[EN] A possible new energy source.

Thorium might be what we've been looking for the past few years to save the planet.

According to very important people form CERN (I think some directors, but I'm not sure) thorium has huge energetic potential. Huge means 1 ton of thorium is the equivalent of 200 (yes... two hundred) tons of uranium or 3.5 million tons of coal. That's HUGE. With that energy output, one could power London for one week.

This sound almost perfect, so there should be some catch somewhere? Well let's see abundance. Uranium for example is a pretty rare metal, but thorium is so much, it's annoying. It's considered a waste product when mining, so we have enough. Moreover, uranium has to be processed before usage, but pretty much all thorium out there is a potential power source.

The catch, is about using that power, because the process is not quite simple. In a particle accelerator, when a proton beam hits a chunk of heavy metal (I like the sound of that = )) ), produces excess neutrons. Thorium than absorbs these neutrons and forms uranium-233 which is not found in nature and can release enough energy to power the particle accelerator AND to act as a power plant. The idea needs some refining, but people are hard at work and one company is already working on a design for a proton accelerator.

There's more good news, because this can be deployed everywhere. Nuclear power requires a delicate political process because it can lead to weapon production. No risk of that here though.

Thorium could be the answer we are looking for, for both short term and long term safe power production. Screw dangerous and currently impossible fusion. Postpone slow and renewable energies, work on this dear beloved scientists to get us out of trouble. If we could start making such factories in 6-7 years (where I read said 5...) we just might be able to solve our problems once and for all. Meanwhile, well, we just have to stick to saving energy.

[RO] Blog nou!

În principiu, nu voi mai prea scrie pe acest blog, deoarece eu + Roli ne-am decis să lipim blogurile noastre (el avea rolisz.wordpress.com), şi cam tot ce e legat de Internet, calculatoare, programe, review-uri, tutoriale etc. ce scriam / aveam de gând să scriu se mută acolo.

Blogul acesta nu-l şterg, că poate mai scriu din când în când ceva mai random / personal pe aici (şi că internetul e mare şi n-a suferi din enorma cantitate de date ocupată de marele meu blog...). În fine, atenţia mea se va diminua aici, iar noul blog: The Scrambled Bit a luat deja naştere acum câteva zile. Toţi cei interesaţi sunt invitaţi să citească.

[EN] Stuff I use - Google docs in Nautilus (Elementary).

Google Docs in Nautilus


Scouring Google Reader as always, I found a brilliant post at OMG! Ubuntu about a nice hack that mounts your Google Docs folder in Nautilus (Ubuntu default file manager for those Windows users out there...).


I said hack because it's more of a workaround than a full program, it does the job perfectly, but as far as I learnt it's not the *best* solution. To install the app, just add the repository, update and install it.


sudo add-apt-repository ppa:doctormo/ppa
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install gdocs-mount-gtk


It's done, everything is installed and you need just access Applications > Accesories > Google Docs Connection which will prompt you with a standard email + password combo. Than just give it a couple minutes to fetch the data and mount it. After that, all your files stuck on Google Docs will have nice shortcuts in a folder and you will than be able to add, remove or edit in your favorite editor. Furthermore, your documents will appear in Open Document formats, not those ugly MS Office formats (*bleah*).


Nautilus Elementary


Nautilus is the default GNOME File Manager, but it often doesn't feel/look right. It's a bit bulky and raw. Nautilus Elementary is still Nautilus underneath, but it now looks way slicker. It's an uncluttered version to keep it simple. It basically:

• merged the 2 top toolbars into one;
• changed the icon, list, compact drop down menu into 3 nice buttons;
• moved the ugly zoom buttons into a zoom drag bar to the bottom right;
• made the separators thinner and smoother;
• and some other small tweaks.

The installation is really simple and replaces your current Nautilus. This means you'll be using the same program, same command, but with cooler UI.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:am-monkeyd/nautilus-elementary-ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

As far as i know, to uninstall it, remove that repository, and upgrade again (not sure...).

Here's a screenshot of the 2 mixed together.

Enjoy everyone.

[RO] FlossCamp 2010

Salut lume. Am fost ocupat o vreme pe aici şi n-am mai dat semne de viaţă pe acest blog. După cum observaţi din acest post, blogul s-a facut bilingv, dar deoarece îmi e incredibil de lene, nu voi edita posturile anterioare şi voi adauga [EN] doar la posturile viitoare.


*** Even if I don't really expect any foreign readers, this blog has gone bilingual, so from now on Romanian posts will be preceded by [RO] and English posts by [EN]. ***

Floss Camp a fost o ieşire genială cu cortul la munte unde în sfârşit am ajuns să văd cine sunt oamenii din comunităţile Open Source din România. Am avut parte de multe tech talks, un gulaş bun, o plimbare faină prin pădure, pistoale cu bile, banere, vreme bună, vreme proastă, un majorat neaşteptat la o cabană apropiată de camp site la care ne-am infiltrat şi noi şi aşa mai departe.

A fost şi o seară în care s-au ţinut nişte prezentări draguţe în care s-a discutat (printre altele) despre http://fii-liber.ro/ un „blog” destul de nou despre programe şi sisteme libere. De menţionat un acelaşi fel de blog cu vechime: http://incearca.softwareliber.ro. S-a mai vorbit şi despre un proiect mai vechi (anul trecut cred) de promovare Open Source şi GNU/Linux în şcoli prin Sibiu, care ar fi foarte frumos dacă s-ar extinde în toată ţara.

La întoarcere a fost superb iară, că am avut tot vagonul pentru noi. În fine, a fost o experienţă superbă şi vreau să o repet şi la anu.