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Compensation for the previous
Feb. 22nd, 2024 09:38 pmTo compensate for the previous awfulness, here is a cat picture of Don!
( Large picture ahead.... )
( Large picture ahead.... )
Some old awful software I once wrote
Feb. 22nd, 2024 09:14 pmI found this in an old archive. I originally wrote it in secondary school for the Commodore PET but this version is converted for the Commodore 64. It is an "extension" to the built-in BASIC. BASIC is already considered to be a bad programming language since it doesn't encourage (or even allow) structured programming. This thing makes it worse, by allowing self-modifying programs (so you don't even know what the program is, any more).
Good cat news this time :-)
Oct. 30th, 2023 08:05 pmAfter about a year of catlessness, we do have a cat again! Meet Don, the big red (formerly) male cat from the animal shelter!
( Read more... with some pictures )
( Read more... with some pictures )
Bad cat news...
Nov. 4th, 2022 06:58 pm( Bad cat news... )
Here is a picture from mid-September, where she was being very brave and climbing up the stairs we built for her to get onto the desks. Something she had never dared. Around that time she even once jumped on my lap to get to the liver sausage from my bread, also two extremely daring firsts. We were so proud of her.
( Big picture... )
Here is a picture from mid-September, where she was being very brave and climbing up the stairs we built for her to get onto the desks. Something she had never dared. Around that time she even once jumped on my lap to get to the liver sausage from my bread, also two extremely daring firsts. We were so proud of her.
( Big picture... )
(no subject)
Aug. 12th, 2021 03:23 pmYay, I just got my second Covid shot. With Comirnaty this time (better known as Pfizer/BioNTech). Let's see if it makes me feel like the first shot (which was AstraZeneca). It is kind of bad planning that this is in my vacation so there is no taking off work if I feel less well. (I know, in Germany sick days during vacation don't get counted as vacation days, but for that one would need a doctor's note, like after the first 2 sick days in normal circumstances, and I wouldn't bother unless it is more like breaking my leg or something.)
My current employer wants a doctor's note after 2 sick days; my previous one already wanted it on the first sick day. I don't find that very sensible since going to a doctor when you feel bad and weak isn't such a good idea, and you might infect others with what you have or get something nasty from somebody else. I'm used to the Dutch situation where they are often not bothering about doctor's notes for the first 2 weeks or so. I only had one time where my employer asked me to see the company physician and then I had much fun from making him look at something that embarrassed him to look at :)
My current employer wants a doctor's note after 2 sick days; my previous one already wanted it on the first sick day. I don't find that very sensible since going to a doctor when you feel bad and weak isn't such a good idea, and you might infect others with what you have or get something nasty from somebody else. I'm used to the Dutch situation where they are often not bothering about doctor's notes for the first 2 weeks or so. I only had one time where my employer asked me to see the company physician and then I had much fun from making him look at something that embarrassed him to look at :)
(no subject)
Jul. 18th, 2021 05:54 pm I just wanted to do some relaxing nostalgic reading of 30-years old Usenet at http://olduse.net/.... and they have ended! They had 10 years worth of archives and they ended in june 1991... Comp.sys.amiga was in full swing. I think that soc.bi was to be created soon.... but it isn't there. Such a bummer...
I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue
Jun. 29th, 2021 09:17 pmWhat happened to ISIHAC series 74? The last one I'm aware of was 73 (last December), and the one that is on now is called 75.
Goodbye FreeNode
May. 26th, 2021 09:16 pm21:13 *nickserv* <Rhialto> info 21:13 -NickServ(NickServ@services.)- Information on Rhialto (account Rhialto): 21:13 -NickServ(NickServ@services.)- Registered : Jun 06 20:33:16 2005 (15y 51w 0d ago) 21:13 -NickServ(NickServ@services.)- Last addr : ~rhialto@something.something.nl 21:13 -NickServ(NickServ@services.)- Last seen : now 21:13 -NickServ(NickServ@services.)- Logins from: Rhialto 21:13 -NickServ(NickServ@services.)- Nicks : Rhialto 21:13 -NickServ(NickServ@services.)- Email : noemail 21:13 -NickServ(NickServ@services.)- *** End of Info ***
This was also where #soc.bi was... but nobody has said much in there for many many months.
ETA: For who didn't catch what happened to the FreeNode irc network: it got taken over (well, it was sold off some time ago) to some guy who started messing with day to day operations, unilaterally changed the policies, etc etc, and is now pissing off all open source projects that were organizing their chats there by hijacking their chat channels. Among many others, this has happened to the #wikipedia and #ubuntu channels.
Some of many sources: https://kline.sh/ , https://lwn.net/Articles/857252/
It even made it into somewhat bigger news sites: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/05/freenode-irc-has-been-taken-over-by-the-crown-prince-of-korea/
Astra-Zeneca
May. 22nd, 2021 04:39 pmLast wednesday around noon I had my first dose of Astra-Zeneca, arranged via the company doctor. S. had had one of the mRNA vaccines the friday before (arranged via her $WORK), and so I was expecting some noticable side effects on the day itself. However, none happened, not even a sore arm or something. The "safevac" app which is made to track side effects almost seemed disappointed. I was already joking that they might have given me a dose of water or something.
Well... on thursday, I clearly felt feverish and head-achy (even though objectively the fever wasn't very much yet). I called in sick for the day and spent most of the time in bed. It did get worse during the day.
On friday it felt a bit better already but not quite ok yet, in particular the headache. I seem to be somewhat prone to annoying headaches anyway. Taking a paracetamol (but not ibuprofen) was apparently ok, and I took two a day.
Now on saturday, all is well again! Hooray.
I've been told that for Astra-Zeneca, the strongest side effects happen on the first dose, and for the mRNA ones it's stronger on the second dose. Indeed I do hope I've had the worst of it now. Next dose is in August...
Well... on thursday, I clearly felt feverish and head-achy (even though objectively the fever wasn't very much yet). I called in sick for the day and spent most of the time in bed. It did get worse during the day.
On friday it felt a bit better already but not quite ok yet, in particular the headache. I seem to be somewhat prone to annoying headaches anyway. Taking a paracetamol (but not ibuprofen) was apparently ok, and I took two a day.
Now on saturday, all is well again! Hooray.
I've been told that for Astra-Zeneca, the strongest side effects happen on the first dose, and for the mRNA ones it's stronger on the second dose. Indeed I do hope I've had the worst of it now. Next dose is in August...
Coronavirus
Mar. 6th, 2020 11:17 pmIf I look at the interactive corona virus map at interaktiv.morgenpost.de/corona-virus-karte-infektionen-deutschland-weltweit/ I don't get the impression "oh, there are almost no cases in the USA", but rather "they are really really bad at detecting it in the USA"...
Happy 2020!
Jan. 1st, 2020 04:34 pmI wish everybody a happy 2020, and may the last year of this decade be less bad than is to be expected[*]!
[*] because of the climate disaster, brexit disaster, trump disaster, etc...
[*] because of the climate disaster, brexit disaster, trump disaster, etc...
I filed a bug report with Firefox for the enormous add-on cock-up this weekend. I wanted to point out that I consider the way they designed the add-on signing to be a time-bomb in Firefox, and as such unacceptable. I may have used the word "stupid" to describe the situation (because nobody can call the way it is working "smart" or "clever"; very strongly the opposite).
I noticed that my bug was marked "invalid". Obviously I disagree. Wanting to look up any comments that were made, I noticed that the text on the bug report seems to have disappeared... see https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1549102
Not only that, it seems that they dislike criticism so much that they suspended my account. Tsss..
I really, really want another browser. All the ones I know about are crap.
I noticed that my bug was marked "invalid". Obviously I disagree. Wanting to look up any comments that were made, I noticed that the text on the bug report seems to have disappeared... see https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1549102
Not only that, it seems that they dislike criticism so much that they suspended my account. Tsss..
I really, really want another browser. All the ones I know about are crap.
Weird behaviour from an external disk
Feb. 16th, 2019 09:52 pmRecently I bought a new external disk (for doing backups on). [1]
When I got it I started with zeroing it out completely, as a simple test that it is actually working. This went with a nice speed (something like 60-80 MB/s). This speed is probably limited by the USB connection, not the actual disk speed.
Then I started to make the actual first backup onto it. That went very strangely: at first it too went at decent speed (it doesn't reach peak speeds if you copy small files of course), but at some point, it became slow. As in between 5 and 6 MB/s slow. The speed was very consistent. iostat showed me it was doing 85 or 86 transfers of 64 KB per second... steadily even when writing big files.
So I tried the disk with another computer and a different operating system. Also slow! (albeit about 8 MB/s or so).
We had a second disk of this type at hand that wasn't in use yet. So I tried making the backup on that one. I think I did not zero it out beforehand. Maybe that is important, but it seems the only difference in what I did. This second disk was plenty fast.
So I sent back the first disk, and ordered an identical one from a different shop. With the third disk I did the same things as with the first.... and it too became slow. I think it was later in the backup process, though. And while keeping an eye on the speed, it managed to go fast for 10 seconds or so, while I was watching, and then it became slow again.
This is so weird! I can believe that one disk is broken in some difficult to understand way, but two? The problem can't be the computer or its operating system, since the problem didn't vary with that. So the only thing I can think of is some weird firmware bug in the drive, that for some reason decides to start throttling the write speed...
Weird...
I think I'll have to send this one back too, and order a "desk model" of the same size... I have several of those in different sizes and they are all fine (so far).
[1] It is a Western Digital 4 TB USB-3 2,5" disk. They call it "Elements" and "portable". The model number (from its SMART info) is WDC WD40 NMZW-11GZ6S1. Weirdly it is sold as model WDBU6Y0040BBK-WESN, and that is on the outside of the packaging. This is the case for all 3 of the disks.
When I got it I started with zeroing it out completely, as a simple test that it is actually working. This went with a nice speed (something like 60-80 MB/s). This speed is probably limited by the USB connection, not the actual disk speed.
Then I started to make the actual first backup onto it. That went very strangely: at first it too went at decent speed (it doesn't reach peak speeds if you copy small files of course), but at some point, it became slow. As in between 5 and 6 MB/s slow. The speed was very consistent. iostat showed me it was doing 85 or 86 transfers of 64 KB per second... steadily even when writing big files.
So I tried the disk with another computer and a different operating system. Also slow! (albeit about 8 MB/s or so).
We had a second disk of this type at hand that wasn't in use yet. So I tried making the backup on that one. I think I did not zero it out beforehand. Maybe that is important, but it seems the only difference in what I did. This second disk was plenty fast.
So I sent back the first disk, and ordered an identical one from a different shop. With the third disk I did the same things as with the first.... and it too became slow. I think it was later in the backup process, though. And while keeping an eye on the speed, it managed to go fast for 10 seconds or so, while I was watching, and then it became slow again.
This is so weird! I can believe that one disk is broken in some difficult to understand way, but two? The problem can't be the computer or its operating system, since the problem didn't vary with that. So the only thing I can think of is some weird firmware bug in the drive, that for some reason decides to start throttling the write speed...
Weird...
I think I'll have to send this one back too, and order a "desk model" of the same size... I have several of those in different sizes and they are all fine (so far).
[1] It is a Western Digital 4 TB USB-3 2,5" disk. They call it "Elements" and "portable". The model number (from its SMART info) is WDC WD40 NMZW-11GZ6S1. Weirdly it is sold as model WDBU6Y0040BBK-WESN, and that is on the outside of the packaging. This is the case for all 3 of the disks.
In Edinmumble for EuroPy(th)(C)on
Jul. 20th, 2018 10:33 pmSo next week the EuroPython is happening. It looks like I'll have a free day on monday. I am carefully studying the weather forecasts and the predictions for when it will rain and when it will not are still changing... I do hope monday will be nice. It will certainly be cold, though, around 20°C, when at the same time it will be more like 30°C in Berlin...
In Edinmumble for EuroPy(th)(C)on
May. 31st, 2018 08:12 pmMy work is paying for going to Edinburgh for a week! I'm going to EuroPython which is a whole week from July 23-29. I will be there from sunday to sunday (that would be July 22-29 if I'm seeing that correctly).
My company has a policy about hotel fees, and so we (that is, 3 colleagues and me) ended up in Pollock Halls, which I remember quite well from previous occasions :-)
My company has a policy about hotel fees, and so we (that is, 3 colleagues and me) ended up in Pollock Halls, which I remember quite well from previous occasions :-)
Our black male cat Niko
Mar. 28th, 2018 09:50 pmOur black male cat Niko suffered from bad kidneys. He was already some unknown age, estimated at least 10 years.
Some weeks ago, he had less appetite during the day and during "treat play" (where we throw little treats to the kitties and they run and jump after them). In the weekend, he started to throw up almost everything he ate. During the week this didn't improve, despite the stomach calming stuff we were giving him. Niko kept trying to eat and drink though, but he got weaker and weaker. And despite everything he kept being well-behaved and kept using the litterbox.
All the while it was not an option to bring him to the vet. He never liked being approached with hands (and that is mildly put) and he still walked away from that. We remember the sheer fright and stress his one and only vet visit caused him. We didn't want to do that to him again, for questionable gains. Maybe he might live another 6 months after a drastic treatment, but the kidney problems would inevitably return.
And so we also couldn't even comfort him by stroking him. That was so sad...
So, after the next weekend he fell down while walking (probably had his heart attack) and was unconscious. We put him as comfortable as possible on a blanket and (how cynical) finally could comfortingly stroke him (at least we hoped that it comforted him, that it was only his fear of hands that played a role, not an active dislike of touch).
He died during the night while he was next to my bed.
Lotta, in the mean time, hasn't shown any sign of missing him. We already thought they weren't really a pair and this strengthens our doubts.
Niko and Lotta's dating page at the animal shelter
( Picture... )
Some weeks ago, he had less appetite during the day and during "treat play" (where we throw little treats to the kitties and they run and jump after them). In the weekend, he started to throw up almost everything he ate. During the week this didn't improve, despite the stomach calming stuff we were giving him. Niko kept trying to eat and drink though, but he got weaker and weaker. And despite everything he kept being well-behaved and kept using the litterbox.
All the while it was not an option to bring him to the vet. He never liked being approached with hands (and that is mildly put) and he still walked away from that. We remember the sheer fright and stress his one and only vet visit caused him. We didn't want to do that to him again, for questionable gains. Maybe he might live another 6 months after a drastic treatment, but the kidney problems would inevitably return.
And so we also couldn't even comfort him by stroking him. That was so sad...
So, after the next weekend he fell down while walking (probably had his heart attack) and was unconscious. We put him as comfortable as possible on a blanket and (how cynical) finally could comfortingly stroke him (at least we hoped that it comforted him, that it was only his fear of hands that played a role, not an active dislike of touch).
He died during the night while he was next to my bed.
Lotta, in the mean time, hasn't shown any sign of missing him. We already thought they weren't really a pair and this strengthens our doubts.
Niko and Lotta's dating page at the animal shelter
( Picture... )
Finally an ages-old Amazon order arrives
Nov. 7th, 2017 08:52 pmOnce upon a time, I ordered this book: Commodore: The Amiga Years. Actually, it was this kickstarter but I don't like kickstarters any more. (It's all the risk of investing in a start-up without even the reward of owning part of the company). I was happier to order it via Amazon. However, due to the kickstarter nature, delivery got delayed, and delayed, and delayed... eventually, Amazon canceled the whole order. Somehow there was a very similar replacement book (which is the one I linked to above). That was in September 2016, a year and 2 months ago. And it got delayed and delayed, and then a date was announced, and retracted again. Meanwhile I had moved to Berlin, so I tried to change the shipping address. Somehow the Amazon website doesn't like to change shipping addresses of back-ordered goods. I just managed to do it during the one day when they thought they knew it was finally in stock.
And now I finally have this book! I can't even look up when I placed the canceled order but it must be 2 or 3 years ago... so miracles sometimes do happen.
And now I finally have this book! I can't even look up when I placed the canceled order but it must be 2 or 3 years ago... so miracles sometimes do happen.
With 164 km/h down the Autobahn.
Aug. 16th, 2017 06:43 pmFinally I publicly moved to Berlin! With 164 km/h down the Autobahn. Yes, we were reasonably sticking to all speed limits, where they existed.
I have actually lived in Berlin since late last year (I moved in with my girlfriend), while most of my things were still staying in Nijmegen. I did it that way as a plan B in case things went horribly wrong and I wanted to return. In Germany the probation period in new jobs tends to be 6 months, and you can easily be fired in that period, for instance.
I didn't mention this before in public, because of the principle that you should not announce to the Internet that your belongings are unguarded and ripe for the picking.
I have actually lived in Berlin since late last year (I moved in with my girlfriend), while most of my things were still staying in Nijmegen. I did it that way as a plan B in case things went horribly wrong and I wanted to return. In Germany the probation period in new jobs tends to be 6 months, and you can easily be fired in that period, for instance.
I didn't mention this before in public, because of the principle that you should not announce to the Internet that your belongings are unguarded and ripe for the picking.
(no subject)
Jun. 13th, 2017 10:40 pmLivejournal has sunk so low as to empty my friends list....
perhaps because so far I have refused to agree to these new russian terms and conditions...
perhaps because so far I have refused to agree to these new russian terms and conditions...
