Roger McDuck on things

I've moved over to BlogPantsu.org

2008-07-16T03:19:00.002-10:00

And now for something completely different

2008-06-27T12:05:00.002-10:00

As displayed in one of my previous posts, I have written a new script that displays images in a compact fashion. Well, it doesn't work. I won't make it work, because fighting with Blogger isn't worth it. There is a chance that I might move this blog to somewhere that's more customizable, but there's a low chance that's happening.

And now for something completely different:

New Dawn of war 2 Screen shots

2008-06-27T11:37:00.002-10:00

Not sure when they showed up, they never cease to amaze me.

Typical Relic realism

2008-06-25T10:56:00.001-10:00

Oh my fuck. Anyone hungry?

Courtesy of COHFiles.

Under the sky - cloudica

2008-06-23T02:06:00.010-10:00

Download-able mp3 somewhere.

In other Burst Angel-related news, I finally watched it in English (yes, I buy anime). By accident, not design (*throws creationist books into the burner*). The English cast is actually VERY good compared to other anime. I tried watching Haruhi Suzumiya no yuutsu in English and could barely tolerate the female voices (Kyon's voice actor was possibly the only good voice actor).

Voice acting in anime is usually terribly organized. The only exceptions would be Cowboy Bebop and The Big O. Incidentally, both of the male leads in these fine animes have the same voice actor. I would consider Burst Angel to be one of the animes that's done dubbing correctly.

While I'm not all that positive about Jo and Sei (Monica Rial, Jo's actor, is too lively while Clarine Harp, Sei's actor, is too... manly ^^;;), Amy and Meg have REALLY good female actors. There are times when Meg's voice doesn't fit her character, which is most of the time, but I think Jamie Marchie is one of my favorite English-speaking voice actors. Amy is spot on, though I would like to state that she isn't at first (you'll get attached to her). And my favorite, Kyouhei. Greg Ayres is one of the best male voice actors that I know of. He's not my absolute favorite, but he's really good.

To finish off, I think Jamie Marchie makes Meg cuter.

A secret of Tkinter - one hell of a secret as well

2008-06-21T23:39:00.002-10:00

One of the most aggravating messages a programmer can receive is simply this: nothing. Yes, that's right: nothing. It usually means that you screwed up so badly that the engine is stuck. In other words, a program freeze. An infinite loop. Whatever you want to call it. I hate them, even more than the IndexError I get whenever I use Python's overly-complex lists (infinite loops in a web application will simply run forever and basically crash your browser; these are different, though it depends on the language you're using).

Yet, such a bad message can be caused by a couple lines or two. I'm sure you know what Tkinter is. No? It's basically a library (download-able module) that allows Python users to produce a GUI program. And, if you're even more of a computer illiterate (no insult), a GUI (Graphical User Interface) program is basically a program that allows the user to communicate with the computer. A GUI is simply just one of the types of ways.

Please note that this freeze isn't the good kind. This is the type of freeze that happens at run-time. Meaning, the program won't be able to load completely. I'm not sure how you can innovate this, though I doubt such a thing is possible, since it'll freeze before the user can actually see the program.

Moving along, now. I've discovered -- meaning, didn't ask how to freeze my program -- this through Tkinter. A very simple problem, actually. Tkinter seems to demand this: all geometric methods are to be the same. It sounds small, but it can be very important. I'll simplify that statement: if you have a grid(), then you can't have a pack(). If you have pack(), then you can't have a grid(). Simple? I thought so.

If you don't believe me, then run this:

#example.py
from Tkinter import *

root = Tk()

test_frame = Frame(root)
test_frame.grid(row=0, column=0)

Label(test_frame, text="Hello pack()!").pack()
Label(test_frame, text="Hello grid()!").grid(row=0, column=0)

root.mainloop()

I'm assuming you know how to run this via the console. However, I do believe this only applies to containers, since

#example.py
from Tkinter import *

root = Tk()

test_frame = Frame(root)
test_frame.pack()

Label(test_frame, text="Hello grid()!").grid(row=0, column=0)
Label(test_frame, text="Good-bye grid()!").grid(row=0, column=1)

root.mainloop()

works just fine. So, the secret is basically this: all widgets in a container must have the same geometric method. I suppose you could call it a secret. I'm calling it a secret because not a single Tkinter reference guide mentioned this. Either that or I didn't get to it. Oh well, they're still good reference guides.

The Indescribable

2008-06-21T03:07:00.004-10:00

Indeed it is, yes? While I personally wouldn't mind a body pile (I would die for a Yakumo or a Tohsaka pile - ah!), it's awkward to have a sleepover. The room would smell like sweat the next day.

Dreamline tribute

2008-06-20T22:26:00.003-10:00

That singer isn't as good as Geddy Lee, but he's still pretty good! The drums were a bit out of place in terms of volume (too loud), but this is still a good a tribute nonetheless. Here's the vanilla Dreamline:

If you're a true Rush fan, you'll know which concert this was played at.

Safe at last: porn squad rescues girl from life of torture

2008-06-19T06:53:00.002-10:00

SHE was a girl most police around the world thought had been lost to the violent hand of her abuser.

As a Queensland-led investigation smashed the oldest and most sophisticated internet pedophile ring ever known, the tortured face of the child haunted law enforcement agencies in 20 countries, who had been unable to find out who she was, where she lived and how to rescue her.

For two years, police had watched her grow up on film.

Thousands of pictures and movies had been shot of her being abused, sometimes at knifepoint, with the series becoming a "collector's item" among the insidious network of pedophiles. A commonwealth government employee living in Townsville is one of them. As police moved to arrest the 22 ringleaders, and hundreds of other voyeurs who enjoyed their often made-to-order films, there was an overwhelming fear that the international dragnet was about to trigger her death.

"He knows we are closing in, we are very worried he is going to kill her, if she hasn't already been killed," one of the lead investigators privately told The Australian in March.

At the time, there was little known about the girl: just the country in which she lived and that she was about nine years of age. Despite fading hopes, police - led by Task Force Argos, the Queensland Police Service's child sex unit - never gave up the search. Hundreds of investigators, including the FBI, trawled for tens of thousands of hours looking for clues to her identity among the captured catalogue of depravity that had been her life.

It paid off. On Tuesday night, FBI agents raided the US home of the abuser - James "Bart" Huskey, who gave her the pseudonym of "Tara" on the internet - and took her to safety.

[...]

The Aussies asking help from Americans (FBI) is unheard of, but so is a four-year-old girl being in porn (read the rest for that bit). Anything younger than 12 is disturbing, really. Lolis are cute, but not sex worthy.

IMO - a couple thoughts on

2008-06-18T10:10:00.004-10:00

There's a link for a thread somewhere, I'm just spreading the word:

You suck IMO
"IMO" is is more annoying to me than "lol" and possibly more annoying than "omg." "IMO" sucks imo. Is "IMO" sucking an opinion? Of course it is! No need put "imo" unless you want to be hated by me.

Person: You need to go fuck yourself imo.
Drieick (me): No shit that's your opinion, you stupid little fuck!
Person: You need to calm down IMO.
vBulletin message: Person has been banned.

Yet to happen, mind you. I've only banned one person in my whole year of being there. That's sooooooo OMG IMFO (Guess what the "F" stands for... "fucking." Say it real fast and you might hear "Am I fucking Opinion?" The LOL, right?).

Link: You suck imo.

I should form a royal society for internet slang. RSFDOISOSLOL or The Royal Society For the Development Of Interet Slang and Other Stuff LOL. Other stuff includes putting things on top of other things and smoking cigars while clapping at the nonsensical gibberish the society's chairman is spouting. Btw, "nonsensical gibberish" is basically "gibberish" twice, but it sounds awesome when spoken.

Mozilla Firefox - 3!

2008-06-18T08:52:00.004-10:00

Well, I just got it. About 5 hours ago, really. Been playing Diablo II too much to not really care. It is an improvement over Firefox 2, though. The most obvious new innovations being:

The only downside to Firefox 3 is this: I'd a "Go" button next to the location bar, please.

New site name

2008-06-18T08:51:00.001-10:00

"Roger McDuck on things."

You like? For some reason I won't reveal, I made a G-Mail account dubbed "rogermcduck@gmail.com." "Roger McDuck" is a completely random, I don't even know where it came from. Well, with the exception of "Duck,' since one of my mate's aliases is "Duckmanbro" (Don't Google it).

In other news, I have been up for... almost 18 hours. I'm not all that tired, either. This is not going to end well, I can tell you that. What have I been doing for the past 18 or hours? Well, two things: writing Python and playing Diablo II. Trust me, you do not want to install any mods until you've beaten the game. Mods and Diablo don't mix well together. You'll pretty much kill the objective of the game: run around, kill, buy, level up and repeat.

Speaking of Diablo II, Necromancers are the best. I've only used Paladins, which are cool, and Necromancers. Necromancers rock because 1) they can raise the dead and 2) conjure spells such as raising a tooth shield or shooting teeth at people. Not as lame as you think, these teeth can kill demons, monsters and pretty much anything from hell. Necromancers can even make bodies explode. YAY for gore!

Ok, I'm tired. I might go to sleep after I've been up for 24 hours. Guten tag.

Adding an entry to a Python list

2008-06-17T17:25:00.005-10:00

If you've ever played with PHP or JavaScript, then you'll know the correct way, from the perspective of a PHP and/or JavaScript writer, that to add an entry to a list, the common and easy to way to do it is:

PHP
$x = array();
$y = "key";
$z = "value";
$x[$y] = $z;

JavaScript
var x = new Array();
var y = "key";
var z = "value";
x[y] = z;

In Python, this isn't apparent. You know what you get when you try it this way?

IndexError: list assignment index out of range

I dread this message the most, mainly because it's the one I get the most (TypeError being the second ^^;;) To fix this? Simple: array.append(entry). Here's an example:

Python
titl = groceries.append("Salt-free Milk")

Note that you can store it in a variable. You can't add a list entry the JavaScript way nor can you can't add a list entry the PHP way; there is only the Python way. Needs fixing, I know, but it's a cool language.

By the way, I chose PHP and JavaScript because it's easy to add array (list) entries with them. That and I started off with web-based languages.

More on Python data structures.

The world's fastest computer

2008-06-17T01:16:00.003-10:00

It's also probably the world's biggest computer. It can process at the rate of -- are you ready for this? -- ...1.144 petaflop/s! Holy fuck! A peta is quadrillion, or a million billion; that's 10^15, so

1,000,000,000,000,000 flops = 1 petaflop

and that's every second. I say again: Holy Fuck!

Image courtesy of ScienceDaily.

Getting XML text content with Python

2008-06-17T00:48:00.002-10:00

All this time, I was looking for a Python XML processor. Here's a page full of XML processors. But, XML parsing with Python is so simple. Take, for example, this random feed:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<rss version="2.0">
 <channel>
  <title>Kansas City Faggots</title>
  <link>http://www.stfu.com/</link>
  <description>Let us dance</description>
  <item>
   <title>FREE BUTTSEX CALL NOW!</title>
   <link>http://stfu.com/please/</link>
   <description>This is a random feed, you Kansas City faggot.</description>
  </item>
 </channel>
</rss>

I kept thinking over how to get the text content in the <title>, <link> and <description> tags. It's so simple, with this function:


def GetData(self, text, tag):
 find1 = text.find("<" + tag + ">")
 find2 = text.find("</" + tag + ">")
 txt = text[find1 + len("<" + tag + ">"):find2]
 return txt

It basically just gets the tag you specify and returns the text content. How to apply this to something such as a feed? You can run a loop: split the feed (string.rsplit("<item>")) into an array, run a loop with the function being executed as well. It's so simple! I won't release the source code, other than what I just posted, so figure it out on your own! The experience will benefit you greatly.

The only problem with this is it doesn't fetch an element's attribute (if you use this function, I doubt you'll need those links...)

Charities don't want Roberta Williams's money

2008-06-16T17:29:00.002-10:00

CHARITIES have snubbed money from gangland celebrity Roberta Williams – before it's even been offered.

The Mercury reports the ex-wife of convicted murderer Carl Williams will host a $100-a-head dinner at the Hobart Function and Conference Centre on June 26.

The promoters say the money raised may go to charity.

Event organiser and manager of Moonah's Xtreme Physique gym, Michael Tonner, said the proceeds would “probably end up being the Cancer Council,” once Ms Williams’s flights, accommodation and expenses had been covered.

Tasmanian Cancer Council chief executive Lawson Ride said his organisation would reject any donation that could be seen to be the proceeds of crime.

"If such a donation was received, the board would send it straight back," Mr Ride said.

Other charities contacted by the Mercury, including Variety and Camp Quality, said they too would steer clear of tainted cash, which could be anything up to $20,000.

"We will have nothing to do with her, thanks," said Camp Quality state manager Peter Crosswell.

"Most of us operate on a moralistic philosophy – I can't see how anyone could accept money being made from a person like her."

Police have warned that crime figures profiting from their notoriety could lose their loot under asset seizure laws.

[...]

Let check up, for I don't live in Aussieland... Roberta used to be married to this Carl Williams, who is a mobster or gangster of some sort. I'm also assuming that Williams is either dead or in jail. I'm guessing dead, since even if Williams was in jail, Roberta would technically still be his wife. I'm also guessing Roberta didn't leave Williams, otherwise the charities would have accepted the money. The only that's puzzling me is Underbelly... is Carl Williams a criminal or not?

Anyway, I can sort of relate to these charities, though I'm still undecided since I know so little about Carl Williams. Damn Australian charities have attitudes, I've noticed ("We will have nothing to do with her, thanks.")

Black Kid’s Computer Desk

2008-06-13T20:58:00.005-10:00

haha. What does this really mean? "Black ... Kid's Computer Desk." In other words, a computer desk that is black. Say it fast and it implies that it's meant only for black kids or belongs to someone named Black; pause after the word "black" and it implies "Kid's Computer Desk, which is Black."

Image courtesy of Vitalpixel

Some Japanese grammar

2008-06-13T12:33:00.005-10:00

My Japanese vocabulary sucks. Hard. But, I'm no fool when it comes to Japanese grammar. The grammar system of Japanese is rather simple; at first, it's very difficult (especially for westerners), but I've observed some rules that will help:

All nouns MUST have a particle, let it be [wa, ga, o, ni]. The only exceptions are things such as titles or incomplete sentences (no verb).

Adverbs ALWAYS go before the verb.

There is no such thing as articles in Japanese: forget about [a, an, the].

If you have an object and a verb, you must have a subject or topic.

no (の) is the equivalent of English's suffix ['s].

Ignore commas [,] more. They have different uses than in English.

There is only one verb of being: be. Forget about [am, are, is].

Let me explain the typology of Japanese. It's quite simple. Here's my first tip: don't over complicate matters. It's not that hard.

Nouns always go next to each other. Imagine just a simple sentence:

Please, you must avoid danger.

Guess what the sentence is in Japanese? Just put "danger" behind "you:"

Please, you danger must avoid.

There is no magic involved. How do the Japanese handle differentiating subject ("you") and the object ("danger")? Not only by which comes first, though that can get confusing if they're closely related, but through particles:

Please, you wa danger o must avoid.

If you want to translate this to English, anything marked with the direct object particle [o] goes at the end; everything else just stays where they are:

Please, you wa must avoid danger o.

What about complex sentences? Such as:

Attention, it is imperative that you avoid danger at any cost.

Obviously, we break this down. Remove things such as "that" and "at" and replace them with "for:"

Attention, it is imperative for you avoid danger for any cost.

Keep "at" when you mean something like "It's at the table." Keep "that" when you mean something like "That guitar..."

This won't make much sense in English, but Japanese isn't like English. It's not as specific and in-depth as English is. While that has it's advantages and disadvantages, you must remember that. Convert the remaining of the sentence to SOV, the typology of Japanese:

Attention, it imperative for you danger for any cost avoid is.

You may also move some junk:

Attention, for any cost, you danger avoid, it imperative for you is.

You'll have to talk differently in contrast to English if you want to make Japanese easier. Now, it's just a matter of replacing the English words with Japanese:

Romaji: chuui, hiyou nai mondai. anata wa kinken o sakeru. sakeru ga dou shite mo hitsuyou na e anata o!
Kana: 注意、費用ない問題。あなたは危険を避ける。避けるがどうしても必要なえあなたを！
English (literal): Attention, cost not matter. You danger avoid. Avoid imperative for you!

Japanese vocabulary is very specific, unlike English vocabulary which can be general and specific. Do not confuse this with grammar: Japanese grammar is general while English is very specific.

You'll notice that I had to change the wording. This is because Japanese doesn't have the adjective "any," though it does have the pronoun "any." Meaning, I can't say "for any cost" because Japanese doesn't have the proper word for this form of "any." So, I had to change "for any cost" to "cost doesn't matter" or "cost not matter."

To help you further, I suggest you read some Japanese text. Doujins are a good way to accomplish this, since they're pretty much the only comics you'll get that's in Japanese. The only drawback is that almost all doujins that are in Japanese are adult. While I have an interest in adult doujins, I'm not sure if you do. Nevertheless, some doujins start off cool: meaning, they're not immediately having sex. A non-sex scene in a good doujin usually lasts for a couple pages, but you'll get around 5 to 10 speech bubbles for you to translate. In fact, whether you like adult doujins or not, this is usually the best way to learn: once the sex starts, pretty much everything that's being said are things like "kya!" or "haaa" or some other arousing onomatopoeia-s (words that imitate sounds; for example, "boom" and "bark"). Here are some doujins that I recommend for learning Japanese:

Sisters Syrups - You get about seven pages before they start - that's about 40 speech bubbles, though I know there's more.

Heaven's Gate - five or six pages before they start

Nakadashi Scramble vol.7 - three pages

If you're a girl or hate hentai, I suggest you skip these unless you REALLY want to learn Japanese. They may be perverted, but they're good study guides! (And NOT because they're perverted...)

Checkout rage claims life of innocent dad Kevin Tripp

2008-06-13T12:22:00.003-10:00

AN innocent father who was mistaken for a trouble-making yob has been punched to death in an attack of supermarket checkout rage.

The murder of 57-year-old Kevin Tripp in Sainsbury's, in Merton, southwest London, has shocked a capital that in recent months has become almost inured to daily reports of random violence and knife murders.

Most have involved youth-on-youth assaults, not a father shopping for his family.

[...]

Oh my goodness... almost speechless, really.

Courtesy of news.com.au.

So... Ron paul isn't out?

2008-06-13T12:09:00.002-10:00

A few news sources are misreporting Ron Paul’s e-mail from last Friday. The presidential campaign is not ending, not being suspended, and not even drawing down. It’s slimming down and ramping up — with over twenty states having already voted, we’ve shed staff, and we’re concentrating financial and organization resources on the remaining states. We’re going to the convention, and we’re fighting for every vote and every National Delegate along the way.

I mourned over the grave news when I heard he was out and whatnot. But, this raises the question: is he really out? I'm not going to post the full "article," because I got this through Facebook. You could just visit this other site, which confirms another campaign: Campaign for Liberty

Ron Paul is out?

2008-06-13T00:18:00.002-10:00

I just heard of this... oh well, I suppose I can help out in another way... just don't know how. Just as long as it doesn't involve walking around the streets with signs and waving my hand, I'm sort of good. Anyway, it's on his site.

My day in a nutshell

2008-06-12T23:16:00.006-10:00

Another post, another sexy, useless (or is it?) image (This is Matou Sakura (間藤桜) from Fate/Stay Night by the way).

Damn cliché. Anyway, what a day. To start it off, I was woken up at 8:00a.m., a good 3 hours early. Yeah, I'm on summer break until July 26. Or, at least that's when I started Freshman year... Anyway, I had 7 hours of sleep. That's seems like a lot, but truthfully, it's not. I'm not tired with 7 hours of sleep, but I get terrible headaches. Really bad ones, they are. It took two Ibuprofen pills and about 3 quarters of an hour to calm that down.

Moving along, the power was going out today. And yes, my parent pay the bills. Hawaiian Electric was just doing repairs... or something. I don't know what they were doing. So, me and the mum drop of my brother at school and we go to Wal-Mart. Damn Wal-Mart. I forget what we got, but I don't really care. Always waiting to get out of Wal-Mart.

Then went to Borders and stayed... until 12:00pm or so. I read Genshiken volume 4 (Kasukabe-san surprised me) and a good book about Python (Python rocks, by the way). I also got Burst Angel volume 3 and only finished watching it. It was awesome: Amy-chan walks around a computer neighborhood with Kyohei and is stalked by a team of high-level computer nerds who uploaded their minds into robots that resemble Canti-sama (from FLCL)(they aren't as awesome as Canti-sama, though). Jo is also hired by the manager (or is it creator?) of a arena fiasco dubbed D.D.D. I forget what it means, but, like usual, everything goes to hell and one of the fighters mysteriously turns into a giant beetle that almost kills one of the audience members. There's a lot more to it, but I won't spoil it.

It is now 12:00am. I had the worse headache of my life (all because of a lack of sleep - could be that I awoke too fast?), I played Age of Empires and its sequel for the first time in years, and I watched Burst Angel volume 3. Now, I'm going back to writing more Python (even though it's simple arithmetic and doesn't really do anything - I'm still learning).

Warhammer 40,000

2008-06-10T14:56:00.007-10:00

Well, I changed my desktop. While I'm not a big fan of the forces of Chaos (For the Emperor and the Imperium of Man!), I just had to make this one my desktop. It's the Chaos god Tzeentch, the Lord of Change. Tzeentch is my favorite of the four Chaos gods (Slaanesh can go fuck itself). Please be aware, if you don't your Chaos gods, that Tzeentch is NOT the figure in armor; Tzeentch is actually that black blob above the figure in armor. Tzeentch is the Lord of Change, so Tzeentch doesn't have a constant form.

I've also found several other images related to Warhammer 40,000 that will spark your fancy.

Courtesy of Gaming Today.

Possible screen shot from DOWII? Courtesy of That VideoGame Blog.

He's using the bathroom with his armor on... Courtesy of GameSpot Forums.

Notice the Marine holding the banner. Good thing he's not in a guro or anything. Inspirational, nonetheless. Courtesy of GamingTP.

Rail's use of energy subject of debate

2008-06-09T21:54:00.003-10:00

Savings depend on how many ride, type of fuel used to generate power

Honolulu's planned commuter rail system will consume enough electricity each day to power about 9,250 homes, or a community the size of Hawai'i Kai.

That shouldn't pose a risk of energy shortage and could lower transportation-related air pollutants and energy use as people switch from automobiles to trains, according to the city.

The potential positive impact on the environment is a key benefit of the $3.7 billion elevated commuter rail line, said Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann.

"We are already a community that is 90 percent dependent on fossil fuels and this is all about reducing our dependence on that and using alternative forms of energy," he said. "We're putting Honolulu in a good place to continue to do our part to reduce global warming."

Environmentalists agree that mass transit can be a green transportation alternative. Whether rail is more energy efficient and reduces air pollution hinges on factors such as ridership and the fuel used to generate electricity.

"Based on the experience of Mainland cities and cities around the world, it seems certain that rail has been a good option for most of those cities," said Randy Ching, chairman of The Sierra Club O'ahu Group. "I would hope it would be similar here, but I haven't seen definitive numbers either way yet.

"If I were convinced that this would be well used and a lot of people would get out of their automobiles to ride the rail, then I think there's no question on a cost per mile, per passenger basis rail would be a more viable option than the personal automobile," Ching said.

The city plans to start building the elevated commuter rail line late next year, with the first segment from East Kapolei to Leeward Community College opening in 2012. The total 20-mile route to Ala Moana would open in phases through 2018.

In 2030, the train system is expected to consume an average of about 18.5 megawatt hours of electricity, according to New York-based Parsons Brinckerhoff, the project contractor.

[...]

The whole problem with this idea is that not only is it costing the taxpayers, which I am not one of yet, it taking too long to build. The segment, according to the article, will open in 2012 (that's when the world is going to end!!). Hell, just have private corporations build already!

Back when I lived in Ko Olina (that place for rich snobs and haoles), they erected two hotels in a single year. They were erecting like crazy over there. Two hotels and a train station (not sure if they started that one yet).

I could rant on about how evil federal services are, which they are (aside from courts, police and the military), but I'm not a randroid (I am an Objectivist, though).

News article courtesy of The Honolulu Advertiser.

Gas company drilling 'caused eruption'

2008-06-09T20:29:00.002-10:00

DRILLING of a gas exploration well, and not an earthquake, set off a volcano that has been spewing boiling mud for two years and has displaced more than 50,000 people on the Indonesian island of Java, experts have said.
Records kept by oil and gas company Lapindo Brantas during the drilling of a gas exploration well called Banjar-Panji-1 show specific incidents that could have triggered the disaster, the international team of experts said.

"We are more certain than ever that the Lusi mud volcano is an unnatural disaster and was triggered by drilling the Banjar-Panji-1 well," Richard Davies, a professor of earth sciences at Britain's Durham University said.

"We show that the day before the mud volcano started, there was a huge 'kick' in the well, which is an influx of fluid and gas into the wellbore," Professor Davies.

"We show that after the kick, the pressure in the well went beyond a critical level. This resulted in the leakage of the fluid from the well and the rock formations to the surface - a so-called underground blowout. This fluid picked up mud during its ascent, and Lusi was born."

The team of British, American, Indonesian and Australian scientists, writing in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters, said this pressurised fluid fractured the surrounding rock. Mud spurted out of cracks instead of the wellhead.

"There is not a hope on Earth they are going to stop it now," said the University of California Berkeley's Michael Manga, who worked on the study.

"You can plug up a hole, but if you try to plug a crack, stuff just flows around the plug, or the crack gets bigger. The well now has no effect on the erupting mud, it was just the trigger that initiated it."

[...]

That was a good move by the Indonesian government. I just hope this incident doesn't encourage an anti-corporation attitude. I am a capitalist myself, but Lapindo, the company that triggered the eruption, should have known what it is they were doing. I mean, they destroyed 50,000 people's property, of course they should pay for that! Them paying for the property they damaged isn't anti-capitalist, but pure a capitalist thing to do (it is also the government's job to make sure Lapindo pays for the property they damaged).

News article courtesy of news.com.au.