First program in Google GO
This is my first attempt at Google’s programming language: Go!. This program is a tentative implementation of the producer consumer pattern, with an added middle layer. Basically, the producer generates a bunch of DNA sequences (Struct that implement a rudimentary abstract Seq interface) and sends them over a channel to the middle layer goRoutine (Sort of thread) which distributes them randomly over two different queues; implemented by channels! Two other goRoutines (The consumers) read from each assigned queue and display the results. Read the rest of this entry »
Running on a cloud
There are many new technologies that I have been wanting to try in the past few months but could not, due to various reasons. Now that the summer is finally here (Read the end of semester, since it is always summer time in Honolulu :), I can finally schedule some serious play-time.
This week, Henri received new servers that he will be using for some distributed grid project. However, since the project has not started yet, he agreed to let me get Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud running on them. Friday evening, I downloaded and burned a copy of Ubuntu Lucid Lynx amd64 and used two of the servers to install a Eucalyptus Cluster Controller and a Node Controller, both connected with an old 1 Gig switch.
I was amazed at how easy and straight-forward the installation process was. Once the machines were running, I installed HybridFox as a plugin on Firefox and ran few instances of one of the default VM images available with Ubuntu default install.
The major problem I was experiencing was that I could not connect to my running instances. I spent all day Sunday reading docs to figure out what I was doing wrong…. It was not until I got a very helpful response to my post on the Eucalyptus Community Forum that I figured out what the issue was. Now that things are running well, I can go ahead and test some MPI apps and some embarrassingly parallel blasts to get the feel of “running on a cloud”.
And by the way… I was truly impressed by the new Power-Edge server build quality. Awesome new features, which I am hopefully blogging about soon, and best of all, the R710 is the quietest server I have ever seen (As quiet as the Dell Precision T7400 running under my desk).
     
Mi primer cuento en español!
Un homenaje a Cortazar…. Un hombre racional en su absurdo.
“Pero cariño, nunca podré vivir sin ti. !Te quiero! ” le dijo con ojos tan grandes como la luna y tan brillantes como el sol. “Y no te lo digo porque hoy es dÃa de los enamorados” agregó con su vos temblorosa. “Lo digo porque es lo que siento…tengo dependencia de tu amor”. “?Cómo que no crees en la dependencia afectiva?” añadió defendiéndose de esta mirada que no dejaba de juzgarlo. “Si me dejas, yo me arrojaré en frente del primer sistema inmunológico que pase”, Mientras que él hablaba y hablaba, tratando de comprobar utilizando un lenguaje romántico extraÃdo del último CD de “los tigres del norte” que su amor era verdadero, ella lo miraba con poca admiración.
Para ella, la palabras eran demasiado importantes, y aunque no tenÃa más de 4 letras en su alfabeto de bacteria, los matices en las palabras le eran de gran importancia. En su cara pálida, ella veÃa un amor egoÃsta, una dependencia enfermiza más que la relación equilibrada como debe ser el amor verdadero. Estaba harta de ver que la pareja con quien iba a compartir su patrimonio genético para, quizá, tener un dÃa una crÃa resistente a todas la vacunas, no pensaba sino en si mismo. La frase que le habÃa dicho resonaba en su casi-cabeza de bacteria y le recordaba los prejuicios que tienen los humanos sobre su raza… Unos parásitos que siempre necesitan a alguien que les provea sus substancia vital.
“No!” ella le dijo, “Nunca seré tu parásito! Lo que espero de mi pareja es una relación equilibrada, donde los dos podemos realizarnos y no una relación de dependencia, como la que tu discurso pretencioso expresa!”.
Seguramente que tenéis curiosidad por saber cual era la causa de esta escena! Pues, todo empezó cuando le habÃa dicho, una vez de más “Sin ti, yo me muero”.
Cannot reply or edit hotmail messages from Firefox under Linux.
If you are using the bundled Firefox version that came with your Linux distribution, you are probably wondering why you cannot reply to or edit emails under Hotmail after Microsoft’s most recent upgrade to their MSN Live platform. If after you log in, you wonder why you are presented with a list of download links for compatible browsers, Firefox being one of them, even if that is what you are using, then wonder no more.
Microsoft seems to be using the “general.useragent.vendor” variable to check the browser type you are connecting to Hotmail from. Under bundled versions of the browser this is likely to be something like “Ubuntu, SuSe, etc…”, which is, as you might have guessed, not what Microsoft is expecting. It suffices to change this variable’s value to “Firefox” to get things to work.
To change the variable’s value under Firefox 2 or 3, do the following:
1- Type about:config in you url.
2- Type the variable name ( “general.useragent.vendor”) in the filter field.
3- double click the actual stored value and replace it with “Firefox”
It is all about chances!
This is an excerpt from a book I got as a gift this weekend from a friend of mine. This same friend, who happens also to be a great writer, mentioned once that it was always a better hook for the reader when a text begins with something intriguing, insightful, maybe even provocative. Well The book she offered me does just that. The title is “Chances Are… Adventures in Probability” and even though I have only skimmed through the first few pages, I can already tell that I am going to have lots of fun reading it!
“We search for certainty and call what we find destiny. Everything is possible, yet only one thing happens–we live and die between these two poles, under the rule of probability. We prefer, though, to call it Chance: an old familiar embodied in gods and demons, harnessed in charms and rituals. We remind one another of fortune’s fickleness, each secretly believing himself exempt. I am master of my fate; you are dicing with danger; he is living in a fool’s paradise.”
I love my C8H10N4O2 (Coffea arabica, caffè, kahve, قهوة‎, būnn).
Right before I left on vacation this year, my colleague/soon-to-be-boss purchased a new espresso machine for the office. Before making the new acquisition, she brought a pamphlet for the Nespresso that she had tried few days before and whose espresso quality really impressed her.
I am no “coffee snob” but I had always doubted that any machine that uses pods/capsules could dispense quality coffee. I was consequently sure that the new machine would not save me the hassle of walking to other side of campus, where I have adopted the practice of acquiring my daily doses of adenosine blockers, for the non-negligible price of 2.54$/double-shot.
When we received the machine, it came with a 24 pod sampling set of arious roasts, aromas and tastes. I slowly savored my first Capriccio lungo while kicking back and listening to my Pink Martini CD. (Yes I Work very hard sometimes!!!)
Over all, I found that the machine made excellent coffee considering its price and that of the capsules. It is also very compact and extremely fast to cleanup. I would strongly recommend it for any office and if you don’t know which capsules to buy, I suggest Capriccio, Vivalto and Volluto!
By the way… here is the description for the cappricio capsules: “Capriccio is a full-bodied espresso, which is also creamy, mild and rich. Its crema is very dense and so delicate that it reflects the light.” As you might have guessed, the density of the crema is probably a little too much 
Tsonga, where did you learn to play tennis?
Up until yesterday, I never thought there was someone in the circuit who could annihilate the high hopes of Nadal in such an upsetting way as Tsonga did. I never thought I could see Nadal run hopelessly on a tennis court under the commands of another player. I thought that if Federer could not do it, no one else could. Some of us, do of course know that he is a mere human being and not an alien from the planet Matadoria. I have seen Nadal lose important matches, get angry, lose his game but I have never seen him so dispirited and hopeless as he was during the third set.
Tsonga was just perfect yesterday. His game was so diversified and overall complete. In addition to that, I find that the French player possesses something that a lot of athletes lack. Something that they don’t teach you at the tennis academy and which you are either luckily born with or will lack all your life. It is called elegance. A BBC reporter said in a match review that one of Tsonga’s drop-shots was so beautiful it should be on the cover on the Vogue magazine. This pretty much sums up many of Tsonga’s hits. Even his sprints across the courts showed a lot of grace. “How come it is so difficult to beat Rafa in past?” I though to myself.
I hope that Tsonga will play Federer in the final. I will be scotch-taped to the TV Saturday night (Hawaii-time) to watch the final, no matter who Tsonga is playing!
I got the picture here
Quelle histoire!!!
Vous avez surement entendu parler du pecheur qui s’est fait gifler par une demonne apres s’etre retourne pour voir qui qui l’appelait. Selon l’histoire, un pecheur d’experience, a moitie saoul, qui pechait a 3h ou 4h du mat, sur la pointe (rochers du cote est de la plage, a cote de la descente!) a entendu une voix appeler son nom. Lorsqu’il s’est retourne pour voir qui c’etait, le mec a recu un gifle sur la joue gauche et depuis, en plus d’etre paralyse, le traumatisme lui a cause un severe dysfonctionnement mental.
La derniere fois que j’ai vu Mokhtar (2001.. 11 ans apres), je l’ai supplie de me reveler comment ils ont fait pour nous pieger moi et Omar mais sans succes. Meme apres quelques annees de Koualab et de tchitine, je n’arrive toujours pas a comprendre comment est ce que ce coup a ete monte…. A moins que ca ne soit pas un coup et que la jenniya de Sidi-bouzid existe vraiment!!!!
Cold tolerance and EST assembly
A friend of mine just sent me an email saying that my name was mentioned in “Quebec Sciences”, a science magazine devoted to everything that revolves around science, in an article about wheat tolerance to weather related stresses. ( See here )
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Killer waves in Jaws
A crazy swell hit the Jaws surf spot in Maui few days ago. A friend who works at the Ocean research engineering department and who runs some jobs on our compute cluster told me that the legendary surf spot has seen waves with some 80 foot faces. Believe it or not but that is almost an 8 story building. Can you imagine the thrill of being chased by a mountain of water that can easily sink a ship. Just the thought of it gives me goosebumps — or “chicken skin” as they say here in Hawaii!
I was not surprised to read in the paper that Laird Hamilton and Brett Lickle were amongst the daredevils who decided to defy nature that day and caught some of the biggest waves ever ridden.
The picture is from Jaws the day before the big swell hit. I got the picture here.