Crazy On Tap

Mormons

10 Mar 10 22:57:14 GMT

xampl: Just had a couple of missionaries stop by.

Didn't know that they had young women doing it now -- I thought it was always young men. In pairs, of course.

How big is a KiloByte?

10 Mar 10 22:47:47 GMT

Wayne: Vote: 1000 or 1024.

This is actually rather nifty

10 Mar 10 22:41:18 GMT

Wayne: I usually hate really different ideas when it comes to IDE's but this one has some good ideas:

http://www.cs.brown.edu/people/acb/codebubbles_site.htm

I'm often working on code in different files (classes) that all work together and call each other. It'd be nice to have a view that lets me work on that group of methods without constantly having to switch between files.

In order to be successful, I think this concept would have to be built into a more traditional IDE.

How MS can get back in the game

10 Mar 10 22:28:19 GMT

JoC: First, this is pretty:

http://www.buzzbox.com/top/default/preview/xna_4-0_games_on_windows_phone_7_series_look_awesome_but_won-t_b/?id=673073&topic=Zune_HD%3AMicrosoft_Windows

The no ZuneHD sucks. They gotta fix that.

If developers can write an app/game in XNA and have deployment to phones, xbox, pc, and zune almost as simple as changing a dropdown for target platform.... MS will rule again. There is no app for that.

How much do you spend?

10 Mar 10 21:14:55 GMT

Bot Berlin: On an average week day? Outside of your major purchases.

What do you spend of misc stuff. Snacks, lunch, BJs.

For example, I am a poor man and try to not spend more than $10. (8 lunch + coffee).

CoT database

10 Mar 10 20:34:38 GMT

Wayne: 101 MB gzipped.

319 MB unzipped.

Compression ratio 68.5%

Wisdom of Brice Richards

10 Mar 10 20:07:23 GMT

Bot Berlin: http://www.crazyontap.com/topic.php?TopicId=66527&Posts=24

"4) Having a son before you have at least 1 Million in savings put away "

Could you quantify how many people in the US (or even in the world) have a million in savings?

You certainly limit the number of people that can have "sons?".

Supermarket affinity card data

10 Mar 10 19:44:01 GMT

xampl: was used by the CDC to trace a Salmonella outbreak.

http://www.wral.com/news/science/story/7206926/

I think the privacy concerns are real with these cards, but in limited cases like this, the data ought to be available to medical professionals.

And No One Else.

Checking in code

10 Mar 10 19:29:00 GMT

JoC: I have been under the impression that one should not check in code that does not compile.

Am I mistaken?

this week in toyota incidents

10 Mar 10 19:04:13 GMT

CC: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503983_162-20000234-503983.html

On MONDAY James Sikes' car accelerated past his intended speed and wouldn't slow down. Sikes grabbed his phone dialed 911. While trying to keep the car under control and hold the phone to his ear, the Prius sped up to 94 miles per hour. Eventually the emergency dispatcher sent a California Highway Patrol car to him, and officers instructed him how to reduce his speed before they accelerated in front of him and — driving bumper-to-bumper — guided the car to a complete stop.

Just two weeks before the alarming incident, Sikes had brought his Prius into a dealership, recall notice in hand, to have a technician look under the hood, but the dealership turned him away.

On TUESDAY, a housekeeper pulled out of her driveway in Harrison, N.Y., when the 2005 Prius shot across the street and smashed into a stone wall, ruining the front end.

Further north, in Yarmouth, Mass., Anne Wilkins was behind the wheel of her Toyota Rav 4 when the SUV slammed into a medical building on TUESDAY. The accident happened after she brought the vehicle to her dealer in February to prevent its gas pedal from sticking, reports CBS News Station WBZ-TV in Boston. Local police plan to test the vehicle this weekend to determine whether Toyota's recall issues contributed to the crash.

On FRIDAY, an employee of a San Diego Toyota dealership was driving his 2006 Lexus IS 350 when he tapped the accelerator to beat a yellow light. When he took his foot from the gas pedal, the car didn't slow down but continued to speed up. He put the car in neutral and coasted to the next traffic light. With the car in neutral, the driver tapped the gas pedal three times before the engine returned to normal. The car is on lockdown until federal investigators check the car next week.

Iron Man 2 Trailer 2

10 Mar 10 18:56:09 GMT

Aaron: I want briefcase armor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNQowwwwYa0

How can a French Judge bar use of a stage name

10 Mar 10 18:52:55 GMT

Rich Tsang: Came across several wiki articles today. On Katsumi's page -

She originally performed using the stage name Katsumi (a common given name in Japan for both sexes), but she was barred by a French judge in January 2007 from using the name after a woman named Mary Katsumi sued over the resemblance to her own name. In October 2007 Katsuni was fined 20,000 euros for violations of the ban on using the name "Katsumi".[7]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katsuni

Question: does French has such a stupid law that someone can go after you for a stage name?

The new Alice In Wonderland

10 Mar 10 18:12:45 GMT

SaveTheHubble: It's not bad.

They 'merged' the two Alice stories, the assumption being Alice is now 19 and returning (accidentally) to the place she visited as a child. This allows them to include many of the original plot items (Mad Hatter's Tea Party, Cheshire Cat, etc), while layering a whole new "quest" on top of it (and sticking in elements of the Jabberwocky poem).

They DID avoid that whole "Alice never knows what's going on" thing that LOTS of "Alice" movies fall into, which is a good thing.

The Red Queen, played by Bellatrix Lestrange (oops, I mean Helena Bonham Carter, same thing) is really well done.

As "re-imaginings" go, the new Sherlock Holmes was better, but the new "Alice" is quite enjoyable. Probably too violent for young children, though.

Black women make median $5 a hour

10 Mar 10 17:53:44 GMT

Bot Berlin: (not my article but from the post)

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10068/1041225-28.stm

"Among the most startling revelations in the wealth data is that while single white women in the prime of their working years (ages 36 to 49) have a median wealth of $42,600 (still only 61 percent of their single white male counterparts), the median wealth for single black women is only $5.

The Dark Tower

10 Mar 10 16:09:08 GMT

JoC: I have not started playing because I haven't finished the series.

I just found out about this:
http://www.stephenking.com/darktower/discordia.html

It sounds awesome.

Video arcades

10 Mar 10 15:56:32 GMT

xampl: I think arcades failed in the mid-80's because the games became too complex for the average person to have a chance at winning.

In other words, the game companies caused their own downfall by not understanding their market well enough.

People went to the arcade to have fun playing games, sure. But they also went there to show off a little bit ("I have high score on Defender!") and to pick up people of the opposite sex.

When the games got too hard, people felt it wasn't a good use of their quarters.

With the Wii and iPhone now showing that the market for "casual" games is still huge, maybe arcades will come back.

I am dying for some monkey bread right now

10 Mar 10 15:55:18 GMT

Zangor, Prince of Mutilation: OMFG.

Corey Haim is Dead

10 Mar 10 14:54:09 GMT

JoC: OD

Not much more to it.

What do you typically wear to a tech job interview?

10 Mar 10 14:53:43 GMT

dude: Is a tie and sport coat really necessary? That is what I wore at the interview for my current job and I've never had to wear that outfit since. In fact, I've never had a tech job where I've needed to wear a sport coat and tie. What do you guys think?

Scent for men?

10 Mar 10 14:52:01 GMT

xampl: Do you wear Old Spice, Brut, etc?

Visual Studio 2010

10 Mar 10 14:47:42 GMT

Bluebeard: WCF, WPF, RIA, Silverlight, Entity Framework, MVC 2, Azure, Sharepoint, Workflow, .Net Framework 4.0 ... I'm too old for this crappy technology treadmill...

*cry*

Critique of A Life Built on Mistakes

10 Mar 10 14:11:01 GMT

Brice Richard: This is the Brice Richard quick critique of a life built on mistakes from an article that had me shaking my head as I read through it.

It's one man's life of continuously forged mistakes one after the other....here's the link for background info...:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/employment/2010-03-09-textile-jobs-lost-mount-airy_N.htm

Excerpt Taken From the Link:::

"...The ax hit Steve Jenkins in 2008. He'd started work in the Perry Manufacturing mill as a teenager, passing up a chance to play college baseball to unload trucks for a few bucks an hour.

"My family was poor," he says.

Gradually, he moved up the ranks, using his smarts to find more efficient ways to ship goods and buy supplies. By the time the plant closed, Jenkins, 51, was director of purchasing and earning $103,000 a year.

He'd built his own house, but he hadn't saved anything. He had to take out a mortgage to raise money to help a son who got into trouble with the law and to send his wife to Atlanta for cervical cancer treatments. She died three years ago.

Then Jenkins lost his job. Perry, which made sportswear and other clothing, couldn't compete with imports from Asia. After 32 years at Perry, Jenkins was laid off with no severance.

Desperate to save his house, Jenkins dipped into his individual retirement account (IRA), incurring tax penalties. He's still trying to resolve a $10,000 tax bill. The IRA funds didn't help much: He lost his home and had to declare personal bankruptcy. "My life's been turned upside-down," he says.

Devastated financially and emotionally, Jenkins had to find a new career at age 50. He hoped his experience and accomplishments would mean something to potential employers. They didn't. He had to compete with younger candidates who had college degrees.

Jenkins decided to study law enforcement at Surry Community College, hoping to become a police officer. "That is one job I cannot possibly lose to foreign competition," he says. "I didn't want to go through that again."

As soon as he saw his new classmates, he wanted out. Most were in their 20s, strong and guaranteed jobs at local police agencies: "I felt like a has-been."

But the program's director, Dean Gordon, told him he'd finish near the top of his class if he stuck it out. Gordon was right. And Jenkins held his own against his younger classmates, bench-pressing 250 pounds in the physical training coursework and earning the nickname "Stump."

Jenkins eventually found work as a deputy in neighboring Stokes County, where he has a small apartment. He's assigned to a middle school and loves the job. He volunteers as a wrestling coach, and the kids affectionately call him "Papa Stump."

But he's making $25,000 a year, a fraction of what he earned at his old job: "I'm still struggling. I'm living month to month."

Jenkins and other laid-off textile workers had at least one thing going for them: The Trade Adjustment Assistance program, financed by Washington and run by the state, pays for workers who lost jobs to foreign competition to go back to school for up to two years of retraining. They also receive extended unemployment benefits to help them make ends meet while they're in school.

As a result of the trade assistance and other retraining programs, Surry Community College has taken the lead in preparing the area's unemployed for an uncertain economic future..."

HERE IS MY CRITQUE OF THE MISTAKES MADE BY STEVE JENKINS::

1) Purchasing a house and over-extending himself without adequate disposable income

2) Not saving enough money or having a bona-fide nest egg; you need more than an IRA which is limited in its flexibility

3) Getting married before acquiring a financial comfort zone...103K a year is NOT financially comfortable

4) Having a son before you have at least 1 Million in savings put away

5) Wasting time pursuing a new career that makes only 25K a year

6) Not relocating to a place where money and jobs are plentiful
---------------------------------------------------

The fuckups of this guy's life relative to his decision making are egregious at best.

I can't imagine how many other mistakes this guy made and for which I could profile if I knew more details of his pathetic life...

It's been 10 years since the Tech Bubble Poped

10 Mar 10 14:10:18 GMT

Morons: 10 Years already.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-10466637-7.html

are they just trying to skip 2012?

10 Mar 10 12:29:14 GMT

eek: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8556621.stm

when you guys surf the internet at work

10 Mar 10 05:49:53 GMT

Dan: Do you close your browser when you hear someone walking by your desk and act like you're working? Or do you continue to surf?

Holland sounds cool

10 Mar 10 05:29:36 GMT

sharkfish: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1256670/Holland-proposes-giving-70s-consider-lives-complete-right-die.html

I don't really want to live past 70. Seriously. Maybe when I get there I'll change my mind.

Chef making cheese from wife's breast milk

10 Mar 10 04:07:49 GMT

Bored Bystander: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/nurse_made_JQlMRBr5ZgO6iD07AX83MJ

The comments are better than the story:

>> What's next, cannibalism?

>> He also ejaculated into the tapioca pudding.

>> Next thing you know, he'll sell sausage off his son's circumsicion.

>> The breast milk cheese ain't so bad, it's the beer he brewed using his wife's yeast infection that's Gawd-awful.

microprocessor ideas

10 Mar 10 03:12:26 GMT

argv[0]: my latest long commute c++ gig and my grad class a year ago actually has done me wonders. the market for ideas for 8/16 bit c language microprocessor apps is wicked huge.

you can get literally any component for less than a dollar. buy in bulk, own the code, and profit is your name.

accelerometers, bluetooth (more expensive), various light, heat, motion, temp, gas/alcohol sensors, dialpads,you name it.

the applications are insane wide ranging. put in accelerometer in a pool cue or athletic device to study method. unlimited extensions to pda or cell phones, televisions, set top boxes, home appliances as IPc6 matures and gains acceptance.

there are very few domains left these days where the lone garage engineer can actually close the gap with multibollion dollar powerhouses like google.

this is one of them, this is where we can compete.

Massa meltdown

10 Mar 10 02:09:22 GMT

Bot Berlin - No Opinions: wtf

http://www.breitbart.tv/massa-not-only-did-i-grope-him-i-tickled-him-until-he-couldnt-breathe/

48% of black women have herpes

9 Mar 10 23:17:10 GMT

Bot Berlin - No Opinions: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0923528620100309

In that age group...

"Black women had the highest rate of infection at 48 percent and women were nearly twice likely as men to be infected, according to an analysis by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

Secret Origin of Windows

9 Mar 10 20:09:00 GMT

Wayne: http://technologizer.com/2010/03/08/the-secret-origin-of-windows/3/

Good article; talks about a few things I've never heard before.

To buy happiness, book a plane ticket

9 Mar 10 18:18:05 GMT

Full name: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35729524/ns/health-behavior/?ns=health-behavior

From the article:
"If you're trying to buy happiness, you'd be better off putting your money toward a tropical island get-away than a new computer, a new study suggests.

The results show that people's satisfaction with their life-experience purchases — anything from seeing a movie to going on a vacation — tends to start out high and go up over time. On the other hand, although they might be initially happy with that shiny new iPhone or the latest in fashion, their satisfaction with these items wanes with time."

USB charger trojan analysis

9 Mar 10 17:58:36 GMT

xampl: Found on Reddit.

http://www.symantec.com/connect/fr/blogs/trojan-found-usb-battery-charger-software

Sure looks like it was an inside job. The dll was packaged with the original software, uses the same name as part of a paramter to the (presumably) good part of the code, and displays a charger graphic.

In addition to it's duties of sending the contents of your machine out onto the internet, of course.

Tron Legacy trailer #2 is out

9 Mar 10 17:28:30 GMT

xampl: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwvhW0ulclA

So far, doesn't look like they've fucked it up.

seen on my commuter train

9 Mar 10 16:55:04 GMT

sharkfish: One guy reading a book on quantum field theory with a bag/case that had a company name like "IPO" or something. I looked over his shoulder and saw a chapter on Feynman's rules. I wonder how he would apply such information.

On another day, a guy reading a book on algorithms. I looked it up on Amazon but it got bad reviews.

I am always interested in what people are reading and why.

I didn't ask though. I felt shy.

(NSFW) The Major Retailers That Are Selling You Used Underwear

9 Mar 10 16:15:26 GMT

Full name: http://guanabee.com/2010/03/selling-used-underwear/

If there are rumors of lay offs and little opportunity....

9 Mar 10 15:40:19 GMT

.: for advancement. Is that enough reason to start looking for a new gig?

Corporate has outsourced a lot of their programming overseas which have limited a lot of advancement opportunities... and there are rumros that they could outsource our group to a contracting company. My boss has assured me that I have nothing to worry about but there are people above him who might have something to say about that.

Is this enough reason to start looking for a new gig or should I wait for the axe to fall (if it happens)?

I just hate to lose the few perks that I have: 2 weeks vacation time, somewhat flexible hours (i.e. don't get hassled for being 5 minutes late), no micromanaging, quiet work environment. Would those perks be difficult to find elsewhere? I really haven't worked enough jobs to know whether the grass is greener elsewhere. What do you guys think?

Modest proposal

9 Mar 10 15:33:55 GMT

about replacing JoS and BoS: Just create two new sections to this board.

The current section will be the Water Cooler / Chit Chat one.

Rome

9 Mar 10 15:32:21 GMT

what are you reading for?: I have just moved here, wow.

Anybody have any recommendations? Places, things, food, etc.

Or maybe if you're been here some of your favorite things?

Should we Be thinking about Replacing the JOS Forum?

9 Mar 10 14:40:03 GMT

Morons: The same way this replaced ?Off?

I think there is a good chance he kills his boards when he kills his blog on the 17th.

I’ll be happy to volunteer to get it up and running + host it.. If people will use it.

Software On Tap?

Whatever happened to...

9 Mar 10 14:40:00 GMT

xampl: SeaCode, where they were going to park an old cruise ship off the coast and load it up with software coders?

Feynman on Rockstar programmers

9 Mar 10 13:30:50 GMT

Bot Berlin - No Opinions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj4y0EUlU-Y

Geek Test (rather long)

9 Mar 10 13:28:36 GMT

Kenny: 27.0217% - Total Geek

Read about Clojure/Java platform language on Linux Journal

9 Mar 10 13:09:29 GMT

Bot Berlin - No Opinions: Oooooo

http://www.linuxjournal.com/on-newsstands

Mass Hysteria

9 Mar 10 12:49:40 GMT

df: http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/03/08/california.runaway.prius/index.html?hpt=T1

Uh huh...

I love how the media correctly didn't authenticate what he is saying. Instead they talk about what he "said" happened, etc.

Calgary sun: Citizen's arrest of George W. Bush justified

9 Mar 10 06:43:55 GMT

: http://www.calgarysun.com/news/alberta/2010/03/08/13159991.html

In Calgary really? where is Stephen Hubris and his dickwad minions of jesus nazis?

first woman CFO of Lehman Brothers

9 Mar 10 05:34:54 GMT

CC: Seems like she didn't know what she was doing. In this article she signs off on what are now called "misstated" results (ie: fraudulent), and she got on the phone and encouraged investors to keep their money invested (and thus lose their shirts) when the company was going down hard.

http://money.cnn.com/2010/03/05/news/companies/erin_callan_lehman_full.fortune/index.htm

Excerpt:

Callan's rise and fall also revives an age-old question about women on Wall Street: Can they ever win? Callan soared not only because of her skills but also because of her style. She was charismatic and flirty. Callan not only commanded a room -- dissecting a balance sheet and articulating ideas to raise capital -- but charmed everyone in it. She could package deals -- and package herself. Indeed, Callan's sex appeal accelerated both her rise ("She looks good on TV!") and then her fall ("She's a media hound!"). She was one CFO whose hemline was more likely to occasion comment than, say, her management of working capital.

More than just a breaker of Wall Street's heavy-duty glass ceiling, Callan may be an example of the "glass cliff." That is a theory developed by Michelle Ryan, an associate professor at the University of Exeter in England, who argues that some companies, in pursuit of diversity goals, promote women to tough jobs where they're doomed to fail.

mahalo.com

9 Mar 10 03:24:34 GMT

f: THis piece of shit was launched to much fanfare as human moderated search of some such shit. Now it is just a elbaorate google weblog spam site.

http://smackdown.blogsblogsblogs.com/2010/03/08/mahalo-com-meet-the-new-spam-worse-than-the-old-spam/

To call 911 or to not call 911?

9 Mar 10 01:50:38 GMT

Fan boy: There has been so much in the news lately about people calling 911 for non-emergencies, that you have to think deeply about calling. That can lead to some delays that should not be made.

On my drive to work this morning there was a three foot piece of 3 inch angle iron in the inside lane of the freeway. Cars were dodging around it. I pulled out my cell phone, and wondered what agency was responsible to clean up road hazards. I wondered how I would find their number if I knew.

I thought about calling 911. Was this an emergency? I didn't want to take time on the service that resulted in some needful person dead. I didn't want to have them accuse me of improperly calling, then getting a fine. I strummed my fingers on my steering wheel for what seemed like minutes.

I made the call. They asked me the nature of the emergency, and they transferred me to who knows who. The lady who answered asked the nature of the problem, asked me where, took my name, and thanked me.

I probably didn't spend more than about ten seconds to decide to make the call.

I did the right thing. That metal could have gotten someone killed. I still hope I don't get a bill in the mail.

Fat men and pull over sweaters

9 Mar 10 01:39:21 GMT

Fan boy: Why do some fat men wear pull over sweaters? You can see the beads of sweat on their faces all day.

I think they think that it hides some of their fat. The fools.

Oh My: what_is_your_most_traumatizing_childhood_memory

8 Mar 10 23:59:40 GMT

Behind 127.0.0.1: http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/barkb/what_is_your_most_traumatizing_childhood_memory/

Useless factoid

8 Mar 10 23:38:57 GMT

Q: The total power output of the sun is about 400 trillion gigawatts.

Steam coming to Mac

8 Mar 10 22:00:04 GMT

xampl: PC and Mac players will be able to go head-to-head.
They're porting the Source engine over, so games like Left For Dead 2 will be available.

Cameron congratulating ex wife

8 Mar 10 20:12:56 GMT

CC: Great photo of the happy couple.

http://www.celebuzz.com/james-cameron-happy-ex-wifes-s178901/

productivity and components

8 Mar 10 19:32:25 GMT

sharkfish: Reading this comment and some other recent blogs

http://www.crazyontap.com/topic.php?TopicId=66427#663009

made me think about how we were all fed the line about how componentizing code would make us all more productive, faster developers.

What has made us more productive? I would say time and experience, mostly. I don't think there is any other way. Or am I just closed and myopic?

going your own way, in spite of the crowd against you

8 Mar 10 18:54:50 GMT

sharkfish: Sometimes peer pressure is strong enough to be palpable.

I have a tendency to be contrarian because I don't believe in the wisdom of the masses.

I'm usually right.

But I'm never contrarian enough to hit the jackpot and become wealthy.

"I am Gay

8 Mar 10 18:40:59 GMT

Behind 127.0.0.1: but will vote against my rights because my constituents hate me."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05election/detail?entry_id=58665

Smellers

8 Mar 10 17:27:57 GMT

Ward: People with BO or bad breath are the worst. Why are they such pricks that they won't bathe or brush their teeth?

The Jerks Among Us - On Selfishness

8 Mar 10 16:39:55 GMT

df: It's fun to be a non-conformist, but when non-conformity means pissing in the communal well then its not a redeemable trait.

I marvel, for instance, when I come out to my car at the grocery store and there's a cart sitting there in the middle of a spot, someone loading there car and just driving off. The cart coral is RIGHT FUCKING THERE. Seriously, how hugely lazy do you have to be? How utterly self-absorbed and prickish?

Every day when I walk my kids to the bus stop I pick up probably 10 items of garbage that selfish pricks decided they could just toss. Thank you for your McDonald trash, moron, I appreciate it. Again, there should be a $5000 fine for littering. I so firmly believe that. In fact, not only should there be a very punitive fine (face it - you're unlikely to get caught, so it needs to be a reverse lottery), hand out $2000 bounties to someone with concrete evidence (like video evidence). Yay!

Brought the kids to a play center last night that we've gone to since it opened. It has a little enclosed basketball area, little cars that the kids can ride around, several air hockey things, a climbing wall, etc.

The hoops on the nets are busted off (YAY some dickweed hung off the net in a playcenter made for 4-10 year olds). The air hockey machines are almost all busted in a variety of ways. The kid cars are half cracked of with busted wheels because moron fat parents heft their ass on it to be "funny". There is a giant play center that the kids climb in and I watched a fat grown man climb in it to the top (WTF?) and then, to scare his kids (probably his girlfriend's kids more likely) he shook it back and forth, the whole structure rocking back and forth.

This place is like a year old. It started as an amazing little facility and now it's just sad and I feel bad for the owner.

Assholes and selfish dinks are why most places don't have nice things -- it is too expensive to have anything when you have that small but very destructive set of selfish cockwads demonstrate how effective they are at destroying everything. It's why the world is getting blocked off into private clubs that keep the dickweeds out, though that just concentrates them further making the problem worse.

Rant complete. The smoking thing reminded me of it. Sorry, smokers, but while some of you are normal people who just haven't kicked the habit from when it was a normal thing to do (damn people used to smoke in offices, which seems bizarre now), the concentration of morons and assholes among smokers has grown and grown, so when you encounter a moron, nine times out of ten they smoke.

Masturbators

8 Mar 10 16:39:12 GMT

Rick Tang: Uh. Hm. Okay ... can you do this inside your house so that we don't have to watch?

It's worse than smoking...

Smokers

8 Mar 10 15:10:35 GMT

Fan boy: On Digg: What I hate most about smokers http://i.imgur.com/SMFBj.jpg

A couple of comments from Digg:

--
I hate the smoke they make.
--
well let me say this 99% of all smokers are litterers we all know this. They are filthy. plain and simple truth there. And yes, I do hate all litterers but smokers are the worst of them... If you don't like it tough, I have to put up with your filthy kind and your disgusting habit lingering around me and breathe in that smell. I also have to pick up after all your nasty brethren who flick their cigarettes everywhere so you'll just have to put up with the rather true stereotype that your kind are filthy litterers. Seems like a even trade to me.
--
Personally, what I hate most is when people decide to smoke right outside your apartment so that if you have the windows open, your apartment winds up smelling like a goddamn ashtray. I mean, I generally try not to be a prick about that sort of thing, and I don't like how smoking has become demonized to the point where we're always passing new anti-smoking laws and taxes and whatnot, because I do believe people should have the right to make that choice (even if I think that choice is stupid), but I gotta draw the line somewhere, and I think if nothing else, people should show a little ***** courtesy in that regard. That's what I don't get about smokers - I can't imagine not taking a little regard for the people around me and not recognizing that others might not want to have to choke on that *****. Smoke all you want, but at least try to make a ***** effort to be respectful to others, especially as others (like myself, for instance) may suffer allergies and are thus literally sickened by your goddamn smoke.
--
Someone should kick their butts!

Darksiders

8 Mar 10 13:01:00 GMT

Zangor, Prince of Mutilation: Is basically a hero-style combo beat 'em up like Spiderman, Hulk, Wolverine, God of War, etc layered on top of The Legend of Zelda.

It treads a very fine line between homage and shameless ripoff where Zelda is concerned, actually.

So basically it's Zelda with blood and gore and chopping the wings off of angels and kneecapping demons.

10 stars.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 sucks

8 Mar 10 05:36:16 GMT

df: I cannot for the life of me understand the positive press this game has received.

It absolutely *pales* compared to Cod4:MW.

-no prone

-no lean. CoD4 didn't have it and it was vilified but because this is the "alternative" it is suddenly okay. It sucks.

-the storyline is horrendous and sloppy. It is wrapped up in a stupidly called-in manner.

-while you play in a squad of AI characters, they are

a) Completely and utterly useless.

b) Only illusions. They do little in moving the mission forward (usually hanging back 30 feet), but you could at least hope that they'd provide canon fodder for the enemies -- at least a distraction -- right? Nope. If you are anywhere in the field of battle, or even out of view, the overwhelming bulk of the enemy's attack will fall on you which is just so obsolete for a game like this. In one mission in the very, very short single player game I'm with a group of tanks and despite behind hidden behind a rock the enemy is peppering the rock with bullets and RPGs. Seriously? This is the state of the art?

c) Games like Cod4:MW and Assassins Creed 2 and Mirrors Edge freed the player from the ground (allowing you to grapple up and on things, etc), but BC2 cements you to the ground. Again the smallest little impediments completely thwart your passage.

The bullet dynamics are great -- very Operation Flashpoint-esque, if a decade later -- and the destructible buildings are awesome, but everything else about the game is like going back 8 years in game design. It's like a blast from the past.

Yet it sits at 90 on MetaCritic.

Snu Snu!

8 Mar 10 05:25:26 GMT

sharkfish: http://imgur.com/enRwj

(Can you guess what the snu-snu reference is from?)

so cool

8 Mar 10 04:52:27 GMT

sharkfish: That Sandra Bullock won the Oscar.

She is the reason I am in this career, and it is cool that I am reaching the top of my career as she reaches the top of hers. Of course, I'm not "top" as she is, but I feel a kinship, nonetheless.

http://crazyontap.com/topic.php?TopicId=66160&Posts=30

I wish Meryl Streep would win, but oh well.

And that black girl from Precious looks like she is going to explode from her puffy weight.

100 women who changed the world

8 Mar 10 04:18:41 GMT

Bot Berlin - No Opinions: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/a-century-of-distinction-100-women-who-changed-the-world-1917427.html

ORMs ?

8 Mar 10 02:45:41 GMT

What do you like?: There was a discussion recently about SQL vs NoSQL databases.

On a related subject:

What do you guys ( and gals ) think about ORMs ?

Love them or hate them ?

Which one do you use ?

Hibernate ?
iBatis ?
SimpleORM ?
My Own ?

Or you would rather just use something like db4o ?

Japan and Robots

8 Mar 10 02:35:21 GMT

Bot Berlin - No Opinions: Too bad they can't do the AI,

bitches.

http://www.eggshell-robotics.com/blog/414-humanoid-with-spine-and-muscles-

More AI and programming challenges

7 Mar 10 18:27:18 GMT

Bot Berlin - No Opinions: Here are some programming challenges

http://learningtorankchallenge.yahoo.com/

And the euler challenge:

http://projecteuler.net/

I believe that Hurt Locker should win, but Avatar will win

7 Mar 10 18:21:39 GMT

Bot Berlin - No Opinions: The Oscars.

Hurt Locker is a better film but people like the blue people in Avatar.

I don't feel that bad for Avatar, I wish the story could have been improved a bit but the technology to create the film seems pretty amazing.

CPU heatsink clogged with dust

7 Mar 10 14:20:43 GMT

df: I recently grabbed Bad Company 2 on Steam for some late night diversions, and on my casual-work/fun PC it was shutting the PC down.

So I check the CPU temp right after such a crash to find it at 106C, which is really, really high. Anyways, cracked it open and while the inside was overwhelmingly pristine, the heatsink on the CPU (and only the heatsink on the CPU) had am amazing dust layer on it.

Vacuumed it off and the temperature dropped to the mid 30s.

Amazing. It was weird though because it isn't a very dusty enviro, and like mentioned nothing else on the board was like that. It was almost like it was acting like an electrostatic air cleaner plate. I have an ionizing air cleaner in the furnace so I wonder if it's sending some ionized dust out and it's doing just that. Very weird.

It's an old Q6600 quad-core, but I haven't upgraded to a core i7 simply because it never leaves me waiting.

Refactor my code

7 Mar 10 11:19:31 GMT

sharkfish: http://refactormycode.com

Never saw this site before. Interesting.

hysterical

7 Mar 10 11:18:56 GMT

sharkfish: some of these are.

http://vimeo.com/9917412

the first one and the ragtime music made me lol.

some are lame.

YMMV. Enjoy.

I wonder

7 Mar 10 05:05:09 GMT

sierra: how polarized are we here. it seems like it's still pretty extremists running wild, i'm not sure if denman and likes are still around, you tell me

Science

7 Mar 10 04:03:39 GMT

sharkfish: "Science is a cold-hearted bitch with a 14 inch strap-on!"

--Vince Masuka, Dexter, Season 3

Ronald, The King, Jack and Col Sanders On The Town (~nsfw)

7 Mar 10 02:16:11 GMT

Full name: http://vimeo.com/8627146?

If there's a God,

6 Mar 10 21:05:35 GMT

: it must be Paul Simon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuPJzzcV6jA&feature=related

Short shorts

6 Mar 10 18:19:42 GMT

Rick Tang: Don't ask how I find this out.

http://communities.canada.com/theprovince/blogs/kurtenblog/archive/2008/01/28/a-disturbing-photo-from-the-short-shorts-era.aspx

American government, we hate education

6 Mar 10 17:59:01 GMT

Bot Berlin - No Opinions: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9E8KT0G1&show_article=1

Seriously. Can't we get a bailout for the education?

The coffee party!

6 Mar 10 17:37:53 GMT

Bot Berlin - No Opinions: http://coffeepartyusa.com/

A response to the tea party. Now the coffee party.

720 vs 1080HD - is 720 what is broadcast?

6 Mar 10 08:26:57 GMT

CC: I haven't been able to find this answer by googling, it's not discussed.

TV broadcasts are all 720HD right? They don't have bandwidth allocated for 1080HD? And so 1080HD screens are only going to make a difference if you have both a BluRay player and a 1080HD DVD?

Or are there some TV stations broadcasting 720HD?

If 1080 is never going to be broadcast, then there's no point to getting a 1080 screen unless I also get into BluRay, right? And even then, TV will look better on 720 than 1080 because it won't have to resample.

I mention this because the 1080 screens at the store seemed to have more artifacts in the display, which I assumed to be from a resolution mismatch.

Hail, Hail (It's Saturday)

6 Mar 10 06:43:06 GMT

trollop: Title is bad Melburnian pun.

http://www.theage.com.au/photogallery/victoria/wild-weather-hits-melbourne/20100306-pph5.html?selectedImage=1

Hail as big as golfballs blocked downpipes and my garage/junkroom is wet. Hey, it's a quick way to clean the floor ... sweep the dirt out with the water.

I'm about to go look at the car with crossed fingers.

Shit. 3 dents.

And there's a broken window upstairs.

No dating Arabs!

6 Mar 10 04:21:45 GMT

Out and about: Tel Aviv presents: Municipal program to prevent Arab boys from dating Jewish girls:

http://coteret.com/2010/02/24/tel-aviv-presents-municipal-program-to-prevent-arab-boys-from-dating-jewish-girls/

A democracy indeed!

Alice in Wonderland

6 Mar 10 03:40:40 GMT

Zangor, Prince of Mutilation: Was just OK.

It had the Burton aesthetic with an almost 80s epic fantasy movie feel, but it was too heavily edited. It ran about 90 minutes and could easily have been 180 with more exposition and background.

I liked it, but Burton shouldn't partner with Disney. They water him down.

Amazingly, though the theater was chock full of teenagers, we could actually hear the movie quite well most of the time. Kids actually shut the fuck up.

The yellow people race in UK

6 Mar 10 03:35:10 GMT

Bot Berlin - No Opinions: http://bit.ly/dueNWs

So, will the yellow people mixed race take over. Will racism end?

mmmmm. I'm kinda turned on

6 Mar 10 03:15:33 GMT

sharkfish: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1969602,00.html?xid=rss-topstories

does that make me weird.

tabs or spaces

6 Mar 10 03:02:46 GMT

f: I used to use TABS in all my files.

But now I decided to use spaces.

I want to remove all tabs. I will probably work on a Clojure program to remove tabs from a file over the next few weeks.

Do you guys use tabs or spaces?

MBA?

6 Mar 10 03:00:59 GMT

f: Hi

I'm just wondering should I get my MBA or stay in IT and try to become the project manager?

I just don't know. Maybe I can do the MBA in night school?

Coding metrics: lines of code reduced

6 Mar 10 02:45:48 GMT

Q: Has anybody employed this metric, measuring how much code is removed instead of added?

Many bugs that manifest occur because the original design was overcomplicated and used 1000 lines of code where 200 would do. Due to the added complication there are logic errors, and then people come along to fix the defects by plastering more code over the holes.

If only people would refactor the original code to remove the unnecessary complexity they would fix the bugs and reduce the amount of code that needs to be understood by other maintainers in future.

Therefore I advocate the following question: how many lines of code did you delete when fixing that bug?

Interesting problem for the day

5 Mar 10 23:08:25 GMT

JoC: See if you know why...

Oracle sproc opens a cursor for select on blah blah blah and returns cursor.

Calling sproc returns 0 rows, but investigation of underlying data says this should not be so.

Running the select used by the cursor returns 0 rows *if* the order by at the end is included. Otherwise, it returns the expected rows.

Of course, this takes a long time to narrow down to the order by making the difference. After you get that far, I guess it's trivial for the right sort of folks to know why.

Democrat resigns over possibly gay? sexual harrassment

5 Mar 10 22:15:11 GMT

Bot Berlin: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5inAdX3y5-Adgo_Js10cHTO9nx7lgD9E8NMM80

"Later in the day, Massa released a statement saying that after learning he had a recurrence of cancer, he learned he was the subject of an ethics complaint by a male staffer who felt "uncomfortable" during an exchange with Massa. The exchange reportedly had sexual overtones."

Full Cloud Speed Ahead!

5 Mar 10 21:19:11 GMT

xampl: Balmer sends out memo to the Redmondites saying the company has to operate at cloud speed.

http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/04/steve-ballmer-microsoft-cloud/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29

Fun part is a couple of comments:

>> Hello, this is Microsoft.
Steve Ballmer was referring to clouds from a hurricane, which could range up to 150 miles per hour. We apologize for any discrepancy you may have encountered.
<<
>> Thank you.
Flee from the coastlines accordingly.
<<

Scalpers

5 Mar 10 20:36:13 GMT

df: Meant to post in that prior thread: I've never understood why they don't simply have a bidding process, enriching the venue and the performers.

Essentially a dutch auction until 100% of the tickets are sold. If a hot act is underpriced (which is what scalpers take advantage of) then it should be expensive. If it's overpriced and the place will be mostly empty, then it should be cheaper.

crazed right winger shoots up the pentagon

5 Mar 10 20:25:30 GMT

argv[0]: "John Patrick Bedell, whom authorities identified as the gunman in the Pentagon shooting on Thursday, appears to have been a right-wing extremist with virulent antigovernment feelings."

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0305/John-Patrick-Bedell-Did-right-wing-extremism-lead-to-shooting

passing the closed and empty pentagon stop on the metro this morning, it looked like a ghost town, like a post apocalyptic zombie movie.

A Real thread on Project Based vs Time & Material Bases Billing.

5 Mar 10 19:30:41 GMT

Morons: This is a Basic question of who bares the Risk. (Important Note: Risk is not a bad thing, in project based billing, if you are under budget you benefit)

Who bares the Risk:
Project Based (fixed price): The vendor does (IE Me)
Time & Material Based: My Client.

The question is now is why would your client Except the Risk:
Here the Common Reasons:
1) Cost: If I am billing Fix Price I MUST pad the price to cover my risk of overage. And this is a significant amount at least 25%. The Client can decide this is a good bet.
2) Time (IE More Cost): Project Based contacts require detailed documents around EXECTLY what is going to be delivered, how it will be installed how much training is going to be provided, who will handle the Support, what the change control process is, What is the cost of those changes. All this is takes time and money, and is included in the project price. (Also note. Changes <> More Features, mostly it’s just a re-work because of a bad Business rule)
3) Customer Service: If I am paid by the job, why would I spend the extra time needed to explain to you the Inner working of things? Why would I return your call 6 times a day? I’m not being paid for that.. It comes out of my bottom Line.

To summarize : you want me to be at your beck and Call you better be on time and material, if you can’t deal with the HARD contract a Project Based contacts requires, you go time and material. If you can’t deal with a Change control bureaucracy you go time and material.

All that said.. You, the vendor should not care what which way the client goes. You should be able to Property asses the risks, and have the balls to Stick to the Contract. (Or go through the change control process, and have the contract amended)

One last point: At the start of any project with fixed price billing, I warn the client to expect at least 20% of the total cost in changes controls.

Dumbest MS Move EVER!

5 Mar 10 18:58:57 GMT

Morons: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100305/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_microsoft_windows_phone

This is going to put MS Mobile App makers out of business. It’s just insane.

North Korea Red Star OS and US export controls

5 Mar 10 18:40:42 GMT

Bot Berlin: If North Korea can create an OS with Linux and they can use all kinds of crytophagray, SSL implementations. I think US export controls as it relates to sofware is bogus.

I thought those exports controls would restrict North Korea from getting their hands on a lot of source created in the US.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/04/north-koreas-red-star-os-takes-the-open-out-of-open-source/
This is my comment on reddit:

How do export controls come into play? I know they apply, I just don't know where.

For example, I thought that you couldn't share some source with foreign nations deemed hostile, including North Korea. Especially for cryptography source.

I know I have seen disclaimers at the top of C source that mentions this.

http://www.freeswan.org/freeswan_trees/freeswan-1.5/doc/exportlaws.html

Here is some for Canada http://www.openbsd.org/ECL.html

I found this:

"Software that is open source must still comply with the laws regarding export control. This is important for software that includes crytographic capabilities.

Open source software is so readily copied and distributed, no open source license explicityly require compliance.

Must of the crytographic software within the OSS community is developed and maintained outside of the US."

-- Business and economics of Linux and Open Source.

Lotus hybrid at Geneva- good omens

5 Mar 10 17:52:59 GMT

Clouseau: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/motor-shows/geneva-motor-show/7367928/Geneva-Motor-Show-Lotus-Evora-414E-hybrid.html

"It is powered by the 1.2-litre, three-cylinder, all-aluminium monobloc petrol engine which Lotus developed for the Jaguar Limo-Green hybrid XJ model which was unveiled last autumn - that car is currently on test.

The Evora’s battery is a 17kWh lithium polymer unit and there are twin rear-wheel motors that produce a total of 152kW (203bhp) and 295lb ft of torque.

The weight is 3,218lb (1,460kg) and the total range is 300 miles, with up to 35 miles of electric-only running.

Carbon dioxide emissions are 55g/km, which is pretty amazing when you consider the acceleration from 0-60mph is less than four seconds. "

Yes, yes, I'm a old petrolhead and an engineer. I know this isn't any use as a mainstream car but as a demonstration of what will be commonplace it's good news.

And, yes, if the batteries cost 10K and deteriorate then we just need them easily replacable and recyclable and everyone should lease/rent them.

time off

5 Mar 10 17:23:12 GMT

the great purple: how much do you all get?

at my company we start with 15 days PTO. I've been here a few years, so I'm up to 20 days. No separate sick leave; if you need FMLA it's unpaid.

So it's not just IT

5 Mar 10 16:35:36 GMT

Billy the Fish: Apparently sportsmen have the same problem - http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/mar/05/shaun-wright-phillips-contract-manchester-city - ypu have to move to get the decent pay increase.