Dschinghis Khan is a German (but really multi-national) disco band formed in Munich by prolific producer Ralph Siegel in 1979, competing in that year’s Eurovision song contest with an eponymous song that reached fourth place. So much, so amusing and irrelevant. Except then something else happened. Still in 1979, the band released Moskau. That was … Continue reading “Moskau, Moskau!”
Translation: Die große Müdigkeit
Some weeks ago the anonymous Austrian author who had written the fascinating article Volle Fahrt ins Nichts, which I had translated as Full Speed Into the Void, had published a follow-up essay elaborating on some points from the original article. I have once again translated that new essay, entitled in the original Die große Müdigkeit, … Continue reading “Translation: Die große Müdigkeit”
Assassin’s Creed: Series & Origins
Having recently (almost) finished Assassin’s Creed: Origins I wanted to post a review, but then realized that I had never reviewed any of the previous installments I’d played. So I decided to write an overview for the entire series – most of the games are quite similar – and append my review of Origins to … Continue reading “Assassin’s Creed: Series & Origins”
Translation: Volle Fahrt ins Nichts
Nearly two weeks ago an anonymous author – apparently an Austrian identitarian – published Volle Fahrt ins Nichts, a very interesting analysis of right-wing populist parties in the West, concluding they are unlikely to achieve their goals. This essay was shared by another (not quite anonymous) Austrian identitarian on Twitter who assured me he knows … Continue reading “Translation: Volle Fahrt ins Nichts”
Samurai Helmets
Munich’s Kunsthalle is currently showing selected pieces from Ann and Gabriel Barbier-Mueller’s Samurai Collection in Dallas, Texas. The selection includes armor and weapons as well as household items, but I was most impressed by the numerous helmets. Their design is often unique and highly elaborate, much more so than in medieval Europe. So here is … Continue reading “Samurai Helmets”
Tektosyne 6.3 for Swing Released
Tektosyne 6.3.0 is now available for download. This is an unusual release as there are no functional changes whatsoever to the core library. Instead, the GUI demo application has been entirely rewritten, motivated of course by the recent removal of JavaFX from Oracle’s Java SE distributions. Here’s an overview of the changes. You can find … Continue reading “Tektosyne 6.3 for Swing Released”
Swing High DPI Properties
When Java AWT/Swing got JavaFX-style automatic high DPI scaling in Java SE 9, there were also several new system properties to control that scaling. Unfortunately, as with the various glass.win.* properties of JavaFX (see e.g. here) they are not officially documented. You need to check the developer mailing list and the JDK test sources to … Continue reading “Swing High DPI Properties”
Minimum Size Scaling for Swing Windows
Since Java SE 9, Java AWT/Swing has supported automatic high DPI scaling on Windows and Linux, just like JavaFX. Ironically, this came with a bug that JavaFX used to have until Java 9: Window.setMinimumSize fails to scale the specified width and height on high DPI systems. (Unlike JavaFX, AWT/Swing windows ignore setMaximumSize anyway. Non-window components … Continue reading “Minimum Size Scaling for Swing Windows”
Core Java 11 for Java 11
Core Java, Volume I: Fundamentals — Cay S. Horstmann, Pearson Education 2018 (11th ed. for Java SE 11), ISBN 978-0-13-516630-7 Core Java, Volume II: Advanced Features — Cay S. Horstmann, Pearson Education 2018 2016 (11th ed. for Java SE 11), ISBN 978-0-13-516631-4 These two 900-page tomes originated as Sun’s official guide to the Java platform … Continue reading “Core Java 11 for Java 11”
MIME Browser 2 for Swing Released
Version 2.0 of MIME Browser, my free EML message viewer, is now available for download. The big change is the one motivated by the removal of JavaFX from Oracle’s Java SE distributions: MIME Browser is now based on Java AWT/Swing rather than JavaFX. The user interface has become somewhat uglier as a result (below is … Continue reading “MIME Browser 2 for Swing Released”