You're making sense. Something like Melodyne[video] might be useful.

What about MIDI recording a full guitar session, arranging in an audio editor, then annotating from there and playing the annotation directly?

I probably used terribly non-musical words just now.

If you run it twice at the exact same time, does it print "Goose?"

I think one of the keys is that calorie counting has 365 one day goals instead of one big 365 day goal. Chopping everything up into more frequent checkpoints seems to be effective to me. Goatboy was blogging about this recently--writing a beat per day and a track per week for the year.

It's like the old saying: "No one ever got fired for buying IBM."

I believe government agencies operate like many big companies' internal organizations: they will not work together unless forced. In companies, a boss can force. In the government, it usually takes more than that, and therefore doesn't happen that often.

That's my theory at least. The reason for this, my theory goes, is that the primary goal of public work within the government is to not fail badly enough to get fired. It's not to succeed, it's to keep working. Most people do that by sticking to things they can do themselves, avoiding things that involved other people--because other people can scapegoat you, sell you out, work poorly on their part OR be way better than you and make you stand out--so agencies keep to themselves whenever possible.

I don't have any evidence for this claim. I've just been thinking about the lack of public sector leadership for a while and have a few rants stored up.

24-hour comics were pioneered by Scott McCloud, which reminds me, I need to reread his "Understanding Comics" one of these days. Which also reminds me that his "character" in that comic about comics may have been the inspiration for Harold DuVase.

I haven't looked into FF's plugin system, but (to paraphrase Steve Yegge) I do occasionally make claims to being a programmer, so maybe I'll try it.

Write. I'm tired.

You know, you could probably right an extension to implement smart tab grouping yourself.

@justin_dz was !drnk ftr

@cathodion Your response makes you sound as if you are drunk, due the (admittedly) intentional restrictions on the usage of xtrneous chrctrs

Nice post. It made me wonder, there at the end, if the Rails concept of respond_to :format that handles an HTTP request versus an RJS request versus and XML request could also be adapted to handle "app click" requests.

It'd be kind of clean to write your model code, expose it as a set of web services and have the "app click" format basically use the same Object.find notation but to use the format as an indicator to remote the request (assuming you weren't using a local database).

Good stuff!

I'd like to mess with AIR, but don't want to get de-railed (har har) from my current project.

@Justin: exercise tube = those stretchy things you have?

Everytime I go on an "online game" jag, I feel liberated when the jag ends. I can sympathize. One other thing you could consider is getting something like those exercise tubes and make a rule that you will exercise for 30 min. a day, or whatever, and that's your time available for casual browsing. Sit in the chair and read while you do "curls" and "presses." A leg squeeze thing would work too, maybe.

That way you get a sense of accomplishment out of it and it helps make you tired (as long as you make this time slot occur an hour or more before you intend to sleep).

Hi, this is dustin, posting from justin's crunkberry.

Here is a 2nd paragraph. I wonder if this hooks 2 a printer.

It's not so much that it's PHP, but that it's another gear to have to shift to. I've been doing Java and JavaScript at work, and Ruby at home (when I can get motivated), and I don't feel that much like crawling into dmw's ugly codebase right now. Maybe the ugliness is because of PHP, maybe it's not.

Only because it's PHP ;-)

I vote for whatever keeps you writing.

On the whole, I think using attr_accessors (or the other ones, like readers) beats writing accessors and mutators by hand for everything such as I remember having to do in Java. Maybe that's not the best way to do it, but that's how all the books I read said that it worked.

Here's part of the revision model from my poetry app:

belongs_to :poem
validates_presence_of :body
attr_accessible :title, :body

Three lines to replace a pile of SQL and two sets of custom validation code in the setter method to ensure data completeness and to provide custom handling of mass assignment of attributes.

It also makes the model code very readable, I think.

Close, but not all the way there.

http://www.useit.com/

Remind me to lend you "Fragile Things," which contains that story and some other goodies.

Hi Decius. I think you're reader #3.

It seems I need to work a bit on SEO, as the Google hits are going to the main page rather than the individual posts.

"Died in a Google accident" now returns two pages, counting this one.

The 1's were a mistake, but I decided they worked so I left them.

I suspected beer when I saw the !s fade in to 1s. Either that or too much time texting tweens.

Where I said "anonymous blocks" I should have said "block scope".

dmw or FireFox or something seems to have eaten this post. In case I want to have another go at it, I'm posting the raw listing of my Rhino session. But I found out it was all covered in section 8.8 of JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, so I'm not feeling as inventive now.

Summary: anonymous blocks and lexical closures can be simulated in JavaScript with just a little ugliness.

Rhino 1.6 release 7 2007 08 19
js> function(){print 'foo';}();
js: "", line 2: missing ; before statement
js: function(){print 'foo';}();
js: .....................^
js: "", line 2: syntax error
js: function(){print 'foo';}();
js: .........................^
js: "", line 2: Compilation produced 2 syntax errors.
js> function(){print ('foo');}();
js: "", line 3: syntax error
js: function(){print ('foo');}();
js: ...........................^
js: "", line 3: Compilation produced 1 syntax errors.
js> function(){}
js> function(){}()
js: "", line 5: syntax error
js: function(){}()
js: .............^
js: "", line 5: Compilation produced 1 syntax errors.
js> var tmp = function()
;
js: "", line 8: missing { before function body
js: ;
js: ^
js: "", line 7: Compilation produced 1 syntax errors.
js> (tmp = function(){print('foo');})()
foo
js> (tmp = function(){
}
)

function () {
}

js> var a;
js> (tmp = function(){
        var b = 'YAY';
        a = function(){print(b)};
})

function () {
    var b = "YAY";
    a = function () {
        print(b);
    };
}

js> a()
js: "", line 17: uncaught JavaScript runtime exception: TypeError: a is n
ot a function, it is org.mozilla.javascript.Undefined.
js> (tmp = function(){
        var b = 'YAY';
        a = function(){print(b)}
})()
js> a()
YAY
js> {var a = 1;}
js> a
1
js> var a = 2;
js> a
2
js> {var a = 3;}
js> a
3
js> (tmp = function(){var a = 4;})()
js> a
3
js> print a
js: "", line 31: missing ; before statement
js: print a
js: ......^
js: "", line 31: Compilation produced 1 syntax errors.
js> var a = 0;
js> function(){
       var a = 1;
    }
js> function(){
       var a = 1;
    }()
js: "", line 40: syntax error
js:     }()
js: ......^
js: "", line 38: Compilation produced 1 syntax errors.
js> (tmp = function(){
       var a = 1;
    })()
js> print(a)
0
js> (tmp = function(){
        var b = false;})

function () {
    var b = false;
}

js> var truthify;
js> var falsify;
js> (tmp = function(){
        var trthVal = false;
        )
js: "", line 51: syntax error
js:         )
js: ........^
js: "", line 51: missing } after function body
js:         )
js: ........^
js: "", line 49: Compilation produced 2 syntax errors.
js> var truthify;
js> var falsify;
js> var testify;
js> (tmp = function(){
        var trthVal = false;
        truthify = function(){trthVal = true;}
        falsify = function(){trthVal = false;}
        testify = function(){print((trthVal + '!!').toUpperCase());}
    })()
js> testify()
FALSE!!
js> truthify()
js> testify()
TRUE!!
js> falsify()
js> testify()
FALSE!!
js> trthVal
js: "", line 64: uncaught JavaScript runtime exception: ReferenceError: "
trthVal" is not defined.
js> (function(){print'WOO!';})()
js: "", line 65: missing ; before statement
js: (function(){print'WOO!';})()
js: ......................^
js: "", line 65: Compilation produced 1 syntax errors.
js> (function(){print('WOO!');})()
WOO!
js>

>.<

test

js>

Just wondering how bad the captcha process is right now.

I tend to open things that I would want to back out of in a new tab. *shrug*

One of the cardinal rules of web-based UI is to make sure it still feels like the web. People are very good at "I in browser, do browserly things" and it does throw them off to disrupt that. It's like the back button. If your design doesn't factor in the back button, people are going to make your stuff explode frequently.

In other words, I agree with you.

I'm a demographic!

mike check, one-two one-two

Don't dis the Borg like that.

It's not MS, so it's not the Borg. It's Google. Maybe Cylons?

I really need to make the captcha process less annoying.

I'm not saying either is right or wrong. I make a living on closed-source software. I'm just asserting (without having give it much thought) that if one is wrong, the other is as well.

just testing

I wouldn't be surprised.

I just realized that it's not really a binary search. O(n)o!

Hehehe.

Woah.

You know, that'd be like .4 lines in Ruby :-P

Just kidding.

Hm.. Looks like Jatha doesn't yet have lambda functions. Bummer.

Jatha - Common LISP library in Java

that was me, btw

Java doesn't have a core. It has a maze of twisty passages, all alike.

Core dump.

That's "Eh" Canadian rather than the way I say it. Took me a second to work that out. The second part is like "Lall?"

Go with Lisp Online Language so you can call it LOL. You can treat version numbers of the specs using 1s for major versions and ! for minor versions appended as a continuous string.

"So, what are you using to render your pages?"
"LOL1!!!11!"
"What's so funny about that?"
"No, seriously, LOL1!!!11!."
"Okay, jerk."

That's pronounced EH lal (rhymes with PayPal. Sort of).

Looks like it's all been done, including CSS. Looks like I still have dibs on the ALAL name though.

Btw, handling of the <pre> tag is fixed.

Here is the fixed code:

>; broken
(defun max&min (v &optional (n 0))
  (cond ((null v) (values nil nil))
	((>= n (- (length v) 1)) (values (aref v (- (length v) 1))
				       (aref v (- (length v) 1))))
	(t (multiple-value-bind (max min) (max&min v (+ n 1))
				(let ((cur (aref v n)))
				  (values (if (> cur max)
					      cur
					    max)
					  (if (< cur min)
					      cur
					    min)))))))


MAX&MIN

>(max&min #(1 2 3 4 5))

5
1

>

Sheetz chai is probably to actual chai what a TV dinner is to a real grilled sirloin steak. Also, Sheetz' chai is probably a "chai latte"--the distinction tends to get lost in America.

Chai is spiced tea, often served with milk. It's very good.

Chai latte usually includes things like cinnamon, more milk and possibly honey to make a sweeter dessert-like drink. It ranges from crap to really good.

Assuming, of course, that you like spiced tea. Probably getting chai at Shaharazade's would tell you reasonably well whether or not you like it in general. I don't get chai latte at the Lost Dog anymore, as the last few I've had have been rubbish.

Ok, so dmw totally doesn't handle <pre> tags. It even screwed up my beautiful ugly indentation. Sometimes I fucking hate computers.

I think of software as providing the luxury (when done properly) of freeing our attention and time for more interesting and personal things. Granted, at work we sink all time advantages back into email, but in theory this would be the idea.

Augmenting human intelligence implies to me that we can be more intelligent rather than just more efficient or better informed. I would think of human intelligence augmentation (or, HIA!) more along the lines of things like smart drugs or getting enough exercise--things more about stronger utilization of your grey matter rather than just using the same un-optimized grey matter to get more coverage. I hope that makes sense.

Obviously this doesn't apply to all software. Quake 9 and Wii Sports wouldn't work in this model. Some software is luxury. Using a loose definition of luxury.

Ok, sleep thinger doesn't seem to be working, so maybe I'll qualify that statement a bit. I work for a "library automation" software company. But more than automate, it augmentates. For example, it offers downloadable cataloging records. These enable librarians to catalog books without having to do as much cataloging themselves. Computer systems therefore augment their intelligences by connecting them with other librarians who already cataloged a particular book.

I guess it's hard to separate "augmenting intelligence" with "saving work." If you were looking to buy an integrated library system you'd probably consider how many man-hours it would save relative to the cost. On the other hand, you might also consider the benefits to patrons who might find an online catalog more intuitive than a card catalog. And in this area, I think AugTel really begins to separate from just saving time. With a well-designed catalog, one might find material that one wouldn't find otherwise.

When linking it usually helps to include the URL.

I'm not sure of the train of thought, but some of the spark of inspiration comes from this rant by the Yeggermeister. His main point can be reframed in terms of this: rebooting sucks not (necessarily) because it's unethical to kill and reanimate another agent's brain, but because it sucks to kill and reanimate a part of your own.

that would work

Care free?

Sorry, the last line sucks. Pear tree is the only thing I could think of that rhymes with pear tree. Why does the captcha say "drivel"? Is it trying to tell me something?

w04d463

w00t!

I'm not using it in all uppercase. That's just wrong.

Yeah, cookies is (are) what I was thinking. Otherwise it would be about as inconvenient as a captcha.

I think it's CAPTCHA'd ;-)

Accounts wouldn't bother me, so long as you work cookies in so I don't have to sign in each time.

I'm currently about 1/3 of the way through reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman, the premise of which seems to be that the reality of the existence of a godform is determined by the number and/or strength of the people who believe in or worship it. It may be a different kind of belief, but a character of a bestselling author (or a mainstream movie) would have probably have more believers than, say, Pan. Maybe this is another instance of the Law of Attraction. Everybody read Larry Niven and try to believe in Boosterspice and Jumpshift booths.

You can call us the Illuminati.

Yay, I'm the first one back. Except for the "test" person. But I suspect that's a code name or double identity for the real D$.

Hopefully I'm telling the truth.

hahahahaha

Or, i guess "reply" would be a good name for it.

Note to self, add a "comment on parent" feature to the squawk page.

no comment.

Phew. This is getting racey.

i'm already demanding and you know this. you know deep down you like it.

Hey now, when you start paying me is when you can start demanding features on time :P

it's about time! get with it.

ok. squalk was wrong. it is fix0red now.

Another bug, caused by PHP not being Python, was that it was only showing the last comment on a post, but they were still showing up on the squawk page. I think I misspelled that for the command. Anway, it should be fixed now. Everything should work purrrfectly now. If one of the two people who reads this notice any problems, let me know.

ok, cool

This OUGHT to fix it.

It looks like the posts-showing-up-multiple-times bug back

j00 are sooooo web 2.0 lolz

Pay no attention to this comment.

ok, that caused some weirdness but i think i fixed it now.

I think this post qualifies as vaporware.