November 18, 2005 Archives
As seen on Slashdot (and read the 2nd entry of the thread).
Got tagged! Since I can choose which blog, let's say the current one, the MT blog:
A grandiose flying-away, on my own, to Japan, a stopover between here and Wonderlandu, a buffer between Occident and Orient.
5th sentence from my 23rd entry, back in March 2005. It was three weeks before leaving for Asia, to Japan, on my way to HK, before the true beginning of wacky adventures in the land of yellow people. The trip was special, indeed. I talked about it a lot, yet I feel as if I didn't really talk about it. Probably b/c there aren't so many people who can relate somewhat precisely with what I experienced. So, you know, coming from a place where you don't have any ancestral roots, and going on a long trip to discover the world, somehow. It's not exactly home, but people look like you, speak in the language which you, as a child, was the only language you knew (a combination of environmental determinisms would then make me totally fluent in French or English - but I struggle to have an intelligent conversation in Cantonese, let it be Putonghua). Etc. In any case, do not force yourself to be what you can't be - and besides, I enjoy being fluent in both Canada's official languages, such that I can understand nerdy jokes on La Première Chaîne *and* Radio One. Someday, you just want to share your true amazement at getting xiao long bao for 10RMB for a bowl of 16 big ones, or at the poutine they sell in Wan Chai (for 50HKD - the costliest, ugliest poutine I ate in my entire life), or at the micro cars that are the norm in Japan and which are the first models that can convince you to get a driving license.
Tagging! (The reason why I never do memes - other than b/c nobody tags my singleton blog - is that I am always a bit insecure about the responding part. Rejection is such a hard thing. I need more practice.)
- petronia
- thericebowl
- helvetius
- xanawu
- moderntime
InputStream, OutputStream. InputStream, OutputStream. In principle, you think, why don't people just manipulate files as files in applications. I upload a file, therefore I deal with a file, which I can therefore insert on the server's filesystem. But NO, the file you get is in fact an abstract mass of bytes with headers, and which needs to be invoked as an InputStream to be usable by a program, and if you need to save it somewhere, you then need to convert it to an OutputStream, which will then be taken and saved where a file can be created... (and nicely enough, some frameworks from a file uploaded will even give you the bytecode to be directly used in an output stream) Why isn't computing like in Tron, or worse, like in Swordfish? T_T
(I always liked 'Eugenie' as a daughter's name - b/c it reminds me of Imperatrice Eugenie, Napoleon III's wife, and on whom everyone seemed to have a crush on (including the sovereign of Egypt). It's ancient enough to be a hit for people of my generation to name their kids after. Like 'Rose' or 'Ada'. Or 'Rosaire' for a boy's name? Hmm. In fact, I'd like Chinese names best. Give me a moment to think about this...)
It was a painful evening trying to recover Sabs' HD. It wouldn't have been a complicated thing if my g33kn3$$ did not fog me from the law of the best solution being the most simple solution. In fact, we did the following: boot a perfectly working Linux computer with a Live CD, after removing the principal HD, and plugging in hers (with two partitions, one VFAT, the other larger one, WinXP-native NTFS). Transfer the files she needs to another Linux computer on the network. Transfer them again on a Windows 2000 machine, upon realizing that the 2nd Linux one didn't have a viable CD writing program. All this b/c Linux, as lovely as it sounds to my ears, refuses to work properly, and b/c I didn't think of, damn, just plug the HD as a slave drive in a working Win computer!
I can assure you that just two years ago, on my first Linux install, it really really sucked. The installers sucked, the packages sucked, *everything* sucked! I think that with Ubuntu, you are really starting to get a Linux distribution that can hold the road for desktop users. I can work from the command-line, but it's really all much more enjoyment if your favourite basic apps like a proper CD-burning utility was to work according to plan! Why the eff am even using WMaker as my windows manager??
These are moments when you don't care about raw power and go for the bearness of a Mac (it has nothing of a tiger or panther, imho - and windows is a duck).