (129.70.133.xx)  118.123 ms  121.656 ms  130.717 ms

Arrived in Montreal

I arrived in Montreal on Monday. I am here for a research stay at the shared reality lab until the end of February. I will be getting to know the different projects of the group and decide on the topic of my diploma thesis. If you are in Montreal or have any hints on what to visit, where to drink coffee etc. please contact me!

Steffens Guitar

Analog photo, scanned by Fuji SLP800
Camera: FUJI PHOTO FILM CO., LTD. SLP800

Power Lines

Analog photo, scanned by Fuji SLP800
Camera: FUJI PHOTO FILM CO., LTD. SLP800