It's an asymmetric world

Coredumps from Jesus Castagnetto's brain

 
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Rants

Merging KeePassX databases
on 2008-04-27 17:23

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I've been using KeePassX to keep my passwords safe across the Operating Systems I routinely use (Mac OS X, Ubuntu Linux), or have to deal with (MS Windows XP).

KeePassX has been a time saver since I started using it (about a couple of years ago), and I really like its cross-platform availability and the way you can easily group accounts, apart from feeling safe due to the good encryption (AES, Twofish) algorithms used in the program.

But, I have a problem. Sometimes I will record a new user/password combination in one machine and then forget to do the same on the database I carry on my USB, to propagate that change to the computers I used at work and at home. At the moment, there is no option to merge or import into an existing database in KeePassX (there is a feature request asking for that), so I have to either do it by hand or look for a workaround. Being lazy, I decided to go for the second option.

Fortunately, you can import/export your data to the KeePassX XML format. That, coupled with the XSLT file at Oliver Becker's site (merge.xsl), provided the solution I needed:

  1. Export your datbases to the KeePassX XML format (let's say db1.xml y db2.xml).
  2. Run it through xsltproc:
    $ xsltproc --output merged.xml --stringparam with db2.xml merge.xsl db1.xml
    This will merge the contents of db2.xml into db1.xml and write the output to merged.xml
  3. Import the newly created database, and save it with a new (or old, if you want) filename.

Short and sweet. Not bad for a workaround, and seems to work just fine.

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Early morning shaking in Lima
on 2008-03-29 13:13

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We got a 10 second wake up call this morning. Fortunately it was only 5.4, but still the phone lines (land and cellphones) collapsed for a bit with all the people calling.

After the excitement passed, everything went to normal. Seems like another day in Lima after all.

More details at the USGS page: Magnitude 5.4 - NEAR THE COAST OF CENTRAL PERU

Earthquake Location

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Localization of earthquakes (Perú)
on 2007-08-17 07:24

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This is the location of the latest earthquakes in Perú (as of 2007/08/17), made from the info at the USGS page for this area [Google Earth kmz for the earthquakes].
Update (2007/08/21): USGS has reported 38 earthquakes so far, including the very strong one from last Wednesday (2007/08/15).
Update (2008/03/11): While moving to Joomla 1.5 I found some problems with the component I was using, so I decided to make and embed a public Google Map showing the same information as before.

View Larger Map
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Whole lotta shaking going on in Peru
on 2007-08-15 15:00

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(I am writing this mainly so our friends - mine and my wife's - outside Perú can rest assured that we are OK after the earthquake)

We've had an earthquake today. Actually we had a big one of magnitude 7.9 Richter scale (lasted almost 2 minutes), and several others from 5.0 to 5.9, mostly on the coast of Peru (there haven been 140+ aftershocks). The 7.9 quake was not too far from Lima where I live (the epicenter was about 150 km SSE from here) and has been the strongest one I've livd through for quite some time (I remember another one in the 70's when I was a kid). Fortunately everyone I care about is OK: my wife, my parents and sister, and my in-laws.

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Tour Parquesoft 2007 (Lima, Perú)
on 2007-07-23 15:00

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Hace unos días (20-21 de Julio) se realizó en la PUCP (Lima) el Tour Parquesoft 2007 donde representantes de Parquesoft Colombia presentaron alternativas para el desarrollo de emprendedurismo, en particular en empresas de base tecnológica. Muchos jóvenes de un buen número de universidades peruanas asistieron a este evento.

En forma paralela, se presentaron charlas acerca de una diversidad de temas relacionados con el Software de Código Libre. Voluntarios de las diversas comunidades de Código Libre dictaron estas charlas a los jóvenes interesados. Por mi parte, dí una relacionada a los mitos y realidades que se perpetúan en la prensa (hablada, escrita, visual, y en línea) acerca de lo que es el movimiento de Código Libre y el software que se produce.

Me gustó mucho el participar en este evento, pues observé gran entusiasmo por parte de los estudiantes que asistieron a todos los eventos. Hicieron buenas preguntas y se veía que querían aprender aún más, lo cual siempre es una satisfacción para cualquiera.

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Firefox 2.0 is out!
on 2006-10-25 06:08

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English

Firefox plush toyFinally, you can now get Firefox 2.0 from the Mozilla site. Get it, use it, and tell your friends about it, do not let them surf the web unprotected. Don't wait until they lose all their data to malware just because they are using outdated and poorly designed applications, help them and make them happy ;-)

For those who care about those things, there is a complete list of changes and miscellaneous information at the Release Notes page for the new version.

If you are using Ubuntu Linux 6.06 (and you are not, why not?), and you do not want to wait until the new release makes it to the repositories, there are detailed instructions on getting Firefox 2.0 working on your system right now.

Thanks to Christian Palacios's blog for the cute Firefox plush toy pic, and factoryjoe for the "Always use protection" picture.

Español

Always use protection (factoryjoe)Finalmente, ahora pueden bajar Firefox 2.0 del sitio de Mozilla. Descárgalo, úsalo, y cuéntale a tus amigos, no los dejes navegar la web desprotegidos. No esperes a que ellos pierdan todos sus datos a manos de software malvado sólo porque estan usando aplicativos desactualizados y pobremente diseñados, ayúdalos y hazlos felices ;-).

Para aquellos que esten interesados, hay una lista completa de cambios y otra información miscelánea en la página de Notas de Lanzamiento de la nueva versión.

Si estas usando Ubuntu Linux 6.06 (y si no lo estas usando, ¿por qué no?), y no quieres esperara hasta que esta nueva versión sea puesta en los repositorios, hay instrucciones detalladas acerca de como hacer que Firefox 2.0 funciones en tu sistema ahora mismo.

Gracias al blog de Christian Palacios por la imágen del firefox de juguete, y a factoryjoe por la imágen "Always use protection".

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Open Source Day 2k6 en USMP
on 2006-10-22 21:49

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Me divertí mucho en el OSD 2k6 en la USMP re-encontrando mucha gente que no veía por un buen tiempo, conociendo nuevas personas interesadas en Código Libre/Abierto, y en general pasandola bien. Mejor aún con mi novia, Airin, quién también le interesó ir. Creo que era para verme en mi nerdbiente (ambiente nerd) natural :-)

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Como NO organizar un congreso: Mi experiencia con COPEIQ XII
on 2006-10-20 11:41

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En Junio de este año recibí una invitación para dar unas charlas en el COPEIQ XII . Me pedían que hablara de la investigación que he realizado y que estoy empezando ha hacer ahora que he regresado al Perú. Esto me entusiasmó mucho y preparé una charla acerca de la MDB, mi proyecto cuando fuí post.-doc en TSRI, y otra acerca de lo que es la Química Supramolecular y la Química Computacional, temas que traté durante mi doctorado en NYU.

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Martes Libres en la UPCH
on 2006-10-11 10:39

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Se me ocurrió hace un tiempo el organizar unas charlas acerca de Código Libre y Abierto en la UPCH, pero por una u otra razón siempre estaba posponiendo la fecha de inicio. Finalmente el mes pasado (Septiembre, 2006), me animé y organizé la primera reunión informal, anunciándola via email a la gente que pensé estaría interesada en atender.

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Joomla! upgrading blues
on 2006-07-02 22:54

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After upgrading to Joomla! 1.0.10, all of sudden I started to get some nasty errors about redeclaring the PEAR class. Some diff-ing and hunting down for references to PEAR.php tracked down several include_once and require_once in Joomla! and some third party components, that were happily loading their bundled in version of PEAR.php (and other classes from PEAR).

If done correctly this should not be a problem, but in some cases it was not. In particular I did a quick fix (kludge) on 3 files and the problems with Docman failing were gone

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Total bathroom control
on 2006-06-19 03:25

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Bathroom control center, Tokyo, Japan, (c) Airin Kawasaki Uematsu
Bathroom control center, Tokyo, Japan [© Airin Kawasaki Uematsu]

It would seem that in Japan they really like to control some of the more "personal" aspects of their daily lives.

Mi fiance sent me this picture from the place she is staying currently in Tokyo, Japan. It depicts the control center for the bathroom. I was intrigued and amused at the second icon from the left, it seems to be for cleaning the nether regions after the deed is done (complete with a selection of the water pressure used).

But it gets more interesting when you see the buttons on the right, which control the volume used to create a flushing sound to mask any impolite noise one is producing while visiting the restroom. And there is also a "powerful deodorizer" to avoid offending the noses of those who could be nearby (even your own).

It seems that there is a seat warmer built in. And the machine also uses warm water for the cleaning action. That should be good in winter I guess. I know several of you would like to have one like this at home, but the problem is that you cannot get these toilets on your local hardware store... yet.

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