Twitter for Week of 24 August 2008

On hiatus.

August 31 2008 | Microblog | Comments Off

Twitter for Week of 17 August 2008

These are my annotated tweets for the week of 17 August 2008. Follow my microblog on Twitter at http://twitter.com/conrad_halling, then come here for the expanded version.

My Name Is Red, by Orhan Pamuk

2008-08-17: I spent the day traveling from Boston to St. Louis via Chicago. I didn’t mind, because I’m reading My Name Is Red, by Orhan Pamuk.

Orhan Pamuk is a Turkish writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2006. This is a brilliant novel.

Running in St. Louis County

2008-08-18: I ran three dangerous miles before sunrise in West St. Louis County, where the rich can’t afford sidewalks or even shoulders on the roads.

I don’t understand why the wealthy suburbs of St. Louis can’t afford infrastructure for pedestrians.

August 31 2008 | Microblog | Comments Off

Twitter for Week of 10 August 2008

These are my annotated tweets for the week of 10 August 2008. Follow my microblog on Twitter at http://twitter.com/conrad_halling, then come here for the expanded version.

Learning Perl, 5th Edition

2008-08-10: I’m steadily reading Learning Perl, 5th edition, and I’m finding many useful nuggets of information, including the new 5.10 features.

This is a good, clear book, although I think it doesn’t have the reader start writing code early enough. It has been a good review for me to read this book, because Perl is a large language, and I’ve missed learning some parts of it.

I Generate Most of My Traffic

2008-08-10: How I double traffic to my web site: I work on my blog. My multiple saves account for nearly all traffic on Sundays.

That is, hardly anyone reads this blog. That’s OK, because it’s more of a memory jogging device for me than a means of communicating to the outer world. I would blog a lot more if I had the free time.

Pillars of the Earth

2008-08-12: @LionEyes What is your opinion of Pillars of the Earth? I hated it, and I gave up 2/5 of the way through. The characters had no depth.

I don’t recommend Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett.

Dell Not Compatible With Dell

2008-08-12: New Dell display just worked with MacBook Pro. But with Dell laptop, I had to install a driver to set correct resolution. I hate Windows.

My new display is a Dell 22-inch Ultrasharp E207WFP, which has 1680 x 1050 resolution. My work-provided Dell Latitude 610 laptop, which is only 2 years 4 months old and which runs Windows XP with Service Pack 2, wouldn’t recognize the full resolution of the display until I updated the video driver and installed the display driver. On the other hand, my Apple MacBook Pro, which is 9 months old, and my Apple PowerBook G4, which is 3 years 7 months old, both had no trouble using the full resolution of the display as soon as I plugged it in.

In addition, both my MacBook Pro and my PowerBook G4 have digital video ports, whereas my Dell Latitude 610 has only a VGA video port. People complain that Apple’s computers cost more, but these are two examples where the extra money is worth it to me.

My Beddian Year

2008-08-13: Yesterday I reached my Beddian year. Given that, you can figure out how old I am and what year I was born.

Your Beddian year is the year in which your age matches the last two digits of the year you were born.

Searching for “C”, “R”, “C#”, “C++”

2008-08-14: @codinghorror complains that supporting searches for “C#” and “C++” at stackoverflow.com is hard. It’s even harder for “C” (and “R”).

I really hate it when I have to perform a google search for some R code. Searching with a key word that is a single letter long doesn’t work very well.

A Send-Off

2008-08-14: We had beers this evening at the Asgard in Cambridge to send off a co-worker who is leaving tomorrow for India to get married.

We find an excuse to go to the Asgard about twice a month for beer and appetizers.

idle.slashdot.org

2008-08-14: More amusement from slashdot: http://idle.slashdot.org/. I always thought everything posted on slashdot was from idle people.

Doing Battle With Perl

2008-08-15: I spent the day trying to make some badly documented Perl modules do what I needed, but without success. I battle again tomorrow.

The code is allegedly “self-documenting,” but I still can’t figure it out. When I encounter code like this, I add POD, and I always provide examples of how to use the code. In my experience, a good example is sometimes all the documentation that is needed.

Google Ad Confusion

2008-08-15: More google ad confusion. faceyourmanga.com: “Turn your face soon in [sic] a work of art.” Ads by Google: “Brick face for your home.”

If I were the advertiser, I would ask for some of my money back for improper placement of my ads.

Redbones Barbecue

2008-08-16: I ran six miles this morning, which is good because we’re meeting friends at Redbones (Davis Square in Somerville) tonight for dinner. BBQ!

Great food, great beer, great atmosphere. It’s always fun to go to Redbones.

Congratulations to Constantina Tomescu

2008-08-16: Great performance by Romania’s Constantina Tomescu in winning the women’s marathon at the 2008 Olympics. Very poor viewing for spectators.

Ms. Tomescu ran a great race in warm weather. The course was designed so that the spectators were often 50 feet or more from the course, which meant they couldn’t really cheer the runners on.

August 17 2008 | Microblog | Comments Off

Twitter for Week of 3 August 2008

These are my annotated tweets for the week of 3 August 2008. Follow my microblog on Twitter at http://twitter.com/conrad_halling, then come here for the expanded version.

Google ads

2008-08-03: Clueless Google ads on twittercounter.com: ad for granite counter tops, ad for quartz counter tops, and ad for counter-terrorism degrees.

This is an example of why humans are (so far) smarter than computers. The ads are gone now, so possibly Google tweaked its algorithms.

Haruki Murakami

2008-08-03: I recently read A Wild Sheep Chase, by Haruki Murakami. Now I want to read his new book, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running.

Geoff Dyer at the New York Times Book Review didn’t think much of What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, but I read an excerpt in the New Yorker, and that was when I decided I wanted to read the entire book. Like Murakami, I’m a marathon runner, so I’m very interested in what he has to say about running and its relation to the rest of his life.

Perl’s Weaknesses for Large Software Projects

2008-08-04: Today I read about the Ensembl core software libraries and disadvantages of using Perl.

In the paper, the authors state:

However, some aspects of Perl are not well suited for a software project of Ensembl’s size. Whereas weak typing allows for rapid program development, absence of compile time checking of function prototypes and variable types is a steady source of runtime errors. Another disadvantage of Perl is its reference-count-based garbage collector, which effectively limits the use of circular references. Variables that are part of a circular reference structure are never garbage-collected and can introduce potentially serious memory leaks. Avoidance of circular reference memory leaks has necessitated some compromises to the overall system design.

Later, the authors give this rationale for moving from Perl to Java:

Perl suffers from certain disadvantages as an implementation language for a large-scale project. Java overcomes many of these problems and has the benefits of compile time type checking, enforced interfaces, multi threading, better support for graphical user interfaces, and correct garbage collection of circularly referenced objects.

Installing Perl Modules Into a User Directory

2008-08-05: Today I installed libgd and GD, GD::Graph, and GD::Text Perl modules into a user directory; this was tricky because I didn’t have root.

I plan to write a separate post about this.

Verizon’s Slow Response to Outage

2008-08-06: Both companies in our building lost phones and Internet today, making it difficult to work. Apparently someone cut fiber on Vassar Street.

MIT and Cambridge are renovating Vassar Street from Massachusetts Avenue to Amesbury Street. A construction worker cut Verizon’s fiber, disconnecting businesses at the end of Vassar Street near Memorial Drive. It took ten hours for Verizon to identify and fix the problem. Our site manager said Verizon didn’t believe him when he first called; Verizon contented it was a problem inside our building. It wasn’t until other companies called to complain that Verizon took real action.

stackoverflow.com Beta Test

2008-08-06: I’m participating in the stackoverflow.com beta test. I’ve already learned some useful things from answers to others’ questions.

2008-08-07: I’m lonely on the stackoverflow.com beta test site. So far, there have been only six posts about Perl. The site is very Microsoft-oriented.

I have greatly enjoyed listening to Jeff Atwood and Joel Spolsky’s podcast, Stack Overflow, which is hosted by IT Conversations. Jeff is creating a web site, stackoverflow.com, that is intended to serve as a repository of knowledge for programmers. I am a participant in the private beta test.

My useful programming experience is in Perl, C, and C++, and I spend most of my time these days writing Perl. As I have commented before in this blog and on twitter, there are already substantial online resources available to Perl coders, so I think it is unlikely that the stackoverflow site will attract much Perl-related traffic. But I decided it was worth my effort to try.

In the meantime, I’m learning lots about C# and .NET. I may need to learn C# soon.

Worst Personal Genome Project Scenarios

agbiotec twittered:

reading worst Personal Genome Project scenario: someone makes synthetic DNA corresponding to the participant and plant it at a crime scene!

I responded:

2008-08-08: @agbiotec Worst Personal Genome Project scenario: Professor clones you, and the resentful clone escapes to hunt you down and kill you!

Presumably, the unnamed professor in this scenario works at a famous ivy league university and is a pioneer in personal genomes…. And I wonder: if your clone kills you and takes your place, who would know? I think I have here the makings of a biotechnology thriller.

agbiotec responded:

@conrad_halling worse, the clone being next to you constantly and saying: “Write your thesis”, “Write your paper”, “Write your thesis’…

I agree, this is the most frightening of all.

agbiotec’s blog is located at http://semanticlifescience.wordpress.com/.

New LCD Display

2008-08-08: My quest for a new display is over. Today I ordered a Dell 22-inch UltraSharp 2208WFP 1680 x 1050; with discounts and free shipping, $292.

At work I use a Dell 20-inch E207WFP display that has 1680 x 1050 resolution. Our IT group ordered this model because it was inexpensive, but I experience a lot of eye strain with this monitor because the image isn’t very sharp. My work laptop, a Dell Latitude D610, has only 1024 x 768 resolution, and this is inconveniently small when I work at home. So I decided to buy a larger and sharper monitor for use at home. I’ll report when it arrives.

Broccoli Is Good For You

2008-08-09: If broccoli is so good for you, why can’t you buy broccoli yogurt? (For me, raspberry yogurt is the most delicious.)

I eat broccoli because it is good for me, but I really dislike its flavor.

August 10 2008 | Microblog | Comments Off

Twitter for Week of 27 July 2008

These are my annotated tweets for the week of 27 July 2008. Follow my microblog on Twitter at http://twitter.com/conrad_halling.

Differences in Nomenclature for Structures of GPCRs

2008-07-27: Last night I read two Nature papers about structures of GPCRs. Different nomenclature in the papers frustrates indexing and searching.

The authors of the two papers used different systems for naming the α-helices and β-strands in these homologous proteins. I hope to find the time to post about these papers soon.

Top 50 Science Fiction TV Shows

2008-07-27: The Boston Globe ranked the top 50 science fiction TV shows, but somehow omitted Star Trek Deep Space 9.

DS9 was not my favorite Star Trek series, but it was certainly better than some of the shows included in the top 50.

Photos of Jupiter

2008-07-28: There are spectacular photos of Jupiter on the Boston Globe’s web site.

Visio 2007 Training

2008-07-28: I spent yesterday and today learning Visio 2007 Professional in order to make flowcharts that map work processes. It was time well spent.

I’m still working on the computer-based training. Ultimately, I want to use Visio 2007 Pro for modeling databases.

Leo Laporte’s eBay Grudge

2008-07-29: PayPal should have refunded the $2200 Leo Laporte lost from an eBay ripoff scheme; his vocal complaints have caused them to lose business.

Leo Laporte is a podcaster, blogger, and twitterer, and I listen to many of his shows, including “This Week in Tech”, “MacBreak Weekly”, “Windows Weekly”, and “FLOSS Weekly”. Leo used PayPal instead of his credit card to pay for a $2200 purchase, but he never received his order. PayPal insurance covered only $200 of Leo’s purchase, so he was out $2000. Leo twittered about the problem (here, here, here, and here) and mentioned it on his podcasts for several weeks. I believe the end result was to increase mistrust of eBay and PayPal among Leo’s listeners, costing both companies much more than $2200 in business.

Added 2008-08-08: According to this tweet, eBay has given Leo a full refund for his camera.

cuil.com Search Engine

2008-07-29: I have tried cuil.com a few times since yesterday. It hasn’t found me or my web site; just lots of listserv posts from years ago.

The cuil search engine was released with much fanfare as an alternative to google, but so far the results are disappointing.

How Do Geeks Exercise?

2008-07-30: Slashdot thread “How do geeks exercise?” has ~1000 replies in less than 12 hours.  I walk to work (2.75 mi each way).

I found this thread very amusing. There are now over 1700 posts in the thread. I’m just a geek who happens to run marathons, so I don’t worry about exercise.

This Week in Tech Podcast: Too Much Fluff

2008-07-30: This Week in Tech podcast gets a little longer every week, but with no additional real content. This week 114 minutes; 60 would be enough.

The podcast has increasing amounts of chit-chat and fluff. I want information.

Cool Tattoos

2008-07-31: For the first time in my life, I want a tattoo. http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/science-tattoo-emporium/

These tattoos are great!

Using Debian to Revive a PowerBook G4

This thread, the longest conversation I’ve had on Twitter, was prompted by a post from agbiotec, who twittered:

after getting debian with gnome in my 5-year old PowerBook I realized how lightweight and functional it is, the machine flies

I replied:

@agbiotec I’m interested in installing debian on a 3.5-yr old 1.5-GHz PowerBook G4. How’s wireless connectivity on yours?

agbiotec replied:

@conrad_halling wireless is perfect-Debian set up the card from the boot CD, and I was even able to do network install-very user friendly :-)

I responded:

@agbiotec Thanks for the PowerBook tip and the info. I will buy my wife a new MacBook Pro so I can install Debian on her old PowerBook.

agbiotec asked:

why don’t you install Debian on the new one too ? ;-)

I replied:

@agbiotec My wife is self-employed, so new laptop is deductible business expense, but she requires Word. I can recycle old laptop w/Debian.

My wife edits medical books as a freelancer. All the editing is performed using Microsoft Word, and the book publishers don’t care if she uses Word for Mac OS X or for Windows. So like all right-thinking persons, she uses Word for Mac OS X on a PowerBook. But her computer is more than three years old, so it’s time to buy her a new one, either a MacBook Pro or a MacBook Air, then recycle the PowerBook. I could use a Linux laptop, but only if the wireless works, hence my interest in agbiotec’s tweet.

Some Days, We Feel Like We Can’t Do Our Jobs

2008-08-01: Today, in my weekly meeting with my boss, he started with, “Some days, I feel like I can’t do my job.” That’s what *I* had wanted to say.

My manager is outstanding, and he does many things I could never do, so it’s discouraging that he has bad weeks, too.

Perl Threads on Stack Overflow

2008-08-02: @codinghorror Experienced Perl coders might not use Stack Overflow because we already have PerlMonks.

Stack Overflow, when it’s released, will be a web site for questions and answers about programming in various languages. I expect traffic from Perl coders will be low because we have well-established resources, including PerlMonks.

Learning Perl, 5th Edition

2008-08-02: I bought Learning Perl, 5th Edition, and I’m reading it in preparation for teaching a Perl class at work. 5th ed. covers new 5.10 features.

This is an excellent book that is completely up to date, unlike Programming Perl, 3rd Edition, which was published eight years ago. I plan to write a review when I’ve finished reading it.

August 03 2008 | Microblog | Comments Off