Author Archives: Court

About Court

This is Courtney Vallentyne's blog.

Words I wish I would finally stop typing

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As an IT person, I type things a lot.  I type the same things a lot, even.  However, despite LITERALLY years of experience and practice typing some of the same damn things my fingers stubbornly refuse to learn some of them.  I mean, it’s pretty bad sometimes.

Here are some of my favourites.

ip[config
ipconig
etc

Ah yes, any nerd worth his salt knows this beauty.  And no, that damn bracket doesn’t belong there.  But, despite probably 20 years of practice, that’s what I type every damn time, or some jumble of things that look close, but not quite right.

Microsoft Excahnge

So, I work for Microsoft now, but even before that I essentially lived and breathed Microsoft Exchange (an email server product) for YEARS.  Needless to say, I have probably typed that word a million times in my lifetime.  Have I even come close to achieving proficiency?  Nope.

And finally, the shortest most frustrating word that for whatever reason just won’t come out right the first time:

pign

Yeah, that’s supposed to be ping.  Four letters.  Wrong like 75% of the time.  How is that even possible?

And all of this gets so much worse when someone is watching me type, it’s like my fingers are giving a 4th grade speech in front of the school.

Thanks for reading, I feel much better now, exorcising those denoms.

Robot Drones Weave Cradle of Doom

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This video is hypnotic and amazing.  You can easily imagine these helpful benign robot helpers doing amazing things to help humans.  You can just as easily imagine them busily wrapping your struggling form with numerous thin unbreakable nylon ropes….  but maybe I have seen too many action movies.  Still, way cool tech and a clear sign of things to come.

 

Mass Shooting Tracker

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A few days ago I saw this article on Twitter, and it opened my eyes (already open to a painful degree) about the absolutely amazing and broken way that the US treats the distressingly common mass shootings there.

As anyone that isn’t American knows, generally people don’t shoot each other.  At all.  But in the US, as that article says, the Lafayette theatre shooting was the 204th mass shooting (generously defined below as shooting 4 or more people in one incident) in the US this year, which happened to land on the 204th day of the year.  Yeah.

Some of the most telling observation comes from a site that article linked to, a site called the Mass Shooting Tracker which was started by a bunch of Redditors in an effort to raise the publicity of these horrendous crimes, which seem to come and go without any fanfare from the media in the US.  From that site’s wiki page:

The most obscene incidents of gun violence usually do not make the mainstream news at all. Why? Because their definition is incorrect. The mainstream news meaning of “Mass Shooting” should more accurately be described as “Mass Murder”.

The old FBI definition of Mass Murder (not even the most recent one) is four or more people murdered in one event. It is only logical that a Mass Shooting is four or more people shot in one event.

Here at GrC, we count the number of people shot rather than the number people killed because, “shooting” means “people shot”.

For instance, in 2012 Travis Steed and others shot 18 people total. Miraculously, he only killed one. Under the incorrect definition of mass shooting, that event would not be considered a mass shooting! Arguing that 18 people shot during one event is not a mass shooting is absurd.

I find this amazing, and sad.  So, kudos to these folks for doing their best to change the status quo and I sincerely hope that somewhere along the way someone finally listens.

The Independent article sums things up for the rest of the world watching in sadness and amazement:

“Those who live in America, or visit it, might do best to regard [mass shootings] the way one regards air pollution in China: an endemic local health hazard which, for deep-rooted cultural, social, economic and political reasons, the country is incapable of addressing,” The Economist wrote in response to the Charleston massacre. “This may, however, be a bit unfair. China seems to be making progress on pollution.”

Since I do travel there for work regularly, but thankfully not that frequently, that sums things up more or less just as I see things.  Heaven forbid someone even mentions those two words guaranteed to start an argument:  “gun control”

The Onion once again has the final word, as they wrote more than a year ago:

‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens

 

User Interface Design?

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We have a relatively new dishwasher.  It’s very nice, and has a cool display that tells you what’s going on, it’s the only visible control when it’s closed. For instance when it starts the cycle, it tells you that now is a fine time to add that glass you just finished drinking from, and no, you didn’t miss anything yet in terms of washing awesomeness.

Or at least, that’s what it’s trying to do.  It has a fatal user interface flaw that prevented this from happening one memorable time.

Nikki’s Mom and Dad were over watching the boys for us one weekend while we were away, and decided (rather uncharacteristically) that they would run the dishwasher.  The boys helped out, they loaded everything up, and the boys helped to put the soap packet thing in.  They even pushed the right button (a very good choice in user interface) called Start.

The dishwasher then starts to make a few muted sounds, there’s a bit of water running, etc.  On the display, a somewhat tentative pair of grandparents and two young boys looked and saw this:

Add a dish

They looked at each other, and came to the only sensible conclusion:  they must not have put enough dishes into the dishwasher.  “Add a dish” the display says in ominous red.

Needless to say they opened the dishwasher and added a dish, whatever was close at hand, maybe something not yet ready for the wash yet, but hey.  Restart the cycle, close the door, and there it was:

Add a dish

The next logical thing was, we must not have added the right dish.  That’s a bit of a poser of a problem, because at some point they start to wonder how in the hell does the dishwasher know what dishes are in there?  Nevertheless, they gamely try to figure out what dish is missing, what is the special dish the dishwasher needs to run?

You might have figured out that the fatal flaw of this interface is essentially summed up as lacking a single question mark.  If that glowing red message said “Add a Dish?” there would have been no question in anyone’s mind that it was indeed optional, and poor Paul and Darlene would not have stuffed the dishwasher full of every darn dish in the house in an effort to satisfy the implacable smug machine.

Wine pairing for normal people

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Last night Nikki and I went to the West End Well to go and see Heather Heagney for a wine and (vegetarian) food pairing night called A Taste of Spring.

I think 20 year old me might have laughed heartily at the thought of having that kind of night, but I will say that I not only enjoyed it, I would go back again.  The food was delicious, the wines were really good and went perfectly with the food, and the folks there were really a lot of fun.  We will definitely be back to check out the store when it’s open for regular business.  It was a great way to learn something about food and wine in the least snobby way possible.  There was no pretentious swishing and spitting here, and nobody asking me if I detected the notes of slightly distressed Peruvian gummi bears in the wine.  Nossir, you got your wine and food, Heather told us all about it and why they went well together, and then you ate and drank until the next course came out.  Tasty tasty all around.

Speaking of Heather, this gal knows her stuff about food and wine.  If you get a chance to hear her talk about this stuff, you will definitely be entertained and learn something while you are at it.  I don’t recall ever trying to imagine music while drinking something before, but I did last night.  She’s fun and funny and smart.

Anyway, a great night for sure and I would highly recommend it to folks looking for a little variety  in their palate.

Check out Heather’s blog here:  After the Harvest  (Buy her book too.)

Follow her here:  @aftertheharvest

West End Well