Great Circle

greatcircle.py is a little console script, written in python to calculate the distance between two points on our planet. It uses Great-circle distance measuring. Latitude / longitude coordinates must be given in decimal format, you can find a good converter here. Of course, there are many tools (like Google Maps) giving same possibilities as this script, but I needed to code something :)

Download the script, right-clicking on the first word of this post, or here and choosing “Save target as…” or something like this. You’ll need python to run it. Windows users would possibly like to read the result before command line window exits, so you would have to run it directly from command line.

Start -> Run -> cmd.exe -> find the folder you put the script in -> run it, using python (smth like python greatcircle.py or, in some cases, [full path to python interpreter] greatcircle.py).

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greatcircle.py to mały konsolowy skrypt, napisany w pythonie do wyliczania odległości między dwoma punktami na naszej planecie. Używa Ortodromy. Współrzędne muszą być podane w formacie dziesiętnym, dobry konwerter do tego formatu. Oczywiście, jest wiele innych narzędzi, na przykład Mapy Google) o takich samych możliwościach, ale miałem po prostu ochotę napisać jakiś skrypt :)

Pobierz skrypt, klikając tutaj i wybierając “Zapisz element docelowy jako…”. Do uruchomienia skryptu, potrzebny jest python. Użytkownicy Windowsa zapewne mogą spotkać się ze “zniknięciem” okienka z wierszem poleceń natychmiast po wpisaniu wszystkich danych, można to jednak obejść.

Start -> Uruchom -> cmd.exe -> wybrać folder, w którym umieszczono skrypt -> uruchomić go, używając polecenia “python greatcircle.py” lub, w niektórych przypadkach “[ścieżka do interpretera pythona - może być różna] greatcircle.py”

Does Kim Jong-Il have a mobile phone?

Kim Jong-Il watches a soccer match

I saw the photo above on one of the Polish news sites, and realized one thing doesn’t match to usual look of the North Korean pictures. What does this little thing in front of Kim do here? And what the hell is it?

For me, it looks like a mobile phone (cell phone), but might be anything else. Do you have any suggestions what might it be?

If it’s a mobile, is that Kim’s personal phone? Some time ago North Korean Economy Watch wrote about Orascom Telecom making a mobile network in the capital. I wonder if this phone is connected to the Orascom network or maybe is using the old GSM network, officially banned for the regular citizens in 2004. Any hints?