Ryan Schmidt at work pointed this out to me. It’s really very cool.

animation, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Seems the Tories have yet again proposed their horrible, horrible copyright legislation.  What’s being proposed is very similar to the disastrous DMCA in the US, but goes even farther.  Good for Hollywood, good for the RIAA, bad for people.  Very bad.

Boing Boing today has a post which links to this excellent site which is set up to make it easy to voice your opinion to your MP.  Takes about 20 seconds, and could make a big difference.  So please go send the letter.

copyright, canada | No Comments »

So last night I’m all

GslMatrix D;
GslMatrix B;
C.symmetricEigs(B, D.diag() );

But the compiler is all



error: no matching function for call to 'GslMatrix::symmetricEigs(GslMatrix&, GslVector)

See the problem? D.diag() is passed in as a temporary, and the symmetricEigs has it passed in as a reference. Rather than behave rationally, the compiler refuses to consider the possibility that I meant it to pass the temporary by reference, and tells me that it can’t find a proto for what I want to do.

Now I ask you: is this good behaviour on the compiler’s part? Is this what I wanted to do? A nice error telling me that I’m trying to pass a temporary by reference would have been a little better. But is it really an error? What about side effects? I was certainly counting on those in this case, but it refused to play ball.

Anyway, I’m leaning towards my not understanding the situation. Maybe there’s really a technical or spec reason why this error is necessary. For the life of me, I can’t think of one though. So until one of you points out the essential thing that I”m missing, I’m going with this should be a warning at best, but should certainly be allowed.

Oh, and btw, the solution was to create

GslVector d;

one line above and pass that in instead. On the stack like the temporary, but somehow able to give compiler that nice cozy feeling it needed.

c++, programming | 2 Comments »

Jacob started taking piano lessons last fall, and it quickly became a real focus and, dare I say, passion for him.  He is a passionate young man, after all.  His teacher has been the marvelous Julia Butenko, and I can’t recommend her more.  Unfortunately, Julia has to move to Windsor soon.  Jacob is taking it well, I think, but it’s not easy nonetheless.

To cap off their time together, Julia arranged to make a recording of his piano playing as a special present for Elena.  We got it a day or two ago, and I’m blown away.  So without further ado: Jacob Daum’s pianistical stylings!!!!

jacob daum | 1 Comment »

Not much to post here. But this is too perfect to pass:

united states, politics | No Comments »

In a really despicable turn, the Clinton campaign has started distributing pictures of Obama wearing native Kenyan garb. He was in Kenya at the time, and his dad’s from there. I guess it makes him look a bit like a terrorist muslim. For myself, I have no problems with somebody looking like a muslim, or even looking like a windswept has-been for that matter.

clinton, obama, united states, politics | No Comments »

We’re in NYC this weekend for the wedding of Elena’s lovely college friend Amy Mushlin.  So far it’s been a nice affair, and a good chance to catch up with the Branford crowd, many of whom we have not seen in a long, long time.  In addition, it’s the first time we have travelled without the kids, who are happy as clams back in Toronto under the watchful eye of our excellent friend Imelda.

After spending our first night in town at the home of friends Mari and Sean, we checked into the Barclay hotel yesterday, where Amy had booked a block of rooms.  Our first encounter with the hotel was lovely, and we marveled at the way service can be elevated to a high art in this country as the bellhop ran circles around the lobby grabbing our bags, getting WiFi access codes from the business center, etc.  The room looked great and we had plenty of room to unpack.

Then we heard the baby in the next room.  Not a screamer, just a steady nagging cry.  And then the parents comforting him.  The door between the rooms was paper-thin and I swear the sound was as if they were right there in the room with us.  Ah well, when we got to the lobby, reception was mobbed so we asked the concierge what could be done.  He told us that if the problem continued we should go to reception and get the room changed.  We were rushing to the rehearsal dinner, so we decided to stick it out for the night and re-address in the morning.

Worst.  Call.  Ever.

I don’t think I got more than 2 hours of sleep in a row.  At 5:30 when I was awakened for the 300th time I quickly judged that further sleep was improbable.  I put my coat on and went down to the lobby and complained.  Then back to the room.  Put pants on in silence and headed back out.  As I opened the room door there was a knock.  There was a man in the hall in hotel uniform who I shushed down to a whisper immediately.  Noise complaint he said, but he had been standing there and didn’t hear anything.  So much for the service as an art thing.

So I went down to the lobby and the coffee shop was still closed.  But it’s New York.  I’ve been woken up in the city that never sleeps.  Just cross the street to one of the any number of wide open establishments which will offer me hot coffee and plentiful WiFi for the next 3 or 4 hours.  Nope.  Streets are dark and empty.  Stores are closed.  Alright, over to Times Square.  Surely that place is wide open — centre of the known universe, right.  Mixed results.  Many bright signs and Giant TV’s flashing and telling me things, but still very sparse on the humans.  Hundreds of closed Starbucks.  All stores closed, and have no hours posted on the doors, almost like they’re ashamed to admit it.

Back to the hotel.  Waitaminnit, isn’t that the gold Rockefeller Center thingy they skate in front of in the movies?  Go closer…my god, it is!  But the whole thing’s tiny, like they made some Disney replica of the actual article.  Rink’s so small I don’t think you could even work up a sweat.  But I don’t skate anyway.

Back to the hotel.  Business centre.  Internet.  Power.  Coffee soon.  Nap later.

new york, united states | 2 Comments »

Library Chronicles has a long post today which breaks down the landscape of U.S. politics and the current election runup, focusing on the ideas of Obama, hope, and Martin Luther King.  This is a must read!  The essay elegantly puts into words so many of the thoughts and feelings I’ve had lately about the players, the process, and the broader society.  I can’t go into even a fraction of the well executed insights presented, so please take the time to read it.  As a teaser, here’s the essay’s summary:

Barack Obama represents a slightly less offensive alternative to Hillary Clinton and, if he becomes the nominee, will similarly represent a slightly better choice than John McCain (whose new video is out, I see). Given the choices, there isn’t necessarily anything horribly wrong with casting a vote his way. But the a-historical cultists would have us believe that there is something inescapably right about doing so. In making their case, the cultists have invited comparisons between their candidate and some of the giants of the 20th century. Such comparisons find their man laughably inadequate.

Because Obama is too timid to speak clearly about poverty and class, because he is not committed to rolling back American imperialism, because he lacks the courage of Martin Luther King who challenged Americans to reexamine their values (even at the expense of his own personal safety and ultimately his life no less), Obama does not deserve to be compared with a leader like King. Democrats need to get their heads out of the clouds and go to war (in multiple senses of the phrase) with the candidate they actually have.

obama, united states, politics | No Comments »

How many times have you heard the talking heads about one team or another “wanting it more”?

Well here it is:

football, New Orleans | No Comments »

Music is so evocative.

http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2008/02/02/william-says-yeswecan/

So manipulative.

I’m fighting to stay cynical.

Even though I have a lot of practice…it’s hard.

united states, politics | 3 Comments »