Computing English Course @ ULPGC

Algo Pequeñito :)

2010-05-30T12:54:00.003+01:00

Eurovision 2010 has finally ended, and I could not be happier about Spain's song

Even though it didn't win, in my opinion it should have been up with the top 4. I truly enjoyed Daniel's performance (as well as the dancers'!). What I did not enjoy though (but did laugh) was the stage invasion made by the Catalan spectator. I thought it was quite disrespectful to Daniel, but at least no physical harm was done.

It was nice to listen to a Spain song in Spanish, rather than so much English everywhere. So maybe not everyone understood the lyrics, but you can always look them up and have them translated!

How do you fall asleep?

2010-05-17T10:13:00.002+01:00

I don't know wether it happens to everybody, but sometimes I just lie on the bed for minutes, maybe hours, and I cannot sleep. Nowadays that's not happening to me that often. But some time ago I needed to read a lot or just wait. I also happens to me when I am starting to dream and someone/something makes me wake. I have tried counting sheeps, but it's quite boring to me, I prefer just counting, sometimes it works. I have other tricks, like imagining I am flying (it really relaxes me) or that everything I can see is white or black... They works usually but they are not 100 percent accurate hehe.
Do you have any trick or method to sleep?
That is the reason I posted this, I was surfing the Internet and I found this:

Ada's translation:

while Still_Awake (Me) loop
Sheep := Sheep + 1;
end loop;

P.S.: Maybe this is the last time I write here so goodbye to everybody and have a nice Summer.

Euthanasia for youngsters

2010-05-10T10:11:00.001+01:00

A few days ago, I was talking to my mother about euthanasia, and I asked her not to let me live in a coma, relying on artificial machines and fluids which would come out from a bottle. If I were in such an state, I'd rather she unplugged me - I guess I'd be better off dead.

After I had said that, my mother got up, and she unplugged my TV, my DVD player, my PC, my MP3/MP4 player, my PlayStation 2, my PSP, my Wii and my telephone. Then she took my mobile phone, my iPod, my BlackBerry and all my cans of beer from me.

I almost snuffed it that day.

Thanks to Gazmira, who sent me this text. I hope it's fictional.

Frustrations

2010-05-03T20:28:00.003+01:00

Even though all of us know that computers can be rather annoying, there are some times when we end up just puzzled. What would you think if you came across any of these?

You might not want to read all of these.

Quite the Zen error message, isn't it?

And he shall smite the wicked!

I must be missing something here.

If I thought I knew the meaning of "exceed", I still had to check it once more.

Password complexity at its finest.

I'd definitely love to have such an screen!

Password complexity at its finest (2).

Still waiting to know which files are missing though.

Next time I'll choose "C:\Program Files (x86)\Visual Studio 8" instead. That's definitely shorter.

I guess sometimes the best answer is not to answer at all

I'd definitely like to.

So as I said, computers always manage to find ways to surprise us. Period.

Chuck

2010-04-26T20:53:00.000+01:00

Chuck is a comedy T.V show for lovers of anything geek or spy/action stuff. Because basically it’s a combination of geeky computer type stuff, super spy action, ninja moves that look like combo moves from Tekken, really hot girls ninja fighting, a really cute geeky guy who is just really cute, and hilarious comedy that makes me wonder why all shows aren’t written as well.
The plot? A great one. Basically, a cute guy who works at a low class job, The Nerd Herd in a BuyMore, gets a super computer in his head after he sees all these pictures encrypted with government secrets. Now, he is in a constant state of fear as he has to help the government catch all these bad guys and make sure he himself isn’t killed.
A very good show.
You should watched it.

Serj Tankian

2010-04-26T20:07:00.004+01:00

Hi and good afternoon to everybody again. Today, I won't speak about videogames or philosophical ideals(like I always did), Today I will speak about one of my favourite singers in the world: the libanist with armenian origin Serj Tankian, who was born in August of 1967.
Serj was in his time the vocalist of a group called "System Of a Down", a rock music group which succedeed between 2000-2005. The group, which was originally for USA, had the particularity that no one of their components was american, all of their were of Armenian origin(The vocalist: Serj Tankian, The guitarists: Daron Malakian and Shavo Odadijian and the Drummer: John Dolmayan).The group succeeded practicaly in all entire world, with a original style and polemic letters(like in songs "She is Like Heroine" or "Violent Pornography") but also letters that questioned you some concepts of our world today(for example "Question!" and "Dreaming").

Serj migrated to USA when he was 5 years old because of money problems with his family. In the school, he met his frien Daron Malakian. With him, he forms the group "Soil" with another childhood friend, but this friend suicide a few months later. 3 years later, Daron and Serj met the other componemts of System of a Down(SOAD) and form the grop. In their first disc, Serj called one of the songs "Soil" in honor to his suicide friend.

SOAD took 5 great disc: SOAD(1998), Toxicity(2001), Steal this Album!(2002), Hypnotize(2005) and Mezmerize(2005), caracterized all of them for a incredible stylesheet and a perfect harmony between all the instruments of the band.

With the time, Serj and Daron falled out between their and broke the band in 2006. Consequentelly, Serj public a disc like solist: "Elect the Dead"(2007) but he do not lost his particular syle to see the music: some polemic letters(like "empty walls") and others that could take you to reflex and send an applause to Serj ("Saving us" is a great example). In september, he will put in sale his second solo album "Imperfect Harmonies" wich will mix jazz, rock and orchestra.
Some rumors said that the group of SOAD could be reunite soon, but his second solo album confirm that the return of SOAD should be wait a little time more. Personally, I will be glad if the group will reunite soon, but I must recognize that Serj is a Genius even he work alone

Nothing more people, I will put you here a video of SOAD and a video of his solo album "Elect The dead" to check by yourselves if is best alone or in group. See you soon, guys!

Serj in SOAD:

Serj Alone:

When you feel bad , just read this...

2010-04-26T19:43:00.002+01:00

Have you ever felt a mix between sadness and anger? Sometimes it happens to me. I use to think It's a transition between complain and step towards change those things that make you feel bad.
The problem arises when you don't know how to face this sensation, It comes at this short moment in which everything is dark and you just want to cry and let your life pass by with no sense.
Well, dear friend, waste your time crying is not the solution, sometimes it helps you to let off steam but, only crying, you won't change those things you don't like in your life.
Don't complain , Don't give up. Those things are typical of people that are affraid of themselves , people that don't know themselves.
The real strenght lies in the actions. You should do everything that is necessary to feel better: put your ideas in order and regard some different perspectives. These actions will help you realize that any problem you have is not so important to make you feel bad.
Get up, wash your face and go on. Learn about yourself, your limits and break them.
Just remember something: if you know yourself better than nobody does, you'll get the victory in any battle.
You are worth as much as you value yourself.

Why??

2010-04-14T21:49:00.003+01:00

Why have you decided to study computer science?
I create this entry, because I would like to know why you are studying computer science.
In my case I decided to study computer science because since I was a young child (5 or 6 years old). I was interested in computers.

Please, tell me your story.

Puzzle No. 6

2010-04-14T19:42:00.011+01:00

Last time, it was Dany who said the correct solution: the only way to avoid the garlic's smell was putting the two corks in the nose of our friend!! Congratulations to Dany for finding out the solution so quickly!

But now, the level of the puzzles will become difficult and harder to think. Are you ready for puzzle number six? Ok, let's go then:
If I give you this succession of numbers:

4 - 16 - 37 - 58 - ?- 145 - 42 - 20 - 4 - 16...

Could you tell me which is the number that must be putted when the question mark(?) is?

Clue: The Series ends in "20" and restarts again in "4".

Remember to think hard and do not look the answer!!!

Super Mario Bros: 29 Years of Fun!

2010-04-14T16:33:00.007+01:00

Hello and good afternoon to everyone again. Today I will speak about one of the most famous videogames characters: The Mario Brothers
First I will speak about the red-man whose name is Mario. Mario made his firts appearance in 1981 in the Videogame "Donkey Kong" for arcade machines in Japan(later will be converted in a NES(Nintendo Entertaiment System) game(the first videoconsole of Nintendo) and in a remake of that game for Game Boy Advance in 2005 under the name "Nintendo NES Clasics for GBA: Donkey Kong Arcade". In that first game, Mario isn't name Mario, his name was "Jump man", which objective was rescue the princess for the Monkey Donkey Kong attack. A lot of time passed before that game and changes were arraving with all Mario's games sagas. In 1985, Mario come back to the NES with the game "Super Mario Bros". In that game, which belong to platform cathegory, was the cuase of the great fame that this character has today. The objective of that first great game was easy: jump in levels to allow all the obstacles you had in the level(like platforms, disparitys, enemies, etc to rescue the Princess Peach at the end of game. This thematic, that may cause recurrence, was an incredible success that be successfull in all the world in a little bit of time.

Years later, NES and SNES(Super Nintendo Entertaiment System) got consequences in form of "Super Mario Bros 2", "Super Mario Bros 3" and the "Super Mario Land" arc. Even today, videoconsoles like NDS(Nintendo Developer System) and Wii have consequences of that games of the 80's like "New Super Mario Bros" and "New Super Mario Bros Wii".
But of course, the success of Mario isn't only for this game. Which every generation of Nintendo Videoconsoles a great platform game starred by Mario appeared: "Super Mario 64" in Nintendo 64(1997), "Super Mario Sunshine" in NGC(Nintendo Game Cube, 2004) and "Super Mario Galaxy" and "Super Mario Galaxy 2" in Wii(The first in 2007, the second is coming soon this spring(11th of June) to us).
Now you could think: All the Mario's game are only for Platforms? Of course not. Mario has been starred a lot of sports games. If I do not remember bad, the first sport game with relative success was "Super Mario Kart" for SNES in 1992, which starred the first cover of Nintendo's official journal in Spain: "Nintendo Accion". After that, Mario has been participated in sports like Golf(Mario Golf for Nintendo 64 in 1998), Football("Mario Smash football" for NGC in 2005 and "Mario Strikers Football" for Wii in 2007) Basketball("Mario Slum Basketball for NDS in 2008), Tennis("Mario Tennis" arc, which has games for Nintendo 64(1997), NGC(2005), GBA(2004) and Wii(2009))...
Eventually, Mario try to get a fighter star in the "Super Smash Bros" arc, which has 3 games nowadays: "Super Smash Bros" for Nintendo 64(1999), "Super Smash Bros Melee" for NGC(2003) and "Super Smash Bros Brawl" for Wii(2008). This fight game isn't like other fight games because there not exist a "life bar"(that means you are dead when it's over). The clasical life bar of this games was changed by a porcentual damage. That means if you have little damage(example: 15%) your rival will have little probabilities to takes you out(the objective of this arc: tryto get your enemy out of the secreen)I will put you a Videobattle of this fantastic game under here.
Of course that not all the history of this great character, but if I do not stop writting now, the article will come to be very big!! Probably I will do a second part later.
That's all for now, than you so much for reading!!

The Environment

2010-04-04T16:51:00.002+01:00

Nowadays the environment is being destroyed almost everywhere you look around. Acid rain has killed lots of animals and fish, the greenhouse effect is heating the temperature of the planet and the poles are melting, nearly half of the world’s rainforests have disappeared in the last forty years…and so on.
Most people are not aware of these problems. They do nothing to try to solve them. Moreover rich and powerful people who only care about their personal benefits.
In my opinion the world’s population, everybody, should bear in mind that the environment must be protected, and then keep it clean and healthy.
As a conclusion I can say that if we don’t take care of our environment we will surely have many problems in the future.

Vacations are ending...

2010-04-02T13:55:00.001+01:00

This has been a good week, it was good having no classes, I needed it.
I have been able to sleep and meet some people I don't usually, so I am happy.
But as we say in Spain, 'all the good ends' and on Monday we will be all back to normal, boring and busy life. At least summer is close and after passing 2 months of studying and exams we will be free again.

The video is just funny and it is titled 'The Chicken Police':

The Prince of Bel-Air

2010-03-27T10:19:00.006Z

Who has not heard of "The Prince of Bel-Air" starred by well-known-gorgeous-actor Will Smith? Will Smith managed to conquer the rap industry before he went straight into stardom both in TV sitcom and movies. The Prince of Bel-Air was the TV sitcom in the long-running NBC series that boosted his career. The location was in West Philadelphia, where twenty-something Will Smith, a streetwise teenager, is sent by his mother to live with his rich relatives, because she felt things were getting somewhat too dangerous for his upbringing.

Of course, wise-mouth Will proves to be quite the addition to his upper-class family. Thus creating, at first, various cultural and attitudinal differences. In the Bel-Air mansion reside Will, his uncle Philip Banks, his aunt Vivian, the butler Geophrey and his cousins Carlton, Hilary and Ashley. Each episode is filled with humor, sarcasm, comdey and a life lesson. The series is family oriented, with classy jokes. As the first season commences, Will and Carlton are merely in high school, moving on to University in season four. At its third season it was considered among the 16th most popular series, ending in its sixth season on September 9, 1996.

Job offer!

2010-03-25T22:03:00.001Z

If you ever wanted to work as a programmer in the United States, you might find this job offer interesting. You need to know C++, Java and/or Python, as well as having a high typing speed, an excellent knowledge of English and permission to work in the U.S. Once you've got that, you can send your application to work as a pair programmer. And that's really an special kind of programmer - see it for yourself:

Pair Programmer is an apprenticeship position whose primary responsibility will be to support one of the company's founders - whom will call the Senior Programmer for this description - in the design and implementation of software products. The Senior Programmer will dictate code in python, C++, or other languages to the Pair Programmer.

Unbelievable. Really.

Juno

2010-03-23T20:06:00.001Z

Tomorrow, 23rd March - 12:30

1.2 Classroom

Scrubs

2010-03-19T14:43:00.008Z

This is a show about adults learning to be doctors, dont worry its not awful, nothing serious, well almost never. Its an amazing drama, buts its a much better comedy and it excels on all fronts. hide show.
This is an amazing show, its hilarious, if you haven't watched it yet you are missing quite an experience. It just gets better and better. Sometimes I wonder if they are trying because it almost seems natural. The humour of this show is unbelieveble, the characters are amazing and the dynamic just makes it better.

Puzzle No.5

2010-03-18T21:42:00.008Z

It has passed so many time since I published the last puzzle. My apologize for those who where waiting for a new one.
Well, let's proceed. The solution for the last puzzle was given first by David. It was easy, that is the way you had to move the horses:

The new puzzle is this:
Everybody knows that garlic has a very potent smell. One day a man brought a strange deposit with many tubes and three containers filled with perfum of flowers. The next day, his neighbour visited him and saw the deposit he were looking for a long time ago. He became furious and add to the containers some garlic in two deposits which quit the delicious smell of the flowers.
When the man who brought the deposit realised about what his neighbour did, he became sad because he look that he could not quit the garlic. To keep the container he brought two corks to put in the top of the containers, but he finally realised that the corks wouldn't function.
I have a question: If you must use the corks obligatory. In wich holes where would you place the two corks? Look at the diagram below:

A clue:
Follow the tubes with attention and you will realise about an important thing.
As always I am waiting for your answers and DO NOT LOOK FOR THE SOLUTION!!!

Courage: The Magic That Turns Dreams in to Reality

2010-03-18T17:33:00.039Z

Good afternoon to everybody again. Probably, all of you, those that are reading this post, ask yourselves why the title is "Courage: the magic that turns dreams in to reality". My objective is not to confuse you...
I just heard this sentence in a videogame that I played recently. At first time, you could think the meaning is not real, it's confusing or simply that it is corny and I am crazy for writing this.
I consider myself philosophical (at least sometimes) and today, I am being it. That is the reason why I am writing this.
There are some sentences in this life that could make you reflect and think intensely about things you have done. That sentence is one of these...
If you analize like in a gramatic class, the meaning has not sense or, if it has, it sounds corny. But if you analize it philosophically, there will appear more meanings to make you think about.
Life teachs us we never have to surrender, even when the situation is difficult or practically impossible to get worse. Also, life teachs us we cannot wait for good luck, because if you want to be lucky you must go find it.
Life also teachs us it is important to give value to all those little things we could have, not only the material ones, personal and spiritual ones too. With this, I don't mean whether you believe in God or not, I am just try to tell all of you that, unfortunatelly, there is a lot of people who think that they understand this, but fall into the trap again and again, and form a cycle that never ends.
I know sometimes it is really difficult to support this thought all the time, but it is not my objective to change your minds, because if I try to do it, probably I have fallen into the same trap that people I mentioned before. I am only saying that, in lots of situations (including mine) we do not appreciate all our environment because of fussy reasonings. I think this is the consecuence for stupid wars that have appeared in these last years, wars with which nothing is gained. And for me, that is absolutely unacceptable.
Sorry for abandon the main theme, but I could not void...
Anyway, the reason why I am writing this is only for me, becuse I know times that I read this I will have more reasons to do the things that I like, that is why I like the sentence "Courage: the magic that turn dreams in to reality", because maybe it is not the coolest sentence in the world but, also for me, it has something special...

PD: I apologize for having philosophical days, I know there are times I become strict. Do not afraid, The other reason why I wrote this was because I found this blog already Death these last days ago...

Apple's iPad vs. Microsoft Courier

2010-03-16T19:18:00.019Z

Today in class we have a "simulation of a debate" between the iPad and the Courier, and Fran Javier made this slideshow for the special occasion. This is the result:

Personally, I think both devices are good, but they are different, they are not designed with the same purpose. While iPad is more like a "PC for people who wouldn't have a real one", Courier (or whatever the name will be) is more like the natural evolution of actual PDAs. That's why you have to be pretty sure of what you want and then choose. Not just say 'Apple is for cool people' or 'Any Microsoft stuff sucks'... or any other cliché, this devices are something new in the market and we shouldn't rely on old preconceived ideas.

Anyway, the best thing is we are able to choose, and we have separate alternatives (not as much as I think it should), so everyone can get (or don't) what they want.
Article by Daniel. Slideshow by Fran.

Everyday Genius: Square Logic

2010-03-12T23:33:00.005Z

Those of you who like facing challenges and solving problems could find this game truly interesting. I downloaded it myself and began playing, and I've found out that it can be truly addictive!

This game is somewhat similar to sudokus, but don't be scared if you find them difficult - this isn't really about solving sudokus. Instead, you will have to fill in boards between 4x4 and 7x7 with numbers, but they need to comply with several requirements, such as that two of them should add up to 5, that they're consecutive numbers, writing only even or odd numbers, etcetera. Even when this could sound boring, believe me - it's definitely worth trying, and once you try it, let me assure you that you won't regret it. Of course, that's unless you spend way too much time playing and too little studying, but there's nobody so addicted to videogames around here - or is it?

You can download a demo of the game here and, if you like it, please buy it - it's only €11, and it's definitely worth paying. You could be spending lots of time playing it, so why don't we just help software developers? In any case, you can also find it in your favourite P2P retailer or ask me for a copy, but, please consider buying it first.

Just don't forget to think hard - if you wish to succeed, you'll definitely need it. Guessing does not (usually) work here. And this goes for you, Fran - you know why.

3D TVs at home

2010-03-10T16:52:00.001Z

Samsung and Panasonic will sell 3D televisions sets in USA this week. Many manufactures think that this will be the beginning of the third dimension at home. But the disadvantage is that people need to use glasses so they can see the 3D effects.

Samsung Electronic C.O. advertised that the 3D equipment bring its own glasses and 3D Blu-Ray. But the minimun price of the package is 3000$.

Right now, there isn't much media for these TVs, but Samsung include discs of some films in this package. For example: "Monster vs Alien".
Also, a lot of filbs will be sold when people manifest their wishes for them.

On the other hand, third dimension is the novelty in nowadays since a lot of films are seen in the cinemas in 3D because this effects make more real the movies. One of the examples is "Avatar" that is the film most viewed in 3D around the world. "Avatar" has made more than 116.2 millions of dollars.
But do we know if people want 3Ds effects for their homes?

Budget PC

2010-03-10T14:20:00.004Z

PC gaming is often very expensive. The hardware (the intensive use of this) is very different to that used for the PC media. Is there a way to ensure a PC game at a very low price. The best strategy to obtain a low cost of game machine is to build with the hardware that you choose.

It's much easier to build your own PC than it might seem. Do not be intimidated by the process. As long as you are aware of the fact that all the components are compatible with each other, it is relatively easy to build your machine.

Computer manufacturers low cost does not include, for building high-performance graphics cards into one. Or a gaming PC with high-cost or low cost to build computers with integrated graphics. They also tend to stick with a power supply that barely powers of the components of the building. This leaves no place is the new generation of graphics cards that will be updated planned for next year. One PC game needs a solid power supply and impressive graphics card. This is of fundamental importance.

To build your own PC gaming and finance, it is important to consider how much you spend. Take a game that you are interested in playing and watching the recommended system requirements. Their task will be to not exceed these parameters while remaining within the budget you choose. This is easier than you think.

The graphics card is the most important component for Gamers. You will be able to get a good graphics card at a reasonable price. The latest card to arrive in stores is always too expensive, but the latest round of offers from the manufacturer of your graphics card will be marked at a perfect price. You want to enjoy a powerful performance power that you can use to upgrade components. This is a good design is essential. A motherboard, which is easily installed with a new processor generation, even crucial. From here you can bargain memory and a low cost of the processor, to fill the gaps until you get more money for the upgrade. You can play your favorite games with good frame though. Select the components that have their own cooling, is that you have the effort to find a way to control the temperature. Choose a easy case, all the hardware you're trying to get in shape.

Prioritize your motherboard and the power of the PC gaming is a wise move. Easier updates to the needs of new games are very simple. That saves a lot of money in the long term. These are usually parts that must be replaced to upgrade only to another component.

Chivalry ^^

2010-03-09T21:39:00.007Z

Dragons, fights, horses, knights, damsels in distress...and so much more make up the fictional stories set into medieval time...but there is one thing that could not be more real: chivalry.
The word chivalry is much associated with the knight's code of conduct, their honor and virtues. The word itself derives from the French word "chevalerie", which derives from knight ("cheval").
Today, chivalry and chivalrous is used to describe a gentlemanlike behaviour towards women.
Why do I bother to explain it? Because yesterday, the small act of a young man simply lit my day:
I was with a friend on the bus (mind you, on the wrong bus, but on the bus nonetheless) when a mother with her baby girl got on. The seats were filled, and there was no place for her to sit. Before I could react, the guy sitting to our right got up and offered her his seat.

The action itself seems so insignificant, but the fact that there are still some young people of our generation out there that are worth something, just made me smile and giggle.

I´m new here

2010-03-09T12:51:00.007Z

Hello,

I´m going to present me.

I´m Oskita. I´m in the A group. Yes, these things of the down class.

I´m very happy to be here. I think that this is an interesting way of learning.

Finally I only have to say [Nice to meet you]

ByeBye.

How (not) to beat the roulette - the martingale strategy

2010-03-08T20:00:00.015Z

Edit: The Code is already uploaded you can find that in our Stuff section or just clicking here.

Who hasn't ever been sent an e-mail or found an advert on a website which assured that you could win as much money as desired only by playing roulette at online casinos? If you have ever tried, I'm sure that you won't get any richer - almost always it'll be the other way round. But why does this happen?

A roulette

It is said that it was French mathematician Blaise Pascal who invented the first roulette, which had 36 numbers in it - 1 to 36. At this time, there are two layouts for roulettes which are used in casinos - French and American ones, which have 37 and 38 numbers respectively. Whilst the first one added a 0 to the roulette, the Americans also added a 00 square. The basics of this game are fairly simple: each turn, the player will bet for an odd (1, 3, 5, 7, 9...) or even (2, 4, 6, 8, 10...) number. Should he have been right, he will get twice the money he betted, but if he was wrong, the player will have lost his bet. Watch out: zeroes aren't counted as even numbers; instead, they mean that the player will have lost his bet regardless of having chosen odd or even numbers.

The martingale system involves placing a minimum bet, which will be placed again if we won the bet. Each time that we lose, we will double our previous bet, so as to recover the previous losses and get, again, more money. This really sounds like an exciting opportunity to earn some cash quickly, but before rushing to online casinos and spending all your money, I strongly advise you to go on reading this article and find out why this method does not work.

Another roulette - note the green-coloured 0 box

There are 18 odd numbers in a roulette, 18 even ones and one or two zeroes, depending on which version of the game you are playing. This means that you have a 18/37 or 18/38 chance of winning each time you try, which is slightly less than 50%. This makes losing money more probable than earning it. However, this doesn't prove the strategy wrong, but hang on - we are not finished just yet.

In order to make the strategy work, you will need unlimited money. And how come that? It's this simple: most people don't believe that they could lose ten times in a row, but, once they have played long enough, they WILL. The probability of losing ten times in a row is 1 out of 2¹⁰, that is, 1/1024. And while this looks a really low chance, you need to understand what it means: once you have played 1024 hands, it's extremely probable that you have will lost 10 consecutive ones, which means that you would have to bet 1024 times the minimum bet in the next hand. But do you have that much money? Probably not.

A real-life casino

We need to pay attention to the fact that each time that we win a hand, we will only earn as much money as our minimum bet is -for example, if we had €1000 and our minimum bet was €1, we could get €1000, then €1001, €1002, and so goes on. But, unlike our profits, our losses could grow sharply, which would mean that, once we reach a certain point, we wouldn't be able to go on playing, simply because we won't have enough money to double our previous bet. If we had played 1024 hands, we could only have had as much as €2024 - but normally it won't be as much as that, because we will have already lost several hands. Ten consecutive losses would mean that we would need to bet €1, €2, €4, ..., €1024, which would mean a total loss of €2047 - and that's more money than we had!

To sum up, if you ever want to get richer by playing roulette, just DON'T. Apart from the martingale system, there are other methods which promise you success but, in the end, the only person they give money to is the casino's owner. So you might want to stay away from this.

By the way, I have written a program which simulates a roulette game, with an initial amount of €1000, a minimum bet of €1, and the American version of the roulette - that is 18/38 chance. If you are interested in it, you can ask for it in the commentaries, and I'll upload it for you. However, I can already tell you the ending - the player always ends up losing.

Edit: Daniel has been kind enough to let me upload the source file to the blog, so either he or me could give you a link soon. The program simulates a roulette game with an initial amount of €1000 and a minimum bet of €1, and creates a text file (martingale.txt) with information on the current money and bets. You can compile it yourselves - feel free to change the code if you wish.

I also invite you to ask me -this article's comments are a nice place for that - if there's something in the code that you do not understand. I've written a lot of comments in the source file, but if there is something which needs a clarification, I'll be glad to help you.

My transformation.

2010-03-06T09:05:00.005Z

I was 17 years old when I started training. I just felt terrible and fat, my weight was 130 kilos. I had to do something about my body. So I started going to the gym and lost a lot of fat in 8 months. I lost 40 kilos, and in a half year later I lost 20 kilos more.

This is my transformation.

My Favorite Song

2010-03-06T08:45:00.019Z

Well... I don't write anything so far because I don't know what to say xD...

Then I have decided to share my favorite song with yours...

It is of David Guetta feat Akon and the name is "Sexy Beach".
I hope you like it...

Sexy Beach

Yes I can see her
Cause every girl in here wanna be her
Oh she’s a diva
I feel the same and I wanna meet her
They say she low down
It’s just a rumor and I don't believe
They say she needs to slow down
The baddest thing around town
She's nothing like a girl you've ever seen before
Nothing you can compare to your neighborhood whore
I'm trying find the words to describe this girl without being disrespectful
The way that booty moving I can't take no more
Have to stop what I'm doing so I can pull up close
I'm trying find the words to describe this girl without being disrespectful
Damn girl Damn you are sexy bitch
A sexy bitch Damn you are a sexy bitch
Damn girl Damn you are sexy bitch
A sexy bitch Damn
You are sexy bitch
Yes I can see her
Cause every girl in here wanna be her
Oh she’s a diva
feel the same and I wanna meet her
They say she low down
It’s just a rumor and I don't believe
They say she needs to slow down
The baddest thing around town
She's nothing like a girl you've ever seen before
Nothing you can compare to your neighborhood whore
I'm trying find the words to describe this girl without being disrespectful
The way that booty moving
I can't take no more
Have to stop what I'm doing so I can pull up close
I'm trying find the words to describe this girl without being disrespectful
Damn girl
Damn you are a sexy bitch
A sexy bitch Damn you are a sexy bitch
Damn girl Damn you are a sexy bitch
A sexy bitch Damn you are a sexy bitch
Damn girl Damn you are a sexy bitch
A sexy bitch Damn you are a sexy bitch
Damn girl Damn you are a sexy bitch
A sexy bitch Damn you are a sexy bitch
Damn you are a sexy bitch

Proud to be a woman! (ok ok! young lady!) xD

2010-03-05T22:10:00.009Z

Today I came upon the MOST WONDERFUL news. Maybe to some it might be somewhat less important, but for me it has been a shower of pure joy.
Have you ever realized how LITTLE woman are recognized in history books? ... a quote comes into mind at this point:
"Everytime a girl opens a book and reads a womanless history, she learns she is worthless."
--Myra Pollack Sadker
March has been selected and proclaimed as Women's History Month. It all started back in 1978 when March was chosen as the time to honor American women who had made crucial changes to the society, said time was then expanded (have in mind that back then the time was only around a week) to a month in 1987.
Here is the link to Obama's text (fresh from the White House) =)

The Bro Code

2010-03-05T17:53:00.002Z

As I said in the How I Met Your Mother's post, i am going to write about the Bro Code, but, as it's written in the book, if you are a chick (girl) you have to think that the code is just fiction, not serious.

I had hear about the book some time ago, but I just have read it, I found that on eBay really cheap, and 2 weeks later I had it right from Australia.

It is like a "rule book" that any Bro shall respect to still being a Bro (short for Brother). It is supposed to have been written in Philadelphia hundreds years ago. But the version I got was written by Matt Kuhn, one of the writers of How I Met Your Mother. Actually, he wrote the Slapsgiving episode, that Octavio likes so much.

Now I will show you some of the articles of the code:

Article 112. A Bro doesn't sing along to music in a bar.

Article 137. When hosting, a Bro orders enough pizza for all his Bros.

(in the book there is even an equation to choose the right amount of pizza)

Article 150. No sex with your Bro's ex. (I think Barney broke this rule...)

Article 15. A Bro never dances with his hands above his head.

Article 45. A Bro never wears jeans to a stripclub. (There is an explanation I am not going to write here xDDD)

And there is much more in the book, so if you want to know them just read it.

Extra joke:

Technology battle: The new generation of video-games consoles

2010-03-04T16:51:00.015Z

Good afternoon to everybody again. Today I will talk you about the new generation of video-games consoles: PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, DS and PSP.

Some people gossip Nintendo consoles(Wii and DS) to be only for child. I know that Nintendo will never had a lot of the games that these group of people called "adults games", but I think it depends about your likes. My opinion is that the games which are completely of Nintendo(Mario's, Zelda's and Metroid's game) could be good options for all, but... it's the truth that titles like "cooking mama" or "harvest moon" that... well... I prefer to not enter in this subject

The group that I mentioned said too that PS3 and Xbox 360 are the consoles which have the best games and the more playable for adult people. Of course, PS3 is the console of this generation that win in all technology resources, not only for graphics and sound quality, because PS3 have the most powerful chip of all: the Cell chip
My opinion? PS3 is better that Xbox, of course. I know that Microsoft have been won a lot of credits in this generation, but the Sony console is following the most powerfull of both two Today.

Finally, PSP. What is happened with PSP in Europe? It's a powerful portable, but in Europe there are not a lot of games for it. The reason? Nowbody knows... Maybe about it price(around 200-250€), maybe it last model(PSP Go), maybe it game catalogue(limited in all games cathegories). It's odd, because in Japan the PSP sales are good(in the last 2 weeks, PSP exceeded DS sales, and that was important, because today Nintendo DS is the salest console in the world).

Anyway, the "technology war" have a winner and is, of course, PS3 of Sony. About The game's catalogue is more difficult to take a winner, because depends of your likes. If you like shooters and action games, PS3 or Xbox 360(RPG's game are good in Microsoft's console as well) should be your election. If you're always have been a Nintendo's games fan, or you are looking for a new game form, Wii should be your choice.

I will put here some games for every console that I advise to play... But maybe my opinion is not the most correct because I do not play much with a PSP...

PS3: Uncharted 2, Assassin's Creed 2, Killzone 2, FIFA/PES 10, Mirror's Edge

Xbox 360: Assassin's Creed 2, Dragon Age, Bioshock 2, Gears of War 2, Mass Effect 2

Wii: Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Bros Brawl, Zelda Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime Trilogy, Wii Sports Resort

DS: Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Zelda Spirit Tracks, GTA: Chinatown Wars, Profesor Layton and the Demonic Box(In spanish: "Profesor Layton y la Caja de Pandora, Game wich Joel have been put some puzzles), Chrono Trigger

PSP: Patapon, Echochrome, GTA(both of them), Tekken Dark Resurrection, FIFA/PES 10

Now, It's your decision how to get. Which of these you wish?

PD: I always preferred Nintendo games because of their characters... but some games of Sony are... how I could tell... Brilliant!

Puzzle No.4

2010-03-04T16:10:00.007Z

I didn't think that the previous puzzles would make you mad. Well, here are the solutions:

First One:

This time was Javi who brings the solution: just one mouse. The explanation is that you only bought one mouse not a pair. Good job!!!

Second one:

I thought that these one would be easy for you, guys. Attending your "desperate" petitions. Here is, finally, the answer: A hole. Jajaja... If you put a hole in a barrel the things that are inside it will fall down.

Now the next puzzle, I expect you'll be able to solve it.

You have four horses and you want moving next town. The horses take about one, two, four and six hours each one. Look at the diagram below:

Due to you are moving and you don't want to sell the horses, you have to ride the horses from town A to town B. How many time you waste if you can take two horses for one ride?
Clue: Pay attention that you need to ride a horse to go back to town A again.
Bonus clue: You have to ride at the slower speed the horse allows you. For example, if you start with the horse that take about one hour and the one which take six. You waste six hours moving from A to B.
Good Luck!!!

CFD in Formula One

2010-03-03T23:25:00.011Z

If there is a racing series which can be considered the pinnacle of motorsport, that is, without any doubt, Formula One. As opposed to the view of those who do not watch auto racing very often, this sport happens to be much more than a handful of cars racing around a circuit - it is the ultimate racing league, in which the very best drivers compete in state-of-the-art machines whose only design costs hundreds of millions of dollars each year. A loss of a mere second per lap is regarded as a huge advantage.

CFD design of an open-wheel racing car

In order to achieve maximum performance, all the parts of Formula One cars are thoroughly designed and tested, and then they have their performance evaluated. Besides track testing, there are two tools which can be used to study how any modification in the chassis -along with the tyres, the part in the car with the biggest impact on its performance- will affect a car's aerodynamic profile. These are wind-tunnel testing and computational fluid dynamics.

Computational fluid dynamic -CFD for short- is the study of the forces which affect fluids -mainly air, but also liquids like water- through computer algorithms and numerical methods. This group of techniques has only been used in Formula One since a few years ago, but it had already been pioneered in the 1980s. CFD allows engineers to develop aerodynamic components such as wings, deflectors, engine covers and diffusers and measure their effect in a car's behaviour without the need of undergoing the expensive process of manufacturing components which are to be tested in a wind tunnel, and that often are thrown away as scrap because they do not work as well as desired.

A lower formula car in a wind tunnel

The main advantage of CFD over traditional wind-tunnel testing is its relatively low cost. Although CFD relies on powerful supercomputers, the cost of these is nowhere near the exaggerated amounts of money which teams often spend in building scaled-down models of their cars that will be tested in wind tunnels. As a result, a team's budget can be notably benefited from the usage of CFD design instead. However, it should also be noted that this technology is very recent and, as such, it is not completely accurate yet, which means that most teams usually run a combination of CFD, wind-tunnel testing and, to a lesser extent, track testing, as this last one is forbidden while the Championship is going on, and only takes place in the gap between seasons.

The benefits of CFD seem to have convinced Virgin's Richard Branson to run his own team, Virgin Racing, with the lowest budget of all teams in the 2010 season -a modest $40 million-, and which will rely only on this innovative technique to design their car. However, their radical approach has been slammed by Williams' head of design Adrian Newey, who recently stated that the only usage of CFD was not a viable tool to design a car, but that wind-tunnel testing was completely necessary as well. However, the British engineer was quick to add that, should Virgin show up with a powerful contender, he would withdraw his previous saying.

Three drivers (left to right: Lucas di Grassi, Timo Glock and Luiz Razia) stand next to the VR-01, the first Formula One car ever designed by using only CFD techniques

In any case, it should be remembered that CFD is not at all the only application which computers have on Formula One. Instead, these are used for almost everything. Engineers can receive a car's telemetry on their laptops and simulate how a change in the car's configuration would have an impact on a driver's lap times, design innovative systems to improve an engine's fuel consumption or power, or run benchmarks about any modification in the car would affect its reliability.

To sum up, computational fluid dynamics aren't only a valuable set of tools which can be used in Formula One to design cars, but also a way to reduce costs dramatically. Is CFD the future of car design, and will it make wind-tunnel testing finally disappear? Only time will tell, but, given its expansion in Formula One after just a decade, it cannot be argued that CFD has come to stay for many years.

How I Met Your Mother

2010-03-03T19:18:00.008Z

What can I say about this show? The cast is awesome. The writers rock. The show is great. My favorite character is Barney. He is probably the main person I watch the show for. He is funny and brings a certain 'something' to TV that it needs. It istotally the best new comedy in awhile. While it does have a laugh track - it isn't needed. Bob Sagget is right at home on this show playing the Dad. I think it is very fitting for him to be playing that role. The rest of the cast is great also. The guy who plays Ted is great at being the 'every day' guy and Marshall and his soon to be wife, Lilly are perfect together. As for Robin, well she is Robin and there is nothing wrong with her. I think everyone on this show including the regular cab driver are great. This show has everything and I hope everyone gives it a chance. I love it. It is legendary. Till next week Barney.

St. Celedonio's day

2010-03-03T13:44:00.004Z

Today is St. Celedonio's day and I don't know anyone called Celedonio... It's so sad...
By the way , if you know somebody called Celedonio, congratulate him/her (Celedonia exists too, though)...

So happy St.Celedonio's Day!!!!!!!! (yes, this is weird indeed but i'm quite bored...).

A Newbie...!

2010-03-03T13:15:00.009Z

This is the first time I write a blog so I am absolutely lost (more than an "octopus in a garage"!) and one of my classmates from group A did not put her e-mail address on the paper today during class, so I want to know how to send her an invitation.

Answer: Hey Johanna, to send her an invitation tell her to talk to any of the webmasters, for now we are Daniel Vicente, Lara Viera, Oliver Lorenzo (from Group B) and Paco, the teacher. She can just contact us by e-mail, Campus Virtual, or coming upstairs.

Thank you!

Puzzle No. 2 & 3

2010-03-01T16:31:00.004Z

Well, many days have passed since I published the last puzzle. The solution is simple: 2 hits of 11 metres each one. Dany was the one who solve it. The solution he posted is on the comments of the previous post. Look it and check out your own answer.

This time we have two. They are short and easily to solve, just read with attention the problem.

First One

There is a kind of mouse that can have 12 little mice in one month. This little mice, when they are 2 months old, can have another little mice.
If you buy a female mouse of this kind. How many mice you have after 10 months?

Second One

Imagine a big barrel plenty of various things. It is too heavy due to the objects inside it. But there is a thing that you can put in the barrel and decrease its weight. What is it?

A clue:

It doesn't take up any space on the barrel but you can see it.

Remember don't look for the answers and if you have any doubt ask me. See you!!

Acronyms... In OUR Class!!

2010-02-27T17:38:00.010Z

Good afternoon to everybody again!
Today I will write about an interesting thing I found. You See:

Last Thursday, when I was doing the acronym activities of the ICT book, I found that, some of the names of our class companions, are acronyms too!! I will put some of them here:

FRAN: Friends Relatives Associates Neighbors
JOEL: Jerusalem Oil Exploration Ltd
DANY: Defense Association of New York
OLIVER: Online Library of Images for Veterinary Education and Research
PEDRO: Pneumatic Energy Detector with Remote Optics
LARA: Labor Aerospace Research Agenda
LUCAS: Liverpool University Centre for Archive Studies
PACO (our teacher, of course): Program Administrative Contracting Officer

Some of them, like FRAN ot LARA have more than one acronym, but I chose the funniest .
I am afraid that some of us, like Octavio, Nauzet, Andres or Eleazar don't have acronyms... Sorry

To search more acronyms, You could use this website:

See you in class, people!!

Sports Magazine

2010-02-24T14:23:00.006Z

Good afternoon to every one. This is my first article in this blog, and I think that I could talk about sports, creating a "prototype" of a Sport Magazine. Ah, when i said "Sport Magazine" I mean ALL sports as possible, no only football... But I am the first to admit that my strong is the football, but I wait that could talk about more sports...

Well, in my first appearance I will try to speak about the King`s cup final of Basketball and the last journey of the football's UEFA Champions League(but only for Spanish teams).

Last Sunday, in the "Bilbao Vizcaia Arena" of Bilbao, Real Madrid and Regal FC Barcelona played the final of King's Cup of Basketball. In semifinals, Real Madrid won to Caja Laboral of Baskonia for a great result of 78-50, and Regal FC Barcelona won too, but against Power Electronics Valencia, with the score 79-64.
The match was interesting... in the first 10 minutes. After that, the Catalan team displayed a great team, with a partial of 21-9. This half break the match with an 40-25 for Regal FC Barcelona.
The capital team(Real Madrid) try in the third half to cut down the distance, but the really truth was that Regal FC Barcelona scored an incredible biased of 21-12, so at the final of the half the score was an incredible 61-37 for the Catalan.
Eventually, at the last half, Real Madrid try to make up the final score, but Regal FC Barcelona won with authority (80-61).
The tournament's MVP was the Regal FC Barcelona player Fran Vazquez, who scored 14 points in the match, helped all time by the incredible match of his partners Ricky Rubio(13 points) and Juan Carlos Navarro(8 points). The Real Madrid player who scored more points was Sergi Llull(10 points).
With this cup, Regal FC Barcelona won his 21 King's Cup of Basketball, second in the ranking only before Real Madrid(with 22).

Leave the Basket for know, the last Journey of the Champions League in football wasn't good for Spanish teams: Real Madrid CF loose in his visit to Gerland against Olympique Lyonnais(1-0 for French) and FC Barcelona only could tie in his visit to Sttutgart, Germany (1-1). Sevilla FC, our other representation, play today, Wednesday 24Th February, at 16:45 h in Moskva against FCK CSKA Moskva. This Match will be broadcast in TV Canaria.

Mindbreakers... Puzzles!!!

2010-02-24T13:45:00.008Z

Have you ever played Professor Layton video games? Maybe it look like a little childish, but it isn't. It is a great training for your mind and is so addictive. When you start a puzzle and you can't solve it, you will be on your sit for a big time trying to find an answer. I have decided to put some puzzles on this blog so we can train our mind and, of course, our English.

Let's start with the first one:

There is a professional golf player and he is really good at it (not like other professionals). He is an expert on "putts" of 3, 5, 7 and 11 metres. He is at the eighteenth hole, 20 metres before it.

Using his expert "putts", what is the low number of hits the golfer have to do for putting the ball inside the hole?

Come on, think a little and DO NOT LOOK FOR THE ANSWER!!!
I'll post the solution with the next post on Friday or Saturday.

I'm waiting your answer on the comments.

Introduction

2010-02-21T12:10:00.009Z

I'd like to know Where I shall post my introduction which The IT Teacher told me to do, as well as some cryteria? Thanks for your time.

The most 'workful' week in the history...

2010-02-19T17:10:00.003Z

...is ending.

First of all, after Cabalgata's weekend we started not going to class on Monday and Tuesday.
Then we went on Wednesday but on Thursday...
OMG Doom's Day is coming and it comes with a 'Sun Storm' and we had one more day off.
Fortunately, by Friday weather was good again (even it rained) and we had classes (9:30-12:00).
So yes, I am tired!

And of course, tomorrow is the 'Entierro de la Sardina', and with that, it will be my most productive week ever.

P.S.: Oliver, we are waiting your critique.

The brave

2010-02-17T22:20:00.006Z

Because no one who created the blog introduce the first post, I'm going to be the first. Tomorrow there isn't class. One day to relax in a very long week. I hope that everyone can enjoy this day.
By the way, 'The Brave' is a film who Jhonny Deep, and it's the worse movie starring by him that I remember.
A greeting.