Freude, schöner Götterfunken, Tochter aus Elysium

For any classical music fans out there:  the Beeb continues with their experiment of providing DRM-free versions of various broadcasts by making available MP3s of recent recordings of Beethoven's symphonies, as performed by the BBC Philharmonic (conducted by Gianandrea Noseda, and originally broadcast on Radio 3 between June 27th and 30th).

Unfortunately, they only leave the MP3s up for 7 days after broadcast, so symphonies no. 1 - 5 are no longer available.  However, 6 to 9 still are.  I have no idea as to what quality they are though, as I'm still waiting for even one of them to finish downloading.  (The files are big, and the speeds are slow — anyone still on dial-up might be in for a long transfer.)

Finally, if anyone knew about this beforehand, and managed to grab symphonies no. 1 - 5, then please let me know.  It would be nice to actually have something to listen to until I manage to get my other computer fixed.

It's Not The Heat, It's The Humidity

Fredericton, NB: Data for 4:00PM ADT

Mainly Sunny
Temp: 29.2°C
Windchill: 31°C
Humidex:  37.2°C

I never thought I'd say it, but winter can not come soon enough.

Whoops.

It would appear that this isn't needed.  MTEntryModifiedDate got added in 3.something; I was just unaware of it as mod_gzip has been selectively not updating static archives of pages, including every single one in my docs directory.  Therefore, I was still using the documentation from 2.63 as opposed to 3.17

I probably just sent everybody's (ok, probably just Peter's) feed readers into a tizzy.

All those entries showing up as modified?  Yeah, they aren't really modified.  It's just that MT doesn't, by default, allow access to the mt_entry.entry_modified_on field, and I was initially too lazy to type up the half-dozen lines of Perl that would allow me to use that instead of mt_entry.entry_created_on.  It shouldn't happen again.

For anyone who looks at the Perl code and goes "That's not a half-dozen lines", well:  most of it is copied from another plugin I wrote.  Only about a half-dozen lines had to be changed to make it do what I wanted (not counting deleted lines).

The True History Of The Hare And The Tortoise

(From Fifty-One Tales, by Lord Dunsany.  Originally published by Elkin Matthews, London, 1915.)

For a long time there was doubt with acrimony among the beasts as to whether the Hare or the Tortoise could run the swifter. Some said the Hare was the swifter of the two because he had such long ears, and others said the Tortoise was the swifter because anyone whose shell was so hard as that should be able to run hard too. And lo, the forces of estrangement and disorder perpetually postponed a decisive contest.

But when there was nearly war among the beasts, at last an arrangement was come to and it was decided that the Hare and the Tortoise should run a race of five hundred yards so that all should see who was right.

 Continue reading The True History Of The Hare And The Tortoise

Posted by g026r at 00:00 | 2 comments | Most recent by g026r

I Promise Not To Make A Habit Out Of This

Title Goes Here (Maybe)

This morning I was listening to CBC, and I happened to overhear that Irving bought out Here (a free weekly paper) sometime last year.  Later tonight, in a startling coincidence, Greg went to look up powertool prices, and entered www.kents.ca as the address — which he then promptly forwarded to me.  (I suggest following it for a surprise.)

Anyways, courtesy of IrvingSucks.com (who got it from a Nov. 2003 article in The Dominion Paper), I present: Freedom of the Press is for Those Who Own One: The Irving Media Monopoly in New Brunswick.  At the very least, it's a source of some interesting facts.  For example:  As of 2003, Irving owned all 3 English-language daily papers in NB (4 if you count the provincial and Saint John-specific versions of The Telegraph Journal), 9 subscription weeklies, and 6 free weeklies.  Yeesh….

Yom-yom-yooom, Ze Chocolad!

A couple of people requested this, so it's easier to put here than type it up and send it off to each person individually.

Spicy Tofu Triangles (from Better Homes and Gardens® Vegetarian Cooking):

• 1 12-ounce package extra-firm, tub-style tofu (fresh bean curd), chopped
• 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh shitake or button mushrooms
• 1/3 cup thinly sliced green onions
• 1/4 cup finely chopped canned water chestnuts
• 2 tablespoons bottled hoisin sauce
• 2 tablespoons Oriental chili sauce with garlic
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 48 wonton wrappers
• Nonstick cooking spray
• Teriyaki sauce, and/or prepared Chinese-style hot mustard (optional)

For filling, in a large bowl combine tofu, mushrooms, green onions, water chestnuts, hoisin sauce, chili sauce, and soy sauce.  Spoon about 1 tablespoon^* of the filling into the center of each wonton wrapper.  Brush the edges with water.  Fold one corner of wrapper to opposite corner to forma  triangle; press edges to seal.

Lightly coat baking sheets with cooking spray.  Place the wonton triangles on prepared baking sheets.  Lightly coat the triangles with cooking spray.

Bake in a 400° oven about 10 minutes or until triangles are crisp and golden brown.  Drain on paper towels.  If desired, serve the hot triangles with teriyaki sauce and/or mustard.

As a note:  these aren't that spicy, but Greg believes that's largely due to the chili garlic sauce that I chose to use.  They also look much nicer than my other contribution to Shan's birthday party snacks: beetroot hummus — which tasted fine, but had a scary bright pinkish-red colour.

* About 1/2 a tablespoon works better.  You'll probably run out if you use a full one.

Update: Food pics follow:

 Continue reading Yom-yom-yooom, Ze Chocolad!

Posted by g026r at 16:00 | 15 comments | Most recent by g026r

A Mistaken Identity

(From Fifty-One Tales, by Lord Dunsany.  Originally published by Elkin Matthews, London, 1915.)

Fame as she walked at evening in a city saw the painted face of Notoriety flaunting beneath a gas-lamp, and many kneeled unto her in the dirt of the road.

"Who are you?" Fame said to her.

"I am Fame," said Notoriety.

Then Fame stole softly away so that no one knew she had gone.

And Notoriety presently went forth and all her worshippers rose and followed after, and she led them, as was most meet, to her native Pit.

They Try; Man, How They Try!

Yeah, this is old news, but I don't remember seeing it the first time around, so here we go:

German forest loses swastika (courtesy of the Beeb).

Basic idea:  back in the 30s, somebody planted a bunch of larches in the shape of a swastika in amongst an evergreen forest.  In autumn, the larches turned yellow, and the shape could be seen from the air.  There's a picture of it here, along with links to other sites containing articles about the forest in question.  (Although, if you're wondering why the author of that page precedes the name of one site with "-- spit -- ", then I suggest here and here.)

Anyways, back on topic: it's just plain creepy, if you ask me.

Posted by g026r at 15:28 | 2 comments | Most recent by g026r

I'm Becoming… Brundlefly.

Spotted this on CBC's website today.  I knew Fredericton had a mosquito problem, but I didn't know it was quite this bad:

Bug killers the latest choice of thieves.

My personal favourite quote from the article:  "And I would submit as well there are probably a certain percentage of thieves that are stealing them because they don't like mosquitoes as well, but of course this isn't the proper and legal way to obtain a mosquito magnet."

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to take a bath in a tub of Off™.

She Got A TV Eye On Me

There's a surveillance camera in our lobby, which is pointed towards the door between the mail boxes and the elevator.  Basically, it watches who goes through that door, and who uses the intercom that's beside it.

Until recently, it was possible to watch the camera feed on channel 70- or 90-something.  Unfortunately, the camera wasn't that great, and the feed was rather snowy.  However, if you knew who someone was, you could probably identify them through the picture.

The feed disappeared, but the camera was recently replaced with a newer and better one, and the feed has returned.  There's only one small problem: it's no longer on a channel in the upper end of the range.  Instead, it's coming in on the same frequency as channel 19^*.  It's a good thing that I don't have an urge to watch YTV.

* 151.25MHz, for the curious.

Posted by g026r at 01:37 | 4 comments | Most recent by g026r

The Storm

(From Fifty-One Tales, by Lord Dunsany.  Originally published by Elkin Matthews, London, 1915.)

They saw a little ship that was far at sea and that went by the name of the Petite Espérance. And because of its uncouth rig and its lonely air and the look that it had of coming from strangers' lands they said: "It is neither a ship to greet nor desire, nor yet to succor when in the hands of the sea."

And the sea rose up as is the wont of the sea and the little ship from afar was in his hands, and frailer than ever seemed its feeble masts with their sails of fantastic cut and their alien flags. And the sea made a great and very triumphing voice, as the sea doth. And then there arose a wave that was very strong, even the ninth-born son of the hurricane and the tide, and hid the little ship and hid the whole of the far parts of the sea. Thereat said those who stood on the good dry land:

"'Twas but a little, worthless alien ship and it is sunk at sea, and it is good and right that the storm have spoil." And they turned and watched the course of the merchant-men, laden with silver and appeasing spice; year after year they cheered them into port and praised their goods and their familiar sails. And many years went by.

And at last with decks and bulwarks covered with cloth of gold; with age-old parrots that had known the troubadours, singing illustrious songs and preening their feathers of gold; with a hold full of emeralds and rubies; all silken with Indian loot; furling as it came in its way-worn alien sails, a galleon glided into port, shutting the sunlight from the merchantmen: and lo! it loomed the equal of the cliffs.

"Who are you?" they asked, "far-travelled wonderful ship?"

And they said: "The Petite Espérance."

"O," said the people on shore. "We thought you were sunk at sea."

"Sunk at sea?" sang the sailors. "We could not be sunk at sea—we had the gods on board."

I Don't Like Sand. It's Coarse And Rough And Irritating And It Gets Everywhere.

From the tell us something we didn't know department:  George Lucas admits he's no great writer.  Whenever I see that "I'm in love with you./No, I'm so in love with you." bit, I personally can't help but thinking "Oh, dear. She's stuck in an infinite loop and he's an idiot."  Yeesh.

Gerond Withoutitude Form Into Formless Bloit, Why Not Then? Moose.

I'm getting fed up with robots that both fail to obey my robots.txt file, and try to go unnoticed by faking a MSIE user agent.  Therefore, please don't click here or here.  (I did have to get links to the files on my webpage though, hence the reason for this post.)

And yes, before anyone asks, there was a Slashdot article about this today.  That's what pointed me towards WebPoison.org and Wpoison rather than building my own (which was something that I'd been thinking about doing for a while).

Posted by g026r at 23:04 | 2 comments | Most recent by g026r

This Entry Needs A Better Title

Let it be noted:  despite all of the odd OS/hardware combinations I may have tried in the past, I have at least never done anything as masochistic as attempting to run Panther on a m68k-powered Macintosh.  (For those who are confused by the terms:  that's MacOS 10.3 on an architecture that was discontinued by Apple in Jan. 1996—and last supported in MacOS 8.1, or Jan. 1998.)

Arise Ye Workers From Your Slumbers

This is the funniest thing I saw while I was in Dallas.  The colours are a bit off (a bit too much yellow, and I still am figuring out the GIMP), but I think you get the idea.  I'm surprised that at some point during the process, somebody didn't mention to them that painting the giant stars reddish (or yellow on reddish) probably wasn't the best of ideas.

Posted by g026r at 22:12 | 3 comments | Most recent by g026r

The Dream Of King Karna-Vootra

(From Fifty-One Tales, by Lord Dunsany.  Originally published by Elkin Matthews, London, 1915.)

King Karna-Vootra sitting on his throne commanding all things said: "I very clearly saw last night the queenly Vava-Nyria. Though partly she was hidden by great clouds that swept continually by her, rolling over and over, yet her face was unhidden and shone, being full of moonlight.

"I said to her:

"'Walk with me by the great pools in many-gardened, beautiful Istrakhan where the lilies float that give delectable dreams; or, drawing aside the curtain of hanging orchids, pass with me thence from the pools by a secret path through the else impassable jungle that fills the only way between the mountains that shut in Istrakhan. They shut it in and look on it with joy at morning and at evening when the pools are strange with light, till in their gladness sometimes there melts the deadly snow that kills upon lonely heights the mountaineer. They have valleys among them older than the wrinkles in the moon.

"'Come with me thence or linger with me there and either we shall come to romantic lands which the men of the caravans only speak of in song; or else we shall listlessly walk in a land so lovely that even the butterflies that float about it when they see their images flash in the sacred pools are terrified by their beauty, and each night we shall hear the myriad nightingales all in one chorus sing the stars to death. Do this and I will send heralds far from here with tidings of thy beauty; and they shall run and come to Séndara and men shall know it there who herd brown sheep; and from Séndara the rumour shall spread on, down either bank of the holy river of Zoth, till the people that make wattles in the plains shall hear of it and sing; but the heralds shall go northward along the hills until they come to Sooma. And in that golden city they shall tell the kings, that sit in their lofty alabaster house, of thy strange and sudden smiles. And often in distant markets shall thy story be told by merchants out from Sooma as they sit telling careless tales to lure men to their wares.

"'And the heralds passing thence shall come even to Ingra, to Ingra where they dance. And there they shall tell of thee, so that thy name long hence shall be sung in that joyous city. And there they shall borrow camels and pass over the sands and go by desert ways to distant Nirid to tell of thee to the lonely men in the mountain monasteries.

"'Come with me even now for it is Spring.'"

"And as I said this she faintly yet perceptibly shook her head. And it was only then I remembered my youth was gone, and she dead forty years."