Thomas Lee Holaday

2009-03-31T08:41:00.004-04:00

Building git from Source on Ubuntu 8.10 Hardy HeronVMWare supports Hardy Heron as a guest operating system in Fusion 2, so that's what I use for Linux work. The Hardy Heron version of git is 1.5.6.3 though, and today's version is 1.6.2. Here is what I did to build git 1.6.2 from source. It is a mix of command line and GUI toolsUsing the Synaptic Package Manager, mark git-core for installation

Base class ReferenceProperty in AppEngine

2009-01-18T20:56:00.001-05:00

Google AppEngine Mixed polymorphic and monomorphic classesfrom google.appengine.ext import dbfrom google.appengine.ext.db import polymodelclass Base(db.Model): date_added = db.DateTimeProperty(auto_now_add=True,auto_now=False)class Person(Base): name = db.StringProperty()class Item(Base, polymodel.PolyModel): owner = db.ReferenceProperty(Person, collection_name="stuff") motive =

2009-01-13T07:21:00.002-05:00

PEP 8 is prescriptive about the preferred location for import statements:Imports are always put at the top of the file, just after any module comments and docstrings, and before module globals and constants.This has bugged me. I think it reminds me of the "include the world" messes I saw in C++ code that resulted in massive overdependency and lengthy recompilations. With the import remote

2008-12-07T21:01:00.001-05:00

A Christmas Carol With Numerous Original Illustrations by George T. Tobin By Charles Dickens: ""

2008-11-19T09:43:00.001-05:00

I wonder if Somali pirates read Illuminatus.

2008-11-12T13:44:00.002-05:00

The Kos diarist eugene has written an excellent summary of the arguments against mandatory health insurance as a means of achieving universal health care.

2008-11-02T14:53:00.003-05:00

Ecch. "Maintaining user perferences after an email change" is not supported in the current Google AppEngine API. Personal identity is tricky for the philosophers, and also for the grunt programmers who wish to implement signons.Maybe OpenId instead of the Google User API?

2008-10-18T08:44:00.002-04:00

This anecdote by Thomas Bernhard resonates with the current crisis. This was the first I've heard of him.

2008-10-10T13:28:00.002-04:00

George Soros on the advantages of the Danish mortgage modelI like this as much as the Swiss mortgage model.

2008-10-03T12:23:00.002-04:00

From 2002: Recipe for conjuring a housing bubble with fiscal & tax policy.Does one follow a recipe to conjure, or is the term "spell"?

The next four years are in his hands

2008-10-03T11:51:00.001-04:00

.flickr-photo { }.flickr-frame { float: left; text-align: center; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 15px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } 2008.10.02 - 538 VP Debate-11, originally uploaded by Brett 538. The black and white gives a patina of timelessness, don't you think?

2008-10-03T11:09:00.002-04:00

Customers as investorsA restaurateur funds expansion from future customers. A principle of accounting is that costs should be matched to the period of benefit, and this mechanism works on this level. One risk is that enthusiastic customers might use their Comfort VIP cards too quickly, before the working capital represented by VIP Card balances can be replace from retained earnings.

Image889

2008-10-02T19:59:00.001-04:00

2008-10-02T14:08:00.002-04:00

Natural science offers a respite from fretting about politics and markets. Welcome to the sea slug forum.

2008-09-21T19:13:00.002-04:00

If anyone has a French translation of Black Angel's Death Song, I would like to see it.So far I have:La myriade de choix de son destinSet d'eux-mêmes sur une assiettePour lui de choisirQu'est-ce qu'il a à perdrePas un fantôme ensanglanté pays tous couverts de sommeil...I like the twist of the meaning in line four from "What had he to lose," to "What he has to lose."

2008-09-14T09:04:00.002-04:00

SlickEdit for Linux (Ubuntu) has incomplete support for Perforce out of the box. The Manager command is missing. The Get command is broken.Even after I set the Manager command (to p4v), the option is grayed out on the popup menu within the project.

2008-07-18T23:52:00.002-04:00

I do not understand what it is about Al Gore that gets up the nostrils of the Cafe Hayek bloggers. Both Russ Roberts and Don Boudreaux are bright guys, but if Al Gore is involved, the quality of their arguments plummet. In this particular story, we see Russ Roberts, a professor of economics, praising this line of reasoning:Al Gore proposes a national goal of generating all U.S. energy from

2008-04-07T11:40:00.002-04:00

I don't know Enrico Zoni, but I like the polite way he comments on Python's idiosyncratic commands module.

2008-04-03T14:02:00.002-04:00

The text search tool in SlickEdit 2008 has been renamed from grep to sgrep. Allegedly this was done to avoid conflicts with cygwin grep.

2007-11-12T08:55:00.000-05:00

A defense of the Clintons as politicians.

2007-08-10T13:45:00.000-04:00

Another YouTube that is best without titleUseful, perhaps, within bureaucracies, when responsibilities have been incremented, but not compensation.

2007-08-10T09:51:00.000-04:00

The Mortgage BustExcellent essay about the impact of the Mortgage Bust of 2007"Safe as houses" is an English proverb. What happens when houses are feared?The camels march.“The history is that lenders move in great caravans between two extreme points, which we can call stringency and accommodation,” said Mr. Grant, recalling how hard it was for companies to get loans as recently as 2002.

2007-04-01T17:23:00.000-04:00

Instapundit.com -Glenn Reynolds complains that a CNN reporter is not a lickspittle.Update:Looks like Drudge got burned, as, to a lesser degree, did those of us who relied on him.Will Glenn Reynolds will rely less on Drudge? To ask the question is to answer it.

2007-02-10T18:44:00.000-05:00

Three Worlds LIRRThe sunset sky from the window of the Long Island Railroad on a Sunday in October, 2006.

2007-01-31T19:37:00.000-05:00

British Calendar Act of 1751 For The Year 1752For years I have wondered what happened to rents, interest payments, etc. that fell due during September 1752 in England. That was the month when England converted to the Gregorian calendar, at a loss of eleven days.Did tenants see the landlord come around eleven days early? Did someone who lent overnight on the 14th collect eleven days' interest?

Tuba Repair Index

2007-01-13T13:23:00.000-05:00

Tuba RepairJeffrey Funderburk demonstrates how to keep a tuba in good working order. I like low notes.

Oh Drama

2006-11-22T14:33:00.001-05:00

.flickr-photo { }.flickr-frame { float: left; text-align: center; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 15px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } 20061005147.jpg, originally uploaded by Unbathed. I like the darks and the lights, I do.

2006-11-22T14:25:00.000-05:00

I wonder how to get Flickr pictures into this blog.i{content: normal !important}

2006-09-24T21:43:00.000-04:00

Still laterAfter an hour recharge, the green light came on again. I set it loose for ten minutes and egad, the bin is full again.

2006-09-24T20:39:00.000-04:00

LaterThe Roomba ended its maiden voyage somewhere to the right of my bed, standing still with its power light solid red. I remember reading somewhere in the manual that this means "bin full," so I opened it up and discovered, yes, a full bin. Also, an ATM receipt stuck between the brush and the basket.I returned it to its charging station, and then after a few minutes pressed its Clean button.

2006-09-24T18:16:00.000-04:00

A new vacuumI got to the part of settling my room where the next step was vacuuming. I went to the closet and discovered that the vacuum was broken, and apparently has been broken for quite some time. The carpet sweeping attachment shows no signs of life. The hose was clogged. Apparently our cleaning person has been hard on the vacuum.Although I have deep problems with clutter, I do like my

2006-09-11T10:49:00.000-04:00

BigHead's peanut sauce recipe"I'm a big fan of homemade peanut sauces: Toss in 1 part water, 1.5ish parts peanut butter, .5 parts soy sauce, a dash of lemon juice, and some garlic, and you're all set. Mmmm delish and cheap as hell."

2006-09-07T08:52:00.000-04:00

Cleaning the Nokia 770Egad, while browsing the internet with one hand and eating with the other, a glob of cream cheese from a Starbucks pumpkin-spice muffin dropped onto my Nokia 770's screen. I removed most of the mass with a napkin without touching the screen. How should I deal with the residual smear? Nokia's website warns (perhaps unnecessarily) against using harsh chemicals, but omits a

Test du Nokia N93

2006-09-06T08:56:00.000-04:00

Ahh, Paris, summer, a sidewalk cafe, a videophone ...

Veerle shows how to make the Flickr badge validate

2006-08-28T08:27:00.000-04:00

Why doesn't Flickr's wizard generate valid HTML? It is a mystery. Veerle shows how to fix it.read more | digg story

Swiss Public Toilet

2006-08-08T19:34:00.000-04:00

Inspired use of glass.read more | digg story

Paper animation of Jason Webley's "Eleven Saints"

2006-08-08T18:46:00.000-04:00

I hear Jason Webley first at an accordion festival. It was an enormous room, at least twenty five tables. As I remember, he ditched the microphone and performed his whole act "unplugged." Such energy. This is his paper animation for "Eleven Saints."read more | digg story

Twenty lectures by Hal Abelson and Gerald Jay Sussman available under CC license

2006-08-05T14:46:00.000-04:00

"The complete MIT course (video) available for download. These twenty video lectures by Abelson and Sussman are a complete presentation of the course, given for Hewlett-Packard employees."I have joined the torrent for all twenty. The textbook is also available. I don't think this stuff dates.read more | digg story

The Klein Four Group - Finite Simple Group (of Order Two)

2006-08-04T09:34:00.000-04:00

Mathematical Love Song (Acapella)I'm a sucker for academic humor.

Semco and Goal Congruence

2006-08-04T09:21:00.000-04:00

This is a review of a book about Semco, a company which may be organized along the principles of Goal Congruence. I want to know more.read more | digg story

Egghunt

2006-07-30T08:18:00.000-04:00

Evolution.

2006-07-29T10:47:00.000-04:00

RawA few months ago, I was handed a sheet of photocopy paper containing a handwritten outcry.Rising easter Sun of God crosses equator - brings plants back to life! Suns rays walk on water! Suns creation of rain turns water into wine! Son of God is a fraud! Sunday is the lords day"! Entire bible fraud is stolen pagan sun worship to unite nazi roman empire under 1 religion and steal pagan gold,

2006-07-22T06:50:00.000-04:00

Connecting Nokia 770 to Nokia 6600After updating the operating system on a Nokia 770, it was no longer possible for the user to make a packet connection via GPRS through a Nokia 6600. The presenting symptom was "Unable to connect to internet, Try again?"Here are the corrective actions applied and the results.Rediscover the 6600 using Control Panel | PhoneNo error messages, but no internet

2006-07-10T07:53:00.000-04:00

Powerful commands should have a verbose syntax for the novice and a terse syntax for the expert.Case in point, Perforce's overlay mappings. Compare://DEVELOPERS/tlh/codestream_one/... //workspace/...+//MAINLINE/... //workspacevs//MAINLINE/... //workspace+//DEVELOPERS/tlh/codestream_one/... //workspace/...The desired end result is "Prepare a workspace that would look as if I had merged all my

Want to learn Chinese? China wants to teach you

2006-07-08T12:39:00.000-04:00

I hope they include written Chinese. I found with the Rosetta Stone Japanese lessons, it was easier for me to learn to read Japanese than to hear it. read more | digg story

2006-06-23T09:04:00.000-04:00

The ternary operator in Python shows how to use selection from a tuple to substitute for the ternary operator.A problem with this technique is that all the members of the tuple are evaluated prior to the truth condition test. So if you want to use an argument if it's present but a default if there's no argument, you cannot writeprint "The argument is %s" : (sys.argv[1],"missing")[len(sys.argv)=1

2006-06-13T14:13:00.000-04:00

3.15569261 seconds in centuriesMemorize this.

tonight's sound and light

2006-06-03T07:54:00.000-04:00

http://www.psychasthenia.com/

Late train

2006-05-23T06:28:00.000-04:00

This morning the 6:16 local to North White Plains is operating five to ten minutes late. Some blue-sided express train rolled by the station without stopping at 6:21. Hmmph.

2006-05-10T07:52:00.000-04:00

Why I Like David BlaineDavid Blaine's stunts have a zen quality to them, say I, that affirms survival against a contemporary dread.In the aftermath of 9/11, he stood on a tower for 36 hours, and survived.With the broadening awareness of global warming and its concomitant rise in sea levels, he seals himself in a water globe for seven days, and emerges with injuries.Y'see? Y'see?

2006-05-07T19:18:00.000-04:00

Saturday night I went to Tiny Theater, a production of the Incubator at Ontological Hysteric. Eight short performances limited to a 6' x 6' x 6' space. The quality was uneven, but three were memorable in a positive way:Barely There, a monolog where the performer plays with character / breaking character in a charming Pirandellovian way.Neo-Futurist Play Redux 3.0.4, a four character piece that

2006-04-05T19:30:00.000-04:00

A: Some useless part of my mind keeps playing wouldn't-it-be-nice-if, along the lines of wouldn't it be nice if my wife was not acting like an adversary. I hope that moving apartments and a new job will provide an overwhelming amount of alternative brain fodder.B: Sometimes it is useful to have 20 high payoff/low odds ideas floating around, as long as you have a contingency for the most likely

Collapsable Kitchenware

2006-03-20T19:54:00.000-05:00

I like saving space.read more | digg story

2006-03-17T13:20:00.000-05:00

Getting Things Done and moodOne of David Allen's methods is to organize tasks by occasion, rather than topic. "Things to do while waiting at an airport." "Things to do at my desk at home."Perhaps moody people could use "Things to do while feeling worthless" and "Things to do while feeling invincible."

Microsoft Vista: Microsoft loses confidence in .NET

2006-03-15T10:23:00.000-05:00

I noticed that my .NET application's panels with eighty-one refreshes with a wave rather than a blink. I'd like to find out what's taking so long, but I can't step down any lower than IL. I wonder if the people developing for Microsoft also grew uncomfortable being so far away from the metal.read more | digg story

theatre of ideas

2006-02-14T10:12:00.000-05:00

Religion as a natural phenomenonDaniel C. Dennett in conversation with Robert Thurman.February 13th, 8 pm.No program. Two chairs black wood red fabric at 120 degree angles, a brown wood end table between them with two bottles of Poland Spring and a tray of pencils. The audience ranges from subteen to mid 70s.Parasites that manipulate host behavior - does it happen in us?

2006-02-06T18:49:00.000-05:00

Mick Jagger is two years younger than Dick Cheney and three years older than George W Bush.

ad sequence

2006-02-04T12:12:00.000-05:00

Four ads in the White Plains train schedule: a dating service, a real estate agent, a marital counseler, and an attorney specializing in collaborative divorce.

2006-01-27T16:01:00.000-05:00

Zack Parsons' take on the Palestinian elections is pretty good.

Waterfall 2006

2006-01-27T11:32:00.000-05:00

A methodology conference is always good for the spirit.read more | digg story

La Conquita

2006-01-12T16:53:00.000-05:00

La Conquita (236 Lafayette Street at Spring) has "the best rice and beans in town," according to Peter Meehan, food critic for the New York Times in his review. He mentions portion size: "Nearly two pounds of nourishment for $6."

2006-01-04T15:58:00.000-05:00

Celluloid Heroes and Hurdy Gurdy Man have a similar chord progression.The version of Hurdy Gurdy Man by Angel Corpus Christi makes the similarity plain.

2005-12-22T20:06:00.000-05:00

Indigo girls Uncle John's Band

2D Scrolling Using Hand-Drawn Look

2005-12-22T12:28:00.000-05:00

I hope these screenshots of Ambrosia Software's new 2D scroller are not a hoax. read more | digg story

2005-12-21T13:50:00.000-05:00

I wondered what would happen to my unlimited metro cards. They are of little value during the strike.According to the MTA, they will be extended for as many days as the strike lasts.Whew!

Accordion 3

2005-12-19T18:13:00.000-05:00

* Baba O'Riley* Einstein on the Beach* Heroes* The Orff thing with the medieval text and all the grunting. Carmina Burana.* The Arabian Dance from Nutcracker.

Accordion arrangements

2005-12-19T08:29:00.000-05:00

I remember making a list of songs to consider arranging for accordion choir, but it has gone astray. I should have blogged them.* Jump Into the Fire (Nilsson)* Night and Day (Porter)* Sweet Dreams Are Made of These (Eurythmics)* Rhianon ( Swirling near-arpeggio melody over ostinato laying ground for massive mushy chord climax )* Tusk ( Raucus marching band finale, but how to adapt the

2005-12-13T08:54:00.000-05:00

A noteworthy discussion of the "real database" question. I remember working a product that was doing nicely with Paradox being delayed for years by the GUI guy's disparaging it as a "toy."

2005-11-28T19:04:00.000-05:00

Bee Season

oob recommendation

2005-11-28T11:21:00.000-05:00

Red Bull specializes in Jacobean classics and contemporary plays in the Jacobean "heightened language" style. I went to the final preview of their current ripper "The Revenger's Tragedy" on Sunday night and recommend it to all those who savor articulate immoderation. Today through the 18th.

Commonwealth Bar

2005-10-23T14:15:00.000-04:00

We celebrated at Commonwealth after the Park Slope scavenger hunt last month. It had a good jukebox, a pleasant garden, and a congenial crowd.

28 Hour Day

2005-10-23T12:46:00.000-04:00

168 = (6 * 4) * 7 = 6 * (4 * 7) so why not six 28 hour days per week instead of seven 24 hour ones? There would be an immediate 20% saving on commuting costs since we would be working one less day.Alas, the link to discussions by serious proponents is a dead link.

Flock

2005-10-23T12:32:00.000-04:00

I am a big believer in the ordinary superiority of collaborative solutions, so Flock has my interest.

2005-10-14T15:19:00.000-04:00

I saw one of these five, and I'm so glad.

2005-09-24T05:36:00.000-04:00

Gmail workaround: Two clunky ways to view unlabelled messagesSuppose you have filters automatically labelling your incoming mailing-list mail with the name of the list, e.g. Goldfish, Politics, Gizmos, etc. You want to be able to see all the messages that are unlabled, but Gmail does not offer a "View unlabeled" user interface, and it might be a while until Gmail does, because "inbox" is simply

2005-09-15T15:17:00.000-04:00

OpenOffice Calc LOOKUP gotcha:In the version 2.0 beta 2, if the search field is not sorted, the result can be #NA.

2005-09-14T16:00:00.000-04:00

It never occurred to meIn my heart I learned that I would do anything for you; it never occurred to me that what you would want me to do is leave.

Stretch

2005-09-14T15:12:00.000-04:00

Stretch the goodness by refilling the pitcher with plain water. There will be enough juice in the lemon slices to flavor another two quarts.

Hybrid Lemonade

2005-09-14T10:03:00.000-04:00

1 packet of unsweetened lemonade-flavored Kool-Aid1/2 cup sugar1 lemonPut Kool-Aid and sugar into a 2.5-quart pitcher. Add 2 quarts of cold water and stir.Wash the lemon, then gently cut it in eighth-inch slices. Try to keep the juice in the lemon and not on the carving board. Add the slices to the pitcher. Stir gently.Serve over ice.Costs:Kool-Aid 20 centsLemon 34 centsSugar 15 cents

drat

2005-09-13T23:27:00.000-04:00

Drat. Siegel did not get enough primary votes to win. New York independents will lack their strongest candidate.

2005-01-20T12:51:00.000-05:00

This did a good job of taking my mind of the inauguration: The Clown Quartet

2004-05-03T00:04:00.000-04:00

OK, I've done the diet, I'm doing the exercise. Now I need to do the sleep.

2001-01-07T18:59:00.000-05:00

The box to edit stuff in Opera is about four inches wide and one and a half inches tall. I wonder what that guy was talking about.

2001-01-05T23:17:00.000-05:00

I met with John Sarapata tonight and gave him his Christmas presents, the catalog from the William Blake show at the Tate and Sex and Rockets.