If you have Excel 2007 installed  and you are looking for a way to convert XLSX ->XLS using windows shell (batch script, etc.) here’s the perfect solution:

1) copy this code and save it is as xlsx2xls.vbs  OR simply download it

Set objExcel = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
Set objWorkbook = objExcel.Workbooks.Open(Wscript.Arguments(0))
objExcel.Application.Visible = False
objExcel.Application.DisplayAlerts = False
objExcel.ActiveWorkbook.SaveAs Wscript.Arguments(1), 56
objExcel.ActiveWorkbook.Close
objExcel.Application.DisplayAlerts = True
objExcel.Application.Quit
WScript.Quit

2) in your batch script you can call it by doing this

c:\xlsx2xls.vbs "C:\inputdocument.xlsx" "C:\outputdocument.xls"

don’t mix up the order, don’t mix up file extensions, don’t mix up file paths because if you do it will overwrite your existing stuff without prompting.. and of course you will have to write this last command in one line

Bonnie Parker (October 1, 1910 – May 23, 1934) and Clyde Barrow (March 24, 1909 – May 23, 1934) were well known outlaws, robbers, and criminals who, with their gang, travelled the Central United States during the Great Depression. (Wikipedia)

Bonnie & Clyde: this twosome is very well known; and so is the concept of the prisoner’s dilemma. A couple of weeks ago I was on a bus from Toronto to Guelph and I’ve been reading a book on game theory and thinking about relationships. So here is a game I came up with.

Bonnie and Clyde are two young people in a romantic relationship. At a certain point of their relationship, the police is after them. Clyde says to Bonnie: “Honey, you and I, we both know that we have much better chances to be caught while we are together. For now, I want you to take half of all the money that we have. Let us part right now and think about our future. Should we want to stay together, we will meet each other tomorrow, at noon, at this very spot.”
Each of them now has two options: to show up and stay in the relationship or leave. The two individuals have very similar characters, thereby their utility functions are the same. The key assumption is that

U(staying together) = – U(being left behind)

The other important feature is that both individuals are indifferent between separating mutually and leaving the partner.  The utility values in both cases are zero. The payoff matrix is self-explanatory.

Think about this, I will write more about this game in a week from now, when I’m finished with my finals.

“I’ll go build my own Lunar Lander!.. with blackjack!.. and hookers!!..
ⓒF.

ребята с вконтакта явно не в себе. они предлагают зарегистрировать субдомен что_хотите.vkontakte.ru для личной страницы, цена услуги $1′000 USD

занятно что в описании услуги сказано

durov.vkontakte.ru (для известных личностей)
gazprom.vkontakte.ru (для крупных организации)

куда ведёт первая ссылка, думаю ясно. а вот вторая не существует, выкидывает на главную страницу. они так ненавязчиво намекают газпрому что им пора прикупить этот субдомен?) и не понятно куда “крупные организации” будут перенаправлять домен, на страничку группы? хм.

кстати забавно было бы сейчас заплатить эту штуку..и купить этот газпром (точка) вконтакте )) хотя думаю вполне вероятно он зарезервирован.

This is my first academic paper in economics and my first real and independent academic paper overall. I will just go ahead and post it.

“A Simple Way to Prove The Fundamental Theorem of Game Theory”.
(Michael Kuzmin. Glendon College. 2009.)

the flash viewer is clickable. if fact, i recommend that you do click on it) if you’d rather download a PDF version please click here.

i lost the first draft when i left my study folder somewhere on campus. here’s a new one. now it’s scanned and online, so hopefully i won’t lose it this time. enjoy

Being the owner of this blog which is powered by WordPress I have recently noticed yet another annoying thing about how it appears in Google Search results:

Post Title Date by Michael Kuzmin
Post preview text preview text preview text preview text preview text preview text preview text preview text preview text preview text preview text preview text preview text …
Untitled – http://kuzmin.ca/blog/
[ More results from Untitled ]

It was surprisingly hard to find any decently useful information on this. However with a little help of prestonwood’s post here I am now able to write this short manual: (which you can find right here if you just keep reading this post)

copy freaking right, people!

when you publish something, especially if it’s a text or a quote…and it’s not yours. when you think there may be a slight chance that at least one person out there who is going to read it may think that it was you who is that mysterious copyright owner…please, do mention the source! in other words…

exempli gratia

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I have recently found myself wondering where in the whole wide world I could go without a visa but having a Canadian and a Russian passports. I tried to find as mush information on this subject as I could. Unfortunately, none of the publication, discussions or other materials could provide me with any comparison of the intentional travelling restrictions. Surprisingly enough, even the Henley Visa Restrictions Index provided by Henley & Partners was nothing but a disappointment.

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I have been having trouble opening secon, third…etc pages of people’s galleries at deviantART with Firefox.

if you can’t navigate anywhere away from the first page of your search results or anyone’s galery without clicking on the refresh button every single time (god, that was annoying!) you probably have Ablock Plus+ Filterset.G installed.

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i took this guide and made some revisions to it:The complete guide for using OpenPandora outside US with Tor
modified by MK
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