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  • my trip to Anse-Mitan wasn’t really, what I expected it to be

    during the 1st couple of minutes, I happened to read on the ferry, that there is an out-of-order ferry schedule being applied on Saturdays currently, so effectively this was the last ferry going from Fort-de-France to Anse Mitan,
    and I was rather lucky, too, to read this at all, as this ferry was also the latest one to take me back to Fort-de-France.
    so effectively this was “just” a pretty pleasant round-trip with a slightly long waiting period before the start and no time at all on the beach.

    Note à l’attention de notre clientèle: Nous informons notre aimable clientèle que jusqu’à ce que des solutions contre les actes d’insécurité soient trouvées les services du week-end s’arrêtereront le Samedi comme suit: …

    So first stop on my round-trip: Anse-à-l’Âne.

    2nd stop: Anse-Mitan.

    3rd stop: Pointe du Bout – and all of a sudden, I got the idea, the note did not explicitely say, the ferry would return to Fort-de-France, it just looked logical, but then on what basis could I use the term logical under these conditions?

    Actually I was pretty silly to notice the note only after the ferry left the harbour of Fort-de-France, as I was sitting close to it for like 15 minutes, when the ferry sat in the harbour waiting … to keep the schedule.

  • a ferry approaches, I hope it’s mine

  • the ferry to Anse-Mitan didn’t come

    And it only comes and goes once per hour, but I have Marisa Monte in my ear, so it’s not really that bad, and I also started dancing on my own by her music. Out here you think, it’s not worth being ashame for this kind of exaltation.

  • yet another blog? yes, in French

    I will mainly collect bookmarks in French, but I will also write a few things now and then.

  • heading for the beach at Anse-Mitan across the bay

    I finally got the bus schedule as PDF on the phone, that will be useful.

  • EUROPEAN COURT OF JUSTICE: Minor Invoice Errors – Deduction of VAT

    Judgment in case Pannon Gep Centrum Kft (C-368/09) – Minor Invoice Errors – Deduction of VAT

    In other words: the taxman may and must not regard your invoices as nil or invalid, just because there are minor errors.

    A German interpretation of the decision:

    Rechnungsnummer muss nicht fortlaufend sein

    Der Europäische Gerichtshof hat entschieden:
    Das Finanzamt darf den Abzug der Vorsteuer nicht verweigern, nur weil der Unternehmer seine Rechnungen nicht fortlaufend, sondern nach einem anderen System nummeriert (Aktenzeichen C-368/09).
    So können Firmenchefs verschiedene Nummernkreise zum Beispiel für unterschiedliche Stammkunden verwenden. Die einzelnen Nummernfolgen müssen aber nicht lückenlos sein. Folglich darf das Finanzamt den Vorsteuerabzug auch nicht aus diesem Grund verweigern.

  • digital cameras, the Orientation tag, pictures not standing upright

    Modern cameras (some mobile phone cameras included) sense, what is up and what is down, if you take a picture. And if the software on your computer likes interpreting the “EXIF Orientation” flag of the picture, you will never notice, something unusual is going on. Some software doesn’t though, so sometimes you are tempted to turn your picture long enough, until it does stand upright. But that kind of software also doesn’t properly keep the Orientation flag in sync, so next time you browse you pictures with modern software, the pictures look no longer standing upright with that software.

    Now today I thought of a simple trick, but I wasn’t sure beforehand, whether it would work – and it did work.
    Let me explain the idea! Let’s suppose you watch your picture in modern software! If you turn your picture once to the left, and once to the right, that looks like it should not have any effect, but afterwards the Orientation tag is set to “Horizontal (normal)“, and internally the picture is also represented “upright“.
    Why is that?
    Well, when the software 1st picks up the picture with a value different to “Horizontal (normal)“, it turns the picture, so that it looks upright to you. But I assume, you wouldn’t like it, if that operation would cause the picture file to change on your disk, right?!?
    But if you turn the picture to the left, that is an operation, that you would allow to have an effect to the picture file, right?!? And if you turn the picture to the right, that annuls the visual effect in your eyes.
    If your software is rather smart, it only keeps track of the orientation changed and updates the EXIF Orientation tag. That wouldn’t help us.
    If your software isn’t overly smart but just smart enough for us, it will leave the picture and the picture file in a state, so that the picture’s internal representation is upright and the EXIF Orientation tag is set to “Horizontal (normal)“, and everything is fine. Now pretty much every software will show the picture properly regardless of the EXIF Orientation tag.
    Neat trick, isn’t it? Works for me on Mac OS X with the Previewer.
    That software requires me to confirm, that I want the changed files saved to disk. Other software may have done that already without asking you.

  • Stuxnet worm can control industrial systems – The H Security: News and Features

    Stuxnet worm can control industrial systems – The H Security: News and Features

  • Tip: Just the text, please! – stripping out all the presentation from the original source and just pasting in a block of text

    Google Chrome Blog: Tip: Just the text, please!

    That is a really, really nice feature!!!

    You can use this shortcut in any (online Google) rich text editor (like Gmail’s compose window, or when writing in Google Docs) to strip out all the presentation from the original source and just paste in a block of text.

  • on my way back, planning for a quick stop at Carrefour …

    … for an avocado, maybe a ripe guava, and also maybe a nice, cold beer.
    Alright and also for enjoying the local middle and upper class spending their money there.