METAL HEROES :)

A great post of a great blogger..

unfortunately only in Greek :(

So, αν καταλαβαίνεις ελληνικά, go for it..

Metal Heroes

Sudoku!

The first time I heard about sudoku was in the Efficient AI Programming course at my university. We started talking about Constraint Networks(1,2 if you are interested) and how to create the constrains that could lead to a solution for any given Sudoku. In general I like challenging problems, but this one sounded so easy that I didn't want to waste my time on it.

The next day I realized(and remember the teacher telling something about it) that the newspapers have a sudoku at the last page(like crossword puzzle in Greek newspapers). So, I said, ok let's play with it to see if it is really hard.. It turned out just as I expected..

But since that day I was listening more and more about sudoku and how great it is and I couldn't understand it.. So, I decided to do an online search to find more information about it. The best website that I found with online sudokus is WebSudoku. So, I tried the evil one without trying any other. After 1h and a half I solved it. And for those who didn't laugh yet, I have to say that when I was at the final step of solving it, I was thinking "so, that's sudoku? Maybe hard, but solvable..". So, when I typed the last number, I got a "solved"(or something) and the average time for solving this kind of sudoku.. A bit embarrassed to say it, but it was much less than 10 minutes.. I think it was 2 or 3 minutes.. AND it said that solutions after 20minutes are not considered in the average.. THAT'S the point that I found Sudoku more interesting(in a way) and I understood why people do like it! And there are some competitions as well.. :)

To finish with, I still don't find it that interesting, but when I go into the metro and I get the free newspaper that has a sudoku at the back, I am trying to solve it until I get off the train(about 16minutes). I did it today and I was very happy that when the train stopped, I put the last letter at the sudoku and went out of the train with a sudoku(marked as hard) solved. I know, I still need to practice a lot to be at 2 minutes.. (for evil, not just hard..)

That was the story about me and sudoku ;)

Bank Gang

After trying to "buy" it for a long time, I finally got the song Sleep from Bang Gang. I think that this band will be my next favorite and as I understood from some of their songs, they are going to be in my playlist for a long time.. The last 24hours my playlist contains only Sleep..

The band has also a very nice website which makes me appreciate them even more :)
The website is completely made in flash. Really nice job. Very nice pictures, nice colors, nice atmosphere, nice navigation, nice fades in/out, nice nice.. I am slowly falling in love with them..

You have to listen to some of their songs and especially Sleep!!
...
Walking in my sleep
With my flesh in bed
Still you are there
Just get the fuck out of my dreams
...

Brain cells..

Maybe it is because in Denmark I drink too much beer..
Maybe it is because in Denmark I study too much..
Maybe I burned my brain cells before going to Denmark..
Actually in Greece I was drinking much more often and much more alcohol than in Denmark :)

I cannot focus anymore.. The rate of studying has decreased to (1 page)/(15 minutes)!!!
(Ok, maybe the material is hard, but how much hard?)

I have noticed that at least 3 times I have replied to emails inconsistently. I was reading something else from what was written, so the reply was out of subject..

I can still write some programs, but I have lost the interest to find the best algorithm to solve my problem.. I think I should start playing with mathsChallenge again..

Dubai..

Impressed is not enough.. Excited is not enough either..
I don't know how to express myself after learning about the things that are going on at Dubai..
I had heard about Burj al arab(in Greek.. At least see the last 3 photos!!), but these new islands, were beyond my imagination..

The Palm Islands with the official site,
The WORLD with the official site.

I cannot say much.. Go and check on your own :)

Not the best news, but at least I have a home..

Finally, I guess that the people in charge for approving the applications for the best dorm ever, don't like me..

So, I am in the bad one :(
At least I have good internet connection. Better than last semester's dorm, so I can have a audio/video conversation with my friends :)
I don't know about poker yet (because I saw something strange in Danish), but when I tried to connect to PokerRoom I couldn't :(
I don't what to know if I can play WOW.. I guess I can, but I don't want to test it yet.. I am sure that I can actually, but let's forget it.. I don't want to be like some of my friends :)

That's for the time being..
I am still trying to get the room at the other best great awesome dorm, but with no success..

Looking for a place to lay my body..

It's more than a month now..

Thank God, I have some friends and they host me while I am waiting for a better life :)

I finally got an answer from KKIK, which, in sort, is an organization that organizes the kollegiums and the applications for them, and got an offer!! If everything goes wrong, from Monday I will move to my new room at Rebæk Søpark Kollegiet, which is about 45 minutes from my University and about 30 minutes from the town center.. So, I am not very excited.. Anyway, it's a room..

BUT, from Monday morning, I will know if I will have a room at Tietgenkollegiet, which is more than great!!! It is actually still being built, but if I could move in after a month, I will happy enough to run naked around my University :)
So, if everything goes well, you will see me on television :)

I hope on Monday I 'll have good news..
I just wanted to express my excitement and my agony..

MathsChallenge

I know that for some people it might not be "good" that I publish this post during the examination period..

Nevertheless, I think that you can have some fun during your breaks from studying (if you are studying :D)..

MathsChallenge website is "dedicated to the puzzling world of mathematics". It has an amazingly nice developed and maintained "Programming Challenge: Project Euler". It has many nice programming/math problems. It seems easy in the beginning, but the difficulty grows exponentially :D

Project Euler gives you a great opportunity to extend your knowledge about a programming language(that's how I started), and furthermore, extend your ability to solve mathematical(mainly) problems.

I more than recommend it :)

(Actually it was Athanasakis who introduced me MathsChallenge..
Thanks dude :D )

Courses selection II

After the invaluable help of guru, I am getting closer and closer..

The updated selections are here.

Actually, I can relax for a while because the database will be open until the 2nd week of September :)

I just wanted to conclude on some good courses and sign up for them, because later they might be full. Currently I have singed up for 7 courses :)

But still, if you have any comments(or you want me to learn something in order to hire me later), post your comments or send me an email..

Courses selection

The ITU course database is open for the next semester's courses.
For those who don't know, I have to select 3 courses out of many offered.
At my ITU website I have made a list of 10 potentional selections.. I still have to throw out 7..

If anyone wants to give any reason for selecting one course or another, he is welcome to make a comment or send an email.

Το χάσαμε και αυτό γαμώ!

Η Συναυλία: Την Πέμπτη 2 Ιουνίου, στο θέατρο Βράχων "Μελίνα Μερκούρη" εμφανίζεται (στο πλαίσιο της παγκόσμιας περιοδείας του) ένα από τα πιο αγαπημένα γκρουπ του ελληνικού κοινού, το οποίο εκπροσωπεί με τον καλύτερο τρόπο την progressive σκηνή, οι Thievery Corporation.

Ολόκληρο το άρθρο είναι εδώ.

Τι να πεις;
Δε θα γυρίσει ο τροχός;

Getting closer and closer

I just woke up(15.00) after being at the university for 18 hours(about 15 hours of studying).. Today was the deadline for handing in the project that I was doing!
My Greek fellows know that while I was studying in Greece, the longer I have stayed at the university was 4 hours and that was only for exams.

So, at one of project's breaks, I finally booked a ticket to my homeland!!!
26/6 01.30 I will be in Greece!!

For the time being, I have 4 exams.. 3 for the courses and 1 for the project..
Let's see..

Tired of being absent..

I was trying to recover from not being at Anathema concert with my friends..
I am listening to Anathema for almost the last 5 years and they are one of my best bands. And they decided to give a concert at Thessaloniki. And my friends called me from inside the concert.. And I was in Denmark.. That was too painful..

But, since I am studying and I have a lot of things in my mind here, I managed to get over it.

And then, Greece won the Eurovision 2005 contest!! Greece was burned!! There was a party at every corner!! And I was still in Denmark..

I am counting the days like a prisoner until going back..

Horoscopes..

I am going back to a subject about which I have published a post before, but I found some very nice information..

Unfortunately, some links are in Greek, but there are some in English also..

The main idea is that astrology is not a science and shouldn't be concerned seriously.
Horoscopes are meaningless and are just fooling people.
There is absolutely no reason to believe in horoscopes, as there is no approved scientific background.

If you disagree with the above, you should follow the links below..

Greek links:
- Απο αυτό το link, αξίζει να διαβάσει κανείς τα "Τι έδειξαν οι έρευνες των επιστημόνων" και "Τα τεχνάσματα των αστρολόγων"..

English links:
- Skeptical Studies in Astrology presents an double-blind test of astrology made by a researcher of University of California and published in Nature (December 5, 1985).

- The astrology page publishes a list of scientific tests that were made in the past in order to prove that astrology does not work.

Intoduction Week Project

WE WOOOOOOON!!!!

Me and 5 more teamates had the chance to work together and make a project of a phone. The project's objective was to make a phone prototype, make a webpage of the phone and finally present it to some professors. The idea of our team was to make a simple phone, easy to use for everybody and rather cheap. So we created simple phone, which has large buttons, has no menus, no sms and no confusing stuff. It was built for older people that don't like technology and don't want to get used to it, as well as, for young people that want just a cheap phone to make their phonecalls.

With this idea we won the first prize, which actually was more less 80€ each. Something like the first book for our studies, for free :)

The judgement of each group's product was about supporting your product, marketing it, making a webpage that is linked with the product and a general overview from the idea to the final result.

The webpage of our product, is http://www.itu.dk/~ppserek/home.html and is better viewed with internet explorer.