

Occasionally I do redesigns of existing websites. This one was for a small association that promotes networking between executive business women. It was a demanding project which involved a lot of integration and consolidation of various data sources. Membership information is synchronized to an external database via a XML/SSH pipe cronjob. Most of the legacy content had to be imported by hand, because it was originally entered into an unwieldy behemoth of a CMS called Midgard. I still don’t know what was wrong with it, but to give you an idea, load times of simple pages occasionally exceeded 20 seconds.
After tweaking the code and parameters for a month or two, I was happy that the fresh, new site was finally launched last week. The most interesting parts of the site are confidential and members only, but feel free to take a peek at the public side of the site… it’s all in finnish though. Props to Toni for his mad jedi skills and indispensable help. The ladies at Gaia are also a really nice and friendly bunch of people. I hope they like their new virtual home.
Posted by api at 13:25 - No Comments »


When general Yi Song-Gye overthrew the Goryeo (Koryƶ) dynasty in 1392, he transferred the capital from Gaeseong to Hanyang (Seoul) and had a defensive wall built around the city. It was finished in 1398 after three years of work. In keeping with East Asian precedent there was a gate at each of the four approaches to the city: north, south, east, and west. Of the original four, the south gate is the best preserved, dating from 1447. Since goods used to flow into the city through here, a bustling market grew up along the adjacent street. Though the walls have vanished, the market remains, and is larger than ever.
The wooden part of the gate was destroyed by fire on February 10, 2008. According to some witnesses, the fire was incendiary. The identity of the arsonist is not yet known, but a taxi driver in the area observed a male approximately 50 years of age climb to the second floor with a lighted bag and run from the area.
Stonehenge, Statue of Liberty, the pyramids of Gaza… national monuments around the world have incredibly powerful symbolic value. That’s why they are often blown up in epic action movies.
My condolences to the Korean people. This was indeed a very regrettable incident.
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Switchback is a rather appealing product if your work involves performing tasks with a computer in adverse weather conditions. It’s water and dust resistant and can operate at -10 degrees celsius with the solid state hard drive option. You can also get an optional wireless package that includes a civilian GPS module. The display is a touchscreen enable 5.6″ LCD screen which is sunlight viewable.
The processor is a 1 Ghz Intel Celeron© M and if I understand correctly, the device can run multiple operating systems such as Windows XP and Linux simultaniously.
I have no idea how much it costs, but my estimate would be somewhere between 4000-6000 euros per unit.
If you already own a Hummer H2, this is the computer to get further enhance your ruggerized look and feel 
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