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It hasn’t been a very comfortable day… to say the least of it. I woke up a bit after 0600Q with a toothache and no luck gettin’ back to sleep. I remembered something a friend once said about using a moistened tablet of paracetamol (acetaminophen) to rub along the site (and iirc, push in the “hole” if such was the case). Finding a bottle of tylenol here being slightly harder >_>.

Since yesterday the phone rang, and I stupidly left my headset on the chair instead of the desk – I sat down with a crunch! So today I had to get a new headset. I can care less about the Live! related features, as long as it is decent quality and durable (even if not 160lb of ass worth, lol). In installing it, I had quiet a bit of a monkey fight to get everything working; seems that the driver disk really likes Live Call / Messenger—and lacks a required USB Audio driver for Windows XP SP3. Ok, I was saved by that annoying hardware detection dialog but at least XP no longer thinks the headset is a mass storage device! Sound quality is totally different, gunfire in RvS and SWAT 4 reminds me of listening to Call of Duty on my brothers (costly) speaker system once upon a time.

Spent a bit of time playing OpenArena, set up a skirmish on my favorite map with 3 bots for help against 4 bots. I scored nearly 70 frags, at least a dozen of which involved the “Buzzsaw”. I couldn’t get ahold of any decent weapons but the starting kit, so I decided to start chasing the pricks with a Buzzsaw, racked up a screen full of kill-icon things with it before finally getting a proper kit. I’ve also started to get better with rocket-placement – even scoring several direct hits as well as the usual splash-damage SOP.

Tried to take some time to write code but no one in this rat-fucking place would let me get work done. Combine with a nasty headache, and I said fuck it all—and just took a nap.

I feel much better now but absolutely nothing has gotten done. I have all of about 2 useful lines of documentation for the library I wanted to get done, LAST WEEK.

My first pair of glasses

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Yesterday my glasses were ready for pick up, but eh, who wants to go right back out after they get home for work? So we picked them up today on the way home; it’s only a few miles in a perpendicular direction .(^_^)/./

When they had me try them on, it was like, in the words of Clark Griswald: hallelujah and holy shit! I found it initially very unstabling to turn my head and gaze about like normal, but I reckon that is normal at first. The difference however in vision, is tremendous. I’ve spent most of the day wearing them, and now they are fairly comfortable, more so then naked eyes lol. I only worry how wearing glasses regularly will impact my un-aided eye sight in the long run. I can see very crisp and clear, it is like someone jacked up the resolution a few orders of magnitude! On the way home, I could see license plates and street signs clear; hell I could see the specks of dirt on the road instead of just the dirt!!! Coming home it felt almost like the ground was under a microscope, so much finer detail. It’s like I could count the hairs on the dogs back, leaves on a tree at 30ft, and can see the crap between the individual blades of grass! Just walking into the apartment it was unsettling, I can now see the carpet so finely, that it’s better then when I used to sit on the carpet as a kid with action figures littered all over :-/. It’s a huge detail hack, man I think I could even read the little-bitty display on the VCR across the room, if the clock was set, ha!

Up real close things are a bit blurry with the glasses on, perhaps I need bifocals for that lol; I’m just happy with the current improvement. And really, the choice of lifting my glasses up or moving my head back a little is not a bother. So far the only irksome issue, often whenever I yawn I tend to get a bit teary eyed (always have), but now obviously I have to remove my glasses to wipe it away, so I can see clearly again lol. Even on the computer, it’s very different. I run my 19″ monitor at 1600×1200 and a custom DPI setting of 144dpi (150% winsucks normal). Most things are set to fairly large fonts because I find that Google Chrome renders fonts a hell of a lot smaller then Mozilla does; the difference being defaults in Fx have always been fine, but in Chrome I have things set to like 22pt rather then a more normal size. With my glasses I can see to read the mouse type things render on daemonforums, with chrome+my monitor. Without, I had to increase the size to be able to read it without zooming my head into the screen -> which I *hate* doing. Right now it’s become very easy to read even my LJ without jacking the font size! sasclan.org and facebook only need 1 increment of the size rather then 3 or 4; and then only in order to be read ‘at length’ rather then momentarily. Just now, I’ve tested changes to Chromes settings. I can set the fonts as low as 9 or 8 pt and be able to see them excellently in most fonts; and very comfortably around 11-12 pt period. The problem is, that results in microscopic text compared to the rest of my windows desktop – like looking at 5pt text instead of 12pt text. So I have Chrome set to 24pt now, and am reading the text in LJ’s text area – at what appears to be “9pt” text when judged against how fonts render in Chromes selection dialog.

I was playing SWAT 4 today, and found it easier to read the texts, usually I have to be careful of my cam placement in order to read team messages; grey on grey/white/black mixtures suck. The big shocker though, was it felt like I could see the threads on the enemies hoods :-/. With RvS, I’ve had a problem reading chats since I started with this 19 inch monitor; the texts far away. Now, maybe I can start reading it again like I used to on the old 15″, instead of having to stop and open the console xD.

My word, if this is what normal vision is like—what have I been seeing all these years!? Oh, in case I forgot to mention it, they are really thick-ass lenses lol.

This is rich

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As a side note, you may be wondering if it is a security risk that applications can add and remove applications from the exceptions list any user intervention, or perhaps you think that the bigger risk is that applications can disable the firewall altogether. To perform these feats, the application must have administrator privledges. If you have malicious code running in administrator mode on your system, the game is already over and the hacker has already won. The hacker’s ability to disable the firewall would merit little more than a footnote.

What it fails to mention is many millions of Windows XP installations are run with administrator privileges on the users regular account, I practically ROFL’d lol.

Having a single Wintel around pisses me off for the X”th time

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No matter what I do, it seems to be impossible to *live* with Windows as a system for getting things done.

This in particular pisses me off at the moment

>cl hi.c            --- simple hello world test
Microsoft (R) 32-bit C/C++ Optimizing Compiler Version 15.00.30729.01 for 80x86
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

hi.c
Microsoft (R) Incremental Linker Version 9.00.30729.01
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

P:TexLiveperltllib,P:TexLiveperltlsitelib,P:/Devel/Languages/Perl/site/lib,P:/Devel/Languages/Perl/lib,.
LINK : fatal error LNK1104: cannot open file 'P:TexLiveperltllib,P:TexLiveperltlsitelib,P:/Devel/Languages/Perl/site/lib,P:/Devel/Languages/Perl/lib,.'

No matter what abuse I subject the environment settings to, it is impossible to compile anything from the fucking command line. The directories specified appear to be a fusion of TexLive added PERL5LIB values and the “usual” for the installed Perl. Building things using the IDE and a conventional project, does not have such errors; likely because it ‘replaces’ nmake so to speak. Needless to say, this machine must have both Perl and TexLive installed, or I will raise more mayhem then playing DooM II:Hell Revealed on Nightmare!

This kind of error causes a bit of a problem when trying to build software that only supplies Makefiles for MSVC+nmake, rather then project files for the IDE.

I’ve used Microsofts operating systems since early MS-DOS and have cursed it every fucking year. I’ve used FreeBSD since 2006 and smile joyfully every year!

For the love of FORTRAN, why is it I can never find commercial software that I do not want to hex edit into the 8th level of DooM?

footnote: the number in the subject was meant to be python26s best estimate of 1024 ** 56725691612; so cool watching this been-nothing-but-trouble-since-year-one PC burn up resources calculating this randomly chosen number!!! Even more joy, was seeing the thing pop a MemoryError before it could conclude the operation, somehow I think this fits well; the amount of times this computer has pissed me off may as well approach ∞ for all intents and purposes.

Blackout crept in from a distance?

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Power just came on, after ~35 minutes of total black out. I put my shorts and sandles on, and walked arcoss the complex to see how localized it was – everything was out. The thunder has been pretty light and far off, but then again we tend to lose power during thunder storms lol.

The sad thing is, I walked into my room, bent over, and my hand nearly landed in the shoe box haha! Before that, I walked into the room and got the light I keep near my bed, I can move around easy in the dark…. I know where everything is that counts, and my night vision is excellent. I feel like a freaking cat lol. When ma put on a pair of dim candles, I could see in the living room as if the lights were on, and those candles emite about as much light as a pen light :-/.

Before the mass power outage, I was debating to code a bit first or join JB for a couple rounds; now I think I will join the server for a few games and code afterwards lol.

Is it just me or…

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/* from Tutorial 2, Direct3D 9; DirectX SDK */
if( FAILED( g_pd3dDevice->CreateVertexBuffer( 3*sizeof(CUSTOMVERTEX),
         0 /*Usage*/, D3DFVF_CUSTOMVERTEX, D3DPOOL_DEFAULT, &g_pVB, NULL ) ) )
    return E_FAIL;

The tutorial describes the arguments, stating that ‘The final parameter is the address of the vertex buffer to create.’ Ok, I think it is obvious that it means the address of the vertex buffer being passed; further more the API documentation says the final argument is “Reserved. Set this parameter to NULL. This parameter can be used in Direct3D 9 for Windows Vista to share resources”.

I can’t help but chuckle a little bit at the tutorial, maybe it is just me and my brains crazy English parser lol.

Wow it’s been a wildly long day!

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Fell asleep on the couch last night, so I couldn’t get to sleep early (nodded off after 0300Q), woke up around 0600Q and decided that was just TOOOOO early even for me! The doctors appointment was for 0945 and we had to be in the office NLT 0915, so I’ve been awake since around 0830.

The doctor was very kind and seems to know what he’s doing quite well; personally I like people with experience ;). He examined the toe during the usual questioning. He removed the lump of dead tissue with an angled scissors, something I had to previously convince my mother that it wouldn’t be a good idea to do at home with a table scissors. For better or worse it actually was more painful for him to get the thing in position, then cutting it away; and at least I can say, I have nice red blood lol. The Dr. then decided to put a small piece of cardboard underneath the (clipped) nail to keep it away from the injured side, leading to it falling out when he tried wrapping it in medical tape 8+). He proscribed some antibiotics, *not* slamming the damn thing anymore (haha!), plus the usual cleaning and bandaging. I’ve also instructions to pry up the nail several times a day to keep it from damaging anything, really not sure what is worse: that I have to do such a thing or that doing it doesn’t bother me in the least. The nurse was also kind enough to “pad it well” just in case, when she dressed the wound. There was errands to run afterwards and the pharmacy tor drop by, so needless to say it wouldn’t have helped to crack it apart *again*.

Got it filled and picked up some stuff while waiting on the pharmacist; dressings, tape, etc. Since by then the bill was starting to add up, I told ma if she would cover the proscription, I would pick up the tab on the other supplies; I also snatched a small pound cake on sale for like $2 before we left the store. Hey, if I’m spending money, may as well buy something to gnosh on too!

I’ve spent the rest of the day largely trying to NOT slam this freaking toe into anything else, and playing a lot of SWAT 4. It’s nice to see Rct Cara progressing well; think I owe Duke even more gratitude, for what he accomplished with [SAS] “SWAT day 2009”. I’ve been playing a lot of SWAT 4 lately, between my own operations and watching over the Trps/Rcts. At night sometimes I pop in and join the night crew (mostly fellow Americans and Canadians) for some games on our Raven Shield servers. But really, RvS has been pissing me off a lot with the bugs lately. SWAT 4 is as buggy as RvS, yeah… but at least most of the bugs are not combat critical in SWAT 4 o/.

During my break times and tonight also, I’ve been studying more bits of the DirectX Software Development Kit (SDK). So far DirectX itself seems to be an alright way of getting things done. I can’t stand the ridiculous influnces of Hungarian notation that permeates so many aspects of Windows programming interfaces… the concept is sound but the implemetations I commonly see in code, is just a load of bollocks. Naming identifier well and placing good information in them is a tricky thing at times (gets better with experience) but encoding type data in it, oy. The most useful of which I can think of is adding a ‘p’ in front for each level of *pointing used in a C app (or comparable). In one of the DX samples when I saw a variable named something like pbNoFurtherProcessing or something similiar, I nearly fainted from the stupidity of it all. The pb tells you it’s a pointer to a boolean (bool * in C++), by the time you see it’s being used with the arrow operator (->) and bears an obviously boolean name, that kind of makes it useless information. Not to mention anyone with a *decent* code editor for the last 20+ years can just make a quick jump and look up the variables type if they totally forget it – which shouldn’t happen often.

I’ve also been abusing Visual C++ Express 2008 into cooperating. Right now I have it setup, basically to just be a project and build manager – all the actual code editing is being done in Vi IMproved. MSVC/VS/etc are very very good Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) and I would recommend them to anyone who wants an IDE for serious Windows development (along with a cat scan). However I am used to having UNIX as my IDE, which means powerful tools ;). With more time off work I could probably get vim semi-integrated with the IDE via the +clientserver feature in vim and maybe a plugin of some sort. Non essential though, since right now all the IDE is helping me with is not having to hand-write a makefile for nmake, which would probably have been less trouble then using the IDEs concept of solutions and projects lol.

Life’s been good to day.

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I’m not in a terribly good mood tonight, had to put up with H.R.P., plus I need to shower & shave for tomorrow, and I need to work out a build system – nmake style because I will fling my computer out a window if I’ve got to use Visual C++ lol. And I’ve got to get it all done early so I can go to sleep and be ready to be up at the crack of dawn for whatever H.R.P. wants to nit pick about before the doctors appointment.

She spent at least 15-20 minutes rambling in her usual way, I can only best describe her behavior as being a hurtful old rhymes with witch. So, I’m sitting there listening, face expressionless (for safety), and trying to eat during the first 5 minutes of the tirade. I honestly don’t give a damn what her choices of words are, words alone don’t bother me, so much as why someone would choose to use them. You could say, words can never hurt me but some people can :-/. Also if she wants to use an indirect quote of my words, as a way of lashin’ out, at least she could get something right. As opposed to say, missquoting, missing the point, spirit, intent, etcetera. I’m used to dealing with the kind of people, who you could say, “The pen is red and the ink is blue”, and they could here pen, find something to harp on at all exclusion of rationality, and might later try to convince you the pen is blue and the ink is red, lol.

It seems whenever my proximity to anyone in my close-family increases, the more utterly miserable I become. They just suck the life out of me :'(. There’s not really much I can do about it, it hurts more to hurt-back then it does to just drown silently, since the alternative is going verbal or physical to a much greater magnitude and nether are courses I am willing to chart. I’ve seen it to often, I’ve heard it to often, I’ve been ripped apart to often, to choose cruelty above all else; strangely it makes me feel even more the freak of the family. I am so like them in capability but not action, it is like carrying an executioners blade but refusing to draw it. Recent conflicts with her royal pain, also makes me think about /why/ I call her H.R.P. in digital commu. and remember something she once said about her own mother. Either way I suppose, something will work itself out in time, the question is just what will be left by then.

It seems that the one thing I desire most in this world is also always the furthest away.

This song is about where I wanna be

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I got my toes in the water, ass in the sand
Not a worry in the world, a cold beer in my hand
Life is good today. Life is good today.
Well, the plane touched down just about 3 o’clock
And the city’s still on my mind
Bikinis and palm trees danced in my head
I was still in the baggage line
Concrete and cars are there own prison bars like this life I’m living in
But the plane brought me farther.
I’m surrounded by water
And I’m not going back again

I got my toes in the water, ass in the sand
Not a worry in the world, a cold beer in my hand
Life is good today. Life is good today.

Adios and vaya con dios
Yeah I’m leaving GA
And if it weren’t for tequila and pretty senoritas
I’d have no reason to stay
Adios and vaya con dios
Yeah I’m leaving GA
Gonna lay in the hot sun and roll a big fat one
And grab my guitar and play

Four days flew by like a drunk Friday night as the summer drew to an
end
They can’t believe that I just couldn’t leave
And I bid adieu to my friends
Because my bartender she’s from the islands
Her body’s been kissed by the sun
And coconut replaces the smell of the bar and I don’t know if its her or
the rum

I got my toes in the water, ass in the sand
Not a worry in the world, a cold beer in my hand
Life is good today. Life is good today.

Adios and vaya con dios
A long way from GA
Yes, and all the muchachas they call me “big poppa” when I throw
pesos their way
Adios and vaya con dios
A long way from GA
Someone do me a favor and pour me some Jaeger
And I’ll grab my guitar and play

Adios and vaya con dios
Going home now to stay
The senoritas don’t care-o when there’s no dinero
I got no money to stay
Adios and vaya con dios
Going home now to stay

Just gonna prop up by the lake
Put my ass in a lawn chair
Toes in the clay
Not a worry in the world a PBR on the way
Life is good today. Life is good today.

— “Toes”, Zac Brown Band

Yet another reason for this geek to avoid development for Windows

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Since it’s the closest point of interest in the DirectX SDKs samples, I set out to build the most basic one. In order to build the EmptyProject sample in Visual C++ 2008 Express Edition, I’ve had to open the VS Project file for it in the IDE, tell it where to find the DirectX include and library directories, using a modeless dialog that can’t even be resized! Then I have had to tell it where to find headers from another Sample entry it lists in a child node, which can’t find the DirectX include directory specified in the top level project… Since I can’t just right click the child node and modify it the same way as the parent node, I saved the solution and dug up the childs .vsproj.

Looking at the same stupid dialog, I notice that while the last time around I had to go to “Resources -> General” to specify an additional include directory for the pre-processor (which for some brain damaged reason wasn’t under “C/C++ -> Preprocessor”), there was no Resources entry in the tree.

At this point, I just said, “FUCK YOU!”, went back to the original project file. Went to “C/C++ -> Command Line” entry in the configuration, and manually added the /I”path” switch to find the included directory. Then I did like wise under the “Linker -> Command Line” section to manually add the /LIBPATH:”path” switch with the path to the required .lib files. Saved the solution and built the project. Guess what? Doing it that way: EVERYTHING WORKED!!! Ok, it is widely known to be an ultra-standard need, that you’ve got to tell your build system where to find things, yeah that’s right—but you would think samples included with an SDK would pull in parts of the SDK.

Maybe I am just an old man at heart but somehow, I find it interesting that in 2009, it is still faster to just use a Command Line style interfaces then many Graphical User interfaces o/. Come on, it’s only been about 35~40 years since the GUI was invented, and GUIs really took off during the late 1980s. It still makes me crawl… that they still suck just as bad as they did in 1990. Even worse, aside from the mouse on everyones desktop now’re days, beyond the obvious increases in eye candy in the 2000s, I don’t see much usability changes in GUI software, that were not in Mac OS and Windows back in the 1980s. System 1 and Windows 1.0 were especially ugly compared to Windows XP and OS X, and things like Vista and KDE4.3 are very sexy, but heck, what’s really changed since the old days?

I could almost swear, there has not been one serious improvement under Windows, since adding overlapping windows in ’87ish