MPJ

It happened long ago, in the dark ages of CRT monitors, when I first received a short forum message with :-) at the end. I stared at the message for a long minute(s) before giving up of decoding its meaning. It came from a well respected friend of mine so I responded with short reply: "What!?" "You have to turn your screen 90 degrees clockwise." Answer came promptly. My CRT was large and heavy and it looked way too dangerous to tilt it that way so after little brainstorming the problem, I concluded there's a better way of achieving the same goal. I tilted my head 90 degrees anticlockwise. "Aaaaaah!!!" I said promptly and after realising the picture, big smile on my face slowly morphed into loud laughter. So I typed back: "Wow!" I didn't have to wait long for the next message: "LOL!" "What!?" - I quickly copy/pasted my earlier message but realised I was too not informed about new internet fashion so I

YouTube is really one great service. Probably one of the best online tools there is. But it is not without issues and glitches. Recently, after our vacation I uploaded a video I took on the Lichadonisia beach with our guide and our Greek hosts teaching our (mostly female) group to dance with syrtaki (Greek: συρτάκι) music and even though the music clearly came from the beach-bar loudspeakers, YouTube 'found' that I was using protected and copyrighted content and the video clip was blocked in one country and you will never guess which - Germany. I am still laughing and endlessly trying to find logic behind this silly automation. Nevertheless and ever since then I am not embedding music background by myself anymore and rather using YouTube's selection instead. With today's video I played with two combination and got extraordinary result. First video is accelerated and embedded with horror-typed tune. For the other I used the most cheerful music I could find and with sa

Have you ever felt (medically or ... some other way) sick and tried to find all the symptoms online? Desperately searching to find what's wrong with you and to catch the disease by its name and to seek for the ultimate cure on the net? If you did, don't worry, you are not alone. Internet is the smartest thing ever invented so its only logical to check your smartphone every time you need and everything will be fine. Or it seems... Well... Sometimes what you find online is too vague or written with too scholar words.. Other times it looks like you have symptoms of multiple diseases. Sometimes the cure you found online can only be bought on the other side of the planet. And in most cases not in regular or even legal pharmacies... What to do? Well, don't worry, there is a way out. Do what you did before the internet. Make the appointment with your doctor and if he or she is your good friend you will get out with the ultimate cure for every single disease out there. Th

There is a debate about origin of the famous "heaven and hell" quote dating way back in 19th century and after little research maybe republican Benjamin Wade formulated it best: "I think, from all I can learn, that heaven has the better climate, but hell has the better company." There are similar sayings by others like Mark Twain and Peter Pan's father, James M. Barrie but if you research it deeper all the credits actually belong to Niccoló Machiavelli who said on the topic exactly this: "I desire to go to Hell, not to Heaven. In Hell I shall enjoy the company of popes, kings and princes, but in Heaven are only beggars, monks, hermits and apostles". Maybe to understand better roman catholic church and its influence in dark ages where both Niccoló Machiavelli and Leonardo da Vinci shared one of the best place to live for free thinkers in 15th century Republic of Florence, the best is to start watching the great TV show called "Da Vinci's Demon

Previous couple of days and weeks in Serbia were pretty wet*. There were rains after rains, floods, small and big, then some rains again, even today when I glimpsed through the window there were no cheerful colors out there, only various shades of gray. Nevertheless, we decided to spend the last weekend in the mountains and our country house I wrote about it on several occasions before. It turned out not to be so bad at all! Bigar waterfall Yesterday we went to the Bigar waterfall resort I mentioned once or twice on the blog, just to check the water levels these days. Even though it is just a stream of water no longer than 1000 meters in length, it ends in a wonderful small 30m waterfall and this May its doing it with grace and power! Tons of water are dropping every second into small river below just out of woods. Following video is a very nice slideshow I made out of images from our small yesterday's trip and YouTube gracefully helped with more than appropriate backgro

Addiction is a strong word, yes, but can it be implied to watching TV shows? I guess it might, if you are watching TV too much, whatever that means. If it can and if I count last couple of years then yes, I am mildly addicted to TV shows, as I am only doing it couple of days of week. Every week. Except for the summer. Hmm, maybe even on the summer. Lightly. Ok, I need help.... :) From time to time I am wondering why I like watching TV shows that much and the answer is simple really, I need something to distract me from regular daily routine and I always feel it's a good thing. After an hour or two of entertainment I always feel refreshed for the rest of the day. In the past I was enjoying movies in theaters, VHS tapes, DVDs, but they are short and doesn't give you much to think later. In movies you always have closure of some kind. TV shows are different. It's like ongoing movie happening every week, and I always have some thoughts and questions after it. What is goi

Actually this post is not about men in charge or the ultimate manager's tool or even furniture. It is about hardware, at least the way I am am experiencing the items in my office. What I want to say is when I buy a new computer, which is my ultimate tool I essentially need for my job, I research first its CPU speed, graphics depth, mobility features, monitor bigness and brightness, but now, things are changed.. My former 'the chair' office The other day my wife asked me what I would like the most for my birthday and after I gave it a little thought I said the ultimate hardware tool for my office - her majesty - The Chair. Previously I had a small and flexible "programmer stylish" chair I thought it was good for all my needs... But with years of age it comes the wisdom. I suddenly realized that beside my "software developer" title, in my one-man-show company, I am also proud owner of all other cool acronyms: CEO, CTO, CMO, BCM, CFO, COO, AIX, B2B