chain on the Larnaca Pier

chain on the Larnaca Pier, originally uploaded by utnapistim.

Chain on the trolly we used to carry our SCUBA equipment from the cars to the boat and back.

Maybe they lock the trollies at night.

D's birthday party

Here are some pictures from D's birthday party:









A bigger set can be found here.

... from Larnaca

So ... what did utnapistim in the weekend?

Diving!

But, since I don't have an underwater camera any longer, all the pictures I took were above surface or on the pier.

Here's a selection:

Junk under the pier


cat, staring at me after I tried approaching her kittens for a few pictures


... and the pier

older pictures

I looked through my PC and found some interesting photos that I had overlooked before:

kid on the transport band in Ben Ghurion airport, at the entrance to the duty-free. He was traveling in style:


a red poppy in a grain field, on the road to Kurion:


Security check in Ben Ghurion airport, Israel:

no shoes

Usually I come to office on either my bike or my skates (lately it's been my bike).

Anyway today, for the first time since coming back from Israel I decided I'd be brave enough to come on my skates again.

... and everything seemed fine until I got here; I had forgotten my shoes at home.


So now, I am at my desk, bare feet under the desk, and working. I will not be able to go to lunch (I will not pass GO, I will not collect 200$)

Being forgetfull sucks.
BIGTIME!

it's bathrooms again

I was speaking to L a few days ago and she said something to the effect of

well ofourse you could take bathroom pictures in the hotel; I mean ... hotel bathrooms are nice

(rough translation)

Anyway, I took it as a personal chalenge to take some half-decent pictures in the bathrooms at home (not polished, not shiny and not for hotel rooms)

basement walk

Sometimes I and me walk through the basement and chat after lunch.

Today, I had the camera with me.

an old chevy

This thing is abandoned to rust, near the sea, on a street behind my office building.

I remembered it yesterday as I was going home, and stopped there on the way to snap a few pictures.

restfull weekend

Yesterday and most of today I ... hibernated: I stayed in my burrowroom, and got out only when the hunger made me.

It seems that after my stay in Israel my sleeping pattern sort-of got inverted; I stay up until the wee hours of the morning, and am sleepy most of the day.

Anyway, this afternoon I decided I'd had enough, so I took my skates out (to check I stil could use them) and around sunset, I tried to catch the "good light" for some pictures at the limassol seafront.

I managed ...

Moonlight Sonata - 1st Movement

back

I am back in Cyprus, after a sleepless night.

Here are some highlights form the trip:

duty free area in Ben Ghurion airport


towards the "B" boadring gates


airport tractor vechicle


people, boarding in the business class


trolly "snake" in the Ben Ghurion airport


blue ribbon


"air madrid"


watermellon and cheese at 6:20 AM (a very tasty combination)


weird polarisartion effect





that's all for now.

hellioport on a building

hellioport on a building, originally uploaded by utnapistim.

Taken from the Observatory at the top of the Azrieli tower, Tel Aviv, Israel

parking lot from the Azrieli tower

Parking from the Azrieli tower, originally uploaded by utnapistim.

From the Azrieli Tower in Tel Aviv, Israel, the tallest building in the Middle East

fire extinguisher

extinguisher, originally uploaded by utnapistim.

I took this late last night (close to four AM) in the office, as I was leaving. I guess it's one of the perks of having a camera with you when you're leaving the office at "close to four AM" in the morning.

... or something.

Imagining the tenth dimension

I had read (or heard, or been told - it doesn't matter) that the capability to teach is taking something complicated and putting it in terms so common and simple that anyone could understand them.

This is why I will buy this book

Watch the animation; It's fascinating!

the c++ function pointers

... so ... today I struggled to get some function pointers;

The syntax is a bit weird, and I couldn't remember it since the last time I saw function pointers was when I was reading on the boost library (and that was ... different).

Anyway, here is the problem:

I have some c++ code - pretty straightforward - calling into a method of some object.

like this:
{
  // some c++ code
  object.methodA(paramter1, parameter2);
  // some more c++ code
}
(where object is an instance of - say - MyObject class).
When running it under high loads however, the application crashes, and instead of methodA call on the stack I get some methodB;

Naturally, it's been driving me up the walls.


So, I figured ... "hey let's print the function addresses and make sure they're the same".

So, a function pointer is taken like this:
void function() {};
void (*functionPointer)() = &function;

To make things simple, I typedefed it:
void function() {};
typedef void (*FunctionPtr)();
FunctionPtr functionPointer = &function;


This much, you can find with a search on the net.

What I needed was getting the address of a polimorphic member function, so the next step was to get the address for a member function, and the syntax for that, was as follows (using my code above):


typedef void (MyObject::*FunctionPtr)();
FunctionPtr functionPointer = &MyObject::function;

That covered the "method" part;

I stil had to get one speciffic form of the method.

I found no source on the net for this, but finally I figured it's in the parameters of the pointer declaration.

So, there you go: to get a particular form of the function, this is the code:


class MyObject
{
  void function() {}
  void function(int) {}
}

typedef void (MyObject::*FunctionPtr)();
FunctionPtr functionPointer = &MyObject::function; // will get the first form

typedef void (MyObject::*FunctionPtr)(int);
FunctionPtr functionPointer = &MyObject::function; // will get the second form.

... And this has been my contribution to the bettering of human understanding for this evening.

bye bye,
utnapistim

in the Azrieli Tower

In the Azrieli Tower, originally uploaded by utnapistim.

late evening on the lounge

Late evening on the lounge, originally uploaded by utnapistim.

Almost sunrise at the company

"Almost sunrise" at the company, originally uploaded by utnapistim.

I spent a night in the office two weeks or so ago to finish an investigation.

I left for home shortly after sunrise.

Saturday sidewalk (in Tel Aviv)

Saturday sidewalk (in Tel Aviv), originally uploaded by utnapistim.

On Saturday Tel Aviv is ... empty;

being Shabbat, people stay at home and the streets are deserted.

a moment on the street

a moment on the street, originally uploaded by utnapistim.

my keyboard

my keyboard, originally uploaded by utnapistim.

power cables

power cables, originally uploaded by utnapistim.

power cables in the office, behind me; In the first few days I was affraid I might tear them down.

not covered in the news

It is said that one day Caesar, Alexander and Napoleon were in heaven, looking down upon the war in Iraq.

Then, Caesar looked thoughtful and said:

You know, if I had only ten of those "tank" things, Rhome would have been strethed from the ocean to the Hymalayas!

Alexander replied:

I know. If I had only ten of those "hellicopter" things, I would have really conquered the world!

Napoleon looked some more and said:

That's nothing! If I had CNN, nobody would have found out I lost at Waterloo!

---

In the last few days lots of friends contacted me because of something they saw in the news; They saw news of the conflicts escalating, latest reports and coverage, and then they contacted me, asking if I am ok, what the situation is and if I can get out of it and leave for Cyprus.

Well, not to wory, I am ok; There is no situation to get out of.

really!


I looked over a map today, to see what the actual "situation in the North" is.

The conflict is real, but at the northern border, and at least up to this moment nothing happened around here.

Life goes on, it's "business as usual", and excepth for the TV in my hotel room nothing points to any tension.

People in the street and people at work keep their smiles, do their shopping as they did yesterday (and almost two months ago for that matter, when we arrived here).

As I understand it, these things happen in the North every few years, like clockwork;

In the rest of the country, businesses keep on flourishing, people go to the beach, and bars during the weekend, and their way of life is not perturbed;

Unfortunately, these things don't make the news.

What does make the news is the focus on the death-toll in the north, images of explosions and columns of rising smoke.
The people watchng TV don't "need to know" that the conflict is not "in Israel", but at the northern border.

(That's not "news" apparently :( ).


It's called bias, and it's caused by the need for audience and rating, that news agencies usually have.


"unbiasedly" yours,
utnapistim

(no, really! I am unbiased!)

above the Dizengoff Square, Tel Aviv

above the Dizengoff Square, Tel Aviv, originally uploaded by utnapistim.

on a Saturday morning

on a Saturday morning, originally uploaded by utnapistim.

This shot inspires peace to me; The guy was just ... enjoying himself;

Some slight wind was there and he was just marking stuf with his pen, pigeons around him and ... I don't know ... relaxing I guess.

I guess he had a good Saturday morning.

strange character

strange character, originally uploaded by utnapistim.

The guy is allways shoeless, and yet has a portable audio system.

It's a strange world!

decorative rail in my hotel room

decorative rail in my hotel room, originally uploaded by utnapistim.

decorative rail in my hotel room