Eines der Features, die ich bei NetBeans eine ganze Zeit lang nicht realisiert hatte war die Tatsache, dass NetBeans beim Compilieren automatisch ein ausführbares JAR erstellt, und JAR nebst Libraries in das “dist”-Verzeichnis im Projektordner kopiert. Das heißt das sieht dann so aus:

Coole Sache eigentlich. Nur – um die Applikation einfach so online zu stellen oder jemandem aufs Auge zu drücken (oder in den Java Store hochzuladen), wäre es doch fein, wenn man nur noch ein einziges JAR hätte und nicht noch zusätzlich die ganzen Libs aus “/dist/libs/” mitschicken muss (und das können schon einige sein – in meinem Mini-Projekt zB schon 19).

Viele Leute ziehen ein Jar zB einfach auf den Desktop um es direkt dort per Doppelklick zu starten. Das geht in dem Fall nicht mehr, da ja der libs-Ordner auch auf dem Desktop liegen müsste. Klar, eine Möglichkeit wäre, die Applikation woanders hin kopieren und eine Verknüpfung auf den Desktop legen – aber wir wollen dem User ja entgegenkommen.

Also:  ein einziges JAR muss her. Im Sun Developer Network (SDN) findet sich dazu auch die passende Anleitung im Artikel: “Use NetBeans IDE 6.7 to Combine JAR Files Into a Single JAR File“. Dort wird schön erklärt, wie man die build.xml ändern muss um genau das zu erreichen.

In diesem Sinne: Viel Erfolg beim ausprobieren.

Can ants count? Not out loud they can’t. Not the way you and I count. But an ingenious experiment conducted in the Sahara suggests maybe ants do count.

How Do Ants Get Home?

Most ants get around by leaving smell trails on the forest floor that show other ants how to get home or to food. They squeeze the glands that cover their bodies; those glands release a scent, and the scents in combination create trails the other ants can follow.

That works in the forest, but it doesn’t work in a desert. Deserts are sandy and when the wind blows, smells scatter.

So how do desert ants find their way home?

It’s already known that ants use celestial clues to establish the general direction home, but how do they know exactly the number of steps to take that will lead them right to the entrance of their nest?

Wolf and Whittlinger trained a bunch of ants to walk across a patch of desert to some food. When the ants began eating, the scientists trapped them and divided them into three groups. They left the first group alone. With the second group, they used superglue to attach pre-cut pig bristles to each of their six legs, essentially putting them on stilts.

Scientists put stilts on desert ants and discovered that in time, the ants could calculate the correct number of steps it took to get home.

The third group had their legs cut off just below the “knees,” making each of their six legs shorter.

After the meal and the makeover, the ants were released and all of them headed home to the nest while the scientists watched to see what would happen.

The “Pedometer Effect”

The regular ants walked right to the nest and went inside.

The ants on stilts walked right past the nest, stopped and looked around for their home.

The ants on stumps fell short of the nest, stopped and seemed to be searching for their home.

It turns out that all the ants had walked the same number of steps, but because their gaits had been changed (the stilty ants, like Monty Python creatures, walked with giant steps; the stumpy ants walked in baby steps) they went exactly the distances you’d predict if their brains counted the number of steps out to the food and then reversed direction and counted the same number of steps back. In other words, all the ants counted the same number of steps back!

Does that mean ants have something like pedometers that do something like counting?

Says professor James Gould of Princeton, commenting on the experiment: “These animals are fooled exactly the way you’d expect if they were counting steps.”

Gould says it’s pretty clear ants don’t have maps in their heads and don’t recognize markers along the route. This experiment strongly suggests that ants do have internal pedometers that allow them to “count” their way home.

Special thanks to OddTodd, our animator, and to comedian Jessi Klein, who provided ant voices in our video.

For as far as hip-hop production has come thanks to the likes of Kanye West, Timbaland, Dr. Dre, Just Blaze and the rest, I’m a firm believer that some of the best beats are the simplest. Give me a drum set, guitar, piano and some strings and I’ll give you a album chalk-full of quality. Well, not me personally, but you get the idea.

Off the top of my head, it’s producers like Ant and songs like “Thugz Mansion” by Nas and 2Pac or “My Block” by Scarface that can really strike a chord that nothing else can. Acoustic-type music is just fantastic, there’s something about stripped down songs that makes it more personal, which for certain songs makes them better. This is one of those songs.

Wale and Marsha Ambrosius killed this version of “Diary”, to the point where it should have been the version that made Attention Deficit.

This comes via Nah Right.

“Diary (Acoustic)” (feat. Marsha Ambrosius) – Wale ★★★★

I love to write and though texting isn’t the most sophisticated platform for an argument (it’s right up there with arguing inside of a camping tent.) I’ve managed to master the art.

I just got out of a grapple to end the match that has went on for the past 2 hrs. Lmao, had we spoken on the phone I would have lost, because I hesitate in speech. Anyways, I was sittin here thinkin’, “Damn, my hands hurt from texting…I should ‘FATALITY!’ Him already…”. Final round ended like this:

Him: So basically ur telling me u regret it and u don’t want me to come.

Me: I’m telling you it’s 4am, and if you really wanted to see me or talk it would have happened over the past few days. You were ghost. How else should I take that?

Him: I have been busy Kris.

Me: Well I’m honored that you found it in your heart to pencil me in for the middle of the night. I’m sure you fuck with more convenient girls. One HAS to be awake.

Case in point, sometimes in the text battlefield, it’s unwise to end with a question mark as I did on that first response. Why? Cause even though you THINK your question mark is evoking feelings of empathy, and making the other person see your point of view, it’s NOT. You’re just leaving yourself open for an excuse. (See: I have been busy…) But, luckily for me, he provided a weak excuse without thesis or any supporting statements. That left him open for the take down…ring the bell dammit, he don’t want nooooo more.

Lol, also, keep a cool head. Wins like this are the result of being passive and not being too emotionally invested in the person/argument. I couldn’t care less about the topic at hand (why we couldn’t date/pick up where we left off, and why I didn’t want his company now or ever.) Yeah, I could have just ignored him to avoid drama or hard feelings. But I prefer closure. I like for both parties to understand and accept why the outcome is what it is. I think that’s why I struggled so much with sitches like Ant last year and KB this year. I had to BUILD my closure for those situations. Ha…not only has this been a rewarding writing exercise, but I learned something about myself as well. And no, I didn’t have to come outta pocket so rudely about calling someone more convenient (he lives 30 min away) But he had it coming. Saying he was too busy when he KNOWS I know otherwise is not only a statement about my importance to him, but it’s a cheap shot at my intelligence. People get fired in this bitch for smaller infractions. I was over our sitch before I could even be under him. (Dude, if I had time to blog about it last week, you’ve BEEN outta the picture!) Note to stupid guys: NObody’s sex is THAT good. And if it is, I’m glad I didn’t fuck up and let him smash.
Good Morning!

Emirate of SHARJAH

stamp: 50 dirhams

year: 1972

insect: ant

And so, one of the lead stories on the BBC news website today is the fact that Katie Price has quit her place in the jungle on ITV show ‘I’m a Celebrity, Get me Out of Here…’

This is quite a change in BBC editorial policy don’t you think? Not only are the exploits of Katie Price, ANA Jordan, now headline news for the BBC rather than celebrity gossip magazines, but also the events taking place in a reality TV show on a rival channel are also considered newsworthy.

Katie Price is one of those celebrities people tend to love or hate, rather like Big Brother winner Jade Goody before her early death from cancer at 27. What Price actually does to attract all the attention and money she earns is hard to define, yet she does it extremely well. It’s too simplistic to dismiss her as a moron when she constantly features in page after page of newspaper and magazine copy detailing every step of her life. How many wannabe stars would love the attention Price gets? She has redefined the concept of post-millenial celebrity and shown how even a scrap of celebrity (glamour modelling on Page 3) can be transformed into a career and industry.

It’s no longer clear if she defines the way the media present her, or if the media itself defines how they see her. What’s clear is that she never needed to win this game show anyway. It’s just an advert for the latest ghosted book (30+ now), perfume, lifestyle TV show… The Jordan industry will rumble on until the public finally tires of her life, or their own fascination for vicarious glamour.

Ants Eat Well, Thanks to Bacteria — Torrice 2009 1119: 2 — ScienceNOW.\

Posted by Jim:  Here’s another insect nitrogen story – leafcutter ants solve their low-N leaf problem by having N-fixing microbes in their gardens.  This reminds me of discussions I had with the late Professor Abe (Kyoto University) in 1997. Abe discovered that termites solve their N problem by harboring N-fixing bacteria in their guts.  I congratulated him on his terrific work and then asked him: ” So how do the termites get their phosphorus?”  Since his work was entirely focused on N, he didn’t really know.

Anyway, I think that in such cases the answer is usually “very slowly”.

I’d ask the same question of Torrice et al.: ‘Where do the leafcutters get their P?”  The answer is likely the same.  Rebecca Clark here at ASU is doing her PhD on the ES of leafcutter ants.  I hope she’ll have the answer!

Nesreen a multi-talented young woman (singer, writer and much more!) wrote this wonderful report on Ant Dakini for Musician Spotlight Independent Project. Please check Nesreen’s wonderful voice at http://www.myspace.com/nesreenmmehdi

Musician Spotlight: Ant Dakini

Ant Dakini is an unconventional woman, who nourishes her soul through the innovative pursuit of the passions in her life. Through her musical endeavors as well as outside of them, Ant has also shown compassion in her surrounding community on both a local and universal level. Ant is the creator and other half of AntiQuark, a San Diego electronic band. Their music is hard to pin into just one category. It is an independent departure from mainstream, with roots to many techno and other forms of music world-wide but mainly European, specifically the large electronic movement in England and Germany. Each song experiments with different sounds ranging from Tahitian tribal drums providing a strong beat to Italian military chants spliced into a dance track, giving the music a sense of diversity and ingenuity. Born and raised in Italy, Ant showed early signs of musical talent.

At an intuitive age of 4, she found herself learning to read music by ear, without direction. By the age of 10, she had begun classical piano lessons. She went on to study piano for the next four years at the Italian Conservatorio in Torino and although Ant enjoyed this type of music she was not solely satisfied with the confinement of recreating and repeating the works of others (Ant Dakini Biography). She was more interested in creating her own music and not in rigorously training as a career classical musician. Ant decided instead, to pursue another academic passion and chose to study marine biology. She received her Master’s degree in this subject and went on to a career as a marine scientist specializing in sharks. Meanwhile, she joined a cover band as a teen then an all female radical punk band in 1992 before she moved to San Diego in 1997. She started her current band, AntiQuark as a solo project in 2001 with Sergio joining in 2006 (AntiQuark on MySpace). From 2002 to 2006 she completed a degree in sound engineering and recording art and has been working with Sergio to produce their recent album and has toured worldwide.

When Ant describes her influences, they are varied and timely. She explains how classical music has been an underlying influence because of her training as well as pop, punk, metal, experimental and noise genres in the 80’s. The next decade would bring the influence of electronic music as well as bands such as Alice in Chains and Simple Mind. Her current band’s music falls into the electronic genre as well as pop, experimental and dance. Her audiences, just as her sound, are eclectic and diverse. AntiQuark has entertained fans of all ages, races and of all musical tastes. AntiQuark’s repertoire is all self written music and lyrics, recording only one cover for a compilation album, Ant describes, “We don’t like doing covers because we like to be creative and do our own thing.” Ant Dakini is the composer and producer of the band and plays the keyboard while Sergio writes and sings vocals. At shows, they usually play songs off of their most recent album, “SkyDancer” and occasionally play songs off of past albums Ant produced before Sergio’s addition. Ant is featured n many compilation and her songs have also been frequently remixed .The instruments that Ant uses are the keyboard and computers and musical software programs. Through this she is able to create an infinite number of sounds and combinations to fit each song. The band also occasionally uses electric guitars and live percussion.

Tracks from ‘SkyDancer’ are brimming with energy, having both a haunting and uplifting feel at the same time. The mixture of elements transcends popular music and creates a distinctive profound quality. One of my favorite tracks, ‘Planet X’, does just this as the voice samples, fluid beat, futuristic and rough effects and smooth vocals bring forth the imminent crisis of the world’s obsession with consumption. Another song titled, ‘La Fine’ is a beautiful and lively intermingling of drums and nature sounds, and in my opinion, is a tribute to wildlife. Whether it is through the mood of the music or the lyrics themselves, messages like these need to be communicated through music since it is such an influential medium.

Ant aspires to write more music and continue to release her creativity in the future. This is an important objective in the conception of her music yet she also has a goal that relates to the connection with her audience. She aims to communicate and reach people at a deeper level of understanding and share a part of herself through her music. She would like for people to truly enjoy her performances, feeling as though it was a meaningful experience.

Keeping with the common theme of variety, the shows Ant plays are also diversified. Venues range from discos or clubs to bars and even large festivals. She describes that there have been shows at dive bars with only five people present and huge festivals in Europe housing over 2000 people. One show that she remembers fondly was at the Social Center in East Germany. She describes her European shows as more exciting since the electronic music scene carries more momentum there. The show in Germany shares a certain quality with many European shows in that they are often held in abandoned warehouses, entertain an independent art crowd and are at the edge of legality. At their shows, Ant uses some prerecorded material as it would be impossible to play all the parts herself. She must stay on beat but does have the liberty to make changes if she chooses. It all goes through a PA system and is apparently relatively simple to set up. Ant describes their shows and explains that she is somewhat physically restricted to be behind the keyboard but that Sergio does engage the audience uses the stage area while singing. She also explains her ambitions for forthcoming shows. She includes a visual component in every show, displaying clips and images that compliment the music and add to the experience, creating more energy.

In addition to AntiQuark, Ant also composes music for films and works as a freelance audio engineer. She has scored many films including, ‘Litorra’, ‘The Second Movement’, ‘The Wetlands’ and ‘In the Dark’. Ant Dakini was honored for her talents and won the first prize in the 2005 Media Arts Award Competition – Audio Category (composer, engineer and producer) for the album Neon H. The award was sponsored by the Multimedia and Entertainment Initiative of the California Colleges’ Economic and Workforce Development Program (Ant Dakini on MySpace).

Ant describes her association and experiences with two types of communities. First, she laments that although she enjoys San Diego, the community within musicians has been discouraging. She has tried to reach out and unite other electronic artists and has not had been satisfied with the outcome. The music community here, in comparison with Europe is much more private and not as social. This can be a detrimental quality as social networking can lead to unique opportunities and synergy, and the case of activism through music, the voices of many versus one can make more of an impact. Next, she describes her involvement with the general community. AntiQuark has played many charity shows advocating several causes such as women’s rights, gay pride, and animal rights. Aside from her musical statements and support projects, Ant is furthermore committed to the conservation of the marine animals, especially sharks. A friend of animals, she also works as a volunteer for a rescue association in San Diego (Ant Dakini Biography).

Ant Dakini’s determination and motivation are a great inspiration to many women and are even more sincere because they root from intrinsic sources. It is clear that she enjoys what she does, whether it is in her career life or in her free time. She has utilized her talent without degrading the content and her creativity which is a feat in itself. To many, this is what constitutes true art.

Nesreen
http://www.myspace.com/nesreenmmehdi

Photographed by Abllo™

Red ant i found on a tree..

– License

Apparently the coming of PJ and Duncan’s new show Push The Button does NOT mean the end of Saturday Night Takeaway after all. Dec told The Mirror,

We’ve done nine series and we’ve said that we don’t want to let it go until we’ve done a 10th. I wouldn’t feel happy unless we’d celebrated the anniversary, and ITV have agreed.

So there you have it.

Many thanks to Mr.Henson Rodrigo for this meditation on the smallest creature, the ant.

What way are the ants better than us to teach us something in life?

1. The ants are not waiting for some one to come & remind them or command them to work. They are having self motivation. They by nature on their own free will are very industrious and work all the time without taking any rest like a lazy person on this earth as in Prov 6:7, “It has no commander,

* – [God wants His children to work systematically like a ant even if there is no one to give them any work assignments totally motivated by the love of Jesus that He may by seeing the work and fruits of our hands be pleased.]

2. The ants are not given any one to oversee their work and appreciate them or scold them for not working because they will work even without any overseer over them as in Pro 6:7, “…no overseer or

* – [we must also work for God freely and willingly even if there is no one to over see our ministry for the lord Jesus Christ.]

3. The ants need not have any boss over them to make them work as in Pro 6:7, ‘…no ruler,

* – [we must also work for the lord taking God only as our boss with a self motivation.]

4. The ants know the importance of storing in the summer time for the future use, so when they can work they are willing to do more work to store enough for the forth coming seasons as in Prov 6:8, “yet it stores its provisions in summer and

* – [we must understand the importance of gathering the souls for the kingdom of God.]

5. The ants have a sense of time and work more during the time of harvest so there will be plenty of grains available to pick up and store as in Pro 6:8, “…gathers its food at harvest.”

* – [we must also work hard when the fields are ready for the harvest. We must also pray to the master of the harvest to send more co laborers to work with us so that we can gather the harvest in the right time before it is wasted away.]

Who are identified as the lazy person and what may the symptom given here?

1. They will like to relax more than they work as in Prov 6:9 How long will you lie there, you sluggard?
2. They will not have any desire to get up early from their sleep as in Pro 6:9, ‘When will you get up from your sleep?
3. They will try to sleep more even if the work demands them to get up so they will tell all type of excuses to sleep more or stay idle as in Prov 6:10 A little sleep,
4. They do not stretch their hands to do any work willingly for God as in Prov 6:10, ‘…a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest–

What will be the fate of those who are practicing idleness in their life now without having any mind to work?

1. They will not prosper but remain poor as in Prov 6:11, “and poverty will come on you like a bandit and
2. They will not have any thing in their life which are needed for their basic needs in life as in Pro 6:11, “scarcity like an armed man.”

May the Lord help each one of us to come out of all our lazy inactive mind which will ruin us and learn from the ant to work very hard before your second coming. Amen.

Commitment Prayer: Lord, help me to have a willing spirit to work and learn from the small creature ant and come up in life. I ask this prayer in the name of our lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Y3 Online Games

Johnny Bravo Flapjack Flipout
Tags: HT83 Games, Y3 games, Unrated games, Flash, Chasing Game, Timing Game, Shockwave, 1 Player, Evade, Food,
Infomation: Help Johny catch the flapjacks so pops can fill the orders! Avoid those falling pans!
How to play: Arrow left/right- To move left/right.
Free Play at http://www.y3games.net/

Rally WRX
Tags: HT83 Games, Y3 games, Flash, Car, Unrated games, 1 Player, Racing, Driving,
Infomation: Race around the track as you try your best to stay on the road and not drive off.
How to play: Use arrow keys to move.
Free Play at http://www.y3games.net/

Hunted Forever
Tags: HT83 Games, Y3 games, Flash, Cat, Adventure, Animal, Unrated games, 1 Player, Stealth, Mouse Skill, Escape, Evade,
Infomation: Hunted Forever is an action game in which you have to avoid the mean cat that hunts you! Swim for your life and collect the fish points to get stronger. Try to stay out of the cat claws and you be able to beat the game.
How to play: Use mouse to interact.
Free Play at http://www.y3games.net/

Looking for Treasure
Tags: HT83 Games, Y3 games, Flash, Unrated games, 1 Player, Memory Game, Matching Game,
Infomation: This game is for girls with a good memory. Make pairs and don’t get mixed up, and hurry, the clock is ticking!
How to play: Use mouse to interact.
Free Play at http://www.y3games.net/

Dino Drop
Tags: HT83 Games, Y3 games, Flash, Animal, Unrated games, 1 Player, Matching Game, Dinosaur,
Infomation: Arrange the Dino Eggs to get 3 or more eggs of the same colour in the same row.
How to play: Use Mouse to interact.
Free Play at http://www.y3games.net/

Jackuse
Tags: HT83 Games, Y3 games, Flash, Guessing Game, Unrated games, 1 Player, Kids,
Infomation: Collect evidence that will help you catch the criminal
How to play: Use mouse to interact.
Free Play at http://www.y3games.net/

Picnic Pick off
Tags: HT83 Games, Y3 games, Collecting Games, Ant, Unrated games, Shockwave, 1 Player,
Infomation: It’s time for the Annual Cartoon Network Company Picnic, and that’s great news for the local ant population! Collect enough crumbs to continue to the next level, but watch out for other critters, who will try to pick-off the food you’ve gathered!
How to play: Use Moue to interact.
Free Play at http://www.y3games.net/

Fly Further
Tags: HT83 Games, Y3 games, Flash, Advergames, Unrated games, 1 Player, Mouse Skill, Flying,
Infomation: Stay in flight for the longest time as you can.
How to play: Use mouse to play the game.
Free Play at http://www.y3games.net/

Cascade
Tags: HT83 Games, Y3 games, Flash, Unrated games, 1 Player, Mouse Skill, Matching Game,
Infomation: Click on groups of the same color to get the groups to disappear. Try to get all blocks gone.
How to play: Use mouse to interact.
Free Play at http://www.y3games.net/

Wiggi Maze
Tags: HT83 Games, Y3 games, Flash, Unrated games, 1 Player, Maze, Kids,
Infomation: Jump right into the tilting Wiggi Maze and embark on a scavenger hunt!
How to play: Use arrow keys to move.
Free Play at http://www.y3games.net/

You’d never think this, but Russia has some pretty creative ways of dealing with their social dilemmas. Now most Russians are alcoholics or addicts and… OK, just kidding, but there are widespread problems of substance abuse in Russia today. But this clip showing the political godfather of Russia giving music, and specifically hip hop its rightful place in the social therapy discussion will change the way Russians look at rap music. By attending the final stage of the government-run “Battle for Respect: Start It Today” competition, Vladimir Putin gave rap music one of its biggest endorsements ever. Putin even went on to dismiss the notion that rock or dance music are socially in tune, peep the following quote from Gangster # 1:

“I do not think that the ‘top-rock’ or ‘floor-rock’ break dance technique is compatible with alcohol or drugs,” rap “is kind of rough” and “has a social message dealing with the problems of the young”

Ha, spoken like a true Public Enemy fan. I love Putin’s unapologetic nationalism, an example of that was his dig on U.S. hip hop in comparison to Russian, saying that “Russian charm” was a positive addition to the genre. Check out last year’s charming winner of the competition, Ant, who is blowing up in Russia, like Chechnyans.

Le frère Ali revient cet automne avec un troisième opus, faisant suite à l’époustouflant The Undisputed Truth paru en avril 2007. Ce dernier essai reçut un succès unanime lors de sa sortie, propulsant ainsi le rappeur albinos au sommet du rap underground outre-Atlantique. Entre temps, il y eut la fournée The Truth Is Here, en mai dernier, censée préparer l’arrivée de ce nouvel album. L’EP composé de 9 titres laissait entrevoir une nouvelle vibe, moins voluptueuse qu’au préalable, mais tout aussi appréciée par la critique. Puis comment oublier cette collaboration miraculeuse (« The Truth ») entre Jake One, Freeway et Ali sur le White Van Music du producteur de Seattle, fin 2008 ? Autant de réussites qui présageaient le meilleur pour la sortie de ce Us, le 21 septembre dernier.

 Le meilleur… Il y avait tout de même un doute qui me pesait depuis la parution de ce troublant EP daté du 4 mai. La production, pourtant toujours signée Ant du groupe Atmosphere, semblait migrer vers un univers plus cuivré, et surtout nettement moins majestueux que sur The Undisputed Truth qui, je le rappelle, m’avait laissé pantois. Une gène rapidement (et malheureusement) confirmée par l’écoute de ce nouvel essai. Une gène qui s’est rapidement (et péniblement) transformée en déception. Pas simple d’un côté de faire mieux que ce deuxième opus, ô combien remarquable et remarqué. Seulement voilà, un artiste ne peut pas se permettre de rester bloqué sur un disque sous prétexte que c’est son œuvre de référence. Au lieu de s’entêter à vouloir la reproduire continuellement, son dessein est d’évoluer, de grandir, et de se développer musicalement. C’est en somme le pari que se sont lancés Ant et Brother Ali avant de confectionner cet album. Murir, s’ouvrir et se renouveler.

 Attention tout de même à ne pas vous y méprendre. N’imaginez pas qu’entre deux projets, le ‘preacher’ s’est convertit à l’auto-tune et à l’euro dance. Non non non ! Il s’agit seulement d’une évolution logique dans la façon d’aborder la musique. Et une chose est même certaine : d’un point de vue purement objectif, cette livraison est un nouveau joyau. Les critiques l’encensent et les magazines l’adulent. Suite à ce que je viens de dire, j’entends déjà les : « Mais alors, d’où te vient cette déception si la réussite de cet opus est unanime ? ». A ceux là je répondrais simplement : « Des beats ! ». Voilà, pour moi, l’unique (mais gros) défaut de ce disque, que je tiens vraiment à souligner. Comparées au précédent effort, certaines productions sont, non pas mauvaises, mais nettement moins mordantes. J’en veux pour preuve ces mollassons « Crown Jewel », « House Keys » et « Bad Mufucker Pt. 2 », mais également cette collaboration sans intérêt entre Ali, Freeway et Joell Ortiz (« Best@it »), qui n’arrive pas à la cheville d’un « Truth Is ». En somme, ces instrumentaux aigus et cuivrés sont, selon moi, inappropriés à Brother Ali. L’irritant « Games » en est l’exemple. Connaissant sa voix déjà haut perchée, les productions basses et profondes lui conviennent mieux.

 A ce titre, comment ne pas succomber à la beauté d’un « You Say (Puppy Love) » ou à la force d’un texte comme « The Travelers », traitant de l’esclavage avec une vérité et une émotion déconcertante. Dans le rôle du street « Preacher », Brother Ali est toujours le maitre incontesté. Ce n’est d’ailleurs pas un hasard si l’album devait initialement s’appeler ainsi. N’oublions pas que, malgré les critiques personnelles que j’ai assigné à certaines, les productions de Ant demeurent toujours angéliques dans la plupart des cas. A noter que des morceaux comme « Babygirl », « Tight Rope », « You Say (Puppy Love) » ou « Us » relèvent tout de même du miracle.

 En somme, cet album est la preuve que l’équation Brother Ali + Ant = réussite assurée, se vérifie (pratiquement) toujours. La parenthèse est pour ma pomme car, pour la première fois, le rappeur m’a déçu. Enfin, plutôt sa musique et ses choix artistiques devrais-je dire, car lui, en temps que MC d’exception, reste fidèle à lui-même. Dans tous les cas, Us apporte la certitude qu’en matière d’underground, le Hip Hop se porte bien. Avec en ses rangs des pointures comme Freeway, Atmosphere, Evidence, Jake One, Doom, P.O.S. et Brother Ali, Rhymesayers Entertainement est un label qui marche, et bon Dieu, pourvu que ça dure !

15 / 20

Last Friday, Ann invited me to have a chocolate buffet at Fullerton Hotel to have a pre-birthday dinner with Noel and Drayden Thanks Ann, for inviting me

Ann feeding Dray with brownie

The thinking man

Brownie and chocolate fudge

Fruits in layer of yummy chocolate

Puff with chocolate fondue

Raspberry Gingerbread

Lychee Tiramisu

Right after the chocolate buffet, we head down to The Central along Clark Quay as both Noel and I crave for beer. Poor us, we have to walk in the rain to get to The Central due to my stupid idea of having a beer at one of the bristol there. We didn’t stay long at this Japanese Bristol cum restaurant because the service is really bad and while we were still seated and enjoying our beer, the staffs were in a hurry to lock up the chairs.

In the end we headed down to Esplande’s Glutton Square to satisfy our thirst for beer. What turn out to be a 10 minutes walk from Clark Quay to Glutton Square became a 40 minutes walk. Poor Ann, Noel and me have to take turn to carry little Drayden in our arms and sheltering little Drayden under the umbrella.

Chaak!

Birthday drink

Nal from Goodfellas and Drayden

If you create your Javadocs you sometimes get unresolved reference warnings: package xy does not exist or cannot find symbol

If you define the path with these dependencies outside of the target you could reference that path using the classpathref attribute.

But if the path definition is done in an other target and you don’t want to have a dependency on that (e.g. many dependencies are downloaded there, e.g. using Ivy), using the classpathref would throw a BuildException because the path is not defined: Reference my-path.reference not found.

You could do a little hack: use a classpath attribute and use a special PropertyEvaluator for using that path: classpathref=”${toString:my-path.reference}”. If your defining target is executed before, the toString: resolves that into a usable path-string. If the target is not executed before, the resulting string toString:my-path.reference is just ignored by the javadoc task.

In the musical justice system, the people and the musicians are represented by two separate, yet equally important groups — The District Attorneys who investigate the crime, and the defense who claims it’s all a bunch of bullshit. These are their stories.

Judge: Docket Zero-Two is in order, Sean Daley aka Slug of Atmosphere vs. Marshall Mathers aka Eminem to answer the dispute of which one is the grandest cracker of them all. Counselors, because this is a civil suit, we are just going to have a good old fashioned debate, with minimal interruption. Counselor Scootsie Finkerton, you may begin.

Scootsie Finkerton: Thank you, your honor. Ever since The Slim Shady LP was brought forth into the world there has been little doubt as to who is the greatest white rapper of all-time. Eminem was the answer, now and forever. And truthfully, who could say otherwise? His competition consisted of a Surreal World cast member (Vanilla Ice), Jewish New Yorkers (The Beastie Boys), several underground emcees nobody in real life has ever heard of, Everlast, Bubba Sparxx, need I continue? Eminem was declared the king without so much as a whimper.

But upon further review, not only should this claim be contested, it turns out to be false. The crown of cracker rapping should rest on the head of my client, Slug, who not only is the greatest melanin-deficient rapper ever, but one of the 10 most influential hip-hop artists of all-time. All-time. Yes I said it, this guy:

From Overcast! to When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint that Shit Gold, Slug has given more to hip-hop than Marshall Mathers, and it’s time he be rewarded as such.

Ronald McClownShoes [Ed's note: played by the esteemed Joshua Mosley]: Your honor and esteemed members of the hip hop jury: I am here to tell you that hip-hop is a niche industry. Simply put, if you find your niche, you’ll move along in the industry. Busta Rhymes had that rapid-fire flow that captivated B-boys and emcees alike. Run DMC had the Addidas. Biggie had his gut. I’d list them all but that would leave us running short on time.

The white rapper also falls into this category and if there is any one entity that got the ball rolling for Honky-Hop, it is the boys. More specifically, the Beastie Boys. But with all the flow that those Menshes had, they had a twinge of rock in there. I dig the Beasties but I don’t qualify it as pure hip-hop.

Then there was the canker sore that was Vanilla Ice, who rose to fame by trying to claim that there was no similarity between his hit “Ice Ice Baby” and the classic Queen/Bowie cut “Under Pressure.”  Right, Ice. Helen Keller could have heard that one. My opponent brought up Everlast, Bubba and other names but to me the Grand Pubah of the white rap game is about as clear cut as an R. Kelly pee-pee video.

My case today is to go to bat for one Marshall Mathers, also known as Eminem, also known as Slim Shady. While my opponent has listed the accolades of Mr. Slug, and believe me Slug brings HOT HOT fire with his torch, facts are facts. Any pub or credibility that Slug has garnered this century has come off the doors that Marshall Mathers opened.

Mathers’ albums were a part of the soundtrack of my adolescents, showing me for the first time just how fucking crazy white people can be. At the same time, his lyrics had meaning and, in the event that his daughter Hailey Jade was a topic, he showed that he had heart.

Ultimately, my case will be built on the fact that Mathers is the clear cut choice in this argument for one reason: he opened doors. While Slug is accomplished in his own right, Mathers major label success at the beginning of the decade got Slug’s feet in the door. In fact, I got another nickname for Eminem: the Bellhop. Dude opened some SERIOUS doors.

SF: Opened doors? OPENED DOORS? Objection your honor! The fact of the matter is that Atmosphere’s first record, Overcast!, was released in 1998. Eminem’s first record: The Slim Shady LP, was released in? You guessed it: 1999. Eminem didn’t open shit for Slug and Atmosphere that he wasn’t opening on his own.

The fact is that both of these fellas are the exact same age (birthed in 1972) and started contributing to hip-hop at the exact same time independently of one another. Counselor’s initial argument should be null and void.

Instead of listening to inaccurate drivel, I suggest we look at the facts. Specifically, the discographies. Atmosphere’s first three albums were Overcast!, Lucy Ford and God Loves Ugly. Eminem put out The Slim Shady LP, The Marshall Mathers LP and The Eminem Show. As fantastic as Slug was on those first three albums, I’ll give the edge to Eminem. He was better. It’s a fact.

But one of these artists continued to get better and better while the other floundered to the point of sucktitude. When you compare their two most recent albums (Atmosphere: You Can’t Imagine How Much Fun We’re Having, When Life Gives you Lemons you Paint That Shit Gold vs. Eminem: Encore, Relapse) you not only come to the conclusion that Slug is superior to Eminem at this stage in his career, but also realize that Slug is far better than Eminem now than Eminem was better than Slug before.

Combine the fact that Atmosphere have released a host of quality EPs sprinkled in between their albums and have collaborated with Murs to form Felt, and the argument is nearly flawless.

RMcCS: I tried to be civil but now I guess, I’ll have to go with the SCOREBOARD argument, your honor. It’s right after the Chewbacca Defense in the Big Law Book of Life. Look it up.

My esteemed opponent raises some accurate points with his assessment of Mr. Slug in the court of life, we value results. And Mr. Mathers has them IN SPADES! Since debuting on a major label with The Slim Shady LP in 1999, homie light has racked up worldwide sales of 80 million records. 80 MILLION!!!! Can you even imagine what that looks like? Think about it. No don’t think about it. It’ll take too long. We’re on a schedule. Critically, his first drop was the best.

Commercially, he told Hammer to go fuck himself and decided to hurt them with The Marshall Mathers LP. The joint had singles such as the catchy “The Real Slim Shady” and the legitimately tough “The Way I Am”. Then he continued his lyrically homicidal assault on his baby mama with the succinctly “Kim”.

With the “fuck the world” attitude of Tupac and the lyrical ability of Big, and a pinch of aesthetic marketability, Eminem was the biggest name in the game at the beginning of the decade. He even got thrown in there with the Mt. Rushmore of hip-hop (Tupac, Jay-Z, Big) as one of the all time greats. And he hasn’t abused release deadlines like Jay did by dropping an album once a menstrual cycle.

His confrontational rapping style has worked in his favor. He took on haters and built anticipation for his albums with fans by making the public wonder “What will that crazy saltine say on this one?”

Has he slipped? That’s debatable. But the fact of the matter is that he is 10 years, nine Grammy’s and an Oscar into his career and he is STILL considered the Hottest MC in the Game. Not just of his race, of the HUMAN race! Try as you might Slug but Em has you by the short hairs. Which is strange because Slugs are typically challenged when it comes to follicles. That’s unlike my worthy opponent Scootsie, who has lovely golden locks 365 days a year.

Judge: Hold on, I’ve received some documentation that might be relevant in this case. It seems that Slug’s father was a man of half-Native American and half-black ethnic make-up. This would make Slug only half white, well past the American societal norms for what constitutes a person as non-white.

SF: Really???

RMcCS: Really???

Judge: Really. I have no choice but to side with counselor McClownShoes here and declare Eminem the greatest white rapper in the game.

HOWEVER, both sides should should take more than the verdict away form them. Arguing over who is the best in their respective racial categories, while entertaining as it might be, is utterly pointless. Racial boundaries are essentially a convoluted combination of social, ethnic and economic variables this day and age, especially in this fantastic country we call America.

Simply put, there is no black and white when it comes to black and white.

THE ANT

A FABLE… OR MAY BE NOT…

Every day, a small ant arrives  at work very early and starts work immediately.

She produces  a lot and she was happy.

The Chief, a lion,

was surprised  to see that the ant was working without supervision.

He thought if the ant can produce so  much without supervision, wouldn’t she produce even more if she had a supervisor!

So he recruited a cockroach

who had extensive experience as supervisor and who was  famous for writing  excellent reports.

The cockroach’s first decision was to set up a  clocking in attendance system.

He also needed a secretary to help him write and type his reports and …

… he  recruited a spider, who managed the archives and monitored all phone calls.

The lion was delighted with the cockroach’s reports

and asked him to produce graphs  to describe production rates and to analyse  trends, so that he could use them for presentations at

Board‘s meetings.

So the cockroach had to buy a new computer and a  laser printer and  …

… recruited a fly

to manage the IT department.

The ant, who had once been so productive and relaxed, hated this new plethora of paperwork  and meetings which used up most of her time…!

The lion came to the conclusion that it was high time to nominate a person in charge of the department where the ant worked.

The position was given to the cicada, whose first decision was to buy a carpet and an ergonomic chair for his office.

The new person in charge, the cicada, also needed a computer and a personal assistant ,who he brought from his previous department, to help him prepare a Work and Budget Control Strategic Optimisation Plan…

The Department where the ant works is now a sad place, where nobody laughs anymore  and everybody has become upset…

It was at that time that the cicada convinced the boss , the lion, of the absolute necessity  to start a climatic study of the environment .

Having reviewed  the  charges  for running the ant’s department , the lion  found out that  the production   was much less than  before.

So he recruited the owl , a prestigious and renowned consultant to carry out an  audit and  suggest solutions.

The owl spent three months  in the department and came up with an enormous report , in several volumes,

that concluded :

“ The department is overstaffed …”

Guess who the lion fires first?

The ant , of course,  because she

“showed lack of motivation and had a negative attitude”.

]]> http://owenou.com/2009/11/18/running-eclipse-java-compiler-with-ant/ Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:17:30 +0000 Owen http://owenou.com/2009/11/18/running-eclipse-java-compiler-with-ant/

Eclipse Java Compiler (EJC) is an incremental compiler that is generally faster than any JDKs. It also fixes some incompatible problems related to JDK6, e.g. http://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/OPENJPA-640. This post is about how to run EJC with an ant target to compile your Java projects.

1. Install Ant 1.7+.
2. Download the latest JDT Core Batch Compiler and put it directly into your $ANT_HOME/lib folder. Or, if you have Eclipse installed, you have the compiler by default! Locate the org.eclipse.jdt.core_xxx.jar in the plugins directory of your Eclipse installation, put that jar file into the $ANT_HOME/lib folder, and at the same time unzip this jar file and make jdtCompilerAdapter.jar available to ant.
3. You are now ready to test the Eclipse compiler in command line. The key is to direct ant to use EJC by specifying the compiler parameter -Dbuild.compiler to org.eclipse.jdt.core.JDTCompilerAdapter. Go to a Java project and type in:

   ant -Dbuild.compiler=org.eclipse.jdt.core.JDTCompilerAdapter -Dant.build.javac.target=1.6 -Dant.build.javac.source=1.6 compile
   

4. You can also set up an ant target to play around with it:

   <target name="-eclipse-compile">
     <javac source="1.6" target="1.6" compiler="org.eclipse.jdt.core.JDTCompilerAdapter">
       ...
     </javac>
   </target>