Zobar's Journal

12/13/2008 12:49 #47053

|-:

So I've been totally effing swamped at work. As a result I haven't got a whole lot to report, and what I do have to report is pretty dang boring. My world the last couple weeks has been mostly just me, my cats, and my nurbs.

I managed to avoid getting any Action Items on Thursday and, being a dude who works at home, fucked around all day. But don't worry nine-to-fivers, karma's coming to get me this weekend. The client's near deadline on their North American SAP Integration Project and somehow my dorky little drawing program* is mission-critical. Go figure.

But I'm such a loser - even when I'm 'fucking around' it can still be loosely considered to be 'professional development.' I've been fiddling around with Amazon Web Services

. I think this stuff is great for small application developers. You can build a server appliance from the OS on up to your custom applications and deploy it on as many [virtualized] servers as you need, with 'practically unlimited' bandwidth and storage. Everything is metered but the prices seem pretty reasonable. Server time starts at 10 cents per hour, which is about $75/mo if you leave it on.

You can also mark your application bundle as requiring payment, with pretty flexible pricing options. The plan seems to be that you'd sell a turnkey solution to the general public, but I could see negotiating pricing with a client and using Amazon to collect setup & support fees.

I don't know what I'm going to do with this knowledge, but I figured I'd share with you geeky types.

- Z

_______________

Somehow I've become a graphics programmer. You'd think that would be an easy field to be in, and I admit it's kind of fun sailing through meetings about browser incompatibilities, database architecture, legacy integration, and usability bugs without getting any action items. But when all you ever say on-site is variations on 'yeah I understand where you're coming from but that's not really my problem,' the client starts to wonder why they're paying you.** But when a bug really is mine and the answer is something like 'woops - forgot to overwrite C0 in the Type 2 tint transform function when converting an RGB separation to CMYK, ha ha silly me' it tends to remind them. I can read PDF documents with a text editor, and that freaks me out.

Although yesterday when trying to get the [somewhat difficult] web app developer to do something the client urgently needed, I whipped off an SQL query over the phone while a roomful of people just kind of stared at me. I think they were making fun of me but I sort of didn't have a whole lot of patience at the time.

theli - 12/15/08 12:36
"I can read PDF documents with a text editor, and that freaks me out."

That's...kind of impressive. Do you mean using a hex editor? Or do you just scan for actual readable text and ignore the rest?

zobar - 12/13/08 17:59
Not that Amazon.
That dude's totally my old
high school principal.

- Z

tinypliny - 12/13/08 13:56
Yeah, looks very professionally capable.
:::link:::

zobar - 12/13/08 13:51
We all hate Wordsworth.
Gmail shows what should have been
'Tintern Abbey,' dogg.

Buying servers sucks.
Send your site to Amazon,
let them sort it out.

- Z

tinypliny - 12/13/08 12:57
\begin blues

Lament Lament*;

I don't get your gmail status;
I don't get your (e:strip) post;
nu nu nu doo daa dee nu nu;
\end blues

11/30/2008 22:27 #46894

odyssey

I just drove home from the Captiol Region and holy crap I haven't seen traffic this bad since I left the New York metro area. Granted the weather could have been more cooperative but I've certainly driven in worse without shitting myself. To call it a 'bloodbath' would not give enough credit to the little joys of mass murder.

I almost died a few miles past Syracuse. There was a slowdown in the right lane that everyone was passing on the left. Afterwards, the two drivers ahead of me had gotten over to the right lane; I opted to stay in the [now clear] left lane. I had half-passed the car in front when I saw it jerk away from me. I thought I'd be in the clear when he came fishtailing back, but he overcorrected faster than I thought and swerved directly at me diagonally across the Thruway. I swerved onto the center shoulder, which was wider at that point, avoiding the other car by maybe six inches tops. I hit the unpaved slush and held on for dear life. I managed to keep control and not fishtail. I corrected, got back in my lane, and booked the FUCK out of there. Watching in the rearview I saw Homeboy had kept it on the road and was driving right down the middle.

Then I spent an hour in a traffic jam- the kind where you'd really like to put the car in park until it all clears up, except you can't because it's moving about 5mph for 20ft every two minutes.

I thought I was home free when I passed Rochester until I saw a whole row of flashing lights across the eastbound lanes. They'd closed the eastbound lanes at the Pembroke exit overpass and were directing all traffic off the exit, around, and back onto the entrance. I had to exit for gas and the ticket taker said there was a 7-car accident. When I got back on the road, eastbound traffic was stopped past the Clarence rest stop. Thank God I dodged that bullet, yipes.

Trip: 300mi, 7hr, average speed 42.8mph.

- Z

11/20/2008 21:55 #46779

it brightened my day
Category: compost

I had a busy day Tuesday. Some good, some bad, but man it kicked my ass. At 11am I dashed back from the client's office to the contractor's office to fix some stuff before I had to go back to the client at 3pm. For those who don't work downtown or drive, 11am is probably the worst time to find a spot. Even latecomers are at work by then, but it's too early for anyone to have gone home. As is often the case, the Mohawk ramp was full so I went a couple blocks to the lot by the library. It's a huge expanse of pavement and I made a beeline straight for the last row, which was nearly full.

I found a spot right away but as I pulled closer I found out why it was a spot. Some douche had taken up about 1.1 parking spaces - probably about 18 inches over on the driver's side. Too pressed for time to be angry, I did the math, slid my 0.85-car-width Japanese subcompact right in, and got on my way.

Now at this point I should mention that when I came back to my car it was parked dead-nuts center. That could have left maybe two inches between the cars, max - not even wide enough to get to the door, much less open it. Some people have asked and yes I did briefly consider the possibility of a spite sideswipe but it wasn't borne out by the relative-perceived-worth test [other car was a Mercedes sedan].

So I went back to my car around 3pm dreading trying to squeeze back out, which is often harder than squeezing in. But when I got back to my car I found the situation had resolved itself with a cherry on top. Not only had Mr Congeniality vacated the premises ... not only did he avoid sideswiping me on the way out ... but he tucked this award under my windshield!

Knowing that he'd spent the time finding an envelope and a pen, and stood out in the freezing cold writing this out just for me, totally made my day. Maybe he'd even waited to give it to me in person! As you can tell I hung it up in a place of honor.

But then he stole my ticket! The attendant puts the ticket under your windshield wiper and gives you the stub, and he stole my ticket! It's not like they couldn't charge me based on the stub, and it's not like I didn't already have to pay the full daily fare, but still.

And see I think he got off easy. You can't do that shit in a pay lot because if you take up two spots, that's one spot they can't charge for, and fuck if they'll let that happen. They'll tow your ass. Instead all he had to do was a little freestyle pilates over this snug little piece of equipment:

'cause for $54,075, you don't get bench seats.

- Z

zobar - 11/21/08 17:00
(e:ajay)- are those all just at Yahoo? I see most of the people were at least smart enough to park with the passenger side over rather than the driver's side.

This is just about the same situation I came into here, with the driver's side hanging over just about this much:
:::link:::

- Z

gardenmama - 11/21/08 14:59
I love this - isn't it crazy how people do rude, stupid crap and then get mad at someone else for making it obvious? Good for you.

ajay - 11/21/08 13:30
Here we take pics, upload them to Flickr and tag them "ycantpark" : :::link:::

jason - 11/21/08 12:11
This kind of stuff is chronic with Buffalo drivers. Most of them are totally clueless and don't know when they've fucked up. They really don't know any better. Unreal. Hahaha. Good job squeezing in there.

dcoffee - 11/21/08 09:11
hahah, I get a kick out of that stuff too. People get furious over tiny things that are harmless, or may have even been their fault. They spend so much time being pissed.

imk2 - 11/21/08 08:56
awesome!

zobar - 11/20/08 22:11
hee

- Z

dragonlady7 - 11/20/08 22:04
The funny part is that you're genuinely pleased by it. Like, your face lights up whenever you see it again.
You *are* a fucking asshole, but at least you're good at it.

11/14/2008 18:46 #46692

shocking
Category: a series of tubes

Huh.

- Z

zobar - 11/14/08 22:04
Two in the pink, one in the meat slicer?

- Z

fellyconnelly - 11/14/08 20:15
hahahahahhahahahahahha

tinypliny - 11/14/08 20:09
I am pretty sure Bush started it and got the wrong finger!

james - 11/14/08 19:53
Are they making fun of Rahm Emanuel?

tinypliny - 11/14/08 19:09
The true colours are showing. LOL

11/13/2008 21:08 #46681

call me crazy
Category: politics

So the auto makers say to the government: now that people aren't spending money they don't have, they're not buying cars they don't need and there's nothing left for us to make. If we go out of business, look at all these people who will be out of jobs. You can't let that happen.

The government will hem and haw long enough to make it look like they don't want to do it, but eventually they will have pity on all these people who will be out of jobs and give billions of dollars to their employers.

The auto manufacturers will say thanks for the cash but we're still a little bit fucked, so ... we're still going to have to lay these people off.

At which point we'll look at all these people who are now out of jobs and say: was this really worth it?

When the government's done hemming and hawing I think it would be better if they said you know what? The auto industry has been opposed to the government meddling in their affairs for years and maybe now is not the time to start. So this multibillion dollar bailout package goes to the employees caught in the middle when you go out of business.

Could somebody tell me why that's crazy?

- Z

zobar - 11/15/08 10:40
Huh, that's interesting. T Boone Pickens was on the Daily Show this week :::link::: making the point that while alternate-fuel autos are great, a much larger impact can be made by converting large trucks and heavy machinery off diesel. He recommended compressed natural gas.

- Z

jenks - 11/15/08 08:18
A little bit OT here, but I got an email a couple weeks ago... MINI is making a 100% electric, zero-emission car. And they're sort of beta-testing it. Sounds like they're going to put a fleet of 500 on the road next year, and see how it goes, and then fine-tune and I guess sell them to the public. It sounds like a pretty cool little car. The catch is that (at least for this testing stage) you have to be in metro NYC or I think LA. I'm not sure how well this link will work since it's all flash-y, but here's some info-

:::link:::

tiburon1724 - 11/14/08 21:05
I swore off all American cars after getting anally raped by GM a few years back. Brand new piece of crap car poorly made, GM wouldn't honor the warranty, etc etc. It's 100% imports for me. The funny thing is, a lot of the imports are actually made here now, and a lot of the "American" cars have mostly foreign parts. It really doesn't matter. GM & Ford need to go under, they're in bed with the fuel companies and have been holding back progress for years now.

tinypliny - 11/14/08 09:56
I want my comment back. *whine* *whine*

(e:libertad): The answer is Satyagraha. :::link:::
(I know, you might call me biased, but it actually has worked more times than guerilla warfare or other crazy coups have.)

tinypliny - 11/14/08 09:52
haha... The comment that I lost (and you can still see part of it in the "more comments" column) is (e:libertad) + (e:zobar) comments rolled in one. :)

One more point that I made in there and is worth mentioning again: The first solar cell was made in 1883. Do you see ANY American made hybrids or alternative fuel vehicles ANYWHERE on the roads?? Where is this aggressive R&D you speak of?

zobar - 11/14/08 09:47
Alls I'm saying is, it's the workers everyone [says they're] worried about - and I gotta say I don't really trust a middleman with a proven ability to burn $40B in a year with nothing to show for it. There's going to be a lot of people out of jobs, and I think we need to start looking into beefing up unemployment insurance.

People are talking about tying the auto bailout to requiring the companies to develop clean fuel technologies. Look guys: they can't even make payroll. They're not going to be leading the world in anything except blame and excuses.

I don't buy this shit about American fuel innovation either. The Toyota Prius has been available to the general public for eleven years; the Honda Insight was introduced nine years ago. What do we have from GM? E85? You might even be able to find that at a gas station if you live in Iowa. Hybrid SUVs? They were so behind the ball on hybrids that they had to negotiate with Toyota because their independent R&D ended up infringing patents that Toyota had held for years.

- Z

libertad - 11/14/08 09:20
Oh and Tiny what do you propose we do to force our "representatives" to do anything? Are you suggesting we take up arms or something? ;)

libertad - 11/14/08 09:18
So what if they did neither and instead used the money to create a new infrastructure of public transport? The laid off auto workers could be given first opportunity at these jobs and programs for relocation or temporary housing to work in other areas of the country that need it. To me it just seems like the most opportune thing to do.

I don't believe the bailout with work either. It also seems ridiculous to reward the auto industry for such bad business practices.

tinypliny - 11/14/08 08:28
Thanks for the detailed reply, (e:joshua). You make a good point about the risks of a government being inert during an employment crisis and the real (in)effectiveness of any measures (eg. bailout) that it does take. I think all of us instinctively know that regardless of whatver bailout, the auto industry is coming down.

Thus, this proposed bailout is not going to serve its purpose of helping the auto employees keep their jobs but might instead help the government keep its job.

Either way you look at it, its a selfish irrational move. Bailing out the employees is not a very reasonable thing to do - it reminds me of that pithy saying â€œGive a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish ; and you have fed him for a lifetime". Bailing out employees or the industry with money now is equivalent to giving them fishes for a day.

(e:libertad) made a suggestion on my blog which sounds like a good alternative to this madness. He said that these workers should be re-employed in alternative employment - rebuilding and expanding our public transport infrastructure and working towards production of alternative fuel powered vehicles.

I think its an excellent suggestion and the government should put aside its selfishness and consider it seriously.

Also, I would like to point out that, though American automakers may have been pursuing hybrid technologies for a few years now, the first solar cell was built back in ~1883. These have been used for powering space shuttles for many decades now. Solar cells are not some Star-Trek atomizing technology, they are very similar to the microchips we use in our laptops and other computerized circuits. When the computer industry can explode into innovation like it has been doing for the past two decades, why couldn't the solar panel research keep up? You might find the answer lies in vested interests. Going back to the fish saying, giving people solar panel powered things, is like giving them fish that feeds them forever. But of course, the industry can't have this because its goal to keep making people buy cars they can't afford and buy oil for those oil-guzzling contraptions.

The most efficient hybrids on the streets are *all* made with foreign R&D. We can either choose to look at the extremely recent efforts of this country's automakers to jump on the hybrid bandwagon as a glorious herald of things to come or look at it for what it really might be - an ostrich taking its head out of the sand and realizing that the industry is going out of business and thus launching this do-gooding late-aggressive scheme.

I would say the the industry's lack of innovation might be one of the reasons it has been failing. Look at (e:jenk)'s comment. I am sure not many Americans look kindly on oil guzzling inefficient monsters.

In fact, how many of you own 100% American cars nowadays? Would you have bought that foreign Honda or Hyundai or whatever, if American cars had been solar powered/hybrids/fuel-efficient? Taking it a step further, would we be criticizing the bailout to the industry so much today, had it been producing nifty little efficient alternative fuel cars - that people actually loved to buy and drive?

joshua - 11/13/08 23:54
Tiny,

It isn't the industry owners who the government would be keeping afloat. The industry "owners" are actually the shareholders, whose stock is semi-officially worthless. The idea is to prop the industry to prevent it from failing and causing 3 million layoffs, which is an incredibly compelling rationale. Forget executive compensation or the perceived morality of the auto industry - those are tangential and are subject to opinion anyway. The auto industry's lack of innovation is not its undoing. Actually, few automakers have pursued hybrid technology more aggressively than American automakers over the past few years.

Businesses succeed and fail... there is no guarantee of perpetual success and comfort. I think auto workers are going to lose their jobs en masse regardless of the bailout, because I don't think the businesses are viable any longer. If it's meant to happen, so be it, but trust me - the government *will* attempt to prop the industry up because doing nothing while millions lose their jobs would be political suicide. I'm so sure the government will not throw that idea away and give the money to the unemployed instead, that I'll promise you I'll vote all liberal in 2010 if I'm wrong.

tinypliny - 11/13/08 23:10
Well, then when an industry collapses it certainly does not merit the federal government stepping in to keep the *industry* owners afloat either. (Especially when the industry has been suppressing progress and is evil.)

joshua - 11/13/08 23:02
Well, I think the reason why this would never occur is that the United States government is not, and never will be, in the business of subsidizing workers in such an extraordinary manner who lose their jobs, regardless of the circumstances. Losing your job when an industry collapses is not something that merits the federal government stepping in to keep you personally afloat.

jenks - 11/13/08 22:39
I say let 'em close. american cars suck anyway.

;)

tinypliny - 11/13/08 22:30
YES. GE or other auto bigshots SHOULD NOT receive money they don't deserve. THE EMPLOYEES must get this money.

The auto company owners and executives have enough money to buy personal islands anyway. And honestly, I think they are squarely responsible for suppressing the research and development of alternative fuel vehicles because of their evil links with the oil industry.

If the auto industry gets bailed out like Pelosi and Reid suggest, then REALLY, all those who made this decision should be shot and the money given to the truly in trouble Americans who are in debt, out of jobs and being chucked out of their foreclosed homes.

The government (dems/repubs) both are nasty little money sequestering bastards. Why doesn't all of the American population wake up and realize this??? Can't people FORCE the government to put that 700bn to better uses??

Are they YOUR representatives?? WHY AREN'T THEY SERVING YOU??? Why are they serving the filthy rich executives instead?

metalpeter - 11/13/08 21:37
It isn't crazy and it is a good idea. I think the reason it won't happen is because if say ford shuts down then everyone there loses there job, then the downword spiral continues and people who can buy cars don't buy american cars and then there is no market place for them. In theory what should happen is the car companies should go out of buisness and then some who is smart and has money buys the plants at low cost and starts a new an better car company.