Category: my ramblings

SoulXchange. Sell your soul online!

I think I should let this one speak for itself.

Perl being a programming language, of course. I love writing my own perl script from scratch. I hate maintaining this other perl code that’s become so twisted, there are more names for the same variables than a Russian Novel.

… fill a mug with ice from the ice machine (which is also filtered) and set it on top of a coaster on top of your monitor. Monitors generate a lot of heat, and the coaster is so that you don’t fry your monitor with the condensation.

• Eat lunch
• Buy CD-Rs

Nine days after I mentioned that I’ve got just over 9000 hits, I’ve now got over 9500. Wow. I can’t imagine why you’d want to read this. Maybe it’s because I occasionally post crazy links like this.

• Some people have really, really poorly configured mail transfer agents. Pray for them.

This weekend was great. Saw Shrek (pretty good, non-motion captured characters really don’t move very naturally though) and Tomb Raider (I thought it was alright, if a little slow at times. Am I the only one?). Went out and watched drunk people make fools of themselves (I was the sober one, being the designated driver and all). Fiddled with DVD player.

This is a volunteer-run astronomy centre built on a former US DoD site. Apparently, then still have buildings full of DoD equipment welded to the floors. (Thanks Tony for the link)

Things you learn when administering a large mailing list:

• Some people can’t follow instructions to send an e-mail.
• Some people can’t use a web form.
• Some people don’t actually read e-mails, they just assume their contents.
• Some people are just downright rude and can’t compose a proper message asking for help, and instead choose to floow your mailbox with messages filled with “UNSUBSCRIBE UNSUBSCRIBE UNSUBSCRIBE” over and over again…

Luckily I’m nice, and just deal with these things. I could very easily not care. Listar makes things much easier. I love Listar.

If everyone on the subway would just take off their knapsacks and put them on the floor, the amount of available space would go up by at least 20%.

Gah. Overslept my alarm by 51 minutes this morning. Subsequently, rushed like a madman this morning, got to work at 20 after 9, and forgot my lunch. And I feel tired. I am going to bed early tonight or I’ll have to sleep all day.

Reading: Thomas More’s Utopia. I think I actually understand renaissance humour that was translated from Latin. I also seem to have some penschant for reading tough books (cf. Kafka)

Listening: to whatever I can burn for my Soul Player, as fast as I can 🙂

Witness the phoenix-like rebirts of NewtonTalk:

NewtonTalk.net

How come every time I watch George W Bush say something on TV, I hear the unmistakable sound of the palm of my hand striking my own forehead? I wonder…

There were other witty things to write here, I know I had them. Hrm. Oh. I moved desks at work today. Why? I dunno, I don’t ask questions, I just fix the Perl code and build enormous databases. My new desk is on a different floor, but is older, and therefore smaller. I brought my chair down though; they can take that over my dead body (or when my contract expires). I also found another phone and swapped parts so that I ended up with one phone with a working receiver switch and display and one with a messed up display and a broken receiver switch. No user servicible parts my ass.

I never knew writing programs with Apple’s MPW C compiler could be so much fun.

chuma is over 9000 hits on the front page.

Fortune for the Newton should be released imminently… tonight I should take the time to fix and maybe find some testers for RotateBook. And find Sandy an eMate 🙂

1. Dumb school officials

Well, okay, I only have one right now, but it seems like I see a link to a story like this every week now. I’ve come to the general conclusion that (high) schools are designed to oppress, not teach. A number of things have pointed me towards, including:

• Hearing about Sandy’s brother struggling for no good reason.
• Reading about all of the completely ludicrous decisions that school administrators make. In some cases, they’re forced to make these decisions because they must enforce some brain-dead school policy, often involving the phrase “zero-tolerance.”
• Learning that people who went to public schools (and still go there) are still steered towards conforming to either the curriculum or whatever the teacher thinks is “good” (I had the experience of going to an independant school instead)

That’s all for now. Gotta go.