http://use.perl.org/~cog/journal/ cog's use Perl Journal en-us use Perl; is Copyright 1998-2004, Chris Nandor. Stories, comments, journals, and other submissions posted on use Perl; are Copyright their respective owners. 2004-11-25T15:50:31+00:00 pudge cog Technology hourly 1 1970-01-01T00:00+00:00 http://use.perl.org/images/topics/useperl.gif http://use.perl.org/~cog/journal/ http://use.perl.org/~cog/journal/22002?from=rss I'm flying to Brazil next Sunday, back to Portugal the Saturday after, going on a train to Lisbon on Monday after that to deal with some YAPC related stuff, back to Aveiro on the same day, flying to London by Friday and back to Portugal the following Monday.<BR><BR>Meanwhile, I'm working extra time, coming in around 9:30, leaving for about an hour for lunch, going home after 20:00 for dinner, coming back around 21:30 and never leaving before midnight (somewhere between midnight and 03:00).<BR><BR>I am also installing a new laptop which I'll take to Brazil (a Citydesk something, where I'm installing FC3)<BR><BR>I still need to:<BR><BR>- help somebody finish an article until tomorrow<BR>- finish my work<BR>- get things ready to take to Lisbon<BR>- finish my slides for LPW<BR><BR>I'd like to write more about all this, but you wouldn't imagine the stress going on around here...<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-| cog 2004-11-25T11:15:45+00:00 journal http://use.perl.org/~cog/journal/21960?from=rss <A HREF="http://use.perl.org/~Beatnik/journal/21942">Beatnik has cracked his head</a>. Fortunately, he seems to be in a good mood (the effects of the anesthesia haven't worn out yet, uh?) <p>Anyway, this reminded me of <A HREF="http://use.perl.org/comments.pl?sid=23684&amp;cid=36195">several things that happened to me while I was a kid</a> (and another one when I was 20<nobr> <wbr></nobr>;-( ) <p>For those who have read my comment and thought "Ouch": that's nothing!!! <p>You know, I used to fall off my bed when I was kid. Once, I even fell out of bed with a blanket and a cushion, didn't wake up, rolled beneath the bed still sleeping, and got my mother worried in the morning, when she couldn't find me! <p>But that's still not the funniest! The funniest was one time I did wake up... no, I did not wake up when meeting the floor... I actually woke up when my head got stuck between the bed and the side table!!! And yes, the rest of my body did meet the floor, it was just the head that got left behind! <p>But if you think that's funny, you should really know what happened to my brother once<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-) <p>My mother used to dress him while he was standing on his bed. Then, she would take one step back, spread her arms wide open, say something like "Come" and he would jump to her arms (yes, kind of what made me bump into a wall once, if you read my comment). <p>So one day we hear my brother crying. He was sleeping, woke up and started crying. Me and my mother started walking towards his bedroom, while he was walking in our direction. Now, when we saw each other, there were 11 steps of a stair between us, with him on top of those. My brother was still crying a bit, so my mother spreaded her arms and said something like "Oh, my poor baby. Come here." <p>BIG MISTAKE!!! <p>Because he did!!<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-) He jumped through the stairs<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-) Or at least two or three steps of it... cog 2004-11-22T20:02:04+00:00 journal http://use.perl.org/~cog/journal/21951?from=rss <A HREF="http://yonkis.com/imagenes01/grua_hero.htm">How not to do it.</a> cog 2004-11-22T14:21:38+00:00 journal http://use.perl.org/~cog/journal/21950?from=rss Whenever your boss tries to schedulle two very important deadlines on two consecutive days... hit him with a club!!! cog 2004-11-22T14:10:50+00:00 journal http://use.perl.org/~cog/journal/21934?from=rss I noticed that "The Godfather" was playing today, on a Portuguese channel, so I checked the time it would be on...<BR><BR>From 1:45 to 4:45 a.m.?????? WTF?????<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-|<BR><BR>I guess I'll pass...<BR><BR>On other news, my mother is happy that the heat from the fireplace is now distributed (by pipes) to the bedrooms. I'm happy too, of course<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-) *And* warm, which is even more important<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-) cog 2004-11-20T17:24:50+00:00 journal http://use.perl.org/~cog/journal/21932?from=rss Heck, I returned<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-)<BR><BR>And they better be carefull with me, because I'm not the sort of player they can put off easily<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-)<BR><BR>I've arrived at a point in the game (once again) where I feel really confortable about it: plenty of ammunition (because one shot for each enemy is sufficient) and my favorite guns:<BR><BR>1 - Knife - for those situations when you can actually approach the enemy by his back and remain unnoticed<BR><BR>2 - Revolver with silencer - Pretty cool for when you want to kill someone who's just behind the door; open the door, point to his head, right below the helmet, BAM! Or, actually, PFFF!<BR><BR>3 - Silent Machine Gun (can you believe this?) - for when you know three guys are entering the room running (it's advisable that you hide behind the door)<BR><BR>4 - Sniper Gun - need I say anything??????<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-)<BR><BR>5 - Snoop Gun (??) - Yep, it's really cool. I don't usually use the ammunition (it's scarce), but I use it's targetting device to see in the dark/fog/distance. *Then* I use the Sniper!!<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-)<BR><BR>6 - Paratrooper Rifle - It's harder to shoot with this one than with the Sniper Gun, but it's automatic, and some guys don't die with a single shot, so...<BR><BR>Another item I use a lot is the binoculars<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-)<BR><BR>My favorite missions are those where you can't let the alarm sound. I like it, planning ahead and studying their movements. He turns around, you go, kill him, hide, wait for the other, jump from behind his back when he runs to his dead friend, kill him too, kick the alarm system to smash it and proceed to the next obstacle. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!! &gt;:-D<BR><BR>Oh... how I miss Metal Gear Solid... cog 2004-11-20T15:46:13+00:00 journal http://use.perl.org/~cog/journal/21919?from=rss ONE YEAR AND A HALF!!!<BR><BR>Last night we had some friends over for dinner. There were eight of us and we talked about lots and lots of things.<BR><BR>ONE YEAR AND A HALF!!!<BR><BR>At some point, we were discussing what we could cook next time, and somebody mentioned he could bring a griller from his house to ours. And the conversation went like this:<BR><BR>Guy #1: You know, you have a box right there [and the box was staring at us] that says "Griller". Maybe you do have a griller and you don't know!<BR><BR>Guy #2: Yeah, sure. That box has been there for ages!<BR><BR>Guy #1: Hey, one never knows...<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-)<BR><BR>ONE YEAR AND A HALF!!!<BR><BR>Suddenly, a thought stroke my mind!! "What if?"<BR><BR>I got up, walked to the box, opened it and... voilà!!! Brand as new!! A griller!!!<BR><BR>And we've been living in that house for ONE YEAR AND A HALF!!!<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-|<BR> cog 2004-11-19T11:43:41+00:00 journal http://use.perl.org/~cog/journal/21906?from=rss By looking at <A HREF="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/registry/2WXQ1XI76UP0H/ref%3Dwl_s_3/202-1796177-2254250">my wishlist</a>, it appears that someone has bought me something. <p>So far so good. Actually, so far so great... but the truth is that it's been that way for over a month now (IIRC). <p>Being the owner of the list, I can even tell which item(s) I am supposedly being offered... however, that item is "usually dispatched within 24 hours", according to Amazon... <p>So... can anyone tell me what's going on?<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-| <p>Quite frankly, the thought that goes on in my mind (I know I'm a weird guy) is that maybe somebody offered me something, now thinks I've already received it and I haven't even said thanks<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-| cog 2004-11-18T15:42:51+00:00 journal http://use.perl.org/~cog/journal/21899?from=rss <i>Can you go to Brasil next week?</i> <p>But apparently I'm going the week after that. cog 2004-11-17T18:38:45+00:00 journal http://use.perl.org/~cog/journal/21874?from=rss People tend to think that because you work with computers you must know everything there is to know about them! Whenever the slightest problem arises, you're the one they call. They get angry at you when you don't have the time (oh, yes, programmers have all the time in the world) or when you don't know what to do (because you *are* a programmer, so you should know).<BR><BR>Viruses, software that doesn't install successfully, games that don't work properly, or even certain levels of a game that one has difficulty passing!!! And that's not mentioning people wanting to alter things in programs they bought!!<BR><BR>I don't know about you, but I've my share of these situations...<BR><BR>In the last couple of years, I started saying things like "Yes, but I don't use Windows, I have no idea what might be causing that" (truly!), or "I'm a programmer, that's what I do. I code. Show me code and I will fix it!", but that seems to no avail...<BR><BR>Here's a couple of the latest ones:<BR><BR>Trouble number 1:<BR><BR>Somebody from my family called me this weekend. His boss bought a new computer and is using it to listen to music. His problem arises when the screensaver starts... Apparently, there's some strange effect on the screen... but he doesn't know how to explain it... Eventually, we got to a point in the conversation where he was asking me why the screensaver would start if there was someone next to it listening to the music!<BR><BR>Trouble number 2:<BR><BR>Somebody from my family (again), who happens to be a psychiatrist, sent me a message saying her computer is behaving strangely, and asking me to go see it when I pass near by... My mother (who happens to have a sense of humor and knows what I go through with that) says that if the problem is the computer behaving strangely, then she, being a psychiatrist, should be the one to solve it, and not me!<BR><BR>Man... I know it's not their fault, but... for pity's sake!!!<BR> cog 2004-11-16T11:49:24+00:00 journal http://use.perl.org/~cog/journal/21858?from=rss It's quite easy, actually...<BR><BR>1) Check if it's Saturday or Sunday<BR><BR>2) Check if it's a Holiday<BR><BR>3) Check in my "days off" file to see if there's an entry for this day<BR><BR>4) Check what time it is<BR><BR>Et voilá! I can see automatically discover whether I'm working or not and have a different configuration deppending on that!<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-D<BR><BR>Now... you wouldn't happen to know how to run a command in a specific workspace, would you? (running Gnome, here) cog 2004-11-15T12:00:09+00:00 journal http://use.perl.org/~cog/journal/21847?from=rss I must say that my current experience on <A HREF="http://www.perlmonks.org/index.pl?node_id=326280">Perl Monks</a> is a bit weird... cog 2004-11-14T15:42:16+00:00 journal http://use.perl.org/~cog/journal/21835?from=rss ...is probably the food<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-)<BR><BR>Hum... it smells so good<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-) And there I go!<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-D<BR><BR>By the way, it's "Bolinhos de bacalhau" ("codfish cookies", I guess)<BR><BR>Yummi, yummi<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-) cog 2004-11-13T14:01:36+00:00 journal http://use.perl.org/~cog/journal/21831?from=rss Too much work make cog go crazy...<nobr> <wbr></nobr>;-( cog 2004-11-12T20:26:08+00:00 journal http://use.perl.org/~cog/journal/21805?from=rss I just booked my hotel for <A HREF="http://london.pm.org/lpw/">LPW</a>. <p>Yes, Purdy, I'm afraid it's the same <A HREF="http://www.cairnhotelgroup.com/index.htm">hotel</a> <A HREF="http://use.perl.org/~Purdy/journal/21686">you're staying in</a> O:-) <p>Now I need to find how to go there from the Gatwick airport<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-) cog 2004-11-11T14:41:46+00:00 journal http://use.perl.org/~cog/journal/21803?from=rss Besides Mark Lentczner's <A HREF="http://www.ozonehouse.com/mark/blog/code/PeriodicTable.html">Periodic Table of the Operators</a> and Ian Langworth's <A HREF="http://langworth.com/PerlTestCard">PerlTestCard</a>, what other things (read: posters) could a Perl, er... fanatic considerer "painting" some walls with?<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-) cog 2004-11-11T11:19:54+00:00 journal http://use.perl.org/~cog/journal/21792?from=rss Given that I'm one of the organizers for the next <A HREF="http://www.yapceurope.org/">YAPC::EU</a>, I thought I should do something to let you know of the reasons why you'd probably like to go there. <p>So, from now on, every once in a while, you'll find a post on my journal that has something to do with <A HREF="http://braga.yapceurope.org/">YAPC::EU::2005</a> in Braga, Portugal<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-) <p>I hope you like them<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-) cog 2004-11-10T16:14:45+00:00 journal http://use.perl.org/~cog/journal/21779?from=rss <A HREF="http://jose-castro.org/code/Date-MakeHash-0.01.tar.gz">Date::MakeHash</a>, a prototype (OK, OK, I couldn't sleep). <p>What I'd like to know is: <p>1) Is it any good? <p>2) Does something like that already exist on the CPAN? (because if it does, I'm having trouble finding it) <p>3) If it is any good and nothing like it exists (yeah, sure, get real), any general comments on it? <p>TIA<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-) cog 2004-11-09T10:43:06+00:00 journal http://use.perl.org/~cog/journal/21760?from=rss <code>go-ximian: 1.0 (Mon Jun 9 15:09:08 EDT 2003)</code> <p> <code>First I'm going to verify your RPM database. Pre-existing problems </code> <br> <code>with your database could cause the Ximian Installer to fail, possibly </code> <br> <code>leading to system corruption. This should only take a few seconds.</code> <p>They'll corrupt my system in only a few seconds?<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-) cog 2004-11-08T13:02:08+00:00 journal http://use.perl.org/~cog/journal/21759?from=rss Sing along:<BR><BR>CPAN::Mini is so great,<BR>Thank you Randal, and hurray!<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-D<BR><BR>I'm not so good at this, so what?<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-) cog 2004-11-08T12:40:44+00:00 journal http://use.perl.org/~cog/journal/21758?from=rss So... what do you do when you're testing functions that should return random things? cog 2004-11-08T10:59:40+00:00 journal http://use.perl.org/~cog/journal/21742?from=rss Just in case you're wondering why no one comments on your journal entries, go check if you have the comments enabled.<BR><BR>The reason I'm saying this is because from time to time I see new users (which apparently have interesting things to say) posting without enabling comments.<BR><BR>I don't think they really mean their entries not to be commented, they probably just miss the button or something<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-) cog 2004-11-06T22:17:30+00:00 journal http://use.perl.org/~cog/journal/21725?from=rss Some of my friends, including Alberto, are saying I have some kind of problem, so I decided to tell all of you that I don't.<BR><BR>They say that I go completely insane everytime someone mentions strawberries, which is completely abs... hum... strawberries...<BR><BR>Strawberries...<BR><BR>Strawberries!!!<BR><BR>STRAWBERRIES!!!<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-O<BR><BR>UAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-O<BR><BR>ME WANT STRAWBERRIES!!!<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-O<BR><BR>KILL GODZILLA!!!<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-O HE KEEPER OF STRAWBERRIES!!!<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-O<BR><BR>STRAAAAAAAAAAWWW - BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE - RRRRRRRRRIIIIIEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-O<BR><BR>Uh, what? What was that?<BR><BR>So, anyway, now you know there is nothing wrong with me. As you can see, I act completely normally when it comes to strawberries, right? Hum... strawberries...<BR> cog 2004-11-05T10:25:32+00:00 journal http://use.perl.org/~cog/journal/21716?from=rss <A HREF="http://jose-castro.org/">Finnaly, I've got one!</a><nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-D cog 2004-11-04T21:11:32+00:00 journal http://use.perl.org/~cog/journal/21711?from=rss I had never thought there was such a need for this kind of tool... really!<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-)<BR><BR>Every other day I receive mail from people suggesting a couple of features, saying thanks and so on.<BR><BR>This time, I received a patch!<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-) The first one<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-) On a very embarrassing bug<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-X<BR><BR>Code fixed (thanks, Matti), you shall see a new version on the CPAN tomorrow morning (for some definition of morning, anyway).<BR> cog 2004-11-04T16:40:37+00:00 journal http://use.perl.org/~cog/journal/21702?from=rss Can anyone tell me what the six arts are?<BR><BR>So far, I'm with literature, painting, music, theater and sculpture... that's five...<BR> cog 2004-11-04T11:11:04+00:00 journal http://use.perl.org/~cog/journal/21675?from=rss I heard that Advanced Perl Programming was having a new edition coming up...<BR><BR>What Perl books are about to see a new edition released?<BR><BR>Anyone?<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-| cog 2004-11-03T10:50:25+00:00 journal http://use.perl.org/~cog/journal/21674?from=rss This weekend, for the very first time in my life, I deliberately took a huge pile of papers to a recycling bin<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-)<BR><BR>Sure, some of you might be thinking "What, just now?" Hey, most of my friends aren't doing anything of that, you know?<BR><BR>Sure, some of you might be thinking "What for?" Well, I really don't know, because I don't have the big picture, but it sure felt good<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-) cog 2004-11-03T10:49:36+00:00 journal http://use.perl.org/~cog/journal/21659?from=rss Can anyone explain me what is wrong with <A HREF="http://search.cpan.org/~cog/Lingua-Identify-0.05/">this page</a> on search.cpan.org?<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-| <p>You see, Lingua::Identify currently has meta-information of 19 languages... on that page, only one of them appears... and even that one has the wrong link... it's the PT file, and it links to NL (and also shows the description of NL...) <p>It looks as something's really wrong with the module, but it isn't, really (apart from the author, of course). If you browse the files, you'll see that <A HREF="http://search.cpan.org/src/COG/Lingua-Identify-0.05/lib/Lingua/Identify/">everything seems to be in the right place</a>... <p>So... what's going on?<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-| cog 2004-11-02T17:18:39+00:00 journal http://use.perl.org/~cog/journal/21649?from=rss My copy of So long, and Thanks for all the Fish should be showing up anytime now... given that I just bought another copy of it<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-| cog 2004-11-02T11:53:14+00:00 journal