Just to let everyone know. I am back from my trip. Had a great time and seen some cool things across Russia, Mongolia, and China.
I will be posting some travel articles about it soon and I keep pictures on my personal website, but I will post an article when these are done. There were some comments on the air miles and aeroplan articles which I didn't have time to answer but will in the near future.
I am happy to report that after 6 weeks I have only had 2 spam messages get through on the system. Not too bad really. I don't have huge traffic of course, but compared to the 30 to 40 a day I was getting before, that is pretty good.
I didn't add Captcha, but I did do something similar. You will notice at the bottom of every post is an image that you have to use to input a code. On Captcha, this code is randomly generated by them. You have to rely on their service. I am using the exact same image over and over. I just save it on the server.
I have to say it has worked rather well. I won't write any more about it unless my spam situation changes. You can read the original article about it.
My pictures are up, finally. You can check them out on my personal web gallery.
I will be posting detailed articles on different segments of the trip with a few photos over the next couple weeks. Just waiting for permission to include contact emails and such for some of the tour groups/guides that I was impressed with.
I wrote an article about a Nintendo DS version of Descent called DScent. I just got it working recently. It has been very well done. You can read about it on kayvenm's blog. It is the main resource for latest releases and help on getting it to run.
Fantastic. It runs around 25 fps on my NDS. I have had it crash a few different ways. If I start a new game and read through all the text screens and advance each screen by pressing A or tapping the screen, it locks when I get to the end. Easy to fix. I just press B when I am almost through the screens and it goes to the next level just fine.
I have also had it freeze a couple times when I kill an enemy. This is rare though, but I would say you need to just make sure you save frequently.
Sound works as well. You have music and sound effects.
He did a good job of getting it to function on the DS nicely. You can use the buttons for full control or use the directional pad for moving and the touchscreen to turn. Shooting is trigger based as usual. But keep in mind, you can configure the controls.
One of the best features is the gun graphics on the touchscreen. You can just tap the weapon of choice to switch to it. Very handy and a lesson the DSQuake and QuakeDS guys could use.
I have a Nintendo DS Lite with a Supercard 3 and a Supercard Lite with microSD.
Follow the instructions on kayvenm's instructions page.
You can download the latest binaries with this link.
DScent v. alpha 4.2, but check the blog link above occasionally to see if there is a new version.
Basically, you just need to do the following.
I personally downloaded the SuperCard Lite DLDI and Win32 GUI DLDI Patcher.
You need to patch that .nds file with DLDI. Follow the DLDI patching instructions I have above or find instructions on the internet.
Error: Cannot open file DESCENT.TEX or DESCENT.TXBYou need to put the .HOG and .PIG files from the registered, patched to at least 1.4a version of Descent. They need to be in the root folder of your flash card or in a folder called dscent in the root directory.
Error: Not enough strings in text file - expecting 621, found 514 You most likely do not have the proper version of the data files You need atleast v1.4a REGISTEREDI got this by using the demo version of the .PIG and .HOG files. Get the registered full version.
July was finished a long time ago, but I was away on a trip so now it is time to catch up. This was the first month where I was not really around and used advanced posting to keep my articles coming out a couple times a week. Here are the results breakdown yet again.
Well, not the best month, but considering I didn't have to do much work I am pretty satisfied. Looking at my popular pages, they are still older articles receiving Google traffic anyways.
Google officially cut my cheque as well. Around $111 Canadian. It has not arrived yet though.
July's numbers and June's numbers are in brackets.
July traffic was basically the same as June. Note the average uniques/day stat. I dropped about 1 unique a day. I don't really know what to think about it. I could definitely be growing it, but I am wondering how the summer months and dropping to only 2 postings a week affects it. I expected a drop off in traffic, but that didn't happen. It stayed the same. August will be more the tell tale month I think.
July Traffic
Overall, my earnings for July were $73.49.
I have to say I am reasonably happy with this, especially since I wasn't around. I couldn't do as many PayU2Blog articles as I wanted and I did not do any PayPerPost articles.
Adsense and Kontera both paid me as usual so that was good. I have channels on my Adsense ads to help determining where my money is coming from as well. The block ads on articles in the Finance subject paid me $5.58. Travel was $1.31, photography $0.87, the front page of the blog was $2.45, and the ads at the top of the page paid out $2.43. The rest was elsewhere.
The upcoming month will see a lot more PayU2Blog postings, but the payment for some of them will be delayed until the next month. I already have 8 done though so $40 should be coming my way for sure.
I got into the Nintendo DS homebrew scene as soon as I got my DS. I am always fascinated by the effort that goes into making applications and games for free. Some very useful programs come along and there are neat games that are both new and ports of the classics.
Unfortunately, depending on the DS hardware that you have, it can take a little bit of work to get things running. Each game has its own requirements, but a lot of them need to be patched with DLDI before they will work. That is what this posting is about.
It is an acronym for Dynamically Linked Device Interface. Any homebrew application that wants read and write access to the memory card will most likely need it. This would be saving text files, accessing music, saving a game, or whatever else you can think of.
The main site is the dldi Wiki hosted on drunkencoders. You can find all the information you need here. I will provide a brief tutorial on how I patch most of my programs though.
Read the instructions and comments on articles for the release of these applications. They will say.
If you try to load the application and you get a libfat error or an error regarding file access, then that is a good indication you need to patch as well.
Here are the steps I would follow to patch a homebrew application from scratch. Keep in mind that I use the Supercard Lite (microSD).
I personally downloaded the SuperCard Lite DLDI
I personally use the Win32 GUI version of the DLDI patcher. It is pretty simple to use. This one comes in a zip file so you will have to unzip into a folder after you download it.
There are also instructions with pictures here.
Colors! is another homebrew application that I have loaded on my Nintendo DS. In short, it is a drawing program using the stylus. This isn't just Microsoft Paint though. It is a fantastic little program that can create some really nice images.
The interface is very simple and allows you to choose colors, brush sizes, opacity to your paint, and more. You can even zoom in and scroll around your canvas to look at it better. A super handy eyedropper tool is available to pick colors from your canvas as well.
I won't go much more into, but download it and load it up. The drawing experience is incredibly simple and refined to feel like you have a lot of control. You can save your images directly onto the flash card as well.
The setup is very simple.
I have written an instruction page on doing this called Patching NDS Homebrew With DLDI. Follow the instructions there and then continue on here.
Here is an image I took from their website. Someone definitely has some talent. You can check out more digital paints at this gallery.
It arrived! My first ever payment from Google. A historical moment, haha.
I decided to received the check just the other day. I included a nifty picture of it below, with all the account numbers and such blacked out of course. In case you do not know, you have to have an account balance of at least US $100 before they will pay you. I happened to have around $106 at the end of June, so my check was issued in July.
My First Adsense Check
I just did the check so I could feel it in my hands the first time. I am going to switch to electronic payment from here on in.
Adsense was the first revenue program I signed up to, but it is only one piece of the puzzle. I also am using PayU2Blog and Kontera's ContentLink. PayU2Blog takes effort on my part to write articles for every payment, but Kontera and Adsense are more of a "passive income". Old articles will still pay me and are in fact the biggest contributor to these two sources of revenue.
If you want to learn more about my blogging revenue, check out the Make Money Blogging section of my site. There are a number of articles that can be a help or at least give you an idea how I got things going.
On my trip in July of 2007, my wife and I had a stopover in Amsterdam. I had never been to Europe before so I was looking forward to checking out Amsterdam. Not that Amsterdam is the perfect representation of Europe, but it has that European look.
I arrived around 3:30 PM to the Schiphol Aiport. This is a very new and modern airport. I was impressed as we walked through it. There are conveyer belt style escalators that work for people walking and those in wheelchairs.
We needed to get downtown so our plan was to take the train. At the baggage carousels there are machines to purchase tickets. Surprise, our North American debit cards and all of my credit cards (Mastercard, VISA, and American Express) did not work in the machine. It wanted a PIN for my credit cards like a cash advance, but I did not know it of course.
On to the upstairs. Near the main entrance there is an office for the public train. We purchased our tickets for around 3 Euros each. There are signs in the airport on where to get onto the train as well.
Amsterdam Central is the train stop you will want to get off at as a tourist. The train we were on from the airport was an express train and this was the only stop on it, so you had to get off. You get out and the North Sea Canal will be to the north. Called a canal, but it looks like a large bay or something. Walk across from the train to the south and you will find Damrak. This is the big street you can use as a reference point.
Damrak
Dutch is their native language, but don't worry. Dutch people are some of the most language diverse people you will meet. They learn around 4 languages in school (English, German, French, Dutch) and their English is flawless really. You will have no problems getting around.
I found in the tourist area of Amsterdam, that is what they will start out with anyways. I did see a few menus for fast food places were in Dutch however, but you can take a good guess to the meaning anyways.
We stayed at a nice little hotel/hostel called Hotel Mallemoolen. I would definitely recommend it. It was less the 90 Euros per night when we booked and that got us a double room with a shower. The washroom was shared on the main level, but it worked out fine. There is also free internet in the lobby and breakfast is included.
It isn't even 100 yards from Amsterdam Central, so if you are looking to avoid taxi costs and such, then this is another big perk to this place.
The staff was quite friendly and were interested in helping us do what we wanted. Breakfast had cereals, meat, cheese, fruit, and variety of drinks.
Just a couple doors down are some restaurants and pubs that you can eat as well, if you don't feel like venturing far from your hotel. You will find a lot of places to eat almost anywhere in this area anyways.
We walked, but you can rent bikes or take the public buses. I shouldn't call them buses, they are called trams and run on electricity. They have big numbers on the front of them and most places will let you know what tram to take if you want to get there.
This is a must. There are a number of companies offering this. We just walked down Damrak not even 50 yards from Amsterdam Central and purchased our tickets. Boats left every half hour when we were there. I don't remember the exact cost, but it might have been around 10 Euros.
Amsterdam Canal Tour
They offer quite a few combinations of canal cruises though. Dinner, cheese and wine, and other variations that might suit your taste.
Our boat went down a number of canals where we could see variety of architecture, a spot where you could see a number of bridges all in a row, old guard towers, famous districts, and into the North Sea canal. They guide was actually audio recordings that start when you get to the different important places.
If you walk farther on Damrak you will come to Dam Square. This is just a big open square with some neat buildings on each side. Walk down to do some shopping or take a few pictures. Below is a picture of the Royal Palace (old town hall) on one side of Dam Square.
Royal Palace On Dam Square
we did not get to see this. The lineups were ridiculous. Apparently the room is really small where she actually lived so not very many people can go in at a time. I think the lineup was over an hour when we were there.
Note: If you really want to see this, MAKE A RESERVATION. If you have a reservation, you can enter in a different entrance almost immediately. You can book online at the Anne Frank website. It is only 50 cents Euro more than the price you will pay at the door anyways. I believe you do have to pick the day and time you will be coming though. I bet you could do it from your hotel when you are there and then just walk over and it would be quicker.
Anne Frank House Lineup
This is funny, but you might not want to take your kids down there. Unless you want to give them a bit of an education of course. We saw one family down there with 2 little kids and the father was quickly explaining, "This only happens in Amsterdam." Maybe in the western world, haha.
We were told this would be easy to find, but we did have to ask before we got to it. It was just a couple streets to the east of our hotel's street, Warmoesstraat. There was a canal with streets on both sides and it was chalk full of sex shops and women standing in windows with the fluorescent lights there.
We were told to not stare when we there, because you would be harassed by the bouncers and such. This wasn't the case for us and we were even able to get a photo (which we were again told not to do), but it might depend on the night and how many people there are too.
Walking along Damrak, right beside where you can book a canal tour there are a couple places that sell fries served in a paper cone. This is definitely worth trying out as a quick snack. Basically, they just fill different sized cones up and you buy as many sauces as you want.
There were up to 20 to choose from where we went, but we stuck with mayonnaise and ketchup (seen a few Dutch people getting this combo) and it was awesome. They give you two little forks and the fries are served so hot you cannot eat them at first.
Lights At NightDon't go to bed too early. The lights are quite pretty at night. Especially along the canals. I have a photo I took around 11 o'clock one night below.
Amsterdam Night Photo
I did not know why you want to do this until I went there. Riding bikes is a major mode of transportation there. The streets are narrow and a bicycle would be the quickest mode of transportation for short distances there and if you wanted a quick tour it would be pretty good.
Bicycles Along A Canal
There are bicycles everywhere. They all look old and beat up, but I was told they have there "everyday" bike that can get stolen. You can buy one from a vagrant for 10 Euro again anyways. There nice bike is stored at home or in their office and they never leave it outside.
Xi'an is a must see when you are in China. My wife and I visited here in July of 2007. It is one of the 4 ancient capital cities of China. The history goes back over three thousand years here. Several Chinese dynasties lived here before the dynasties ended in Beijing.
There is a major airport here and you can fly from most places in China to Xi'an. I talked to one individual who managed to purchase a ticket for less than US$100 from Shanghai to Xi'an. I could find one way tickets from Beijing to Xi'an for around US$160 a couple months before we arrived, but that was still a bit steep for us.
The option we went with was the train. The only hassle is booking your ticket when you are there. I was at the Beijing Central Train Station, because I had just arrived on the Trans Mongolian earlier in the day. There is a ticket office for foreigners if you want to avoid the long lineups and lack of English. However, we found that they would not book our ticket there, we had to go around to another lineup on the outside of the building and stand in line for around an hour.
The train from Beijing leaves the Beijing West train station. You can get a taxi here for around 20RMB (less than US$3) from the Tiananmen Square area of Beijing.
I paid around 230RMB (less than US$30) for bottom bunk of a "hard sleeper". This is actually pretty nice. This is the bottom bed of a triple bunk bed in one of the cars. There are no doors, but there are two triple bunk bed with small aisle and table inbetween and then a wall to divide it from the next bunk bed (see picture below).
If you are on the bottom bed, keep in mind, this is where people will sit during the day and they might want to use the table so it is not as easy to sleep. However, it is nice to be on ground level as you can store your bags under your bunk and get up easily in the night. The higher the bunk, the cheaper the price.
Chinese Trains - 2nd Class
There were televisions at the top, a bit of food they provide in a basket, and you can purchase food from a vendor that rolls through with a cart occasionally. The air conditioning kept the cars feeling quite nice as well.
Leaving Xi'an, we had a "hard seat" ticket for around 180RMB (US$23) back to Beijing. We booked this from the Xi'an train station when we arrived. We wanted hard sleeper, but we booked for the night train leaving the next day and there were none available.
I will never do hard seat again if I can avoid it. It is the most uncomfortable ride you can have and very hard to get sleep. When you get the train, you will notice that people will be running down the platform and when you get to your seat, there will be someone in it. These are the "standing room" ticket people. They get a seat and hope know purchased a ticket for it. You can kick them out when you get there.
We were right close to the train station in a hostel called Lu Dao Hotel It is pretty nice and about a 2 minute walk just south west of the train station. If you have not lined up a hotel before you arrive, head here first. They have employees in the train station looking for tourists to bring there as well.
Their hotel has a tour booking office, internet, laundry, a restaurant, and other services. There are hostel type dorm rooms on the top floors and regular hotel rooms on the bottom floors. Air conditioned as well. The tour office and the front desk spoke excellent English.
One negative however. This hotel is close to the train station, but it is far away from the main street down town. This isn't a big deal, but you won't feel like walking it. That being said, there is a bus station right on the next block and for 1 yuan (13 cents) you can ride it to the downtown (Bus #603).
Taxis, moto-taxis, bicycle taxis, and the public bus are all good choices. If you are at the train station and need to get to the downtown (Drum tower), just take bus #603 from the bus depot across the street (just walk under the city wall).
Make sure to grab a business card for your hotel so you can hand it to the taxi drivers. They almost always have the address in Chinese for them.
This is the big drawing card for the area. The Terracotta Army is impressive in its size and the mystery behind it. It was built around 250 BC and they estimate it took 40 years and around 700,000 workers and craftsmen. There are over 8,000 figures. They are life like and life size. No two look alike. Apparently, the craftsmen were to do them like various soldiers around China.
You can get there by public bus, but it is easiest to book a tour. I booked one through my hostel for around 250RMB, which did not include lunch. This also included a tour of a Terracotta warrior factory, museum, and hot springs.
There are 4 "pits" available to the public. Pit #1 is the biggest one. Over 6,000 of the figures are in this one alone. They have built a large warehouse type building around it.
Most days, you can find the "discovering farmer" situated in the souvenir shop beside pit #1. It is worth a look to just pop in. He sits at a table with huge, dark glasses on and refuses to have a picture taken. He signs copies of a book that they sell.
Terracotta Warriors Pit 1
Right smack dab in the middle of a big intersection, this is a cool looking building. You can buy tickets and take a look inside. I didn't, so I cannot say much about it.
Xi'an Drum Tower
This is interesting. You will see them regardless. You have to go through them to get into the main part of town. The train station is just on the outside of them too. You can get tours of them, but I haven't done it. They look impressive just in themselves though. This isn't just a 10 foot wall. We are talking over 30 feet, so it looks pretty formidable.
This is a tourist trap, really. I did enjoy it though. It was included in my tour to the Terracotta Army. They give a 15 minute little tour on how they make the warriors. Apparently the same way they did the original ones.
At the end of the tour, you are deposited in a big room where you can pay 50RMB to 16,000RMB for various figures. It is still relatively cheap, but as a heads up. I paid 100RMB for a warrior here and when I was at the hot springs I paid 20RMB for one almost twice as big.
Terracotta Warrior Factory
Hot springs used by the emperor and his many concubines. It is interesting and you can see some neat buildings. I don't know if I would have went on my own, but it was part of my tour so that was good.
The Hot Springs
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