The single biggest problem that arises from the big gap between apocalypses isn't loss of momentum, or ridicule from other language groups, or the ever-hovering "it'll never get done" contingent. I could only wish. No, the big problem is the rebirth of Threads That Will Not Die on perl6-language, rising from the slightly damp outline of the horse pounded into the pavement. (Important safety tip--never name anything from genus Equus "Phoenix")
This time it's hash/array notation, though I have no idea why anyone bothers, since Larry's been blazingly clear in the past. It's not even really self-indulgent clueless wanking, no matter how tempting it is to characterize it as such, since those involved really and truly believe it's a good idea, and for reasons unknown just haven't noticed that the topic isn't open for change. Or maybe they hope against hope that it really is. (No, though, it isn't)
Reading through perl6-language, it's no wonder that a fair chunk of the outside world thinks perl 6 will be a horrid train-wreck. If perl was really going to be a committee-designed language, all indications are it'd make PL/I look like a model of intelligent restraint.
I really hate running SpamAssassin without having Razor enabled, as it picks up a fair amount of the virus mail that'd be otherwise missed, but lately I've been having to turn off Razor. For reasons I don't understand the Razor servers have been horribly non-responsive for me, leaving the TCP connections to them in a half-constructed state. It doesn't take too long before a bunch of these hang around, which then takes my server down to its knees. It's only got 128M of RAM and 128M of swap, and that's apparently just not enough for a mail/ftp/web server any more. Pity.
I suppose I should throw a larger hard drive and more memory into the thing, but honestly I'm as tempted to move all the services over to the PowerMac that's in the server closet as well. Not only is it running OS X, like all the other machines actually in use around the house here, but it's got a lot more space internally for more drives than the Compaq Presario 2266 that is the linux server, which is already maxxed out.
I suppose I could throw a half-gig of memory into the PowerMac and a couple of 200G hard drives easily enough. Its only lack is a second ethernet card, and potentially good IP masquerading, though I don't (yet) need that.
Well, there's a new version of Kung-log, the tool I use to post to the blog here. Looks like things have gotten quite a shot--new toolbar, extra options, potentially working off-line mode... sweet!
Or not.
I've been making a lot of phone calls lately, at least a lot for me, and I'm finding my knee-jerk loathing of making them is waning quickly. Familiarity breeds comfort, I suppose, or it might just be resignation to having to do it leading to the discovery that it isn't nearly the problem I thought it was.
Comfy with phones, OK with a suit--I may soon have my Geek Card revoked...
As much as I hate doing job searching stuff, I just posted resumes to monster and careerbuilder. Whee. We'll see what happens from here. Time to start actively applying for positions...
Amazon, it turns out, is a Fortune 500 company. Which is really cool but, as they're only 7 years old, really bizarre.
This is my week for switching browsers. I generally use Mozilla, but it's been crashing on me with some regularity lately. (Like every few minutes) My first assumption was that one of the twiddly bits I have installed (APE, SkinADock, Cee Pee You, TinkerTool...) were conflicting somewhere, but after uninstalling all of it, there wasn't much change. So, away with Mozilla.
The release of Safari from Apple instigated this, as I figured I'd just switch over, but it turns out I'm more hooked on tabs than I thought. Luckily Chimera came to the rescue here. It's snappy, doesn't crash, and has tabs. Works for me!
Now to move the bookmarks, or what's left of them after Mozilla's eaten them a few times, over...
Since Saturday I've gotten over 500 of the 'big@boss.com" virus e-mails. This is absolutely insane.
Quick update: A grep of the mail logs shows 921 of the damn things. Makes you wonder how much of AOL/MSN/Yahoo/HotMail's bandwidth and disk storage is devoted to this stupid thing...
Apparently Moveable Type isn't set up for people who don't babble incessantly in their web logs--with too few entries the page looks really cruddy. I guess it's time to go babble more... :)