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Where did the day go?
Sep. 19th, 2012 05:50 pmPart of it went toward putting the Ubuntu 12.04 server edition (and its installed LAMP software) to use. I wanted to have a simple wiki available over the home network and settled on Instiki, which (now that I've finally gotten it to work) seems to do the job, but getting it to work involved a whole lot of learning.
One of the challenges that face folks who follow instructions written by others is that—in a rare departure from Sturgeon's law—very nearly all of them are deficient (instead of a mere 90%). It's easy to see how that might happen, considering how nobody really thinks too hard about the need to have package X (e.g., bundle or git) installed, i.e., it does, but there's no mention of that in the instructions.
Then there was my favorite puzzle of the day: To what does /path/to/rails/application/public refer? Is it:
Today was the second day in a row that Galina has gone off to the Russian Consulate here in Houston to take care of matters related to her deceased mother. Apparently, a third trip will be necessary. In discussions with Galina's sister, it became clear to me that the requirements being cited by the folks here in Houston and at the notarial office in Moscow are in clear contradiction to each other. It will be interesting to see how things eventually play out.
I missed the flyby/visit of Orbiter Endeavour today. If you had shooed me outside when it was happening, I would have gone, but I suspect I would have cried and cheered at the same time.
Among these posts, I have several times noted the disappointment I've felt about the Shuttle program. Had the government adopted the same attitude toward aviation as it has toward space flight, we'd still be conducting "experimental" flights within a couple of hundred miles of a handful of airports, never venturing anything as bold as, say, a transoceanic flight.
On the other hand, with all of its build-in limitations, our Shuttles did nab some glory in their day. What really hurts, I guess, was the utter lack of any kind of transition to the private sector for space flight. One day we were a space-faring nation; the next, we weren't. That hurt.
In other news, I've done almost no translation work today, but I'm not going to lose any sleep about it, regardless of whether or note I put in a couple of hours later tonight. The world will not rise or fall on how much time I spend at the computer tonight.
Cheers...
One of the challenges that face folks who follow instructions written by others is that—in a rare departure from Sturgeon's law—very nearly all of them are deficient (instead of a mere 90%). It's easy to see how that might happen, considering how nobody really thinks too hard about the need to have package X (e.g., bundle or git) installed, i.e., it does, but there's no mention of that in the instructions.
Then there was my favorite puzzle of the day: To what does /path/to/rails/application/public refer? Is it:
(a) (/path/to/)rails/application/publicSince folks with experience with Rails just know the answer, nobody really bothers to explain this conundrum for the benefit of people who have zero experience with Rails. (For the record, the answer to today's quiz is choice 'c'.)
(b) (/path/to/rails)/application/public
(c) (/path/to/rails/application)/public
(d) none of the above
Today was the second day in a row that Galina has gone off to the Russian Consulate here in Houston to take care of matters related to her deceased mother. Apparently, a third trip will be necessary. In discussions with Galina's sister, it became clear to me that the requirements being cited by the folks here in Houston and at the notarial office in Moscow are in clear contradiction to each other. It will be interesting to see how things eventually play out.
I missed the flyby/visit of Orbiter Endeavour today. If you had shooed me outside when it was happening, I would have gone, but I suspect I would have cried and cheered at the same time.
Among these posts, I have several times noted the disappointment I've felt about the Shuttle program. Had the government adopted the same attitude toward aviation as it has toward space flight, we'd still be conducting "experimental" flights within a couple of hundred miles of a handful of airports, never venturing anything as bold as, say, a transoceanic flight.
On the other hand, with all of its build-in limitations, our Shuttles did nab some glory in their day. What really hurts, I guess, was the utter lack of any kind of transition to the private sector for space flight. One day we were a space-faring nation; the next, we weren't. That hurt.
In other news, I've done almost no translation work today, but I'm not going to lose any sleep about it, regardless of whether or note I put in a couple of hours later tonight. The world will not rise or fall on how much time I spend at the computer tonight.
Cheers...
