Posts

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Annoying Delphi 2005 OTA issue

Well, this one is just lovely. The first problem is that it does not support introspecting the Environment Option Names. This is annoying, but the next issue makes it even more fun. When we go looking for the options for, for example the package output directory variable (PackageDPLOutput) it looks at the .NET version before looking at the win32 version i.e. it’s got overloaded option names.
Oh well, it will need to be worked around again, I suppose.

[Listening to: SSREP13 The Veldt – Andy Doan – Spaceship Radio (29:48)]
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Page Style Chooser

I put in the ‘set page style’ options on the right hand side of the page. They seem to work just fine, mind you there is also the choice in the View->Page Style menu option in Firefox. I’m going to have to change some of the styles to make them more fluid.
I like fluid pages – I tend to resize and get annoyed when they only occupy a small portion of the screen.

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Typeface based personals

This is something that has always interested me. Certain typefaces cause me to think of certain things, just like certain pieces of music and certain half-seen images. The typeface personals is a collection of personal ads/dates oriented on different type faces. It’s quite a good description, and evokes some of the feeling that you get from looking at them. Then again, I know of at least one person who will think I’m talking a load of w**k.
All I have to say is that the fight between Helvetica and Arial is not over yet!
Straight apostrophes and quote marks did not exist in typefaces until the advent of digital type in the 1980s. It’s a computer thing, not a typographic thing.

[Listening to: Break On Through – The Doors – The Best Of The Doors (2:28)]
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Where Caffeine goes to die

Well it had to happen. Energy fiend has the Caffeine Database, it features all my favourites such as Diet Coke (10mg more caffeine per bottle than regular coke!) and Penguin Mints (7mg per pill). Woot! everyone loves the caffeine.

[Listening to: Receptacle For The Respectable – Super Furry Animals – Rings Around The World (4:33)]
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Skeptic

I’ve been bemused by the TV programs such as ‘Most Haunted’ and ‘Most Haunted Live’, where they are claiming to be encountering spirits in places. I think they’re nothing more than cheap entertainment à la ‘The Blair Witch Project’. I can’t see how people can be convinced that these things are true. The mediums they have on the show have knowledge of the locations, they’re playing on the fears of the people there, and they’re good at reading people. It’s a scam, and harmless entertainment. The only problem is that it’s convincing people that this stuff is real.

[Listening to: Interview: Fraser Cain interviews Tony Youens – Skepticality – Skepticality – Science and Skeptic Thought (46:09)]
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Movie choices

Well tonight I was thinking of going to see the new Wallace & Grommit movie, but instead I decided to stay in and get some programming done. To that end, I’ve been treated to Hellboy on Sky Movies. It’s a great movie, but you need to appreciate where it’s coming from.
This afternoon I was treated to my sister in the house talking about here ‘killen’. Just like issues with the pronunciation of ‘fillum’ I’d like to say for the record that I’ve stopped correcting people, I just groan inwardly. This coming from the lad who read the ‘curry’man newspaper every week 🙂

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How to steal focus on 2K/XP

You used to use SetForegroundWindow, but that only blinks your window now, this is because stealing focus is evil. It can be done and it’s evil.
You use the AttachThreadInput API call. The process is attach, focus, detach.

AttachThreadInput(GetWindowThreadProcessId(
GetForegroundWindow(), NULL),
GetCurrentThreadId(), TRUE);
SetForegroundWindow(hWnd);
AttachThreadInput(GetWindowThreadProcessId(
GetForegroundWindow(), NULL),
GetCurrentThreadId(), FALSE);

Again, this is doable, the problem is that it’s not good UI design as this will make your window focus even if your application wasn’t in the foreground, which as we all know is a no-no.

[Listening to: Purple Haze – Groove Armada – The Best of Groove Armada (4:03)]
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Default make rules

The default make rules for solaris are in a configuration file. This file is /usr/share/lib/make/make.rules
gnu make wanders around with the file built in. You use gmake -p to get it’s default rules (and a whole load more besides).

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Video iPod – meh.

Well, i’ve only had the iPod 60gig since March. Does this count as one of those ‘as soon as I buy one it’s half price‘ things? I don’t particularly care. How am I supposed to watch the iPod while I’m driving? or walking? When I’m sitting and listening to the iPod, it’s normally while I’m programming. Feh, who cares about the new iPod?