Beta software

Just crashed Apache2 using a caching PHP5 script. It seems to be reproducible. I'll see if it's my fault tomorrow. Maybe I've discovered a bug! :-)

Spelling

After reading this I thought Lou could stop worrying over being unreadable, but it seems the effect is not as omni-effective (there is a word for this, I know there is!) as believed.

UBC's Linguistics department shattered the dream:

"Anidroccg to crad cniyrrag lcitsiugnis planoissefors at an uemannd, utisreviny in Bsitirh Cibmuloa, and crartnoy to the duoibus cmials of the ueticnd rcraeseh, a slpmie, macinahcel ioisrevnn of ianretnl cretcarahs araepps sneiciffut to csufnoe the eadyrevy oekoolnr."

As demonstrated, a simple inversion of the internal characters results in a text which is relatively hard to decipher.

(Thanks to /.)

Technology

Cool! OotP in a single sheet of paper. I wonder if it bends.

GT.net

I understand, unless it�s a very early April Fools prank, The Queens have had a big catfight and decided to part ways? That�s a shame. Where will the twelve year old Lady Gryffindor wanna-be�s archive their verbiage now? Now, to be fair, there were a few good stories in there. I was addicted to several myself! But, since its first incarnation, from the web-design to proofing to the management, the site was amateurish at best. It was inevitable � fooling around in IM and message boards full of junior-high level innuendo is lots of fun, but is not the same as managing a big online community. Let�s face it � the K12 crowd is not in the same league as the administrative personnel of HP4GU / FA or the SQ. I guess the loss is not that great, for the really good stuff is located on the Professors� Bookshelf. But it is my main ship, and proof they are incapable of even maintaining a site hurts.

GT.net forums are down... amateurs. ;-)

movie review

Watched Black Hawk Down yesterday. Highly recommended for those who have the stomach for it. Very realistic, and probably very close to Gaza or Jenin.

P2P filesharing

I'm glad some people have sense.

My favorite movie

Addams Family Values. I can't explain it. I think I'm harboring some feelings for the thirteen year old Christina Ricci. But it's more than that - it's juts plain fun.

J. L. Matthews - Slytherin Rising Part Three: The Year of the Cat - Chapter Eight: Beware of Magical Creatures

w00t! JLM updated!

Enterprise - Season 03 - Episode 01: The Xindi

Am speechless. What the fuck were they thinking???!!! And the people holding the rights for the name "Star Trek" allow this to continue? The shame.

New Blogger Features

It's cool and all, but it broke Gecko compatibility and I have error in M$IE6SP1 too. I suggest more thorough testing procedures before the next release.

http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?lastnode_id=1389985&node_id=1389985&displaytype=printable I didn't know. Wow.

http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3414326 BTW, I have a cousin, some friends and many colleagues on that base. The deathtoll is expected to rise (currently it's 6), but I'll sleep tonight, because I don't know any of them. And in Israel, we don't call it "near Tel-Aviv" - makes you realize how small the country is.

I rant non-stop about the average web site being stuck in 1999 technology-wise. Well, I'm stuck in 2000. I cannot believe how awesome client-side XSLT is. Also, I want Movable Type. All the cool people use it. I'd hack it to fit my needs.

Guarded with a bunch of female discens soon-to-be Certified Windows Reinstallation Specialists. For some odd reason, they have decided that smart males are cool (they probably don't realize the big money is in the discharged guys, not immunii perpetuus or even the sesquiplicarii). Was a fun weekend - met an interesting dude, ate pizza, got hit on by a cute (though a bit dim and very fragile) girl. Also spent Sunday there, chilling out with the people whom I've met while stationed there. Lucky SOBs take the best mess in the army for granted. Even the computer cravings weren't that bad. And yes, the Latin is a joke.

Off to guard the base for the weekend.

The Core was entertaining. Not a good movie, but fun. It your braindead enough while watching. 6/10.

Watched Daredevil. I want my bandwidth back. Its only saving point was Jennifer Garner.

1st day of school for the K-12 crowd. I can't believe how ickle they are. Well, except for the girls not old enough to know whether they like boys or girls who nevertheless dress in "fuck me" style - they are ickle-minded. I blame MTV. :P

Ties That Bind - 10/10.

The catfight to end all catfights. And the missing time thing. Awesome. And Season Three should be here soon! No more Enterprise! w00t!

What do you want to see on this page? Links, quotes, polls, template customization (color only? Layout? Full CSS2 editor?), what else?

Braces Free! YAY!

A question about sleepwear: what is usually worn under a "dressing gown"? How many layers are there to traditional (i.e. neither the wife beater nor the extremely minimalist approach) female nightwear architecture? What is appropriate on which occasion? How, if at all, is lingerie involved? I'm having a hard time deciding whether or not I support the relationship development described in a 6th year fic because I don't know what the "macking" involved. I do realize I have just used a slang term that is also loosely defined somewhere between extreme flirting and amateur pornography. I want to know where on this spectrum to put a scene the graphical details of which, for reasons of tact, tastefulness or rating, were left mostly for the readers' imagination.

Find a way to reply if you really want this place to look better.

The Internet is a great thing, but not even google can tell you what you're supposed to read and learn from this massive pile of shit. If I had read Neal Stephenson's "In the Beginning was the Command Line" three years ago, my life would probably have been different. Or maybe, I wasn't ready for it yet. BTW, being all sentimental about the SSHPF reminded me that the aforementioned essay confirms many claims I have clumsily made in several political/philosophical discussions (aka flames) on those boards. Of course I argued with unenlightened fools and do not have an award winning and bestselling gift with words, but never the less - I was right. Vindicated, at last. This amount of progress suggests that it is possible for me to become a whole person in a few years. On a different topic: Found a couple of fics archived at GT.net that were deemed worthy of my preciousss time. I believe a common characteristic of all shippers is self insertion, escapism and wishful thinking. In my early teens I have been a big noromo, and now I�m a complete shipper. I know why. Now I wonder what makes happily coupled people ship. Is it boredom?

"Named the #1 sexiest woman of 2001 by MAXIM men's magazine." You can add my vote.

Today is the Jewish equivalent of St. Valentine's Day, and that happens on the 15th of the month of Av, and the Hebrew calendar is Lunar, therefore the moon should be full tonight, which brings me to asking: Where is Lou? :-)

Top 12 things likely to be overheard if you had a Klingon Programmer

1. "Specifications are for the weak and timid!"
2. "This machine is a piece of GAGH! I need quad Alpha processors if I am to do battle with this code!"
3. "You cannot really appreciate Dilbert unless you've heard it read it in the original Klingon."
4. "Indentation?! - I will show you how to indent when I indent your skull!"
5. "What is this talk of 'release'? Klingons do not make software 'releases'. Our software 'escapes' leaving a bloody trail of designers and quality assurance people in its wake."
6. "Klingon function calls do not have 'parameters' - they have 'arguments' - and they ALWAYS WIN THEM."
7. "Debugging? Klingons do not debug. Our software does not coddle the weak."
8. "I have challenged the entire quality assurance team to a Bat-Leth contest. They will not concern us again."
9. "A TRUE Klingon Warrior does not comment his code!"
10. "By filing this defect you have challenged the honor of my family. Prepare to die!"
11. "You question the worthiness of my code? I should kill you where you stand!"
12. "Our users will know fear and cower before our software! Ship it! Ship it and let them flee like the dogs they are!"

This is what good web design should look like. Well, feature-wise, at least. I and a friend of mine decided to do a little coding project on the side, for free, to learn and to use the thing we'd build for our own needs and for boasting rights/resum� points. So we've invented a web technology based, not-so-thin-client (i.e. advanced browsers) oriented OLAP and also SOAP, CORBA and XSLT in order to implement it (Thank God, we were already aware of the existence of the Validating XML Parser itself, and of DOM. The wheel we have invented last week). Then I've decided to check on the internet for other people solving the same problems. Guess we're not the first, huh? ;-) Well, knowing when to use other peoples' code is a sign of maturity. Now I just need a year or two to learn the basics of all these technologies.

1. Lots of people from my department leave in October, so we'll be left to maintain a system none of us worked on when it was first designed, with too few experienced coders and managers. :-( 2. The nicest (and best looking, IMHO) female colleague is being let go too. :-( 3. While returning home have been staring at really cute girl (GW look-alike, of course) till got noticed by her boyfriend who gave me a Look. Totally understand him. LOL. ;-) 4. Have met the guy from my platoon in Basic Training who spilled some boiling tea on my hand (wow, that was a long time ago!). He serves in Gaza, going home every two weeks for an extended weekend. Talk about karma. (No hard feelings, really, I'm clumsy myself sometimes).

Have read Winterfair Gifts (in Russian. It leaked.). Niiicccceeee. Awesome fluff. And Carpe Diem. LMB R0X my world. Edit: Correction. LMB's Russian publisher printed it, it didn't leak. It's authorised. The stall of the original is the Yankee publisher's fault.

Wah. Looks like POA will look like a Breatney Spears clip. :#@

I have heard from a colleague that Orson Scott Card is scheduled to attend a con in our troubled country. Should that succeed, I shall find a way to attend.

Nope. Not same base. A special software department within Human Resources Planning located in HQ in Tel-Aviv. Few programmers located near the principal client, sometimes providing tech support in person rather than by phone. The people seem nice, the system is in C++ and sounds important, though very complex (and obviously imperfect, my military career is evidence to that). The base is crawling with brass and MPs - that will take some time getting used to.

Personnel Management Automation is widely rumored to suck. It seems I have five years to change that. The good news is that it�s on the same (relatively very nice) base.

Big day today. Very excited about assignment. *cross fingers* Pics from graduation might be available after the after-party.

Flames

I don't know if this was done by a real nutter or it's just a spoof, but LOL. The ficlet is of course v. funny as well.

Where I want to spend the next five years of my life

Step Seven is, for better or for worse, done. Now it�s only to wrap up Java and learn to parade. No, it�s not West Point, nothing as elaborate, but we have to show the parents something, and most won�t understand what it means that almost three years of software engineering was packed into six months.

Preferences

1. Matzov
2. Modiin
3. Mamram
4. Mamka
5. Avir
6. LamedAlef
7. Matnatz
8. Shob
9. Yam
10. Maam
11. Mamtal
12. Basmah
13. Mekarpar

This post was intentionally left unintelligible.

Thank Elizabeth for the link: Publishing - The IT way. It has been pointed out in recent discussions over the anti-P2P laws that they would make libraries illegal, but looking at it from this side it's even funnier. As an IT professional I'd like to remind everyone that it is not the techs who are evil, but the management we obey. </Nuremberg>

HP5 #3

What irks me most is how pointless it turned out to be. All that damage, for a synopsis of books 1-4. Who is going to be Harry's anchor now? He has no family, no girlfriend. Not even the memory of his once-perfect parents. An angry, bitter, powerful kid who has lost too much and knows he has a very bloody future (BTW Determinism? What the hell? Don't our actions determine our fate?) - what will keep him going on the right path? Not Dumbledore, who has lost credulity. He needs the teenage Valentine Wiggin. Or GT.net's Ginny. Or... *shudder* Lori's Hermione (*writes "Mary Sue" on canon!Hermione's forehead with a permanent marker and AKs her out of her misery*).

HP5 #2

I was afraid of saying that, but seeing I am not alone: "Too bad Hermione spent most of the book being an annoying, overperfect authorial insertion who was never wrong about ANYTHING. God, I wanted to hit her with a log." ((c) Cassie) I think the Ginny info-dump was for future use in H/G, but bloody hell I didn't like it. Ron... I need to re-read the book. The Cho thing - well, I'm glad it is now canonically pre-OotP only.

HP5

Well, that was really bloated. And not much better than the good fics. Though the Orwellian bits were a nice gimmick. Off to work now, my team is mad at me for sacrificing a full night for the book.

The Eye of the Snake

"insensitive wart... emotional range of a teaspoon" Oh man... this is better than Dawson's Creek.

Amazon.co.uk's delivery estimation was overly cautious. Air shipping only took 3 days. Of course, I was already up to chapter 17 by the time my folks picked it up from the mail. I'm not done reading yet, though. Have discovered the joy of Instrumental Metal. Is very pleased with self. Alias is definitely good, although I think I prefer the Nikita formula ("buttkixing + tehnobabble + politics/intrigue") over "buttkixing + drama/romance + politics/intrigue". Alias is better suited to appeal to the female audience though, so I am not surprised of it being more successful. Not so good for shipping though, as much of the good stuff is already in canon. When done with it will go read RJA's stuff.

Thank God for the Internet.

LOL

A&Z finally got the poor lad laid. And it only took them 3.5 MB of filtered html. ;-) It feels as if an epoch has come to an end and nothing will ever be quite the same again. Oh well - we'll see what becomes of the fandom once everything cools off in a few weeks.

"Delivery estimate: July 1 - July 4" Wah.

1x02 was not bad. The guy who plays the dad is quite good. I don�t think it�s wise to hold plutonium in your bare hands. I don't like the evolution of Q. Yes, the techie gadget-developer is a geek, but he's supposed to at least be able to function in society. Birkoff was a good rendition. This SD6 ubernerd though... yick.

Watched Alias 1x01. Not bad.

I think I'll elaborate on good web site design patterns. Today's sites must be dynamic and use CSS and a database driven content management system. That way, when adding content (chapters or stories, or (gasp) authors) there is no need to create a directory tree and index html files and all that paraphernalia - one should be able to do all that automatically with a few mouse clicks and info pasted into form fields. The data would be automatically parsed to clean up the horrible Office generated formatting, linked to a single style sheet definition file and validated for cross-browser compatibility (something you don't get with Micro$oft tools). Then all entries would be fed to the database and stored there (possibly including even the large textual data itself, so it could be easily updated, searched, compressed, etc.). Cross-referenced indexes (by author, story, latest update, etc.) would be automatically generated, so as soon as the data was entered it would be updated everywhere (in neat formatting), making tiresome repetitive maintenance (prone to human-factor related bugs) obsolete. The system would also allow vital statistics be gathered (and displayed using flash-based graphics!) and email updated be sent, all without any human supervision. The administration's day to day task would be reduced by an order of magnitude. The data would be displayed based on templates and style sheet information. No changes would be necessary on the backend to alter: font, color, background, and layout of every page on site, instantaneously. All that is required for such a redesign is tweaking of a single CSS file, or, provided the content management system is "smart" enough - the same, but in WYSIWYG mode. If you've wondered - the file would also contain paths to the graphics, so that too is easily changed globally. Even better, using smart client side scripting and caching the monthly traffic could be reduced (by half) by re-rendering indexes on the client side and making the textual data much smaller by intelligently compacting the (x)html. The savings in traffic and labor could greatly surpass the costs generated by the overhead created by the extra features (web application API, keyword and parameter searches, statistics (popularity, updates, word count), per-user customizations (bookmarks, favorites, reading list, email notification...), rdf syndicating, etc.), though you have to take the increase in hosting cost into account. Speaking of costs - the one time starting investment could also be prohibitive - developing such a system will not be cheap, and it does require real enterprise level hosting solutions (web server, DB server..), so for a site that cannot be a dot-com - it's a real problem, especially because few of the management or regular users of a Harry Potter Fan Fiction devoted site would be able to do some of the technical work themselves... I sure wouldn't want to develop that on ASP and VBScript though! *Sigh* </nerd>

What's the matter with GT.net? Are the QoHG on administrative leave?

So AtE is a LOTR crossover. Figures.

Nicked it off Emily's weblog.

Top 30 List of "You Know You're a Harry Potter Fanatic When...."

1. You refer to other people as "Muggles."
2. You search your garden for gnomes.
3. You take your broom outside and say "UP!" until you get tired.
4. You go to King's Cross-station on Sept. 1 and watch for Hogwarts students.
5. You break both arms trying to get to platform 9 3/4.
6. You know more about Quidditch than any actual, real-life sport.
   I'm not into competitive activities in general, so that's pretty much accurate.
7. You talk about Harry Potter so much that your friends are either sick of hearing about it or they finally read they books and become Harry Potter fans as well.
   I can spectacularly geek out on both the IT/PC Enthusiast/CS and HP fronts. Some people can tolerate one mode, a couple can withstand both for very brief periods of time, but most are very scared from either.
8. You read the books out loud to yourself in a British accent.
   "Oh, come one, it's so fun!" - Exactly.
9. You spend 10 hours a day writing e-mails and such for Harry Potter message boards and RPGs.
   I used to, back on the HPC.
10. You go into withdrawal if you haven't visited something Harry Potter related in the past 1 hour.
    I can last 24 hours without any symptoms and am very proud at this accomplishment.
11. You go to a movie you don't really want to see just for the H.P. trailer.
    Can't afford it and don't particularly like the AOL-TW rendition anyway.
12. Every time your computer says, "You've got mail" you run outside, looking for owls.
13. Every little thing reminds you of something in Harry Potter.
    Or gives me outrageous plot bunnies. Yesss.
14. You can recite passages from the books by heart.
    "Can't everyone?" - Exactly
15. You frequently dare people: "Come on, quiz me, quiz me on HP!"
16. You KNOW the title of the seventh book.
17. You've been arrested (more than once) for breaking into Mrs. Rowlings' house and searching for the last paragraph of HP 7. (She says it would be a disaster if it were published. I wonder what it contains?)
18. You say a password before entering your house.
19. You say "Lumos" before you turn on the lights.
20. Whenever someone uses the phrase "you-know-who," you instinctively think "Voldemort."
    I catch myself doing that at times.
21. You have a cat named Crookshanks, a rat named Scabbers or Wormtail, a lizard named Norbert, and a dog named Fluffy, Snuffles, or Padfoot.
    I would have, have I had a pet.
22. You go to the zoo and try to speak to the boa constrictor.
23. You made Butterbeer and served it to your friends
24. You tried to make Pumpkin Juice.
25. You've taken a pencil, pointed it to the television remote, & shouted: "Accio Remote," becoming disapointed when it wouldn't come.
26. You seriously think about which Harry Potter character you could play in the movie, and memorize all their lines.
27. You're an American and you start using Britishn slang terms like "git," "bloody," "nutters," and "prat."
    Man oh man. When I'm not watching myself, I have the weirdest accent and vocabulary you can imagine. Worse.
28. Your first question to every new person you meet is, "Have you read the Harry Potter series?" If they have, you'd just made a new best friend & if not, your opinion of them falls drastically.
29. You've stayed up all night reading HP FanFics.
    I have skipped my entire senior year of high school reading fanfic.
30. You think the next 23 days are going to be the longest in your life!!

If I am so dull that no one seems to care it is fine - I know I'm not as eloquent or as funny as most people who keep online journals, but that also means this verbiage is in fact a waste of bandwidth, a thing I am rather zealous about.

I think one day when I am able to better deal with it, I will want to contemplate and discuss the interaction between philosophy and theism. Card confuses me, and truth be said - so does Tolkien. This stuff is too big, and yet - if i am not in peace with my feelings about it, the rest is by definition meaningless. And I can't exactly settle on "42" either. *frustrated noises*

I wonder if the ring was Mellie's idea.

The Matrix Reloaded non-review

What's up with the MTV-esque raving niggers/steamy lovemaking clip?

I didn't get the philosophy crap; have to see it again to make up my mind about it.

Arse kixing was satisfactory.

In conclusion: Not the same "wow" feeling I had after seeing the first movie.

Edit, almost four years later: as far as I'm concerned, there was only one Matrix movie, and it didn't have any sequels.

I have discovered that with code, just as with prose, you absolutely need editors and rewrites, because although computer languages grammar parsers are far superior to human language "grammar checkers" (because, after all, computer languages have much simpler and stricter grammars), they are still utterly incapable of following the logic behind what you write.

Lessons learned:

• Planning your design ahead of implementation is crucial.
• Your first attempt will most likely fail, but unless you try really hard in it too, so will your second one.
• As complete as possible testing of the lower levels is a requirement for building higher levels.
• Writing down your test cases and going over them with a partner is always a Good Idea.
• While reading the requirements, take notes.
• Never trust anything with "Micro$oft" in its name to keep your code safe.
• Nothing makes sense on your 30-something hour of the day, a.k.a. "I am not as young as I used to be".
• "Online reference" is searched with Google, because otherwise it sux.
• Computer screen resolution and refresh rate is much more important than what you had for breakfast (or whether you had anything at all, for that matter).

Will try to go see The Matrix Reloaded as soon as I can to compensate slightly for the sheer exhaustion (and slight terror) of this passed week.

to Team Manager, Instructor Nir, Corporal

Step Five begins tomorrow. We shall ascend it with dignity.

Oracle Procedure Builder (v8.x) sucks hairy donkey balls. A geek with my level of social graces should be termed "nerd", which is very, very sad. Lack of sleep is a wicked thing that catches unawares you when you least expect it (superflous?), sort of like the Spanish Inquisition.

Good people are a treasure.

Ah.

The fireworks are better this year.

Some people don't take the time to check all the facts before deciding. Like, whether the tagged youngling is a cadet holding a disabled gun for purposes of guarding an electric candle (on Memorial Day) or a soldier, with a general issue Uzi, who is about to replace such cadet. Happy Birthday, Israel!

"She was small, sitting on a stool, leaning against a holographic wall. She was not beautiful. Not ugly, either. Her face had character. Her eyes were haunting, innocent, sad. Her mouth delicate, about to smile, about to weep. Her clothing seemed veil-like, insubstantial, and yet instead of being provocative, it revealed a sort of innocence, a girlish, small-breasted body, the hands clasped lightly in her lap, her legs childishly parted with the toes pointing inward. She could have been sitting on a teeter-totter in a playground. Or on the edge of her lover's bed." Orson Scott Card - Ender's Saga 2 - Speaker For The Dead Fanart?

British Muslims, huh. Curious. Mike's Place was a favorite location for many of my course-mates (those from the Tel-Aviv lodgings). They say it was pretty nice.

Mom didn't like the "psycho babble" in Mirror Dance. Said the author should stick to "girly sci-fi". I'm shocked and dismayed. Who cares? Me.STFU()

It's named "reader - beware" (or something like that) but it's outrageously funny, so go ahead and read it. CC & Co. - Caveat Lector I don't pretend to understand all the references (I don't read badfic T/G. Actually, I don't read T/G, full-stop), and I didn't get the chicken thing at all, but it's all good.

Yes, I have stopped following the DT ever since it came out of the closet. Nothing against gay people, heck, I like all those gay minor characters now exceedingly popular in fics all over the fandom (Lori's fault, maybe?), but I don't get H/D and I think I never will. If I have to read something of a ship I don't support canon-wise, let it be D/G, the sunset and the pink-haired offsprings (it does make for good smut). BUT, I still like Cassie for who she is as a character/person, regardless of the alleged lesbo shag-pad basement (aka Bad Place Central), the frequent drinking and/or silliness and other questionable behavior, because after all, we're all here to have fun and it's not her fault if some are just too uptight about it. http://www.livejournal.com/users/epicyclical/127913.html#cutid2

Lack of drive/motivation. Melancholy. Adams said the letter following "y" should be "not", but I am wired to prefer to zzzz... Low energy levels or extreme, perhaps fatal, laziness, counter-intelligent procrastination? A malady or inherited default? Search for an excuse, target of blame. At what level is introversion considered unhealthy? Do I sound like Marvin? The answer would be: get a life. What a catch-22. Almost funny. This post could have been very bad poetry. Thank me for sparing you at least that.

The more things I get to find out, the more I come to believe in Ecclesiastes 1:9. The reference's age serves to further support it.

I CAN'T BELIEVE NO ONE HAS EVER TOLD ME TO READ THIS BOOK!!! DID YOU ALL THINK I WAS BORN WITH A READING LIST??? SOME FRIENDS I'VE GOT!!! ENDER WIGGIN 0WNZ HARRY POTTER!!!

Mom didn't like Falling Free. When she cools off I'll try to extract her reasoning for it, if she has any. What are your thoughts?

Thank God, I'm home.

We're not being fucked over, it's male love. Huh. Chances are good that I'll be guarding the base during Passover. Fun.

State of alert has ended. We celebrated with BBQ. Tomorrow is a long day.

New matra: Escapism is bad for you, my preciousss.

Know that I will not hesitate for even an instant to use the blog's edit function to cover my ignorance, but what the devil is "RfA"?

The Uzi is not as cool as seen in movies. A small, heavy bugger. How is everyone?

AtE#35! The super-formatted version is 524KB in RAR3. Wah. It is available for reviewing the format and navigation, BTW.

I don't think I've ever seen a human being who needed to get laid worse than you do now.

Evil, but funny. Naturally, it couldn't have gone without a flame war, but alas, that's the way fandoms work. Now, where's Firelocks' retribution?

A military field court-martial has dubious reputation. Trust me - it's not half as bad. Well, it might depend on the officer... After this year's hardest rains last week (I was soaked to the bones and considered myself lucky I had time to get inside once it started to hail), we have 87°F. The weather has gone mad. Part B begins next week, which is v. good because it means the end of the hated structural Hebrew. You cannot begin to understand how awful it is to try and program in a right-to-left written language.

Bloody Idiot.

Seems like I'm needed at base. Trying to find out how urgent that is (meaning, can it wait till morning). Noncoms, huh?

Super!Harry, on the H/G continent, has evolved under the influence of the "bigger is better" misconception into a monstrosity. Some characters are big enough (not the best word here, I suspect) to nonchalantly pull off remaining an identifiable-with human while running around with a command headset, the Order of Merit and the Auditor's chain. Others would either be crushed by the weight or become non human, an unsuitable character for the main hero's role. By increasing the hero's firepower and inventing a new boss-creature for the grand finale, one does not create a novel but rather a video game, and even a video game is quickly ruined by cheat codes. The challenges the hero faces are supposed to be about life - inner struggles, not the props meant to attract the younger audience's attention. It feels as if less experienced authors (I mean as people, not as writers) don't see far beyond the toys. A book is about people and not their things, people with their faults and weaknesses and not Gods. Even RPG is supposed to teach you about life, not about building castles in the clouds. And if that is the lesson the author is trying to learn, why inflict it on other people? The internet is indeed a mixed blessing. P.S. There is a rabid plot bunny that should demonstrate my point, but I'm very afraid of setting it loose.

See if this works: http://fox302.com/userdata/wolf550e/files/Me/horrible.jpg

Sinead O'Connor - 2002 - Sean-Nos Nua - 07 - Paddy's Lament Cranberries - 1994 - No Need To Argue - 04 - Zombie

Till this "war" thing is over, I'll be going home @ 18:00 everyday. I don't even know if that's a good thing. Lugging a gas mask around all the time sure is a pain in the butt.

On the SciFi theme - downloaded some TV rips of B5. I have almost forgotten how good that show was. What is the point of Star Trek anyways? Joseph Michael Straczynski or bust.

In the spirit of "better late than never": Good job Carole (Estes)!

Archer/T'Pol, yeah baby! By mid season II they're quite obvious about it too. I can see a pointy-eared Archer Jr. :-)

Just got word that one of the kids who were killed in the latest bombing in Haifa was in my cousin's class in school. Gotta talk to him.

Our course's staff encourages the students to employ their talents for the group's benefit. I and a few others have decided to oblige by analyzing, designing, developing, testing, deploying and maintaining a "web page" for our intranet. Not that we have a minute to spare, but hey - "in the army, volunteering is a privilege" (well, that and our constant complains about boredom, force us to at least try and do something helpful). We found out that, as always, there's a catch: It has to be completely in Hebrew, and it's classified. So I have to research eight-bit bidirectional text encoding and I can't share my groovy scripts. Oh, and if you were wondering - I'm in charge of client-side scripting and standardization, not the artwork.

What is it that they say about men who like petite women and large dogs? Har har har.

A busfull of kids. Bastard. A weekend on leave, because of an important test on Sunday+Monday. Yay. No other news yet.

Well, I was in Null Pointer Assignment mode for a while during the test and didn't have enough unwasted time to finish it properly, so my grade will suffer. I hope for an 80. How sad. There is a big fucking test on Sunday. I must do well if I wish to save my average.

Something's rotten in the kingdom of the computer that does our grades. An entire course fucked over. We will complain. No answer yet as to what is going on with our status (soldiers in pre-military courses cannot be. So you have to be taken out of service for six months. But that means no paycheck which means starvation for the folks without parents, so it's out of the question. Bureaucracy SUX). The stuffed our entire senior year of high school comp.sci. into a week. Good for them. Vary bad for people who have a test on it tomorrow and day after tomorrow (an 18 hour long test).