So, I got comment tagged this morning and finally got off my ass to install MT 2.661 and MT-Blacklist. I get the strangest things wil using the De-spam feature, though ... For every comment being deleted, I get an error as follows:
"Could not load comment for deletion (ID: XXX). "
Which is strange since it actually does successfully delete that comment. Anyone have any idea WTF this is about?
I suppose I shouldn't complain, since it is working, but hey, doesn't hurt to ask, right? :)
--Nick
I was telling Erin earlier today that the worst moment of one's day is the specific moment during which you recognize that you're not going home tonight.
The blame for that misguided statement has to lie with how long it's been since I've pulled an all-nighter or two.
The worst moment isn't a moment at all - it's that long drawn-out process of actually living through your newly proven recognition.
--Nick
Edit: Hmm ... so is it good or bad when you realize that you actually can go home, because you're blocked waiting for somebody that isn't around?
There's something about Southwest Airlines' group-based boarding system that annoys the heck out of me.
It's probably not what you think - it's not anything to do with their system or anything that is specifically the fault of Southwest. Instead, it has to do with my usual pet peeve of seriously dumb and irrational behavior on the part of the masses.
Ignore the usual complaint that most people have of the Prisoners' Dilemma problem of standing in line - yes, this exists (if everyone would just agree to sit their asses down, nobody would have to stand in line for 30 minutes, but somebody always has to be the first in line), but this isn't even the most irksome part.
If you ever have a chance, watch the way that the lines form at a Southwest flight. You'll probably note (I've never seen otherwise) that the A group line starts first ... and starts long before the other two groups. You'll get a super-long line in the A group and no line until much later in the B or C groups.
This makes absolutely no sense!
Everyone in the A line is guaranteed a decent seat - they're all going to get aisles or windows and will all be seated before anybody in the B or C lines. So unless you really want one of the few special seats (like the facing rows, something I hadn't considered until Erin pointed out that she really likes these), there's absolutely no reason to bother standing in line. And if you aren't one of the first dozen or two, you might as well not bother even if you do like those seats since you aren't going to get them anyway.
People in the B and C lines, though, have a lot to gain or lose based on their position in line - the seat quality dwindles quickly in the B line, going eventually from a lack of empty rows for parties of 3, to a lack of adjacent seats for pairs, to eventually middle seats. At the C line, you start to have to worry about having enough space for your carry-ons. In each of these cases, there's a reason to want to be as early in the line as you want.
So why is it that the A line is long when the B and C lines are empty, every time?
Oh yes, I almost forgot. Never underestimate the ability for large groups to behave illogically ...
--Nick
I think Simon summed it up best with that phrase.
While I believe that some of these people are playing things up to get onto the show, some of these people seriously need to find some friends who aren't completely tone deaf to tell them that they should never, ever, ever sing in public again.
Amazing to me how listening to really bad singers get made fun of never gets old.
And I'll admit, somewhat ashamedly, that I understand how hard it is not to laugh during an excruciating interview ... it's not nice, but it happens.
--Nick
I seem to have a thing for songs that have a simple catchy melody/riff (bonus if it's with a piano), with a slight preference for female vocals. For example, My Immortal by Evanescence (let me tell you how disappointing it was for me to find out that this song is a massive departure from the bulk of their music, since I listened to much of the rest of their album and didn't like it at all, which is always a bummer to realize), A Thousand Miles by Vanessa Carlton (she's great at these types of things ... Rinse and Sway both feature similar catchy riffs), and Precious Things by Tori Amos (a song I once heard at a concert that I went to with Brynne that I never caught the name to, but couldn't shake the introductory piano bit for three years until I finally tracked the song down).
Any song suggestions that I'm missing?
--Nick
Well, I certainly didn't anticipate the amount of response to my post on MCX - the response was not huge in the grand scale of things, but still quite a bit more than I'm accustomed to seeing. So while I wasn't planning on saying any more about it in the short term, I've got one more thing for those of you interested in MCE and MCX.
I'm co-hosting this month's Media Center Expert Zone Community Chat, which is going to focus on MCX. It's at 3:00 today (Thursday). If you've got any questions or just want to listen in, I encourage you all to drop in.
Do me a favor, though ... try not to heckle too much. :)
-- Nick
Sad story: Tikal is temporarily out of print. I looked long and wide and couldn't find a copy, until ...
Happy story: I found one at a shop down in Oregon and it just arrived.
Sadder story: It's missing a piece.
This was mail-order, so it's not a trivial matter to return it.
Now, if this was just an ordinary colored counter or something, you could get by by just replacing it with something. In this case, though, it's not that easy.
One of the mechanics of the game revolves around treasures - there are 8 different types of treasures, 3 each, for a total of 24. Eight times during the game, three of them need to be chosen randomly, face-down, such that nobody knows what they are.
The fact that I'm missing one now causes a serious problem. How do you emulate that piece properly in any reasonable way, such that the play of the game works exactly the same with the same probabilities, without replacing all of the counters? If you can replace them all (e.g. with cards), you can achieve the same effect. But assuming I don't want to go that far, is there any way to emulate the same statistical probabilities? I've come close, but the best I can do is come up with a mechanism that makes things work out right, but requires revealing the contents of the first set ... certainly not ideal.
--Nick
Edit: Prompted by Hoop's bitching, the description of the problem has been tightened up and clarified.
This is vaguely amusing ... I went looking for articles about the games today and ran across an ESPN Insider feature that links to newspaper articles about teams, if you subscribe.
Or if you're not brain dead.
Go ahead, see what I mean for yourself!
--Nick
Edit: Ugh, apparently not everyone clicking that second link gets the list of newspaper articles ... if you don't, the gist is that each article has a link that looks something like "javascript:launchBrowser('/insider/access?redir=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2004/01/10/SPG9P47HR51.DTL', 'sitelineWin', 700, 550)". Tougher to puzzle out what's happening if you don't get to see the page, but you probably get the gist ...
Edit: Hmm, and now I can't get access to that main list anymore ... I guess my getting in in the first place was some kind of temporary fluke, in which case I suppose I can't make too much fun of the security. Makes more sense to leave your inside doors unlocked if your front door is bolted. So much for my amusement. :(
Edit: Figured out the discrepency, if anyone cares to see it themselves. If you have a regular ESPN account (e.g. the ones used for Fantasy Sports), you get the page with all the links.
To all of you who predicted we'd lose, screw you.
Muahahaha!
More articles to come as they're posted ... sports sites are rather slow on the weekends to post recaps.
OK, Steve ... post your obligatory snide remark, but just watch out ... we're coming for you this year. :)
--Nick
Edit: First Recap.
For years now I've always just had to tell people that I work in the eHome Division at Microsoft. After the release of MCE, I've been able to say that I work on stuff related to that. Today finally, I'm happy to say, I can finally describe what I do.
Among the other things announced by Bill Gates at tonight's CES keynote is MCX - Media Center Extender technologies - the project that I work on. Pretty cool stuff, I think ... it's not this brand new thing that nobody's thought of or that isn't obviously something that people want, but it is something that people want with something like Media Center, so it's nice that we're able to unveil it after working on it for quite some time now.
I'm also happy to say that rumors of our demise were rather exaggerated (though, really, if you read the Register, you're asking for it. They're right up there with Slashdot in the pantheon of news sources that I "love".)
Most media coverage won't hit this late in the day, so I'll provide more links in the next few days for those of you who actually care (though, thinking about it, just about everyone who might possible read this already knew what I did and all about it).
--Nick
Edit: Some coverage from CNet and the transcript of the keynote are now up. Portable Media Center, by the way, deserve a mention. I have high hopes for these things.
Edit: Even more information from us on MCX.
Was driving around while I was home in Portland over my winter vacation and noticed that the nearby city of Tualatin has decided to remake their image so that they could be super-cool like all those hackers out there. This had us cracking up for quite some time. I'd love to hear an explanation of exactly how this happened, as it's the only sign like this, but I'm not sure I can even think of one that I would accept as legitimate ...
--Nick
Edit: Updating URL for the linked picture.
