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Google Earth urbex locations KML update 2

2009-08-31T10:21:00Z

Today I’ve updated the KML file again. I have added the following locations:

Hospital / Psychiatric
- Mariaziekenhuis (Neerpelt, Belgium)
Recreation / Entertainment
- Napoleonstrand (Overpelt, Belgium) (Demolished)

The complete list can be found in the original article.

You can view the locations on Google Maps or you can download the kml file.

Please leave a message if you know more missing (exact) locations. I like this list to be as complete as possible.

Hasard Cheratte

2009-02-10T17:40:00Z

It’s a really long time ago since i’ve been to Hasard Cheratte but I recently found these photos in a backup on my computer. All this time I thought I lost them. Because of that (and because I still like them), I decided to put a few on my blog.

Hasard Cheratte is a beautiful old coal mine in the Liège area in Belgium. It was founded somewhere in the 1860’s. The main buildings almost look like a castle. The tower on the picture above sits over shaft #3, which is the deepest shaft at Hasard with its 480 meters. The mine has been closed since 1977, and if you visit it today, it looks like nothing has changed in the last 30 years.

Shoulda macro for the Userstamp plugin

2008-12-28T01:03:00Z

The following is a shoulda macro that I’ve written for the userstamp plugin. I recommend creating a file should_be_stampable.rb in the test/shoulda_macros folder. It will be loaded automagically.

The test is acts_as_paranoid aware so it also checks for the deleter part if it is available.

You can call

should_be_stampable

for models that have

class Post < ActiveRecord::Base
  stampable
end

and there is

should_stamp_models

for your User model that contains

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  model_stamper
end

should_be_stampable.rb:

class Test::Unit::TestCase
  # Use this to test models that are equiped with 'stampable'
  def self.should_be_stampable
    klass = self.name.gsub(/Test$/, '').constantize
    include_deleted_by = klass.respond_to?(:paranoid?) && klass.paranoid?

    context "#{klass}" do
      should_have_db_column :creator_id, :type => "integer"
      should_have_db_column :updater_id, :type => "integer"
      should_have_db_column :deleter_id, :type => "integer" if include_deleted_by

      should_belong_to :creator
      should_belong_to :updater
      should_belong_to :deleter if include_deleted_by

      should_have_class_methods :without_stamps, :stamper_class, :stampable

      should_have_instance_methods :creator, :creator=, :updater, :updater=
      should_have_instance_methods :deleter, :deleter= if include_deleted_by
    end 
  end

  # Use this to test the user model that has 'model_stamper'
  def self.should_stamp_models
    klass = self.name.gsub(/Test$/, '').constantize

    context "#{klass}" do
      should_have_class_methods :stamper, :stamper=
    end
  end
end

The tests are quite simple, so if you have anything to add to it, please let me know.

Google Earth urbex locations KML update

2008-11-04T14:54:00Z

Today I’ve updated the KML file. I have added the following locations:

Industry / Manufacturing
- Henkel (Herent, Belgium)
- Carolo Beton (Chatelet, Belgium)
Military / Government
- Fort Walem (Walem, Belgium)
- Railway Fort Duffel (Duffel, Belgium)
- Fort Steendorp (Steendorp, Belgium)

The complete list can be found in the original article.

You can view the locations on Google Maps or you can download the kml file.

Google Earth urbex locations KML

2008-10-24T00:28:00Z

I’ve been spending some time mapping out urban exploring locations in Google Earth for myself and I thought, why not share it?

I’ve devided them into categories. At this moment the following locations are included but I will be updating this.

Residence / Community
- Château de Noisy / Miranda (Celles, Belgium)
- Kasteel Mesen (Lede, Belgium)
- Otzenrath (Otzenrath, Germany)
Industry / Manufacturing
- Hasard Cheratte (Cheratte, Belgium)
- Brepols (Turnhout, Belgium)
- Forges de Clabecq (Clabecq, Belgium)
- SAFEA (La Louvière, Belgium)
- Charbonnages de Beringen (Beringen, Belgium)
- Abandoned Pumping Station (Zolder, Belgium)
- Coalmine Zolder (Zolder, Belgium)
- Henkel (Herent, Belgium)
- Carolo Beton (Chatelet, Belgium)
Hospital / Psychiatric
- Institut Joseph Lemaire (Tombeek, Belgium)
- Le Valdor (Liège, Belgium)
- Mariaziekenhuis (Neerpelt, Belgium)
Military / Government
- Fort de la Chartreuse (Liège, Belgium)
- Fort Walem (Walem, Belgium)
- Railway Fort Duffel (Duffel, Belgium)
- Fort Steendorp (Steendorp, Belgium)
Recreation / Entertainment
- Napoleonstrand (Overpelt, Belgium) (Demolished)
Underground
- Caestert Underground Quarries (Maastricht, Netherlands)
- Groeve ‘t Rooth (Het Rooth, Netherlands)

Last update: 31 Aug. 2009

You can view the locations on Google Maps or you can download the kml file.

How to install rbcdio on OS X Leopard

2008-10-17T09:47:00Z

After fighting with it for about half an hour, here is how you get the rbcdio gem working on OS X Leopard with the libcdio library installed from MacPorts.

First you have to install libcdio using MacPorts, this is the easy part:

sudo port install libcdio

This will install libcdio and libcddb, after this you can install the rbcdio gem using the following command. This is actually as easy as the previous command, after you find out you have to pass the include path.

sudo gem install rbcdio -- --with-opt-include=/opt/local/include/

Now add the following to your environment.rb

config.gem 'rbcdio', :lib => 'cdio'
config.gem 'rbcdio', :lib => 'iso9660'

And thats it.

Harddisk benchmarks with ZCAV and gnuplot

2008-07-31T14:51:00Z

I was browsing the campzone forums and came across a topic where everyone was showing their HD Tune graphs. Since I haven’t done any benchmarks on my new server yet, I became interested. Unfortunately HD Tune is only for windows so I fired up google to look for alternatives for BSD. I came across a site that used the output of ZCAV (a tool from the bonnie++ package) with gnuplot to create some cool graphs. I decided to try it out and installed gnuplot and bonnie++. After installing, I ran the zcav command for both my array’s:

zcav -c3 -laacd0 -f/dev/aacd0
zcav -c3 -laacd1 -f/dev/aacd1

This ran for a while and after that, the two logfiles aacd0 and aacd1 were created.

The -c3 specifies that zcav should run the test 3 times, this results in nicer graphs.

ZCAV reads the data from the harddisk and divides this up in zones, you then get the per-zone speed. Zones on the outside of the disk platter are faster than zones on the inside.

Then with the following gnuplot script I generated a graph:

unset autoscale x
set autoscale xmax
unset autoscale y
set autoscale ymax
set xlabel "Position MB"
set ylabel "KB/s"
set key right bottom
plot "aacd0" title "4x ST373207LC RAID10", "aacd1" title "2x ST373207LC RAID1"
set terminal png
set output "disks.png"
replot

The red array contains my /, the green array is for /home

The horizontal line shows that there is a bottleneck somewhere, the disks can go faster, but something is capping it at 110MB/s. Anyway, it’s a pretty good speed i’m getting there. These disks are all connected to one channel of the servers Adaptec AIC-7902 combined with the AOC-LPZCR2. The storage array is connected to the other channel.

After I finished the zcav run for my storage array, which I did with -c1 because of the amount of data, I made a graph of that too:

The Seagate’s are performing great. Especially the 250GB versions who stay at 55MB/s on the entire platter. Then the two Hitachi Deskstars, which are nicknamed Deathstars at my work, it seems these two are going to die too, judging by the speed drop on a large part of the disk. And then the Maxtors, which are just bad overall.

Campzone 2008, first day

2008-07-28T09:55:00Z

Just like last year we decided to already go thursday night, while the official opening is on friday every year, it’s just more fun to arrive the night before and start building everything at night. Last year the organization was warning everyone not to come too early because it would clog the access road so we arrived at 3 a.m. last year. This year it wasn’t a problem and we decided to go early and get in the waiting line.

We got there at about 9 p.m. and set up temporary camp in the waiting line.

We got on the terrain at about 2 a.m. which left us more then enough time to set up the living tent and sleeping tent.

Of course you can’t throw a party without some decent lighting

As you may have noticed, our tent is mostly held together with duct-tape and cable-ties, which is obviously the best way.

And a living room

My desk

All set up and ready for another year at the worlds largest outdoor lan.

You can find more pictures on my flickr page

Building the flightcase, Pt. 6

2008-07-25T21:12:00Z

Just in time, 1 day before campzone, I finished the flightcase and the server. I added felt to the inside of the doors, and it looks really nice.

Then I put in the server and the storage, I also used an APC rack pdu to add a timer to the outlets. The server-outlet has to wait 60 seconds before turning on to allow the storage to boot properly.

Building the flightcase, Pt. 5

2008-07-22T11:01:00Z

And the outside is finished, yesterday I’ve been working on adding the handles, butterfly locks and wheels. Especially the locks required some precision but now both door’s can be attached to both sides. First the handles:

The hole cut out and the rivet holes drilled.

One side finished

After I finished the handles on the other side, I decided to add the wheels. I first made 2 extra pieces of wood to attach the wheels to. This helps spread the weight.

Then it was time to add the butterfly locks.

To make sure the doors fit in every possible way on both sides, I first made one lock, and made sure it was exactly in the middle. Then I turned the door around and added the parts of the second lock on both sides. Now the door fits in both ways on this side. Then I took the second door, and added the locks there, so it would fit on this same side. The last step was to turn the flightcase around and add the last 2 parts of the locks to the other side, making sure both doors fit on that side as well.

The case itself is finished now. I only have to add the rack profiles and some foam to the inside of the doors.

Building the flightcase, Pt. 4

2008-07-21T08:59:00Z

I’ve had a really busy weekend and made a lot of progress with the flightcase. On saturday I started at 5pm and when I got out of the basement to get a drink, it was already 11pm, I was surprised it was already dark outside. After the drink, I got back into the basement and worked until 4am.

The first step was cutting and attaching the edge lining.

This is the perfect time to try out my new pneumatic riveter

The edge lining on the tunnel is finished.

Now it’s really starting to look like a flightcase.

Next step, attaching the edge lining to the doors, this includes the ball-corners

And here is the first finished door.

Building the flightcase, Pt. 3

2008-07-17T19:07:00Z

With the box glued together, it is time for the next step: taking the top and bottom off again. And yes, this really is the best way to do this. By making a closed box first, you ensure that the box is correct and the corners and everything is aligned. The doors are going to be 7 cm deep, but the closing extrusions will also add about 1 cm to the door.

And here is the first side done.

After taking off both sides I started making the closing extrusions. I chose to use reversible extrusions because you waste less and you can use the same on both sides which is better because I have to think less when making them.

After a lot of cutting (8 frames per side) the doors were finished.

To be honest, the project costs a LOT more time than I expected, but it’s worth it.

Cacti on FreeBSD with working graphs

2008-07-16T23:53:00Z

After days of searching for a solution or why my cacti wasn’t showing any graphs, I finally found this post. It turns out that little setting really is the solution. Now after manually switching to RRDTool 1.2.x everything is running fine.

Building the flightcase, Pt. 2

2008-07-16T15:59:00Z

After 2 weeks of waiting, the parts finally arrived.

Since the pre-laminated wood is very hard and it has to fit perfectly, I didn’t want to cut it myself. I asked a friend of mine who has a table saw and he wanted to cut it so that was covered. While I was waiting I decided to cut the rack frames. 8U high.

A week later I got the wood back, all the pieces cut nicely.

Now that all the parts were ready, I couldn’t wait to start assembling the box. First I glued and nailed the 4 sides together to create the tunnel.

Then the top and the bottom lids.

And then, I had to wait again…. Actually most of the time spent until now has been waiting..

Building the flightcase, Pt. 1

2008-07-15T20:19:00Z

To protect my new music server when moving it around, taking it to LAN’s and keeping everything together in one place, I decided to get a real flightcase. I first went looking for pre-built flightcases but they were either the wrong size, or way too expensive. The plan to build my own custom flightcase was born.

After some googling for flightcase parts I found a belgian webshop which is specialised in flightcase parts for custom-built cases. Now that I found all the available parts, and the sizes of everything I started calculating what size the case should be. I decided to make an 8U high case, the server and storage are 6U together so that would leave 2U for a switch and a power bar. After a lot of calculating and measuring, I drew the flightcase in SketchUp.

I didn’t draw all the parts (mostly the corners and the locks) but they will be there when it’s finished. Now that I got all the sizes I made a template for the most efficient way to cut all the parts while wasting almost no wood.

Now that the plans were ready, it was time to make a shopping list.

After placing the order, the waiting started :)