The truth is stranger...
Saturday, January 31, 2004
Dinner Night:
Stephen had a little warm-up for his future deli: Borscht (Jewish-style, served cold), cole slaw, potatoes, corned beef, and a rice-and-ground-beef-wrapped-in-cabbage concoction whose name I forget, finished with a rice pudding dessert. Someone asked how he got the beef so tender. I (thought I) quipped, "Ohh he just marinated it for two weeks" to some laughter; Stephen looks up and says, "I did marinate it for two weeks". There was an additional layer of genius to this meal: Without anyone noticing, he had successfully navigated the elaborate web of dietary restrictions induced by this particular set of guests.
The non-culinary highlight of the evening was, of course, meeting Ann, Matt's friend visiting from Chicago. She was an incredibly good sport, especially considering her long day and the knowledge that she would undoubtedly be the subject of the next dinner night discussion. Long story short, the quality there was really immediately evident, and the only question is why Matt would wait sooooo long to ask her out. Anyways, it doesn't even matter... the important point is, he did eventually get his sh*t together and here they are :)
Was good to be rejoined by Jeremy and Pete as well. We reviewed the evils of Monsanto, entertainment in South Dakota, and the latest batch of angry liberal publications.
The non-culinary highlight of the evening was, of course, meeting Ann, Matt's friend visiting from Chicago. She was an incredibly good sport, especially considering her long day and the knowledge that she would undoubtedly be the subject of the next dinner night discussion. Long story short, the quality there was really immediately evident, and the only question is why Matt would wait sooooo long to ask her out. Anyways, it doesn't even matter... the important point is, he did eventually get his sh*t together and here they are :)
Was good to be rejoined by Jeremy and Pete as well. We reviewed the evils of Monsanto, entertainment in South Dakota, and the latest batch of angry liberal publications.
Friday, January 30, 2004
Interesting name:
This biology professor in Singapore should stick to using "S. F. Chew" on her publications (via Luca).
eBay Arbitrage:
I saw an article on this this morning but, strangely, it wasn't showing up in Google when I went back to find it. Anyways, the idea is to take advantage of the fact that people occasionally have misspellings in their eBay item listings. When this happens, items don't show up in potential buyer queries and hence generally fetch below-market prices. These arbitrageurs troll around querying for misspelled items, relist them with the correct spelling, and pocket the difference with the market valuation. Would be interesting if one could programatically automate the entire process..
Thursday, January 29, 2004
Movie Night:
"Equinox Flower" by Yasujiro Ozu, 1958:
A business man is often approached by friends for advice and help regarding marriage as well as family and romantic relationships. He is always very calmly and objectively able to give great insight and assistance to these particular situations. However, when it comes time for him to be objective regarding his oldest daughter, he finds it very difficult..It really was that exciting; like sitting in a hair salon for two hours. Actually, a strangely endearing movie, although it did send Hoeteck to sleep.
Wednesday, January 28, 2004
Feedback:
Once in a while, I query the newsgroups to see what people have posted about XC. This evening, I came across one I really enjoyed:
> Dotfuscator (free version) is included in VS. I may be dense, but I couldAnd a couple other nice bits:
> never figure out how to use it. Anything that takes me longer then 15
> minutes to get a feel for, is not right for me.
I agree I think Dotfuscator people accidently obfuscated their own UI and help
files. After several minutes of trying things and looking at help I still
couldn't figure out how to start to use it on one of my simple projects.
-- Kevin
If you're a company doing a 'serious' product then the free obfuscator that
comes with VS.NET2003 isn't good at all. Yeah, it does obfuscate but have
you seen how easy it is to read the code afterwards? It's too easy - way too
easy. There was only one product we could recommend - X enocode. This
produced the most unreadable code out of all the products tested...
---
Dotfuscator (free version) is included in VS. I may be dense, but I could
never figure out how to use it. Anything that takes me longer then 15
minutes to get a feel for, is not right for me. X enoCode
http://x enocode.com/en/ on the other hand, I figured out in 3 minutes.
Point to your dll or exe, set some options and output the obfuscated dll or
exe. (or setup a post build event and run using batch file, etc.) If using
strong names, you need to redo the strong name with "sn" tool on the
assembly you just produced. At $65 bucks for non-entrerprise version, its
really affordable.
Tuesday, January 27, 2004
Procter and Gambling:
I stopped by the grocery store to pick up a new tube of toothpaste. It's been a while since I've had to buy toothpaste, and I was stunned by the dizzying number of varieties available. Normally, the difficulty lies in the choice between various essentially identical brands. In the case of toothpaste, however, the problem remains intractable even after fixing a particular choice of brand.
Take Crest as an example. There were over a dozen varieties of Crest available. For starters, the various formulations suggested trade-offs that I shouldn't have to make: Do I want "cavity protection" or "tartar protection"? Umm, I don't want cavities or tartar. Then there are choices where the trade-off isn't even apparent: Should one prefer "dual action" whitening or "extra" whitening? What about "baking soda and peroxide whitening"? And where do any of these lie on the cavity/tartar control spectrum? Then there are the awful names like "sensitivity protection", which sounds like the box includes a free condom or a booklet on offensive workplace behavior; or try any of their ridiculous flavors: "Extreme Herbal Mint", "Fresh Citrus Breeze", or the highly unpalatable "Cinnamon Rush".
Take Crest as an example. There were over a dozen varieties of Crest available. For starters, the various formulations suggested trade-offs that I shouldn't have to make: Do I want "cavity protection" or "tartar protection"? Umm, I don't want cavities or tartar. Then there are choices where the trade-off isn't even apparent: Should one prefer "dual action" whitening or "extra" whitening? What about "baking soda and peroxide whitening"? And where do any of these lie on the cavity/tartar control spectrum? Then there are the awful names like "sensitivity protection", which sounds like the box includes a free condom or a booklet on offensive workplace behavior; or try any of their ridiculous flavors: "Extreme Herbal Mint", "Fresh Citrus Breeze", or the highly unpalatable "Cinnamon Rush".
Monday, January 26, 2004
Return of the Singaporean:
Like clockwork. Within hours of sending the release announcement, our Singaporean friend returned with a wave of stolen CCs, all with valid address and ZIPs. After about a dozen attempts, (s)he hit on one that was still live. This is the third time he has returned. The last two times, I canceled the license codes. This time, I should either improve the store security (add CVV2 verification or some anti-fraud heuristics), or just leave his code active, eliminating the need for him to submit new CCs. Given the amount of legitimate business that comes from that part of the world, a blanket blockade of Singtel IPs would also be reasonable. For now, I'll just leave his code active. Fortunately, I did manage to void the transaction before it hit the clearinghouse.
I actually entertained seriously for a few minutes the idea of handing his info over to the Singaporean authorities. Somewhere in Singapore, there is an ass in need of caning. (Calm down, Hoeteck :) )
I actually entertained seriously for a few minutes the idea of handing his info over to the Singaporean authorities. Somewhere in Singapore, there is an ass in need of caning. (Calm down, Hoeteck :) )
The Fog of War:
The Errol Morris film on Robert McNamara just opened in SF. Saw a matinee showing today with Zach, Savitra, and Andrej. Go see it! I'd recommend against visiting the (elaborate) web site ahead of time, as I did, since it gives up all of the best quotes. Some things just don't change...
Sunday, January 25, 2004
Saturday, January 24, 2004
Happy Birthday Mac:
20 years old today. Prescient quote from Steve Jobs on the day of its release:
"People are going to bring them home to work on something Sunday morning, they're not going to be able to get their kids away from them, and maybe someday they may even buy a second one to use at home."
Forced Feedback:
Interesting scam: Some EBayers have been using Javascript embedded in their product description pages to rewrite the "feedback" section of the product page.
(Not a) Happy Hour:
QG Happy Hour yesterday was a bit of a debacle. I was late getting out the door so I decided to drive over to save time. Big mistake. As it turns out, there was a basketball game at the same time, so the parking situation was terrible. I ended up spending 50 minutes hunting for a spot. Then, within minutes of arriving at the Bear's Lair, Luca called to invite me for dinner. So, I turned around and drove over to the city. Anyways, the bar was crowded with straight people watching the basketball game on TV, and I was glad to be off to SF.
Happily, dinner more than made up for the aggravation of the first half of the evening. We went to Côté Sud, where I enjoyed their delicious rabbit plate. This restaurant is very French; the waiters satisfy all European stereotypes. The last time I was there, French was being spoken over every table in the restaurant. Then, a couple of big leather daddies walked in, were seated at the table next to ours,... and began speaking in French.
Happily, dinner more than made up for the aggravation of the first half of the evening. We went to Côté Sud, where I enjoyed their delicious rabbit plate. This restaurant is very French; the waiters satisfy all European stereotypes. The last time I was there, French was being spoken over every table in the restaurant. Then, a couple of big leather daddies walked in, were seated at the table next to ours,... and began speaking in French.
Thursday, January 22, 2004
STOC:
An unexpected surprise -- STOC notifications were just sent, over two weeks early... and my paper was accepted. Yay!
Music upgrade (continued):
After a long day of classes and a long walk to the Trash Shack and back, everything is working. This GarageBand thing is a major waster-of-time. Definitely not a tool for doing any sort of real work, but an incredibly fun and easy-to-get-started toy. Perhaps a brief review later.. Between school, a computer troubleshooting session with the parents, and dinner with Zach and James, it was another day without much work on XC. Tomorrow I promise myself I'll make up for it. Anyways, it was very nice to see everyone back on campus after the break.
One thing I forgot to mention in the last post for the benefit of other Tascam US-122 Mac users who may be visiting via Google: The drivers included on the CD in the box do not work on Panther, even though everything appears to install properly and sort-of be working. You need to get the Panther update from the Tascam web site. Also, beware the "MIDI Only / Audio Disabled" setting in the Tascam manager app.
One thing I forgot to mention in the last post for the benefit of other Tascam US-122 Mac users who may be visiting via Google: The drivers included on the CD in the box do not work on Panther, even though everything appears to install properly and sort-of be working. You need to get the Panther update from the Tascam web site. Also, beware the "MIDI Only / Audio Disabled" setting in the Tascam manager app.
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
Music upgrade:
Today I finally got around to the long-awaited, long-needed upgrade of my home music setup. Unfortunately, I spent pretty much the entire day working through various problems and am now too tired to enjoy it. However, modulo a couple more fixes tomorrow, I'm very pleased with the result.
The first new piece of hardware is a Tascam US-122 USB Audio/MIDI interface, which converts 2 mic, 2 line-in, and 1 output line to/from a 24-bit digital signal sent over a single USB2 connection. The original need was to connect the keyboard to the Mac, but the arrangement also has a couple unrecognized (by me) advantages. The previous clutter of 6 cables going to my PC is now swapped for a single USB line -- much much cleaner -- and all of the audio-related cabling is isolated from the computer-related cabling. The external DAC is wonderful and the unit seems to be well shielded -- no more high-pitched noises from the CPU or clicks from the hard drive. It is great to plug headphones into a (powered on) system and hear absolutely nothing. All in an inexpensive home-use box. Connected to this is a low-end Sennheiser cardioid vocal mic. Based on a little bit of experimenting, definite quality overkill for karaoke purposes. Add a mic mount and everything is set -- but for all my current cords having the wrong connection types.
Time to enjoy what's working for a few minutes..
The first new piece of hardware is a Tascam US-122 USB Audio/MIDI interface, which converts 2 mic, 2 line-in, and 1 output line to/from a 24-bit digital signal sent over a single USB2 connection. The original need was to connect the keyboard to the Mac, but the arrangement also has a couple unrecognized (by me) advantages. The previous clutter of 6 cables going to my PC is now swapped for a single USB line -- much much cleaner -- and all of the audio-related cabling is isolated from the computer-related cabling. The external DAC is wonderful and the unit seems to be well shielded -- no more high-pitched noises from the CPU or clicks from the hard drive. It is great to plug headphones into a (powered on) system and hear absolutely nothing. All in an inexpensive home-use box. Connected to this is a low-end Sennheiser cardioid vocal mic. Based on a little bit of experimenting, definite quality overkill for karaoke purposes. Add a mic mount and everything is set -- but for all my current cords having the wrong connection types.
Time to enjoy what's working for a few minutes..
Monday, January 19, 2004
OMI:
Unexpectedly large showing for Old Mandarin tonight. Andrej, Andrej Sr., and I picked up Hoeteck, recently returned from Singapore, in the city. Luca joined in at the last minute as well (another visit was necessary after his debacled first attempt). We met up there with Stephen, Holly, Matt and -- surprise! -- Pete, who had been incommunicado for the past month or so. Tried the hot pot for the first time, along with the usual cumin lamb, lamb ribs, onion and beef pancakes, potato and tofu, all washed down with Tsing-Tao. Great food, great company, great way to kick off the semester.
Weekend Wrapup:
Charanga Friday night with Maxime was great as usual. Afterwards, we joined Zach at his place for a movie. After a complex selection ritual, we settled on one about two former hustlers in LA, the name of which now eludes me. It was awful, and we ended up aborting it after 30 minutes and calling it a night. Saturday night, Holly, Stephen, Andrej, Matt, and I got together for beers, White Russians, and another movie set in LA, The Big Lebowski. Great as usual. In between, I finally did the major room cleaning, threw out/donated/gave away a bunch of unused accumulants, and handed off the final XC text for localization. Have some interesting things to share, but it's bed-time for the new, "disciplined" Kenji, who will arise at a reasonable hour tomorrow morning.
Sunday, January 18, 2004
Mikerowesoft:
Mike Rowe, a 17-year-old student in Victoria, is being threatened with legal action by Microsoft over the domain name for his new web design business, www.mikerowesoft.com. Can homonymous names constitute copyright infringement even when, as in this case, there is virtually no possibility that somebody would confuse the two entities?
Saturday, January 17, 2004
Web cams:
A family in Iowa operates a "barn cam", which recently made news when webcam watchers summoned for help after witnessing one of the owners being kicked by a horse during birth. Hilltop Stables also runs a horse message board.
We have given up our privacy to you all .. and somedays we really cuss and double think on that. I mean we can not even pee in a stall anymore!
Sometimes people on the MB make us want to chuck it all in too. Then there are the rest of you! We LOVE You!
Friday, January 16, 2004
Battling Al-Qaeda:
...using order theory:
This will be a very useful tool once you have, uhhh, identified the members and command structure of the entire terrorist organization.
How can we tell if an Al Qaeda cell has been broken? That enough members have been captured or killed so that there is a high likelihood they will be unable to carry out a new attack, and military resources can be redirected away from them and toward more immediate threats? This article uses order theory to quantify the degree to which a terrorist network is still able to function. This tool will help law enforcement know when a battle against Al Qaeda has been won, thus saving the public's money without unduly risking the public's safety.Don't like mathematics spending? Think of it as Homeland Security spending.
This will be a very useful tool once you have, uhhh, identified the members and command structure of the entire terrorist organization.
MoveOn.com Award Ceremony (continued):
The winning ad was just too conventional given the out-of-the-box spirit of the competition. They should have chosen something like this (via Stephen).
HTML Help Workshop:
The shittiest piece of software shipped by Microsoft. Its UI is even more mind-bogglingly awful than the Dotfuscator (yes, it can be done). Possibly the shittiest piece of development software, period. For a feature that is in virtually every Windows application. Beyond comprehension.
Thursday, January 15, 2004
Safeguarding the sanctity of marriage (continued)
:
"Totally":
NEW YORK (AP) -- Britney Spears says the excitement of Las Vegas is partly to blame for her recent 55-hour marriage to her childhood friend, Jason Alexander.
"I do believe in the sanctity of marriage, I totally do," Spears told MTV's "Total Request Live" in a telephone interview Wednesday. "(But) I was in Vegas, and it took over me."
Wednesday, January 14, 2004
Decision 2004:
For real (via Tom Tomorrow):
And from the other side:
And from the other side:
"To me, there is no room for the cynical politics of manufactured anger and false conviction," said Gephardt, the former House minority leader.See, he's angry, but he's faking it.
Homeland security:
The Portland aiport was evacuated this morning because a flute in a passenger's bag was mistaken for a possible pipe bomb.
If "could" is the standard, we should simply be advised not to carry anything on the plane. Actually, I would feel much safer if they stopped allowing passengers on planes.
Portland Transportation Director Jeffrey Monroe said passengers should make sure their carry-on bags don't contain items that could raise a security alert.Like an almanac. Or a flute. Or maps.
If "could" is the standard, we should simply be advised not to carry anything on the plane. Actually, I would feel much safer if they stopped allowing passengers on planes.
Tuesday, January 13, 2004
Managed IFilters:
Useful boilerplate code for implementing IFilters, word breakers, and stemmers in C#.
MoveOn.org Award Ceremony:
The winners of the Bush in 30 Seconds contest were announced last night at an award ceremony in New York. Some of the presentations outshined the ads themselves. Here's Margaret Cho:
"For example, Judge Roy Moore, or Jay Moore or whatever, in Alabama. [inaudible] ... Ten Commandments statue stay in the lobby of a courthouse. 'You can't move the Word of God! You cannot remove the Franklin Mint edition of the Word of God!' [said in Southern accent] People are protesting there and like, I think it could have been solved so much easier if they had just placed a golden calf next to the statue and then people would have started worshipping that. And then they could have moved the Ten Commandments to Bush's office -- which he needs them, desperately. Or maybe he needs a new version of the Ten Commandments -- George W. Bush's Ten Commandments: Thou shalt not steal...votes. (big applause) Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's...country. (big applause) Thou shalt not kill...for oil. (big applause) Thou shalt not take grammar...in vain. (big applause) I mean, whatever fu--ing happened to separation of church and state? I mean, you can't like, impose your god on my god. God has many names. God is God, God is Jehovah, God is Allah, God is Buddah, God is Beyonce. (laughter) You know, you cannot impose your God on other people. And ah, George W. Bush is coming out with the weirdest stance on same-sex marriage as well. What he says about it is, well, 'well, we're all sinners.' No we're not! Just because somebody ate an apple one time does not make us all sinners. And if it was from the tree of knowledge, I think she should have eaten more than one. (laughter) Possibly even baked a pie." (applause) "I don't understand the whole same-sex marriage thing. He was quoted by saying, 'well, you you uh, just gotta take the speck out of your own eye before you take the co-- out of your neighbor's.'" [in Southern accent] (laughter)Chuck D of Public Enemy:
"We do not want 8 years run by a Colon, a Bush and a Dick."
Vexing user agreements:
On Jan 13, 2004, at 12:41 AM, luca@****.B*rkeley.EDU wrote:
Actually, I could envision licensing by use for tangible objects to be applied for price discrimination purposes (for instance, to charge differently for home versus commercial use of a product). If that sounds bad, think of it as a "discount" for home use, rather than a mark-up for commercial use. Probably there are examples of this already.
As evil as the use license might be, at the very least, the arrangement is voluntary. You do not have to purchase or install use-restricted software. Ironically, Stallmann, in his GNU Manifesto, advocates a "software tax" for funding software development -- that is, he would replace today's free and voluntary marketplace with a system in which all computer users would, under threat of violence, be compelled to fund software projects selected by a central government committee, which they may have no desire to use at all.
In the following paragraph, we learn that Stallmann still believes in the (by now thoroughly debunked notion of the) "post-scarcity world" in which there is as much of everything as anybody wants, and no mandatory work to be done, save for a few hours a week devoted to "legislation, family counseling, robot repair, and asteroid prospecting." "There will be no need to be able to make a living from programming," we learn. Why am I not reassured?
- Kenji
There was some Dilbert cartoon in which Dilbert opens a microsoft product whose seal says something like "by opening this envelope you agree to become Bill Gates' personal servant" or something like that.It's a bit of a dead letter, since there is no effective way for the manufacturer to enforce the agreement. What we need are smart, Internet-connected chairs that can transmit the activity they are being used for (eating on, reading a book on, having sex on) to a central chair licensing server, allowing voyeuristic entrepreneurs to gratuitously spy upon their customers.
In making his case against user agreements and copy protection technologies and laws, Richard Stallmann makes the apt comparison to tangible goods. Once you buy a chair nothing forbids you to loan it to a friend or to use it for non-seating purposes, like standing on it to reach a tall cabinet or whatever.
Well, not for long. This company
http://www.stots.com/
is already selling an object ... I stand corrected, the license to use an object
http://www.stots.com/agree.htm
with restrictions on the allowed uses.
Soon enough we will buy licenses to seat to eat meals on the chairs we buy, with explicit prohibition to to seat on them to read a book, for which you need a different license, or whatever.
L.
Actually, I could envision licensing by use for tangible objects to be applied for price discrimination purposes (for instance, to charge differently for home versus commercial use of a product). If that sounds bad, think of it as a "discount" for home use, rather than a mark-up for commercial use. Probably there are examples of this already.
As evil as the use license might be, at the very least, the arrangement is voluntary. You do not have to purchase or install use-restricted software. Ironically, Stallmann, in his GNU Manifesto, advocates a "software tax" for funding software development -- that is, he would replace today's free and voluntary marketplace with a system in which all computer users would, under threat of violence, be compelled to fund software projects selected by a central government committee, which they may have no desire to use at all.
In the following paragraph, we learn that Stallmann still believes in the (by now thoroughly debunked notion of the) "post-scarcity world" in which there is as much of everything as anybody wants, and no mandatory work to be done, save for a few hours a week devoted to "legislation, family counseling, robot repair, and asteroid prospecting." "There will be no need to be able to make a living from programming," we learn. Why am I not reassured?
- Kenji
Monday, January 12, 2004
Decision 2004 (continued):
I foolishly took a peek at this morning's CNN.com front page before beginning my nighttime reading. I don't think I can take a year of this:
Democrats testy at debate
In their last debate before the January 19 caucuses in Iowa, the eight Democratic presidential contenders who participated offered little new in the way of policy positions, but a few showed a new testiness and crankiness.
Weekend wrapup:
Most of the weekend proper was tied up with finishing the beta. Fortunately, Friday evening I had a nice dinner with Zach (nice company, not food...) before heading out to Metro, where we met up with Kevin Ho and Ryan, Maxime and his INSA friends, and a few other pleasant new folks. We moved on to Badlands where we found David, Matt, the other David, and friends. I also met Aaron for the first time, and was reminded of just how small the gay SF universe really is. A social night but, excepting dinner, not especially fun. Maybe more on the last bit later.
Had a nice IM chat with Hoeteck in Singapore and found myself surprisingly anxious for him to return next week. Also, caught up with the news from Tom in Florida. Seems that, since the start of the holidays, he's had a stunning string of success with the women. The latest and best prospect was acquired with the "walking the dog in the park" trick, winning her the moniker "Doggy Style" from Gef. Doggy Style comes with a female chocolate lab, a perfect companion for Luke Doggy Dogg. Truly a complete package. Maybe Tom will send some of his good skill over to the West Coast.
Had a nice IM chat with Hoeteck in Singapore and found myself surprisingly anxious for him to return next week. Also, caught up with the news from Tom in Florida. Seems that, since the start of the holidays, he's had a stunning string of success with the women. The latest and best prospect was acquired with the "walking the dog in the park" trick, winning her the moniker "Doggy Style" from Gef. Doggy Style comes with a female chocolate lab, a perfect companion for Luke Doggy Dogg. Truly a complete package. Maybe Tom will send some of his good skill over to the West Coast.
Heather has two daddies:
This morning's Times has an interesting article on gay male stay-at-home parents. Just imagine:
"I was filling out our tax returns for the first entire calendar year I was not working, and my occupation went from 'professor' to 'homemaker.' I felt like someone had put a knife in my stomach and twisted it."
For the preceding 10 years, Mr. Howard, who has a doctorate in microbiology, had worked at the University of Southern California, first as a researcher at its virology laboratory and then also as a professor at its medical school. "I can truly empathize with the women's movement now," Mr. Howard said.
Sunday, January 11, 2004
Globalization + Non-tangible goods = Tough luck:
This Salon article reveals a peril of outsourcing specific to programming jobs.
Irrelevant comment: For tax purposes, the state of California applies a surprisingly restrictive definition of what constitutes a "non-tangible good" (such items are not subject to the state sales tax, unlike physical goods). I remember reading about a ruling which found that a graphic designer was subject to the sales tax even though her work was entirely electronic. The sticking point? She delivered her work product to her clients on a disk -- a tangible item.
Irrelevant comment: For tax purposes, the state of California applies a surprisingly restrictive definition of what constitutes a "non-tangible good" (such items are not subject to the state sales tax, unlike physical goods). I remember reading about a ruling which found that a graphic designer was subject to the sales tax even though her work was entirely electronic. The sticking point? She delivered her work product to her clients on a disk -- a tangible item.
Friday, January 09, 2004
Profanity redefined:
Go to THOMAS, the Library of Congress legislative information server, and query for "cock sucker". Note that, in addition to the words themselves, the bill covers:
compound use (including hyphenated compounds) of such words and phrases with each other or with other words or phrases, and other grammatical forms of such words and phrases (including verb, adjective, gerund, participle, and infinitive forms).
Debacle:
I was working on a bug last night when I had one of those heart-sinking epiphanies that every developer fears -- the realization that correcting the bug in question will require a large amount of work, yet the bug is a shipstopper. After thinking through possible workarounds for a couple hours, I concluded that there was no alternative but to bite the bullet.
The fix involved implementing a large piece of functionality that was to be deferred until later. While it required only code additions (the problem was not due to an architectural flaw), the new code had to sit in the core loader paths, so messing it up would create serious trouble. Anyways, short story, after a non-stop day of coding, XC now has a complete understanding of the ever-complex .NET type system. With the new code checked in, XC is once again self-hosting against its new multi-assembly incarnation. I will avoid another gloating "code complete" post, lest I anger the pertinent deities.
Aside: According to Merriam-Webster online, the word "debacle" has several surprising valid pronunciations.
The fix involved implementing a large piece of functionality that was to be deferred until later. While it required only code additions (the problem was not due to an architectural flaw), the new code had to sit in the core loader paths, so messing it up would create serious trouble. Anyways, short story, after a non-stop day of coding, XC now has a complete understanding of the ever-complex .NET type system. With the new code checked in, XC is once again self-hosting against its new multi-assembly incarnation. I will avoid another gloating "code complete" post, lest I anger the pertinent deities.
Aside: According to Merriam-Webster online, the word "debacle" has several surprising valid pronunciations.
Lost and Found (conclusion):
Surprise! "Apologies" from these sorts are always amusing:
Contrite and tearful at a news briefing, Battle said she had the suit dismissed Thursday.The kids... please...
"I do want the world to know I apologize for any inconvenience," she said... "I wanted to win so bad for my kids, my family."
Thursday, January 08, 2004
Speed runs:
Videos of some people who've spent a little too much time playing NES games. The cup stacking video on the bottom shows a quite extraordinary non-video-game-related physical feat (via Zach).
Understanding 3D:
An AP article on a proposed proof of the Poincare Conjecture offers this enlightening explanation of the abstruse notion of "three dimensions":
Poincare made strides in understanding three-dimensional spaces -- the kind, for instance, that an airplane flies through, made up of north-south, east-west and up-down measurements.
Wednesday, January 07, 2004
Snack Night:
Matt, Chris, and I joined Holly and Stephen at their place for some snacks and convo. It was nice to see some campus folk again. We all shared horror stories from our respective family visits over the holidays, with the exception of Matt, who had a successful vacation (go Matt!). Holly and Stephen also enjoyed a TSA-induced loss of luggage on Delta (which, I learned, stands for "Deliver Everyone's Luggage to Atlanta"). Chris informed me that I'm "so much funnier in person than on the blog".
As I've been doing with many of my friends in the past few days, I solicited everyone's input on my new timebomb mechanism, which involves transmitting some identifying information to a licensing server. I received yet another batch of opinions, although there was a general concensus that users should be prominently notified that this is going to take place. I was even compared to Bush and Ashcroft (uh oh!), which certainly made an impression. This convinced me to make a couple changes: I will add a notification in the pop-up window displayed on startup; this, in turn, requires that I make approval from the licensing server mandatory, which necessitates a couple other changes to assure that systems can connect under any configuration (behind non-auto-detected firewalls, etc.). I deployed all the server-side components this afternoon, and things are looking good for a Friday beta release.
As I've been doing with many of my friends in the past few days, I solicited everyone's input on my new timebomb mechanism, which involves transmitting some identifying information to a licensing server. I received yet another batch of opinions, although there was a general concensus that users should be prominently notified that this is going to take place. I was even compared to Bush and Ashcroft (uh oh!), which certainly made an impression. This convinced me to make a couple changes: I will add a notification in the pop-up window displayed on startup; this, in turn, requires that I make approval from the licensing server mandatory, which necessitates a couple other changes to assure that systems can connect under any configuration (behind non-auto-detected firewalls, etc.). I deployed all the server-side components this afternoon, and things are looking good for a Friday beta release.
Code complete:
XC2004 is code complete. Yay! Ooooh, this last bug was annoying. I'll tell you all about it... later.
Tuesday, January 06, 2004
Lost and Found (continued):
The Smoking Gun has dug up some history on the lotto lady. The credit card fraud and assault convictions are not going to be helpful to her cause. Also, filing the lawsuit under her real name would have subsantially increased what credibility she had left.
Lost and Found (continued):
The sob story was, in fact, a fraud. What I don't understand is, why start something you can't finish? If you make something like this up, you're banking on the fact that the real winner will never come forward. And, once everyone knows you can't finish, why keep pushing it? The actual winner has other lotto tickets purchased at the same time and place as the winning ticket (establishing her physical presence at the time of purchase), and tickets from prior lottos in which she played the same numbers (effectively ruling out the possibility that she picked up the winning ticket off the ground, or some such thing). Now sob story is taking the actual winner to court, while she herself may face misdemeanor criminal charges. This cannot end well. Why push it?
Stopped by the UC Berkeley Vision Center to get my glasses repaired. After another 8 hours of use, so far so good. The place is like an optometric supermarket -- doctors and patients everywhere, and the eyewear area is plastered with security cameras.
Not so much luck with the camera. Picked up a Firewire cable, but the camera is not transmitting video. After tweaking every possible option, my only remaining thought is that the camera will not send a monitor signal unless it's plugged in (?). On the bright side, while searching for the power cable, I found another cable that had been missing for months... but now can't find the power cable for the printer I want to give away. Hummm...
Stopped by the UC Berkeley Vision Center to get my glasses repaired. After another 8 hours of use, so far so good. The place is like an optometric supermarket -- doctors and patients everywhere, and the eyewear area is plastered with security cameras.
Not so much luck with the camera. Picked up a Firewire cable, but the camera is not transmitting video. After tweaking every possible option, my only remaining thought is that the camera will not send a monitor signal unless it's plugged in (?). On the bright side, while searching for the power cable, I found another cable that had been missing for months... but now can't find the power cable for the printer I want to give away. Hummm...
Lost and Found:
Found: A nearby optician who would adjust my new glasses. The lady there was quite thorough, going through several rounds of adjustments and even replacing the nose pads with thicker silicone ones "better for my narrow bridge". She wouldn't let me pay her anything afterwards, which made me feel a little awkward.
Lost: After nine hours of use, with glasses resting undisturbed on my head, one of the screws snapped and half the frame fell apart. Hopefully this was just due to stresses from the adjustment and is not indicative of more general quality problems.
Found: After several failed attempts, located a nifty fitted case for the PowerBook with Zach at the Apple Store in Emeryville. Their floor display awakened me to the fact that I could use any Firewire camera with iChat (for no good reason, I had been under the impression that you had to purchase the iSight). When I returned home, I quickly pulled the old digital camera out of the closet, dusted it off, and mounted it behind my desk.
Lost: The cord that connects the AC adapter to the camera. In the meantime, I figured I would recharge the battery and run it that way until I could find a replacement cord. Then I realized that I couldn't find the Firewire cable. Which was especially frustrating considering that my toolbox apparently contains every other cable, plug, and adapter in existence. On the upside, I did use the opportunity to sort through much of the junk that had accumulated in storage over the past few years.
It could be much worse. If this lady's claim is true (the article mentions a couple credibility-enhancing facts for this otherwise highly suspect claim):
Found: Sole winning numbers to the $162 million Mega Millions lottery jackpot, at odds of 135,145,920 to 1 against.
Lost: The ticket.
Found: A nearby optician who would adjust my new glasses. The lady there was quite thorough, going through several rounds of adjustments and even replacing the nose pads with thicker silicone ones "better for my narrow bridge". She wouldn't let me pay her anything afterwards, which made me feel a little awkward.
Lost: After nine hours of use, with glasses resting undisturbed on my head, one of the screws snapped and half the frame fell apart. Hopefully this was just due to stresses from the adjustment and is not indicative of more general quality problems.
Found: After several failed attempts, located a nifty fitted case for the PowerBook with Zach at the Apple Store in Emeryville. Their floor display awakened me to the fact that I could use any Firewire camera with iChat (for no good reason, I had been under the impression that you had to purchase the iSight). When I returned home, I quickly pulled the old digital camera out of the closet, dusted it off, and mounted it behind my desk.
Lost: The cord that connects the AC adapter to the camera. In the meantime, I figured I would recharge the battery and run it that way until I could find a replacement cord. Then I realized that I couldn't find the Firewire cable. Which was especially frustrating considering that my toolbox apparently contains every other cable, plug, and adapter in existence. On the upside, I did use the opportunity to sort through much of the junk that had accumulated in storage over the past few years.
It could be much worse. If this lady's claim is true (the article mentions a couple credibility-enhancing facts for this otherwise highly suspect claim):
Found: Sole winning numbers to the $162 million Mega Millions lottery jackpot, at odds of 135,145,920 to 1 against.
Lost: The ticket.
Sunday, January 04, 2004
Reich or Wrong?:
Tricky quiz. It would be mostly easy, but for the presence of Martin Luther. This particular detail of Reformation history was not discussed in my European history class; few more tidbits here.
The rest of the Betty Bowers -- America's Best Christian site is worth a look. Check out her ex-gay and Christian Crack Whore ministries.
The rest of the Betty Bowers -- America's Best Christian site is worth a look. Check out her ex-gay and Christian Crack Whore ministries.
Decision 2004:
It's going to be a long year. The worst part will be the constant reminder (and definition by our cultural and political leaders) of the values of mainstream America, a topic to which there will be plenty of opportunities to return later. Following close behind will be the reliably awful media coverage. For instance, we have today's news "analysis" of the Iowa Democratic debate leading on MSNBC, entitled (really) "Non-combustible Dean foils rivals -- Front-runner avoids flare-ups". We're talking about the leading Democratic candidate for the presidency of the United States, not a hemerrhoid. This anger meme has really taken hold:
Washington - The most remarkable aspect of the Democratic presidential contenders' debate in Johnston, Iowa, on Sunday was how much rhetorical kindling Howard Dean's rivals piled up, and how doggedly he kept himself from reaching the combustion point. ...No, the most remarkable aspect is how a reporter for a major news organization could write an analysis of a presidential debate almost completely devoid of any content related to the substance of the debate. Then there's the pseudopsychological insights:
Indeed, the race for the nomination may be coming down to a race against time between the primary schedule and Dean's combustion point.
This was the one point in the debate where Dean seemed on the verge of deep anger. ...And the Bushies haven't even started yet.
Then he added with a chill in his voice, ...
Returned:
Unexpected events put a serious damper on work progress today. Maxime's flight from Paris arrived this afternoon and Zach was responsible for picking him up from the airport. Zach informed me early this afternoon of two minor problems. First, while he remembered that Max was to arrive on British Airways from London today, he could not remember whether to meet the 1pm or 4pm arriving flight. This was easily solved by a generous application of patience. The second problem was somewhat less tractable -- Zach's car developed mechanical problems this morning. So, with the idea that Max would want to return to SF this evening, Zach BARTed down to SFO to meet him.
As it turns out, Max arrived on United from Paris at 3. Thankfully, Zach at least had the day and airport correct, and this was good enough. Max, however, wanted to return to Los Gatos, so I drove to SFO, picked them both up, then made the obligatory visit to the In 'N Out Burger. Then down to Los Gatos to drop off Max, back to SF to deliver Zach, then back to Berkeley. Not much productivity left in me by the time I got back.
Max brought back with him a copy of Les Dieux du Stade, just about the hottest DVD I have ever seen -- French pro rugby players frolicking around naked. I don't generally extract much enjoyment from this sort of thing, but... wow.
As it turns out, Max arrived on United from Paris at 3. Thankfully, Zach at least had the day and airport correct, and this was good enough. Max, however, wanted to return to Los Gatos, so I drove to SFO, picked them both up, then made the obligatory visit to the In 'N Out Burger. Then down to Los Gatos to drop off Max, back to SF to deliver Zach, then back to Berkeley. Not much productivity left in me by the time I got back.
Max brought back with him a copy of Les Dieux du Stade, just about the hottest DVD I have ever seen -- French pro rugby players frolicking around naked. I don't generally extract much enjoyment from this sort of thing, but... wow.
Saturday, January 03, 2004
Safeguarding the sanctity of marriage:
Thank goodness marriage is restricted to righteous straight people like Britney Spears:
The bride wore jeans and baseball cap, according to People.com, and had a hotel bellman walk her down the aisle.
People.com reported that Spears and Alexander journeyed to the Little White Wedding Chapel after a stop at the Ghostbar, a club in the Palms Casino Hotel. It reported that the chapel staff told the couple that they couldn't get married without a license, so they were reportedly taken by the limo to the Clark County Marriage Bureau office in the downtown Las Vegas courthouse. They applied for and were granted the marriage license, then driven back to the chapel, where they were married.
Random made up sh*t:
This is even more bizarre than the Air Force One/Iraq/British Airways story. A few months ago, the First Lady publicly read this embarassingly awful love poem from her husband:
Dear Laura,The only thing more bizarre is that the entire episode was apparently a fabrication. Regardless of what actually transpired, I don't understand (1) how any adult could write something so awful ("my lump in the bed"?); (2) once written, why anyone would decide to read it in public; and (3) once read, why anyone would later announce that they lied about the authorship. OK, maybe (3) would make sense for you or I, but for the First Lady in regard to the President?
Roses are red,
violets are blue
oh my lump in the bed,
how I've missed you.
Roses are redder,
bluer am I
seeing you kissed
by that charming French guy.
The dogs and the cat
they miss you too,
Barney's still mad you dropped him,
he ate your shoe.
The distance my dear
has been such a barrier,
next time you want an adventure,
just land on a carrier.
"News":
Oh my God! The story also contains this bit:
The White House has ruled out any role by three top administration officials in the leak: political adviser Karl Rove; Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby; and National Security Council official Eliot Abrams.If I remember correctly, when asked whether so-and-so was responsible for the leak, McClellan's response was always that nobody had done anything illegal -- an obvious non-denial with an escape hatch on technical grounds in case things get tough later. Looks like it did the trick.
Friday, January 02, 2004
