][GS Laptop
Link: http://gizmodo.com/379708/ben-heck-mods-apple-iigs-into-a-bright-shiny-laptop
I don't normally bother linking to case mods, even when they're rather cool, mostly because, well, they're just case mods.
This though, this is cool. I always wanted a ][gs but they weren't really available where I was living at the time.
Expelled! Race-Baiting Hooks A Few
Ah, Expelled!
We knew it was going to be a propaganda-laden train-wreck from the start, despite repeated protests that because we hadn't even seen the movie, we were missing the point, or what have you.
Well, it's an intellectual farce, and there are those who will realize it as such, and those who will credulously lap up this profound exercise in truth-bending.
It can be written off as nonsense, but one of the many things for which they cannot be forgiven is their utterly crass race-baiting, tying evolutionary theory into atheism into the bloody Holocaust. When people are offered this crazy bullshit, some of them believe it. What is the upshot of tarring those who hold to evolutionary theory with this batshit-crazy brush?...
Expiry dates on gift cards to be banned in BC
Link: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/04/11/bc-gift-card-ban.html
This may well be the first and last time you hear me say something nice about the BC Liberals, but good for them on making it illegal to expire prepaid gift cards.
Regardless of whether one feels that gift cards are a bad idea to start with (and there are a lot of good reasons), something that's paid for should not arbitrarily be canceled simply because a certain date has passed. I feel the same about car wash tickets too...
"Still Alive"
Link: http://youtube.com/watch?v=9mg6wrYCT9Q
Funny little music video about the Amiga by Eric Schwartz.
(Via Nodwick)
Cats and computer desks
Link: http://www.therefinedfeline.com/kitinbox-cat-perch.htm
Periodically you see a gizmo that initially leaves you thinking "Well, that's daft" but a few minutes later it becomes "Hmmmm....".
Get off my keyboard, Pumpkin. Please.
(Via PopGadget)
Net Neutrality and Virgin Media
Link: http://www.boingboing.net/2008/04/13/virgin-media-ceo-net.html
Another UK sourced story, this time from BoingBoing. Apparently Virgin Media, one of the major ISPs in the UK, is clearly stating that they wish to be bribed in order to give preferential treatment to websites. No, I misspoke; Virgin will actually throttle those that don't. Check out this statement from the CEO:
Feeding into the debate between internet service providers and the BBC over iPlayer, Berkett even warned that public service broadcasters who choose not to pay for faster access to Virgin's subscriber base would end up in "bus lanes", effectively having their content delivered to consumers at a lower speed.
Nice.
String To Time In C#
If you are trying to get a time into a DateTime from a string, it's relatively easy:
DateTime dt = DateTime.Parse(inputText,CultureInfo.CurrentCulture,
DateTimeStyles.NoCurrentDateDefault);
The NoCurrentDateDefault is pretty important. Otherwise, if your string contains no date part, the current date will be added on top of your time.
One issue does arise, though, if you are planning on putting this time into a database, since the NoCurrentDateDefault makes the date 1/1/0001, which is actually too small for SQL Server (whose minimum date is 1/1/1753) or COM/OLE purposes (which has a minimum date that seems to vary - DateTime.FromOADate(0) is 12/31/1899 - .NET will let you go lower than 0, but unknown as to whether this is kosher for other applications).
You can at least tell whether your DateTime had a date component... unless they entered 1/1/0001):
bool noDateEntered = dt.CompareTo(DateTime.MinValue.AddDays(1))<0;
If you want to add your time to the minimum for one of the other date/time types, here is a formula that will do it:
dt = dt.Add(System.Data.SqlTypes.SqlDateTime.MinValue.Value.Subtract(
DateTime.MinValue));
If you want to replace Add and Subtract with operators, make sure that you keep the parentheses around the right hand side, since the addition and subtraction only work with TimeSpans. Otherwise, you will get a type complaint.
dt = dt+(System.Data.SqlTypes.SqlDateTime.MinValue.Value-
DateTime.MinValue);
Similar for OLE dates:
dt = dt+(DateTime.FromOADate(0)-DateTime.MinValue)
Alas, now I get an even less fun part to do: figure out how to represent a time on its own in a database in a cross-database manner. *sigh*
iPhone moves another step closer to killing the Palm Tungsten
Link: http://gizmodo.com/380302/handwriting-recognition-for-iphone-now-available
While the Apple iPhone is getting close to being able to replace my beloved Palm Tungsten T3, there are two primary issues that still make it an inappropriate choice for me.
Stephen has a blog
Link: http://www.vermeulen.ca/
Stephen Vermeulen, author of ExpressPaint and VBBS/IceBBS for the Amiga with miscellaneous other low-key software development projects since, has finally got around to blogifying his homebrew website. Following a fragment-based posting design, he's finally put together an RSS feed so that all the snippits, references and commentary can be rolled into one, easy to read source.
Nice.
The RSS feed is http://vermeulen.ca/rss.xml
Tech support follies
Recently Microsoft ran a pretty good promotion: buy their current version of Microsoft Office for OSX and get the new one free when it's released. So, I bit, and bought the old version and dutifully sent in the form with the original UPC barcode and receipt.
Rechargable batteries aren't created equal
Link: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001078.html
Most people know that NiCd, NiMH and LIon rechargables all have different properties. What's not so apparent is that even within a particular technology, there's a lot of variety beyond the nominal mAh rating, especially when dealing with batteries designed in the AA/AAA form factor.
Final Death of an Iconic Restaurant
The Westin's iconic, classy Owl's Nest restaurant, after morphing into the "O. N. Grill", which I did not have the chance to visit, has finally packed it in. What do we have there instead? A Keg.
I do not like fancy restaurants, by and by, but the Owl's Nest was one of those few such places that were worth the experience.
I will miss you, Owl's Nest.
It's so quiet
Link: http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/10/proposed-bill-aims-to-set-minimum-auto-sound-levels/
One of the nicer features about the newer electric hybrids is that they're quiet. So, in the name of safety, what do you think the next step should be?
Yup. Make the cars generate digitized engine noises over external loudspeakers so pedestrians can hear them. The sole argument in favour of this that's vaguely convincing is that of trying to let blind people know the car is nearby. And even that's pretty weak.
Wired on industrial control systems security
Link: http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/04/industrial-cont.html
Given the industry I work in and specific familiarity with the system in question, this article from Wired on system security and response is fascinating. The headline is a trifle "Chicken Little" but the content is good.
(The somewhat generic text above is on the grounds that random Googling probably won't pick up this comment...)
Penn & Teller do bees
Penn & Teller do some odd stuff, but this one is particularly strange even for them. Keep an eye out for the camera man in the hazmat suit...
(Via BoingBoing)
