matthias: No.

A suggestion today.

If the process of cleaning your keyboard results in my having a cleaning wipe which looks like the following:

It may be time for you to develop more effective personal habits, specifically in terms of cleanliness.

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Hellion Prime: AGAIN with the remakes?

MGM is apparently planning on remaking Red Dawn and Robocop.  What the hell is next, remaking Bill & Teds Excellent Adventure?

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stonetable: To the Moon

I’m making fine progress on my Return to Luna story. It’s not exactly going the way I intended but I’m not unhappy with the results. I’m around 1,600 words in (guesstimate since my first drafts are hand-written) and I suspect I’ll come in close to the 4,000 word limit, if not a little over. This story is a departure from anything I’ve written before. It feels good to stretch beyond the familiar.

My original idea is still rattling around and bugging me enough that I’ll probably tackle that one next.

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TheRock: Meta Update

Wow, no posts since last October. Let’s see - I’ve passed the IDS test, so I’m 3 tests away from CCSP; I just got back from a SNRS class within a couple of weeks, so I should be able to knock out that test and the SND test shortly. Then I will probably take the MARS [...]

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evarlast:

I hate xml.

I really hate it. No humans should have to read it.

As a developer, if I have to even think about Xml, then it is because some developer before me made the wrong choice.*

That said, sometimes a developer full of contempt toward Xml does need to read xml.

Both feedburner and WordPress output mostly well spaces xml, but what if I look at rss from blogs.msdn.com? It looks like the webserver is running a whitespace filter. This is not human readable Xml. Now, I COULD copy and paste into Visual Studio, but then I have to open a new xml document, or save what I’m viewing in the browser and open in Visual Studio. All too many steps.

Cygwin comes with an optional program called xmllint. It is part of the libxml2 package, so be sure to select libxml2 when you run cygwin setup.exe.

$ curl http://blogs.msdn.com/giorgio/rss.xml | xmllint –format - | less

This reformats the xml into a nice 2-space indented by tag display.

* This may be a bit extreme, but I will stand by it most of the time.

truck: Installing hard cases on my Suzuki SV650S

Today I finally got a chance to get outside and install the hard cases on my Suzuki SV650S. The cases are Hepcko & Becker Junior cases (30L) and are mounted to SW-MOTECH quick release mounts. At first, there was some concern that the mounts, and cases would not fit with my M4 full exhaust, but when all was said and done, it all fits just fine.

Here’s what my pre-install layout looked like, note that most folks won’t need a drill - unless they’ve got a shock reservoir that needs relocating:

I removed what I figured would be the easiest part of the installation first, so off came the factory grab bar, and in went the SW-MOTECH replacement. The rear grab bar is replaced wish a bottom plate that has the two upper mounting tabs for the quick release system. My only complaint here is that a spacer that is supposed to go underneath my helmet lock on either side of the bike is at least .020″ oversize. Another minor complaint is that apparently, to German engineers “locking nut” means “not threaded properly.” When I get around to it, half of these fasteners will be replaced with those having proper threading.

Rear grab bar replaced:

Greetings, oversized spacers:

From there, I tackled the rear bracket, which mounts in the factory fender - you’ll need that if you intend to use these mounts. I know most people lob the shovel of a rear fender off as soon as they can, but I never got around to it. My biggest problem with the rear mount is that there was no consideration given to the rubber grommets that are part of the factory mounting system for the rear turn signals, which must be relocated for the bags to fit. That lack of consideration leaves entirely too much free play in the relocated signals, and will have to be fixed by some rubber shims later. It would have been nice if they’d just sized the wings of the bracket to properly fit the grommets the bike came with, but I suppose you can’t think of everything all of the time.

Rear bracket work:

From the back:

The mounting tab that goes under the footpegs was actually the easiest part to install, and took all of two minutes. My complication will be the relocation of my shock reservoir, as it used to mount in the same place. The solution I’ve come up with, involves a drill.

Side case bracket all mounted up:

The other side, clearing the exhaust quite nicely:

Closer view of the exhaust to bracket clearance:

Finally, behold the Suzuki SV650ST :)

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stonetable: Scratching away

Writing:

It’s been all but impossible to do any writing this past week. The day job has been out of control. I worked close to eighty hours. I did manage to sneak in the research I needed to do for my Return to Luna story.

No plans for the weekend, other than mowing the lawn, watching the hockey playoffs and writing. I should be able to finish most if not all of this first draft.

Submissions:

I have four stories out right now, in limbo ranging from ten to thirty-five days. Three to markets I’ve never submitted to before.

I’m a little concerned about my submission to Andromeda Spaceways (ASIM). I’ve heard nothing but positive things about their submission process. Tracking numbers are sent to authors within a week of receiving the submission and you can track your story through the three round reading process.

After thirty-five days I have not received a tracking number nor a response to my query (sent per their guidelines). I know of at least one other person having the same experience. Their submission tracking page hasn’t been updated in more than a month. The only sign of movement came yesterday, with a reported response on Duotrope after a one month lag. I’m still holding out hope that they are just very behind.

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stonetable: Inequal rights for equal folks

The California Supreme Court overturned a ruling against gay marriage this week. The fight wages on as supporters on both sides rally for the battle to make the ruling permanent. Obviously, there are plenty of heated discussions going on. Jed Hartman has a nice summary of what the ruling really means.

I summed up my feeling on the issue over on Chris McKitterick’s journal yesterday:

I’ve never quite understood how it can be claimed that we (the United States) have separation between church and state, yet the concept of a legal union is inseparable from a religious ceremony in the minds of so many.

In my mind, any man or woman, in any combination, should be able to be legally “married” and obtain all legal benefits of such.

Religion should play absolutely no part in the legal process of marriage. Perhaps it’s my limited perspective, but the majority of those I see/hear/read about are protesting and complaining based on their personal religious views.

To me, it’s really that simple. There is absolutely no reason a person should be treated differently based on their ethnic group, gender, sexual preference, or social status. In short, people should be judged on their actions.

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evarlast:

At Ann Arbor Dot Net Developers meeting last night, Eric Maino was there. I don’t think he meant to open up the giant can of worms that is me when he asked “What kind of things would you like to see in the next version of C#?” Here is my list.

• Static Imports

  yes like java!

  Sometimes extension methods aren’t as readable as just a method call. Ability to import static methods and call them without the class name would be super.

• Drop var.

  Type inference rules. Can we drop the var? its noise.
  var x = 1;
x = 1;
which of these lines is more concise? At least make it optional. I don’t mind if you want to say var. Just don’t make me do it.

• Better type inference

  Optional type parameters, since the compiler knows what I mean!
  peeps = List(new string[] {”Bob”,”Dorothy”,”Jane”});
  This is a List, but I don’t need to say List the type can be inferred via the List(IEnumerable) constructor.

• Optional Whitespace Significance

  We all use whitespace formatted code anyway. Why not just drop the parenthesis and semicolons and make the whitespace actually mean something. Of course I say “optional” because not everyone will like it. It would be really cool to be able to toggle it throughout a file.
  #pragma whitespace significance enable
public class Employee
  public Employee()
    name = string.Empty
    hireDate = DateTime.Now
  public string Name
    get
    set
  public DateTime HireDate
    get
    set
#pragma whitespace significance disable
public GiveRaise() {
salary *=1.10;
}
#pragma whitespace significance enable
  public Promote()
    CLevel–
  The file would have to end in the same mode in which it were started, or the compiler can figure things out.

• A hook into the compiler pipeline

  See boo.

• A hybrid compiler

  At CodeMash, Joe O’Brien and about how nice it would be to use the better suited language for any given task in .NET. We don’t want separate projects. We don’t want separate netmodules.

  I want it right down to partial classes. VB’s XML Literals and late binding are sweet. I want to use those if I need. C#’s everything else are what I prefer to work with.

  ReadYourFeed.cs:
public partial class ReadYourFeed {
  Initialize(){
    rss.FirstChild.AppendChild(GetGenerator());
  }
}

  ReedYourFeed.vb:
  Partial Public Class ReadYourFeed
    Public Function GetGenerator()
      Dim sig = SuperReadYourFeed 2000 1.2.3.4.5
      Return sig
    End Function
  End Class

* I don’t know VB. Writing that VB took me much googling

• A plugable compiler

  Similar to the above with boo, but almost the inverse. I want an open definition for the AST which the compiler uses to generate IL and I want a great API for building this AST myself.

  Next, I should be able to plug in my own parser/lexer which builds this AST. So the IL generation from the AST is entirely from the (now more than) C# compiler, but the parser is mine.

  This is really an abstraction and opening of the previous step. Instead of just C#/VB, I want it ALL!

• Easier method currying.

  Dustin Campbell might like writing lots of code to do it in C#. I’m sure he does it all the time, but I’d like to be able to do it in FAR fewer lines of code.

• F#’s pipeline operator.

  This is more readable
  {1..10} |> Seq.fold ( ) 0;;
  than this
  Enumerable.Aggregate(Enumerable.Range(1, 10), (a, b) => a b);
  or this
  (from i in Enumerable.Range(1, 10) select i).Sum();
  or even this
  Enumerable.Range(1, 10).Sum();
  Ok, well extension methods sure look a lot like the pipeline operator, so never mind on this request

• It seems like I talked about other crazy stuff too, but I don’t recall what things they were.

Hellion Prime: Fraking Apple Users!

Somebody brought us a nearly new iMac the other day. The problem description was "cd stuck in the drive".  What do we find when we crack open the machine (suction cups, and 30 minutes of swearing at the ineptitude of Apple designers later), and pull the disc out of the drive? A normal CD with a mini disc TAPED TO IT. They wanted to see if they could do that in order to read the mini disc.

The stupid, it BURNS. Or at least I wish it would. Some of these people do not deserve to live.

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stonetable: Astronomers Discover Elusive Object

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metallikop: Time Tracking With Klok (Adobe AIR)

When I did freelance work a few years ago I managed my time with Excel spreadsheets and Notepad.  This method works but it’s by no means an elegant way to track time.  Adobe’s AIR runtime has given developers a quick and easy way to write a slew of new apps; some useful, some not so useful.

One that I’ve found extremely useful lately is Klok.  For all projects I’m working on at work I’m required to track my time and what I was doing.  I used to hate this type of micromanagement but understood the need for billing purposes.

With Klok you create a project (metallikop.com for example), then create sub projects (Design, Blogging, PR, Marketing) and you’re all set.  You can set a contact name, email address and phone number for your client create and/or comments for each line item.  Once everything is set up you select the project and sub-project from the drop down menu in the title and the clock starts ticking away on the selected project.  Klok will export the time sheet to Excel by dragging the project off to the desktop.  Honestly, this application makes time tracking considerably easier.

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stonetable: Testing WordPress

I’m experimenting with Wordpress 2.5 and cross-posting to LiveJournal.

It appears that Wordpress 2.5 and the LiveJournal cross-poster are much improved since the last time I tested them. I’m going to knock around with this for a day and see how it fits.

I’ve ripped out the relevant portions of the LJ theme that I like and applied it to the theme here. I’ll try to keep my tests to this one post so I don’t mess up anyone’s feed.

Update:

Fairly happy with the changes so far. There are things I need to do, blanks that need to be filled, but everything critical is done.

Issues:

• The LiveJournal cross-poster doesn’t seem to copy my tags over correctly
• There doesn’t seem to be a way of changing the order of widgets in the sidebar. Drag and drop is broken in Wordpress 2.5.1

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Hellion Prime: More craziness from Eurocom

Eurocom rebadges stuff from Compal and other ODM companies for their boat anchor notebooks. Their stuff is heavy, hot, and only portable if you like hernias. This, however, is taking it to a whole new level. 2.8gHz quad core Xeon with 3 2.5" HDDs for storage. Up to 8GB of ram. 17" display. All of this can be yours for a price of well north of $3000 and a backbreaking 12lbs. Oh, and if the battery will actually last an hour on it, consider yourself lucky.  Considering the thing is made entirely out of ABS, its a good thing you CANT carry it far, cause it is going to be a flextaxtic pile of crap.

Oh wait, its not a "laptop". Its a "mobile server". Riiiiiiiiight. Why BUYS these things, seriously?

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evarlast:

via Gregg Newsom

 

Open Space is an awesome format for meeting and conferencing. The Day Of Dot Net Conferences have been promoting it with varying success.

Personally, I love it when a conference has space set aside for Open Spaces, if the conference isn’t entirely open space format. There are only so many times I can sit through another presentation about something I have seen before. Open Spaces does provide an alternative for us overly selective types.

More importantly, it provides a place for you to get out of it exactly what you put into it. What do I mean by this? How many times have you said “yeah, that would be awesome” to some idea when you were talking with someone at a conference? Open Spaces provides the means to make that idea a reality. Next time this happens to you, please grab that person with whom you were speaking and march directly to the open spaces room and begin working, planning, designing, developing, whatever-ing. Maybe make a pit-stop at the Open Spaces board on the way.

I can’t wait for the event at SRT Solutions. I love my tools. I’m passionate about my tools. Like any good craftsman, I have my favorite hammer, my favorite saw, and my favorite drill. I feel crippled without my own tools. Ask a craftsman to build you something and give him unfamiliar second rate tools and see what happens :)  You probably will not like the results.

metallikop: My iPhone2 Wishlist

I’ve seen a lot more of these lately as the “launch date” for the new iPhone draws closer.  I came across Derek Powazek’s list and I couldn’t agree less and felt it was my duty to make a better, more accurate list.

The Likelies

• Thicker, heavier, faster, more storage.  I’m okay with this even though it’ll make some people cry.  I’d rather have a larger battery, GPS, and improved camera then a slimmer lighter phone.  I used to carry a blackberry brick and an HTC 8925, the iPhone is light in comparison.
• 3G.  It’s crazy that a phone with all those fancy internets needs to rely on WiFi to make use of the product.
• Hardware design tweaks.  I don’t care much really.  Fix the headphone input please, otherwise it’s fine.
• Better battery life.  I’ve become accustomed to plugging my phone in every night but a few extra hours wouldn’t hurt.

The Hopefullies

• Onboard GPS Receiver.  Every phone has one these days, the iPhone needs one and it’ll be complete.
• Exchange ActiveSync.  I miss this more then anything else on my 8925, it’s necessary for any business user and sometimes I just can’t disconnect.
• Uncrippled Bluetooth.  I’d like to go to GMaps, find a location, sync it to my GPS device and go, or sync with my computer, or a number of other things.  Don’t break my bluetooth please.
• Push Email.   I’m pretty sure they’ll add this with all the recent rumors of .mac being upgraded.  This will be a huge plus.
• Fix the camera. I agree with Derek on this, “More resolution, better image quality, faster shutter”, but I don’t need a hardware shutter button, and it won’t happen anyways.

The Who Caresies

• Video recording.  I don’t care.  I guess it’d be nice but I’d never use it.
• Rubbery grip.  Sorry, not with you on this one.  I like the design as is, if I want a rubbery grip I’ll buy a case that has one.
• Better earbuds.  Apple earbuds have always sucked, I’m sure the new ones will too which is fine since I’ve dropped a good amount of money on picking up some very nice earbuds.

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wildbill: Billix 0.20 released…

A couple of days ago, I released Billix 0.20. Changelog is as follows:

Removed Ubuntu Feisty (7.04)
Added Ubuntu Hardy (8.04LTS)
Moved Damn Small Linux directory from KNOPPIX to DSL to facilitate customization in the future.
Updated Centos 4 to version 4.6
Updated Centos 5 to version 5.1

Go get it from here.

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metallikop: Twitter

I’ve been far more then blogging.  If you’re a Twitter user . (metallikop)

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Aaron Thul: Jumbo Frames and Intel

I am working on deploying a shiny new iSCSI SAN (Storage Area Network) for EMOL and I have run into a bit of an annoyance. First why does Intel make so many different versions of the Intel PRO/1000 card? We purchased a server with two on-board Intel PRO/1000 cards and added a PCI-X Intel PRO/1000 card with the plan to Ethernet Bond the two on-board cards and use the add-on card for server management.

This is a plan that definitely did not come together. First the main board manufacturer thought it would be a good idea to use two different Intel chips for the two Ethernet controllers. One is an Intel PRO/1000 PL the other is an Intel PRO/1000 PM. The add-on card we purchased is an Intel PRO/1000 PT. So it turns out the Intel cards are far from the same and I am not happy about that. It took me much Internet digging to find this out.

Intel PRO/1000 PM - does not support jumbo frames
Intel PRO/1000 PT - supports jumbo frames in Microsoft Windows operating systems only when Intel PROSet for Windows Device Manager is installed and only up to 9238 bytes.
Intel PRO/1000 PL - support jumbo frames larger than 9238 bytes.

So what are my options? Well I do not run Windows, and I would like to run at a minimum two network ports teamed. Which means now I need to order an additional Ethernet card or a two port Ethernet card. What I do know is it will likely not be a Intel Pro 1000.

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stonetable: Tirpy

Tired, but happy.

Stopped off at a Barnes and Noble before seeing Iron Man tonight. Not only did we find copies of Weird Tales and Apex Digest (both difficult to find in stores, in my experience) but we saw the Steampunk anthology edited by Jeff & Ann Vandermeer, which was released today, in the wild.

No writing done today, but I’m down to the last scene rewrite for my Sword and Sorceress submission. I expect that to be ready by the end of the weekend.

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