Monthly Archive for June, 1999

This battle station is now fully operational

Published
by
Benjy
on Tuesday June 29, 1999
in Bakersfield and Computers
. Closed

Well, the BScam is, at least. But remember, just because it's fully operational does not mean that it's cosmetically complete. It takes a picture every four minutes, and then uploads it for your viewing pleasure. Some day there will be a nice pretty page to frame my mug or the back of my head of whatever, but for now, it's framed in bee-you-tea-full netscape grey.

While the BScam is happy at last, hex is far from it. Given that he is a half-baked potato at present, it's no wonder, really... But my X and my emacs installs are exceptionally whacked and disjointed. Re-warming the potato hasn't helped any, either. I think sometime soon I'm going to have slink back to Slink so I can have a working and happy linux install at home.

For those who aren't in the know, I run Debian GNU/Linux. The last released version was 2.1, which was otherwise known as Slink. The version of Debian which is currently being worked on is known as Potato. Since is it isn't finished yet, it's a "half-baked potato". Hur Hur...

Java, Java and More Java!

Published
by
Benjy
on Tuesday June 29, 1999
in Internet and Programming
. Closed

I suspect, that if I drank anything which goes by the name of "java", I would OD, given the exposure I've had to programming in Java in the last couple of weeks... I've been loving the language more and more as time has gone by. The things I've done outside the scope of 61B have only reinforced this. Too bad not too many upper division CS classes at Berkeley use Java... But eh, what can be done? I'll manage.

Anyway, Networking in Java is spiffy and slick as snot. Reflection is just plain keen, and the ability to dynamically load a class at run time allows for neat possibilities... I've been awakened to the utility of SecurityManagers, and am going to have dig more into java internals, because there is some neat stuff down there. JDBC is a good thing. Object Serialization is a great thing. And RMI is... RMI is so insanely cool that I can't even put it into very descriptive words. Oh, and being able to dynamically load classes at runtime from a network resource is just the cream of the cake.

Time Flies When You’re Having Something…

Published
by
Benjy
on Tuesday June 29, 1999
in Bakersfield, Friends and Time
. Closed

This weekend is already the Fourth of July. This revelation came as a shock to me. Granted, fireworks stands have been up for something like two weeks now, but they've just become part of the scenery... They were up so early, I wondered at the time why they were going up, but since, I've just come to ignore them, only idly wondering why they're up so long before the Fourth.

Though it's not so long before the Fourth anymore, is it? I've been back in Bakersfield of a little over a month now... When I first got back, I just hopped into a groove and felt like I'd never really been gone... But now, Bakersfield is starting to wear on me a little... I'm ready to be back in Berkeley now. Galatea, my other miscellaneous Friends, and Cheap Rent.

No One Expects the Cabbit Inquisition!

Published
by
Benjy
on Tuesday June 29, 1999
in Anime
. Closed

That puts Anime-Expo in about three weeks. That should give me the relief I need from Bakersfield until such a time as I get to go back to school. Anyone know of any good 3 or 4 unit classes at Berkeley I could take? I need one more besides Enlglish 1A, Math 55 and EE 42 and EE 43. I've considered taking just those, and then doing Lab Assistant for 61a or 61b for one unit.

By the hair of my chinny chin chin

Published
by
Benjy
on Wednesday June 23, 1999
in Berkeley: School and School: Finals
. Closed

So I'd been waiting to get all my grades back.. I've known three out of the four for what seems like a month now, but my 61b grade was cloaked in mystery. I had seen my scores on almost all of my assignments, and my lab partner and I thought they were pretty dismal. Frankly, I was terrified that I might get a C or so, and be unable to get into the CS major, and that I would be better off leaving Berkeley, and so on.

Now, with some people, that previous paragraph and it's rather calm tone would suggest that I, in fact, did not get a C in 61b and that I actually did well, contrary to what the assignment grades would suggest. However, those who know me will note that I am cool under pressure anyway, and so that previous paragraph could just be me trying to mess with your minds.

So, to review, I got an A in 61c by the hair of my chinny chin chin... I had like one or two more points than the lowest possible to get an A in that class. And I got a B in Math 54, which I was happy with. And, as predicted, I got a B+ in Psychology 2, which I am perfectly happy with.

And, shocking everyone, I got an A- in 61b. Frankly, if the scores I and my lab partner got earned us an A-, everyone elses scores must have been dismal. When I saw that I got an A-, I whooped with joy and almost fell out of my chair in shock. I'll be posting reviews of all my classes sometime in the next couple of days, now that I've gotten all the grades.

So, now that weight has been lifted from my chest, I can truly get one with enjoying my summer.

No Worries.

Pratchett

Published
by
Benjy
on Wednesday June 23, 1999
in Books and Pratchett
. Closed

I've been reading Pratchett at something like a mile a minute. Well, thereabouts. What this means is I have about 20 reviews of various Pratchett books to write up some day, though it probably won't happen until I've waded through the cache of books I already have.

But if you're too impatient to wait for the full reviews, here's the summary: If it's Pratchett, Read it. You won't be disappointed.

Okay, I've got work to get done... I'll write more some day. Yay for Java. Yay for SQL. Yay for Dr Pepper and Pratchett and my good luck.

Cool Points If You Know What A Fluglebinder Is

Published
by
Benjy
on Sunday June 20, 1999
in Pratchett and Synchronicity
. 7 Comments

When I took my 486/25 to use at Intelegenesis, I had to reinsall Linux on it, and when I did so, I named it Astfgl, simply to fit in with my Discworld theme for computer naming, and to fit in with Chris's theme of God names. Astfgl is the head of the Discworld Demons, which are basically Gods. I almost named it Quezovercoatl, but I decided that would be too long to type frequently. So Astfgl it was. A couple of days later, I noticed the machine was an AST, and then shortly after that I found myself in the FluGLebinder studio. That was probably just a subconscious choice, but it was still pretty strange and cool.

D’oh! The Quotable Homer Doesn’t Seem To Exist Now

Published
by
Benjy
on Tuesday June 15, 1999
in Synchronicity
. Closed

When I was making my fortune file for the Quotes page, I came across The Quotable Homer, which is a fortune file of quotes from Homer. I downloaded the fortune file, and then finally figured out how to make a fortune file. The next day, I checked out Freshmeat, and The Quotable Homer had been updated after not having been updated for two months.

Graduation, the first

Published
by
Benjy
on Sunday June 13, 1999
in Family and School
. Closed

My brother graduated from Thompson Wednesday at something or other in the afternoon. While I was attending the graduation, it occured to me that Junior High graduations were significantly more roudy than high school graduations. I also thought that Junior High graduations seemed much less.. polished. Everything seemed much more thrown together.

Though it would appear that these thoughts were just due to some artifact in my mind causing my memories of a high school graduation to refract into some grandiose vision...

Graduation, the second

Published
by
Benjy
on Sunday June 13, 1999
in Friends and School
. 1 Comment

Yesterday, I went to Wests graduation. It was nice seeing a lot of people again, but strange, too. The band was significantly better than the Junior High Band, which is to be expected. Things seemed more generally polished, which was to be expected. But on the whole, I think the Junior High graduation may have been slightly less roudy.

For whatever reason, they rushed through the whole ceremony, and got everyone across the stage, had the band play a selection, and had two speeches in less than an hour and a half. I was rather impressed, and pretty surprised, too.

One cool thing that happened at the gradution, though the admin didn't think so, was that Neil Wood crashed the ceremony. As the recessional was about to start, a rope dropped from the ceiling, and after the graduate who began to climb up it got off, Neil decended clad in his gold robe and hat and hacked tassel. To fully understand, you should probably know that Neil graduated a year early, so he was part of the class of 99.

I thought that that was wonderfully creative of Neil, however, the admin didn't think so, and neither did the Bakersfield PD that was in attendance. So Neil spent about 50 minutes handcuffed in the back of a police car in front of the civic center before they released him. No one was hurt and nothing was damaged, so I don't see what the big deal was... Though I guess it could have been dangerous.

Regardless of all that, it was still the coolest thing I'd seen at a graduation in.. Well, ever, and I'm sure the class of 99 will remember that over most everything else that happened at their graduation.

And on a side note, everyone at the West graduation failed to get the millennium thing wrong, while two people at the Thompson graduation flubbed and called this the last year.