Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Article about primes

It is just a short article about basic properties of prime numbers. It's main purpose is to be a short introduction to what primes are.
Also this is the first article I have ever published on my site so I hope it is good enough.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

New computer

My faithful but rather old computer suddenly died. It wasn't a surprise - I owned it for 7 years. I bought a new computer now a Core 2 duo 6550. It should last for a long time.
Because i was without my comp I coudn't post to the blog or to the site. Now I am in the prosses of installing all the programs I need into the new computer. I hope I will find time for this project.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Highlights

There are already plenty of links on Math Pages so in order to give to new links some spotlight it is time to do a short overview of recent addition.
Recent additions to computer section:
1. LiveCD - if you want to make custom live CD for your self or for other people this is the place to go. They will build you a live CD while letting you choose what it will include. It is based on Debian.
2. Linux network reference guide - it is pretty self explanatory. If you are running linux and want to learn how to use the terminal, it worth a look at.
If you don't know what linux/LiveCD is go here.

Recent additions to Student staff:
1. SpeQMathematics - a simple yet powerful and advanced program. For windows.
2. Equation Sheet - create personal equation sheets.

Recent additions to math section:
The shortest shortcut - how to multiply large numbers in your head.

Recent addition to physics section:
13 things that don't make sense - strange but true facts. There are no logical explanation for them to this day.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

I like AdBlock plus

If I would ever make a list of the best Firefox extensions, Ad Block would be on the top of this list.. It is simply the best an extension can be - it does its gob very well, and it doesn't distracts (unlike stumbleupon...). Moreover it removes the visual assault ads tend to be sometimes...

I installed it along time ago and since then I rarely see ads. It is very good in removing them, especially when used together with the Customize Google extension, which allows to also remove all the ads you normally see in your search results and in Gmail (and other Google products). Without the customize Google extension, Ad-block blocks Google ads only when you visit a website not own by Google.
If you want to be even more ad free, you can also install Element Hiding Helper for Ad Block and Filterset.G Updater. Together this four extension provide an excellent defense from all ads there are.. Also, if even this is not enough, it is very easy to create your own filters in Ad Block - just a few mouse clicks. I had to do this maybe 2-3 times in the last year.

I was never felt disturbed by Google ads, so I even didn't notice that this extension blocks them also. Actually I was sure it doesn't block them at all because it didn't block them in search results. However when I added Google ads to this blog and to my site I couldn't see them, they were completely blocked.

When inserting the code on my site I did a mistake so the adds appeared on top of content, blocking it from view. But because of Ad Block I didn't see this until today. I checked the site today with Ad Block turned off and fixed this. Now the ads are displayed at the bottom of the page and I will probably leave them there.
So... if you don't want to see ads get Firefox with Ad Block plus and with the customize Google extension. You will not see even those ads you actually wanted to see :).

The only problem with this setup is that is considered to be unmoral by some. If you are surprised by this, think why about why we have so much free services/sites on the internet? The reason for this is that they are paying their bills using adverting. Ads are not the only way to make money on the internet, but it is the most common one. By installing ad blocking software, you are killing this revenue model.

In the end this is a good thing. It is possible to make money online without ads, and probably this is where the internet is heading now. So, feel free to install ad block... This what I did anyway ;).

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Template decisions

I am quite dissatisfied with my web site template. I tried to pick the best one, but they all are horrible enough to my taste. The main template issue is categories. I need to think about some nice way to organize them, so that they will be easily viewable.
What I thought about is something like that:
1. Make subtopics in every category. This is, Calculus, Linear Algebra, Number Theory, Topology and so on in math and Mechanics, Cosmology, Electricity, Quantum Physics etc in physics.
2. Organize the links in two columns instead of just one.

I hope I will manage to finish this by the end of the week.

Update round

Besides opening this blog today I also added a lot of links to the site. There is a lot more to add, but it will take some time. I think I have only added by now about half of my bookmarks. Perhaps I will finish adding them this week. Also I have a half written article that I want to finish writing and publish it on the site.
I plan to ad ads to my site and to the blog today. This is not something I want to do but I need money so I don't want to miss this opportunity. Also I added this blog to my wink account, claimID and to stumble upon. Hope it will bring some traffic.
Meanwhile you are all invited to check my site. It is not completely finished yet but it should be useful already. And make sure you checked the links in the fun category also.
Update: I added ads to the blog, they should start working soon. The blog is not indexed yet by google so it takes some time.

First post

I just created this blog to be used together with my site - Math Pages.
I intend to use it to post updates about my site. Perhaps I will also find other uses for it in the future. I hope that I will be able to write two or three posts per week. It depends on how much free time I will have.