it's a radish

What I did on my winter vacation, or "ro ,noitacav retniw ym no did I tahW"

2012-01-01T20:17:00.000-05:00

Poking through some of my old delicious links, I found a post about finding palindromes in O(n) time that I'd always meant to come back to, but never did.

So I played around with it during my vacation to Virginia Beach with my family this year.

It took me a while to grok the algorithm in full, but once I did, I realized that it could be adapted to operate on list input (rather than array input) and produce results lazily. This has the benefit of being able to do stuff like take 100 . maximalPalindromeLengths $ repeat (), but I haven't thought of any practical benefit yet, since it still requires O(n) memory, so it's not appropriate for streaming data.

Here's my variation, though it's in a real repos if you want to play around with it:

Thrill Digger and expected value

2011-12-04T22:48:00.001-05:00

I got my copy of Skyward Sword last week, and so far, I've been having a blast. Recently, though, I was running Link up a volcano, on his way to find Zelda, and I got sidetracked by a mini-game called Thrill Digger.

Fortunately, I could take my time, and play around with it without worrying about Zelda too much.

So Thrill Digger is a gambling game. You pay a fee to play, then get to choose points on a grid - some grid points contain money, some contain bombs. You get to keep choosing points until you find a bomb, and which point the game ends. You get to keep all the money you find.

Money in Hyrule comes in a few denominations:

Green Rupees are worth 1
Blue Rupees are worth 5
Red Rupees are worth 20
Silver Rupees are worth 100
Gold Rupees are worth 300
Black Rupees (aka Rupoors) are worth -10

There are three levels of play:

The Beginner difficulty costs 30 Rupees to play, and consists of twenty spaces in a 5x4 grid. Of these spots, four are bombs. The grid is guaranteed to hold a number of both Green and Blue Rupees, with a small chance of a Red Rupee.

The Intermediate difficulty costs 50 Rupees to play, and consists of thirty spots in a 6x5 grid. Of these spots, four are Rupoors and four are bombs. The grid contains mostly Blue and Red Rupees, while Green and Silver Rupees are fairly rare.

The Expert difficulty costs 70 Rupees to play, and consists of forty spots in an 8x5 grid. Of these spots, eight are Rupoors and eight are bombs. Most spots contain Red Rupees, and occasional sightings of Blue, Silver, and Gold Rupees have been observed.

Now here's where the game gets interesting.

The type of Rupee in a dig spot identifies how many Bombs and Rupoors are in the eight spots around it, as follows:

Green Rupee: 0 spots

Blue Rupee: 1-2 spots

Red Rupee: 3-4 spots

Silver Rupee: 5-6 spots

Gold Rupee: 7-8 spots

This makes it quite hard to determine exactly how many spots are covered. Link can uncover all spots around Green Rupees without harm, while it's probably a very good idea to avoid all spots around a Gold Rupee.

Rupoors identify as a bomb for the purposes of which type of Rupees surround it, and will subtract 10 Rupees from Link's current total, but do not end the game

This makes the game somewhat like an imprecise version of Minesweeper (with a bit of Memory for flavor, since what grid spots used to contain before you dug there is not displayed).

In Minesweeper, however, the goal is to discover the mine locations. There's no cost to starting a new game, and no extrinsic value to revealing that a square does not contain a bomb.

By placing an upfront cost on playing, and shifting the goal from "discovering the mine locations" to "find as much money as possible", this changes the nature of the game. We want to get close to bombs and rupoors (so as to find high-denomination currency), but avoid them.

With this explicit cost/reward structure, we could calculate the expected value of a game of Thrill Digger. Even more, we could construct a Thrill Digger assistant, which, given the current game state, could advise us on the most advantageous location to dig next.

Sound like fun? I know it does to me :) So look for something in this space about my Thrill Digger assistant in the future.

Calculating the sum of digits without division

2011-09-20T20:46:00.000-04:00

So I was looking at the ant puzzle (thanks reddit), and I really hated the way they calculated the sum of the digits.

In Haskell:

sumOfDigits 0 = 0
sumOfDigits n | n < 0     = sumOfDigits (abs n)
              | otherwise = r + sumOfDigits q
  where (q,r) = n `quotRem` 10

It just seemed inelegant - there must be a way to find the sum of the digits without using division and modulus. Especially since
I'll be doing it over and over, for a bunch of sequential numbers.

Consider two sequential numbers.

Most of the time the difference in the sum of their digits is just one.
Except when we move from x9 to (x+1)0, then the difference is 8
Except when we move from x99 to (x+1)00, then the difference is 17
...
Except when we move from x999..9 to (x+1)000..0, then the differce is 9t-1

So in general, the difference between the sum of digits between x and x+1 is 1, minus 9 every tenth,
minus another 9 every hundredth, etc.

This sounds like something I can just calculate:

... zipWith subtract (every 1000 9) . zipWith subtract (every 100 9) . zipWith (every 10 9) $ repeat 1
  where every n k = replicate (n-1) 0 ++ (k : every n k)

Except I've got an infinite number of zipWiths to go through before I get to my most common case. Maybe what I need to do is invert it - start with the most common case on the outside, and have my less common cases inside.

At this point, note that we if we take the list of differences, subtract nine from each, and then put nine ones between each, we get the list of differences back:

listOfDiffs :: [Int]
listOfDiffs = concat $ nineOnes : map (\a -> (a - 9) : nineOnes) listOfDiffs
  where nineOnes = replicate 9 1

This seems like something I can generalize:

spread :: (a -> a) -> [a] -> [a]
spread f as = as'
  where as' = concat $ as : map (\a -> f a : as) as'

listOfDiffs :: [Int]
listOfDiffs = spread (subtract 9) (replicate 9 1)

Giving a simple way to enumerate all the sums of digits for all the numbers:

sumOfDigits :: [Int]
sumOfDigits = scanl (+) 0 listOfDiffs

Ponder this... in Haskell

2011-09-07T22:44:00.000-04:00

So, I got a solution accepted for IBM's Ponder This... puzzle from August despite only finding two of the three solutions. Here's what I sent them (see if you can spot my error):

Here's my solution in the form of a literate haskell program. I fully understand if it is found insufficiently elegant (for the tl;dr version - I found two possible triangles, (4,4,4) and (4,4,6)).

module TrianglePuzzle where
import Control.Monad (guard, MonadPlus)

Initially, Charlie only knows the perimeter.

charlie0 :: (Integral e) => Perimeter e -> [Triangle e]
charlie0 = havingPerimeter

And Ariella only knows the area

ariella0 :: (Integral e) => Squarea e -> [Triangle e]
ariella0 = havingSquarea

After Ariella’s confession that she can’t solve the puzzle, Charlie knows that it can’t be any of the triangles that have unique area.

charlie1 :: (Integral e) => Perimeter e -> [Triangle e]
charlie1 = filter (not . unique . ariella0 . squarea) . charlie0

After Charlie announced that he’s solved it, Ariella knows that one of her possible triangles must be a unique solution for Charlie, given its perimeter and her confession.

ariella1 :: (Integral e) => Squarea e -> [Triangle e]
ariella1 = filter (identically $ charlie1 . perimeter) . ariella0
  where identically f a = f a == [ a ]

So which triangles satisfy all these conditions? It suffices to check that Ariella can solve the puzzle uniquely, since her solution includes a check that Charlie can as well.

solutions :: (Integral e) => [Triangle e]
solutions = concat . filter unique $ map (ariella1 . MkSquarea) [ 3.. ]

Now, optimally, I’d have a closed form solution, rather than an exhaustive infinite search, but until then, I know that it’s possible that

either the triangle (4,4,4) (so Charlie was given 12 and Ariella was given 4√3)
or the triangle (4,4,6) (so Charlie was given 14 and Ariella was given 3√7)

are possible solutions.

main = print $ take 2 solutions -- prints [(4,4,4), (4,4,6)]

Appendix: How to enumerate integer-sided triangles given their perimeter or area.

Given a triangle with sides of integer length a, b, and c, s.t.

a ≤ b ≤ c
a + b > c

The formula for the perimiter of the triangle is

perimeter :: (Num e) => Triangle e -> Perimeter e
perimeter (a,b,c) = MkPerimeter $ a + b + c

Given a perimeter p, we can enumerate all the triangles of integer size with that perimeter.

havingPerimeter :: (Integral e) => Perimeter e -> [Triangle e]
havingPerimeter (MkPerimeter p) = do

The longest edge of the triangle is smallest when one of three equal edges, and largest when just less than half of the perimeter (since the other two edges’s sum must be greater).

  c <- [ p `ceilingDiv` 3 .. (p - 1) `floorDiv` 2 ]

The next longest edge must be at least half of the remaining perimeter, but no longer than the largest edge.

  b <- [ (p - c) `ceilingDiv` 2 .. c ]

The smallest edge can be calculated directly using the perimeter and the other two.

  let a = p - c - b
  return (a,b,c)

The formula for the area of the triangle (a,b,c) is

area = (1/4)√s
s = 2a²b² - c⁴ + 2a²c² - b⁴ + 2b²c² - a⁴

area :: (Floating e) => Triangle e -> e
area t = sqrt (unSquarea $ squarea t) / 4

squarea :: (Num e) => Triangle e -> Squarea e
squarea (a,b,c) = MkSquarea $ term (a*b) c + term (a*c) b + term (b*c) a
  where term x y = 2*x^2 - y^4

Given an area r, we can enumerate all the triangles that have that area.

havingArea :: (RealFrac e) => e -> [Triangle e]
havingArea r = map cast . havingSquarea . MkSquarea . round $ 16 * r^2
  where cast (a,b,c) = (fromIntegral a, fromIntegral b, fromIntegral c)

Though it may be easier to reason in terms of a multiple of the area squared, s, so we can confine ourselves to integer operations.

havingSquarea :: (Integral e) => Squarea e -> [Triangle e]
havingSquarea (MkSquarea s) = do

The smallest side is at least one, and is its largest when all three sides are equal, which tells us:

s ≥ 2a² a² - a⁴ + 2a² a² - a⁴ + 2a² a² - a⁴ = 3a⁴

  a <- takeWhile (\a -> 3*a^4 <= s) [1..]

The next largest side is at least as large as the first, but we can do better than that sometimes. If we rearrange the definition of s, we can use the quadratic formula to solve for c², yielding

c² = (a² + b²) ± √( 4a²b² - s )

Since our solutions are non imaginary, this constrains

4a²b² - s ≥ 0
4a²b² ≥ s

We can cap the size of the second edge by stating that it can only be as large as the third edge, which gives

s ≥ 2a²b² - b⁴ + 2a²b² - b⁴ + 2b²b² - a⁴ ⇒
s ≥ 4a²b² - a⁴ ⇒
s + a⁴ ≥ 4a²b²

So we can combine all three constraints to get possible values for b.

  b <- let check cmp b = cmp $ 4*a^2*b^2 in
       takeWhile (check (<= s + a^4)) $ 
       dropWhile (check (< s))          $
       [ a .. ]

Now we can just use the quadratic formula to solve for c

y <- integralSqrt (4*a^2*b^2 - s)
c2 <- let x = a^2 + b^2 in 
      if y == 0 
       then [x] 
       else [x-y, x+y]
c <- integralSqrt c2
return (a,b,c)

Now that we have these tools, we can reason through the problem.

Utilities:

Let’s use a simple type for triangles (no need to get fancy), but since confusing a perimeter value and an area value could get bad, let’s wrap those up.

type Triangle e = (e,e,e)

newtype Perimeter e = MkPerimeter { unPerimeter :: e } deriving (Show, Eq)

newtype Squarea e = MkSquarea { unSquarea :: e } deriving (Show, Eq)

It’s handy to have some easily doing basic integer operations, like div with ceiling or floor, or a way to find integral square roots.

ceilingDiv :: (Integral e) => e -> e -> e
ceilingDiv n d = (n + d - 1) `div` d


floorDiv :: (Integral e) => e -> e -> e
floorDiv = div

integralSqrt :: (MonadPlus m, Integral i) => i -> m i
integralSqrt i = do
 let x' = sqrt $ fromIntegral i
 let x = round x'
 guard $ x' == fromIntegral x
 return x

Identifying a list that contains a unique element comes up a couple times.

unique :: [a] -> Bool
unique [_] = True
unique  _  = False

Liner Notes for Rachel's Birthday Mix

2010-11-05T23:01:00.002-04:00

Home by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros

I had this in a mix for you, and then heard it in a commercial while hanging out
at my in-laws. So I figured I better lead with it, so you could listen to it
quickly, before you started associating it with insurance, or whatever. I have
a thing for songs that are dialogues.
This Too Shall Pass by OK Go

So you've probably one of the two videos for this. I actually prefer the
marching band one to the Rube Goldberg one, but that might just be because
I saw the marching band one first. Plus, camoflauged brass section!
Daniel by Bat for Lashes

A bit more mellow than the previous songs, but kinda hauntingly beautiful.
The Great Defector by Bell X1

I keep finding these songs that remind me of the Talking Heads. Which is a good
thing, because there is no more Talking Heads.
How Soon Is Now by smithsproject

Apparently this lady (Janice Whaley) is attempting to cover every Smiths song.
Quite the undertaking, neh?
No More Little Lion Man by Mumford & Sons

There's a sound that guitars can make that's like the breaking silence that
rushes before a storm. It bodes. And after capturing you with that, this
just shows off some fast picking.
Flash by Queen

This is the song that got me started liking Queen. Jason was giving me a ride
somewhere, and this was playing on his stereo. I had no idea who Flash was,
and Jason was flabbergasted.
Hard Times by John Legend & The Roots (feat. Black Thought)

Kar and I went to see the Roots this fall. It was a great show - but it went
so late that we had to leave early. Lots of fun, a little funk, and a guy
dancing all over the stage with a tuba.
In The Midnight by Langhorne Slim

I challenge you not to want to get up and dance.
Sixteen Feet - Cantina Band by Dominic Sagolla

I would be abandoning my duties as a little brother if I didn't include something
at least a little bit silly or Star Wars related.
Men Without Ties by Paul Westerberg

Paul Westerberg is one of those artists I didn't really notice until recently
(barring a duet with Joan Jett). And I figured that if I was going to include
any of his music on here, that this one was the most apropos, coming from me.
Mongrel Heart by Broken Bells

I was actually thinking about putting another song of theirs on here (The High Road),
but I decided to go for something else off the same album, because I figured you'd
already heard it. If not, check it out - it's a major earworm. Half of the band
is DangerMouse, who is also half of Gnarls Barkley.
Weight of the World by Pigeon John

The other day, I was looking through a used DVD store for a copy of the Addams Family
for Kar, and I heard this over the stereo. I recognized it, but didn't know from where.
When I got home, I realized that I owned it. I own more music than I've listened to,
but I try to keep tabs on the music I actually like.
Owner of a Lonely Heart by Yes

Pure 80s, and there's nothing wrong with that.
The Mines of Mozambique by Bruce Cockburn

I know you like Bruce Hornsby, and I figured one Bruce is much like another.
Sweep the Leg by No More Kings

Really, the original Karate Kid movie prejudices you against the Johnny character.
You don't know what he's going on, other than an sensei who's obviously got skewed
priorities.
You Turn The Screws by Cake

A little outro from Cake to get the groove going.
Born Slippy by Kupek

Trainspotting might not be your favorite movie in the world (I know it's not mine),
but the original version of this song is one of my favorites off the soundtrack.
This is a cover by a guy who did a comic book I like, and I thought it was nifty.

To those who sympathize with Juan Williams

2010-10-24T10:05:00.003-04:00

I understand the root of your fear. We were all afraid. Nine years ago, when the towers fell, and the pentagon collapsed, we were terrified. At first, we didn't know what was going on, or how long it would go on for. We had no sense of what was safe. In this, we were all united.

Where I stop sympathizing with you is that you have kept your fear. We are in a war. We are continuing to strike at those who would harm us, to work for the safety of our selves and our nation. The only thing our enemies want is our fear. And you are giving it to them.

You are an adult, so you have the capacity to deal with your fear in an adult fashion. Do so, because you are an American and have a responsibility to do so. As the quote says "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." The most they can take from us is our lives. They cannot take our dreams, our ideals, our nation. Only our fear can.

Fear can cause us to destroy our laws and traditions in pursuit of safety. Fear can make us suspect our own citizens are enemies, dividing us against ourselves. Fear is the root of panics and riots. And all we have to do is stand up, and decide to be unafraid.

The statistics are there if you cared to look for them. A minuscule fraction of the Muslims in the world are terrorists. A similar fraction of Christians are terrorists. Same with just about any religious group. Terrorism is one of the least likely ways to die. You're more likely to be killed by a loved one.

I would say remain a willfully ignorant coward if you must, but I can't. I share a nation with you. I need to work with you, live with you. I need you to continue on with me so we can build a future. I need you to conquer your fears and educate yourself. Do so.

This needs to be my new icon

2009-12-15T22:40:00.003-05:00

Picnic Fail

2008-09-25T11:41:00.002-04:00

I just got an email from the CS dept:

Due to the bad weather that is expected to arrive today and remain through Friday, we will not be holding the picnic at Acredale Park on September 26. On Friday, tables will be set-up in the CSIC lobby to serve food between 12:30pm and 2:30pm. Since classes will be in session during morning hours and again at 1:30pm, no eating in CSIC will be permitted and we need to keep the noise level low so that classes are not disturbed. We ask that you return to your offices, the graduate lounge or any available conference room to eat. Unfortunately, since we will not be outdoors, there will not be any activities.

So the picnic will be indoors. You can't eat at the picnic, nor can hang out there. Breaking my previous assumptions about minimum requirements for picnic-hood. I actually find this rather hilarious.

HOWTO: Wrap a libpurple plugin for Adium

2008-09-17T14:29:00.005-04:00

The core of the chat client Pidgin (formerly Gaim) and its command-line cousin Finch is a library called libpurple. This library handles all of the various chat protocols so that Pidgin, Finch, and other chat clients need merely to provide a GUI. It is also used by the Macintosh chat app Adium.

In this post, I'm going to discuss how to write, compile, and install a plugin for libpurple. Plugins in libpurple can extend or modify the behaviour of the library - even up to adding additional chat protocols, though in this post we'll work with a simpler example.

There's at least one good article on how to write a C plugin for libpurple that can be used with Pidgin or Finch. Installing plugins for pidgin or finch is easy - just drop the <plugin-name>.so file in ~/.purple/plugins.

Where there's a dearth of information is how to make a libpurple plugin that can be used with Adium, which is what this post will try to cover.

The Libpurple Plugin

First, let's list our libpurple plugin code. Compiled correctly, it could be used with Pidgin or Finch. Our goal, however, is to use it in Adium.

Let's create a plugin that mutes conversation - just converts all the instant messages we receive to all lowercase. There's too much shouting in chat anyway.

mute.c

 1  #define PURPLE_PLUGINS
 2
 3  #include <glib.h>
 4
 5  #include <plugin.h>
 6  #include <version.h>
 7
 8  #include <signals.h>      // purple_signal_connect()
 9  #include <account.h>      // PurpleAccount
10  #include <conversation.h> // purple_conversations_get_handle(),
11                            // PurpleConversation
12
13  #include <ctype.h>        // tolower()
14
15  static gboolean
16  receiving_im_msg_cb(
17      PurpleAccount *       account,
18      char **               sender,
19      char **               message,
20      PurpleConversation *  conversation,
21      PurpleMessageFlags *  flags,
22      void * thunk
23  ) {
24    char *p;
25
26    // convert the message to lowercase
27    for (p = *message; *p; p++) {
28      *p = tolower(*p);
29    }
30
31    return FALSE;
32  }
33
34  static gboolean
35  plugin_load(PurplePlugin *plugin) {
36
37      // hook all im's before they're displayed
38      purple_signal_connect(
39          purple_conversations_get_handle(),
40          "receiving-im-msg",
41          plugin,
42          PURPLE_CALLBACK( receiving_im_msg_cb ),
43          NULL /* our thunk */);
44
45      return TRUE;
46  }
47  static gboolean
48  plugin_unload(PurplePlugin *plugin) {
49
50      purple_signal_disconnect(
51          purple_conversations_get_handle(),
52          "receiving-im-msg",
53          plugin,
54          PURPLE_CALLBACK( receiving_im_msg_cb ));
55
56      return TRUE;
57  }
58
59  static PurplePluginInfo info = {
60      PURPLE_PLUGIN_MAGIC,
61      PURPLE_MAJOR_VERSION, PURPLE_MINOR_VERSION,
62      PURPLE_PLUGIN_STANDARD,
63      NULL, 0, NULL,
64      PURPLE_PRIORITY_DEFAULT,
65
66      "core-mute",
67      "Mute",
68      "1.0",
69
70      "Mutes incoming IMs by converting uppercase to lowercase.",
71      "Mutes incoming IMs by converting uppercase to lowercase.",
72      "Noah Easterly <noah@mailinator.com>",
73      "http://rampion.blogspot.com",
74
75      plugin_load,                   // our startup hook
76      plugin_unload,                 // our shutdown hook
77      NULL,
78
79      NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL
80  };
81
82  static void
83  init_plugin(PurplePlugin *plugin) { }
84
85  // magic macro that gets us run
86  PURPLE_INIT_PLUGIN(mute, init_plugin, info)

Normally, we would compile this for Pidgin just by

downloading a copy of the pidgin source
running ./configure
placing a copy of mute.c in libpurple/plugins/
running make mute.so in libpurple/plugins/

and install it by placing mute.so in ~/.purple/plugins/

Notice that this plugin hooks into all incoming IMs by using a signal. In libpurple (and Pidgin and Finch), messages are passed around by signals. Each signal has an emitter (which is just a unique id), an id (which is just a string), and zero or more receivers (again, just a unique id).

Since the signals documentation is still in progress, I'll take a moment to talk about them. Here's the complete list of signals in pidgin 2.4.2. If you're using a later version, you can find this list by just grepping through the source for purple_signal_register(), which is how signals are registered by their emitters.

Each call to purple_signal_register() specifies:

the emitter,
the signal id,
the type of the callback function,
the type of the return value of the callback function,
the number of arguments to pass to the callback function (other than the thunk, which I'll discuss in a second),
the types of the arguments to pass to the callback function.

Each callback gets one extra argument - a thunk. This thunk is just a (void *) pointer that was specified when you connected to the signal. It's how you can maintain state between calls without using globals.

For example, compare the signature of the "receiving-im-msg" signal:

purple_signal_register(handle, "receiving-im-msg",
           purple_marshal_BOOLEAN__POINTER_POINTER_POINTER_POINTER_POINTER,
           purple_value_new(PURPLE_TYPE_BOOLEAN), 5,
           purple_value_new(PURPLE_TYPE_SUBTYPE,
                  PURPLE_SUBTYPE_ACCOUNT),
           purple_value_new_outgoing(PURPLE_TYPE_STRING),
           purple_value_new_outgoing(PURPLE_TYPE_STRING),
           purple_value_new(PURPLE_TYPE_SUBTYPE,
                  PURPLE_SUBTYPE_CONVERSATION),
           purple_value_new_outgoing(PURPLE_TYPE_UINT));

with our callback function:

static gboolean
receiving_im_msg_cb(
    PurpleAccount *       account,
    char **               sender,
    char **               message,
    PurpleConversation *  conversation,
    PurpleMessageFlags *  flags,
    void * thunk
) { ... }

It's a little tricky to figure out how we got all those types from that signature. The easy way to do it is of course to cheat. Grep through the source, and look for purple_signal_emit() calls with the desired signal id - that will tell you exactly what's getting passed in (except for the thunk).

Wrapping it for Adium

There is some documentation on how to write Adium plugins, but it's certainly not as complete as it needs to be, or could be.

To create an Adium plugin, we're going to need a copy of the Adium source. Adium and Adium plugins are written in Objective C. If you're not familiar with Objective C, and you don't feel like learning it right now, be not afraid. It's really just a couple concepts tossed on top of regular C.

classes are declared in @interface ... @end blocks
and implemented in @implementation ... @end blocks
methods are called using [object method:arg1 with:arg2 and_with:arg3] notation (where the instance method is method:with:and_with:).
classes can have super classes and can implement protocols (abstract collections of declared but undefined methods).

So, we'll need to fire up XCode. First, we'll open the Adium project from our Adium source (in adium-1.2.5/Adium.xcodeproj), and build that (for Development). This will give us the necessary headers and such that our plugin will need. Then we'll create a new project (File→New Project...), in this case a Cocoa bundle:

We'll go ahead and stick our new project in the same root directory as our adium source:

(So in this case our adium source is in ~/Projects/adium-1.2.5).

First, we'll create our wrapper code. We'll create a new cocoa class (File→New File):

We'll be using this new class to invoke our existing C code, as a wrapper, so name it appropriately

This code is mostly skeletal. In the .h file we'll be declaring our MuteWrapper class - it's subclass of AIPlugin (Adium Plugin) that implements the AILibpurplePlugin protocol. What that does is provide hooks for Adium to run the plugin when libpurple is ready.

MuteWrapper.h

1  #import <Adium/AIPlugin.h>
2  #import <AdiumLibpurple/AILibpurplePlugin.h>
3
4  @interface MuteWrapper : AIPlugin <AILibpurplePlugin> {}
5  @end

In our .m file, we need to implement the necessary hooks expected: installLibpurplePlugin (which is called before libpurple is fully ready - so we can't register for signals yet) and loadLibpurplePlugin (which is called after libpurple is ready).

MuteWrapper.m

 1  #import "MuteWrapper.h"
 2
 3  @implementation MuteWrapper
 4  - (void) installLibpurplePlugin
 5  {
 6  }
 7  - (void) loadLibpurplePlugin
 8  {
 9      purple_init_mute_plugin();
10  }
11  @end

The function purple_init_mute_plugin() was defined in mute.c by the PURPLE_INIT_PLUGIN(mute, init_plugin, info) call at the end when PURPLE_STATIC_PRPL is defined at compile time.

The last piece of code we'll need is mute.c - which we already wrote, so we'll just import that into the project (Project→Add to Project):

Now, we need to add a bunch of Frameworks to our project, so we they're available to link with:

From adium-1.2.5/build/Developement/ add

Adium.framework
AdiumLibpurple.framework
AIUtilities.framework

and from adium-1.2.5/Frameworks/ add

FriBidi.framework
libglib.framework
libgmodule.framework
libgobject.framework
libgthread.framework
libintl.framework
libmeanwhile.framework
libpurple.framework

The last bit we'll need to do is a bit strange - in order to link correctly, we need to hack in a change to the linker paths. We can do this by adding a new script phase to our target:

The script we need to add is fairly simple. Just copy and paste the following. However, be certain to update it if your version of Adium uses a version of libpurple besides 0.4.1, as this is hardcoded into the script

script.sh

#Make this change for every new version of libpurple in Adium source
/usr/bin/install_name_tool -change "@executable_path/../Frameworks/libpurple.framework/Versions/0.4.1/libpurple" "@executable_path/../Frameworks/libpurple.framework/libpurple" "$TARGET_BUILD_DIR/$TARGET_NAME.$WRAPPER_EXTENSION/Contents/MacOS/$TARGET_NAME"

Next, we'll need to change some project settings, so go to Project→Edit Active Target:

First we'll need to set some information in the Properties tab. The important things to do here is to

set Creator to AdIM - not sure why yet, but if I figure out why, I'll let you know.
set Principal Class name as MuteWrapper, the class we be used to wrap our libpurple plugin.

Now we move over to the Build tab, and change more settings (beware trailing spaces):

add a new User-defined setting for ADIUM as ../adium-1.2.5
- we'll be using this a bunch, so it's convenient.
set Architectures (ARCHS) as $(NATIVE_ARCH_32_BIT)
- I get bugs otherwise, not sure why.
set SDK Path (SDKROOT) as $(DEVELOPER_SDK_DIR)/MacOSX10.4u.sdk
- Adium is a universal binary, so we need to use the right sdk.
set Header Search Paths (HEADER_SEARCH_PATHS) as $(ADIUM)/Frameworks/libpurple.framework/Versions/0.4.1/Headers $(ADIUM)/Frameworks/libglib.framework/Headers/glib-2.0
- most of our headers are in adium.
set Framework Search Paths (FRAMEWORK_SEARCH_PATHS) as $(SDKROOT)/System/Library/Frameworks $(ADIUM)/build/Development $(ADIUM)/Frameworks
- same for our frameworks.
set Wrapper extension (WRAPPER_EXTENSION) as AdiumLibpurplePlugin
- different than the normal AdiumPlugin extension, this loads us after libpurple is ready, and makes sure the AILibpurplePlugin hooks are called.
set Installation Directory (INSTALL_PATH) as "$(HOME)/Library/Application Support/Adium 2.0/PlugIns/"
- this is where Adium plugins live.
set Other C Flags (OTHER_CFLAGS) as -DPURPLE_STATIC_PRPL
- this makes mute.c generate purple_init_mute_plugin(), so we can call it from MuteWrapper.m.

That's it. Now we just build, and double-click on our completed product to install the Mute.AdiumLibpurplePlugin in Adium.

In which Noah learns how to embed quicktime...

2007-03-01T23:40:00.000-05:00

This looks pretty neat...

February Reading List

2007-02-25T18:39:00.000-05:00

Viriconium by M. John Harrison. Started it in January, but never finished. More a collection of related novelletes than anything else. Well written, but dense, which made it hard to hold my interest on my commute. The ... I guess baroqueness is the word I want http://www2.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifto use, reminds me a lot of China Mieville. Who has a coming out. Which is a little weird. The Last Continent by Terry Pratchett. A reread. Pratchett's always fun. I suspect I would find this one funnier if I knew more about Australia. Myth Conceptions by Robert Asprin. I'd read another one in this series a long time ago (Myth-ing Persons, since I still own it), but I think the time when I would have really enjoyed this has passed. Ah, childhood days spent reading & rereading Xanth books.... To Reign in Hell by Steven Brust. I really enjoyed Brokedown Palace, so when I saw this on Brian & Becky's shelves, I picked it up. I did ask first. A good religious fantasy. I'd use a reference to "Sympathy for the Devil" here, since that what it is, in effect, but I think Brust uses the reference himself. This is all out of order and stuff, but I forgot to put down The Stupidest Angel, by Christopher Moore, which Greg lent me. A christmas story, with zombies. Not to mention a post-apocalyptic warrior woman, talking fruitbat, and a good way to create masochistic rats. Funny stuff, as always. Just finished The Book of Jhereg, which is more Steven Brust. Actually three books: Jhereg, Yendi, and Teckla. Not as good as the rest of his stuff I've read recently, but fun, and actiony. Plus, it's kind of interesting to be reading a fantasy main character who's, you know, married. And working at it.

Nesting C functions on OSX

2007-02-09T23:58:00.000-05:00

Frustrated. Why? Because this:

#include <stdio.h>
void outerfunc(void (*innerfunc)(void))
{
  printf("in outermost\n");
  innerfunc();
}
int main(int argc, char * argv)
{
  int x = 0;
  void callback(void)
  {
    printf("in callback\n");
  }
  outerfunc(callback);
  return 0;
}

compiles and runs fine, and this:

#include <stdio.h>
void outerfunc(void (*innerfunc)(void))
{
  printf("in outermost\n");
  innerfunc();
}
int main(int argc, char * argv)
{
  int x = 0;
  void callback(void)
  {
    printf("in callback(x = %d)\n", x);
  }
  outerfunc(callback);
  return 0;
}

gives me this:

% gcc -fnested-functions test3c.c
/usr/bin/ld: Undefined symbols:
___trampoline_setup
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status

The only article I've found about ___trampoline_setup explains the reason for trampolines, and gives a .asm file that defines ___trampoline_setup, but knowing these things hasn't helped me. Either I'm supposed to compile the .asm file in somehow, which I'm not sure how to do, or I have a different problem.

biting the bullet

2007-01-16T21:40:00.000-05:00

Ok, so, if my end goal is web access to my tivo (series 1) programs, then I need something like this. (Found via this mostly content-less blog post. I mean, really, am I missing something? Having to read the screenshot is totally uncool). To install that, first I need telnet/ftp access to my tivo, and here's a guide for that. To set up telnet/ftp access I need to back up the drive, which requires a new drive (which might as well be larger, while I'm at it), and a pc running linux.

Movies I've seen this weekend.

2007-01-14T01:27:00.000-05:00

Children of Men: Saw it last night (friday the 12th) w/ Karlee, J.R., Jenny, Josh, & Deborah. Good, smart science fiction. Not the rockets and blasters type, the make you think type. Which is cool. I like this trend of "make you think" sci-fi movies. Although, all I can think of right now is Eternal Sunshine. One of the cool directorial aspects was that each and every death came as a shock. Despite the violence, the director never let you numb to the deaths. Pan's Labyrinth: Cool fantasy from Guillermo Del Toro. It's in spanish, subtitled, and limited release, so I know that'll prevent some folks I know from seeing it, but it's really good. It's got amazing effects, and the story is like a fairy tale, in that it's bloody and beautiful, and horrible and beautiful things happen. Saw it at the AFI, which I should go to more often. Come to think of it, I should go to more movies, cause I like that too.

January Reading List

2007-01-05T22:31:00.000-05:00

New Year's resolution: keep a list of books I've read

Bitten by Kelley Armstrong

4 sex scenes. I counted.
Kar & the ladies say the other books in the series are better, so I might give them a shot.

The Traveler by John Twelve Hawks

At one point, one guy holding a sword says to another guy holding a sword "there can be only one...". Chapter 59.
Interesting. Fun. Has a few bits that seem a bit repetitive (how many times do we need to be told about the splicers?).

The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories by Susanna Clarke

good. A lot of different varieties of fairie stories. And I do like her sense of humor.

Specials by Scott Westerfeld

satisfying conclusion to a trio of young adult novels. Young-adult novels, not young adult-novels. The distinction is important.

Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde

the fourth Thursday Next novel (and it reads as if it were the last)
fun literary humor. If science fiction bases its stories in science, then you could call this a combination of science fiction and literary fiction. (oooh. metafiction, that's a good word for it.)

short story I dug up the other day

2007-01-05T22:17:00.000-05:00

He awoke, walking. The streetlights were still on, but out far in front of him the darkness of the sky was dimming, and he could see gray streaks in the blackness. Morning would soon be here. He was at the corner of Leigh and Summit, so he turned left, and headed back towards the house.

His nightgown was lightly fringed with mud. It was old-fashioned, just a simple, thin cotton shift, like a long sleeved dress, but, you know, for a guy. Very light and comfortable, though, and, apart from the flecks of mud above the spattered line, pure white. Well, he'd set it in bleach in the sink when he got back. It should come out. Some nights, when he put it on, he dreamed he was in the desert, just standing there, feeling the heat of the day die on the sand around him as the sky grew dark, and then the stars winked in, bright and clear. There were few stars by streetlight.

The air was warm, but he supposed it didn't matter. He walked around back. The front door should be locked. He discovered the puddle after the gate, small and shallow, mostly just a thin layer of mud, but a thin pool at one part, clearly shaped in the form of his foot. He sat on the wooden step, and leaned against the railing he'd put in last summer, the 4x4 not even creaking. He was very proud of that. The mud on the top of his foot had dried, so he flecked it off, leaving a gray graininess to the hairs on his foot. The sole was clean, probably from walking, wearing the mud away. He shivered, once, and stared up at the sky.

Orion seemed to be all he ever saw these days. The lonely hunter, forever separated from his hunt, his Diana, his life. He probably didn't like the suburbs either. Orion had been killed, and Diana, who loved him, who loved only him among all men, cried to her father, and her father set him in the stars. He had been a giant, until then.

In the desert, he felt the breeze of the evening, not gentle, but picking up, growing stronger until by the time he laid down, the sand whipped over him, three, four feet in the air. rasping his skin except where it pushed his cotton robe close. His vision though, was always clear. He could always see the stars.

He was never tired when this happened. This had startled him once. He didn't know how far he had walked asleep, how long he had been out. When ever he set traps for himself, asked friends or family to watch for him, hid cameras or tied bits of string to himself, the sleeping walker remembered, and did not go out. On those nights, he woke ill-rested, like his body had been waiting, tense, all night.

He was sure, though, that he did not go out every night. Some nights he didn't wake at all, and his alarm was his first cue of the morning, but he would know he'd walked the night before, and not because of some chance puddle. He'd just know. There seemed to be no pattern to the nights spent rambling, they just happened.

He stepped inside, sliding the glass door shut, setting the lock, pulling it to make sure. Every night he locked the doors, before he went to sleep, but this seemed to present the sleeping walker no challenge.

In the desert, eventually, the wind would die, and a peace would take the air. When the light died, the life of the desert faded a little. Those that could scamper or burrow did, and went under to conserve heat, and stay out of the wind. After the wind, though, the night was silent. He was not alone, but the animals of the desert night were quiet, invisible to the eye and ear. But he was not alone. After the wind died down, he headed west, or, at least the direction he remembered west being. Though the stars were far up above, their light seemed local, and he could not see far beyond himself, though his body seemed well lit. The horizon was pitch black, but his arms, sheathed in cotton, glowed. He could feel himself glowing.

He sat on the edge of the bed. When he'd been a child, he'd thought that maybe, on the other side of the world there was another person, paired with everyone. And when he slept, this person would wake. And when the other slept, he would wake. And between them they shared a single soul, who did not sleep, but constantly moved. The night had seemed long enough, then. The split had seemed fair.

Now, he supposed, if he were right, then his partner must be bed ridden, or narcoleptic. And so must most of the other people's he knew. That's a lot of people oversleeping in China. The days were fast, but the nights were faster. Yet all in all, very little happened. Maybe he got the soul at night instead. And his soul just wanted to go rambling.

He turned off the alarm. It wouldn't go off for a while, but it would only upset him. He should remember to turn it back on later though. Of course.

All of a sudden, the room felt very alone. He was not tired, but he treasured his sleep period too much to actually do anything now.

I cannot sleep for dreams I do not have.

I know it's been a while

2006-02-17T22:07:00.000-05:00

but this really is the best telling of a blonde joke

...comment spammers

2006-01-22T17:54:00.000-05:00

well, something had to motivate me to fix the comment settings. Or maybe post once in a while.

the Tick

2005-11-10T03:04:00.000-05:00

FYI, toon disney is showing the Tick(animated series) every night at 11pm. And until someone finally releases it on dvd, this is your only chance to watch it apart from overpriced comic-con bootlegs. Karlee's favorite quote: Tick: It's your turn now, Thorace-bog. Thrakkorzog: It's Thrakkorzog. Thrakkorzog. With a K. Tick: We're only serving humble pie, Whatchamazog. Thrakkorzog: For the last time, it's... Tick: Thorax-and-a-bog. Four-yacks-and-a-dog. Thrakkorzog: No. Tick: Ah, laxative-log. Thrakkorzog: No, no, no. Tick: Sapsucker-frog. Thrakkorzog: Thrakkorzog. Tick: Susan? Thrakkorzog: Now you're doing it on purpose. How juvenile. (from, imdb, natch)

my new picture

2005-09-19T22:20:00.000-04:00

This is me, Noah Luck Easterly. try this google!

Instructions for life

2005-08-28T19:37:00.000-04:00

Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest

2005-08-08T10:03:00.000-04:00

"...I was starting to regret my decision to use poultry for transportation."

2005-08-07T00:22:00.000-04:00

Sarah's Pa has minor pigs. Pass it on.

weekend over

2005-07-31T22:53:00.000-04:00

Karlee went home. Now Noah sad. We did play mini-golf on Saturday. With Becky'n'Brian. I beat Brian by one stroke, but then again, I did do the final counts. Slept a little much today. She moves down in a month and a half...

comic quotes

2005-07-22T07:03:00.000-04:00

"I love you, efficiently sexy girlfriend." - Something Positive "When the Thing dances, is it called the Thingama-jig?" - 8-bit Theatre "Why does everything have to end in double suicide with you?" - Rob and Elliot

measuring things

2005-07-21T21:21:00.000-04:00

I already knew how Wales, Texas, and Rhode Island can be used to measure geographic area. Today, I was talking to my friend Brian about his new car, and we realized that the standard for measuring trunk space is the dead body. As in, "The trunk is huge, I could fit like eight dead bodies in there." (Brian). I mean, what else are you going to measure trunk space in, anyway?

Trailer Madness

2005-07-19T20:47:00.000-04:00

Broken Flowers - new Jim Jarmusch / Bill Murray project The Baxter - from the people who made the State The Warrior - British historical action flic Last Days - Gus Van Sant on Kurt Cobain The Beat That My Heart Skipped - French gangster / piano movie

2005-07-09T16:04:00.000-04:00

fixing up the blog again... changed the links on the right to a feed using rss digest can't quite get the list of blogs to work though... still working on it.

AbandonedAnimals

2005-03-21T22:01:00.002-05:00

AbandonedAnimals, originally uploaded by rampion.

KarleeAndRachel(2)

2005-03-21T21:59:00.003-05:00

KarleeAndRachel(2), originally uploaded by rampion.

KarleeAndRachel

2005-03-21T21:59:00.002-05:00

KarleeAndRachel, originally uploaded by rampion.

Small_Beer(2)

2005-03-21T21:59:00.000-05:00

Small_Beer(2), originally uploaded by rampion.

Small_Beer

2005-03-21T21:58:00.000-05:00

Small_Beer, originally uploaded by rampion.

JasonAndPooches

2005-03-21T21:45:00.002-05:00

JasonAndPooches, originally uploaded by rampion.

VillainContainmentUnit(5)

2005-03-21T21:45:00.001-05:00

VillainContainmentUnit(5), originally uploaded by rampion.

VillainContainmentUnit(4)

2005-03-21T21:45:00.000-05:00

VillainContainmentUnit(4), originally uploaded by rampion.

VillainContainmentUnit(3)

2005-03-21T21:44:00.001-05:00

VillainContainmentUnit(3), originally uploaded by rampion.

VillainContainmentUnit(2)

2005-03-21T21:44:00.000-05:00

VillainContainmentUnit(2), originally uploaded by rampion.

VillainContainmentUnit

2005-03-21T21:43:00.000-05:00

VillainContainmentUnit, originally uploaded by rampion.

photo time!

2005-03-21T21:35:00.000-05:00

ah... virginia

2005-02-10T07:28:00.000-05:00

now I remember why I left you. What kind of state outlaws visible thongs? Really?

2005-02-08T17:24:00.000-05:00

my new favorite t-shirt company

teens bake cookies - but at what price?

2005-02-08T07:46:00.000-05:00

warren finds the best stuff

sing along, if you know the words

2005-02-07T11:22:00.000-05:00

we probably do...

2005-01-22T10:48:00.000-05:00

VW: tougher than you want it to be

2005-01-12T07:35:00.000-05:00

oh my

2004-12-29T07:51:00.000-05:00

Kids on games Bobby: Why do all the girls think that Link is a hunk? EGM: [Asking the girls] Do they? Dillon: I think just you think that. EGM: So girls don't think Link's a hunk? Rachel: No. Dillon: Gosh no. Rachel: I like actual humans better than videogame characters.

2004-12-14T07:46:00.000-05:00

the trouble with christmas lists

2004-12-13T07:30:00.000-05:00

"Don't you understand? With gravity slain, now we can fly!"

2004-12-13T07:29:00.000-05:00

386 is dead. Long live 486!

2004-12-09T07:45:00.000-05:00

The true meaning of He-man, I mean, Hanukkah

Brainport

2004-11-24T07:28:00.000-05:00

Seeing with your tongue, feeling with your forehead - cool new replacement sense techniques. And really, I'm just reminded of the Tick episode with the gigantic tongue, the one who wanted to taste everyone. No, I'm not making it up. It also featured a scientist in the body of a zebra, and an aerosol invention called can-o-man. later.

2004-11-19T13:42:00.000-05:00

Not quite animation, not quite a music video, more like a slide show with a song that'll get stuck in your head. Superman and the little girl thanks beautiful stuff

2004-11-19T01:04:00.000-05:00

The return of the D

Prosthetics: not just for humans anymore

2004-11-18T07:47:00.000-05:00

This is one of those things that makes you go "awww..." Disabled dolphin gets new tail

Frylock

2004-11-17T22:37:00.000-05:00

"Meatwad, I think it's time you learned about the real Bible." [Pulls out a book covered in patchy, stitched leather, with moving eyes] [the book groans] "Oh, wait, that's the Necronomicon"

2004-11-17T07:46:00.000-05:00

World Toilet Summit

2004-11-16T08:16:00.000-05:00

On the Utility of Minneapolis-St. Paul as a Base of Operations for Various Well-Known Superheroes or Super Teams thanks futurismic

2004-11-16T08:14:00.000-05:00

More dancing transformers thanks Jon

2004-11-16T08:02:00.000-05:00

Oh my god, it's like Wheeljack & Michael Jackson had a child. and I want one.

2004-11-14T19:54:00.000-05:00

Porthos beware!

2004-11-14T19:49:00.000-05:00

Cool shirt.

America the Beautiful

2004-11-08T08:09:00.000-05:00

(thanks futurismic)

Why I love Warrren Ellis

2004-11-05T07:32:00.000-05:00

"More coffee. Bring me the coffee, Jen. I am using thought power to compel you to bring me the coffee. I have Famous Powers now, and I telepathically demand you bring me the coffee. ... Shit."

2004-10-22T09:23:00.000-04:00

"I had been in a trance for seven days and seven nights and was unaware of these goings-on, but he came to me in a vision and taunted me, and left a message on my cellphone."

When you're a Jet...

2004-09-30T23:49:00.000-04:00

JETEasterly_3, originally uploaded by rampion.

This is my nephew, Joshua Elijah Tighe Easterly, or, until someone tells me otherwise, Jet.

Dave bound

2004-09-30T22:32:00.000-04:00

Run Dave run... christmas is coming

Flickr

2004-09-30T22:21:00.000-04:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

fanboyism

2004-09-17T08:14:00.000-04:00

Mmmmm Sin City trailer. Gritty. Also, Kerry & Bush on SCIENCE!

Weren't we supposed to have two steps forward first?

2004-09-14T08:14:00.000-04:00

kinda worrying

Dubya sings "Sunday Bloody Sunday"

2004-09-14T08:07:00.000-04:00

no kidding thanks futurismic

Papa wants an iPod

2004-08-31T00:01:00.000-04:00

So this site says it'll give me an iPod if I get 5 friends to follow this link, and register... something.

brandon's suggestion

2004-08-24T21:17:00.000-04:00

Afiag is your Vampire name. Your name means that you are a Vampire who has many
friends, and few enemies. Other Vampires know
not to cross your vengefull path. To use your new Vampire name and become a Vampire,
go here: www.life-blood.vze.com

What is your Vampire name?
brought to you by Quizilla

2004-08-08T22:03:00.000-04:00

no one likes trees.

quote of the [insert interval of time]

2004-08-02T23:01:00.000-04:00

"If you are allergic to a thing, it is best not to put that thing in your mouth, particularly if the thing is cats." - A Series of Unfortunate Events:The Wide Window by Lemony Snicket

collective detecting

2004-07-30T00:13:00.000-04:00

So, apparently, Microsoft is doing the whole underground publicity thing for Halo 2. They had a trailer for the game, and some smart people noticed that they flashed a link for www.ilovebees.com, and took it upon themselves to look it up, where, (if you see for yourself) you can see that it's just all fudged up. The publicity game is basically, figure out what the hell is going on, well, as best you can. So this got me nostalgic for the first such game, the A.I. game, or, as apparently the puppetmasters called it, "The Beast". I know Ned & Dixon will disagree with me on this, but I think it's one instance where the promo campaign was much much much cooler than the movie. No, really. The best part being, that it never said it was a game. I can't claim to be a cloudmaker, cause I stumbled upon it pretty late, and never devoted my life to the game, but I saw the coolness. I think it'll be a challenge for any similar immersion games to follow up on it, since it did do it first, and that bought it a lot. Anyway, if I didn't have, y'know, stuff to do, I'd be all over this new one, but I'm pretty sure it's well in hand. And if you want to read a pretty cool piece on immersive games, and a good overview of the whole Beast thing, check this out(it does have the obligatory "how does this relate to 9-11 part to it, but once you get past that page, it's good). I actually hadn't known before that Sean Stewart wrote the Beast. I really liked his book Galveston, so cool. I'm off to NYC to help Karlee move this weekend, so I'll see you cats later. (oh, and thanks futurismic for the memories)

Are you married? Are you sure?

2004-07-26T23:09:00.000-04:00

You may be married! Women urged to check regularly.

Strongbad hates Person Man

2004-07-20T22:54:00.000-04:00

You like They Might Be Giants. You like Homestar Runner. Therefore, you will like this. q.e.d.

SPAMALOT!

2004-07-08T23:05:00.000-04:00

"A leading trio of actors are set to star in a Broadway-bound production of Monty Python's Spamalot musical. Based on the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail..."

Official retraction

2004-06-20T21:49:00.000-04:00

Adam is not now, nor has he ever been, a bitch.

2004-06-16T22:10:00.000-04:00

Bitch. Pay me back sometime, Adam.

Rain, outside & in

2004-06-16T21:58:00.000-04:00

My wall leaks. Water on the floor: Water in the bucket:

Traffic is boring...

2004-06-16T21:54:00.000-04:00

Me, Triften & Deb @ dave's birthday

2004-06-16T21:45:00.000-04:00

2004-06-14T19:47:00.000-04:00

No cool scar? No wizardly powers? No British friends? If you can't be Harry Potter, well, at least you can own an invisibility cloak.

2004-06-12T02:38:00.000-04:00

In other news, beach was a lot of fun. So, the important thing to remember when you're as pale as I am is sunscreen. lots and lots and sunscreen. Nose, that's important, if you want to keep it on your face later in life. Ears, too. Anything that pretty much sticks off of the body, cover that. I respect the sun, I just don't trust it. Plus, if you've got an oddish haircut, like I do, though I do enjoy the breeziness available to the nouveau punk, the scalp is an important region to cover. It's like that guy said in that fake graduation speech that was played on the radio. Sunscreen, that's the one thing you should remember. That, and don't assume that all of the parts of you that you can reach are all the parts of you that the sun can reach. To really get to the point, my back. My peeling back. At least I assume it's still peeling, I can't really see back there. But to my many many beaach mates, Brian, Becky, Shannon, Paul, Corynne, Lor, Jason, Brandon, Chris, & especially Karlee, that was fun, let's do that again. I could make some time next week maybe? You know, whenever you guys are ready. Please. My roommates ate my Doritos. It wasn't upsetting, just a little sad. I didn't get to even open the bag. OOOooh oooh, I know what I wanted to show you guys. Uhm Eric Idle sings this song.... it's funny. And other british men, not related to pythons, as posted before (on a broken link), nine naked men. So, what's with all these birthdays now, anyway... Ken, Dave, Karlee, Ned, all of your parents had sex on Labor Day. A little pre-fall nookie. Labor Day preshadowing the eventual Labor. My pun, but not my fault. Speaking of Ned, hey, did you know he's wildly successfull? No, really. For example, one can already see the link to Get Fuzzy over there, the FUNNY cat/dog/owner comic at home in our local paper's comic section, but he also edits Sheldon and Barkeater Lake. pout. I wish I got to edit comics for a living. So, there's gonna be another Aqua Teen DVD, and according to this quiz, I'm Frylock. You heard it, I'm Frylock.
I am Frylock from Aqua Teen Hunger Force!!
Which Aqua Teen Hunger Force character are you?? Wait a second, I'm watching Firefly, and I have to share a quote: "If you take sexual advantage of her, you're going to burn in a very special level of hell. A level they reserve for child molesters. And people who talk at the theatre." And for the Pratchett fans, a cool book title "Nanny Ogg's Cookbook: Including Recipes, Items of Antiquarian Lore, Improving Observations of Life, Good Advice for Young People on the Threshold of the Adventure That Is" Movie previews: Good, Bad, and the UGLY. ugly. ewww. ewww. later kids

GURPS Discworld & you

2004-06-12T02:34:00.000-04:00

so there's not just one, but two books. GURPS Discworld and GURPS Discworld Also There's also apparently a community, and if the GURPS rules aren't enough, this guy's got ideas for how to modify the rules. so I guess I will be running a game. later kids.

2004-05-27T18:39:00.000-04:00

This game is addictive like crack. It's like you're trying to get into Rube Goldberg's head, which isn't anywhere I'm sure I wanted to be before, but now I'm fine with it. As long as I get to stay.

my favorite weight-loss plan

2004-05-26T19:18:00.000-04:00

DDR works. Forget high protein, forget jazzercise, this is much cooler. Who wants to seat to the oldies, when you can sweat to japanese techno mixes? While I'm on the subject of movement, how 'bout alternative transportation. blimps are making a comeback, maybe. and concept cars make me feel like a retro future is around the corner. and if you care, here's stuff about blogging software. I can't wait to go to the beach next week. s'gonna be fu-un....

2004-05-26T19:08:00.000-04:00

So Scott went hiking. Pretty pics. Outside. Hmm... maybe I should try it sometime. i'll think about it.

Experience the fury of our gift shop

2004-05-25T23:37:00.000-04:00

new strong bad email

2004-05-25T23:32:00.000-04:00

Dude, more greeks. It's like the fifties all over again.

2004-05-25T23:27:00.000-04:00

I'm working on the Bhagavad-gita. S'good so far. Needs study.

link time

2004-05-25T19:16:00.000-04:00

Worlds oldest elementary school student. I guess he just waited for knee socks to be age-appropriate again. My eyebrows, are, in fact, genetic. Nuclear Twins. Spanky the clown likes porn. Who knew? Another good reason for children of all ages to be afraid of clowns. Except maybe zombie clowns. I think that cancels. Mars, Shmars, what about life on venus?

gym escape human

2004-05-22T00:22:00.000-04:00

Got this spam. And I don't understand it at all. ----Original Message Follows---- From: "Spring Alysia" Reply-To: "Spring Alysia" To: "Raylene Mora" Subject: parallel sight Date: Fri, 14 May 2004 15:11:16 +0200 gym escape human -----Original Message Ends---- there's not even a link. it's so weird.

cyborg clubs

2004-05-22T00:03:00.000-04:00

Kids in spain are riding the wave of the future. Why carry a wallet when you go to clubs, it just ruins the line of your pants. Just flash your id, and pay for your drinks with a chip in your arm. Only thing is, they won't implant it when you're drunk.

The Sheep at the end of the world

2004-05-21T00:30:00.000-04:00

Warren had a link to this guy, who's figured out a way to combine manga and Revelations(the book in the bible), which has really helped me understand both. outie 500

not-so-quote-of-the-day

2004-05-20T19:23:00.000-04:00

So I realize I've already given away the link of the day(check below. Yeah, it's there), but I saw this today too. "Elder Black Pudding "The most ancient black puddings are vast pools of inky death." -D&D v.3.5, Monstrous Manual, p. 201 I assume we have Skip Williams or Rich Baker or one of those other guys at Wizards of the Coast to thank for that fine piece of prose. Yeah, I know, it's supposed to be about a mythical beastie, but all I can think of is british food. ewww.

phone calls

2004-05-20T19:04:00.000-04:00

So I'm trying to find an IP phone that's free. cause I like free. and I already pay for cell phone minutes I don't use all of. but anyway, I'm looking at ip-phones cause I get lousy cell service in my house, and Karlee gets lousy service in her house, and my house phone doesn't get along with her cell and blah blah blah. and I don't want to pay for it. So, I found a free phone at xlite(all you need is a regular headset thingy, which I assume is un-get-aroundable), but you do need an Ip phone serv ice provider. A free provider was a little more difficult, but I think inPhonex might be legit, but I'm not sure yet. There's also this thing called NetPhone, which says it do free chat between macs(me) and pcs(karlee), but I haven't been able to download it. funky

linkishness

2004-05-20T16:11:00.000-04:00

So today, less ramble, more links, cause I really need to get up, and actually do stuff, like finish unpacking my room. Anyway, looks like Meegan's movie might be released soon. I hope that means production has actually ended, 'cause when I last talked to her a couple months ago, it hadn't. She did say Frank Oz was fun to work with though. Plus, cool new Jet Li action flic soonish. I wonder if we'll ever get casshern? Can't stop & wonder, must keep on going... Pretty 8-bit theatre guest strip, the guy's art reminds me of, what's his name, guy who did that book about King David, uhm, Kyle Baker. Had to look that one up. Universal Unitarianism is having some issues in Texas, and I'm on their side. The requirement that a religion must have "simply a belief in God, or gods, or a higher power" does seem rather basic, but it can be kind of exclusive. Holiness isn't exclusively related to power, is it? A strict belief in reincarnation would certainly seem religious to me, yet it contains no assumptions about a higher power. Just a thought. Seen on Drudge . Continuing our madcap pace... Meghan posted a link to this story about an 18 month old kid who ran away from home. Everybody's an early bloomer at something I guess. So, want to know what the 77th richest country in the world is? Richer than India or China? Everquest. Not earn a wage of 342 platinum an hour, but there's an exchange rate of about 100pp to the dollar, which ain't bad from a global standpoint. Hmmm... I should finish reading the article too.... Oooh and a new method of flight, gee, thanks Futurismic. And of course, this is the part where I steal links from Neil, but only two today. "Childless couple told to try sex", which shows that a perfect system of ignorance training requires cheating to perpetuate itself, and today's quote: "Spidey fights a shark. A rabid shark? Nope: Spidey filled the shark's mouth with web fluid so he couldn’t chew anything. "This is stupid. Spiderman never fights in water; it’s not his element. For one thing his webshooters would have a hard time underwater. Au contraire, you say, they are very powerful devices. Really? So he misses a wall, breaks a window, shoots a line into some old lady’s apartmentand smashes the ceramic figurines? Maybe. Perhaps it happens from time to time. Given all the good he does, perhaps he gets a pass on this one. "It just wouldn’t be like him not to apologize, though. "On the other hand, a head popping in your 37th floor window saying “Sorry!” might be worse than destroying her collection of frog statuettes from around the world. "Maybe he just sends flowers. I don’t know. Up to him, really." I even forgive the guy for misspelling Spider-Man. outie5000.