Greg MacLellan

I grabbed this picture on my cell phone a couple of weeks ago. I’m really not quite sure what to make of it..

Here are some great error messages that should remind programmers to put some effort into what they display, and always check for those impossible situations that can “never happen” — otherwise you, too, may find yourself lost at the subway station “Integer divide by 0”.

I have been using MythTV in my living room for the last couple of months, and it’s quite a nice setup. Originally, I got it as a media player after the DSM-320 didn’t live up to my expectations (it’s still usable, but it’s been relegated to the 13″ TV in the bedroom). We don’t actually subscribe to cable, and only get a few network channels that ‘leak’ through from the cable internet, so I never really intended it to act as a PVR.

We use roaming profiles on our network which is handy for a number of reasons. It’s easy when users use another computer than their normal one, or want to log on to a laptop for a presentation or meeting (a couple of which we share). It’s also handy as an administrator since I can basically swap out their (faulty) computer with another without much interruption (I also use automated application distribution).

The world’s funniest joke, according to science: A couple of New Jersey hunters are out in the woods when one of them falls to the ground. He doesn’t seem to be breathing, his eyes are rolled back in his head. The other guy whips out his cell phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps to the operator: “My friend is dead! What can I do?” The operator, in a calm soothing voice says: “Just take it easy.

I spent some time recently trying to find a new keyboard, since my old one has had enough spilled on or in it over the years that it was uncleanable (still worked fine, but it was getting pretty gross). Now, I don’t know what keyboard designers are on these days, but they’ve made it an incredibly difficult and frustrating task. I don’t have any special keyboard needs, I usually just buy the basic el-cheapo keyboard that gets the job done.

I got a kick out of this this morning. Someone used my email address for the “from” address in some spam, and apparently this guy was less than happy about receiving it.

AppleInsider is running an article saying that Macs are only 13% more than a comparable windows desktop, or 10% for a comparable notebook. They did this research to squash the notion that Macs are way more expensive than PCs. One of my problems is the cheapest Mac – the Core Solo – is still $699 CAD. At my local computer store, you can buy a basic PC for $279 plus $120 for a copy of Windows XP Home.

Something that’s bugged me for a long time, and that I’ve been meaning to blog about, is overpriced speaker wire. I found an article someone had linked to in a thread about a certain brand of cables, and it really exactly echos what I wanted to say anyways. This particular piece is a review from 1983, but certainly still valid: Stereo review dares to tell the truth. The rest of the page is also very good, so have a read through.

I’ve been playing with a sweet PHP framework called CodeIgniter, and I have to say: I love it. It uses the MVC pattern, which I’ve never much cared for, but does it in a nice way: by staying out of the way. The models are incredibly basic, and really, you don’t even need them. The views are PHP templates done the way PHP templates should be done; with PHP. Something many frameworks miss: the documentation is amazing.