Author archives: Mike
Time to restart the Mikey on Linux project? (Have to get off Microsoft eventually...)
Written by
on
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Snaking,
Vindaloo.
As all my loyal readers will no doubt remember, I hit a rather annoying snag way back when that forced me to switch back from Linux to Win2K. I fixed that a while ago, but since then I've spent all of my time on Linux trying to get FreeVO installed and configured to work with ...
Quiet day of Cinemoning (Working on demos)
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on
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Snaking.
Improving demo-ing capabilities and handling CMTS failures and resets was today's focus. Nothing spectacular, just hooking up code in MockCMTS such that it can be accessed when the application is running in demo mode and then providing a UI for it.
The demo ui stuff showed a number of problems in how the MockCMTS works ...
Remembering (You'd think after 11 years I'd have written it down...)
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on
in
Vindaloo.
Natasha and I have known each other for 11 years now. I still don't know the precise day of her birthday. I remember when it is (somewhere between the 4th and the 6th). The problem is that I got it wrong for 4 or 5 years (and always wind up seeing her on days that ...
I've said it before... I'll say it again (Ever heard of a broom?)
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Vindaloo.
As everyone knows, yesterday was the one-year anniversary of the Spirit rover on Mars. It had a 90 day expected lifetime and has "miraculously" managed to survive 4 times that. However, the only thing that I've ever heard of that would reduce the thing's expected life-cycle is dust accumulation on the solar panels.
I mean, ...
Double standard still exists (Ruminations on oral fixations...)
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on
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Vindaloo.
A few years ago three friends and I were taking a cab ride. For some reason the conversation turned to fellatio, and went ribaldly along for a few minutes in that vein. Playing along, I mentioned something about cunnilingus. The reactions from those friends were striking. While they'd been happily discussing a woman pleasuring a ...
Don't seem to be in the mood to write serious stuff (Ritual in design blathering...)
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Design Theory.
Next section in the outline of the Play section is the use of Ritual in Design. The problem is that much of the material in the section is a rehash of the stuff earlier. Ritual plays with hidden orders, and the arbitrary. The difference is in the experiential quality of the play.
Ritual involves making ...
Little fixes here and there (Day vanishes into the air...)
Written by
on
in
Snaking.
Did a couple of extra hours of work today so I can justify taking a few hours tomorrow afternoon to pick up groceries. Nothing huge, just a lot of little fixes, mostly for presentation problems. Anyway, think I'll do a bit of writing and then try to get to bed at a decent hour.
Kinda fascinating watching Cinemon work (Though it means I can't update the running copy)
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Snaking.
I've been watching our client's network through Cinemon for the last 3 hours now, trying to figure out how to go about making it easier to "see into" what's going on (looks like they've had some serious outage, now coming back online). No great insights as of yet, though my not actually knowing what the ...
A perfect evening (From the Book of Questions...)
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on
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Design Theory,
Vindaloo.
This question came up at my last party, and my answer was too brief to capture what I dream of, so here's the expanded version (warning, don't expect anything grand, I'm a bit of an Epicurean at heart):
We are in our home. The home is modest, but well designed, near the university where we ...
No sleep for the over-stimulated (Maybe I shouldn't think about work before bed...)
Written by
on
in
Snaking,
Vindaloo.
Made the mistake of running over everything I want to get done tomorrow as I was trying to get to sleep. 2.5 hours later, can't sleep, as I'm still spinning ideas... not even really ideas, just priorities mostly, which items need to be in the 1.0 release, how to get everyone on the same page ...
Mike C. Fletcher, the VRPlumber, is a philosopher of design turned computer programmer based in Toronto, Canada. He works primarily in the Python programming language, and maintains a large number of Open Source software packages. You can reach him at: mcfletch@vrplumber.com.