Lately I've found myself (re)discovering an interest in genealogy. It combines my love of researching things with a potentially endless project scope if I so choose. But it's also been reminding me of some of the odder aspects of my family tree:
My mother's parents both died before I was born, and she never discusses them. As a result, I don't really know what year they died, where they're buried, what killed them, or even their first names. It seems strange, even to me, but my maternal line just stops.
I know a whole lot more about my father's line, since both my grandparents survived into my teens. They were both German immigrants, so I can trace my family immediately back to Germany. That's half the fun, in my mind - I was able to find the village they came from, and someday, I hope I get the chance to visit it. The odds are pretty good that I still have some close relatives in the area.
Actually, come to think of it, I already know of at least one relative in Germany: Christa Hermann, who I stayed with when I visited Munich. I think her father and my grandfather were brothers, which would make us first cousins, once removed. I should double-check that...
Bah, this is all extremely boring to other people anyway. We'll leave today's moral at: if digging up information turns your crank, genealogy is good stuff, and you'd best get a start on it now before your relatives start dropping like flies.
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
Monday, November 29, 2004
Yin and Yang
Things are so much simpler when one person Knows and the other Does Not. My mentor at work is a far more experienced programmer than myself, and knows a lot of things about Cerner's systems that I don't. But I knew at least one thing he didn't: in Java, the default constructor of a superclass is always called from any constructor of a subclass. In my case, this was causing a circular call stack that eventually caused the JVM to die, suddenly, quietly, and without exception. But since we both had pieces of the puzzle without the knowledge of the other, we wasted a good hour of unnecessary debugging. Alas.
I've mentioned this elsewhere, but Holiday Spice Pepsi is really, really good. Cinnamon and ginger. Yum. Give it a try; I'm going to stock up while it's still available.
If it's late enough and not too icy, like tonight, driving home through the snow is awesome.
I've mentioned this elsewhere, but Holiday Spice Pepsi is really, really good. Cinnamon and ginger. Yum. Give it a try; I'm going to stock up while it's still available.
If it's late enough and not too icy, like tonight, driving home through the snow is awesome.
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
Finally
Oh the weather outside is frightful
But the fire is so delightful
And since we've no place to go
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow
Headed back to Lincoln this evening for Thanksgiving; I'll be there til Sunday. I know a lot of you will be out of town yourselves, but if you make it back in time, look me up.
But the fire is so delightful
And since we've no place to go
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow
Headed back to Lincoln this evening for Thanksgiving; I'll be there til Sunday. I know a lot of you will be out of town yourselves, but if you make it back in time, look me up.
Monday, November 22, 2004
When Themes Attack
And I thought that Selleck's holiday meals were crazy. I glanced at the company cafeteria's menu for the day, and they've reached a new high (or perhaps low): chipotle turkey, teriyaki turkey, turkey fettucini alfredo, turkey croissants, and... sweet jesus, pumpkin bisque. I might have to make someone a wager to try it. Couldn't be worse than Fireworks' carrot jalapeno bisque...
Sunday, November 21, 2004
Gekko
I saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to Geico.
No, seriously, I did. Their rates were way lower for me than anyone else I could find. In fact, somewhere around here I have a sheepish email from a local Allstate representative, admitting and suggesting that I should I go to Geico, while he proceeds to give me a quote that's three times higher.
Also? It's the only company I've ever dealt with where there's no voice menuing system. It doesn't even ring; call their number and you're connected to a human being instantaneously. Why aren't more companies like that?
No, seriously, I did. Their rates were way lower for me than anyone else I could find. In fact, somewhere around here I have a sheepish email from a local Allstate representative, admitting and suggesting that I should I go to Geico, while he proceeds to give me a quote that's three times higher.
Also? It's the only company I've ever dealt with where there's no voice menuing system. It doesn't even ring; call their number and you're connected to a human being instantaneously. Why aren't more companies like that?
Saturday, November 20, 2004
Da Bruckheimer Code
So I saw National Treasure tonight. I'm forced to admit that it wasn't nearly as wretched as I'd feared. In fact, it was pretty darn decent, saved in no small part by the fact that it's hilarious. And like all good conspiracy theories, it paid meticulous attention to historical facts while it wove a totally implausible tale around then. Keep an eye out for the word-for-word, shot-for-shot homage to Indiana Jones, too.
Speaking of history, I've always thought that the ancestral home of the Whiddens ought to look a lot like Gormenghast.
Need to find myself something to do for the weekend. Is a drinking buddy really so much to ask for?
Speaking of history, I've always thought that the ancestral home of the Whiddens ought to look a lot like Gormenghast.
Need to find myself something to do for the weekend. Is a drinking buddy really so much to ask for?
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
Miscellany, as usual
Still enjoying Third Age. Helm's Deep is brutally exhausting, as it should be. Facing four Fell Beasts in a row without a save point is cruel; facing the Witch-King of Angmar alone is scary; and summoning Gwaihir is just plain sexy.
The skill point thing really is ridiculous, tho. I'm going to reach the end without unlocking half the skills available to me. I figured out it would take well over a thousand turns, per character (you can only use three of the six at a time), and there aren't enough battles in the game. I refuse to level for leveling's sake. Maybe I'll get lucky and there's a New Game+ where I get to keep the stats.
I'm still searching for Kansas City's version of, as a friend once termed them, the Nexus of All Worlds. Where dimensions cross and the unlikely becomes likely. Lincoln's was the Mill, where the probability approached 100% that you'd run into someone you know but didn't expect to see. I've read accounts of such places in other cities, so there's got to be one here somewhere.
Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis have both been renewed, for their ninth(!) and second seasons respectively. New episodes for the current season resume in January. Very nice.
Cans of brake fluid bear a disturbing resemblance to Liquid Schwartz.
The skill point thing really is ridiculous, tho. I'm going to reach the end without unlocking half the skills available to me. I figured out it would take well over a thousand turns, per character (you can only use three of the six at a time), and there aren't enough battles in the game. I refuse to level for leveling's sake. Maybe I'll get lucky and there's a New Game+ where I get to keep the stats.
I'm still searching for Kansas City's version of, as a friend once termed them, the Nexus of All Worlds. Where dimensions cross and the unlikely becomes likely. Lincoln's was the Mill, where the probability approached 100% that you'd run into someone you know but didn't expect to see. I've read accounts of such places in other cities, so there's got to be one here somewhere.
Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis have both been renewed, for their ninth(!) and second seasons respectively. New episodes for the current season resume in January. Very nice.
Cans of brake fluid bear a disturbing resemblance to Liquid Schwartz.
Monday, November 15, 2004
The Third Age
Had a really good weekend, about which more later. But what consumed me last night and today was The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, which I finally managed to find a GameCube copy of. Anyone who's not a fan of RPGs can move along.
Plot: The game is basically a Tolkiensque version of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead: you lead a sort of second-string fellowship, with members of the various races, that follows in the footsteps of the real Fellowship. Sometimes you're clearing the way for them; sometimes you're cleaning up their mess; from Moria to the Pelennor Fields. It lets the game follow the plot of the book, in a rough sort of way, but still introduce new locations and perspectives.
Chapters: Each chapter (which correlate to geographic areas) has a series of objectives you have to finish; complete them all to move on to the next chapter. If you missed a chest or want to level up, you can come back to any chapter you've finished.
Battles: As many sources have pointed out, it's precisely the battle system that Final Fantasy X had. That's pretty much it. There are two indicators on the world map, which indicate when you're getting close to a mandatory/scripted battle (blue) or an optional/random battle (red), the latter of which are limited to certain parts of a chapter.
Items: Gained only from chests, enemy drops, or later in the game, from crafting. No stores. The chests are absolutely everywhere and not marked on the map, so you have to keep your eyes open. Gives the game a bit of a... Krondor-esque feel, for lack of a better comparison.
Skills: Each character has a number of skill trees; learning one in a level opens up the next level, so you can skip ahead and then come back later. Each time you use any skill in a given tree in battle, you earn one skill point. Earn enough to learn a skill and move on to the next. Oddly, skills tend to take 30, 50, even 100 skill points to learn. So you find yourself using nothing but skill attacks. Plain old attacks are available, but I don't think I've used one the entire game.
Modes: Easy, Medium, and Hard. They can be changed at any time, and live up to their names. Why don't more games do this?
Evil Mode: After you've finished a chapter, you can go back and play the key battles again - this time, as the enemy. Pretty difficult, as you're trying to beat down the same party that kicked your ass before. If you manage it, you get some really nice (and otherwise unavailable) weapons/armor/etc. All in all, a rather brilliant idea. It's unbelivevably satisfying to be the Balrog and beat Gandalf to a pulp.
Overall: A lot of fun, if you have any love whatsoever for Tolkien, RPGs, or preferrably both. At minimum, worth a rental, as you'll know within the first few hours whether you want to finish it. Me, I'm pretty satisfied.
Plot: The game is basically a Tolkiensque version of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead: you lead a sort of second-string fellowship, with members of the various races, that follows in the footsteps of the real Fellowship. Sometimes you're clearing the way for them; sometimes you're cleaning up their mess; from Moria to the Pelennor Fields. It lets the game follow the plot of the book, in a rough sort of way, but still introduce new locations and perspectives.
Chapters: Each chapter (which correlate to geographic areas) has a series of objectives you have to finish; complete them all to move on to the next chapter. If you missed a chest or want to level up, you can come back to any chapter you've finished.
Battles: As many sources have pointed out, it's precisely the battle system that Final Fantasy X had. That's pretty much it. There are two indicators on the world map, which indicate when you're getting close to a mandatory/scripted battle (blue) or an optional/random battle (red), the latter of which are limited to certain parts of a chapter.
Items: Gained only from chests, enemy drops, or later in the game, from crafting. No stores. The chests are absolutely everywhere and not marked on the map, so you have to keep your eyes open. Gives the game a bit of a... Krondor-esque feel, for lack of a better comparison.
Skills: Each character has a number of skill trees; learning one in a level opens up the next level, so you can skip ahead and then come back later. Each time you use any skill in a given tree in battle, you earn one skill point. Earn enough to learn a skill and move on to the next. Oddly, skills tend to take 30, 50, even 100 skill points to learn. So you find yourself using nothing but skill attacks. Plain old attacks are available, but I don't think I've used one the entire game.
Modes: Easy, Medium, and Hard. They can be changed at any time, and live up to their names. Why don't more games do this?
Evil Mode: After you've finished a chapter, you can go back and play the key battles again - this time, as the enemy. Pretty difficult, as you're trying to beat down the same party that kicked your ass before. If you manage it, you get some really nice (and otherwise unavailable) weapons/armor/etc. All in all, a rather brilliant idea. It's unbelivevably satisfying to be the Balrog and beat Gandalf to a pulp.
Overall: A lot of fun, if you have any love whatsoever for Tolkien, RPGs, or preferrably both. At minimum, worth a rental, as you'll know within the first few hours whether you want to finish it. Me, I'm pretty satisfied.
Thursday, November 11, 2004
Lingua Franca
I think we've all got a mental blind spot that causes us to overlook familiar things, even when they occur in unusual contexts. Case in point: a few years back I was watching home video of a friend's trip to Russia; in it, he's conversing with a local through a translator. Suddenly, the native switches to fluent English. The translator notices immediately, but continues "translating" English to English, and it took my friend several minutes to notice what what was going on.
Or take the show Iron Chef. The host's fractured French is pretty noticeable; "allez cuisine!", which is roughly "go cook!". But it took me literally years to notice that, even on the original Japanese soundtrack, he sometimes says "iron chef" in English. It just went right under the radar.
Tidbit #1: Food Network will be resuming Iron Chef America with new episodes this January. Now, I had assumed that when the show's host referred to the host of the original show as his uncle, it was a little theatrical throwaway, the same sort that had made the original host the fictional chairman of a fictional gourmet academy. But no: apparently the actor who played Kaga really is his uncle.
Tidbit #2: There was a door hanger from Papa John's when I got home, announcing that their pizza is "now being delivered" in my neighborhood. Implying, apparently, that it didn't use to be. Kinda scary. I guess that pizza delivery really is the last step of gentrification.
Or take the show Iron Chef. The host's fractured French is pretty noticeable; "allez cuisine!", which is roughly "go cook!". But it took me literally years to notice that, even on the original Japanese soundtrack, he sometimes says "iron chef" in English. It just went right under the radar.
Tidbit #1: Food Network will be resuming Iron Chef America with new episodes this January. Now, I had assumed that when the show's host referred to the host of the original show as his uncle, it was a little theatrical throwaway, the same sort that had made the original host the fictional chairman of a fictional gourmet academy. But no: apparently the actor who played Kaga really is his uncle.
Tidbit #2: There was a door hanger from Papa John's when I got home, announcing that their pizza is "now being delivered" in my neighborhood. Implying, apparently, that it didn't use to be. Kinda scary. I guess that pizza delivery really is the last step of gentrification.
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
Thank you for pressing the self-destruct button
Though Cerner's orientation program is focused into an intensive first week, it continues in a more leisurely manner through the first six months or so. Thus, I got to take a tour today of Cerner's data center.
Now, I should mention that we store absolutely no client data whatsoever at our main campus; nor do the vast majority of employees (including me) have access to client systems once they're deployed on site. But in the past few years, Cerner's gotten into the outsourcee business, becoming the IT department of a lot of hospitals. So now we have a data center. It's on a different site, but I suppose I ought not mention where. Security through obscurity.
Anyway, if you've seen one data center, you've seen them all. I have, and I have. But it's still a very nice data center as such things go, a Tier IV if you're familiar with them. Maybe it's my inner tester, but when I'm told that a facility lacks any single point of failure, I immediately begin to search for one. Mentally, of course...
Also? Biometric systems of any kind make me horny. We actually had a discussion with our tour guide about how the handprint scanners wouldn't work properly if you tried to use a severed arm.
Drove home through one of those otherworldly, distractingly stunning sunsets we get on the plains sometime. Couldn't take my eyes off it, even though I was endangering life and limb.
Now, I should mention that we store absolutely no client data whatsoever at our main campus; nor do the vast majority of employees (including me) have access to client systems once they're deployed on site. But in the past few years, Cerner's gotten into the outsourcee business, becoming the IT department of a lot of hospitals. So now we have a data center. It's on a different site, but I suppose I ought not mention where. Security through obscurity.
Anyway, if you've seen one data center, you've seen them all. I have, and I have. But it's still a very nice data center as such things go, a Tier IV if you're familiar with them. Maybe it's my inner tester, but when I'm told that a facility lacks any single point of failure, I immediately begin to search for one. Mentally, of course...
Also? Biometric systems of any kind make me horny. We actually had a discussion with our tour guide about how the handprint scanners wouldn't work properly if you tried to use a severed arm.
Drove home through one of those otherworldly, distractingly stunning sunsets we get on the plains sometime. Couldn't take my eyes off it, even though I was endangering life and limb.
Thursday, November 04, 2004
Annoyances
1) The Wal-Mart near my house invariably has one very lonely case of Boulevard, or none at all. In Kansas City. It's disgraceful.
2) The various poker shows always explain the rules; and when they show how to break a tie between flushes, they invariably show two different suits. Even though such a situation is not possible in Texas Hold'Em.
3) My apartment has developed a cold draft from an unidentifiable source, and my heat doesn't seem to want to come on.
2) The various poker shows always explain the rules; and when they show how to break a tie between flushes, they invariably show two different suits. Even though such a situation is not possible in Texas Hold'Em.
3) My apartment has developed a cold draft from an unidentifiable source, and my heat doesn't seem to want to come on.
Not-Worst Not-Birthday Ever
The day started off so well. The build magically fixed itself as mysteriously as it broke. I finished my (supposedly) all-day training session, helped some of my co-workers and the instructor with the lab, and still left early.
Then I got a flat tire on the way home.
If it's not one damn thing, it's another. I pretty well destroyed the outfit I was wearing putting on the spare, and then blew my evening getting a new tire at Wal-Mart. (I know, I know, but it's cheap and open late.) You'll be impressed or puzzled to know that, despite cooling my heels there for a good ninety minutes, I didn't buy a single thing. I consider it some sort of twisted achievements.
Yesterday, I briefly entertained the notion that Bush might improve in his next term, but it took less than a day for him to prove that he's learned nothing. To wit:
"With the campaign over, Americans are expecting a bipartisan effort and results. I'll reach out to everyone who shares our goals." If they shared your goals, they wouldn't be your opposition. Being bipartisan means reaching out to people who might have extremely different goals, and managing to find common ground anyway. It's a much harder thing to do.
"Let me put it to you this way: I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it." Where to even begin. First, campaigns spend capital of all sorts. There's the literal kind; many of the people who gave you money expect something in return. Moreover, you have to lay out your entire record, and convince people you've done a good job. In the process, you remind all the people who never did approve of you how much they don't like you.
If he imagines some sort of across-the-board mandate... he's nuts. I would value his political capital at approximately 3.5 million, in a nation of 300 million. I hope he spends it wisely.
In happier news, I'll be back in Lincoln tomorrow night. Stop by, say hi.
Then I got a flat tire on the way home.
If it's not one damn thing, it's another. I pretty well destroyed the outfit I was wearing putting on the spare, and then blew my evening getting a new tire at Wal-Mart. (I know, I know, but it's cheap and open late.) You'll be impressed or puzzled to know that, despite cooling my heels there for a good ninety minutes, I didn't buy a single thing. I consider it some sort of twisted achievements.
Yesterday, I briefly entertained the notion that Bush might improve in his next term, but it took less than a day for him to prove that he's learned nothing. To wit:
"With the campaign over, Americans are expecting a bipartisan effort and results. I'll reach out to everyone who shares our goals." If they shared your goals, they wouldn't be your opposition. Being bipartisan means reaching out to people who might have extremely different goals, and managing to find common ground anyway. It's a much harder thing to do.
"Let me put it to you this way: I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it." Where to even begin. First, campaigns spend capital of all sorts. There's the literal kind; many of the people who gave you money expect something in return. Moreover, you have to lay out your entire record, and convince people you've done a good job. In the process, you remind all the people who never did approve of you how much they don't like you.
If he imagines some sort of across-the-board mandate... he's nuts. I would value his political capital at approximately 3.5 million, in a nation of 300 million. I hope he spends it wisely.
In happier news, I'll be back in Lincoln tomorrow night. Stop by, say hi.
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
Worst Birthday Ever, Part 3
How could I forget the crowning glory? A few weeks back I made a rather paranoid post on my own apparent ostracism. Today I discover that a fellow in my hiring class has a grudge against me, for a mostly-imagined slight nearly a month ago that I barely remembered. And has been doing his level best to exclude me from anything and everything he can. With all due respect to any female readers, I hate it when men act like women. If you have a problem with me, for heaven's sake, say so.
Worst Birthday Ever, Part 2
It's the ultimate white elephant gift (forgive the pun): four more years of George W. Bush. I'm about as delighted about it as you might imagine, but for once I'm going to try to make a case for myself.
First and foremost, I must lay the increasingly poisonous atmosphere towards gays at lesbians at the feet of Republican party members. As I've said before, they have drawn on people's worst fears and instincts for political gain. If you don't believe me, Google for Sen. Ken Blackwell's comments on gay marriage in Ohio - let's just say the term "barnyard" appears more than once. And ultimately, I must therefore lay the blame on President Bush. Is it fair to hold him responsible for the actions of his party? Well, yes: he is its leader, and like the leader of any organization, bears ultimate responsibility for the organization he leads.
I do not believe it's a coincidence that most of the state amendments (not to mention the federal one) have occurred since Bush took office. His rhetoric condones and encourages them. And they're getting worse. Several of the ones passed yesterday could (depending on court interpretation) ban everything from gay marriage to civil unions to domestic partner benefits to hospital visitation rights to joint ownership to mutual wills; all of these constitute legal agreements between same-sex couples. There exist those who won't be happy until every last faggot is in a concentration camp somewhere; and they have the ear of the White House.
But I do have other political concerns. Read, if you haven't, Bush's victory speech. In particular, this passage caught my attention: "Reaching these goals will require the broad support of Americans. So today I want to speak to every person who voted for my opponent: To make this nation stronger and better I will need your support, and I will work to earn it. I will do all I can do to deserve your trust. A new term is a new opportunity to reach out to the whole nation."
Let me start by asking a deliberately naive question: why, exactly, does Bush need the support of a large majority of Americans, or even of the other party? He's not up for re-election; his party has a majority in both houses; and the Republicans have demonstrated twice now that they're perfectly capable of getting elected and getting business done with a slim-to-no majority. (As have the Democrats in other decades, to be fair.) Why shouldn't the Republican party simply do what it plans to do, with or without their opponents' support? It'd hardly be a political novelty.
But I don't have to be so cynical; I can take the man at his word. How, exactly, does he plan to do this? A hint: "Because we have done the hard work, we are entering a season of hope. We'll continue our economic progress. We'll reform our outdated tax code. We'll strengthen the Social Security for the next generation. We'll make public schools all they can be. And we will uphold our deepest values of family and faith."
More worries here, in my eyes. One of the things I concluded from this election is that the candidates didn't differ so very much in their plans; it was more question of priorities that sent people one way or the other. The above are apparently Bush's priorities, but a necessary step to truly courting the other half of the country will be to reshuffle those a bit, to pull some up the list and push others down. Is he willing to do so? I truly wish I knew.
I hear quite a lot that Bush's presidency has been the most divisive in recent memory; certainly it's true in my memory. I think the reason why is quite clear: he truly is confident and stubborn to the point of near arrogance. I really do admire that quality in some, but my political leaders are not among them. It's difficult to imagine a man modulating his position one iota when he routinely invokes divine providence to support them. If religiosity remains the strongest deciding factor in our elections, we're in deep shit for a long time.
Yes, I usually vote for the Democratic party, but not out of any particular alliance. The best explanation I can give is that I'm economically conservative but socially liberal. It'd be nice if I could find similar people to represent me, but they are a rare hybrid. When they do pop up, it simply seems to be more often in the Democratic party. I can't think of the last such Republican politician I've seen; maybe John McCain on his better days.
They say that an election is always a referendum on the incumbent. Did I approve of the last four years? No. All political rhetoric aside, I truly don't expect the next four years to be significantly different from the last. No one on either side of the aisle has given me reason to believe so. The best I really hope for is not to be wearing a pink triangle by that time, but we'll see.
First and foremost, I must lay the increasingly poisonous atmosphere towards gays at lesbians at the feet of Republican party members. As I've said before, they have drawn on people's worst fears and instincts for political gain. If you don't believe me, Google for Sen. Ken Blackwell's comments on gay marriage in Ohio - let's just say the term "barnyard" appears more than once. And ultimately, I must therefore lay the blame on President Bush. Is it fair to hold him responsible for the actions of his party? Well, yes: he is its leader, and like the leader of any organization, bears ultimate responsibility for the organization he leads.
I do not believe it's a coincidence that most of the state amendments (not to mention the federal one) have occurred since Bush took office. His rhetoric condones and encourages them. And they're getting worse. Several of the ones passed yesterday could (depending on court interpretation) ban everything from gay marriage to civil unions to domestic partner benefits to hospital visitation rights to joint ownership to mutual wills; all of these constitute legal agreements between same-sex couples. There exist those who won't be happy until every last faggot is in a concentration camp somewhere; and they have the ear of the White House.
But I do have other political concerns. Read, if you haven't, Bush's victory speech. In particular, this passage caught my attention: "Reaching these goals will require the broad support of Americans. So today I want to speak to every person who voted for my opponent: To make this nation stronger and better I will need your support, and I will work to earn it. I will do all I can do to deserve your trust. A new term is a new opportunity to reach out to the whole nation."
Let me start by asking a deliberately naive question: why, exactly, does Bush need the support of a large majority of Americans, or even of the other party? He's not up for re-election; his party has a majority in both houses; and the Republicans have demonstrated twice now that they're perfectly capable of getting elected and getting business done with a slim-to-no majority. (As have the Democrats in other decades, to be fair.) Why shouldn't the Republican party simply do what it plans to do, with or without their opponents' support? It'd hardly be a political novelty.
But I don't have to be so cynical; I can take the man at his word. How, exactly, does he plan to do this? A hint: "Because we have done the hard work, we are entering a season of hope. We'll continue our economic progress. We'll reform our outdated tax code. We'll strengthen the Social Security for the next generation. We'll make public schools all they can be. And we will uphold our deepest values of family and faith."
More worries here, in my eyes. One of the things I concluded from this election is that the candidates didn't differ so very much in their plans; it was more question of priorities that sent people one way or the other. The above are apparently Bush's priorities, but a necessary step to truly courting the other half of the country will be to reshuffle those a bit, to pull some up the list and push others down. Is he willing to do so? I truly wish I knew.
I hear quite a lot that Bush's presidency has been the most divisive in recent memory; certainly it's true in my memory. I think the reason why is quite clear: he truly is confident and stubborn to the point of near arrogance. I really do admire that quality in some, but my political leaders are not among them. It's difficult to imagine a man modulating his position one iota when he routinely invokes divine providence to support them. If religiosity remains the strongest deciding factor in our elections, we're in deep shit for a long time.
Yes, I usually vote for the Democratic party, but not out of any particular alliance. The best explanation I can give is that I'm economically conservative but socially liberal. It'd be nice if I could find similar people to represent me, but they are a rare hybrid. When they do pop up, it simply seems to be more often in the Democratic party. I can't think of the last such Republican politician I've seen; maybe John McCain on his better days.
They say that an election is always a referendum on the incumbent. Did I approve of the last four years? No. All political rhetoric aside, I truly don't expect the next four years to be significantly different from the last. No one on either side of the aisle has given me reason to believe so. The best I really hope for is not to be wearing a pink triangle by that time, but we'll see.
Worst Birthday Ever, Part 1
I'm sure you all know the really awful birthday present I got, but I'm going to do this in parts. This part is purely technical; if you're not a computer scientist, move along.
So today, for the first time, I broke the build. As most of you know, this is a bad thing, and if you work in a vital part of the company (which thankfully I don't), it's a really bad thing. And the worst part is, it wasn't particularly, or at least solely, my fault.
I checked in changes to a number of files, one of which had been modified by someone else not long before. My changes depended on their changes. Now, we also have a pipelined system, where changes must be actively promoted from stage to stage. It's supposed to detect version dependencies like the one I caused, and not allow me to promote code to build until the earlier code has been promoted. But for whatever reason, it didn't notice, and neither did I. The result was that the build servers got a "half-version" that included my changes to an implementation file without the other guy's changes to the corresponding interface file. Kaboom.
Easy to fix, I thought. But no. It's not possible to pull code back to a previous stage; the code that's there stays there. And it won't build. And it's blocking about twenty other projects. I can't just check in the interface file myself; if it's identical to the highest current version (even the current unpromoted version), the source control system silently ignores it. I inserted spurious whitespace to force a new version, but I don't have the permissions to cause a build to happen. Everyone who does went home long ago.
So the end result is that it's still broken, and I'm scheduled to be off-campus at a traning session all day tomorrow. I've explained everything to my boss in the hopes that he has the necessary mojo to fix it, but otherwise, I'm very much on the hook.
To cap the night off, I went to see "The Corporation", a film I'd very much wanted to see. And it was really good; at least until about halfway, when the projector broke and the theatre sent us all home. I got a refund, at least, but still: aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh.
So today, for the first time, I broke the build. As most of you know, this is a bad thing, and if you work in a vital part of the company (which thankfully I don't), it's a really bad thing. And the worst part is, it wasn't particularly, or at least solely, my fault.
I checked in changes to a number of files, one of which had been modified by someone else not long before. My changes depended on their changes. Now, we also have a pipelined system, where changes must be actively promoted from stage to stage. It's supposed to detect version dependencies like the one I caused, and not allow me to promote code to build until the earlier code has been promoted. But for whatever reason, it didn't notice, and neither did I. The result was that the build servers got a "half-version" that included my changes to an implementation file without the other guy's changes to the corresponding interface file. Kaboom.
Easy to fix, I thought. But no. It's not possible to pull code back to a previous stage; the code that's there stays there. And it won't build. And it's blocking about twenty other projects. I can't just check in the interface file myself; if it's identical to the highest current version (even the current unpromoted version), the source control system silently ignores it. I inserted spurious whitespace to force a new version, but I don't have the permissions to cause a build to happen. Everyone who does went home long ago.
So the end result is that it's still broken, and I'm scheduled to be off-campus at a traning session all day tomorrow. I've explained everything to my boss in the hopes that he has the necessary mojo to fix it, but otherwise, I'm very much on the hook.
To cap the night off, I went to see "The Corporation", a film I'd very much wanted to see. And it was really good; at least until about halfway, when the projector broke and the theatre sent us all home. I got a refund, at least, but still: aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh.
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