Anil Gangolli

Textile Formatter and quotes

I don’t know how one gets normal apostrophes and quotation marks to work out right in Textile (using Textile4J 1.20). It tries to do the elegant slanty quotes, but seems very easily confused about parity and nesting.

In the last posting, notice how the initial apostrophe is slanted backward and that some of the slant choices on the remaining quotation marks are just wrong.

UPDATE 1/26/05: It appears this is Textile4j-specific. The online generator at textism doesn’t exhibit these problems at all. I’ve filed an issue with textile4j

Technorati tags: textile textile4j blogware

Posted at 10:24PM Jan 25, 2005 in dev  |  Permalink

More malaprops

Just closing off that last entry, I remembered two things:

1. There’s a word for it. [Of course, Anil, you moron!] Yep: malaprop or malapropism. ? .

 

1. I often hear the malaprop “a bat's chance in hell,” only occasionally intentionally; it results (of course) from the conflation of “an iceberg's chance in hell” and “a bat out of hell.”  

Posted at 04:41PM Jan 25, 2005 in System.out  |  Permalink  |  Comments[1]

... and viola!

It started by accident, but it is growing on me.

A while ago, a friend (name withheld until I get permission) wrote up some instructions for setting up some piece of software or other (can’t remember what it was exactly) and ended it with “... and viola!”

Now, he’s a witty guy, and I thought the misspelling was a bit of his dry wit. I laughed. This got a quizzical look from him, and it turned out that it hadn’t been intentional at all. He had in fact meant to write the French “voilà!” (- ok, so not with the little accent, but, hey it looks cool).

I decided this wordplay was a pretty good quirky joke, and I’ve started using it myself. Initially it throws people, but I think it is actually spreading. Let me know if you encounter it.

It’s best used with a touch of irony at the end of a long series of complicated instructions, and especially fitting if the reader has about an iceberg’s chance in hell of being completely successful after following them.

Remember: ... and viola!

Posted at 04:02PM Jan 25, 2005 in System.out  |  Permalink  |  Comments[1]

Sun applies pressure on IBM to support apps on Solaris 10

Sun’s President/COO Jonathan Schwartz writes an open letter to IBM CEO Sam Palmisano .

Posted at 11:16AM Jan 25, 2005 in tech  |  Permalink

Cassini-Huygens on Titan

A little over a week after the Huygens probe landed on Titan, they’ve now got a lot of cool stuff to see at Nasa's pages on the Cassini-Huygens mission .

Posted at 11:12PM Jan 24, 2005 in System.out  |  Permalink

Stateless Linux

Stateless Linux (brought to my attention by Thane ) sounds a lot like the diskless and cache-only workstation projects back at Sun in the late 80’s or early 90’s (the original “The Network is the Computer” days). It might be more viable now.

A nearly reverse trend (reverse because you carry your state around with you) is interesting: Booting and running off a USB jump drive . One can get a whole server demo system (OS, db, app server/container, and app) onto a jump drive these days.

Posted at 10:46PM Jan 24, 2005 in System.out  |  Permalink

Comedic Center

We tend to think of our great cultural centers as being on the coasts, and that everyone in the middle is, well, a bit provincial. So it’s a surprising thing that the late-night comedic wellspring of the country is in the Great Plains states.

Johnny Carson was born in Iowa and raised in Nebraska. David Letterman, Indiana.

Jay Leno, through no fault of his own, will never really be able to match these; he was born in New York.

Conan O’Brien? Nope; Brookline, MA.

Posted at 09:56PM Jan 24, 2005 in System.out  |  Permalink

Security concerns around IBM/Lenovo deal

The IBM/Lenovo deal (in which IBM is selling their PC business to Lenovo) is under scrutiny by the Committe on Foreign Investments in the US. The question at hand is whether the deal poses a potential risk to national security.

I think this is really due to the fact that the US government may well be a significant customer of some of the product lines being sold off, and I think this risk could be real.

The concerns that have been voiced on the other hand seem weaker. They’ve centered around the potential opportunity for industrial espionage from Lenovo’s planned Raleigh, NC base.

Posted at 09:16PM Jan 24, 2005 in tech  |  Permalink

A man, a plan, ... a palindrome

For a long time, I had kept around a hardcopy printout of the old SU-BBOARD message with Dan Hoey’s long palindrome, and a while ago I got curious of what more had been done on that front. Seconds of Googling later, I found this very complete treatment at Peter Norvig's site and a bit more on this Google blog , where coincidentally, Mr. Norvig is apparently the Director of Search Quality.

Unfortunately the link in his article to Hoey’s original 540 word palindrome seems to be broken, or at least it was today, but the article is a very interesting read.

Posted at 05:19PM Jan 23, 2005 in System.out  |  Permalink

Old NPR hoax chain letter back from the dead!

It’s weird how the old Internet chain letters keep coming around, even years after their original circulation. Just today I got another copy of this NPR funding one dating from circa 1995, and I won’t say from whom.

I don’t know how these things still survive considering that you can STFW, just Google NPR chain letter, even feeling lucky and instantly get a clue.

Posted at 12:56PM Jan 22, 2005 in System.out  |  Permalink

Yeah, some mandate

According to the Gallup Poll Blog [see Jeff Jones’s post of 21-Jan 2005 2:00pm; apparently, these guys have never heard of permalinks], Bush’s approval rating of late is just 51%.

Some mandate.

This is apparently the lowest on record at inauguration for any recent two-termer as far back as Eisenhower. The Associated Press poll records only 49% approval.

It seems, however, that “thems as like 'im like 'im alot”; the same Gallup Poll reports 52% say Bush will be an outstanding or above-average president in his second term. The extra 1% can only be attributed to noise.

The numbers across the board on similar questions hover very close to 51-52% positive for Bush.

Posted at 07:31PM Jan 21, 2005 in dogma  |  Permalink

Don't nibble

Speaking of alarming, I’ve been pretty alarmed by the increasing number of Phishing attacks in my personal mailbox. I’m now getting at least two or three a week. The most frequent I’ve seen are requests to update your financial information at E-Bay, Paypal, or a large bank (Citizens and Citibank being the most frequent). Most of the attacks feature realistic pages crafted with logo images sourced from the actual web sites, but whose forms submit to a separate site altogether.

It seems that law enforcement would have an easier time weeding these folks out, since the forms necessarily point to a server that’s collecting the info and forwarding it. I suspect national boundaries pose some issues, and I also suspect one often finds a victimized linux novice at the end whose hacked machine is unwittingly running the server.

While there have been organizations started to combat this stuff like Digital Phishnet and the Anti-Phishing Working Group , but they seem to be targeted at institutional members, and it’s not at all clear what they’re doing with the information they’re collecting and what success they are having chasing down the culprits. The APWG seems to be mostly in a watch and study phase. They, at least, are accepting phishing reports from the general public at their site. Digital Phishnet doesn’t seem to want to hear from non-institutional members at all.

Posted at 11:13AM Jan 20, 2005 in tech  |  Permalink

O Hell! is alarming nag.

Back when the Anagram Genius Server was more generous with its free automatic responses, it generated and mailed me the following (partial list!) of anagrams it was able to generate from my full name. My s.o. would probably disagree with the assertion "I’m an angel girls halo."

Rearranging the letters of ‘Anil Ramesh Gangolli’ gives:
Malinger signal halo.                   Align halo malingers.
Halo alarming single.                   Gnash menial gorilla.
Halo as mean grilling.                  Halo malingers in lag.
Hello! alarming gains.                  Hello! managing liars.
Gnash in male gorilla.                  O Hell! alarming gains.
O Hell! managing liars.                 An angel him gorillas.
Halo marginal single.                   Hello! animals raging.
So malingering a hall.                  Halo small regaining.
Hello! is alarming nag.                 All shaggier nominal.
Menial gorillas hang.                   Girls halo genial man.
O Hell! animals raging.                 Halo in alarming legs.
I enraging small halo.                  O Hell! is alarming nag.
Hello! in alarming gas.                 On illegal as harming.
A gremlins halo align.                  Hosanna! grim, illegal.
O Hell! in alarming gas.                An illegal him groans.
Sham gorilla in angel.                  Egomanias gnarl hill.
Gnash lame in gorilla.                  Amoral hells gaining.
Alarming holes align.                   Hello! marginal gains.
Healing man gorillas.                   Gorillas hang in male.
I’m genial hall groans.                 Amen! halo as grilling.
O Hell! marginal gains.                 Alarming, signal hole.
Oh Man! illegal grains.                 Hell! gain so alarming.
Gnash or illegal main.                  His gorilla man angel.
Halo malinger in slag.                  Halo a smelling grain.
Main girls halo angel.                  Halo ill greasing man.
Longish, genial alarm.                  Sharing, illegal moan.
O Man! illegal sharing.                 Illegal rash moaning.
Male hill as groaning.                  Ago alarming in hells.
Align amoral English.                   Am an English gorilla.
A small, aligning hero.                 On shaggier, anal mill.
An illegal or shaming.                  Gnarl hills egomania.
I’m a halo snarling leg.                Longish, large animal.
Hello! is marginal nag.                 Hell! so managing liar.
I’m an illegal or gnash.                Halo slim in large nag.
Halo grain slim angel.                  I’m an angel girls halo.
An illegal, so harming.                 Hail along malingers.
All-male or I gnashing.                 He’s moral ilang-ilang.
Shall in alarming ego.                  Halo in marginal legs.
Slim rang genial halo.                  Am sane halo grilling.
Halo enraging as mill.                  O Hell! is marginal nag.
Hello! in marginal gas.                 Oh! malingering as all.
All haggler insomnia.                   So harming genial all.
He signalling amoral.                   Ha! small, genial groin.
Ignoring as male hall.                  Alarming hall in egos.
Halo align as gremlin.                  Halo in a small ginger.
Aligning holes alarm.                   Hello! glaring manias.
Oh Man! as genial grill.                An angel hims gorilla.
Hell! mail as groaning.                 Eh! signalling amoral.
Genial hall in orgasm.                  An original hall gems.
On grim as genial hall.                 Ago malingers in hall.
Large hill as moaning.                  I’m a hill groans angel.
Gnash gorilla in meal.                  Genial lash in glamor.
Halo grim snail angel.                  Halo in a gremlins lag.
Halo mean ills raging.                  Halo mans genial girl.
O Hell! in marginal gas.                Hello! I alarming nags.
No! illegal as harming.                 Marshalling on agile.
Hangman lies gorilla.                   Shaming gorilla lane.
Shaming gorilla lean.                   A singing, amoral hell.
Hell! so raging animal.                 Is male hall groaning.
Malinger so gain hall.                  Hang in gorillas lame.
Menial gorilla hangs.                   Amoral shell gaining.
Gorilla leashing man.                   An alarming hills ego.
Shall an original gem.                  Aligning realms halo.
Halo mean girls align.                  A small, reigning halo.
Marginal holes align.                   O Hell! glaring manias.
Ill alarming sane hog.                  Hog small, genial rain.
An illegal him organs.                  Hell! managing sailor.
I’m a hell snarling ago.                Healing gorilla mans.
Eh! amoral, all-singing.                Ha! so malingering all.
An alarming hill egos.                  Animal hells in aggro.
Shall in ago malinger.                  Smaller halo gaining.
Malinger halo aligns.                   Halo malinger a sling.
I halo malinger slang.                  Halo in a smelling rag.
O Hell! I alarming nags.                Hell! aggro in animals.
Hell! I am a go snarling.               Mail greasing on hall.
I am a glaring hells on.                His all-male, groaning.
A male hills groaning.                  Halo malinger lag sin.
Halo mean signal girl.                  Halo raging slim lane.
Halo raging slim lean.                  I halo in small nagger.
Halo raging sane mill.                  Marginal, signal hole.
Hog in as all malinger.                 Malinger as an ill hog.
Marshalling agile no.                   Marshalling alien go.
Genial him groans all.                  Hell! I am signal groan.
Hell! I’m a signal groan.               Hell! I’m a groans align.
He amoral, all-singing.                 I’m genial hall organs.
Hall or managing lies.                  Lame hill as groaning.
Hill as alarming gone.                  A large millions hang.
Amoral legs inhaling.                   I am genial gnash roll.
I’m a genial gnash roll.                On manlier, ga-ga hills.
Shall remaining goal.                   Halo a signal gremlin.
I snarling halo gleam.                  Anal girls halo in gem.
I’m large halo in slang.                Lose harm ilang-ilang.
Marshalling a legion.                   Marshalling nail ego.
Ahem! Alas! on grilling.                I am glaring as on hell.
I’m a glaring as on hell.               Hell! alarm so gaining.
Hall or signal enigma.                  As hall or in gleaming.
I’m a hall snarling ego.                Ill gnashing or a male.
Again. Hells in glamor.                 Ago alarming in shell.
English a gorilla man.                  His illegal groan man.
On his alarming, legal.                 His long, genial alarm.

Posted at 09:59AM Jan 20, 2005 in System.out  |  Permalink

Sing an Unsung Hero

Late last week at Stanford, the Martin Luther King Jr. Papers Project held a two-day celebration of the King legacy coincident with his birthday and with the opening of the new Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford.

The event probably would have passed me by unnoticed had it not been for the fact that my stepdaughter Leanna Racine had a summer internship with the Papers Project, and so we (well actually, she ) received an invitation notice in the mail. [An article based on internship work that she did with mentor Erin Cook just came out in the recent issue of the Organization of American Historians' Magazine of History .]

I was able to attend the events on Thursday evening, which featured an utterly gripping performance by Awele Makeba of her one-woman drama Rage is Not a 1-Day Thing!. The play tells the story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and highlights the story of Claudette Colvin [Claudette Who? ], one of the lesser known heroes of that struggle, whose story is only now coming to the forefront. [There is a review posted here .]

Claudette Colvin was just a teenager at the time of the boycott in 1955, and is still alive. The special treat of the evening was that Claudette Colvin was present for the performance and participated in an interview and Q&A session with Ms. Makeba afterwards. Ms. Makeba related the story of how she had actually managed to locate Ms. Colvin and to solicit her help in developing and checking facts and background information for the play.

Steven Logwood of Positive Records was also in the audience and played a preview of a new track called “382” (named for the 382 days that the boycott lasted) that sings of its many heroes, including Claudette Colvin.

Rage may not be a one-day thing, but neither should gratitude be. Thanks Claudette. Lives have been changed by what you did.

Posted at 01:30PM Jan 18, 2005 in dogma  |  Permalink

Too much coding, too little blogging

Well the whole point of setting up my own blog has been mostly sidetracked to time spent helping get a blog server release out the door. It’s been too fun; the lesson is that I’d rather spend an hour debugging and tinkering around with code than writing complete sentences. But now that Roller 1.0 has reached a 1.0 release point , I have little in the way of excuses to get some entries out.

Posted at 01:16PM Jan 18, 2005 in System.out  |  Permalink