chuso.net

Category: Development

Running SQL queries on Spanish cadastre

Python script for importing CAT files from the Spanish cadastre into a database on which SQL queries can be executed.

No, don't blame the user

It is unusual to see a computer engineer defending users. Even more if the engineer is a system administrator. It is known that the relationship between system administrators and users is tense. But when somebody tries to fool me, I get even more tense.
Let's go over the facts.

The registrar

I'm updating the administrative contact of some domain names registered with a well-known Spanish registrar. The company listed as the administrative contact no longer exists and now the domain names belong to another company, so I have to update all the data, but that's another story. Now I will transfer the domain to another registrar, so I only need to change the e-mail address to get the auth code to transfer the domain name to another registrar. I will correct the rest of the contact details at the new registrar.
I leave all data as is and just change the e-mail address, then I submit the form and it does nothing. It does not send the data, shows no message, no action, nothing. I try with different browsers and the result is always the same. Since I know a little bit about this, I go to the browser error console and this is what I found there:


RapidShare premium download with Opera

I must blame Fonso again, because he asks me about something like FlashGot but for Opera in Linux, i.e., a way to be able to select a block of RapidShare URLs to download them with a premium account with a download manager. So when I didn't find anything, I started with it.

I finally got a bash script that receives a list of links as parameters and adds them to Aria with a RapidShare premium account. Using aria was not a choice, since it was the only one, apart from wget, that supports RapidShare premium accounts (i.e., HTTP authentication) without problems.


Set Up Balls Number In Neverball

Neverball infinite lifes

If you don't know it you should try it. Neverball is one of the best free games (thanks, Adian), based on Monkey Target minigame from Super Monkey Ball. It's a bit difficult the first time, but then it becomes quite entertaining and very addictive.

In one of those nightly Neverball sessions two days ago, this time with PedrE, we got the idea: Why only three lifes? It's very annoying when you are obstinate to have only three tries and you have to go back to main menu to select again the same level. Why we can't have infinite lifes?. Well, here it is, the patch to be able to set up the number of balls in Neverball. You have to use balls option in ~/.neverball/neverballrc file, with negative values meaning infinite balls.


Hex counting

In the latest comic strip of Raulito el friki the hexadecimal numeration is mentioned and some readers are sorry not to dominate it. Here comes the explanation.

The decimal numeration begins with 0 and when the 9 -the last symbol- is reached, the next is 0 and we carry 1 to add it to the following more significant digit; i.e., if we add 1 plus 9, the result is 0 and we carry 1 for the following digit.