Vinton Cerf, one of the founders of the internet, is echoing something that I have been concerned about for a long time: We are going backwards.

When I was running Ubuntu Linux 12.04 LTS on my home server, I had installed minidlna as a media server that is accessible to DLNA capable clients, including a Smart TV where one can view photos on a large screen.

However, when the server was upgraded to 14.04 LTS, minidlna stopped working. Searching Google turned up forum posts from 2014 with instructions that no longer work.

Yesterday, I gave a talk at the KWLUG.

It covered the following:

When an Arabic speaking person starts to get interested in Astronomy, he will immediately notice that many stars have Arabic sounding names.

For example, the other day, I was in the backyard with a 20 year old relative. I was

The reason for this is historic, and has to do with how the knowledge of sky with its constellations, and stars moved from one civilization to the next. First, Ancient Egypt to Babylon, then to the Greeks, then translated into Arabic during the Islamic golden age, and from there to Europe via Latin by yet more translation.

Recently I got a Raspberry Pi 2, which is said to be 6 times faster than the original Raspberry Pi B. This makes it more suitable for tasks like being a media player.

Getting a full CanaKit Raspberry Pi 2 Ultimate Starter Kit adds many components for experimentation (LEDs, resistors, breadboard, 40-pin ribbon cable, ...etc.). The price was attractive since with Amazon you get free shipping, and therefore it will be cheaper than getting it directly from CanaKit.

While experimenting with the pywapi I found a few problems that require an article, in case someone is facing the same issues.

First, for Canadian cities, you need a more current version of pywapi. On Ubuntu 12.04, the python-pywapi is 0.2.2-1 and does not have the API for Weather.com. The version on 14.04 is 0.3.6, and does have that API.

Second, you need to find the code for your city. Here is a list of codes.