I am the Kat that Walks By Itself

So, there I was, internetting away (uploading revised images for my Semicolon art, because I'd gotten an idea for improvement while I was falling asleep last night and spent some time today making the new image and wanted to upload it ASAP) and my uploads were all failing with "unknown error" and the uploads would start, stop, reverse, start again...
( cut for technical ramblings )
So to cut a long story short, if you have ethernet-over-power and you have three devices, and two of them are flashing red/green and one is solid red, that means two of them are okay and the solid red one is the problem. Good to know. Hope I remember this for next time.

I enjoyed this episode, it was action-packed, clever, with character stuff too.

Unfortunately, something about the plot-logic has been bothering me, something that most people wouldn't notice at all, but, alas, it is my profession. Something to do with the computer programming. Mind you, the writers get double kudos for (a) avoiding Obvious Computer Fail, which very few shows do, and (b) making the computer stuff something that bugged me afterwards, rather than during. So I'm not exactly complaining... it's just a puzzle that I needed to work out.
( spoilers SPOILERS and possibly TMI )

Ah, Padawan, there you are. Been programming you have? Listen to me you will.

1. He who thinks he will never make a mistake is a fool.
10. The art is not just in avoiding mistakes, but in knowing how to fix them.
11. All mistakes are stupid mistakes. Get over it.
100. Your eyes see what they expect to see. If you cannot find the cause of a problem, fresh eyes can see what you do not. It is not that the other person is cleverer, it is just that they did not have expectations to blind them. You can render them similar assistance in return.
101. Do not be afraid to state the obvious; it is the best way to avoid erroneous assumptions. Precision in communication is more important than trying to save face.
110. If you don't have time to do it right, you don't have time to do it. Do not let your superiors convince you otherwise. There is a reason why hasty solutions are called "quick and dirty".
111. Temporary solutions tend to become permanent ones. Keep this in mind when you are tempted to do a crap job "because it's only temporary".
1000. He who says he will come back later to document his code is lying to himself.
1001. If you cannot reproduce the problem, you cannot fix the problem: any solution you produce is just wild flailing and guesswork, because you cannot check whether the symptoms have vanished.
1010. In your haste to implement a solution, do not forget that the "why" comes before the "what".

You see the following error message:

ssh_exchange_identification: Connection closed by remote host

... and for a moment you think "Hey, why isn't that 'sshg_exchange_identification'?"

I did not do the things today that I intended to do. I did not do my washing (though I did pack and run the dishwasher). I did not write fic. I did not watch Doctor Who. Instead, I updated tags and character-lists in my netfic-reviews database, investigated bookmarking software and firefox plugins, set up a WebDAV server to sync my bookmarks to, and reorganized my bookmarks. I did stuff, but none of it was important stuff. (sigh)

Why do I procrastinate?

The phrase "intuitive interface" is misleading. What it really should be is "predictable interface" two terms: "customary interface" and "discoverable interface".

I hate blood tests. My arm hurts. And I need both arms to do computery stuff.

In other news, why is it that computer application themes (such as GTK+ and Firefox themes) come in only three flavours:
- bland
- garish
- black
Can't someone invent a tasteful, interesting theme that isn't black?

You people were right when you said you'd comment less, weren't you?
(iz sad)

I have gotten impatient with waiting for everything to be perfect with the changeover of my site www.katspace.org from a hybrid static-plus-PmWiki site over to everything being under ikiwiki, so I've changed it over now. I don't think anything major is missing, but if things are missing or strange, do let me know.
The new site should run a lot faster (slower to update, faster to display).

And the Updates mailing list is up and running again too, so if you want to be notified of updates to my site, do subscribe to it. All the old subscriber info got lost when my mailing lists got wiped last year, so any interested people will need to re-subscribe (yes, astrogirl2, this means you).

I've decided to remove the list-topics because the updates aren't all that often, and it's hard to remember what all the different topics are.

And slices of delicious Ham...

I have discovered Two Things today:
1) Cherry pitters Actually Work!
2) Ham with cherries is Delicious. Maybe those turkey-with-cranberries people aren't crazy after all.

In other news, I have been setting up my new eeeeeeeeeeePC, which I bought on Friday because my old original eeeeeeeeePC (now two years old) is having trouble with its power connection. I didn't want to risk having a dead machine which I couldn't charge or use, so I thought it better to get a new machine ASAP. Which meant that I did not get the machine I wanted(*), nor the cheapest machine, I just got the nearest, cheapest one that was in stock.

So, what did I get? I got an eeePC 1001HA, which means that it has a 10" screen which means it will no longer slip into my jacket pocket (frown), and a 160G hard drive, which means I can put everything I want on it (smile). It is a little heavier than my old one, but I can still hold it in one hand, which is the important thing.

(*) I wanted a 900-series eeePC, but you can't seem to get them for love or money any more. I think ASUS are phasing them out.

http://www.slideshare.net/terriko/how-does-biology-explain-the-low-numbers-of-women-in-cs-hint-it-doesnt

Another lovely link to point to the sexist jerks.