WarKitty's Feline Frenzy Random Banter #216

[2D8HP]

Tomorrow is my birthday. Tomorrow, I will be legally allowed to drink alcohol. As far as you know....

I think I actually consumed more alcohol in the years before it was legal, then in the 25 years after I turned 21.

I did see some friends of mine play at a "21 and over" venue, and they dedicated this song to me that night:

[Qwertystop]

So I've decided to start learning PHP. First project is to create a database that sorts through pathfinder weapon enchantments. Wish me luck!

... PHP doesn't make databases?

(Also, perhaps try something else for the web part of it. Quick doesn't have to mean dirty.)

[WarKitty]

... PHP doesn't make databases?

(Also, perhaps try something else for the web part of it. Quick doesn't have to mean dirty.)

Sorry, PHP interface. MySQL for the database. The professional web guys I was talking to say PHP is almost all they use, so that's what I'm going with.

Lucky for me I have an at-home computer expert to talk me through computer stuff.

Didn't say I knew what I was doing. Gotta start somewhere!

[LaZodiac]

Sorry, PHP interface. MySQL for the database. The professional web guys I was talking to say PHP is almost all they use, so that's what I'm going with.

Lucky for me I have an at-home computer expert to talk me through computer stuff.

Didn't say I knew what I was doing. Gotta start somewhere!

Good luck Warkitty! Meanwhile...

I bought some burgers Wednesday called "great Canadian burgers" made from real canadian beef and stuff. Their good and healthy and fairly cheap. I looked at the bag, and tehbag shows a meat patty shaped like a maple leaf. I figure that's neat, that's silly. I hold the bag of burger patties and it's like, hmm, it feels a little weird but that's because iet's good beef and maybe defrosted a tiny bit in the fridge at work. I open them up today.

The burgers are actually maple leaf shaped.

[enderlord99]

...You're surprised because the contents of the bag were the same as what was depicted on the bag?

[Teddy]

While true, I also really enjoy taking a more meta perspective on things, so that's almost a net gain.

I can get behind that.

I mean, if you already know that e^(j*pi) + 1 == 0 then it's not that unexpected.
(though connecting complex exponentials to trigonometry is not immediately obvious, no)

Nothing in mathematics is unexpected if you know every step leading up to it, otherwise it wouldn't be mathematics.

So I've decided to start learning PHP. First project is to create a database that sorts through pathfinder weapon enchantments. Wish me luck!

Luck! I've never done PHP myself, so I can't speak from personal experience, but from what I've heard, it does sound reasonably easy to get into, if hard to advance in...

Alrighty. Just figured I'd check, since I've encountered different people who like different parts of their username when shortened. Better to ask for permission than forgiveness, after all.

On the other hand, as Grace Hopper taught us, it's much easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to get permission. That said, I get behind your sentiment, but since you've picked the harder path, get ready to say this explanation a lot.

(Also, perhaps try something else for the web part of it. Quick doesn't have to mean dirty.)

Hovering over your link, I went "Hey, I know this URL!". As it happens to be, I'm currently reading Eevee's original rant about PHP whenever I've got a lull in my schedule, and was just about to dropped a reference to it when I discovered someone had already posted a link to some opinions on PHP. Coincidences ahoy!

ION:
I had an interesting week at work. Generally speaking, even when I completely fail to do what I set out to do, I can still say I left the system in a better shape by the end of the week than when I started. This week, however, has been nothing but a downward slope. Not my fault in any instance (as far as I know), but we were only four people mucking about on the site, and things were really failing one at a time:

1. Monday: We start the day with two hardware issues, one known and one new. The known issue threatens to topple the whole upcoming week's work, as none of our planned workarounds work.
2. Tuesday: I come up with a solution to the really threatening issue. It does involve willfully corrupting our harddrives, but it [I]works[/]. We discover a software security issue.
3. Wednesday: Our customer representative arrives, and we start the delivery process. Actually, the whole day is a day of waiting, we don't really do anything during it.
4. Thursday: Starting up the system for the first time with our customer on site, and we immediately get two more hardware errors. And I can't entirely rule out that they're not software errors in disguise. Earlier software security issue threatens to topple the whole week's work, but we dodge that one. Customer accidentally corrupt several of their harddrives. We manage to recover one and restore one from a backup. Two are incommunicable.
5. Friday: Colleague manages to accidentally corrupt one of our own harddrives when attempting to resync a failed RAID1 configuration. Potential data loss spanning several weeks, unless the used-to-be-good drive is still bootable. Oh, and major hardware malfunction means the entire system is rendered non-functional. There's no cause nor error status to indicate why this critical subsystem would fail, it just has. After a fruitless debugging session, we give up and go home, bringing one hardware piece with us to at least fix the issue we knew of on beforehand.

I'm really happy I'm a software guy and probably won't be sent down there to help fix the critical hardware failure. Probably.

[WarKitty]

...You're surprised because the contents of the bag were the same as what was depicted on the bag?

To be fair, that's not uncommon in advertising. Most burgers come in either round or square, and advertisers will definitely depict them in shapes when they're just the standard round burger.

[DataNinja]

The burgers are actually maple leaf shaped.

Huh. I can honestly say, I have never heard of such a thing before. That's, uh, interesting.

On the other hand, as Grace Hopper taught us, it's much easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to get permission. That said, I get behind your sentiment, but since you've picked the harder path, get ready to say this explanation a lot.

Believe me, I already have to say "I'd rather ask and make sure, than do it and be wrong" far too much. And that's just at work. So, yeah, I know that I'll have to keep saying it. I wouldn't have to do it if my copy of Life came with the Ctrl-Z command. Bah.

ION:
*snipping downhill week*

Geez...

At least, uh, it can only get better from here?

[Teddy]

Believe me, I already have to say "I'd rather ask and make sure, than do it and be wrong" far too much. And that's just at work. So, yeah, I know that I'll have to keep saying it. I wouldn't have to do it if my copy of Life came with the Ctrl-Z command. Bah.

Stepping away from my personal need to mention one of the coolest programmers in history by name, do you really have to say it? I mean, do you think people will think worse of you if you don't say "just making sure" at each applicable moment?

Geez...

At least, uh, it can only get better from here?

Well, I don't fret overly much about it, since it's neither my fault nor my responsibility to fix it. I was more miffed that I didn't get to travel back home on a comfortable train with a good view and an electric outlet for my laptop, but had to travel in the backseat of a car with a way too low ceiling to accommodate tall people such as me.

That said, it's a bit frustrating to spend a full week in a poorly lit, windowless Faraday cage together with a loud server rack and numerous problems which I can't do very much about because, they're 1. outside of my scope, 2. I'm not allowed to bring anything with a network on it near the room and 3. the entire system is really locked down, so all suggested solutions on StackExchange and the like don't work. Also, we were two programmers on site, but there was rarely enough work to occupy us both at the same time, so I was mostly left without any task. and all the aforementioned conditions made it really hard to focus and figure out something new or old to lay my hands on while idle. And it wasn't made easier when our customer representative came along and appropriated our dedicated programming laptop for viewing a document we hadn't put anywhere else, so I couldn't even spend time aimlessly looking through our sourcecode for the greater goal of better understanding...

[DataNinja]

Stepping away from my personal need to mention one of the coolest programmers in history by name, do you really have to say it? I mean, do you think people will think worse of you if you don't say "just making sure" at each applicable moment?

Just at my work, really. Most of the people who work there don't seem to understand any method besides 'ask for forgiveness later, or, preferably, have it just be someone else's problem'.

Well, I don't fret overly much about it, since it's neither my fault nor my responsibility to fix it. I was more miffed that I didn't get to travel back home on a comfortable train with a good view and an electric outlet for my laptop, but had to travel in the backseat of a car with a way too low ceiling to accommodate tall people such as me.

Well, at last the first two points are good. But, yeah, there is definitely a point where you can be too tall for most common things to be comfortable...

That said, it's a bit frustrating to spend a full week in a poorly lit, windowless Faraday cage together with a loud server rack and numerous problems which I can't do very much about because, they're 1. outside of my scope, 2. I'm not allowed to bring anything with a network on it near the room and 3. the entire system is really locked down, so all suggested solutions on StackExchange and the like don't work. Also, we were two programmers on site, but there was rarely enough work to occupy us both at the same time, so I was mostly left without any task. and all the aforementioned conditions made it really hard to focus and figure out something new or old to lay my hands on while idle. And it wasn't made easier when our customer representative came along and appropriated our dedicated programming laptop for viewing a document we hadn't put anywhere else, so I couldn't even spend time aimlessly looking through our sourcecode for the greater goal of better understanding...

Ouch. That all seems like it just stared working its way towards a perfect storm of events. I... can't really say I know what it's like, having not been in similar circumstances, but it just sounds awful.

[LaZodiac]

...You're surprised because the contents of the bag were the same as what was depicted on the bag?

I thought it was just symbolic. Bags of ketchup potatoe chips have glass bottles and ketchup and horrific smiling faces on them, but inside are just thinly sliced, roasted potatoes covered in a flavoring powder.

[enderlord99]

I thought it was just symbolic. Bags of ketchup potatoe chips have glass bottles and ketchup and horrific smiling faces on them, but inside are just thinly sliced, roasted potatoes covered in a flavoring powder.

Sure, but it wasn't just a picture of a maple leaf, it was a picture of a hamburger patty. And it was a bag of hamburger patties.

[LaZodiac]

Sure, but it wasn't just a picture of a maple leaf, it was a picture of a hamburger patty. And it was a bag of hamburger patties.

I'm eating some Ben and Jerry's Jay Leno Ice Cream. The image shows Jay Leno holding a cone of this ice cream. I have opened the container and inside is not a small Jay Leno to serve me an ice cream snack. I have no reason to assume the hamburger patty shaped like a maple leaf on the package indicates the patties are actually like that.

EDIT: **** I MEANT JIMMY FALLON.

[Amidus Drexel]

I keep thinking I'm typing in vim and try to "u" to undo and ":wq" to save and quit
at least I haven't tried to delete things by typing "dd" yet, but we're getting close
help
I'm also really missing my "home" and "end" keys (you've gotta space-cadet them on this laptop, although it's not as bad as it could be)

So I've decided to start learning PHP. First project is to create a database that sorts through pathfinder weapon enchantments. Wish me luck!

Ooh, fun - good luck! I don't know anything about PHP, but if you have C or assembly questions at some point down the line I might be able to answer them.

Alrighty. Just figured I'd check, since I've encountered different people who like different parts of their username when shortened. Better to ask for permission than forgiveness, after all.

Well, I'll do my best to try and accommodate, but no guarantees that my replies (especially ones late at night, like right now) will be cohesive or coherent. My train of thought sometimes jumps tracks a bit.

Eh, it's the sort of thing that's liable to be ignored or quickly corrected, so I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Sure. Doing that sort of thing over a slow-moving forum isn't really the best way to go about it anyway unless there's some engagement in the topic on all sides.

Nothing in mathematics is unexpected if you know every step leading up to it, otherwise it wouldn't be mathematics.

Heheheh

--
ION: Guess who's seeing Iron Maiden and Ghost tomorrow?

[DataNinja]

I keep thinking I'm typing in vim and try to "u" to undo and ":wq" to save and quit
at least I haven't tried to delete things by typing "dd" yet, but we're getting close
help
I'm also really missing my "home" and "end" keys (you've gotta space-cadet them on this laptop, although it's not as bad as it could be)

Uh, oh dear. Can you set up shortcuts so that those do the things you're trying to do? (There is no way that could possibly go wrong, even if it were possible. Certainly not more trouble than it's worth.)

so I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Me? Worry too much? Hahahahahahaaaaaa...
...it's funny because it's sad. And true.

Sure. Doing that sort of thing over a slow-moving forum isn't really the best way to go about it anyway unless there's some engagement in the topic on all sides.

I have a bad habit of forgetting to reply to things if I don't do it when I first read them.

ION: Guess who's seeing Iron Maiden and Ghost tomorrow?

Can we get a hint? The possible pool of answers is too big right now.

[Amidus Drexel]

Uh, oh dear. Can you set up shortcuts so that those do the things you're trying to do? (There is no way that could possibly go wrong, even if it were possible. Certainly not more trouble than it's worth.)

Me? Worry too much? Hahahahahahaaaaaa...
...it's funny because it's sad. And true.

Can we get a hint? The possible pool of answers is too big right now.

I could write an autohotkey script, though it'd be a little annoying figuring out how to turn it on and off. Especially since I do occasionally need to type a ':' character for legitimate purposes.

The real trick, I've found, is to just not. So much easier.

I mean, there's gonna be a couple thousand right answers, soooo~

[DataNinja]

I could write an autohotkey script, though it'd be a little annoying figuring out how to turn it on and off. Especially since I do occasionally need to type a ':' character for legitimate purposes.

Use the tilde key? Who ever needs to use that for a legitimate purpose?

The real trick, I've found, is to just not. So much easier.

I've tried doing that. It didn't work.

I mean, there's gonna be a couple thousand right answers, soooo~

Yeah, but that means nothing compared to the amount of wrong answers.

[Teddy]

Just at my work, really. Most of the people who work there don't seem to understand any method besides 'ask for forgiveness later, or, preferably, have it just be someone else's problem'.

Ah, okay, then I understand the habit...

Well, at last the first two points are good. But, yeah, there is definitely a point where you can be too tall for most common things to be comfortable...

Yeah. That said, while I'm tall even for a Swede, Sweden in general is built for taller people, so I usually don't have to think about my own length in my everyday life. Although I do have to duck through a door and under a pipe when getting my bicycle from the bicycle garage, otherwise the additional height of the bicycle helmet sees to that my head will get to experience a sudden inversion of its movement vector. Thankfully, since I'm wearing a helmet, it doesn't hurt.

Ouch. That all seems like it just stared working its way towards a perfect storm of events. I... can't really say I know what it's like, having not been in similar circumstances, but it just sounds awful.

Yeah, I work under some rather unique conditions. Mostly, though, I'm just prevented from copy-pasting code from the Internet, but that isn't terribly much of a problem for me anyway since I don't like solutions I haven't typed up myself. It's only when I'm working off-site like that that it's turned up to eleven.

I keep thinking I'm typing in vim and try to "u" to undo and ":wq" to save and quit
at least I haven't tried to delete things by typing "dd" yet, but we're getting close
help
I'm also really missing my "home" and "end" keys (you've gotta space-cadet them on this laptop, although it's not as bad as it could be)

Hehehe. That's the reason I decided to never get into Emacs, even though I didn't really have any problems learning it. Emacs and Vim are kind of like the devil of software tools. They are willing to offer you immense power, but only if you give them your soul in return.

Ooh, fun - good luck! I don't know anything about PHP, but if you have C or assembly questions at some point down the line I might be able to answer them.

Likewise, if you happen to dabble in Java, I can probably answer any question you come up with. Plus, I'm pretty much omnilingual if given a bit of time and access to Google, so I can probably answer any question regardless of language if no one else beats me to it.

I have a bad habit of forgetting to reply to things if I don't do it when I first read them.

I use the Multiquote function for that. If I want to respond to something, but don't feel like answering right away, I will just check the Multiquote button and deal with it later. Of course, sometimes so much time goes by that answering it doesn't feel relevant any longer, but that doesn't happen all too often.

[DataNinja]

Yeah. That said, while I'm tall even for a Swede, Sweden in general is built for taller people, so I usually don't have to think about my own length in my everyday life. Although I do have to duck through a door and under a pipe when getting my bicycle from the bicycle garage, otherwise the additional height of the bicycle helmet sees to that my head will get to experience a sudden inversion of its movement vector. Thankfully, since I'm wearing a helmet, it doesn't hurt.

My general rule of thumb for determining 'too tall' for a certain area is "do you have to duck when entering most doorways?" So, if you only have to worry about it when you're getting your bike, I think you're doing alright.

I always felt bad for my one teacher, who was almost 7 feet tall. My high school was not built with him in mind...

[Bartmanhomer]

I have to pick up my mail at the post office today and for now on because somebody have been stealing other people mail.

[Kalmageddon]

And that's terrible.

[LaZodiac]

That's super awful. I have...let's say "experience" with people stealing my mail. It's terrible.

Not Terrible: Wonder Woman movie. Quite good in fact.

[Kalmageddon]

I don't know, maybe it's different in your country but where I live, only bills and taxes come through the mail, plus the occasional leaflet. If somebody wants to steal that, be my guest. Maybe even pay them, while you are at it?
Meanwhile I know when they are due and I can just inquire through phone call or e mail as to why I haven't received them and quickly fix any inconvenience.
Anything relevant or containing sensitive data is handled via e-mail, is what I'm saying.

[factotum]

In the UK most houses have the letterbox built into the front door, so in order to steal your mail the miscreant would have to break into your house--guessing that's different in Batmanhomer's neck of the woods?

[WarKitty]

What's the stupidest things that people do in your job?

One of my favorites is people who reply to "where are you" with "at the airport." (This invariably happens at big airports like O'Hare or Laguardia.) Now, I work at a car service. What I'm trying to do is connect you to your car. I can see your reservation. I know you are at the airport. While your answer is technically true, it is...very not useful.

[LaZodiac]

What's the stupidest things that people do in your job?

One of my favorites is people who reply to "where are you" with "at the airport." (This invariably happens at big airports like O'Hare or Laguardia.) Now, I work at a car service. What I'm trying to do is connect you to your car. I can see your reservation. I know you are at the airport. While your answer is technically true, it is...very not useful.

*The entire heating area is empty and lights turned off*

"Can I order -any item it doesn't matter- please?"

"No we're done food for today.

Other personal favorites include people missing the things literally right in front of them. "Where are the napkins?" they ask as I tilt my head so I can see them past the napkin dispenser.

[FinnLassie]

Yesterday in a (big) nutshell:

• Walking barefeet is faster than with new flats
• ... especially when feet are already bleeding
• Six graduation parties in five hours
• No matter how much you nag about leaving alongside with everyone else, no one moves
• Proud of all of my scout babies
• A 24-year-old is fully capable of carrying out the driest granny speech
• ... six times without changing a word
• Running through a suburb with only your socks is a full panic experience
• ... especially when you realise you would have missed the last bus had you stopped for even a second
• Racists
• Shouting at racists
• Racists say "she probably wants to get raped"
• Panic attack
• Nice police lady helps
• Almost miss my second bus
• Arrive at mum's without a sound
• Fall asleep with make up on

[WarKitty]

Yesterday in a (big) nutshell:

• Walking barefeet is faster than with new flats
• ... especially when feet are already bleeding
• Six graduation parties in five hours
• No matter how much you nag about leaving alongside with everyone else, no one moves
• Proud of all of my scout babies
• A 24-year-old is fully capable of carrying out the driest granny speech
• ... six times without changing a word
• Running through a suburb with only your socks is a full panic experience
• ... especially when you realise you would have missed the last bus had you stopped for even a second
• Racists
• Shouting at racists
• Racists say "she probably wants to get raped"
• Panic attack
• Nice police lady helps
• Almost miss my second bus
• Arrive at mum's without a sound
• Fall asleep with make up on

What in the name of Banjo happened to you?

Here, come here, you need some nice blankets and a cup of soup while watching a movie.

(Sadly, I probably can't provide those from across the ocean.)

[Kalmageddon]

What's the stupidest things that people do in your job?

One of my favorites is people who reply to "where are you" with "at the airport." (This invariably happens at big airports like O'Hare or Laguardia.) Now, I work at a car service. What I'm trying to do is connect you to your car. I can see your reservation. I know you are at the airport. While your answer is technically true, it is...very not useful.

Working security means we have to constantly register visitors and have them sign various papers.
These papers and modules are all written in Italian and English and every blank section that the visitor has to fill in has what goes where written beside it. So for example
Name ________
Department ______
Pretty straightforward, right? Well, apparently not. People are constantly asking where they should write what or just writing things in random spots while I try my best to stay polite and patient and explain that they are doing it wrong.
Best part is, many of these people come to my workplace weekly or even more frequently and each visit we present them with the same paperwork to fill in.
And they still get it wrong.

Special mention goes to the young, possibility illiterate, African lady who just copies from the already compiled modules she sees beside the one she's filling in. Which, yes, includes copying the name and signature of other visitors to the best of her abilities. Explaining did nothing, so when she's visiting we have to hide everything so at least she'll just ask instead of copying.

[Bartmanhomer]

That's super awful. I have...let's say "experience" with people stealing my mail. It's terrible.

Not Terrible: Wonder Woman movie. Quite good in fact.

I know right. Someone found a way to break in the mail panel and just steal someone one mail. I mean seriously, why would anybody steal someone mail?