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Vlad!
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« Reply #880 on: July 14, 2010, 09:38:43 AM » |
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The building we're in, Building 2, has three floors (making it actually the smallest building on the RTP campus). Recently, each floor got a little area right above the stairwell for displaying awards. Soon after, floor 3 (I work on floor 2) started getting mysterious awards...
The first award was "Building 2 best floor: 3rd place".
Just this week, another one popped up: "Highest building 2 floor in 2009".
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If you don’t have freedom as a principle, you can never see a reason not to make an exception. There are constantly going to be times when for one reason or another there’s some practical convenience in making an exception.
rms
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Vlad!
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« Reply #881 on: July 16, 2010, 11:11:56 PM » |
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Ahh, I love open source. I've written a few little things--mostly just trivial utilities--that I've made open source over the years. I'd say the one that took off the best was Color Toggle. It's the sort of thing that I could never sell, never make a living off of, but a small handful of people find useful. So if one dude who happens to know a thing or two about programming decides to do something about it, he can share it with others. But that's not where I was going with this. That's just the preamble. Several months ago, I got an e-mail from a guy named Jean-Bernard, who noticed that Color Toggle didn't have any internationalization support. I didn't really think it needed it, but I guess people running French or German or whatever Firefox would like to see the config dialog in their own language. Anyway, he did all the (tedious) work to add a locale structure, which is the necessary groundwork for an extension to be translated. I thanked him for his work, updated the code, and checked it in. Last week I got an e-mail from a guy named Qing[1]. He's Chinese and likes Color Toggle (apparently it has something of a following among Chinese users). He did the Chinese translation and e-mailed it to me (he also acted as though I would be doing him a favor). I can't remember the last time I did any real work on Color Toggle (probably the time when my friend and cubicle neighbor Jeff said "hey, it would be cool if Color Toggle let me specify my own colors in #RGB format"), but other people keep doing work for me. The license that Firefox and most of its extensions is under is the Mozilla Public License. It's an attribution license; it's free like the BSD license, but it also has a clause that says those who worked on a file get their names on the file. It's cool because it recognizes that a lot of times we (developers) don't really care about getting money, but we're proud of what we do and want other people to notice. But what I didn't expect when I started out is that I'm also proud to add others' names with mine. It says "other people found this thing I did worthwhile enough to contribute their own time and effort to it". And that's why I love open source. [1] I did my usual trick when I encounter a Chinese name of indeterminate gender: a Google image search. That was inconclusive, so naturally I constructed a fantasy persona of an attractive Chinese lady who dreams of one day meeting the handsome and intelligent author of her favorite extension. Then I found his forum post, and despite my fantasy he remains decidedly male. |
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« Last Edit: November 17, 2011, 04:02:15 PM by Vlad! »
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If you don’t have freedom as a principle, you can never see a reason not to make an exception. There are constantly going to be times when for one reason or another there’s some practical convenience in making an exception.
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enemy anemone
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« Reply #882 on: July 17, 2010, 01:38:51 PM » |
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hey, it would be cool if Color Toggle would let you specify the attributes of your fans!
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Vlad!
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« Reply #883 on: July 17, 2010, 09:24:11 PM » |
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If I could write something like that, I wouldn't even need to work anymore...
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Vlad!
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« Reply #884 on: July 26, 2010, 10:44:23 AM » |
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In a code review on Friday, I wrote the following:
===
Given that you're expecting zeros I'm guessing that the CDB is right (you're reading after your write)...
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I re-read it today and it took me several passes to parse it and ensure that I used right/write and you're/your in the correct places.
I should have written afterward "I will give you this bad sentence because I don't have the energy to write you a good sentence".
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spacebrat311
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« Reply #885 on: July 30, 2010, 01:55:43 PM » |
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After years of having and understandably neglecting an account on the JFH messageboards, I decided I might as well go out in a blaze of glory and wrote up a brief piece on the theological problem of "Christian Music." I anticipate being quietly disappeared from that board.
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Vlad!
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« Reply #886 on: July 30, 2010, 04:30:18 PM » |
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I've actually never ventured over there...is that board in the habit of deleting the accounts of troublesome members?
Speaking as a forum admin, though, I do have to add my standard disclaimer that if a forum isn't for you, the appropriate response is simply to withdraw quietly, not post something designed to deliberately tweak some noses. I'm sure that to you that whole crowd seems deliberately and annoyingly insular and anti-intellectual, but even though to you your actions may seem like those of a dashing revolutionary trying to drag these people out of their navel-gazing, impoverished existence, to them you just look like a jerk. You don't have the rapport necessary for them to take you seriously, so you're just an outsider trying to come in and stir up trouble.
If that seems like old man ranting then feel free to ignore it and have your fun...
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« Reply #887 on: August 12, 2010, 02:43:33 PM » |
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the phrase "the olden days" randomly popped into my head, and I realized I hadn't heard anyone use that phrase lately...not since the olden days, haha. my association with "the olden days" is the time of the American pioneers. Laura Ingalls Wilder days. I suppose if I thought about it some more, it's also the time from the Mayflower Pilgrims to...I don't know, whatever time period that people older than I am are referring to when they talk about how things were different when they were little. but automatically I think of the pioneer days. then I wondered if that is mainly because I grew up in the Midwest and went to pioneer-related places for school field trips and such. pioneer stuff was just part of the local history/culture/whatever. I wonder if pholks who grew up elsewhere have a different association with "the olden days"? or perhaps your association with the olden days has to do with your (great-)grandparents? (kids today probably think we are from the olden days, but I'm not asking them.  ) |
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Vlad!
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« Reply #888 on: August 12, 2010, 04:42:04 PM » |
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I don't really have any association with 'the olden days'. I will use that phrase whenever I think it's the most amusing phrase for the particular situation I'm in (thus, I'm pretty sure I have described times ranging from pre-diluvian to my middle school years as the 'olden days').
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Vlad!
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« Reply #889 on: September 10, 2010, 01:29:48 PM » |
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I mentioned in another thread that there's a spamvirus going around at work. What's funny is, I only know of one engineer who's been infected (and he's a former NC State student, so he barely even counts). It's mostly sales people, though I think there were a couple marketing drones in there as well. Sales people do a lot of things that are really important (like, um, sell our product), but in terms of not clicking on a random sketchy PDF link, they're apparently not so bright. |
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« Last Edit: September 11, 2010, 09:42:45 PM by Vlad! »
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« Reply #890 on: September 11, 2010, 08:25:55 PM » |
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in terms of not clicking on a random sketchy PDF link[/url], they're apparently not so bright.
did you mean to include the url of the sketchy pdf link for us to click on? xD kind of related to my previous "olden days" ramble:  (curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!) |
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Vlad!
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« Reply #891 on: September 12, 2010, 09:46:38 PM » |
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I got to meet Lionel of La Farm Bakery today. The sign over the kitchen says "Boulangerie", which I pronounced as "boo lingerie", to his amusement. I am given to understand that it means "bakery". |
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« Reply #892 on: September 23, 2010, 06:12:36 PM » |
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I changed my handle because I could and wanted to. I'm still me, just an enemy anemone version of me.  might change it back or again, but will keep this avatar to minimize any confusion. |
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Vlad!
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« Reply #893 on: September 23, 2010, 07:41:29 PM » |
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Unrelated to anemoni, I received a check for one cent today from a law office I did business with over two years ago. I'm not entirely sure why, but I suspect that in a fit of pique caused by my dislike of lawyers, I overpaid by one cent for the express purpose of annoying them.
(I wasn't in legal trouble or causing legal trouble for others; this was house-purchase-related).
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If you don’t have freedom as a principle, you can never see a reason not to make an exception. There are constantly going to be times when for one reason or another there’s some practical convenience in making an exception.
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enemy anemone
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« Reply #894 on: September 23, 2010, 07:44:34 PM » |
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 I suspect this would be a quick, easy, and fun way to annoy accountants, too. actually it was probably just the lawyer's accountant that you annoyed. |
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Vlad!
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« Reply #895 on: October 01, 2010, 05:19:38 PM » |
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The lawyer actually does her own books, so she was in fact extremely annoyed. However, she finally got back to me and it turns out it was the seller who overpaid by one cent. For the past two years she has been trying to send him a check, but he never cashed it so it remained on the books. In a legally-questionable move, I guess she decided to give it to me instead.
(I now sort of regret cashing the check because I'm amused at the thought of this lawyer trying for the rest of her career to get rid of this one cent, but the bank tellers and I got a great deal of amusement out of it already, so its purpose has been served).
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enemy anemone
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« Reply #896 on: October 01, 2010, 08:20:53 PM » |
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hilariouser and hilariouser!
I picture her solving her dilemma by putting the penny in one of those little "have a penny? leave a penny; need a penny? take a penny" cups you don't see anymore.
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Vlad!
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« Reply #897 on: October 20, 2010, 10:27:00 PM » |
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From an e-vite invitation I just received:
"Dress is dressy casual--no jeans, no tennis shoes, no flip flops (except Nathan)"
I am wholly bemused that I received a special exception to wear sandals at an otherwise dressy party. There are definite advantages to being eccentric.
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enemy anemone
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« Reply #898 on: October 20, 2010, 11:06:30 PM » |
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nice. you've become Bilbo Baggins. that is, a sandal-wearing Bilbo Baggins. oh, never mind. |
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Vlad!
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« Reply #899 on: October 26, 2010, 03:31:22 PM » |
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I had an interesting conversation the other day. I was speaking disparagingly about Wal*Mart--something I do at every opportunity, naturally--and a friend said "remind me again why we're supposed to hate Wal*Mart?" Apparently she had been in a discussion about big box stores and wasn't able to present a convincing defense for the anti- position.
I think I made her mad by saying "we're supposed to think for ourselves".
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Vlad!
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« Reply #900 on: December 02, 2010, 07:24:03 AM » |
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My minivan got hauled away today by the Charity Cars people, who can hopefully get some value out of it somehow. I will miss it and honor its memory, though I won't miss the more recent months of having to back around it and having it leaking noxious fluids in my driveway. |
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AldaForPresident
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« Reply #901 on: December 02, 2010, 11:10:26 PM » |
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I got a new car in September because my old one broke down completely and finally, and today I looked in the old one for the first time in a while. Apparently my papaw decided to just throw it open to the elements and let wild animals roam through it, because it looks awful inside, covered with leaves and twigs and such. Very weird.
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Vlad!
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« Reply #902 on: January 18, 2011, 10:39:46 AM » |
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My friend Dale's wedding made the news this weekend. There were a lot of shenanigans that weekend. Since Dale was actually staying at my house over the weekend (he and Crystal are currently living in Charlotte, but the wedding was up here for various reasons), I got to hear about (and participate in) a lot of them. |
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enemy anemone
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« Reply #903 on: January 24, 2011, 01:59:22 PM » |
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for fans and non-fans of the sheep chair:  *shudder* |
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Vlad!
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« Reply #904 on: January 24, 2011, 02:25:50 PM » |
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I for one welcome our new tentacled and upholstered overlords.
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« Reply #905 on: January 24, 2011, 02:49:11 PM » |
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I prefer the sheep chair! cozier, and I find the unnatural three heads less creepy than the natural eight legs plus suckers. and there's something extra-sinister about it lurking behind the chair.  |
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whim
Inphrequent Poster
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« Reply #906 on: January 25, 2011, 07:24:35 PM » |
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If by "extra-sinister" you mean "looks like it's out to trip you", then I can agree with that sentiment.
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Vlad!
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« Reply #907 on: January 30, 2011, 04:54:32 PM » |
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A couple of months ago, the left headlight burned out on my friend's Suzuki Forenza. She played the girl card, so I agreed to change it for her, thinking that it would be easy (as it has been in all the cars I've owned). Turns out, it took me about 45 minutes to change, mostly because the Suzuki engineers assumed you would have a 10mm deep-well socket on hand to remove the screw which removes the headlight assembly (you're supposed to remove the entire headlight and then change the bulb).
Last week, I noticed that her right headlight burned out (and I was very relieved that it wasn't the one I had changed!), so I biked to Ace Hardware yesterday and bought the proper socket. Total change time? Maybe seven minutes, and most of that was spent attempting to explain the mysterious operations of the advanced technology known as the socket wrench.
I'm not sure if the moral of the story is "have the right tools for the job" or "Suzuki engineers are idiots", but I'm going with a little from column A and a little from column B.
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If you don’t have freedom as a principle, you can never see a reason not to make an exception. There are constantly going to be times when for one reason or another there’s some practical convenience in making an exception.
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Vlad!
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« Reply #908 on: February 24, 2011, 09:36:04 PM » |
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Random story time!
When I was a freshman at Virginia Tech I lived in Thomas Hall, an all-male dormitory on the Upper Quad (which was where the cadets lived, though Thomas was a civilian dorm, so if I was sleeping particularly lightly I would wake up to the sound of the cadets marching about the quad around six in the morning. Fortunately, my freshman year light sleeping wasn't really a problem for me).
As with most of the old residence halls in those days, there was one communal bathroom per hall, which also included showers. The showers were originally completely open, but I guess as part of converting the dorm from military to civilian use they put up steel partitions to create shower stalls. It was still quite awkward to shower in a stall next to me since I am far taller than the partitions they put up, but my desire to look over the wall was pretty much nil so it worked out either way.
I believe the entire building--which was only four floors--was served by a single housekeeper, who was responsible for the bathrooms, halls, and common areas on each floor. I felt bad for the poor soul, partly because cleaning up after 200 or so young men in close quarters is never appealing, but partly because for some reason they had assigned a woman to the task.
I suppose in that situation one becomes entirely jaded. She was a middle-aged woman, probably in her forties, and to have a job cleaning up after unruly and disrespectful students who feel intellectually and socially superior to her must have grated on her psyche. Especially on Mondays, since she had weekends off and thus started her work week scrubbing vomit-encrusted toilets, ruined by weekend revelry. The fact that Thomas was almost exclusively populated by underclassmen who were not of legal drinking age did not seem to affect this in any way.
I like to think that I was at least somewhat sympathetic to her plight. I was somewhat frustrated that she got up to the third floor about the same time I wanted to take a shower, but of course she had a job to do. It was always awkward to come out of the shower to meet her cleaning the bathroom, but of course she was used to the situation and always managed to be intently cleaning one of the stalls when a freshly-showered resident walked by.
There are a lot of things which motivate me in life. My natural drive to succeed; my love of solving interesting problems and creating interesting things; the fear of disappointing others or, worse, myself; and of course my feeling that I was created for a reason and my desire to find out what that is. But my Freshman year, trying to overcome the hurdle of heightened responsibility and lessened accountability that everyone who goes away to college has to overcome, the cleaning lady whose name I don't even remember inspired me as much as any of these things. Her job is to clean up the bodily fluids of rude, slovenly, and inconsiderate people, most of whom won't even give her the time of day. I don't know whether or not she hates this job, but she has clearly accepted it. I never want to be in a position where I accept anything less than the best I can possibly achieve, and yet I want to handle every situation with all the dedication, enthusiasm, and grace I can muster.
Here's to the woman who cleans Thomas Hall. I am far, far from perfect, but I feel like the lessons I learned from her brought me just a little bit closer.
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who me?
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« Reply #909 on: February 27, 2011, 08:47:12 PM » |
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Er... hi. Remember me? I think I last logged in in... 2008 or thereabouts, so it's been a while. This place doesn't look like it's changed at all though!
So how is everyone?
Also! Schil! (I'm going to keep calling you that even though you have a new name) You made a Firefly reference! And I get it! <3
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enemy anemone
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« Reply #910 on: February 27, 2011, 10:08:57 PM » |
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you? who you?  (we will rule over all the phorum, and we will call it...the phorum!) |
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Vlad!
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« Reply #911 on: February 27, 2011, 10:25:42 PM » |
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You're off by about a year (your last post was in May of 2009), but good to see you stopping by again. |
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« Reply #912 on: March 10, 2011, 02:51:54 PM » |
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You're off by about a year (your last post was in May of 2009), but good to see you stopping by again. Really? Huh. So it was! Terribly sorry about the random vanishing. This time I have a legitimate excuse. I had no internet because I was living with my granddad lol. |
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Vlad!
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« Reply #913 on: March 10, 2011, 04:59:31 PM » |
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No apologies necessary; it's always nice when you stop in, but the phorum imposes no obligation, express or implied.
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« Reply #914 on: March 15, 2011, 09:33:07 AM » |
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Beware! Ides!
(Got to it before Schil enemy anemone did)
Also, I had pie for dessert yesterday.
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« Reply #915 on: March 15, 2011, 04:30:27 PM » |
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I still have to say it. beware! Ides! I had intended to bake a pie yesterday, but I didn't feel like finding and trying out a new pie crust recipe. so I made cookies instead with canned pumpkin that was intended for pie. |
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Vlad!
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« Reply #916 on: March 21, 2011, 03:34:00 PM » |
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I think the Ford ads are neglecting one of the key selling points of the Fiesta: how findable it is in a parking lot. |
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Vlad!
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« Reply #917 on: April 07, 2011, 10:17:22 AM » |
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The other night I was at a sushi restaurant with some friends. We were in the back room, where it was really dark. I think there had been light coming in from the windows, but after the sun set they didn't turn the lights up. We were having a bit of trouble reading the menus, so I pulled out the flashlight I always carry with me (what? I'm prepared) and we were using it to read. The waiter laughed when he saw this and said "I'll go turn those lights up for you".
(Once he turned the lights up he recognized us because we eat there all the time, and I think he annoyed our actual waitress by standing around chatting with us while she was trying to do her job.)
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« Reply #918 on: April 11, 2011, 05:32:52 PM » |
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Not only is it findable in a parking lot, apparently it doesn't actually require fuel. (I was planning on driving around to see how long I could go before I actually ran out of gas, but I got bored before I ran out. Seriously, it was on zero for a long time). |
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Vlad!
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« Reply #919 on: April 14, 2011, 04:39:53 PM » |
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Due to the discussion about male and female names, I wrote a little program to mine the social security office's name database and do some calculations. My results:
Nathan is a male name with popularity 467113
Natha is the closest female equivalent (1), with a popularity of 250
Nathaly is the most popular female equivalent (2), with a popularity of 3878
Nathan is a female name with popularity 1664
Natha is the closest male equivalent (1), with a popularity of 27
Nathen is the most popular male equivalent (1), with a popularity of 5014
So, um, there you go. I banged this up in about half an hour while I was supposed to be doing work, so probably the "most popular" part could be tweaked to yield a name that, you know, more people might actually have. Maybe I'll work on it some more at some point.
Also, apparently there are females named 'Nathan' (popularity is not directly equivalent to "number of people with that name", but it looks like at one point there were almost twenty women named Nathan somewhere in the US). Freaky.
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If you don’t have freedom as a principle, you can never see a reason not to make an exception. There are constantly going to be times when for one reason or another there’s some practical convenience in making an exception.
rms
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