Profile for spinoza:
Used to post to b3ta once in a while. Rarely do that anymore. Still lurk the board for the laughs.
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Used to post to b3ta once in a while. Rarely do that anymore. Still lurk the board for the laughs.
Recent front page messages:
Best answers to questions:
» Evil Pranks
My office mate ..
.. has set his Windows backdrop to a photo of his house. It's a nice house and he doesn't lock his PC. I'm subtly photoshopping the image every weekend, replacing it by a new version on Monday morning. This far I've removed several windows, the mailbox, various stuff, and the chimney, and I have changed some colours.
He hasn't noticed yet. I hope that once he notices, he'll wonder for a while if his memory is failing him. I don't think he knows the capabilities of Photoshop, so there is a fair chance that it will be fun.
This weekend I plan to add the first garden gnome.
Come to think of it, I'm probably not evil, but I might be mildly irritating.
(Fri 14th Dec 2007, 15:05, More)
My office mate ..
.. has set his Windows backdrop to a photo of his house. It's a nice house and he doesn't lock his PC. I'm subtly photoshopping the image every weekend, replacing it by a new version on Monday morning. This far I've removed several windows, the mailbox, various stuff, and the chimney, and I have changed some colours.
He hasn't noticed yet. I hope that once he notices, he'll wonder for a while if his memory is failing him. I don't think he knows the capabilities of Photoshop, so there is a fair chance that it will be fun.
This weekend I plan to add the first garden gnome.
Come to think of it, I'm probably not evil, but I might be mildly irritating.
(Fri 14th Dec 2007, 15:05, More)
» Narrow Escapes
Stupidity ..
Once at a party when I was pissed out of my pants I climbed out of the window and onto a scaffold. I then walked around on the scaffold and climbed the ladders until I was at the top level of the scaffold, about four floors above the ground. I then carefully made my way up a slanting roof and onto a level roof. As anticipated, it was a nice view from there, but I had to take it one step further and climb an unused chimney as well. Sitting on the chimney was like sitting on the top of the world.
When climbing back down from the chimney, still dead drunk, I slipped and started sliding down the slanting roof. By pure reflex, I grabbed to the left and got hold of some brick. The sobering was instant. I then slowly made my way back up to relative safety and carefully climbed back down to the party.
I can't believe how incredibly stupid and pointless the whole thing was.
Here's a sketch from memory since I'm not very good at explaining architectural details:
(Fri 20th Aug 2010, 8:33, More)
Stupidity ..
Once at a party when I was pissed out of my pants I climbed out of the window and onto a scaffold. I then walked around on the scaffold and climbed the ladders until I was at the top level of the scaffold, about four floors above the ground. I then carefully made my way up a slanting roof and onto a level roof. As anticipated, it was a nice view from there, but I had to take it one step further and climb an unused chimney as well. Sitting on the chimney was like sitting on the top of the world.
When climbing back down from the chimney, still dead drunk, I slipped and started sliding down the slanting roof. By pure reflex, I grabbed to the left and got hold of some brick. The sobering was instant. I then slowly made my way back up to relative safety and carefully climbed back down to the party.
I can't believe how incredibly stupid and pointless the whole thing was.
Here's a sketch from memory since I'm not very good at explaining architectural details:
(Fri 20th Aug 2010, 8:33, More)
» Political Correctness Gone Mad
I have a friend who is a preacherman ..
.. or whichever title is appropriate, in this case your language seems to have a lot of words for the same thing. He conducts sermons in a free church. Utterly nice chap, extrovert, splendid sense of humour. He once stated that I would have fit in perfectly with Monty Python. Did I mention that he is a nice chap?
Since I'm not really religious in any meningful sense, I've never seen him at work, but apparently it's both entertaining and fairly informal. You know, electric guitars, digital projectors, etc.
Last year he asked me if I could illustrate a passage from the Bible (I don't recall which) for his sermon. Use my creativity. Make something interesting. This was in the wake of the Mohammed Caricature crisis and the embassy fires had not entirely died out, so naturally I came up with this idea:
Oddly, it was turned down. Not by my friend though; he still holds the drawing in high regard and occasionally apologises that he was never allowed to use it.
(Sat 24th Nov 2007, 12:36, More)
I have a friend who is a preacherman ..
.. or whichever title is appropriate, in this case your language seems to have a lot of words for the same thing. He conducts sermons in a free church. Utterly nice chap, extrovert, splendid sense of humour. He once stated that I would have fit in perfectly with Monty Python. Did I mention that he is a nice chap?
Since I'm not really religious in any meningful sense, I've never seen him at work, but apparently it's both entertaining and fairly informal. You know, electric guitars, digital projectors, etc.
Last year he asked me if I could illustrate a passage from the Bible (I don't recall which) for his sermon. Use my creativity. Make something interesting. This was in the wake of the Mohammed Caricature crisis and the embassy fires had not entirely died out, so naturally I came up with this idea:
Oddly, it was turned down. Not by my friend though; he still holds the drawing in high regard and occasionally apologises that he was never allowed to use it.
(Sat 24th Nov 2007, 12:36, More)
» My most gullible moment
Over time ..
.. any software module deteriorates as a results of accumulated defects, poor design decisions, unreadable code and general software enthrophy. At some point it becomes quicker and cleaner to rewrite it from scratch than to try to maintain the existing code.
So I was thrilled to hear that the core of Windows Vista had been rewritten from scratch. This was bound to be a major improvement over XP.
And so I bought it. And next time I'll buy a Mac.
(Mon 25th Aug 2008, 20:41, More)
Over time ..
.. any software module deteriorates as a results of accumulated defects, poor design decisions, unreadable code and general software enthrophy. At some point it becomes quicker and cleaner to rewrite it from scratch than to try to maintain the existing code.
So I was thrilled to hear that the core of Windows Vista had been rewritten from scratch. This was bound to be a major improvement over XP.
And so I bought it. And next time I'll buy a Mac.
(Mon 25th Aug 2008, 20:41, More)
» The Dirty Secrets of Your Trade
I write software for the military
It's an advanced system which is used to plan and execute orders. Lots of secret information.
But our users disregard our system and use Excel instead because it enables them to do the planning on their laptop at home. Occasionally they type the information into our system afterwards.
The amazing thing is that they don't follow orders. There is no way to order them to use the system. This seems to be the dirty secret of the military: *people don't follow orders*.
I take this as a hint to stay clear of all wars.
Still not convinced? Don't get me started about the general quality of military software ..
(Thu 27th Sep 2007, 12:54, More)
I write software for the military
It's an advanced system which is used to plan and execute orders. Lots of secret information.
But our users disregard our system and use Excel instead because it enables them to do the planning on their laptop at home. Occasionally they type the information into our system afterwards.
The amazing thing is that they don't follow orders. There is no way to order them to use the system. This seems to be the dirty secret of the military: *people don't follow orders*.
I take this as a hint to stay clear of all wars.
Still not convinced? Don't get me started about the general quality of military software ..
(Thu 27th Sep 2007, 12:54, More)