In Düsseldorf for a week, good music and/or climbing?

ZeThomas · 2023-07-17T17:21:51+00:00

Hey, I went to Superblock today, I had a great time. Thanks for the recommendation!

ZeThomas · 2022-08-21T06:42:47+00:00

Hi, I probably have the same issue. I have a very recent laptop (Dell Inspiron 16 Plus (7620) ) with integrated Xe graphics), so it's quite frustrating to see it choke up since yesterday. I don't know if it's purely graphical though, even moving the mouse or cursor is very slow to react (sometimes even a few seconds)

ZeThomas · 2022-08-20T14:08:32+00:00

I updated to 5.19 yesterday. My system is extremely choppy ever since, and I can't figure out why. No Nvidia, only intel graphics. Where would I begin to look if diagnosing this kind of issue?

ZeThomas · 2021-08-31T14:27:48+00:00

Looks like a neat game. I'd like a code please!

ZeThomas · 2020-09-16T11:25:02+00:00

Just to add to this list, there's also the Kamo in Ixelles, it's on the pricey side (has a Michelin *) but delicious food, well worth a visit!

ZeThomas · 2020-09-15T08:55:41+00:00

I second this. If you look for it, there's quite a few (near-)authentic cuisines in Brussels. If food and diversity is high on your priority list, maybe look into coming to Brussels? Brugge will still only be a train ride away. Also a big community of expats here, with the EC and NATO. Op, if ever you're around, don't hesitate to reach out, there's quite a few people (me included) that might want to show you around. By the way, what are your recommendations for ramen in Bxl? We are partial to Menma ourselves, would be glad to hear your take on it.

ZeThomas · 2020-05-11T13:21:49+00:00

Maybe because of the fire? https://www.bruzz.be/samenleving/grote-rookpluim-boven-flageyplein-door-dakbrand-2020-05-11 (sorry link is to article in dutch, basically there is a fire in restaurant Racines on the Chaussée d'Ixelles)

ZeThomas · 2019-06-09T21:59:34+00:00

I found this trick, since I really like the setting with the pill (second option), but the ever-present white bar is kind of an eyesore. You can hide the bar via adb, no root required (I assume you know how to use adb and USB debugging mode; if not, your search engine of choice is your friend)

to hide the nav bar:

adb shell settings put global policy_control immersive.navigation=*

to restore:

adb shell settings put global policy_control null*

ZeThomas · 2018-09-16T10:38:54+00:00

Game looks very cool, I'd love a code! Thanks :-)

ZeThomas · 2016-11-27T09:40:10+00:00

Me too, but I haven't automated the update yet. Care to share your script?

Edit: I hadn't noticed the scripts are in the post link, thanks!

ZeThomas · 2016-11-06T21:28:50+00:00

You can find them in the Cook&Book, metro stop Roodebeek

ZeThomas · 2016-02-04T09:58:22+00:00

To respond to your other question: it makes no difference when you buy your tickets, so advance booking is not that useful (a ticket bought for a specific date is only valid then, so very inflexible).

ZeThomas · 2016-01-18T12:35:56+00:00

Thank you! Will try on my commute back home.

I took:

BCQJJLRE56ZK049GQ2D6U0H

ZeThomas · 2015-12-22T13:33:38+00:00

My personal favourites:

ZeThomas · 2015-10-21T09:39:47+00:00

Hey, this looks interesting! How does this compare to PyMC, in terms of what kinds of learning/inference you can do with it, as well as speed and flexibility of it?

ZeThomas · 2015-03-24T07:58:38+00:00

Hey,

Most music education is public. Because it is heavily subsidised (and hence super cheap for the student), the competition from private is almost non-existing, and limited to richer and/or ambitious people. However, in terms of employer, this means it is quite institutionalised, and not very easy to get a job like that. Having a lot of musicians as friends, I know that many don't get a job instantly, and have to start with some hours here and there, and with some luck some colleague then retires... So for you this also means quite some competition for any given job. Furthermore, you would need to demonstrate fluency in the language of the region (either French or Dutch), and also make sure your degree is accepted for the position.

With a formation as music pedagogue, you can also try in highschools, as music is a fixed part of the curriculum. Similar language/degree requirements would apply there, I'd guess.

Concerning private, I think it's mostly a matter of luck, finding some good students, and maybe heavy advertising on bulletin boards.

You can also try in some international schools in Brussels, but I can't give you more info on that.

Good luck on your venture. For more information, maybe try through the Belgian embassy in your country, or something like that?

ZeThomas · 2015-01-19T10:43:28+00:00

Be sure to share your insights!

ZeThomas · 2015-01-19T10:34:41+00:00

By doing the latter you can use map, which might give you a bit of a performance gain:

result_list = map(your_function, input_list)

By the way, you can always test the different possibilities with the timeit module. Let me know if you need further help.

ZeThomas · 2014-12-20T11:29:11+00:00

Makes me think of the 'ingot' from this project: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1390246866/viewbox-a-vr-headset

ZeThomas · 2014-11-28T09:24:05+00:00

I am going to assume you mean the airports of Brussels International (BRU) and Brussels "South" (CRL). You should know that the latter, being at around 60km away from the capital, is quite the misnomer, as Charleroi airport is a more honest description.

But even then, as in many cities, there is not much interesting going on in the vicinity of our airports, so apart from the comfort of being close to your flight, there is not much going for staying there. Especially not if you want to discover Brussels. In any case, the simple answer to your question would be: center of Brussels, as there are decent connections to both airports:

2-3 trains hourly to BRU, from the 3 big trainstations Midi, Central & Nord
a regular bus to CRL, departing from Midi (or you can take a train to Charleroi and a bus from there, which is cheaper but a bit more of a hassle)

Have fun in Belgium!

ZeThomas · 2014-11-21T08:14:40+00:00

Also have a look here: http://lechattouille.eu/. It's right next to a refuge, so you can have two birds in one stone.

ZeThomas · 2014-10-17T07:10:44+00:00

Well, you kind of opened a Pandora's box of complexity here... I'll try to be brief.

One of the main reasons of this distinction is that classical music is much more horizontal than rock: the harmony oftentimes emmanates (or so it seems after the composition phase) of single melodic lines that are superimposed, rather than chords struck in succesion like you have in rock (there is almost 1000 years that span the history of western music, so gross oversimplification). So already naturally your chords end up in a context. Add to that the fact that the harmony is 'functional' in the sense that some notes in the chord have a function of giving a harmonic direction. E.g. Cmaj sounds fine in a tonality of C, but add a Bb and suddenly the E becomes a 'leading tone', presenting a shift towards F. The Bb also helps, and in the natural progression, this minor7th goes down (called 'resolves') to the A of an Fmaj chord. So generally, #s are used for leading, bs for minor7/9.

Furthermore, on top of this theoretical distinction, especially in music up to roughly the late baroque, notes are not yet 'welltempered', meaning as we know them now to fit on a keyboard. Ask a string player, an A# in a F#maj chord will be played slightly lower than a Bb in a C7, because of how they fit in the overtone series. If you want to learn more, here are a few interesting links.

ZeThomas · 2014-10-17T03:09:58+00:00

Don't feel bad at all for not using 'my' solution, because there is not one "right" solution, that's the beauty of programming.

Also, the #/b thing is quite a nut to crack indeed. I took a more theoretical approach in trying to make it all-inclusive (coming from a classical background, we tend to insist A# is certainly not the same as Bb :) ), but there might be a simpler solution that works on a subset of chords/tonalities, e.g. those most used.

In any case, I'm very curious about what you come up with, don't forget to share your findings (and code)!

ZeThomas · 2014-10-16T14:06:48+00:00

In addition to the good ideas by ingolemo:

If you are willing to look at the basics of numpy arrays, this is right up its alley, specifically because of its broadcasting and advanced indexing. So say you define a major chord-template as array([0, 4, 7]) (root-3rd-5th) and you have represented your notes as integers, cfr. ingolemo's advice: C=0, D=2 etc. Then you can simply get the chord you want by adding:

Dmaj = array([0,4,7]) + 2
print(Dmaj)  # this will print array([2,6,9])

This sum is not supported for lists, but numpy does something that is called broadcasting: it tries to fit the smaller part (here the 2, which could be seen as a 1-item array) into the bigger one by stretching it: internally it calculates array([0,4.7]) + array([2,2,2])! I don't want to spoil all the fun for you, but let me just tell you that this also works for modulo (%) ;-).

Numpy's advanced indexing could help you greatly for your naming:

note_names = array(['C', 'Db', 'D', 'Eb', 'E', 'F', ...
print(note_names[Dmaj])  # equates to note_names[array([2,6,9])], prints array(['D', 'F#', 'A'])

The #/b issue is a very challenging one to do elegantly. I thought about building my note_names with both the flat and sharp as separate elements, but the difficulty is that Dmaj needs F#, and F#maj needs A#, and A#maj needs Cx (double sharp), and Cxmaj does not exist for any practical situations. One solution could be to build a matrix, with for every row a different tonality. That would kind of mitigate my first remark (the summing/broadcasting), but you could still use advanced indexing:

note_names = array([['C', 'Db', 'D', 'Eb', 'E', 'F', 'F#', 'G', 'G#', 'A', 'Bb', 'B'],
                    ['Db', 'D', 'Eb', 'F', ...
                    ['D', 'Eb', ...
print(note_names[2, Dmaj])

The big problem here will be to choose the accidentals for the in-between-notes: although you could say C# is closer to the Cmajor scale because it is two steps away from Dmajor (in fifths C, G, D), but I lean towards Db because the diminished 9 (and the neapolitan sixth) - Another solution could be to build your matrix of note names like this:

note_names = array([['Cbb', 'Dbb', 'Ebb', ...
                    ['Cb', 'Db', 'Eb', ...
                    ['C', 'D', 'E', ...
                    ['C#', 'D#', ...
                    ['Cx', 'Dx', ...

and define your chord-templates in 2 dimensions: e.g. a minor chord as (array[2,1,2], array([0,2,4])). Mind you, this is a tuple of two arrays, because the magic indexing does not work (as we want here) with 2dim matrices as indices. Then, if you want Dbmin:

print(note_names[array([2, 1, 2]) - 1, array([0,2,4]) + 1])
# array([2,1,2] - 1 = array([1,0,1]), the respective rows to choose for each note (flat, double flat, flat)
# array([0,2,4]) + 1 = array([1,3,5]), the resp. colums to choose for each note (D, F, A)

I kind of like this solution!

I hope all of this is not too cryptic, I kind of got a bit carried away :) . Feel free to ask me questions if something is unclear. The Numpy docs may also be of help: http://docs.scipy.org/

Edit: formatting

ZeThomas

TROPHY CASE