technology
Mobinil is encouraging mobile phone users to recycle their old batteries. The company will give a 5 EGP Alo prepaid card or a gift in exchange for your old mobile battery. From a press release: - MobiNil has committed itself to creating a collection system for used batteries, which are then shipped to specialized plants in the UK and Europe for safe recycling.
This is a very good step. If you do care about recycling then please do give them your old batteries. Also given that we have about 13 million mobile phone user, this is a step in the right direction.
Submitted by alaa on Fri, 18/11/2005 - 13:36.
in the past few months the load on the server was so high we could never serve everyone who wanted to visit the website, it was always down or too slow on rush hours, after moving the aggregator to a new codebase things are working fine, we sometimes see 600 visitors on a single hour.
what this means we won't be able to measure the true popularity of this website until the end of december when a month has passed with the new setup.
but it is still interesting to look at server logs from time to time, specially after we won that BOB.
last time I analyzed server logs was on June 2005, here is a quick analysis of October 2005 logs.
in the last move I misconfigured apache, the logs do not contain referral or user agent info which means I can't filter out bots and spam accurately this time, so I'm just extrapolating here, as with any log analysis take this with a grain of slat.
there are some surprises when one compares June and October.
Quick Analysis of Manalaa.net October 2005 traffic
Hits
- Successful GET hits
- 839412
- Successful POST hits
- 14987
- Other successful hits
- 2508
we got 1.5 times the number of hits we got on June not bad.
Pyramid sites in the Nile delta on a google map. With photos. read more
Everyone should browse the Egyptian Patent Office website. It is a goldmine. In a few minutes I found out some extremely retarded entries. In an exceptionally bad site. Honey treats everything: - HONEY KILLS THE BACTERIA THAT CAUSE CHOLERA TYPHOID BACILLARY DYSENTRY AND DIPHTHERIA AND THE FUNGUS WHICH CAUSE TINEA PEDIS AND CAN BE USED IN TREATMENT OF THESE DISEASES.
link A multipurpose time machine: - MULTI-PURPOSE TIME CONTROLE MACHINE.
link A patent for what seems to be a modified game of handball for the disabled. Here is a copy and paste of the text, guess who is the retard:
Building a BlueSniper Rifle Bluetooth Hacking Author: Humphrey Cheung Introduction Watching the news these past few weeks, you would think that hackers have taken over our cellphones. From the Paris Hilton phone hack (which was not Bluetooth-based), to the unintentional release of Fred Durst's (from the band Limp Bizkit) sex video - Wireless security has been thrust into the limelight. The proliferation of Bluetooth devices has made wireless communications easy and the Bluetooth group wants you to believe that this technology is safe from hackers. However, the guys from Flexilis, a wireless think-tank based in Los Angeles, beg to differ and they have a big freakin gun to "voice" their opinions.
Figure 1: John Hering from Flexilis, with the new BlueSniper Rifle
(Click image to enlarge)
Egblogle is search engine that searches the Egyptian blogosphere only. It is powered by feedster and manalaa OPML file, it searches newly added blogs. Example searches: read more
| | | How do they make the impossible happen in movies and make it look totally real? For example: - In the movie ET, how did they make it look completely real when the boys' bicycles began flying?
- In the movie Star wars, how did they make it look completely real when Luke flew his X-wing fighter down the trench of the Death Star with Twin Ion Engine fighters in close pursuit? The X-wing fighter, TIE fighters and the trench were all models...
- In the movie Return on the jedi , how did they make it look completely real when Leia and Luke were flying at 100 mph on their speeder bike through the forest?
- In the movie "Back to the future", how did they make it look completely real when the DeLorean car took off and started flying down a suburban street?
- Even on the Tv news every night, how do they make it look completely real when the weatherperson is standing in front of an animated weather map full of computer graphics?
In all of these cases, the illusion is created by a special effects technique known as traveling matte or blue screen. This technique allows actors and scale models to find themselves in totally imaginary situations -- in space ships, dangling from rope bridges over gorges, flying through the air (a la Superman) -- and have it look completely real in the theater. The technique is used so often now that you don't even realize it. News reporters are made to look like they are on location when they are not, and complete segments in TV shows can be created this way to make it look like the segment was filmed on location when, in fact, no one left Los Angeles. In this article, you will learn all about the blue screen technique so you can see how all of these different scenes are actually created. |
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Why are traffic lights Red, Yellow and Green? Color is a silent language that affects our behavioral response in our daily lives. It can also be a learned response that can cause us to respond in a certain way based on our cultural background. For example, what would you think of a man in a pink outfit, underwear or shoes? A learned response is also responsible for the color preferences that we have through our experience of past events in our daily social life. A behavioral response on the other hand happens naturally without us being aware of it. For example, the color red can heighten our perception of danger just by seeing it - the color of blood. It can also cause sensations of excitement and warmth - which is a color used to express love such as valentines day and the red heart to represent love. Nevertheless, with regards to the traffic light, we all know that from our everyday experience - a learned response - that a red light means “STOP“ (and I really have to assume this since some people always fly across this red light at traffic intersection to the detriment of others), a yellow ( or amber) light means “ SLOW DOWN” - approach with caution and prepare to stop while green light means “GO” - if it is safe to do so. This weeks article will answer the question above and don’t go feeling that you know or have the answer (idea) to this question based on what you just read! How It All StartedThe colors used by automobile traffic light system was originally adopted from the color code system used by railroad engineers as a traffic signal devised to control the trains on the railroad. This color system was used on railroads to prevent fatal train collisions and thus this traffic signal device was implemented to reduce train collisions by providing trains with advance warning of danger. The first choice of color that was selected to be used by the rail road engineers to represent a stop signal was the color red. This color - the color of blood - was selected because it symbolizes danger or warning thus, it was logically the most likely choice to get the attention of anyone. It sends the message that if ignored, there could be very serious consequences such as serious injuries or death. Therefore this color was selected to symbolize the signal stop. For the other two colors, railway traffic light being a new system at the time, railroad engineers experimented with the colors green which was the color for "caution" and white (clear) which was the color for "go". However, in the 1830s, these traffic signals lights were colored by using red, green and clear filters. Due to the use of these filters some very serious train collisions would occur. This problem would stem from the fact that the street lights, distant stars, glare of the sunlight and other lights could easily be mistaken for the “go” light. In addition to this, sometimes the red filter of a "stop" traffic signal would fall out leaving the bulb emitting white light which in a sense would be signaling the message “go”. To correct this problem engineers made modifications where red light would be the signal “stop”, yellow light “caution” and green “go”. This move solved the problem of filters falling out. Whenever a white light signal is seen this indicates that something is wrong with its signal lamp and it needs to be corrected right away. Traffic officials during the horse and buggy days, were facing heavy traffic in big cities which put great pressure on police officers who had to be stationed full time directing traffic at busy intersections. In addition to this, the situation was about to become worse with the coming of automobiles. Due to the fact that the railroad traffic color system worked so well with the railroad system, it was readily adopted for automobile traffic light system. This adoption came through a police officer name William Potts of Detroit, of Michigan. He came up with an idea to rectify this problem by using the railroad traffic signal system. This he achieved by using the same scheme of colors of the railroad traffic and using wires and electrical controls to make the world’s first 4-way three color traffic light. This was installed in Detroit (on the corner of Woodward and Michigan Avenues) in 1920. During this time, African American Garrett Augustus Morgan (1877-1963), seeing the need of a control traffic flow invented the electric automatic traffic light. This was installed in Cleveland, Ohio in 1914 and had only two lights: red and green. However, the yellow light was added after the need for a "caution" light became crucial for the traffic signal to serve its purpose effectively. This set the foundation on which modern four-way traffic lights are built. Garrett Augustus Morgan also invented the gas mask, in the early 1900s which was used by firemen and also by soldiers in World War I. Did you know?
Color blindnessIn order to help support people with red-green color blindness, red light contains some amount of orange in its hue, and the green light contains some amount of blue. This helps to identify the red and green light.
How Lock Picking Works? Most people carry five to 10 keys with them whenever they go out. On your key ring you might have several keys for the house, one or two more for the car and a few for the office or a friend's house. Your key ring is a clear demonstration of just how ubiquitous lock technology is: You probably interact with locks dozens of times every week. The main reason we use locks everywhere is that they provide us with a sense of security. But in movies and on television, spies, detectives and burglars can open a lock very easily, sometimes using only a couple of paper clips. This is a sobering thought, to say the least: Is it really possible for someone to open a lock so easily? In this article, we'll look at the very real practice of lock picking, exploring the fascinating technology of locks and keys in the process.
Space Elevators Your Ticket to Orbit When the Space Shuttle Columbia lifted off on April 12, 1981, from Kennedy Space Center, Fla., to begin the first space shuttle mission, the dream of a reusable spacecraft was realized. Since then, NASA has launched more than 100 missions, but the price tag of space missions has changed little. Whether it is the space shuttle or the non-reusable Russian spacecraft, the cost of a launch is approximately $10,000 per pound ($22,000 per kg). While the space shuttle is reusable, missions are still very infrequent and expensive, with each launch costing an estimated half a billion dollars. A new space transportation system being developed could make travel to Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) a daily event and transform the global economy.
Photo courtesy LiftPort Group
The lifter, seen in this artist's concept, will be able to carry as much as 13 tons of cargo into space, propelled by laser beams.
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What do black holes eat?
Left image shows more than 300 star-forming regions [the white spots] in the central portion of NGC 1097. The bright spot in the center is where a super-massive black hole lurks. Infrared image on the right shows the galaxy's central spiral [the dark channels] converging on the black hole. [Images: NACO/VLT]
NGC 1097, a spiral galaxy about 45 million light years from Earth, glows relatively brightly at its centre in visible and X-ray wavelengths. That suggests a black hole is devouring surrounding gas and dust there, but the glare from nearby stars has overwhelmed any detailed images of the process.
Now, astronomers have used one of the VLT's four 8-metre telescopes to take near-infrared images of matter whirling towards the galaxy's heart.
They made the observation using adaptive optics, a software technique that corrects for the blurring effect of the Earth's atmosphere. Then they subtracted the bright light from stars in the region to reveal dim spiral arms of dust and gas streaming to within a few tens of light years of the black hole's mouth. Scroll down for additional images.
Was responsible for many bruises I have right now. Today, windsurfing was fantastic, but really harsh for me. I returned home exhausted, fatigued and discovered a good number of bruises. Anna should have docked in front of the Manesterly palace today. She is a Greenpeace sail boat, originally built in 1901, staying 3 days in Cairo to raise awareness about climate change. Will we see the millennia old Nile valley looking like this, providing renewable and clean energy sources to help our development ? read more
Submitted by alaa on Sun, 14/08/2005 - 00:59.
الموضوع ده بدأ بتعليق عند بنت مصرية على مشروعها ايجيتوبيا
ألف كان كتب تدوينة عن الويكي زمااااااااان و برضه الكبير كبير
ايه هو الويكي
ده نظام لنشر و ادارة المحتوى على الوب (زي البلوج كده ماهو نظام لنشر و ادارة المحتوى برضه) له سمات خاصة شوية.
فكرة الويكي أن أي حد ممكن يعدل و يحرر أي صفحة، يعني كلنا بنعدل على شغل بعد، النظرية هي أن محصلة المعرفة و الخبرة بتاعت المجموع أكبر بكتير من الفرد. نفس المبدأ اللي أثبت نجاحه أسلوب تطوير برمجيات حرة و مفتوحة المصدر كتير.
يعني تصور مثلا أنك بتقرأ صفحة و لقيت غلطة في معلومة، أو حتى غلطة في اللغة أو لقيت عندك حاجة اضافية عاوز تضيفها أو تنظيم جديد أفضل للمعلومات، لو دي ويكي تقدر تعدل و تعمل كل التغييرات دي. بس ممكن طبعا تخرب برضه، أو ممكن اللي في رأيك أفضل يكون في رأي غيرك أسوأ.
اللي بيمنع الويكي من الانهيار و الفوضي هو أنها بتخزن تاريخ الصفحة بالكامل، يعنى مش بس ممكن أقرأ الصورة النهائية، ممكن كمان أقرأ الصفحة كان شكلها عامل ازاي امبارح و مين اللي عدل و عدل ايه بالضبط.
بدل الويكي ما تمنعك من التخريب بتخلي التخريب ما لوش تأثير فعلي لأن ممكن في أي لحظة نقول رجع الصفحة لشكلها أول امبارح مثلا.
Submitted by alaa on Mon, 11/07/2005 - 12:52.
بعض المدونات بها مشاكل تمنعها من الظهور في مجمع المدونات، شرح طبيعة هذه المشاكل موضوع طويل يتطلب شرح يعني ايه web و html و xml و atom و rss و شرح لأهمية المعايير القياسية على الوب
يمكن أكتب حاجة مبسطة في الكلام ده كله بعدين المهم دلوقتي أنه كل اللي بيكتب في برنامج Microsoft Word و برنامج مشابه و بعدين يعمل copy and paste في مدونته بيخرب مدونته لأن مبرمجي ماكروسوفت ولاد وسخة مش فارق معاهم المعايير و مصممين يبوظوا الوب و يخرتئوها
اللي عاوز يعرف اذا كانت تلقيمته (feed) مطابقة للمعايير ولا لأ ممكن يستخدم feed validator
و دي مجرد عينة، هتلاقوا كل المشاكل من tags زي o:p و st:city و حاجات زي كده اختراعات من عند مايكروزفت
على قد ما المشكلة بسبب برامج مايكروسوفت برضه كان ممكن blogspot تحوشها عنكم كل أدوات التدوين المحترمة بتساعد الواحد يطلع كود مقبول و تفلتر البلاوي بتاعت مايكروسوفت
Submitted by alaa on Mon, 04/07/2005 - 20:40.
now I usually enjoy inflating my ego, being told my blog is important sure is flattering but watching EgyptianSandMonkey taught me a bit of humility, if I let my ego run free I'm bound to get delusional.
so in the interest of painting a realistic picture I decided to analyze my webbrowser logs.
I usually don't do that, I only look at performance metrics but I had to know how popular is manalaa.
I used a couple of loganalysis tools, did not like the way they work and decided to count on my own, if anyone is interested in knowing what analog and webalizer had to say about it just ask.
Quick Analysis of Manalaa.net June 2005 traffic
Hits
- Successful GET Hits
- 542509
- Successful POST Hits
- 6862
- Other Successful Hits
- 938
Submitted by alaa on Sun, 22/05/2005 - 07:34.
Three of my 8 Free Drupal Hosting subscribers have
launched their sites, ladies and gentlemen please check
I expect at least 2 more to be ready soon, after exams I'll migrate
the other websites I host to this new platform.
but most bloggers refuse to move because they want their old blogspot
content to move with them, I got good news for you folks I think I
have a solution to migrating from blogspot to drupal,
its a matter of writing a template to generates php code that will
Submitted by alaa on Fri, 13/05/2005 - 05:51.
So while the free drupal hosting service we are running on manalaa was not a spectacular success we got 5 subscribers ya3ni the service is useful.
thought I'd tell you about the features in drupal (sad attempt at PR ya3ni).
you can test all these features at the demo site.
At Manalaa (TM) You have the power to
CREATE
- Blogs
- Image galleries
- Discussion forums
- Polls
- Surveys
- Event calendar and send invitations
- Create your own content types and forms (book or movie reviews)
- Books with hierarchical organization
CONTROL
- Categorize your content (unlimited categories and hierarchies)
- Selective unpublishing of contents (no need to permanently delete content)
Submitted by alaa on Fri, 15/04/2005 - 20:13.
After the initial frustration with the lists of Open WiFi hotspots I decided to compile my own list.
originally I planned to merge all the various lists then start confirming them one by one, el mohem طلعت الشتيمة بتجيب نتيجة I recieved an email from some wayout employee telling me that they do update their list and that all discrepancies are due to an enthusiastic employee listing hospots that are still under construction (we all know how difficult it is to plug a dlink router) or due to spelling mistakes.
their new updated list now indicates which spots are still in planning (I asked in 3 places that are on the plan, the people there where not aware, well maybe there is value in surprise wifi).
Submitted by alaa on Sat, 26/02/2005 - 02:25.
طب أنا عاوز أفهم هوا احنا غية عندنا البضينة، يعنى مينفعش نعمل ام أى حاجة مزبوط ابدا، و حتى لما نعمل حاجة حلوة لازم نطلع ميتين الخلق كأننا بنمن عليهم. سيبك بقى من أيمن نور و الريس و التعليم و العراق و كل الحاجات الصعبة دى، نفسى كده فى حاجة بسيطة بس تتعمل مظبوط من الأول للأخر.
طب بلاش دى، سيبنا من دى، حد يقوللى ايه اللى صعب فى اننا نعمل أم website يبقى المعلومات الى فيه كاملة و مظبوطة، يعنى البتوع اللى فى EGLUG دول مش بشر مثلا، ماهوم عيال صيع زيهم زى أى حد تانى بس عارفين يعملوا صفحة، مش فكاكة هية.
Submitted by alaa on Thu, 13/05/2004 - 10:19.
SlashDotInterview turned out to be a great success, Alaa is a famous guy now, everyone loves him, this time there was almost no racism (we must have misjudged slashdotters then) and very few trolls even though we got 530+ comments. Alaa met wonderful people, made new friends, got invited to Orkut and we did not get slashdotted.
The Interview
Submitted by alaa on Wed, 05/05/2004 - 10:19.
Yay Alaa is famous; slashdot is doing an interview with him http://interviews.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/05/05/1354234 .
Man look at the racist comments, we never could stomach slashdot, the trick ?MadFarmAnimalz tells us is to browse at +5!!!.
Anyway this is the first time we expose ourselves to racism (is this how it feels to be black, female, homosexual, jewish, copt, palestinian.... hell its probably even worse), but what scares us the most is how misinformed slashdotters are,maybe we should start a ?SlashDottersGuideToEgypt one day.
come to think of it this is probably a good idea, I doubt you can find a photo of an ?EgyptianBus or an ?EgyptianClassRoom on the web.
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