The Thin Man is a great movie. It’s filled with lovable characters, great pacing and a great plot. And of course I must mention the hilarious, witty protagonists. Luckily it’s only the first in a six-part film series. Looking forward to the rest!
Continue readingBuilding upon Joel’s post on Unicode, here are some real-world tips relating to character encodings.
Use them by name
Always explicitly specify which encoding you want (perhaps UTF-8). Don’t assume the language or library/tool you’re using will make the right decision for you. If you value your time, don’t ignore this recommendation, otherwise you’ll likely spend lots more time patching things up in the future.
A tale to drive this home
Continue readingGot to use node.js for a work project recently. We needed an FTP server with special user authentication that would run custom code after a file was uploaded. There was one node.js FTP server implementation on github, so I forked it and started rounding out the basic functionality. My fork is here.
The first significant change I made was to encapsulate the data connection logic. File lists and file contents are transferred over the data connection (FTP commands and responses over the control connection). I quickly found that some clients are super eager to send you data and will do so once a passive data connection is made, even before the FTP server tells them it’s ok to do so. This was especially problematic for file uploads over passive data connections. Without a workaround for these aggressive clients, the flow looked something like this:
Continue readingCaught an episode of Nature last night. Great as always. Spotted skunks …. my, what a coat! You can watch the full episode, just click the title of this post.
Continue readingIf you play the game Lume you may get stuck at the cabinet lock. If so, don’t go to any other sites or you’ll accidentally see the answers like I did! Here’s a hint, instead.
You found the “9#” clue, right? Go back to where you can see that clue on the screen. Everything you need for the lock is right there. That’s all I’ll say.
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I’m curious about i.am FIRST: Science is Rock and Roll. It will air this Sunday night at 7pm on ABC. I was mostly speechless during the segment of Science Friday that featured Dean Kamen and will.i.am. I have to confess that I actually teared-up out of joy.
This week there was also news of a COSMOS sequel that will be airing on FOX. So glad a chance is being taken and the effort is being made to inspire and educate such a broad audience.
Continue readingI didn’t expect learning of variations in Core 2 Duo processors and sockets while fixing my mom’s laptop to lead to interest in building a new PC, but that’s what happened. Shopping for parts takes too much time but I powered through, eventually narrowed it down, and made some purchases. Wanted something quiet and efficient (80 Plus Gold power supply, fanless graphics card, Core i5 2400, 8G RAM). Kristen mentioned Bioshock as a game I might like which gave me a performance-related goal.
Continue readingI finally finished fixing up my mom’s laptop. Several mis-diagnoses later, and it’s back with the original fan, new processor, new thermal compound, fast maxed-out RAM, new battery, and new install of Windows 7. Whew. One CAN buy laptop processors on Ebay if one pays attention.
The past few months have also taught me that some Amazon sellers will sneak a knock-off product to your doorstep. I attribute this to malice, and not a listing mis-match. Ugh.
Continue readingRecently I became aware that while teaching I sometimes go on and on for far too long. It usually happens when I realize a student isn’t “getting it” after a period of time, after the rest of the group has moved on. I address them personally, repeat the nugget on information, and then I may go into the “why” portion of what I’m talking about, after which I may go into variations that might be helpful to think about, and then I may go back to the original point and re-iterate.
Continue readingCouldn’t pass up Tina Fey’s new book, Bossypants. I’ll start by saying that 30 Rock is the best comedy show on network television. And I’d be right. The Office faded fast. Family Guy got old after the 1st season. The Simpsons was probably good 10 years ago (though I was never a huge fan). But I don’t want to write about TV.
So yes, Tina Fey… Heard her interview on Fresh Air and I had to buy her book. If you like Tina Fey, you’ll enjoy it. I’m especially glad she specifically writes about this 30 Rock line … it’s one of the all-time greats:
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