Been a while ...

Hey Adolph: I'm not ignoring you ... I lost your contact info. Call me again and we'll do that lunch thing.

Hey everybody else: Been a while. Glad to hear all survived Monday's flood in H-town. Bon and I are still alive and well in the greater Austin area ... still meddlin' in the people's business. Thought I'd share a couple of pics for kicks. Although it's still not quite finished, here's sort of a before and after look at the new deck I'm building in the back yard. (You know what they say about idle hands ... and in my case, they'd be right!)

cheers,
/\/\

Tabular Data Typing

Speaking of type constraints, I'm looking for a tool that will measure each field of a spreadsheet or other tabular data and tell me what are the best constraints to use on each column. Any ideas?

To Infinity But No Further!

So I'm taking a beginning programming class. The language is C++ and the most interesting thing I've learned so far is integer math. There are a few different kinds of numbers in C++ (and other languages), such as int (integers, plain numbers w/o decimals) and float (a number with decimals). The language handles operations on them differently. For example, when dividing two ints like five divided by two, the decimal is just dropped, so 5/2=2. If they were floats the answer would be 2.5.

My internal explanation for Why? was that different kinds of numbers were stored in different ways and have different limitations on them (because the limits of 32 bit computing seem always soon). So this morning I read this post linked from Digg and started to realize another handy reason why integer math exists: sometimes you don't want to spend your computer's time pondering the infinite.

Happy Fathers Day!

Also, omg my nephew is so adorable!!!

Redemtption!

Ok, just got back from the USA-ITALY game.

Wow. The drama! The tension! The heroics! What a fun game to watch!!

Hijoles, from a biased, drunk perspective I have to say that the U.S. squad outplayed the Italians. Even when the jackass of a referee reduced the U.S. side to 9 mine the U.S still threatened more, defended better, played harder, etc. I was so happy to see our boys put up a fight. It was like watching a whole different team from the their previous game. Ayayay, it was fun to watch Ghana take apart the Czech Republic too.

Louisiana News

I haven't lived in LA for a long time, but I always have curiosity about the place. The story of Rep. William Jefferson is something I have followed at a distance ever since the hurricane coverage of him commandeering some National Guard troops to rescue a refrigerator or something from his house. The coverage on NPR this morning regarding Jefferson mentioned "two conditions" to his offer to voluntarily step down from his committee position but only disclosed one about naming a fellow Louisianian to his spot. I was curious about the second condition, but NPR's coverage seems stranger now because it wasn't only that Jefferson wanted another LA Rep., he wanted to hand-pick his successor.
Chron.com | House Dems Strip Jefferson of Panel Seat:

Within an hour of the vote, Jefferson disclosed he had offered on Wednesday to step aside on two conditions. They were that the caucus establish a rule covering cases like his and that his seat on Ways and Means go temporarily to a fellow Louisiana Democrat, Rep. Charles Melancon.

The Times-Picayune had an interesting twist on the condition that NPR didn't cover and that the Houston Chronicle called "a rule;" T-P indicates that the condition called for something less than a rule, but merely equal treatment.
Nola.com | Demos vote Jefferson off panel

In a letter to Pelosi on Wednesday, Jefferson offered to give up his Ways and Means seat under two conditions: that the party apply the same standards to other members under investigation and that it name Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-Napoleonville, to replace him because he too represents a district that has been devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Pelosi rejected the offer, according to his Jefferson spokeswoman, Melanie Roussell.

I, Brahe

The First Law Of Braheonics

It is the height of rudeness to leave a banquet before it is finished.

The Second Law Of Braheonics (added posthumously)

It is even more rude to stay until your bladder explodes