Real Heroes

I always admired the pilots of the two PZL M18B "Dromader" fire-fighting airplanes that were stationed in Cephallonia's airport.

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Last modified: Thursday, August 27, 2009 4:28 pm

Fixing the Orientation of JPEG Photographs

I used to fix the orientation of my photographs through an application that would transpose the compressed JPEG blocks. This had the advantage of avoiding the image degradation of a decompression and a subsequent compression.

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Last modified: Sunday, June 14, 2009 8:20 pm

Modularity and Troubleshooting

A residual current device trips leaving the house in the dark. How do I fix the problem?

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Last modified: Saturday, April 21, 2007 7:06 pm

One Traffic Light Per Child

The XO machine of the One Laptop Per Child initiative has a display with two remarkable properties: in reflective mode it can be read under sunlight, and it can also work in both laptop and tablet mode. Add a dozen-line EToys program and you have a real traffic light.

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Last modified: Saturday, March 24, 2007 11:16 pm

Boot Lock

I first admired this ingenious method of locking a car in Rowan Atkinson's Mr. Bean series. A few days ago I saw it in real life.

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Last modified: Tuesday, July 11, 2006 11:15 am

Management Support Technologies

My academic title contains the words management support technologies. I therefore considered the new and efficient document management and dispatch system I saw in use at my health insurance provider a rare gem, worthy of inclusion in this blog.

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Last modified: Tuesday, February 21, 2006 11:46 pm

Disappearing Hardware

Let's start the new year with a retrospective look at hardware advances. I've ordered some older and current hard disks that were lying around by date. We're taking for granted the increases in disk size, but also impressive is the reduction in size of the control electronics.

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Last modified: Tuesday, January 3, 2006 4:41 pm

Information Kiosk

The inclined panel is indeed a computer screen, and, of course, it is not working. Another, more reliable, technology has prevailed.

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Last modified: Thursday, September 15, 2005 0:47 am

Preparing for the Exams

The (retake) exam period has started. At the metro the passenger sitting opposite me is obviously a student frantically sorting the cards containing a 6%-reduced photocopy of her forensic psychology textbook.

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Last modified: Tuesday, September 6, 2005 0:23 am

Cats and Cigarette Lighters

On April 14th, the US Transportation Security Administration started enforcing a new ban on cigarette lighters. A month later, I saw the corresponding announcement posted on a check-in desk at the Samos international airport. At the same airport I also saw a free-roaming cat getting its food delivered directly on the tarmac. I entered my flight feeling a lot safer.

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Last modified: Thursday, May 19, 2005 3:06 pm

Poster Presentations

I've found myself twice in a period of six months giving a poster presentation at a conference. This has been a new experience for me, and, by looking at what others were doing, I realized I could do a lot better.

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Last modified: Friday, November 19, 2004 0:00 am

A Toddler Discovers Globalization

A toddler decided to explore and uncover the production chain behind his touch-and-feel book.

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Last modified: Saturday, October 16, 2004 11:41 am

An Interesting Remote Control

The garage remote control at the place where I work is really interesting.

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Last modified: Thursday, August 25, 2005 12:47 am

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