Things to do in Singapore

01Jun09

Interesting things to do in Singapore, but probably aren’t mentioned elsewhere:

• Have a cup of cappuccino or latte at Highlander Coffee (S$ 3.90).
• For Catholics, attend holy mass in the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd. Not to be mistaken with the St Andrew’s Cathedral in front of City Hall station which is an Anglican Church.
• Eat Soup Kambing at Upper Boon Keng Food Center (S$5.5). The location is a 10 minutes walk from Kallang MRT.
• Eat Subway, just because we don’t have them in Jakarta :)
• Try Botak Jones western food.

Meanwhile, things to avoid:

• Long John Silvers. Save your money. If you want fast food, go to Burger King.

Filed under: Food, Personal   |  5 Comments
Tags: Singapore, travel, visit

Learn WSGI

01Jun09

Some links to get you started on Python WSGI…

• An Introduction to Python Web Server Gateway Interface (WSGI)
• A simple WSGI Test Application
• Mod WSGI, Python WSGI Adapter Module for Apache

Filed under: Python   |  Leave a Comment

Jaunty hands on

25Apr09

After several hours of download and installation, I finally upgraded to Jaunty.

First of all I’m not a fan of the new start up and login screen. The smaller progress bar looks odd, and its still the same logo over a black screen. I hope Ubuntu start up screen can move forward to the full color, full screen kinds like Fedora/SuSE.

The login screen is a huge regression for me. I absolutely love the old login screen, it looks professional and mature. But the new one screams amateur. I’ll definitely download the old login theme.

On the other hand I welcome the new notifications and indicator applet. Both of them are cool. The Computer Janitor is also a welcomed addition.

I haven’t found any other interesting changes so far. I haven’t tried the new themes. They look nice from a distance but unfortunately my 1024×600 netbook screen cries if I don’t use a “compact” theme.

Overall: A good incremental release, except for some “visual” regressions.

Filed under: Uncategorized   |  1 Comment
Tags: 9.04, jaunty, Ubuntu, upgrade

Upgrading to Jaunty

23Apr09

Thank’s to Telkom’s new unlimited package I can safely (monetary wise) upgrade to Jaunty. I wanted to upgrade before the release day, before the repos are bombarded by the release hype.

Unfortunately the official Indonesian Ubuntu repos (ubuntu.indika.web.id) isn’t properly synched. I had to manually change the sources.list to use Telkom’s server (dl2.foss-id.web.id) which seems to be doing a better job in keeping its repos.

Currently the download is on hold, I shouldn’t waste company bandwith during worh horus. I’ll resume the download later lunch time, and at home. If all runs well, the upgrade should be done tonight.

If you’re wondering: I’m using Speedy, “Load” (512kbps, 3G soft limit). The download speed is pretty stable at 50Kb/s.

BTW: I don’t no about you guys but I’m not really that hyped up about this release. The new notification system looks cool, but not really that ground breaking. Is the GDM login screen already using clutter?

Filed under: Information Technology, Internet, Ubuntu   |  2 Comments
Tags: 9.04, jaunty, Ubuntu, upgrade

Link: Ubunchu Manga

04Apr09

Ubunchu Manga at DeviantART. Geekiest manga, ever!

Filed under: Cute, Ubuntu   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: manga, ubunchu, Ubuntu

Django Web Hosting in Indonesia

29Mar09

Dear Lazy Web,

Mao nanya aja kepada mereka yang sudah pengalaman dunia web-hosting di Indonesia. Ada yang punya saran untuk penyedia jasa hosting yang support Python dan Django di Indonesia?

Saya sendiri ada hosting di Master Web, kelas ekonomi bisnis yang Rp 19k/bulan. Django bisa jalan dengan catatan meng-install Django-nya sendiri dan setup Fast CGI. Nah, anehnya kok dari hasil google pada bilang kalau MWN tidak support Django dan Fast CGI di kelas ekonomi bisnis yah. Apa kebetulan saya dapat server yang salah setting ;)

kthxbye

Filed under: Django, Indonesiana, Information Technology, Python   |  9 Comments
Tags: Django, indonesia, mwn, Python, web hosting

Facebook Account

29Mar09

Finally, I’ve joined the masses and made myself a Facebook account. Those who know me personally, feel free to add me as a friend :)

I’ve also updated my Gravatar image. It seems that I’ve “confirmed” myself now that the Cafe Latte pic should be my globally recognized avatar. It has been my IM avatar for quite some time. If you’re wondering where I got the image, its from Wikipedia.

It has been a while since my last post. Work is getting busier and busier, plus the connection in the office is not so good. Loading WP is a pain, especially when the bandwith is capped at 5 kbps. Imagine that, five kilobytes per second. Seriously.

Filed under: Uncategorized   |  4 Comments

Joseph Haydn – Masses

10Jan09

If you like to listen to Mass music, you’ll love “Joseph Haydn – Masses” from American Bach Soloists. The tempo is mostly Allegro, so it’s very very lively. The Kyrie, Gloria and Credo are stunning!

You can preview to the album through Magnatune (use Rhythmbox if you’re on linux). Magnatune also sells them in a DRM-free FLAC (lossless)/Ogg Vorbis/MP3 formats. Also check out their J.S. Bach – Mass in B Minor.

In a related note, does anyone know where I can buy a CD of modern Mass music (in Indonesian) in Jakarta? With modern I mean, the one we usually use in sunday Masses. From all Christian songs it seems that the most common one is the hardest one to find.

Filed under: Music, mass   |  2 Comments

2009 New Year’s Resolution

10Jan09

So what do I want to do in 2009? Last year’s book reading was a complete success. I’ve read mostly sci-fi novels. I think for 2009 I want to widen my scope of knowledge. Learn something new and different. Therefore my resolution is to read at least six non-fiction books in 2009.

Why only six? I assume that non-fiction books tend to be more boring than fiction (I might be wrong). They are also more expensive and I also don’t intend to stop reading fiction. I still got a list of novels I really want to read. The Last Colony (John Scalzi), A Deepness in the Sky (Vernor Vinge) and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (PKD) are some of them.

So 2009, here I come!

Filed under: Books, Personal   |  2 Comments
Tags: 2009, Books, resolution, target

12/2008 Results

10Jan09

My 2008 new year’s resolution (which I posted in March) was to read 12 books during 2008. I ended up reading more than double of that. Here are all of them, in a more or less chronological order. The ones in bold are titles I highly recommend:

1. Childhood’s End, Arthur C Clarke
2. Robot Dreams, Isaac Asimov
3. The Braided World, Key Kenyon
4. The Songs of Distant Earth, Arthur C Clarke
5. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
6. Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card
7. Speaker for The Dead, Orson Scott Card
8. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
9. The Gods Themselves, Isaac Asimov – My Review
10. 84 Charing Cross Road, Helene Hanff
11. Foundation, Isaac Asimov
12. Marketing Yourself, Hermawan Kertajaya (in Indonesian).
13. Dying of The Light, George R. R. Martin.
14. The Dragons of Eden, Carl Sagan.
15. Lord of The Flies, William Golding.
16. Gateway, Frederik Pohl.
17. Rant, Chuk Palahniuk.
18. Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut.
19. Ubik, Phillip K. Dick.
20. Old Man’s War, John Scalzi.
21. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury.
22. A Scanner Darkly, Phillip K. Dick.
23. Against The Fall of Night, Arthur C Clarke.
24. Passenger To Frankfurt (Indonesian ver), Agatha Christie.
25. Martian Time-Slip, Philip K. Dick.
26. The Children of Men, P.D. James.
27. Yiddish Policemen’s Union, Michael Chabon.
28. Broca’s Brain, Carl Sagan.
29. The Ghost Brigades, John Scalzi.
30. A Fire Upon The Deep, Vernor Vinge.

Yep, thirty! From all of them, the most memorable titles of 2008 are Stranger in a Strange Land and A Fire Upon The Deep. You definitely got to read them!

It was an amazing ride, reading all those interesting stories. What about my 2009 New Year’s resolution? That’s for another post ;)

Happy New Year.

Filed under: Books, Personal   |  4 Comments
Tags: 2008, Books, novels, resolution