3MF

Synchronizing desktop RSS aggregators

There's some great news in the RSS world today. Bloglines has apparently set up a web service that will help to synchronize desktop aggregators. This Bloglines Web Service will work with both FeedDemon, for my PC at work, and NetNewsWire, which i use on my Mac at home. This way, when i read some news item at work, it will show up as "read" at home and on the Bloglines site. I hadn't used Bloglines before because i liked how the true client side apps performed; but, as soon as i heard the news, i registered for an account. This will keep me from having to sort through information twice. Actually, it was this double reading that kept the number of feeds i subscribe to on my home computer down because i spent more time in front of my machine at work where i would read it first. Now i can have the same information no matter where i am.

Decrypt this

At work, i had to figure out how to encrypt and decrypt values in VB.NET, ASP, PHP, and Perl. It took a lot of trial and error to figure out how to get them to work with each other. NewGuy and I worked on it on and off the whole week. Before i started, i knew very little about encryption. Now, i still know very little, but it's enough to at least have an understanding of how to get what i want. I thought i'd share what i've learned my my code lab in an article called "Encryption in Various Languages."

Shakespeare knees

"Shakespeare knees" is an ailment, in the lines of swimmer's ear or tennis elbow, from which i am now suffering. It seems each time i'm in a show penned by the Bard, it end's up being really physical. In this show, i'm blocked to scuttle across the floor on my knees in order to woo Luciana. It may look good to the audience but it hurts like hell. Tonight when i got back up, blood could been seen on my khakis. The same thing happened during Complete Works where i went though three pair of pants during rehearsals because the fabric couldn't take the abuse. I must get my own pair of kneepads.

If i have not mentioned it here before, Comedy of Errors opens October 7 and we run Thursday-Saturday, closing October 16. We're performing in the Spectrum Theatre Black Box (Second Floor, Room 201). The show is really starting to take shape. Now if i could just remember all those lines...

Occupied

It has been decided (at lunch today) that the correct response to a knock at the bathroom door whilst you are inside, taking care of business, shall be "just a minute."

We considered "yeah!?!" and "yeesss?" but those seemed to initiate dialog and talking with your pants around your ankles just feel wrong. "Just a minute" is just vague enough to not make the situation too uncomfortable. Anything more specific, such as "this could be a while" or "just a few more wipes," was a bit creepy. Because the quick double-knock is usually immediately followed by an immediate knob jiggle, I thought you could get away with no acknowledgment. Assuming the door was locked, the person trying to enter should be able to figure it out, but others thought that was rude. On that topic, I think you should allow at least four seconds after a knock for a response; if you're going to knock, you should at least see what happens.

Prime time fun

A while ago, i read a story about a billboard that Google put up as a way to recruit talent. The story seemed to resurface again this week. The sign reads: "{the 10-digit prime number found in consecutive digits of e}.com ." While the answer has been posted around the web, NewGuy and I wanted to find it on our own. The web makes it easy to find first five million digits of e so you know where to start. We quickly threw together an algorithm at the end of the work day. We let it run over night and same back the next day to find that it found the correct answer, but it took 13 hours. We took another look at the algorithm, found a few places for improvements and got the time down to 6 hours. We took one last stab at rewriting the code, this time eliminating some unnecessary assumptions, and managed to get the the code to run in under one minute.

It's almost embarrassing that our first go took such a horribly inefficient route. It's easy to overthink some problems and sometimes you just need to take a step back and start over.

I still wasn't completely satisfied with our final algorithm. It got me interested in finding an even more efficient routine. This lead me to Fermat's little theorem. In order to understand how the theorem worked, i had to improve my understanding of the intricacies of the mod operator. The last trick is to figure out how to raise 17 to a power in the billionths without causing a data-type overflow. Most of the sample code i've seen makes use of bit manipulation to pull it off and that's way beyond my comprehension at this point. Computer science gets really ugly at a very low level and i'm not sure if i'm excited or frightened by it.

Goofy Amazon discount

I stopped by Amazon today and i saw this interesting logo in the header:

Clicking on it tells me that because i've recently used Amazon's search engine, A9, i was eligible for a special discount. They would take 1.57% off my order total automatically at check out. That's right, that's one half the value of pi. This has to be the first discount i've seen based upon an irrational mathematical constant. Plus i've only tried A9 once because i happened to read an article that it had gone out of beta and changed colors. I guess the only catch is you have to be signed in at A9 with your Amazon account.

I'm sure the "unadvertised," odd amount is part of some marketing strategy to get people talking about it and i fell for their plan hook line and sinker. I'm still using google as my primary search engine but every now and then i do venture else where. I guess it doesn't hurt having another backup.

In a world...

I found these trailers for everyday life to be amusing, especially if you read them to yourself in this guy's voice (watch the clip).

The second link points to a trailer for a movie called Comedian starring Jerry Seinfeld. The movie was actually released in 2002 but i've never heard of it before. It turns out the guy in front of the mic is Hal Douglas, probably best known currently as the voice of the WB network. I'd love to have a voice like that. One of the other prolific voice over talents is Don La Fontaine. Can you believe these guys can bring in over a million bucks a year just for talking pretty? If you're looking to hire some voice over talent, check out VoiceHunter for a wide assortment of options. You can choose from raspy, seductive, intense, down-home and so many more. Check out some voice samples.

Flapping paper airplane

I made one. It really flaps. Make your own today. Hours of fun.

Anagnorisis

Today, Wordsmith proclaimed the word anagnorisis to be the word of the day. There couldn't be a word more perfectly made to use when talking about Comedy of Errors. The whole show is a build up to a big "reveal" which, in true greek form, the audience knows about the whole time. I really need to learn my lines so i can get my book our of my hand and have some more fun. The show is doing well considering the challenges we've had to face. In fact, tomorrow, we're practicing in our director's basement thanks to a lack of a good rehearsal space. Oy!

Scores of scores

I ordered up the musical score from Avenue Q and Wicked from Amazon and they arrived today. I'm excited to have some new music to go though. As funny as Avenue Q the musical is, i wasn't too surprised to find its score to be amusing as well. As with most sheet music, they tell you the feeling of the piece at the very beginning. Normally you get something like "moderately" or "a fast waltz," but Fantasies Come True should be "Manilowesque" and You Can Be As Loud As The Hell You Want should be played with a "funky ass grove." It's fun to have something new to play.

Withdrawal

I've attributed my gloominess over the past few days to symptoms of withdrawal. It seems i find myself addicted to certain people. It doesn't often happen because i'm usually pretty good at keeping folks away, but some are just too wonderful. They should come with warning labels. At the very least, everyone should be required to have a tragic flaw, so when you are unable to see them, you can reason to yourself that it's probably for the best. Damn these perfect people. I should know better and stay away, but i'm weak. They make make you feel amazing when they are around, but i feel the opposite when they are gone. Why couldn't i have just taken up drinking, or pot?

Puzzled

One of my destinations this holiday weekend was today's barbecue at my parents house. In addition to the usual faces, foods, and games, my mother actually had a puzzle out. It's been a long time since i did one. My grandmother used to really enjoy puzzles and my sister, mother, and i would often spend hours at her house working on them. Busha only liked Springbok puzzles; the pieces of other puzzles just weren't up to par.

When i got there, only a handful of pieces were out of place in the showcone scene. After we finished that, we had so much fun we decide to start another, a circular puzzle full of hors d'oeuvres. It had just over 500 pieces but those present we able to finish it well before the gathering was over.

Speaking of puzzles, my sister called me to let me know she found a new book of pixel puzzles. They also go by the name griddlers or nonograms. I think we bought all the ones you could from Amazon so she was happy when she found an alternate source. If you've never tried one before, they are really fun. Do one now.

Desktop dump

The first thing many people do when they get a new computer is customize the desktop. You can check out a bunch of designer's desktops at K10K's OnDisplay project. When i was going though my files today, i realized i still had a copy of every image i've used as my desktop.

The very first desktop picture i ever made [1] featured my hero Bill Nye. It obnoxiously tiled across my desktop. That lasted for a while until one day i stopped by the Abercrombie site and they had a bunch of interesting pictures there. They had one with three girls in a car with the words "Spirit. Friendship. Competition." [2]. I thought it would be funny if i Photoshopped my name in. Thus began a string of desktop images feature AndF pictures with my name blended in. I'd often put in a random phrase [4,5] or amusing comment [7,8]. I customized one for the first show i was in [6]. I even threw in the one i made last week [10].

So, what are you looking at?