Posts

I’m playing with date conversions today, and again I’m struck by how much the Java Calendar should be held up as an example of the over-engineered API. Has anyone ever used anything besides the Gregorian calendar? They were so proud of it when it hit 1.1.

I should have two patches hitting kernel 2.6.26, one entirely cosmetic and one that fixes a real bug on Atheros wireless cards. Akpm did pick up the OMFS patchset so hopefully that will go in .27 timeframe, though the jury is still out on whether it hits mainline.

In other news, take that, Skype!

The libpam-mount configuration file has changed to a new XML format.

Aaaaaaghhh, no!!!!

Sandwich bread
Originally uploaded by bluesterror

I tried making sandwich bread this weekend since we forgot to buy it from the grocery store. With a stand mixer, this was not hard at all, and it rocks our socks. Oh, the BLTs I am going to make with this!

I’m taking the GRE this week as part of a foolish endeavor to possibly get more learning. Wow, have I forgotten lots of high school math. In preparation for the subject test, which I still haven’t signed up for, I picked up a copy of volumes 1 & 2 of TAOCP. I think these will be much better books once the MMIX versions are out in a few years. For now, they are hilariously antiquated as far as any of the MIX stuff goes. 6-bit (binary or decimal!) bytes, no stack, self-modifying code, punch cards, a weird assembly language that encodes the target registers in the opcode. It makes x86 look like a good ISA. Of course as Knuth says, the concepts themselves are timeless. And it does have me wanting to find a reason for using coroutines, so that’s something.

Angeline is way smarter than me. Congrats on her chapter full of words I do not understand!

43 files changed, 5671 deletions(-)

Today was a good day. I love deleting XML parsers more than anything in the whole world.

I unintentionally created quite a ruckus on the kernel mailing list this weekend. Evgeniy’s take. It’s funny, I feel a lot less invested than practically anyone in the whole thread.

More evidence that javac is one of the dumbest compilers ever: public class Foo extends java.lang.Object{ public Foo(); Code: 0: aload_0 1: invokespecial #1; //Method java/lang/Object."":()V 4: return public static void main(java.lang.String[]); Code: 0: aconst_null 1: instanceof #2; //class Foo 4: ifeq 15 7: getstatic #3; //Field java/lang/System.out:Ljava/io/PrintStream; 10: ldc #4; //String never! 12: invokevirtual #5; //Method java/io/PrintStream.println:(Ljava/lang/String;)V 15: return } Ok, I’ll give them a break – this probably never comes up in a real application.

As long as I’ve known about kosher for Passover Coke, I’ve needed it. Coca-cola made with sugar, they said, the way it used to be. I wasn’t sure I believed it existed, but I was hopeful. Last year, I dropped by the KosherMart around Seder time looking for this mythical cola, but all they had was Dr. Brown’s and kosher Diet Coke. “WTF?” I asked the clerk, but he was still unable to help me.

Then, last night I spotted a crate of yellow-capped 2-liters at Giant. “w00t!” I exclaimed, as I snagged a few. Finally, I would be able to answer that age old question: is KFP Coke really better than normal Coke? (I seem to remember from last year that the company line was, “no, you are imagining things. Please go back to enjoying your corn syrup.”)

I’m all about the science, so I had my lovely assistant decant equal amounts of regular and KFP coke into glasses while I was in the other room. Not knowing which was which, I took a sip of each, and selected my favorite.

And the winner is: KFP, easily. They do taste similar enough, but the big difference is in finish. Sucrose has a clean, smooth finish, while HFCS has quite a harsh aftertaste – not Splenda harsh, mind you, but definitely noticeable if you have something to compare it against.

I approve of this religious tradition!

Don’t believe anything you read on the internet today, especially this post.