pecking order

Most of us know that the trams in basel are the lions of the urban jungle. The emergency services may be the hunters and the guggi bands may well be strange mythical creatures that the lions bow to, but the general rule is sound.

Today I watched a van try to pull in front of a tram - normally the sort of event that causes tram to loudly slam on their brakes and voraciously ring their bell. This time it didn't happen. The tram braked normally and when the driver of the green beast had noiselessly attracted the attention of the van, he suggested that the van pull back a little way to make room. A very oddoccurrencee indeed, but I'm holding back on some of the information - the van was from the electricity board, the IWB.

Now obviously the tram is still the king, but this respect for other city servicemen is something I hadn't before spotted. All that's left to figure out now is how to use this knowledge in my never ending conquest to try to take over the world.

back to the 80s

I normally ignore online wastes of disk space and bandwidth questionnaires, but this one caught my eye - What Pre-1985 Video Game Character Am I?. I think I have some sort hidden obsession with the 80s; things from the 80s are like a flickering light that I need to dance around.

Anyway, it couldn't decide whether I was a breakout bat or a defender ship. Both were great games so I'm not complaining.

I am a Breakout Bat. I am an abstract sort of creature, who dislikes any sort of restraint. If you try to pigeonhole me, I'll break the box, and come back for more. I don't have any particular ambitions, I just drift, but I am adept at keeping life going along.

I am a Defender-ship. I am fiercely protective of my friends and loved ones, and unforgiving of any who would hurt them. Speed and foresight are my strengths, at the cost of a little clumsiness. I'm most comfortable with a few friends, but sometimes particularly enjoy spending time in larger groups.

What Video Game Character Are You?

a channel for my findings

I was linked to this website today. It is a collection of examples of idiocy in coding. Having looked through the last week's entries, this has to be my favourite:

the original programmers didn't really believe in using the WHERE clause when it came to SELECT statements

ResultRecord getDetail(String contactId)
{
    String sql = "select * from contacts";
    ResultSet resultSet = GetResultSetFromSql(sql);
    while(resultSet.hasNext())
    {
        ResultRecord record = resultSet.next();
        if(record.getContactId().equals(contactId))
        {
              return record;
        }
    }
}

This website is a pleasing addition to my bookmarks folder. I'll use it as an outlet for the pain I periodically suffer when finding snippets like that. I'll use it often.

pablo

I don't think picasso painted those pictures on purpose. I honestly think he had issues. Most arty, painty and poetic people that become hugely famous have some deep ingrained issues and I think old pabby hid his well. His neo-expressionism was probably just senility kicking in and was mistaken by youthful artists (who had already lost it) as the next big thing. They followed suit, started the trend and then the world looked back at the partially decayed spaniard and heralded him as being ahead of his time.

In other news, here's a picture of a bunny with some toilet roll on its head.

80s gems

I was thinking about 80s films this morning - D.A.R.Y.L. specifically. I read an article on a robot nurse that went a little haywire in a hospital. The image reminded me of the robot that treated daryl the kid from the flight of the navigator (just remembered) when he was in the hospital.

Apart from being a classy film, D.A.R.Y.L was also an acronym for something - Data Analysing... errr, no idea. Anyone remember?

Anyway, I also read this comment on films of the time and I have to agree.

star wars came out and science fiction movies were hot. kids movies in the 80s were kind mature natured and the kind of movies suited for adults. serious story lines etc with some sort of adventure. examples Neverending story, Flight of the navigator, the boy who could fly etc

DARYL is another original gem from that time period.

times have change and kids movies today is too much like fairy floss coated in extra sugar.

Bring back 80s films and while you're at it bring back 80s special effects - anyone remember the "Can You Feel It" music video? What a classic.

Well you have to admit, it's certainly one way of stopping media piracy.

sharp items

Why is it that everyone (in front of me at least) is slower than me at airport check in desks? Perhaps people admit to having had their second cousin pack their bags which they left unattended in Kabul for a week. It seems that they have important conversations about something that last for 10 minutes. I'm really curious to know what they talk about. Handbags perhaps. Or maybe it takes the desk attendant 10 minutes to explain no sir, we don't sell tickets here.

I was reminded of this this morning while at a cash machine. I think they must have more options than me because I just can't see how it would be possible to be there for 5 minutes. When it was finally my turn I proceeded to get my PIN wrong 3 times, then withdrew 100 CHF the long way [Cash - CHF - 100 - OK - No Receipt]. I had failed to notice the button on the first page saying "Press here for 100 CHF with no receipt". S'pose I shouldn't complain.

good thanks

In the german language the word for good and well are the same - gut. It's understandable that on occasion a mistake might be made. What I don't understand is that no german I know gets it correct with any degree of frequency.

Here's the simple rule

• If the referent is a noun, use the word good.
  
• If the referent is a verb, the correct word is well.
  

Examples

• He is a good programmer / He programs well
• The fish was good / The fish was cooked well
• That's great design / That's very well designed
  

The obvious exception is if someone asks how you are. You may answer "good thanks" or "well thanks". The answer according to the rules above suggest that good is the correct word to use. Well may be used here instead because when applied to people, the adjective well usually refers to a state of health.

I'm sure that there are many exceptions and I hope they are less confusing than the german language reform. What a great idea to make the language easier by consolidating all of the rules apart from some exceptions...

on miyamoto's page

Not everyone will recognise the name Shigeru Miyamoto, but for some (as aptly portrayed by vgcats), he is a celebrity. He created Donkey Kong. He is often referred to as the Father of Gaming or Steven Spielberg of the video gaming world.

In an interview with CNN recently he talked about a lack of innovation in new video games.

"There's not a lot I want to play now," [...] "A lot of the games out there are just too long."

I found this interesting because the other day I brushed the dust off my SNES, a console from the early 90s that runs no less than 1000 times slower than modern day PCs. I plugged in a couple of old classics, finished them in a sitting and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. My flatmates and I talked about this a little and came to the conclusion that games were good enough to finish repeatedly because of their re-playability.

I totally agree with Kotaku here when commenting on the interview.

The point he’s getting at is one that is near and dear to the hearts of the first generation of gamers, my generation. We’re all getting older, getting married, getting jobs, having families, and as much as we like to play games, something we just don’t have the time.

I'm not just becoming mortal, I think I'm aging.

nomenclature

My name is james cooper. Yesterday at church I met another james cooper. He goes by the name of jim and we chatted about barrels. Do you have any idea what the formula for the volume of a barrel is? Try to work it out before you look it up.

Anyway, my point isn't about my similarly named friend, it's the fact that that's the 2nd other james cooper I've met. The first house I lived in was at 1 scotts way in kirkby in ashfield. Directly across the road lived a slightly younger lad also by the name of james cooper.

• The odds of there being someone out there with the same name as yours? Pretty high
• Odds of meeting someone with the same name? Moderate
• Odds of meeting a second person person with the same name? Low
• Odds of living next door to someone of the same name? Very low

My point? None really, these odds for anyone named Smith, Müller or Singh are probably through the roof.

kryptonite

I have a summer cold. I have a sore throat and have been sneezing all
week. This morning a friend described the symptoms of hayfever. So
it turns out I don't have a cold after all. While it's not serious, I
can no longer claim to be allergy free.

I feel so mortal.

etiquette over reason

I've reading a book called watching the english and it has some interesting anthropological observations.

The last chapter I read was on female and male bonding rituals. The crux of it was that women bond with counter-compliments and men bond with never ending mine's better than yours banter. One of the comments on female behaviour interested me.

Firstly let me explain the counter-compliment ritual if you can't already guess.

• compliment
• self deprecating comment, counter compliment
• self deprecating comment, counter compliment
• ...
  

For example:

- Hi. Wow, your hair looks lovely today!
- Thanks, but being this length means it takes hours to prepare it. It must be wonderful having hair your length.
- I suppose that's true, but my hair is so thick and wiry - yours is beautifully fine

I can't go on because I'm not a girl so I really know how these things work, but that's basically that's the deal. The thing I find interesting is the response of when women were questioned as to what they would think if this pattern wasn't observed (it wasn't phrased as bluntly as that). If an english woman (I don't think I can comment on different nationalities - women are too complex) accepts a compliment, without qualification, and didn't offer one in return they are perceived to be impolite, unfriendly and arrogant.

In conclusion, a woman who doesn't belittle herself is boasting. Women are indeed complicated animals.

the dutch

According to this article, there are now more active mobile phones in Holland than there are people. This didn't really surprise me, and upon reading more I found that there are a number of countries that have achieved this - Sweden for one.

What interests me more however is that Amsterdam has more bikes than residents. While again this isn't ground-breaking news, it does makes you think a little about culture. The concept seems to be to own at least 2 bikes and to keep them in bad enough a condition for them to not be a target of theft. It's quite common to cycle to the train station, lock you bike up there, travel by train, then continue from the train's destination on your other bike.

The vast quantity of bikes also seems to effect how people threaten each other. Rather than threaten to do someone in (or whatever your local colloquialism is), in Amsterdam people threaten to steal your bike (in my somewhat limited experience). Of course these idle threats could be a by-product of Amsterdam's colourful habit, who's to know?

I wonder if they have Lycra-clad police in Holland..

bicycled bobbies

Bobbies on the beat - a great idea. I like having the friendly neighbourhood fuzz wandering around keeping the peace. Police on bicycles is another good idea - you have the friendliness of the local copper, but with added mobility in case there's a crime other than littering and graffiti to take care of.

This morning I had a I wish I had a camera on my mobile phone moment - I saw 3 policemen (well, 2 and 1 woman) on their bikes. They had matching yellow bikes, green trousers and orange lycra tops with POLIZEI inscribed on the back. Let's just say they they wouldn't exactly strike fear into the hearts of the criminal minded and leave it at that.

tomeraider lacks soul

tomeraider is an electronic book reader. It's a very good idea - you can download books, poetry, dictionaries, encyclopedias, movie databases and more. Their slogan "print is dead" gives us a nice idea of how they see the future of document distribution... Clearly that's pushing it a little far and thankfully they'll never make it for at least 2 reasons.

1. The software is about as usable as a kettle made of molten plastic
2. They provide versions for windows, pocket pc and palm

Why oh why do people not realise that they have to think about more than just windows? I don't even use other operating systems myself, but it still gets on my nerves. I don't want to have to think whether someone will be able to read a file when I send it to them - I just want it to be possible, on their mobile phone for all I care.

So many people take a good idea and then break it. It pains me.

pretentiousness is costly

I like funky furniture - it's cool. I saw this placenta chair today and imagined (as I often do with funky furniture) having a modern house with clean edges full of furniture like this. There's a couple of furniture shops around here in Basel with this kind of cool, "perhaps it's comfortable but no one cares, it looks good" sort of furniture and they cost silly money. It'd be fun to own it but just not realistic. Besides, having a place full of stuff like that would probably mean you were more pretentious that a flock of camp post-grad jazz musicians.