Recently at work I put a lot of effort in documenting things. I use my intranet MediaWiki page to keep note of all sort of useful info. Links, snippets of batch files, install processes. Things that one tends to forget and re-use again.
I also got access to a server and installed Wordpress where I keep a very simple blog in (very simple) Japanese.
Wiki’s are great to gather information, but they aren’t very good for diary-like reports and don’t make it easy to leave simple comments. Wordpress is much better, but still sucks because it doesn’t implement comments’ preview !
I also started learning about LaTeX to write simple research reports. I don’t want to sound geeky, but LaTeX seems to make a lot more sense than plainly using Microsoft Word or any other word processor. With LaTeX I can write down text and include images without worrying about layout. With a parameter I can tell it if I want a document to look like a IEEE paper or a Siggraph paper and just recompile it !
Things of course aren’t so smooth. For example today I drew a vector-based image with OpenOffice Draw. OO Draw makes you draw on canvases of printable document size, for example an A4. However one often needs just to save out a portion of the page. For example a graph that needs to go on a sub-figure in the LaTeX paper.
OO Draw allows to save out just a selection, but it does so by including the saved selection in a page sized as the whole document !
It took me a while to find out that this is a known issue that dates back to 2004 ! Luckily someone wrote a macro that can export the selection without the canvas size.. but in the process of discovering all this I felt a bit stupid. Lost in the process of writing something as I’m not even sure about the contents !!
Documenting seems like big waste of time. But this is mostly due to the fact that I have little experience on writing proper reports, however this is the only way I can demonstrate and communicate about my findings, and it’s also a good way to keep a reference of things that one tends to forget.
moomooo !
Posted by Davide Pasca as report writing, LaTeX, OpenOffice at 2:43 AM EST
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Today for some reason I tried again to go look at the trailer, or whatever has to offer the web site of Gears of War. A game that I’ve been criticizing recently just based on the fact that the title is lame.
Believe it or not, Firefox managed to crash as I was inputting my birth date, a check required to see if I’m adult enough to watch the Gears of War trailer. Well, I guess I’m not old enough ! Nice job !!
Onto more interesting things.. Tuesday I went back to work after two weeks of vacation ! The extra long winter holiday is due to the fact that the R&D section got new desks, furniture. It all smells new. Gone are the tall cubicles, in favor of a more open space environment. A change that some found annoying, as there is an obvious loss of privacy. There are still dividers, but they are not as tall and they don’t cover the back sides of the dutiful workers. The idea is that one can turn around and speak directly to the other 3 coworkers placed at the remaining 3 corners.
I like also the new open-space meeting room, with projector and white-board for potentially anyone to see. Cool ! Involvement !
I also like how some windows lost the curtains.. nice sunlight coming in ! There are also some simple red sofas on green carpet, short tables and white boards right by the windows, not too far form my desk. Cool, cool !
Posted by Davide Pasca as Diary, work at 2:29 AM EST
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In my days in school I used to watch a lot of Japanese cartoons. I always envied how in those cartoons kids had their sports uniforms, how serious they were about volleyball, basketball, swimming.. what ? A school with a swimming pool ?!!
One of the most popoular anime was Attack No.1 . The story about Kozue Ayuhara (Mimi Ayuhara for the Italian version) and her feats with her school’s volleyball team.
In the anime, volleyball was quite a serious thing. Her coach was very demanding. She trained very seriously, every day. Training was excruciating, physically very painful and sometimes rather unorthodox (hitting the ball with chains around the wrists !!).
Everything was clearly distorted, especially physics had little meaning, as balls would disappear from sight, follow strange paths and deform like melting cheese.
I envied Japanese students because I could see that they actually had some system in place to practice sports at a competitive level. Sure, we all had good laughs at those exaggerations, but I could tell what was true and what was pure fantasy… or could I ?
Recently I learned more about sports in Japanese schools thanks some girl I know that used to be pretty involved in her basketball club.
Along with normal studies, everyone can join a sports club where more or less traditional sports can be practiced.
My source tells me that her coach was very strict indeed, demanding training 3 times per day, including one hour during lunch break. Training had to be done every day. No school on Saturday or Sunday, but clubs are open on weekends, so one basically ends up going on Saturdays and Sundays as well.
She would run and practice so much that her toe nails would go black and sometimes tear off. Sport shoes gave her flat feet and a bone deformation below the knee that apparent is typical of professional soccer players. Last but not least, her coach forbid any girl of the club from shortening the school uniform’s skirt (a common practice here in Japan 8)
I heard stories of strong competition, drama of physical injuries that prevented taking championships.
I think back at those anime and they don’t seem so off anymore !
Posted by Davide Pasca as Japan, Japanese girls at 10:21 AM EST
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