Category: Rant

A couple of geeky items

1. I’ve been playing around with SQLite on my linode. The database generation script runs twice as fast as when I use MySQL. But I’m having one major problem with the update script – it’s probably due to the Perl DBD::SQLite, rather than SQLite itself, but if I insert into a VARCHAR column using


my $wptInsertStmt = $conn->prepare(qq{
INSERT INTO wp_test
(id, datasource_key, tpa)
VALUES (?, ?, ?)});

$wptInsertStmt->execute('abc', '111', 555);
$wptInsertStmt->execute('1E2', '222', 123);

the ids that look like numbers get interpreted as numbers, so that ‘1E2’ gets inserted as ‘100’. Both MySQL and PostgreSQL versions of this code get it right. I suspect I’m going to have to convert the code to use bind_params, which will bloat the code and lead to problems if I get it wrong. It also appears I have to close all my prepared statements.

2. I hereby officially declare THE DEATH OF THE FLOPPY. I was using a floppy to transfer files between my development machine and my test machine. But the shutter on the floppy I was using suddenly stopped working. So I got another floppy, and after a transfer or two, I started getting I/O errors on the new floppy. So I grabbed another, and the same thing happened. That’s when I realized that when the spring sprung, it probably fell off inside one of my floppy drives and is still wreaking havoc on every floppy I used since. Unfortunately I couldn’t find my USB drive, so I had to beg one from a cow orker. Even if it is at home, I’m thinking of buying one or more new ones. They’re certainly cheap enough.

3. The LUGOR mailing list today is full of the plaintive crys for help from a guy who seems to be doing web design for a guy who doesn’t seem to have gotten the idea that a corporate web site should be about content, not craptactular toys. The first request was for information on how to put an animated train running around the borders of the web page. Evidently the boss is a dentist who has toy trains running around the office, and he thinks this would transfer well to his web site. The other, equally brain dead request was for putting automatically translated versions (ie Systrans or Babelfish, not human translated) of all of his web site up and automatically directing people from those countries to the “translated’ version. Can you imagine what a great image you’d give to people in non-English speaking countries subjecting them to Babelfish versions? Especially since you’d be automatically redirecting them there, even if they spoke English. I told him to look at Engrish.com and imagine people all over the world submitting his site to the local equivalent of that site.

I suppose it was too much to hope for.

The other day they “upgraded” our Lotus Notes to a “6.0 style”. Evidently I had been using a “4.x style” without upgrading it. Ok the new view looks more modern, but it’s slow. Even by Bloated Stoats standards it’s slow. About the only thing I like about it is that when you delete something, it actually goes away off the list instead of still being there but with an “X” beside it until you hit F9. The user interface still sucks like a really sucky thing.

One of the things I really hate about Lotus Notes is that it doesn’t just encourage “TOFU” (Top post Over, Full text Under), it makes it hard to NOT do it that way. I noticed an option on the “reply” button that says “Reply with Internet-Style History”. Dare I hope? Would this be a way to do trimmed quoted text with the reply text interspersed? Breathless with anticipation, I clicked it. And disappointedly, I exhaled. I ended up with the cursor at the top, followed by the reply to the reply to the reply, then the reply to the reply, then the reply, then the original text. And it was quoted with a single line of “>” quote marks, not multiple quote marks for the multiply replied to text.

Oh well. I still continue to expect miracles, I guess.

You know what sucks?

– Dental surgery sucks. I got a temporary crown this morning. Between the numb mouth, the screeching of the drill and the feel of things being ground away inside you, or the two people with their hands in your mouth, one of whom is constantly telling you to open wider as your fight with all your mental might to not bite them and tell them to get the hell away from your mouth, there isn’t much to like. It’s four hours now, and I’m getting the feeling back in my mouth, but this temporary crown feels like a foriegn object in my mouth. At least it’s not cutting into my tongue the way the fragments of tooth were doing all weekend, but I probably bit my tongue a few times while it was numb.

– Canadian voters suck. It’s almost as if they’re afraid of insulting politicians they used to like, so they keep voting for the PM who gets more and more unpopular, but wait for him to retire and then vote his replacement out of office out of anger at the one who just retired. They did it to Trudeau/Turner, Mulrooney/Campbell, and now it looks like they’re going to vent their anger at Chretien’s arrogance and corruption on Paul Martin, who seemed like a pretty decent PM for a change. I’m just hoping and praying that Harper doesn’t get a majority, because he would be a giant step backwards for social liberalism in Canada. Plus, Canada is the only member of the G7 with a balanced budget, so why vote in a guy whose going to fuck with that to give giant tax breaks to the rich?

Fuck fuck fuckity fuck fuck fuck

I applied for long term disability insurance. Not because I anticipate problems, but because I don’t want Vicki and I to end up broke and homeless if I can’t work.

After review of your application, we regret to inform you that we are unable to issue a policy to you because of your longstanding history of multiple joint problems.

Because if there is one thing that would prevent me from typing all day, it’s chronic knee pain.

Stupid tooth

One of my teeth exploded this morning.  I went to the dentist and they poked around, took a ton of x-rays, and scheduled me for about a bazillion appointments.  They haven’t put anything on the hole, but it isn’t hurting much.

In other news, somebody from my pimp agency came by to see me, because the INS was asking for proof that I have a legal right to work in the US, so I had to show him my green card.  Not sure why it didn’t take the last time I showed it to them.  I was asking him about the current job market.  Not that I expect anything – my contract has been extended to the end of the year, but it never hurts to keep your eyes and ears open.  He said that right now, the hot technology is J2EE.  I’m not entirely sure how J2EE differs from all the Java Swing and RDBMS stuff I’ve been doing is, but I suppose I should do some research and become buzzword compliant.

Which is too bad, because in aid of my desire to get some more experience with AJAX I was planning to teach myself more Javascript and maybe Ruby on Rails.  There just isn’t enough time, nor enough room in my head.