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I like food. I like hammers. I like bunnies.

Interesting Places – Udachnaya Pipe, Russia

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Udachnaya Pipe from the air, taken by Alexander Stepanov

Udachnaya Pipe from the air, taken by Alexander Stepanov

This is one of the largest man-made holes in the world, a diamond mine deep in the reaches of Siberian Russia. It is about 600 meters deep (that’s over 1800 feet for the American folks). The top layer of the hole is about a mile across, and a little over half a mile wide.

According to the Wikipedia article, the open-air mining will cease around 2010, and operations will shift into an underground manner. A few of the research papers devoted to this mine state that diamonds are probably still available to a depth of about 1000 meters or so.

The settlement near the mine is named after it (Udachny), and also feels local weather patterns because of being next to this giant hole.

You can see this mine for yourself via Google Maps.

Written by Tijger Tsou

February 27th, 2009 at 7:00 am

So You’re Interested in a DSLR Camera?

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_MG_3451.JPG

You’re probably here because of a random search. Well, i’m no expert, but i’ve got some equipment, and i’ve been shooting for only a little while. I’m probably the perfect person to offer an objective point of view! I’m a newbie too. Just like you, but the only difference is that I have some gear, and you don’t (yet).

Well, I want to help you. I want to help you save money, time, and frustration. So without further do, please allow me the opportunity to set you straight on a few things.

  1. The equipment DOES NOT really matter!
  2. Persistence and patience do matter, however.
  3. Being creative and curious helps a lot.
  4. Special effects are easy. Time consuming, but still… easy.
  5. Connections help more than expensive lenses.

The explanation for each of these points continues after the break.

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Written by Tijger Tsou

February 26th, 2009 at 3:00 pm

ODBC SQLState:42000 Error, Or Why Microsoft Sucks, Reason #42000

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You’re probably here because you searched for this:

Microsoft SQL-DMO (ODBC SQLState:42000)

[Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver][SQL Server] To connect to this server you must use SQL Server Management Studio or SQL Server Management Objects (SMO).

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Written by Tijger Tsou

February 26th, 2009 at 11:00 am

Xythos Broken Advanced Upload Functionality

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i_eat_tapes

We use Xythos at our workplace to provide a file repository for students and eventually faculty and staff. It’s basically a web front end for a file system.

My personal feelings about the product are somewhat ho-hum and indifferent. It makes funny noises under the hood, it’s a bit clunky, but it works, runs on Linux and it’s reliable.

So you’re probably here because you searched on this error:

java.lang.ClassFormatError: Truncated class file

The problem is that you’re probably running your Xythos installation over port 443 (as you should) but there are still components trying to pull files down from port 80. With Xythos, if SSL is enabled, any requests to port 80 get dumped over to 443, and you will get truncated errors like above.

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Written by Tijger Tsou

February 23rd, 2009 at 11:29 am

Canon 1D Mark III vs Canon SX110, Continued

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Well, this is the long-delayed next part of my ongoing comparison between the Canon 1D Mark III and the Canon SX110. For those of you wondering why in the hell I am even trying to compare one of Canon’s premier digital SLR cameras versus one of their budget point-and-shooters, check out this posting in which I try to explain some of the insanity.

Can you tell the difference between output from the two cameras? (Comparison gallery is posted after the ‘read more’ button)

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Written by Tijger Tsou

February 17th, 2009 at 9:01 am

Separated At Birth? The American and Chinese Processed Food Industry

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vomit_party

It seems that the processed food industry has a lot in common between these two countries. Or perhaps its just better to say that corruption and greed have no language barriers.

The 2008 melamine tainted milk scandal in China has a surprising number of similarities with the Peanut Company salmonella scandal that is currently unfolding in the USA.

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Written by Tijger Tsou

February 12th, 2009 at 9:18 am

The Scotch Tape Ball – 2009 Status

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tape_ball_2009

This is something that I started making shortly after 9/11/2001, as a result of spending quite a bit of time on hold with other vendors (the company I was working at had lost their internet connection, and other bits of infrastructure).

I really need to weigh it. I am guessing there is something like a hundred and seventy rolls of tape in there. Most of it is the same Office Max clone scotch tape so determining the weight of a roll of tape minus the ring and extrapolating should be fairly accurate.

The ball currently has a circumference of about 18″.

These days it accumulates tape at a fairly uneven pace. Sometimes here, sometimes there…

Written by Tijger Tsou

January 29th, 2009 at 9:54 am

Posted in Balls,Things

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Explaning Taiwan & China’s Political Situation

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mmmmmmuuugh

I have found myself having to try and explain the relationship that Taiwan and China share, and usually to other Americans. Of course I am oversimplifying the issue, but the scenario I have come up with is this:

  1. Imagine that the Confederacy (CSA) had won the American Civil War.
  2. Now imagine that the government of the United States of America had fled to Cuba and set up shop there (kicking out most of the native Cubans), with the new capital being in Havana.
  3. Lastly, imagine in this crazy situation that both governments to this day still exist, but have  continued strains on their relationships.

Does this make sense yet? Let’s do some substitutions so it does…

  • The Confederacy in this case would be akin to the Communist government of the People’s Republic of China.
  • Likewise, the USA government would be Taiwan, who fled their with a ragtag collection of military expats, businessmen, and intellectuals.
  • Lastly, the Cuban natives who were largely displaced would be the various indigenous tribes that inhabited Taiwan before the “mainlanders” showed up.

So now this makes a lot more sense right? Of course, I realize that this is not a 100% correct analogy, but it holds up well for ‘elevator speech’ and ‘raging bar conversation’, and now ‘totally random web search’ material. Your mileage may vary, of course.

If Andrei Arlovski Had Won…

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viacheslav_datsik

I’m a fan of mixed martial arts fighting, and in a recent Affliction headline event there was a match between Andrei Arlovski and Fedor Emelianenko. Both are supremely talented fighters, but Fedor has all but assured himself of being one of the best ever, in the pantheon of the greatest.

Fedor is widely regarded as being the most feared heavyweight fighter out there today. However there was a bit of a jokeworthy problem lingering throughout. If he had lost this fight, some could argue that Viacheslav Datsik would now be the best in the world. This of course is foolish, but it is human nature for some people to use ‘linked lineage’ as a metric in fighting (i.e. Bruce Lee beat Chuck Norris, but I beat Chuck Norris at thumb wrestling so now i’m the toughest, etc).

For those of you who don’t know who Datsik is, he defies clear definition, as some think of him as a clown, and strange, elaborate joke… while others think of him as a strange, simple joke fueled by vodka and/or other narcotics.
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Written by Tijger Tsou

January 27th, 2009 at 10:36 am

Dubya – Goodbye and Good Riddance

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dubya_2009_01_20

I guess there isn’t too much to say. Good riddance to quite possibly the worst president in American history.

Written by Tijger Tsou

January 20th, 2009 at 10:02 am