I have some
idea of what that means, but not much.
Mon Jan 01 2001 10:16:
Once again, it's time to drink a toast to Crazy Legs!
Tue Jan 02 2001 11:35:
Mike is now (well, probably after work) testing my game. I was going to put up a teaser page for it, to tease you with (natch), but I don't have a graphic for it yet.
Tue Jan 02 2001 17:34:
I feel bold! Font-wise, that is! Ha ha ha ha--ow!
Sumana wears (wore) a pocket protector with the logo of a Linux company on it. 200 points!
Wed Jan 03 2001 15:40:
Hey hey! Today I met Sumana Harihareswara of Crummy-readership fame! She was in the CollabNet office with her professor/advisor (?) to interview James Barry and Brian. My long-term goal is to flummox Brian by giving him a false perception of my celebrity by having people who come into the CollabNet office for some unrelated reason ask to see me. So far it's working out great. Keep it up, folks!
Wed Jan 03 2001 16:27:
Helm Pagination HOWTO. Live the adventure! More exciting developer docs coming soon!
I drew that graphic all by myself (in Killustrator). I'm very proud. There's one component missing which I was unable to draw; Mike may be filling it in, or recreating the drawing from scratch, in which case the graphic on that page may change. I sort of like this one, though. It's very abstract.
Mike sent me a couple transcripts which expose about a million things I left out of the game. I'll be busy tonight, that's for sure.
Wed Jan 03 2001 16:41:
You can now see the teaser page for the new game, although you might as well not, since there's incredibly little information on there (thus, "teaser page").
Wed Jan 03 2001 16:52:
Went to yoga class today from 12 to 1. I am going to be *so* sore tomorrow. I don't feel sore now but I can feel it coming.
Wed Jan 03 2001 17:20:
Thanks to Manoj, I have a great new word: "pseudofish". Unfortunately the word describes that annoying plaque-mounted singing fish, so I am disinclined to use it.
Wed Jan 03 2001 20:03:
Mike's transcripts have turned up about 70 bugs in Degeneracy. I'll fix the easy
ones tonight.
Wed Jan 03 2001 20:58:
23 bugs fixed, 52 left. Time to sleep.
Thu Jan 04 2001 06:49:
Yup, I'm sore. Just the arms, though.
Thu Jan 04 2001 08:54:
Foaf's answer to Jake Berendes West Covina is The True Adventures of Jon Bon Jovi. Stay tuned for part 2!
Thu Jan 04 2001 17:51:
My condition has been downgraded to "incredibly sore". Aaaah!
Thu Jan 04 2001 18:16:
Line from an old Radio Shack commercial: "The IBM Aptiva has it all...
and more."
Thu Jan 04 2001 20:00:
Down to 31 bugs in Degeneracy. I'll probably get another big stack
of bugs from Mike tonight. I hope so, anyway.
Fri Jan 05 2001 17:51:
Competition Keen as Nation's Best Vie for Top Honors
Mon Jan 08 2001 06:59:
Wow, really neat effect in today's After Y2K
(permanent link). Or maybe I'm just easily impressed.
Mon Jan 08 2001 13:40:
QOTD (from me): "Those links are not for clicking on."
Rachel says, "Leonard -- I thought you might like this postcard. Tomorrow we are all going to Abbey Road to take pictures! Love ya! [heart] Rachel". Abbey Road? Slowly I turned! Step by step! Inch by inch!
Tue Jan 09 2001 07:59:
I have recieved a Fab Four postcard from my sister Rachel, who is in England. I can now recreate the classic scene from The Beginning of the End in which giant grasshoppers launch an assault on the Beatles. "'Elp, John, they're attacking me." "Defend Ringo at all costs." Actually, I can't recreate that scene, since I have no grasshoppers.
Tue Jan 09 2001 20:08:
Oh yeah, caller on talk radio this morning: "We should get smart people,
not bureaucrats, and put them in charge of our energy system." The
only way this can make sense is if "bureaucrats" is read as "non-smart people"
instead of the more conventional reading of "people in charge of big
regulated systems, eg. the energy system".
Tue Jan 09 2001 23:17:
Well, I'm a happy camper tonight, as I get word from Mike that he
has figured out the premise of Degeneracy. Now I just have to figure
out how to properly in-game clue the endgame puzzles, and we'll be
rocking in Memphis.
Wed Jan 10 2001 07:24:
I'm jumping on a bandwagon here, but it's such a cute bandwagon. Behold the StorTroopers! (which I got via foaf, in case other people try to trace ancestry through NYCB). The miracle Diesel Sweeties-esque technology that allows foaf's avatar and mine to look almost exactly alike, even though foaf and I look nothing alike! Compare and contrast Kris' old drawing of me as an anime character with long hair (note that I had long hair at the time--it wasn't artistic license on Kris' part).
Wed Jan 10 2001 08:11:
Today I get to spend the whole day testing. Yippee! <--sarcasm Like most programmers, I feel that testing beyond "this patch doesn't seem to break anything" is somehow not my responsibility, and that I should just be given bugs to fix.
Wed Jan 10 2001 13:43:
This is terrible. I'm eating some navy bean soup right now, and even though it's not spicy at all, my taste buds are informing me that it is, in fact, spicy. This constant yoga has lowered my spiciness tolerance!
Wed Jan 10 2001 19:14:
I'm trying to get everyone at CollabNet (or at least in apps-dev) to do storTroopers of themselves so we can do a big collage. Yes, I am storTrooper obsessed. So far Jason Robbins and Susan Kelly have iconified themselves.
Thu Jan 11 2001 10:42:
Be Dope from me: eVilla vs. Godzilla. "Representing the forces of a vengeful nature against
which man is helpless, Monster Island-based Godzilla provides
e-crushing and lizard beast destruction services for the new
economy."
Thu Jan 11 2001 19:24:
Mike can get to the end of Degeneracy, (that link is for newcomers) but there are still a couple optional puzzles he needs to solve. Hopefully then will end the era of huge transcripts dumped on my head that I have to sort through, and the era of actual bug reports will begin. Of course when I've fixed all the stuff Mike has turned up, I get to give the game to many other beta testers, and the the era of huge transcripts will recommence almost immediately. But such is life.
Fri Jan 12 2001 08:50:
This CNN article is really funny because the little toolbar looks like "Click here for powerful intellect. Click here for luminescent prose." Also, I'm in a silly mood.
Fri Jan 12 2001 10:53:
storTroopers in Love. Cartoon heart courtesy Diesel Sweeties. Correct eye color courtesy the GIMP.
Fri Jan 12 2001 11:09:
From a conversation with Kevin in which I was explaining Degeneracy to him:
<kpm_home> my character's a schizophrenic?
<leonardr> no
<leonardr> he just belongs to a different time and culture from you
<kpm_home> you wouldn't cast me in the role of W., would you?
<leonardr> there's an idea
<kpm_home> there's an idea that would drive me to new states of apoplexy.
<leonardr> "You are standing outside a white house..."
<kpm_home> aahhhhh!!
My favorite banner ad is still the IBM/Linux one with the penguin and his (her?) grandmother.
Fri Jan 12 2001 11:37:
The (unintentionally) funniest banner ad I've ever seen. How do i know? Because no banner ad before that one has caused me to break out laughing. What would an optimized version of such software do? Transfer all your money directly out of your bank account in one lump sum?
Fri Jan 12 2001 22:14:
Over the past few months I've been trying to make the "header" portion
of the front page smaller so that more of the weblog portion shows up on the initial screen. My primary tactic has been to cram all the little features
that go in the header and make life fun into a smaller and smaller
space. This time I think I may have gone too far. Let me know what you
think. As if you cared about boring details like my site design.
Sat Jan 13 2001 19:14:
The band on this week's Prairie Home Companion is really
rockin', man. Plus, the name of the band is Commander Cody and
the Lost Planet Airmen... a new character! They (Commander Cody and some different LPA) did a cover of
"Hot Rod Lincoln", which was apparantly a hit in 1972.
Sun Jan 14 2001 12:15:
Walla walla.
Sun Jan 14 2001 19:48:
Walla walla?
Mon Jan 15 2001 08:45:
CollabNet inks development deals with Motorola, Mozilla. This is what I've been working on for the past three months, or however many it's been.
Mon Jan 15 2001 10:04:
Leonardonics bonanza! Four new entries: "alleged", "And by x, I mean y", "Lie justification footnote", and "Put it in Issuezilla". The cup of personal slang overflows!
Oddly enough, I do not have a transcription of the original Addicted to Vaudeville online. It must have been in NYCBs earlier than the ones I converted to NewsBruiser format. It's just as well, actually--otherwise the punchline would be spoiled for you (assuming Kris even uses the same punchline, which is doubtful; this is probably just a one-time gag).
Mon Jan 15 2001 15:22:
YES!!! Kris has blindsided me with a revival of Addicted to Vaudeville! I can only hope he goes all the way with it.
Mon Jan 15 2001 18:08:
Today was Celeste's first day at work. I got an email from her this morning, which was a nice surprise, but haven't heard from her since then. I hope I get to talk to her tonight.
Mon Jan 15 2001 20:16:
Celeste is working in Building 27, which was bizarrely broken into in late 1998. She says that the whole embedded division is in that building, and that she has an office with a wonderful view of the parking lot.
Mon Jan 15 2001 20:29:
Okay, I am definitely going to mail Jake's tape to him tomorrow. I have the stamps and I have his address. I will send it tomorrow. I will address the envelope and walk down to the mailbox and drop it in. Then I'll feel better about pointing to the page I made for it.
Mon Jan 15 2001 20:57:
Heads up: robotfindskitten may be due for an appearance on Memepool in the near future. I got a reference to it from the Memepool admin interface.
Tue Jan 16 2001 07:51:
Yup, there it is.
Tue Jan 16 2001 11:00:
Jake's tape is on its way. Jake's tape is here to stay. Its page will be put up when Jake receives it.
Hey hey, check this out. I also got a dispatch from professional Internet personality Greg Knauss, a sob story on his failure to win (ie. to enter) the original robotfindskitten contest. It's actually an interesting story--most stories peripherally involving the 3rd Street Promenade are interesting, I've found--and I will put it in /mail pending his approval.
Tue Jan 16 2001 11:28:
Dispatch from Mike:
the author does not hide his OS bias well:
"The resellers -- a bunch of no-nonsense businessmen and not your typical
artsy-fartsy Macintosh types -- were impressed by his candor."
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,41160,00.html
Tue Jan 16 2001 12:04:
Wow (from the commit message for Thom's patch to CVS): 1.3 +47042 -775 helm/cvspatches/collab-new-perms.patch
Degeneracy testing proceeds apace. I'm getting Kevin to test it,
and also Oriel D. Maxine, who enjoyed Guess the Verb! and offered
to beta test "any future game [I] might write". Well, he's getting his
wish... ah ha ha ha ha! I really don't know why that situation called
for evil laughter.
Tue Jan 16 2001 20:13:
A general plea: please do not send mail to leonardr@ucla.edu anymore.
As of January 29, UCLA will stop forwarding such mail to me. Send email
to leonardr@segfault.org instead.
Wed Jan 17 2001 08:09:
I forgot to mention that, now that he's served his time in the beta testing trenches, Mike has been given a cushy management job as Vice-President in charge of Pig Exposure. He'll be making sure that the pig in Degeneracy is implemented with all the lush detail that befits an object of its caliber.
Wed Jan 17 2001 08:21:
"The Limited Edition run will be reduced from 1,000 to 500 and is lowered in price to $85. This will increase the value of the Limited Edition and make it available to more Penny-Arcade enthusiasts." Guh?
Wed Jan 17 2001 09:56:
Sometimes I get extremely aggravated about really trivial things. Witness my latest Segfault story, Who are the dot.coms?.
Wed Jan 17 2001 18:56:
My email machine was unreachable for most of the day so I didn't get to talk to Celeste. Just one reason why today was not so great for me.
Wed Jan 17 2001 19:05:
Tying together several recent NYCB themes, I bring you 1998's Vaudevilla and Vaudevilla vs. Gamera. Both drawings by Kris.
BTW, Tigris issue tracking is going to go off our intranet and onto tigris.org as soon as we upgrade the software on tigris.org. Which will be soon. It better be soon.
Fri Jan 19 2001 05:49:
From Helm issue tracking:
There are situations where someone's semantic relationship to a project is best described by multiple roles (eg. "I'm not only the president... I'm also a client.").
Fri Jan 19 2001 07:30:
Is that a vintage Super Mario Bros. level floor in the background of today's Diesel Sweeties? Yes, it is!
Fri Jan 19 2001 12:50:
I think that meetings are designed to make fixing bugs seem fun. I am spending my lunchtime fixing bugs because it's so much more enjoyable than sitting in a meeting.
Jake loves the tape, while simultaneously feeling that it is "rife with personal attacks on [his] character". On the face of it, this is a perfectly reasonable position for him to take. One of my most pronounced character flaws is the tendency to see as good clean fun what the person on the receiving end of the good clean fun sees as vitriolic assaults on his or her character. However,
let it be known that the only missives on that tape which were intended to rile his Jakeness were My Complaint About Jacob P. Berendes and Rain of Rain (a.k.a. Disposable Napkin Rag). My Complaint... was generated using Dada Engine-esque software and was just done to be goofy, so the only track actually intended to mock Jake (again, good clean fun) was Rain of Rain.
Nonetheless, a track with a name like Jake's Betrayal shows, in retrospect, that I did occasionally cross some line or another. In that particular case, I actually intended the song to boost Jake's street cred by presenting such a scenario as unthinkable, but the damage is done, as it is by songs that are personal attacks on myself (Mud and Alien Nature Documentary), but which have Jake applicability. I could bow out using the cop-out "C'mon, can't you take a joke?" technique, but Jake has shown himself quite capable of taking a joke, and still I feel the need to justify myself. Indeed, now that my apparant maliciousness has been revealed, I feel a bit like the confused speaker in Kris' roast skit, who, no matter how vicious he gets, never manages to elicit anything from his audience but appreciative laughter.
Anyway.
One of my longstanding minor obsessions has been advanced significantly this day. In particular, a question I asked over a year ago has been answered, but the method by which it was answered opened up more questions (as is always the case with obsessions). I'd go into more detail, but I promised Celeste I'd go to sleep at 10, and the old clock on the wall is rapidly approaching such a state. Tomorrow [and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeps at its petty pace toward the last syllable of recorded time -ed.].
Tue Jan 23 2001 21:59:
Forgive my silence, but exhaustion and the revelation of a crippling architectural problem in Helm (easy but time-consuming to fix) have conspired to deprive you, the people who read this crap, of your rightful due (ie., the aforementioned crap). I will therefore take a few moments to bring you up to speed on one of the pressing issues of our time (my time): the tape I sent to Jake last week.
Wed Jan 24 2001 18:41:
In Russia we do programming a bit differently. You have Singleton, we have Commissar.
Fri Jan 26 2001 07:13:
The funniest Segfault story I've read in a while: The New Londoner Society Column covers linux-kernel.
Mon Jan 29 2001 13:06:
Very little time for bruising of news this week, I'm afraid. Such is life.
Tue Jan 30 2001 10:35:
Excellent! Katsuhiko Sasaki is in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah as well! His forehead seems unnaturally large, though that may just be an artifact of the widescreen conversion.
Tue Jan 30 2001 18:21:
Another lousy, tiring, depressing day.
Wed Jan 31 2001 15:49:
Leonardonics in action: IBM Wholeheartedly Embracing Linux Breaded Clams
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