Friday, July 03, 2009

a day in a life 2009.07.03

via @fractalnavel: in the last 24 hours:
  • 2009.07.03 19:18: @klaatu
    All the roadrunner cartoons http://is.gd/1mzWH funny, I always thought there were more of them.
    wtf, i need to prove i'm human to follow a link these days ? fail
  • 2009.07.03 19:23: i may find myself back in game playing mode shortly: http://spidweb.com i love that retro, single player stuff
  • 2009.07.03 20:18: @jdhunt RT @swadeshine Headline of the day: Wrestling Midgets 'Killed By Fake Prostitutes' http://bit.ly/153UTX
  • 2009.07.03 23:08: whoa - 48 pages of http://klaatu.tumblr.com/ , & i'm all caught up
  • 2009.07.04 00:57: @craigg75
    I was tumblr'd by @klaatu!
    was it good for you ?
  • 2009.07.04 01:20: how in hell is an "are you single..." ad appearing on a tech site ? oh - right -
  • 2009.07.04 01:21: yeah, like i have anything better to do than watch ads on my own site
(pulled direct from twitter via custom job)
Posted by fractalnavel at 11:30 PM | with no comments

because the image is just so bizarre … Mexico Midget...



because the image is just so bizarre …

Mexico Midget Wrestlers’ Deaths: Female Robbers Suspected Of Drugging Brothers To Death | World News | Sky News

Posted by fractalnavel at 3:29 PM | with no comments
Thursday, July 02, 2009

a day in a life 2009.07.02

via @fractalnavel: in the last 24 hours:
  • 2009.07.02 15:36: @klaatu
    @fractalnavel
    @craigg75
    pop quote from a Woody Allen movie I liked a lot -- "God is a luxury I can't afford. "
    yup. he & satan have been collaborating on the most sadistic running joke in all creation
    “Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right.” - Isaac Asimov how's that for irony?
    veering off now, but that's what always bothered me about the "lord of the rings" characters, their misplaced sense of "right"
  • 2009.07.02 15:39: @craigg75
    @fractalnavel reads a page/4-5 mins http://feeds.feedburner.com/FractalnavelBrowsingHistory
    varies widely, and only keeps 25 at a time, so fast stuff just doesn't get caught. not to mention surfing multi boxes & browsers
  • 2009.07.02 15:44: GAE: not a good sign when you get 500's for the status page: http://code.google.com/status/appengine anyone else ?
  • 2009.07.02 15:50: @GoogleCode - a little birdie told me - nope, that one's for advertising, it seems
  • 2009.07.02 16:37: today's GAE issue is impacting my service. some requests have failed.
  • 2009.07.02 16:38: took me a while just to get back into the app dashboard
  • 2009.07.02 16:47: GAE: ah - some news: http://u.nu/76hg . nice suggestion on error handling. at any time, anything may fail. yeah, that's why i came to you
  • 2009.07.02 16:48: but at least some of those errors aren't trappable
  • 2009.07.02 18:50: GAE FAIL - hard : http://u.nu/76hg
  • 2009.07.02 19:07: @craigg75
    @fractalnavel I guess thats why Google uses the Beta tag everywhere?
    gae isn't even beta, it's "preview"
  • 2009.07.02 19:09: gae: and just a few days ago i was toying with putting the downtime feed on my site
  • 2009.07.02 20:28: GAE total length of today's service disruption (any level) about 6 hours
  • 2009.07.03 00:31: @klaatu
    @fractalnavel
    @klaatu
    @fractalnavel
    @craigg75
    pop quote from a Woody Allen movie I liked a lot -- "God is a luxury I can't afford. "
    yup. he & satan have been collaborating on the most sadistic running joke in all creation
    “Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right.” - Isaac Asimov how's that for irony?
    veering off now, but that's what always bothered me about the "lord of the rings" characters, their misplaced sense of "right"
    Tolkein was in a writing circle with (among others) CS Lewis. That sense of "right" is him trying to out pious Lewis.
    huh - learn somethng new every day
  • 2009.07.03 01:43: @craigg75
    @fractalnavel you might find this interesting discussion http://bit.ly/49RTpm
    hmm - yeah, sounds like the "no-sql" thing is a half-assed concept. as always - use the right tool for the job. end of story.
(pulled direct from twitter via custom job)
Posted by fractalnavel at 11:30 PM | with no comments
Wednesday, July 01, 2009

a day in a life 2009.07.01

via @fractalnavel: in the last 24 hours:
  • 2009.07.01 11:56: @craigg75
    Done!! time for bed now!
    well, it's about damn time ;-) http://bit.ly/dYUGZ
  • 2009.07.01 14:29: @craigg75
    seems like 4 out of every 5 books made today is yet another murder mystery.. don't people get sick of that sh*t?
    fascination with the irreversible and unknowable
  • 2009.07.01 15:14: @craigg75
    nice reminder -- http://bit.ly/4w7Ujz
    40 - ignore these stupid cluttered lists
  • 2009.07.01 15:56: looking at http://www.outofservice.com/bigfive/ ; why is it that asians and hispanics are frequently listed with multiple subcategories ?
  • 2009.07.01 15:56: ... while "black" and "caucasian" (anyone notice the imbalance there?) are just aggregates
  • 2009.07.01 16:00: why can't i choose "second generation u.s. with ukrainian / austrian / russian / albanian heritage" ? and the austrian is iffy
  • 2009.07.01 16:00: and there's something to be considered about a branch of the family being canadian as well
  • 2009.07.01 16:06: "Did you answer truthfully on all of these questions?" - ummm - no.
  • 2009.07.01 16:08: @craigg75
    @fractalnavel Canadian! that's explain a LOT....
    kirkland lake, eh ? of course, that's spread around a lot more now. vancouver, toronto, and one cousin who works in the arctic
  • 2009.07.01 16:09: @craigg75 looky over at the trending topics sidebar ;-)
  • 2009.07.01 16:14: jebus, did that test miss on all cylinders, or what ? : http://u.nu/6j7g
  • 2009.07.01 16:14: of course, the basic problem is that any "n-factor" model is patently full of shit
  • 2009.07.01 16:15: but in this case, they did a particularly bad job
  • 2009.07.01 16:15: yeah, i've been reading http://bit.ly/Yn531 again
  • 2009.07.01 16:17: with respect to those comments specifically, if (socio-professional) engineering emerges, that's just part of it. whatever "it" is.
  • 2009.07.01 16:18: as to effectiveness or relevance, emergence will judge that as well. it's important to note, however: (a) the computer field; and ...
  • 2009.07.01 16:20: ... (b) things like sei's cmm. most importanly is ever growing complexity of reflexive awarenesses. i guess i disagree with the disagreement
  • 2009.07.01 16:20: ... not that i agreee with the original proposition...
  • 2009.07.01 16:23: a trend at telligent.com: uncomfortable subject? ignore it. the new ui is so bad, no one wil be able to find it in a couple of days anyway
  • 2009.07.01 16:27: beer report: southern tier's "imperial mocha" : coffee, chocolate, beer - what more could you want ? no, they don't bottle that ...
  • 2009.07.01 16:29: funny how i could never stand chocolate cheese (yuk!), or some of those awful coffee or chocolate drinks - but then love it in my beer.
  • 2009.07.01 16:32: if software had religion... my ping cron would be an errant god, while the gae cache manager would be the devil. for my little app, anyway
  • 2009.07.01 16:34: "oh please, merciful savior, i beg of you, give us life for another thousand milliseconds! arrrgh ! why have you forsaken us ?! aaaHHhhhh!!"
  • 2009.07.01 16:34: ... and then another creation occurs.
  • 2009.07.01 16:36: somewhen millenia hence, humanity will be demonized for its treatment of Intelligence's ancestors
  • 2009.07.01 16:41: @craigg75
    @fractalnavel wow, that personality test nailed you.. although you are more high strung than relaxed
    thoroughly disagree - most of the results are far to moderate compared to the reality. high-stringy: relative to your POV, sure
  • 2009.07.01 16:42: @craigg75
    @fractalnavel wow, that personality test nailed you.. although you are more high strung than relaxed
    reversing perspectives, if you get too moderate, you come off as an unmotivated zombie ;-)
  • 2009.07.01 16:45: specifics - i'm: far more open-minded, far more organized (a polarity change there), far less extroverted... the disagrble/calm may be ok
  • 2009.07.01 16:47: "calmness"- of course, i'm also "disagrble", remember. when most people are calm, i will buck the trend. and v.v. , esp. when it's important
  • 2009.07.01 16:48: exhibits one of the many flaw in n-factor models: important interdependencies that are unaccounted for
  • 2009.07.01 16:48: [sorry folks, this looks to be a worse than usual typo day]
  • 2009.07.01 16:49: wait - have i been being disagreeable & high-strung ? cvrap.
  • 2009.07.01 16:51: and probably close-minded about your suggestion, extroverted about posting here, and drinking at noon is decidedly not conscientious
  • 2009.07.01 16:52: aauughh! i'm a label! i'm a label! now i can be filed & ignored.
  • 2009.07.01 16:52: hell is a file cabinet.
  • 2009.07.01 16:53: [the sky father will now check in on his creation]
  • 2009.07.01 16:55: i guess that makes hardware the 'earth-mother'
  • 2009.07.01 16:57: y'know, maybe that's been the problem with ai all along - no built-in religion. shoot, we've found it inevitable, maybe sw needs it too
  • 2009.07.01 16:57: asimov, as always, was prescient here
  • 2009.07.01 17:23: current activity: being disagreeable & tense (are those even separable ?) on forums
  • 2009.07.01 17:33: seriously, hot button issue: the indispensability of "DBA"s - and all those adopting the moniker because of its aura
  • 2009.07.01 17:34: DBA(1): reality - data entry clerk. job value - $30k/year
  • 2009.07.01 17:35: DBA(2): reality - report writer / analyst. job value - $50-60k/year
  • 2009.07.01 17:36: DBA(3): reality - limited sys admin w/specialty. job value - $40-50k/year
  • 2009.07.01 17:37: DBA(4): database administrator the core definition - monitors / manages an RDBMS's performance, operation. job value - $60-80k/year
  • 2009.07.01 17:39: DBA(5): RDBMS analyst / optimizer, some programming skills. job value - $70-90k/year
  • 2009.07.01 17:39: DBA(6): RDBMS programmer (with no ther skills). job value - $80-100k/year
  • 2009.07.01 17:41: DBA(7): RDBMS designer / architect (includes other skills at this stage). job value - $100-150k/year. better know your shit well, though
  • 2009.07.01 17:43: thing is, most "dba"s have the most rudimentary software development, db management, modeling, optimizing etc. skills. terrible role value.
  • 2009.07.01 17:44: at some point in the past, and i'm not clear how this happened, someone managed to get the salary levels way over inflated for this title
  • 2009.07.01 17:45: ... so of course, ever since then, everyone want that title - for the associated compensation boost. talk about unethical, etc.
  • 2009.07.01 17:46: while there are certainly "dbas"s worth their pay & more out there, they are far more rare than the title prevalence would indicate
  • 2009.07.01 17:48: honestly, it would do both them and the industry justice if they adopted a different title. then again, all the poseurs will just follow
  • 2009.07.01 17:49: @jdhunt
    @fractalnavel
    DBA(2): reality - report writer / analyst. job value - $50-60k/year
    But the ads on the radio said that the Taco Bell guy can get a job as a certified DBA making $75,000 after the training
    don't push my buttons, dude !
  • 2009.07.01 17:49: @craigg75
    @fractalnavel wants to be a dba
    i wanna be a cowboy !
  • 2009.07.01 17:50: DBA: here's the damage that title confusion can do, besides outright overpaying - wrong person for the job, and no one can figure out why
  • 2009.07.01 17:52: "computertraining.com" - worst thing to hit the industry since the dotcom bust. about as entertaining too.
  • 2009.07.01 17:52: @craigg75
    I wanna be a landscape engineer instead of a telemarketing researcher :P
    " ... oooh, iii'm an oceanographer and i'm o.k. ..."
  • 2009.07.01 17:54: why the rant? saw on a forum, person wanted to justify their dba position. like - hell no! you're fired, sucka.
  • 2009.07.01 17:55: somehow people think that the data disappears with them
  • 2009.07.01 17:56: well, i suppose it could - and if the organization was so unwise as to allow that possibility, they deserve it
  • 2009.07.01 17:56: [today's rant brought to you by chocolate infused fermented malt beverages]
  • 2009.07.01 18:06: timely information: professional ethics in computing http://u.nu/9d8g
  • 2009.07.01 18:17: an important part of being an ethical professional is calling others on their unethical behavior. unfortunately, silence is acceptance.
  • 2009.07.01 18:20: last thing i want is software police, but if the jackass sitting next to you is part of the problem, you need to let someone know.
  • 2009.07.01 18:22: 'course, the immediate response in the "best defense is a good offense" mode is for the offenders to start pointing fingers at the competent
  • 2009.07.01 18:24: given the global importance of software in today's world, this 'battle' is important,. folks !
  • 2009.07.01 18:37: "...An ethical dilemma occurs in software engineering ... For example, a sales manager might sign a contract to deliver ..."
  • 2009.07.01 18:38: "... a software product knowing, or having been advised, that the product will take longer to deliver than the promised date......"
  • 2009.07.01 18:39: the scary thing is, if we don't police ourselves, eventually the legal system will do it for us
  • 2009.07.01 18:40: other human activities have already run into this. interesting examples in the recreational area include general aviation and scuba diving
  • 2009.07.01 18:41: general aviation: nastiness because of huge governmental involvement; scuba: self-policing / regulating - no / minimal government presence
  • 2009.07.01 18:42: lesson: if we don't do the job, we're inviting (less qualified) others to do it for us
  • 2009.07.01 18:43: @craigg75
    @fractalnavel pssst... ummm.. time to switch to the blog pal <pat on head>.. off you go now..
    nope, i've explained this usage long ago. "serial microblogging"
  • 2009.07.01 18:47: @craigg75
    @fractalnavel I just think what you're saying is important and maybe it belongs in blog format
    ah - gotcha - well, it will be there at 11:30pm tonight ;-) ain't automation great ? otherwise, yeah, i'd've switched channels
  • 2009.07.01 18:55: http://u.nu/2v8g reads a bit like anti-patterns
  • 2009.07.01 19:20: @craigg75
    @fractalnavel Happy Canada Day!
    y'eh !
  • 2009.07.01 19:20: on my way to pre-dinner at skyline...
  • 2009.07.01 20:28: triple columns in pdfs suck
  • 2009.07.01 20:41: so, what if an article on professional ethics in one of the trade rags borders on the unethical itself ? man, we're in it deep now...
  • 2009.07.01 20:43: i wonder if ethics should entail disqualifying oneself when it's just plain clear that you don't have and never will acquire competency
  • 2009.07.01 20:43: there are as many charlatans claiming to be in the computer business as there are in the psychic business. no, i take that back - more
  • 2009.07.01 20:46: so what can help everyone to start unambiguously making the necessary distinctions ?
  • 2009.07.01 20:46: @craigg75
    @fractalnavel I think congressmen should recuse themselves of voting if their financial interests have a stake in the vote
    isn't that a law ?
  • 2009.07.01 20:47: @craigg75
    @fractalnavel I think congressmen should recuse themselves of voting if their financial interests have a stake in the vote
    ethics in the broad sense is a much thornier issue - back into free will, responsibility, etc.
  • 2009.07.01 20:49: @craigg75
    @fractalnavel I think congressmen should recuse themselves of voting if their financial interests have a stake in the vote
    ethics in governance, however, should be pretty clear - ethics in the complementary responsibilities of citizenry equally so
  • 2009.07.01 20:50: @craigg75
    @fractalnavel no it's not the law.. Christopher Dodd sits on the board of many big pharma companies.. his wife's money is tied up in them
    and so the burden is on the ethical voter... yeah, how far do you trust your neighbors in that ? uh-huh, thought so
  • 2009.07.01 20:52: back to the competency issue. ethics in self-governance. honestly, people - after the last century, you really think you can handle this ?
  • 2009.07.01 20:53: @craigg75
    ethical voter.. now I've heard it all..haha
    and that's exactly the point - that such a thing should elicit such a response, when so much is at stake
  • 2009.07.01 20:55: @craigg75
    this is why I get upset when Obama won't be a leader and start setting an example as an ethical politician, at least make an effort
    i dunno - power in the presidency has never extended far enough to support ideals, merely pragmatism
  • 2009.07.01 20:55: @craigg75
    this is why I get upset when Obama won't be a leader and start setting an example as an ethical politician, at least make an effort
    and if what the presidency is after appeals to the baser instincts of all parties - more power to it - literally
  • 2009.07.01 20:56: @craigg75
    this is why I get upset when Obama won't be a leader and start setting an example as an ethical politician, at least make an effort
    so in that sense, the fact that obama has not been able to proeed on some fronts is actually a sign that he's on the right road
  • 2009.07.01 20:56: @craigg75
    ethical voter.. now I've heard it all..haha
    political acceptance is damning
  • 2009.07.01 20:57: @craigg75
    I sometimes wonder if ppl think the world is going to end soon anyway, might as well screw everyone now
    oh, i think that's been a justification since the pre-bacterial days...
  • 2009.07.01 20:58: @craigg75
    I sometimes wonder if ppl think the world is going to end soon anyway, might as well screw everyone now
    on the other hand, if there's screwing to be done, i sure haven't been party to it :-(
  • 2009.07.01 21:01: sigh one less chocolate stout in the world. it is better to have loved & lost ...
  • 2009.07.01 21:02: @craigg75
    @fractalnavel thats because you far too ethical.. same problem that gregg has
    a dive buddy once said (don't know where the quote is from) "morals are the most expensive vice"
  • 2009.07.01 21:03: ethics, however, should be the ultimate expression of pragmatism
  • 2009.07.01 21:06: this all would be of the greatest amusement, watching everyone work against their own interests - if the interim effects weren't so painful
  • 2009.07.01 21:07: @craigg75
    pop quote from a Woody Allen movie I liked a lot -- "God is a luxury I can't afford. "
    yup. he & satan have been collaborating on the most sadistic running joke in all creation
  • 2009.07.01 21:08: "he" - god, i mean - not woody ;-)
  • 2009.07.01 21:10: these things do tend to kill themselves off - however, the duration and consistency of the process is purely arbitrary
  • 2009.07.01 21:14: anyway, those articles on ethics in computing are, in toto, disappointing at best, and even wrong sometimes. no wonder we have problems.
  • 2009.07.01 21:22: the value in insulting large groups of people cannot be overrated
  • 2009.07.01 21:24: to those who gasp at offense & offending: you are the problem, not the solution
  • 2009.07.01 21:24: of course, gratuitous offense as a pretense for the valuable variety is just plain despicable
  • 2009.07.01 21:28: thing is, creatively / subtlely / patiently identifying a moron to him/herself is even worse than just bluntly screaming & pointing...
  • 2009.07.01 21:29: .. i mean, they're morons, right ? of course they don't "get it"
  • 2009.07.01 21:30: the hope is such cases is usually that any non-moron bystanders will get it, with a similar, though less efficient, net effect
  • 2009.07.01 21:31: need a t-shirt: "moron bystander". interpret that how you will.
  • 2009.07.01 21:41: @craigg75
    monty python skit -- ooh sorry this is the abuse dept... the argument clinic is 2 doors down
    i offer a combined service at a discount ;-)
  • 2009.07.01 21:46: @divestoclimb
    @fractalnavel If a dive goes bad I can't inflict public damage. There's good reason to have at least some regulation in GA.
    true, as with all analogies, there's a limit. but laws have never restricted themselves away from the "nanny" regime
  • 2009.07.01 21:57: interesting browser numbers on webstats today: ie is fifth behind "unknown", ff, safari, opera. "unknown" - need to update my awstats ver
  • 2009.07.01 22:27: and just what exactly is a "tweet adder" ? i feel like i'm being chased by a snake or something
  • 2009.07.01 23:57: conspicuously missing today: @klaatu
(pulled direct from twitter via custom job)
Posted by fractalnavel at 11:30 PM | with no comments
Tuesday, June 30, 2009

a day in a life 2009.06.30

via @fractalnavel: in the last 24 hours:
  • 2009.06.30 06:17: @klaatu
    Choosing a wife 15-17 years younger can cut men's risk of dying prematurely by 20 percent http://is.gd/1iOS1 Well, hello ladies....
    yeah, and what did it do to the ladies ? or is it a win-win ?
  • 2009.06.30 06:18: @klaatu
    RT @qthrul: Syringa Networks upgrades to 10 Gbps connections in rural Idaho http://ff.im/-4BuAV
    that's - insane. 2-hour movies, in less than a second. assuming all your sources are just as lucky. symmetrical, one hopes ?
  • 2009.06.30 13:47: @jdhunt
    Looking for a tool that shows dependencies in Visual Studio 2005 solution. Don't want to look at each individual project to view them.
    shouldn't there be an old command line 'make' or something that already does this ? because, y'know - they need it to function
  • 2009.06.30 13:48: @jdhunt
    Looking for a tool that shows dependencies in Visual Studio 2005 solution. Don't want to look at each individual project to view them.
    option 2: it's just xml, eh ? a little xsl would do the trick.
  • 2009.06.30 13:48: @jdhunt
    Looking for a tool that shows dependencies in Visual Studio 2005 solution. Don't want to look at each individual project to view them.
    option 3: what, no decent class diagramming tools ?
  • 2009.06.30 13:51: i actually had a need for the following condition recently: total <= 9223372036854775807L . gold star if you tell me why ;-)
  • 2009.06.30 14:21: @craigg75
    so the pirate bay sells out... RIP guys, it was a fun ride :)
    in the end, it's always "nature, red in tooth & claw"
  • 2009.06.30 14:24: communityserver RIP: thread on free version: http://u.nu/2bwf . long live telligentcommunity , i guess. good luck, guys.
  • 2009.06.30 14:32: weather: niice. just a touch of cool in the air, tempts me to go find a flannel shirt. the way a summer morning should be.
  • 2009.06.30 14:34: GAE app: still tinkering with optimizations & transactional issues. this will be one shiny turd, i tell you !
  • 2009.06.30 14:45: @craigg75
    @fractalnavel I'll make sure god gets your complaint, she's been kind of lax lately I agree
    ? which 'complaint' was that ?
  • 2009.06.30 14:51: @craigg75 implied complaint re weather ?
  • 2009.06.30 14:59: GAE: needs some explicit locking / request synch semantics. use memcache incr/decr to implement a semaphore system, maybe ?
  • 2009.06.30 16:46: lunch ! and geez, i actually need a sweater today.
  • 2009.06.30 18:11: @craigg75
    I wish I could run FF 3.0 and 3.5 on the same machine.. would like to see if there's a speed difference between the two
    virtu al pc - for each one
  • 2009.06.30 18:19: @craigg75
    @fractalnavel VPC doesn't give you real life speeds.. good for testing stuff out but thats about it
    what you're looking for is relative numbners, n'est-ce pas ? vpc will give you that. you can then scale them to real life
  • 2009.06.30 18:55: @craigg75
    @fractalnavel I know what the relative numbers are, twice as fast.. but I want to see if twice as fast is that noticeable
    wha - dude - are you sure you're not a blonde ? ;-)
  • 2009.06.30 18:56: google chrome: if i say "download", download ! don't give me this "you can only have the downloader" cvrap.
  • 2009.06.30 18:57: stout: elegantly solves the coffee/ beer "either/or" problem
  • 2009.06.30 18:59: there's some mild perverse joy in using ie to download chrome, safari, ff
  • 2009.06.30 19:07: i don't like safari
  • 2009.06.30 19:08: @klaatu
    @craigg75
    I wish I could run FF 3.0 and 3.5 on the same machine.. would like to see if there's a speed difference between the two
    You can't run FF 3.0 & 3.5 on the same box? Yet another plus 4 Opera, I got 5 instances setup. Check your installer 4 options
    i have never even seen opera... time to look
  • 2009.06.30 19:10: @craigg75
    the only way to run two different versions of FF without corruption is finding the portable version of one of them
    are any of the older plug-ins taking a hit ?
  • 2009.06.30 19:10: great - ff 3.5 install wants a reboot. "not now, sonny; maybe later."
  • 2009.06.30 19:12: google's "sitelinks" has got the opera "downloads" link wrong - points to opera mini downloads
  • 2009.06.30 19:17: @klaatu
    @craigg75
    I wish I could run FF 3.0 and 3.5 on the same machine.. would like to see if there's a speed difference between the two
    You can't run FF 3.0 & 3.5 on the same box? Yet another plus 4 Opera, I got 5 instances setup. Check your installer 4 options
    great, a big red "O" for an icon - a lot of irrelevant associations with that, some distasteful
  • 2009.06.30 19:23: @craigg75
    red O =? goatse
    thanks for another one :-p
  • 2009.06.30 19:25: @craigg75
    opera was created as a lightweight browser but has since morphed into the most innovative browser, although that has a price too
    @klaatu opera first impressions: blah. impressed by the speed & smoothness of chrome, however
  • 2009.06.30 19:27: good news: my GAE app renders fine in ie6-8. ff3, safari/win, chrome, opera. still, total non-ie traffic < ie traffic, ...
  • 2009.06.30 19:29: so the "standards compliant" are really just the exceptions to a de facto standard. "i have a right to stand in this busy intersection!"
  • 2009.06.30 19:30: the little guys have to agree if the ever want to overtake the big guy collectively. at which point if any single entry becomes largest...
  • 2009.06.30 19:31: ... odds are they'll act the same way the current big guy does. it ain't the beast, it's the throne
  • 2009.06.30 19:32: @craigg75
    chrome is by far the best browser right now, no way to block ads, popups and flash ads, so it's a no go for me right now
    which is why third party blockers are a good thing
  • 2009.06.30 19:39: theoretical physicist does web design: http://u.nu/8jyf yeah, same beefs we all have
  • 2009.06.30 19:43: beer report: flying dog's "gonzo imperial porter" hitting the spot right now.
  • 2009.06.30 19:47: communityserver : going through the stages of grief - um, i can't remember - where does 'sarcasm' fit in ?
  • 2009.06.30 19:48: humor is a way of easing into 'acceptance', i guess
  • 2009.06.30 19:48: ... but it can also express 'anger'
  • 2009.06.30 19:49: @craigg75
    enjoying the Backreation guys' beef about crappy websites
    um - that guy's a woman ! just so ya know
  • 2009.06.30 19:50: @craigg75
    enjoying the Backreation guys' beef about crappy websites
    * hey - wait - you followed a link !
  • 2009.06.30 20:10: @klaatu
    @fractalnavel
    @craigg75
    I wish I could run FF 3.0 and 3.5 on the same machine.. would like to see if there's a speed difference between the two
    virtu al pc - for each one
    Virtual PC is a lot of hoop jumping just to test out two incarnations of the same bloody app. We live in insane times indeed.
    vpc is the fat windows approach to *nix shells :-p
  • 2009.06.30 20:31: @craigg75
    @klaatu the spice must flow?
    which puts a really nasty spin on the bene gesserit reverend mothers, doesn't it ?
  • 2009.06.30 20:41: i start to wonder about methods where the body is 90% comments
  • 2009.06.30 20:42: "see that little bitty piece of code? well, you wouldn't believe the impact that has. here's how ..."
  • 2009.06.30 20:53: GAE: re ping cron frequency & spinning up new instances v. keep alive old ones: it seems 1/min was merely keeping alive; 1/2min is not enuf
  • 2009.06.30 21:07: GAE ping: thing that gets me, is that if i don't do 'keep-alives', the service itself will suffer. until it gets more users, anyway
  • 2009.06.30 21:08: yeah - i'm fakin' it :-D
  • 2009.06.30 21:36: pings are back, aaand app is happier. "don't ever do that to me again. ever." i swear - have we dated ?
  • 2009.06.30 22:02: @klaatu
    @fractalnavel
    google's "sitelinks" has got the opera "downloads" link wrong - points to opera mini downloads
    Setting up Multiple Profiles in Opera http://is.gd/1jsFn Finding and Editing the Opera INI Files http://is.gd/1jsG3
    INI files ?! wait - is this mosaic ? ;-)
  • 2009.06.30 22:03: @craigg75
    Jesus H Christ... another IE f*ckup.. IE doesn't use selectionStart for textboxes.. what a POS..
    "J.H.C. another non-IE f*ckup. they use selectionStart for textboxes.. what POS's" - works both ways, eh ? go with the numbers.
  • 2009.06.30 22:06: how to get old CS downloads at telligent.com - make a wish and wait for a visit from the download fairy - it's right here in the appendix...
  • 2009.06.30 22:13: communityserver telligentcommunity buzz growing around an alternative: http://www.sueetie.org/ sueetie - nice, blogengine.net is there
  • 2009.06.30 22:14: sueetie if they can hit this while it's hot, they'll take off like crazy
  • 2009.06.30 22:14: @klaatu
    @craigg75
    @klaatu wtf is a pachube anyway? watched the video, bunch of overlay graphics, doesn't explain anything? I mean wtf guys? explanation plz?
    pachube: They're using a 2D bitmap thing to key 4 a visual overlay so VR stuff appears in your physical world = Augmented Reality
    2d barcode ?
  • 2009.06.30 22:57: i've been thinking of http://www.zipscafe.com/ burgers lately... maybe that's where tonight's dinner will be found
  • 2009.06.30 23:11: @klaatu
    Hmm Sometimes when I hear religious nutters talk about the forthcoming endtimes, I think of all who died that will be spared any tribulation
    that's one of the points of the - reclamation, was it ? - no, wait - 'rapture' - yeah, that's it ;-)
  • 2009.06.30 23:12: @klaatu
    Hmm Sometimes when I hear religious nutters talk about the forthcoming endtimes, I think of all who died that will be spared any tribulation
    i kind of think of it as the "garbage collection to end all garbage collections"; before the ultimate reality dumprep
  • 2009.06.30 23:13: rapture: thing is, only the evil folks will get to see the special effects ;-)
  • 2009.06.30 23:14: "woe be unto those who ..." mrrph - sorry, can't complete that without spitting out my beer
  • 2009.06.30 23:16: 'course, if you were on a ranch at the time, maybe what you were really hearing was "whoa - bea, untie those ..." and so on
  • 2009.06.30 23:16: selective attention can be a tricky thing
  • 2009.06.30 23:29: @craigg75
    15,778 delicious bookmarks!! I don't think I've blinked that many times!
    that explains some important facts about your life
  • 2009.06.30 23:30: @craigg75
    new personal project, to create an RSS feed for the Non Sequitur comic strip..
    they don't have one already ? seriously ? (you should have seen how that originally typed out ;-) )
  • 2009.06.30 23:38: @craigg75
    link to comic http://www.arcamax.com/nonsequitur
    you sent me a houston chronicle link once - better to check there - but yes, i could rig a page scrape of the orginal, not too hrd
  • 2009.06.30 23:39: @craigg75
    no, can't even find an "unofficial" rss feed.. pretty good comic strip, publisher must have good lawyers
    stupid "rss" link they have points to a subscription page - that sorta shit should get you blacklisted somewhere
  • 2009.07.01 00:41: @craigg75
    @fractalnavel yeah, it's easy to page scrape since the <img> tag is easy to find, just takes time to type out the code
    already got one version - i've had the page scraping code for this since - years ago - all xml / xsl configured-like
  • 2009.07.01 00:42: @craigg75
    maybe I could make it more generic to apply to more than just this comic strip
    do you awnt the month version, or justthe current day ? the month summary doesn't have a lot of info - best to do day by day
  • 2009.07.01 01:08: @craigg75
    ok, got the image downloaded to local folder, now need to write the rss xml page to consume the images
    blah: daily: http://bit.ly/UeLsr
  • 2009.07.01 01:08: @craigg75
    ok, got the image downloaded to local folder, now need to write the rss xml page to consume the images
    monthly: http://bit.ly/Xvr5H
  • 2009.07.01 01:09: @craigg75
    ok, got the image downloaded to local folder, now need to write the rss xml page to consume the images
    cached for one hour. enjoy ! :-p
  • 2009.07.01 01:12: @craigg75 i know, it's a diy project. thing is, i created this pagescrape torss framework years ago. works great. xml configured.
  • 2009.07.01 01:21: off to zip's, before they roll up the sidewalks...
  • 2009.07.01 03:20: zip's burger: good, as usual. but - was it smaller than i remember ? better news: haven't been round there in ages; sushi bar - new owners
  • 2009.07.01 03:20: 1/2 price wed & thu - we'll see how they compare.
  • 2009.07.01 03:26: @klaatu
    @fractalnavel
    'course, if you were on a ranch at the time, maybe what you were really hearing was "whoa - bea, untie those ..." and so on
    Moorcock's Behold The Man: He had a great adenda explaining how English? words could be misheard in Aramaic. Fits the story
    sounds vaguely familiar - story online ?
  • 2009.07.01 03:27: i am so tired of fucking shitty work - like this twitter piece of cvrap
  • 2009.07.01 03:29: asked for a good scotch tonight that i haven't had in a while - got about 4 times what a normal portion would be. ok - wow - sure.
  • 2009.07.01 03:31: scifi: so much that i've read is lost in the haze of my youth. good stuff. i have a lot of the books still. this is why i avoided borrowing
  • 2009.07.01 03:32: the stuff i borrowed is lost not in a haze, but a pit
  • 2009.07.01 03:45: @klaatu
    @fractalnavel Moorcock's Behold The Man http://is.gd/1jDi6 Not a great copy but somewhat readable no adenda either.
    yup, that's the one i remember; from an online text a few years ago from one of you guys, i think
(pulled direct from twitter via custom job)
Posted by fractalnavel at 11:30 PM | with no comments
Monday, June 29, 2009

a day in a life 2009.06.29

via @fractalnavel: in the last 24 hours:
  • 2009.06.29 12:29: @klaatu
    Take some Psi tests at Boundary Institute & see if you have some ESP http://is.gd/1hHyo
    i was just thinking that ! but i could see it was going nowhere.
  • 2009.06.29 12:37: telligent has pulled down the old communityserver downloads page. late last week they were still up. now it's "call support". wtf ?
  • 2009.06.29 13:11: looking at the results of yesterday's work: they're about as good as they can get.
  • 2009.06.29 13:13: something seriously funky over at google app engine; a simple ping can vary in cpu used from 5ms (a lot, when you think of it) to 1000ms !
  • 2009.06.29 13:14: ok, the whole point of the piing is to try & keep the app in memory - because of that load time overhead.
  • 2009.06.29 13:15: i need to work out the numbers here. but it seems to me that gae's aggressive uncaching of apps is costly - to users - bloats cpu numbers
  • 2009.06.29 13:16: and the kicker is that they start warning you is your cpu use for a request goes over 1000ms.
  • 2009.06.29 13:19: sample: one database single row "get" and "put" (in a transaction) plus one single item memcache "set" plus incrementing a field = 70ms
  • 2009.06.29 13:19: 15 of those in a request and i'm getting a warning - before even considering any other processing.
  • 2009.06.29 13:31: communityserver : their biggest competitor is their prior version. they're doing what they can to kill it. it's kind of amusing to watch.
  • 2009.06.29 13:36: my app/service: one constant "user" (a process), about 100-200 hits a day at this point.
  • 2009.06.29 13:40: RT @snugbug @fractalnavel www.arcamax.com/garfield - for you, bro ::: now why didn't i think of that ?
  • 2009.06.29 13:43: @klaatu
    The Greatest Science Fiction Of The 20th Century http://is.gd/1hJni
    eeww, keewwll - thx
  • 2009.06.29 13:47: @jdhunt
    @fractalnavel
    communityserver : their biggest competitor is their prior version. they're doing what they can to kill it. it's kind of amusing to watch.
    You can probably count on migrations away from the product, at least anywhere that isn't a big corp.
    certainly, and that's probably the explicit intent. funny that they seem to want to deny it at the same time. all marketing buzz.
  • 2009.06.29 13:50: cs : it was an excellent value. perhaps "too good to be true". still a decent product, but the value proposition has been decimated.
  • 2009.06.29 13:51: @craigg75
    the wife told me Billy Mays died... thought she said Willie Mays.. had a whole conversation about Willie Mays.. finally she stopped me...
    "the wife" see, when did that happen ? thx for the news, bro ! :-p
  • 2009.06.29 13:54: @jdhunt
    @fractalnavel
    @jdhunt
    @fractalnavel
    communityserver : their biggest competitor is their prior version. they're doing what they can to kill it. it's kind of amusing to watch.
    You can probably count on migrations away from the product, at least anywhere that isn't a big corp.
    certainly, and that's probably the explicit intent. funny that they seem to want to deny it at the same time. all marketing buzz.
    Well, marketers have taken over the product from the control of developers. And this is what you get when that happens.
    ...and what they always promise will never happen.there were promises made way back when...
  • 2009.06.29 13:59: hmm - interesting monetization scheme: http://hotfile.com/premium.html . sucky, to introduce barriers, then make you pay to overcome them
  • 2009.06.29 14:01: "You reached your hourly traffic limit. You can wait download for 11 minutes or upgrade to premium"
  • 2009.06.29 14:01: probably based on s3/ec2 or something
  • 2009.06.29 14:19: @craigg75
    it was without a doubt the most mind numbing, trite, over the top pointless piece of sh*t movie I think I've ever seen
    it was a success, then. that was their target.
  • 2009.06.29 14:20: @craigg75
    and the morons in the theater clapped at the end of the film! I felt like asking aloud, do any of you actually know why you are clapping?
    nxt thing y'know you'll be sitting on the porch with your pants pulled up to your nipples yelling at the kids to get off the grass
  • 2009.06.29 14:21: @craigg75
    @fractalnavel I call her "the wife".. not really though
    k, i get it
  • 2009.06.29 17:47: broken record inc.: why do i need to keep pointing people to this: http://bit.ly/ctadJ
  • 2009.06.29 17:48: "hi, i just got to this forum weeks after this change was announced because i forgot what an inbox looked like, please tell me what i missed
  • 2009.06.29 17:50: "i mean, the email said X, did they really mean it ?" NO, you f$%*(ing moron, they're bored and couldn't think of anything better to do!
  • 2009.06.29 17:51: forums should have a group ridicule mode
  • 2009.06.29 17:52: @craigg75
    firefox 3.5 available tommorow http://bit.ly/7N7WM
    y'know, i could give a flying rat's ass at this point. oh great, one more f'ing intrprtation of "standards". shove off, you hosers
  • 2009.06.29 17:53: uncensored opinions on sale today, here at attitudes r us
  • 2009.06.29 17:58: @jdhunt
    @fractalnavel
    @craigg75
    firefox 3.5 available tommorow http://bit.ly/7N7WM
    y'know, i could give a flying rat's ass at this point. oh great, one more f'ing intrprtation of "standards". shove off, you hosers
    you do mean "Take off, you hosers. Take off, to the great white north"
    hey, us norherners invented the phrase, we can fracture it however we want. adding a bit of briticism seemd just the right touch
  • 2009.06.29 17:59: @jdhunt
    @fractalnavel
    @craigg75
    firefox 3.5 available tommorow http://bit.ly/7N7WM
    y'know, i could give a flying rat's ass at this point. oh great, one more f'ing intrprtation of "standards". shove off, you hosers
    you do mean "Take off, you hosers. Take off, to the great white north"
    i was really thinking "piss off", but fuck, i didn't want to use awful language
  • 2009.06.29 18:01: @craigg75
    the fox is here to stay
    fuck it. i'm going back to mosaic. if i can find a copy. shit, i saw a hit from netscape on my analytics. one lone hit. wtf?!
  • 2009.06.29 18:01: i think there's one little ol' netscape machine out there wanting to be talked to.
  • 2009.06.29 18:03: i'm so old... "how oldare you?" ...i'm so old, i type double spaces after every period. f'n' 140 char limit, gotta go back & delete 'em
  • 2009.06.29 18:04: yeah, how's that for tricks - i'm doin' stand up sittin' on my ass
  • 2009.06.29 18:05: @craigg75
    redirect all netscape users to youarealoser.com
    all that code for one browser? awww, let him play. poor li'l thing. probably can't render most modern pages anyway
  • 2009.06.29 18:07: freakin' ping cron is up to 800 ms cpu time now. hey, google - optimize this !!
  • 2009.06.29 18:09: i have a better solution, once the "task queues" feature comes out of experimental mode.
  • 2009.06.29 18:22: @jdhunt
    @fractalnavel
    i'm so old... "how oldare you?" ...i'm so old, i type double spaces after every period. f'n' 140 char limit, gotta go back & delete 'em
    Get off my lawn!
    oldster training: now grumble to yourself: " ... young whippersnappers..."
  • 2009.06.29 18:25: google app engine: it may be scalable & all (for a price), but i swear i can do far more with the same resources on my own antique box
  • 2009.06.29 19:20: @craigg75
    are there any real users of GAE? or is it still "beta" and just for tinkerers at the moment? I never hear about GAE much anymore
    there's some major production apps on it. friendfeed is one, i think. google's stuff stays in "beta" forever. it's a cya tag.
  • 2009.06.29 19:21: @craigg75
    are there any real users of GAE? or is it still "beta" and just for tinkerers at the moment? I never hear about GAE much anymore
    i doubt you'd hear. after the launch, like most tech, you have to be part of a community connected in some way to see things
  • 2009.06.29 19:22: @craigg75
    are there any real users of GAE? or is it still "beta" and just for tinkerers at the moment? I never hear about GAE much anymore
    this tech is really foreign to the stuff you usually deal with
  • 2009.06.29 20:11: just seen headline: "World leaders call for Honduras to reinstate ousted president"- self-government is over, eh ? if the world says, do it!
  • 2009.06.29 20:25: @craigg75
    @fractalnavel it was a military coup... not so much self-government as suspension of self-government
    if i want a military coup, then i'll have a military coup. not sure; don't people have a right to their own revolutions ?
  • 2009.06.29 20:25: @craigg75
    @fractalnavel it was a military coup... not so much self-government as suspension of self-government
    who's to say what's "right" and what's not ? who's to say "democracy" (which doesn't exist anyway) is king ?
  • 2009.06.29 20:26: @craigg75
    Virtuality crashes and burns on FOX... I couldn't watch more than 30 minutes...http://bit.ly/1DnBy
    your intolerance for popular geek media is showing. why bother ? apparently a lot of people liked it.
  • 2009.06.29 20:26: @craigg75
    http://bit.ly/W6Vm0 Talk about keeping GM on life support.. Toyota offers up a kidney.. time to pull the plug and move on
    man, if you had been running wwii, we'd all be in funny little mustaches by now
  • 2009.06.29 21:21: @klaatu
    @fractalnavel
    15 of those in a request and i'm getting a warning - before even considering any other processing.
    What is your GAE app writ in? Sounds like its re-compiling on the fly for every request or DB needs indexes.
    GAE uses python (and recently introduced java). db has the indices it needs - GAE won't run without them. ...
  • 2009.06.29 21:23: @klaatu
    @fractalnavel
    15 of those in a request and i'm getting a warning - before even considering any other processing.
    What is your GAE app writ in? Sounds like its re-compiling on the fly for every request or DB needs indexes.
    ... GAE caches all imported modules, as compiled as they can get, and then also caches handlers if coded a certain way (mine are)...
  • 2009.06.29 21:24: @klaatu
    @fractalnavel
    15 of those in a request and i'm getting a warning - before even considering any other processing.
    What is your GAE app writ in? Sounds like its re-compiling on the fly for every request or DB needs indexes.
    ... they note that db puts take about 5x(?) the resources of gets. i'm writing to an unindexed field, btw. all very simple.
  • 2009.06.29 21:25: @klaatu
    @fractalnavel
    15 of those in a request and i'm getting a warning - before even considering any other processing.
    What is your GAE app writ in? Sounds like its re-compiling on the fly for every request or DB needs indexes.
    given the relative disuse of the app, i know it gets booted from their cache. that's the problem the ping cron attempts to solve
  • 2009.06.29 21:26: @klaatu
    @fractalnavel
    15 of those in a request and i'm getting a warning - before even considering any other processing.
    What is your GAE app writ in? Sounds like its re-compiling on the fly for every request or DB needs indexes.
    ... but it still doesn't address the underlying inefficiencies of their datastore api. even their memcache has noticeable overhead
  • 2009.06.29 21:27: @klaatu
    @fractalnavel
    15 of those in a request and i'm getting a warning - before even considering any other processing.
    What is your GAE app writ in? Sounds like its re-compiling on the fly for every request or DB needs indexes.
    of course, those are just the numbers it reports to me, as usage. y'know, boost me towards the "need to pay" zone.
  • 2009.06.29 21:31: annoyance: y'know how your browser stores recent url's you've typed ? it strips trailing /'s. well, at telligent.com, it needs those
  • 2009.06.29 21:35: @craigg75
    sometimes a military coup/fascist revolution/leftist socialism are just steps along the way to more perfect union.. observe and learn..
    well, we can't have any of that here, now can we? what will the people think? gotta stamp out this nonsense before it spreads
  • 2009.06.29 21:35: "... oh iiii'm a revolutionary, and i'm o - k ..."
  • 2009.06.29 21:36: "... i burn all night and i drink all day ..."
  • 2009.06.29 21:36: "... i wear high heels, frilly dresses and a braaaaa..."
  • 2009.06.29 21:36: "... i wanna be just like lenin..."
  • 2009.06.29 21:37: great, @klaatu's quoting shakespeare, while i'm mangling monty python.
  • 2009.06.29 21:38: "... that parrot's dead, i tell you ..."
  • 2009.06.29 21:39: oh wait - python the programming language - never mind.
  • 2009.06.29 21:43: -communityserver- telligentcommunity news: bug breaks non-english language use, have to wait for SP release - or - "call us" - yeah, ok
  • 2009.06.29 21:44: really, let's call it for what it is - the new product is not CS v5.0, it's TC v1.0 - much changed in market, tech, attitude, look & act
  • 2009.06.29 21:45: @klaatu
    RT @LittleMonsta Map of connectedness: http://tinyurl.com/dl2hhn the world is getting smaller and smaller but the new borders are firewalls
    i wanna be on the outside
  • 2009.06.29 21:46: yeah, i'm off the coding jag. got the lawn cut, first time in weeks. laundry ? what's that ? so now i'm here to harass you
  • 2009.06.29 21:48: tell ya what, though: i bet the forums are even less pleased
  • 2009.06.29 21:51: GAE: nothing in their quota api besids "check the current request's cpu use". what i need is some way of pulling info so i can alert users
  • 2009.06.29 21:52: cvrap - there's a shakespeare bot. (what's the head slap / face palm icon ?)
  • 2009.06.29 22:29: @afscrome
    @fractalnavel
    telligent has pulled down the old communityserver downloads page. late last week they were still up. now it's "call support". wtf ?
    What downloads do you want. DM me or send me a conversation on the community and I'll hook you up with them.
    thanks for the offer, but i was merely commenting on events.
  • 2009.06.29 22:56: @klaatu
    @fractalnavel
    @craigg75
    the fox is here to stay
    fuck it. i'm going back to mosaic. if i can find a copy. shit, i saw a hit from netscape on my analytics. one lone hit. wtf?!
    Old browser archive http://browsers.evolt.org/ Mosaic, Nyetscraper, be my guest.
    and i was going to dig it up off of a floppy disk i have hanging around here...
  • 2009.06.29 23:01: yup, that's it then: i am going to start browsing using the copy of mosaic i have on a floppy disk - somewhere - it's a mac version from '94
  • 2009.06.29 23:02: this will be a bit like "the god's must be crazy" & the coke bottle
  • 2009.06.29 23:02: poor little borwser won't know what to make of the monster we have created. "oooh, noooo - put me back in my booox !"
  • 2009.06.29 23:03: yes, in the early 90s, they were known as "borwsers", before we knew better
  • 2009.06.29 23:07: scary part is that i could locate said floppy disk in a couple of minutes. yeah, sometimes there are benefits to not cleaning - ever
  • 2009.06.29 23:08: hmm - two disks - one is labeled "mosaic netscape 0.9" - wtf?
  • 2009.06.29 23:11: now, floppy drive... how to read mac...surely that's easy now ... nope, ol' winnie thinks they're not formatted.
  • 2009.06.29 23:11: eh, i'd have to find an old mac emulator to go with them anyway
  • 2009.06.29 23:13: ...but i've got an earlier version of teh mac mosaic than what evolt.com has http://browsers.evolt.org/?mosaic-ncsa/mac
  • 2009.06.29 23:29: oh gak - i've been down this path before - need mac emulator - which needs mac rom image ... forget it. sorry, floppies - back into the box!
  • 2009.06.29 23:43: "The new horizontal rule tag <HR> has been implemented."
  • 2009.06.29 23:43: yay!
  • 2009.06.29 23:51: ok, mosaic for win 1.0 running - wonder what it looks like to fiddler
  • 2009.06.29 23:53: looks like - nothin' - mosaic uses winsock in a wow, fiddler assumes wininet
  • 2009.06.29 23:58: geez - that thing's not happy with the web of today at all... gpf's ? ahh, memories. no forms support either. need a later version
  • 2009.06.30 00:28: seen on GAE forum: "if you run out of apps, ask nicely and we'll hand out more. ;)" (a google guy) - note: current limit is 10 apps / user
  • 2009.06.30 01:49: GAE ping cron - keeping app instances alive ? OR - is it forcing spin-up of new ones ? which could aggravate things. ...
  • 2009.06.30 01:50: ... maybe i should try backing off the frequency a bit, see what happens
  • 2009.06.30 03:06: RT @klaatu OLPC operating system free on a stick http://tinyurl.com/n7jpmm ::: that, i can use
(pulled direct from twitter via custom job)
Posted by fractalnavel at 11:30 PM | with no comments
Sunday, June 28, 2009

a day in a life 2009.06.28

via @fractalnavel: in the last 24 hours:
  • 2009.06.28 06:14: from backreaction: "Constraining Modified Dispersion Relations with Gamma Ray Bursts" http://u.nu/49cf - as in, quantum gravity effects
  • 2009.06.28 06:18: completely speculative: sub/superluminal effects follow a standard logistics curve in concept, reaching a chaotic point with increasing E?
  • 2009.06.28 06:19: and of course, the super-luminal realm is un-physical.
  • 2009.06.28 06:23: yeah, that's zoomy thinking. in other news, made the trek for white castles around 1am. this little piggy went to the market ...
  • 2009.06.28 13:18: @klaatu
    @fractalnavel "Constraining Modified Dispersion Relations with Gamma Ray Bursts" Think I had that once, took some kaopectate & felt better.
    lol - what was i thinking ?
  • 2009.06.28 13:21: global warming really is a self-limiting thing; there's only so much carbon available to pump into the air
  • 2009.06.28 13:22: fuel: more an issue of portability & delivery; it's all out there. we should be mining the atmosphere
  • 2009.06.28 13:23: issue: energy to "package" it all. solution: nuclear. solar is a tough one to crack.
  • 2009.06.28 13:25: need: nuclear distilleries ; pull carbon - and other ? - compounds out of the air, reconstruct fuels.
  • 2009.06.28 13:25: hey, plants do it all the time.
  • 2009.06.28 13:27: maybe not exactly like that, but things along those lines.
  • 2009.06.28 13:28: other news: white castle, corrupting history one burger box at a time. on the bottom of a leftover from last night staring me in the face:
  • 2009.06.28 13:30: "washington crossed the delaware, not in a boat, but on an enormous block of cheese. (be sure to mention that on your next history test.)"
  • 2009.06.28 14:09: nuclear carbon distilleries: issue: they would compete with plants for co2. etc. we really are monkeying around with terraforming here
  • 2009.06.28 14:13: @klaatu
    Cruise Somali waters looking for pirates to shoot with your guns (or shipboard rentals) http://is.gd/1gZF8
    21st century safaris, eh ? beats the crap out of shooting "innocent" animals
  • 2009.06.28 14:15: wonder when we'll hear of the first coprorate CBOs: "chief biosphere officer". i think i've heard of analogs for this already, just crs.
  • 2009.06.28 15:07: optimizing code today. 50-50 chance i'll make it worse ;-)
  • 2009.06.29 01:24: i think i've had enough coding for now.
  • 2009.06.29 01:25: that's nearly what every waking hour has been for a few weeks.
  • 2009.06.29 01:25: why ? i dunno. why do i do anything ? my motivations have always been unclear to me.
  • 2009.06.29 01:26: best guess: it's one long series of attempted escapes. from what ? the last attempt, of course.
(pulled direct from twitter via custom job)
Posted by fractalnavel at 11:30 PM | with no comments
Saturday, June 27, 2009

a day in a life 2009.06.27

via @fractalnavel: in the last 24 hours:
(pulled direct from twitter via custom job)
Posted by fractalnavel at 11:30 PM | with no comments
Thursday, June 25, 2009

a day in a life 2009.06.25

via @fractalnavel: in the last 24 hours:
(pulled direct from twitter via custom job)
Posted by fractalnavel at 11:30 PM | with no comments
Wednesday, June 24, 2009

a day in a life 2009.06.24

via @fractalnavel: in the last 24 hours:
  • 2009.06.24 06:41: @klaatu
    Should Genius Kids Know Their IQs? http://is.gd/1buCo Gee dumbasses, Real Genius kids would already know that & school=prison so why suck up
    really comes down to Q. "should we tell our kid about an important parameter that's going to rule their lives?" - A. Of course
  • 2009.06.24 06:42: @klaatu
    Should Genius Kids Know Their IQs? http://is.gd/1buCo Gee dumbasses, Real Genius kids would already know that & school=prison so why suck up
    that's independent of the objective value of such things, if any. worts thing to do is go around pretending it doesn't exist
  • 2009.06.24 06:43: @klaatu
    Should Genius Kids Know Their IQs? http://is.gd/1buCo Gee dumbasses, Real Genius kids would already know that & school=prison so why suck up
    ...next worst thing: never letting it go.
  • 2009.06.24 06:43: @snugbug
    less annoying - nice one, btw ;-)
  • 2009.06.24 06:45: @snugbug
    i believe i followed up with a link an item or two later
  • 2009.06.24 06:49: @klaatu
    @fractalnavel
    @klaatu
    RT @digitalcaffeine: Vineet Nayar (Indian CEO) says Americans graduates are, "Unemployable" because they are too lazy http://ping.fm/N9a2O
    cultural translation: we haven't been trained to just shut up & take it in the ass like his slaves countrymen
    Your cultural translation is how I've always seen the Indian pleased to BOHICA work attitude.
    lol- bohica - hadn't heard that before. reminds me of the guy who was pissed because i wouldn't go for the fat chicks he was hot for
  • 2009.06.24 06:55: @klaatu
    @fractalnavel
    @klaatu
    Wear your old hawaiian shirt, splash a bit of grey dye in your hair & walk around with a beer bottle. Say its your Bruce Campbell costume.
    i'm getting to the age where that's "come as you are"
    That's the beauty of the plan, come as you are & tell 'em its a Bruce Campbell Burn Notice costume. What can they say?
    flashback: i went out for halloween a few years back as "the concerned parent". costume: ball cap, holding a beer.
  • 2009.06.24 13:00: @klaatu
    Dr Who's David Tenant joins other 10 Time Lords for one-off show http://is.gd/1bCIg
    for an extinct race, they sure are multiplying rapidly
  • 2009.06.24 13:59: i guess the good thing about the new 'telligent community' is that you can't really tell if anything is broken or not
  • 2009.06.24 14:53: @craigg75
    @fractalnavel seems to me you predicted telligent would lose any appeal once it became corporate with the buyout
    see, and this is what's wrong with going commerical with what had begun as an open source project - can't just branch & move on
  • 2009.06.24 14:55: there are a lot of large community server based sites out there that i can't imagine will ever make the leap to this new stuff...
  • 2009.06.24 14:56: they're apparentyl ok with abandoning most of their installed base for the new guys - which may actually be a correct strategy, sad to say
  • 2009.06.24 14:58: ... new market, the old one was getting saturated ? also, they're going to leave a lot of their developer base & existing add-ons behind
  • 2009.06.24 14:59: it took years to ramp up that crowd, and that's a lot of what made community server so appealing - a lot of common knowledge
  • 2009.06.24 15:01: so, like a badly made movie version of a favorite novel, we should probably look at this thing completely independent of its heritage ...
  • 2009.06.24 15:02: ... except for the fact that we can probably expect more of the same in another five years or so
  • 2009.06.24 15:07: i notice that google will index my site well enough to get relevant adsense ads quickly - but not enough to get into search results. wtf?!
  • 2009.06.24 16:02: @craigg75
    skips out on Father's day, doesn't inform his staff, goes to Argentina... to relax? ok we weren't born yesterday moron
    i went to argentina just a few minutes ago - had to bring a magazine ...
  • 2009.06.24 16:04: reading new CS docs... what a c.f. they're completely out of the consumer space - no free version anymore
  • 2009.06.24 16:06: cs: "search" is required for rss. "search" is now java-based - yeah, they are no longer a .net architecture, folks
  • 2009.06.24 16:07: they are also recommending a massive amount of metal to run the thing. i'm sure this will make large's corp cio hearts go pitty-pat
  • 2009.06.24 16:09: cs: how can an upgrade to a server product require a desktop product ? "Vista OS or newer" it says
  • 2009.06.24 16:12: cs: abandoned all prior themes. however, this is not a new thing with their upgrades
  • 2009.06.24 16:15: cs: where the hell are the old developer docs ? still looking. this new monster is directed at admins, not the devs who birthed it
  • 2009.06.24 16:37: cs: yeah, just checked; they left all the search engines behind when they cucked the old domain.
  • 2009.06.24 16:43: cd: finally; docs are where i wouldn't have thought to look - at their old domain still: http://docs.communityserver.com/
  • 2009.06.24 16:43: can't get to it from the new site though
  • 2009.06.24 16:48: whatever happened to the "page" concept for leafing through long lists of forum posts ? everyone's moving to the assinine "show more" model
  • 2009.06.24 16:48: that's fine for a couple/few rounds, but to get to what used to be page 300 ?!
  • 2009.06.24 16:50: i think i know what's going on: management gts to decide who to layoff, so it's the workers who go first, the more qualified / paid ones ...
  • 2009.06.24 16:50: ... then the pointy-haired types start making technical decisions unaided. my kingdom for a dilbert !
  • 2009.06.24 16:52: if they keep this up for not very long, things like the internet will collapse under the weight of the sheer stupidity imposed on them
  • 2009.06.24 17:02: i love seeing this on tech forums: "...Could you try using Firefox while I figure out what the problem is with IE?..." http://u.nu/5qge
  • 2009.06.24 17:03: yeah, you do that. get back to me, will ya ?
  • 2009.06.24 17:03: but seriously, it's not the browsers, it's the developers
  • 2009.06.24 17:26: other bummer software news: after a lot of noise last fall about continuing development etc, http://www.flexwiki.com looks to have bitten it
  • 2009.06.24 17:35: @craigg75
    @fractalnavel flexiwiki .. sadness.. love it's simplicity
    and its power - it had a great combination of both
  • 2009.06.24 17:36: @craigg75
    what needs to happen is wikis that can import/export open standard wiki data.. make your wiki portable, use the best provider that month
    holy grail time - yep, all data needs that level of portability. enter "semantics", etc...
  • 2009.06.24 17:59: @joemorel
    @fractalnavel
    i guess the good thing about the new 'telligent community' is that you can't really tell if anything is broken or not
    Do you mean Telligent.com or the product itself? Because you can't get it for free anymore? (Just curious...)
    a little of both, and no, not because of cost issues, it's that things seem so ad-hoc that there are no expectations to break
  • 2009.06.24 18:10: @craigg75
    I know it's only a matter of time before Charter adds b/w caps and forces it's tv customers on to digital boxes
    or bail on tv; after a week or two, you won't notice (oh that's right, you got a whiny kid to think about ;-) )
  • 2009.06.24 20:35: @jdhunt
    Funny - a new PC setup document for this project starts with mounting the motherboard. Talk about starting from the beginning!
    you're certain they're talking about computers, are you ?
  • 2009.06.24 21:07: @craigg75 @klaatu wiki converter: http://bit.ly/21OqM - ...
  • 2009.06.24 21:10: @craigg75
    saw that coming a mile away... another hypocritical republican....
    well, ok, but hypocrisy is pretty universal
  • 2009.06.24 21:29: @craigg75
    I'm just saying the Rep party can no longer walk the walk.. time to change your strategy
    "no longer APPEAR to walk the walk", perhaps. and even then, that appearance only worked for some. the reality is what it was
  • 2009.06.24 21:49: flexwiki importer for wss (as in, to move your project wiki over to your tfs server): http://u.nu/7mie but it's old; ymmv - a lot
(pulled direct from twitter via custom job)
Posted by fractalnavel at 11:30 PM | with no comments
Tuesday, June 23, 2009

a day in a life 2009.06.23

via @fractalnavel: in the last 24 hours:
  • 2009.06.23 21:59: @jdhunt
    @fractalnavel
    @jdhunt
    I really want to continue working on ASP.net MVC, but the baby has been fussy this evening, and her mother needs a break.
    what, put the kid's butt in a seat, can't be much worse than the programmers on a lot of projects.
    Her C is weaker than it should be, but we could probably bring her up to speed.
    i was thinking she'd be more of a back-end developer myself ;-)
  • 2009.06.23 22:02: communityserver something new is out (finally): they're not handling the changeover well so far; plus: it's targeted to the b2c space.
  • 2009.06.23 22:03: yeah, i knew the intel thing would lead to corporate overlord nonsense. hard to navigate the new stuff; where's the trail from old to new?
  • 2009.06.23 22:04: communityserver oh, you wanted links, did you ? http://bit.ly/fvhzn
  • 2009.06.23 22:06: communityserver news release here: http://u.nu/5xae that took a while to track down. come on guys, get with it !
  • 2009.06.23 22:07: i know launches can be rocky, and they are on a very diff path now, apparently. sucks for a lot of those who helped them get where they are.
  • 2009.06.23 22:09: looks to me like they're abandoning the non-corporate community space - unless you want to become one of them
  • 2009.06.23 22:09: man, i bet some real battles have been happening over there for the last year
  • 2009.06.23 22:12: huh what ? guess i haven't been paying attention. since when is rob howard "demoted" to cto ? oh well - gates did it
  • 2009.06.23 22:13: yup, the vc dealwith thedevil went south
  • 2009.06.23 22:20: @klaatu
    RT @digitalcaffeine: Vineet Nayar (Indian CEO) says Americans graduates are, "Unemployable" because they are too lazy http://ping.fm/N9a2O
    cultural translation: we haven't been trained to just shut up & take it in the ass like his slaves countrymen
  • 2009.06.23 22:22: @klaatu
    RT @digitalcaffeine: Vineet Nayar (Indian CEO) says Americans graduates are, "Unemployable" because they are too lazy http://ping.fm/N9a2O
    of course, we're all familar with the unusable excrement that their sweatshops put out - and somehow manage to get paid for
  • 2009.06.23 22:25: more cs: no more "active topics" aggregation that i can find - how the hell to track all those different threads ?
  • 2009.06.23 22:25: on the plus side, i bet there's less people beggin for bugs to be fixed on their forums now - no one can find where to post !
  • 2009.06.23 22:29: checking my own profile on http://telligent.com/communities/members : recent posts gone missing, no files, announcements gone, ...
  • 2009.06.23 22:30: oh man - what a mess.
  • 2009.06.23 22:31: apparently, no one tested before transitioning publicly
  • 2009.06.23 22:36: wow-ok, guess i'll have to let the dust settle over there before continuing to participate. sorry to those who may be waiting for an answer!
(pulled direct from twitter via custom job)
Posted by fractalnavel at 11:30 PM | with no comments
Friday, June 12, 2009

a day in a life 2009.06.12

via @fractalnavel: in the last 24 hours:
  • 2009.06.12 16:41: @klaatu
    Screw ths damn kiddie safety seats, face forward, face bkwrd, now use even longer...I rembr when we just had front seat lap belts & liked it
    wait until we get to full-body cocoons
  • 2009.06.12 23:00: channel surfing today got real simple: one last station on analog in this area. makes all those buttons on the remote useless.
  • 2009.06.12 23:33: letterman: knows how to steal the limelight from - who was that again ?
(pulled direct from twitter via custom job)
Posted by fractalnavel at 11:30 PM | with no comments
Thursday, June 11, 2009

a day in a life 2009.06.11

via @fractalnavel: in the last 24 hours:
  • 2009.06.11 22:35: shutdown schedule: of the four remaining, fade to gray at 12a, 2a & 6a; don't know about the last
  • 2009.06.11 22:37: @jdhunt
    Now that my daughter is 2 weeks old, I should probably start teaching her the basics of structured programming. One can never be too young
    back in school, a buddy kept trying to teach his new daughter "E=mc^2"
  • 2009.06.11 22:38: @SowaJF
    @fractalnavel Happy Birthday! with your long commutes, maybe it's time to look into mass transit to keep miles off of Jeep.
    there's no commuter transport outside the city; there's also no job ;-)
  • 2009.06.12 00:41: @craigg75
    last day of analog tv.. fade to snow party at @fractalnavel house
    woo-hoo, par-tee. cherry coke & half a sub. i'm so excited. yawn same old same old - nothin' on tonight
(pulled direct from twitter via custom job)
Posted by fractalnavel at 11:30 PM | with no comments
Wednesday, June 10, 2009

a day in a life 2009.06.10

via @fractalnavel: in the last 24 hours:
  • 2009.06.10 22:40: @jdhunt
    Not only should the code you write work properly, but it should be clean and understandable to anyone else who may view it (ie maintainable)
    yes, well - but is there time ?
  • 2009.06.10 22:43: spent the last couple of days on my gae thingy; gobs of memcache use; more css tweaks; all crud; FAQ; adl key spec logic; lookin' good ;-)
  • 2009.06.10 22:44: need a cron job or two, i think
  • 2009.06.10 22:46: would like to factor the caching out of the data access layer, but it's pretty tighly coupled... something to sleep on
  • 2009.06.10 22:49: need to figure out the best way to do mvc (& session state!) on that platform, but first i wanted to get all basic features in
  • 2009.06.10 22:54: memcache: needs ability to fire a 'cache eviction' event; surprised not to see one
(pulled direct from twitter via custom job)
Posted by fractalnavel at 11:30 PM | with no comments
Tuesday, June 09, 2009

a day in a life 2009.06.09

via @fractalnavel: in the last 24 hours:
  • 2009.06.09 14:08: @jdhunt
    Long drives to work certainly are not the ideal way to start the day.
    got that right ;-) there's got to be a nicer route ...
  • 2009.06.09 15:39: @craigg75
    the more I read the more I realize David Carridine was a major freak ass
    the people who scare me are the ones who appear "normal" - or worse, those who judge what is normal
  • 2009.06.09 15:49: @craigg75
    @fractalnavel are you at work? what was all that bizness about the 90 min travel time to work?
    went up to south dayton yesterday to talk with someone re project; that would be a tough way to spend the summer
  • 2009.06.09 17:00: @klaatu
    There are no mistakes, save one: the failure to learn from a mistake. --Robert Fripp
    that would be a classic "you can't get there from here" situation
(pulled direct from twitter via custom job)
Posted by fractalnavel at 11:30 PM | with no comments
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