Google Suggest

Yet another lab product from Google pointed out by Tim. Those of you who use gmail will know about the drop downs of the matching email addresses as you type - now this has been extended to search queries. Very cool, and works quite well - even with UCT's crappy network speeds.

http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=1&hl=en

Hmm ... also just realised that the Blogger spell check doesn't have Google or gmail in their list ...

Movie: Night Watch

It's the first Russian movie I have seen; and it's a damn good movie at that. Night Watch has a traditional sci-fi/fantasy plot - the battle between good and evil. Throw in an extra dimension; there are certain people in the world who are better than the rest of human kind (like mutants in X-Men I suppose) - the others. There is currently a truce between the good and the evil; and the others are free to make a choice to be either good or evil; and both sides take turns to monitor the other's activities - in the day; a squad from the evil called day watch monitor the good and at night; a squad from the good called night watch monitor the evil. And to wrap it all up; the good and the bad are sometimes even good friends (and neighbours).

There are some plot holes; but the movie is stylish; it's dark and features some very good effects. It's part 1 of a trilogy and it's well worth seeing. Talking of good movies; House of flying daggers comes out tomorrow ... I might just go and see it again on Tuesday. If anyone wants to join me - send me a mail.

Car Free Day

So today is national car free day - people are supposed to give up their cars and make use of public transport. Walking up to campus today (I gave up waiting for the Jammie after 5 minutes; thought I could rather do with the exercise), it seems that car free day is a total failure. Both the M3 and main road was jam packed as usual and the Golden Arrow busses were not carrying any more passengers than usual.

Personally, after living in Cape Town for almost 6 years without a car; I don't really have many bad things to say about public transport. In my experience, public transport works quite well and it's not too expensive; but only to certain places. My 2 biggest problems with public transport in Cape Town is that
a) its almost non existent at night - there are some night time Golden Arrow busses; but its almost faster to walk than to wait to catch one (I know; I have timed them once)
b) Some very important routes are just not served - try to get to the airport for example.

With 2010, public transport is going to be an important issue - there aren't that many rental cars out there after all. Getting to Newlands is relatively easy - just catch the train. But getting from the airport to the hotels, or from the hotels to the train station - that's going to be the difficult part. I think that all major transportation nodes (ports, stations, airports) should have public transport links - I just don't see it happening any time soon.

The Accident

As many of you know; I bought a mountain bike about two weeks ago. Yesterday afternoon I had my first accident on the road - of no fault of my own (but then everyone says that right?). Anyway, it happened outside Sunrise - this guy decided to open his door without looking around to see if it ok to do so - and so I went sprawling onto the road. Luckily, the pedestrian robot a few paces back was red a few moment back; so there were no cars and I got by with just a few scratches (and no damage to my bike). The guy (oldish, about 50 or so) was very apologetic, and said that he was so excited by something that he did not look before opening the door; and I left it at that as there was no real damage ... but it was a close call I suppose.

I have been trying (but quite unsuccessfully) to get into a cycling routine ... I would really like to get fit. I find that cyclists seem to share some sort of a bond - most other cyclists greet each other when passing each other (in either direction)- something that you don't see pedestrians do - and I have walked a lot. Many drivers also have respect for cyclists - shared a few jokes with a guy at a red robot yesterday - and even taxi drivers seem very nice towards cyclists. Now if only some drivers would check before opening their doors and stop driving next to the kerb ...

The Super Series

I managed to watch only one match live; and even for that; only about 2 hours of it. The super series has been over hyped; for too long, and like all hype; it did not live up to its expectations. After Australlia thrashed the World XI in the ODIs, the test match seems to be going the same direction. After all, a line up consisting of some of the best batsmen in the world failed to even make 200 in the first innings of the test. As for bowling, Harmisson is good; but the team selection for the match is definitely dodgy. Kallis has not been bowling for quite some time; so there are effectively 2 fast bowlers in Flintoff and Harmisson and two spin bowlers in Vetorri and Murali. But the fact that there is no 5th bowler that can keep the pressure locked in (like Pollock) or a wicket taker (like Shoaib or Ntini) the bowling is quite toothless really ... Murali can only bowl for so long! And I won't even go into selecting Smith as captain instead of Flemming or even Vaughn.

The test is scheduled for 6 days; but I fear it might not even reach 4 days .... the series was always a pipe dream ... but its clear; to make the greatest team in the world you also need them to play for something to entice them to perform to their best.

Movie: House of Flying Daggers

Thanks to Dave, I got the special edition DVD for the weekend. It is definitely the best movie I have watched this year; better than Hero (by the same director) and Sin City. It has all the ingredients of a good movie - brilliant storyline, wonderful cinematography, great acting and off course brilliant fight scenes.

And watching some of the DVD fillers, I found some very interesting notes ... for example, one of the most breath taking scenes take place in a snowstorm. The plot did not have a snow storm; but an early, unforeseen snowstorm during filming played its part; and instead of waiting for 4 weeks for the snow to disappear, the scene was shot in the storm. The director calls it fate; but whatever you call it; the scene is one of the most tragic and beautiful ever. And there are some other great scenes; like the Echo game and off course a fight in a bamboo forest (BTW according to the DVD specials, the actors are actually placed high up on the bamboo and they swing from pole to pole).

You don't have to like martial arts movies; you don't have to like foreign films; but if you want to be entertained with a brilliant story watch the movie.

Movie: Crazy Monkey presents: Straight Outta Benoni

If the title hasn't given it away - it's a South African movie; and unlike some of the other recent South African movies including Yesterday, this movie is being heavily promoted. This movie is also the worst (the most polite description I could think of really) South African movie I have ever seen (yes even worse than the infamous Swart Kat movie they used to show when the Afrikaans teachers had nothing else to do at School).

The movie stars some of the biggest comedians in South Africa, but frankly the movie is not funny - well there are some moments but too far in between. The acting is poor at best; and while the general production is good; most local series, sitcoms and short movies are often far better. And if you were wondering about the plot ... it's best not to ask.

Movie: Sin City

Ronald calls it the best movie of the year, and one of the best ever. It has had a lot of hype, mainly because of the technology behind the movie, and is definitely one of the most stylish movies of the year. I am not sure about best; although it would definitely be amongst the best. I loved the contrast of colours, the storyline (the whole concept of have prostitutes as a gun wielding self defenders of their trade was a brilliant concept), the whole plot of revenge and just the general depravity of the villains. I am somewhat glad that I never got round to watching Sin City on the PC, and waited for it to be finally released on the big screen. I just have one question - which scene was directed by Tarantino ... I think I can guess but would like to know for sure.

And my previous post was about South African movies - Sterkinekor screened a (real) short movie about baby Tshepang, and yes the subject is definitely more tragic and different to a comedy; but the movie was just so much better; so much more engaging. There is hope after all ... although the movie I am really looking forward to is "Tsotsi" which is based on a Athol Fugard novel; but that's going to be released only next year in SA.

Movie: Transporter2

While Transporter 1 (last year or the year before) was a sleeper hit, Transporter2 is very much a big budget production; although a lot of the European roots have been retained.

Quite simply, Transporter 2 is the best action movie I have seen this year. It has awesome car chases, incredible fighting scenes and the story is decent - not as good as Transporter 1, but not bad. And the production in some of the scenes are breath taking. The story revolves around an apparent kidnapping of a young important kid, but its obviously not that - and in many ways; Transporter 2 (and other movies like that) are starting to take on the role that was traditionally held by Mr Bond.

As for highlight scenes - there are some amazing stunts involving cars being in places where they shouldn't be (leaping between buildings), fight scenes in a private jet with no pilot hurtling down into the ocean and off course a Lamborghini Murcielago driven like it should be ... if nothing else, the movie is worthwhile just for that.

Ganguly vs Chappel: Indian Cricket's new Lows

In the past week, a lot has been said about the fallout between Indian Cricket captain Saurav Ganguly and the coach Greg Chappell. For those of you who don't know - sometime during the recent Zimbabwe tour (IIRC, it was before the 1st test), Ganguly asked Chappell on which player (between Yuvraj Singh and Mohammed Kaif) to leave out of the test squad. Chappell told him, that on current form, Ganguly should consider leaving himself out and rather play both Yuvraj and Kaif. Later, there was a leak of an email that Chappell sent to the Indian Cricket board detailing Chappell's points on why Ganguly should no longer remain captain.

While there has been a large outcry, one of the important points is that Chappell is essentially right. Ganguly, while he is an inspirational leader, does not seem to be performing on the field. And this is not a temporary slump - it has been going on for over 2 years! It is high time that other players, who are just as talented and who are actually on form.

Maybe India should consider the off-field captain. After all there are some sports - notably Tennis - that uses this approach. If captaincy is about strategy and inspiration, the captain could easily do the job on the sidelines (which Ganguly does anyway considering the number of times he goes off the field). There are just too many talented players (on form) that go in the Indian middle order and frankly there is no place for Ganguly. This will be a bigger problem once Tendulkar is fit (and ready to play).

A1 vs F1

This past weekend marked the inaugural A1 GP race at the Brands Hatch Circuit in England. In many ways, A1 GP is a new concept in motorsport - its all about teams, and the driver does not matter. In A1 GP, dubbed the world cup of motorsport, the teams are essentially countries with each country having one team. The whole concept of the driver does not matter was well demonstrated by Malaysia which used different drivers for the race and qualifying (and it worked quite well too).

But the main point of A1 GP was to address the deficiencies in current Formula 1 series - a lack of overtaking, high budgets and a focus on the technology and not the show and the driver skills. A1 GP's first race shows promise - and there was plenty of entertainment. The qualifying was mesmerising, and even better than how F1 qualifying used to be before Mosley and Bernie screwed it all up. As for the race - there was overtaking and a lot of it! Although, Nelson Piquet Jnr and Team Brazil were obvious contenders for the win, the remaining positions were well contested right up to the checkered flag.

That does not mean that A1 does not have problems - the pit system was fun to watch but a bit too contrived IMO. And I would really like some live timing on the TV broadcast. But other than these minor factors, A1 GP was is well worth watching.

The same cannot really be said of F1. Along won the drivers title, becoming the youngest to do so, on Sunday but the race was boring except for the first few laps. I have not watched F1 qualifying at all this year, and while the production of the F1 show is brilliant, crappy directors (like cutting away to Ralph pitting instead of showing a rare pass on the track) really detract from the whole experience.

I have been a F1 fan for a very long time, I have gone to races, and rarely miss a race on TV - and if there was a clash between a F1 race and a A1 GP race, I am more likely to watch A1 GP ... Its just more rewarding.

DRM Protected CDs

Slashdot is running a discussion on a statement from a Finnish politician who claims something like:
"Now, we need to understand that listening to music on your computer is an extra privilege. Normally, people listen to music on their car or through their home stereos. If you are a Linux or Mac user, you should consider purchasing a regular CD player."

For the confused (i.e. people who get their music from alternate sources, many new CDs are restricted to CD players only and cannot be played on PCs without special software. The theory is to prevent piracy; the practice is to annoy everyone and not really work (numerous hacks exist).

Despite the outcry; the politician is somewhat correct. The CD player on a computer is a data disc reader and the music companies have every right to sell a compact disc that will only work on CD players; just as they have every right to sell DRM enabled music. That is their business. It is the consumers that must stand up and say that they will not buy DRM enabled music or not buy DRM enabled media. By bitching and moaning about the media is not really the answer - ultimately the product is for the consumer and if the consumer is unhappy they should not purchase the product. After all, a music CD is hardly a necessity.

SHAWCO IT

As some of you know, I am a volunteer for the SHAWCO IT project in Khayalitsha. The project tries to teach high school kids from Khayalitsha (grade 10 - 12) IT skills like using computers and M$ Office. Today was the closing function - kids who attended regularly were awarded certificates; there were some boring (and not so boring) speeches and some food.

In many ways the project is remarkable and highly necessary - IT skills are important in the new millennium (even the checkout ladies in separate and Pick 'n Pay use quite sophisticated computererised systems to ring up purchases) and are crucial tools that are needed by students. In the environment that is Khayalitsha, the project is a major highlight in this regard.

However there are many questions that remain unanswered:

• Can they really apply what we have tried to teach them?
• Have they understood what we tried to teach them?
• Did we teach them the right things?
• Is teaching them M$ Office enough?
• How are the kids going to effectively retain what they have been thought?
• What about the kids that were not in the project?
• What about adults in Khayalitsha?

Some of the questions are easy to guess but the later questions are the really crucial ones - especially considering the fact that the centre cost about R250 000 but is only used for about 16 hours a week for about 30 weeks of the year. For the rest of the time the centre is effectively a white elephant.

SHAWCO does not have the means to run the centre for longer periods of time, and unfortunately there are many political issues that run beneath SHAWCO. Only time will tell if the true potential of the SHAWCO centre can be achieved.

Movie: Crash

Not many people seem to remember Crash, a movie about people with a fetish for car accidents. While the movie was certainly very interesting, it was hardly everybody's cup of tea. The new movie explores a totally different subject - a complex set of disjoint relationships that are all connected to each other. Above all, the movie explores various racial stereotypes (in the US, but equally applicable all over the world) and how these stereotypes affect the relationships. There are some brilliant scenes, and overall the movie forces us to question everyday interactions - for example, what people do you consider threatening when walking on the street?

More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0375679/

Two of the best quotes:
Look around! You couldn't find a whiter, safer or better lit part of this city. But this white woman sees two black guys, who look like UCLA students, strolling down the sidewalk and her reaction is blind fear. I mean, look at us! Are we dressed like gangbangers? Do we look threatening? No. Fact, if anybody should be scared, it's us: the only two black faces surrounded by a sea of over-caffeinated white people, patrolled by the triggerhappy LAPD. So, why aren't we scared?

It's just black people demeaning other black people, using that word over and over. You ever hear white people callin' each other "honky" all the time? "Hey, honky, how's work?" "Not bad, cracker, we're diversifying!"

Problem with SA Music

The SATNAC closing dinner featured "Mean Mr Mustard" as the evening band. For the uninitiated, Mean Mr Mustard are one of the best rock bands in South Africa, having sold many thousand records and having a great following. Thus we were all quite excited at the prospect; although we were puzzled to how the "0u toppies" will mosh to Mean Mr Mustard. We were heavily disappointed ...

As corporate functions would have it; Telkom more or less decided what songs Mean Mr Mustard should play - the result being a glorified cover band! For years, South African music lovers have wondered why South African music is not really appreciated - and the answer is simple - because the really good bands are playing cover versions of imported music in their really important money earning gigs - the corporate functions. I would have understood if they played covers of South African songs; but when the covered bands like Busted it really left a bad after taste. In the approximately 2 hours that we did stay for; they played only 3 of their own songs! What was the point?

SATNAC Reflections Part 2

So SATNAC is finally drawing to a close - there were more academic presentations yesterday and today. Unfortunately the bad Internet connection situation has continued - although it has improved dramatically from Monday. The download speeds are still rather crap though. To be honest, there has been very little value from SATNAC - most the work is either uninteresting (because its not our field) or seems rather poor. That is not saying that there are no good papers; but they seem to be too few. Maybe if SATNAC was about security or DRM I would be more interested.

The closing function was in an "English Pub" theme - i.e. the food was not that great (although there was malva pudding) and it was not as well decorated as last year's District 6 theme. More on the entertainment on a later post ...

SATNAC Reflections

So SATNAC started officially on Sunday evening with a very flashy, techno-rave style opening dinner. Most importantly, the food was good, and we all stuffed ourselves (except Paul, who does not like to eat too much in the evenings). And we all got a lot of freebies - a bag, a sweatshirt (which everyone was asked to wear to the opening function), a jacket and a mug. I also got a Huawei radio this morning ... not sure if everyone else got that one ....


SATNAC is not really an academic conference - if one looks at the program for the first day. The majority of the sessions involved corporate big wigs discussing technology using huge buzzwords like convergence. It was boring, somewhat dumb and more or less a total waste of time.

The academic presentations at the end of the day was not much better - except for Paul's presentation, none of the presentation really had much substance. Take for instance the presentation "Detecting Uncooperative Ethernet Elements using Accurate Round-Trip Time Measurements" - how this project differs from the "ping" command is yet to be established.

Surprisingly, even though SATNAC is a telecommunication, the Internet connection is very unstable (or maybe unsurprisingly considering that we are talking about Telkom). Another interesting fact was that, Windows machines had difficulty in using the WiFi, but Linux didn't have any such problems.

Finally, another addition to the Appletiser index - and a cheap entrant at that. Last night, we had supper at the Monk's Cowl Country Club (there seem to be a number of sports facilities in this part of the country, much more than the number of people living in the area). The food itself was good, although I did get my food very late (every one finished before I got my food ....). We all put it down as a mistake on the waitresses part and she was very embarrassed. Appletiser index entry:
Monk's Cowl Country Club: 6.50

The Appletiser Index

You have heard of the Mac index; I now give you the Appletiser index. The Mac index gave an index on how expensive a country is based on Big Mac prices. You can do the same regarding how expensive a restaurant/take away is comparing the price of drinks - hence the Appletiser index. This was primarily motivated by the cost of Appletisers at the Chapagne Castle Sports resort - the domicile of SATNAC 2005.

So the first entry - Champagne Castle Sports resort: R13

For comparison, the cost of an Appletiser at Loxley's in Rondebosch is R11 and the Independent Armchaoir Theatre is R9.

Up the mountains we go

On Sunday the DNA lab flies off to Durban and then drive up to the Drakensberg for a Telkom sponsored holiday, otherwise known as SATNAC. Not presenting a paper this time, just a poster, which was done by Duncan and Marlon (the honours students I am supervising as they can reuse most of it for their honours poster). But the highlight of SATNAC is not the papers really but the dinners (the opening and the closing), the huge supply of good, free, food (and drinks) and the free bandwidth (seeing that it is sponsored by TELKOM.

On the TELKOM note, looks like the made a very quiet retreat from suing the Hellkom founder, but I think wearing a Hellkom t-shirt to SATNAC would be ill advised.

Signs : The Oracle

In the past few days, UCT has been promoting "Heritage@UCT" - a drive to let people know the history about some of UCT's main landmarks like Jameson Hall, the rugby fields (Nelson Mandela was awarded his honorary doctorate at the rugby fields to accommodate more people), the Rhodes statue etc. I think its a brilliant concept, and wish it was actually extended to some of the other buildings and places on campus (like who is Robert Leslie?). As for The Oracle - that's the name of the fountain on Jammie Plaza ... you learn something new everyday.