Anil Gangolli
Collected Bits - Home Page and Personal Weblog
Jingle Bells Oddity
This month‘s Smithsonian Magazine (September 2007, p. 34) included a small blurb on the publication of the Jingle Bells song 150 years ago and this image of the sheet music cover
(used here without explicit permission):
There‘s something awry about it. Do you notice?
Hint: Recall the lyrics. It struck me when the blurb indicated the original name of the song.
Posted at 11:01PM Sep 03, 2007 in System.out | Permalink | Comments[3]
Hats off to the clip
Most people on the street will not recognize the specific utility of the item above.
You, of course do.
I think it is time we acknowledged the importance of this time-honored device.
Some historical events related to the clip and attempts to replace it:
- ca. 1985
- Apple ships a small plastic pin with Macintosh, hoping to alleviate users from constructing crude tools like the clip. Most users throw it away not really understanding what it is meant for, only to be sorry somewhat later. The net result is actually a significant increase in clip-based implement production and usage.
- ca. 1996
- Palm ships a plastic stylus with its Palm Pilot device, the tip of which can be screwed off to reveal a clip substitute. User adoption rate of this feature is low, with most users still hunting for their clip. Clip usage continues to rise as Palms and competing devices proliferate.
- ca. 1997
- The Office Assistant, a derivative of Microsoft's Bob project, makes its appearance. Its default avatar is an animated paper clip. While clearly an attempt to parlay familiarity with the implement that Windows users use daily with their machines, it is flawed in one important respect; no extended prong. The clip avatar and the Office Assistant feature in general meet with public disdain.
Despite these affronts the clip seems to be as popular as ever. So we tip our hats to the trusty clip.
Posted at 04:11PM Mar 25, 2007 in System.out | Permalink
Workaround for Firefox on Vista screen jitter
I was seeing a lot of screen jitter on Firefox (I‘m on 2.0.0.2) running on MS Vista.
The workaround, quoted from mozillazine forums here is to disable the Bookmarks Toolbar from the view.
View | Toolbars |(uncheck) Bookmarks Toolbar
Seems to work.
Tagged: firefox
Posted at 08:48PM Mar 22, 2007 in System.out | Permalink
Upgraded to Roller 3.1
I‘ve upgraded the site to use Roller 3.1. Note, I‘m runnning RC6 — the official release is not yet out, and at least one more release candidate is expected.
Because of all of the model and macro changes, I‘ve adopted a simple theme which I hope to improve over time, probably in a different direction than my old theme anyway.
It‘s a bit ragged, but the content is there.
Possibly due to the change in permalink structure, my blog entries are all thought to be new by java.blogs which somehow got me on the hot blog list inadvertently.
Not much to see here. Certainly not much new. Sorry for leading readers astray.
Tagged: roller
Posted at 05:59PM Mar 18, 2007 in System.out | Permalink
Feeling small in the "Universe for Dummies"
Physics Nobelist George Smoot, colleague Saul Perlmutter, and the preponderance of “dark matter” are featured in this NY Times Magazine article by Richard Panek.
Posted at 08:16AM Mar 12, 2007 in System.out | Permalink
Upgraded to Fedora Core 6
As a result of the recent timezone data upgrade, I had noticed that my server box which was still running Fedora Core 3 had really gotten way behind the yum support curve. So after the DST switch went fine, I was feeling that the stars were aligned for mucking with my server box and I decided to upgrade the OS to Fedora Core 6.
These decisions are always about as likely as not to lead to an extended trip through IT hell, but it all went surprisingly well. I had to fuss around with a few configs that had changed formats, but nothing too bad.
As a result of the upgrade, I‘m also now running MySQL 5.0.27 right from the FC6 RPMs.
Posted at 04:00PM Mar 11, 2007 in System.out | Permalink
Check your linux timezone updates
I was feeling comfortable that I had up-to-date tzdata installed on my linux box
rpm -q -i tzdata
showed I was running
tzdata-2005r-3.fc3
So, good; I've got the 2007 rules.
Not so fast!
zdump -v /etc/localtime | grep 2007
gave a transition time in April still. What's up?
It turned out that the rpm update had left /etc/localtime untouched and created /etc/localtime.rpmnew. When I moved that into place, it gave the right March transition, but it was timezone info for the Eastern US time zone.
I ended up having to copy my local America/Los_Angeles zone data manually from /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/Los_Angeles to /etc/localtime and then reboot.
This seems to have done the trick. I'm not sure how my tzdata installation went astray originally, but you may want to check boxes you have.
Posted at 12:27AM Feb 22, 2007 in System.out | Permalink
How doctors think
House, M.D. fans (like me) may enjoy this article on how doctors think by Jerome Groopman in the New Yorker magazine.
Posted at 09:19PM Feb 14, 2007 in System.out | Permalink
Self-referential formula
A friend at work pointed me at this self-referential formula, which I thought amazing and worth spreading, though I‘m probably the last person to hear about this.
Posted at 09:20AM Feb 14, 2007 in System.out | Permalink | Comments[2]
Podcast treasure troves
After resuscitating my old Creative Zen mp3 player with new firmware and drivers, and firing up Juice (formerly iPodder). I‘ve recently got into listening to podcasts.
Check out WNYC's Radio Lab podcasts. I especially liked Detective Stories and Space but they‘re all good. Season One, unfortunately, seems only to be available in streaming form.
A larger but harder to characterize treasure trove of podcasts is at NPR's Podcast Directory.
Posted at 08:47AM Nov 09, 2006 in System.out | Permalink
Stock option backdating scandal getting hotter
Larry Sonsini is the focus of this NY Times article about the option backdating scandal that‘s hitting the Valley.
Tags: Silicon Valley backdating
Posted at 09:12AM Jul 30, 2006 in System.out | Permalink
Vint Cerf on the tiered network idea
John Battelle interviews Vint Cerf on the tiered network idea and other stuff.
Posted at 02:04PM Jul 14, 2006 in System.out | Permalink
World Cup
Uncharacteristically, I was backing France over Italy.
La Douce France a local French coffee shop (exterior decked out as pictured below) was holding a party with a big screen projector.
I was hoping Zidane would go out with a glorious win, but it wasn‘t to be. It‘s too bad that his last moment on field was one of anger, but he did a great job leading France to the finals and I think it would have gotten to PKs anyway. Having Henry, Zidane, and Ribery off the field in the last minutes really left France looking lifeless.
Posted at 06:35PM Jul 09, 2006 in System.out | Permalink
EZ-Hoax
Great little blurb in the May 22 New Yorker (p. 31 in the print version). Here it is online.
Posted at 10:46PM Jun 06, 2006 in System.out | Permalink