http://neovore.com/ ben vandgrift: writer, software developer, curmudgeon en-us #2737 came in at 33:55. not my beat time, but I'll take it. ... ben vandgrift Sat, 09 Aug 2008 19:22:42 -0700 /tweets/520096096 /tweets/520096096 The future I want is a savage one. ... ben vandgrift Fri, 08 Aug 2008 17:00:43 -0700 /tweets/520096095 /tweets/520096095 Late day and late dinner. Boo. ... ben vandgrift Thu, 07 Aug 2008 16:07:33 -0700 /tweets/520096094 /tweets/520096094 'I don't know where ya been lad, but I see ya won first prize!' ... ben vandgrift Wed, 06 Aug 2008 17:22:20 -0700 /tweets/520096093 /tweets/520096093 taking a day off the map. ... ben vandgrift Tue, 05 Aug 2008 13:40:23 -0700 /tweets/520096092 /tweets/520096092 'it looks like a coffee cake pie!' -j ... ben vandgrift Sat, 02 Aug 2008 10:37:48 -0700 /tweets/520096091 /tweets/520096091 Today is a day I want to have the shit kicked out of me by a worthy opponent. If only there were any. ... ben vandgrift Fri, 01 Aug 2008 21:11:42 -0700 /tweets/520096090 /tweets/520096090 It is no coincidence that soon after Buster's closed, so did Shumaker's. ... ben vandgrift Fri, 01 Aug 2008 08:33:50 -0700 /tweets/520096089 /tweets/520096089 All of my plans are sneaky and deceptive. I blame my upbringing. @elponderado how's things? ... ben vandgrift Wed, 30 Jul 2008 19:46:29 -0700 /tweets/520096088 /tweets/520096088 'ran' this morning, which means at this point, a bunch of running and a bunch of walking in between. nearly three miles, abysmal time. but i got up early and went, and i think that's the important thing. life's funny sometimes. funny, to quote the apotheosis saga, like a fist in the gut. ... ben vandgrift Wed, 30 Jul 2008 07:19:32 -0700 /posts/520096087 /posts/520096087 You can't direct the wind, but you can adjust your sails. ... ben vandgrift Mon, 28 Jul 2008 22:01:36 -0700 /quotes/520096086 /quotes/520096086 getting a haircut. ... ben vandgrift Sun, 27 Jul 2008 12:45:24 -0700 /tweets/520096085 /tweets/520096085 my friends just ran through the fountain downtown. Sometimes you gotta make your own fun. ... ben vandgrift Sat, 26 Jul 2008 23:10:04 -0700 /tweets/520096084 /tweets/520096084 @elponderado Wisdom tells me love is asking for trouble. So does experience. :) ... ben vandgrift Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:02:48 -0700 /tweets/520096083 /tweets/520096083 fixed a couple of things with this site this evening. mostly because adam wouldn't stop pestering me about not having an xml feed up. so there it is. right there. now shut the hell up. a few other tweaks, nothing major. about to start putting in permalinks, because .. well, i should. tightened up security just a hair. added some in-place editors if you happen to be logged in. my last day with RS is thursday. i'm somewhat adrift. ... ben vandgrift Tue, 22 Jul 2008 23:47:12 -0700 /posts/520096082 /posts/520096082 this madness related to a new computer is getting me down. seriously. ... ben vandgrift Mon, 21 Jul 2008 10:52:53 -0700 /tweets/520096081 /tweets/520096081 "fuck semicolons!" -jeffmo ... ben vandgrift Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:09:46 -0700 /tweets/520096080 /tweets/520096080 at the office. natch. ... ben vandgrift Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:37:03 -0700 /tweets/520096079 /tweets/520096079 At the Raw house show. Good lighting. Much more visceral. ... ben vandgrift Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:42:44 -0700 /tweets/520096078 /tweets/520096078 was shooting for the smallest, most extensible preferences class i could get. email me any comments -- i'd like opinions on this. [code lang="ruby"] class Preference < ActiveRecord::Base belongs_to :user #FIXME descriptions should be in a config file? COMMON_DEFAULTS = { :email_on_message => [true, "Email when you get a message?"], :online_status_visible => [false, "Status visible to everyone?"], :public_profile => [false, "Full profile visible to everyone?"] } class << self def description_for(key) (COMMON_DEFAULTS[key.to_sym] && COMMON_DEFAULTS[key.to_sym][1]) || nil end end end [/code] ... ben vandgrift Thu, 10 Jul 2008 08:17:05 -0700 /posts/520096077 /posts/520096077 as is par for the course, the dreams that disturbed an otherwise peaceful slumber were vivid and troubling. it was good to see my little brother, however, even if it was in the aftermath of our mother star going nova. what followed that (yes, we lived) was the kind of 'oh now what' moment usually reserved for cartoons -- the nova blast set off all the automated counterstrike conditions for the world's nuclear arsenals. boom. the thing currently stuck in my memory's craw is my brother tugging at a piece of loose skin (in spite of my warnings) and pulling away most of his shoulder muscle. first 'nightmare' i've had in a while. when waking from dreams of the annihilation of humanity, one's mind predictably turns to various apocalypses. as i recall from monday school god said to moses something to this effect: 'this time a boat was for the win. next time wear asbestos.' this begs the question of other pure elemental destructions. 'earth' would be easy to accomplish -- massive earthquakes devastate the whole thing, possibly caused by the orange-peel-like crust sliding on its molten bearings and careening willy-nilly around the earth's surface. it can be argued that this ... ben vandgrift Wed, 09 Jul 2008 06:22:30 -0700 /posts/520096076 /posts/520096076 Doc says all clear - and another load comes off of my mind. Eff India right where it lives. ... ben vandgrift Tue, 08 Jul 2008 13:53:15 -0700 /tweets/520096075 /tweets/520096075 Nadal beats Federer to win Wimbledon. 4 hours 48 minutes. ... ben vandgrift Sun, 06 Jul 2008 13:19:39 -0700 /tweets/520096074 /tweets/520096074 How many Lexington cops does it take to drag a crying veteran away from the memorial? Four. Note the date. ... ben vandgrift Fri, 04 Jul 2008 13:55:06 -0700 /tweets/520096073 /tweets/520096073 games and puzzles entertain me to no end. i have something of a collection, and often the more obscure the better. games require a deconstruction that works the mind. puzzles are somewhat simpler, but still engaging. <a style="float:right; padding-left: 5px;" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sfamiliar/2635382152/" title="IMG_0582 by sfamiliar, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3024/2635382152_7fa7c178a4_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="IMG_0582" /></a> the ritualist in me finds these things meditative. one of my mother's favorite things to do to me is to find some decrepit puzzle at a yard sale, preferable scrambled, in pieces, or in some other disrepair, and then drop it on me on her next visit. she knows that i can't stop until it is solved. well, i CAN, i just usually don't. on her most recent visit, she dropped off a few wooden puzzles which were solved within a few minutes (more assembled rather than solved, but i'm not picky). generally that's how such things go. with one exception: last year around august she brought a bunch of rubik's type puzzles up. i made short work of all of them but one; this one did not have an obvious solution. that isn't to say it didn't have a solution, or i couldn't figure out how ... ben vandgrift Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:33:46 -0700 /posts/520096072 /posts/520096072 on the phone for hours for the lose. these long meetings drive me nuts. good content, but so .. much .. ... ben vandgrift Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:26:30 -0700 /tweets/520096071 /tweets/520096071 looks successful. now for the other way around, maybe. ... ben vandgrift Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:37:57 -0700 /tweets/520096070 /tweets/520096070 setting up a twitter import script for neovore. ... ben vandgrift Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:36:07 -0700 /tweets/520096069 /tweets/520096069 fun with rjs. good times. ... ben vandgrift Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:39:02 -0700 /tweets/520096068 /tweets/520096068 .. was the best host TNT ever had. sure, rhonda shear was cuter, but jbb was seriously funny. example: "... nothing makes me madder than watching that mint-condition 1971 Hemi Cuda get totally destroyed in that crash scene. What were they thinking? That car, you could just barely touch the gas pedal and that car would make a sound like a 747 taking off. The engine in that thing was so big you had to use a booster seat to see over it. [...] That was THE most powerful car ever built. The greatest of all the Muscle Cars. And now we have one less Hemi Cuda in the universe. [...] Anyway, that's just irresponsible. You know, anytime they RUFFLE THE FUR on a poodle in a movie, you've got the ASPCA complaining, you've got PETA protesting, you've got people going to jail for poodle abuse - but you can just TRASH a beautiful machine like that, with impunity. I'm sick. Go ahead. Roll film." - jbb on monstervision, concerning phantasm 2 ... ben vandgrift Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:32:47 -0700 /posts/520096067 /posts/520096067 'fetishistic consumerism' i am guilty of this -- maybe not as guilty as some. when i get a little down, one of my urges is to go buy something. the further down i feel, the more expensive a thing i want to buy. the psychology behind this is easy; i was raised with a siege mentality with regard to finances, and making a big purchase establishes my wallet's dominance. i feel better about myself because of the cash i have on hand. this is incredibly stupid, and i feel incredibly stupid for doing it, but it's hard to overwrite the programming. not impossible, but it's easier to mitigate than to override. i can mock it out most of the time. the way i do this? i don't make any big purchases generally. i <i>know</i> that when i get depressed i'm going to go buy something, so i save up my wants until then. i keep a mental list of these things, and when i start to slide into blackness i haul it back out. today is like that. this week has been rough. rosetta stone has been jerking me around for a few months now, so ... ben vandgrift Sat, 28 Jun 2008 13:21:58 -0700 /posts/520096066 /posts/520096066 at the pub. much better. ... ben vandgrift Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:38:15 -0700 /tweets/520096046 /tweets/520096046 at molly brooke's. expensive. golf on the tv. bored now. ... ben vandgrift Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:53:48 -0700 /tweets/520096047 /tweets/520096047 meh. small place. golf on the tv. bored. ... ben vandgrift Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:50:54 -0700 /posts/520096045 /posts/520096045 downside of multi-layer validation with with poor testing: tracking down the failures. ... ben vandgrift Wed, 25 Jun 2008 07:15:18 -0700 /tweets/520096048 /tweets/520096048 yay expense reports. ... ben vandgrift Mon, 23 Jun 2008 06:11:33 -0700 /tweets/520096049 /tweets/520096049 the grapevine: crappy cover bands every night until 2am. i know this because i can hear them from my porch, over half a mile away. ... ben vandgrift Sat, 21 Jun 2008 21:02:36 -0700 /tweets/520096050 /tweets/520096050 busters' last night was yesterday. my bar is offically closed. today? sulking. ... ben vandgrift Sat, 21 Jun 2008 12:56:38 -0700 /tweets/520096051 /tweets/520096051 .. before any of the more rational readers to convince me that i'm not going to change the mind of any über-thumpers: i know that. this is as much typing practice for me as anything else. willful ignorance is a powerful, pitiful thing, but it does bring blissful and unshakeable certainty of belief. but, concerning the bible as the perfect word of god: while it has been almost a year since i last looked at the dead sea scrolls, i don't remember them having been written in english. granted, it was pretty dark. which version is, in your mind, the perfect version (in english)? wycliffe? tyndale? king james? (and please specify either the 1611 version, which included the books of the apocrypha or the 1768 rewrite which cut them out to reduce printing costs.) niv? is it possible that they are all flawless, despite their difference? a fact of linguistics: there is no such thing as a perfect translation from one language to another. not possible. as a result, translations are compromised, imprecise, or downright erroneous. as an example (and one that's pretty old hat for bible scholars) let's consider the 'virgin birth': first the prophecy, from isaiah 7 (asv): 14 ... ben vandgrift Sat, 21 Jun 2008 12:05:12 -0700 /posts/520096044 /posts/520096044 <span style="color: #F55;">Barry</span>: i run this from /usr/website/deploy TAG=branches/jp_release cap -f (host) -f sites/jp -a clean_deploy_content<br/> <span style="color: #F55;">Barry</span>: I do this on (host)<br/> <span style="color: #F55;">Barry</span>: It gives me a funny error<br/> <span style="color: #F55;">Barry</span>: REPORT request failed on '.../jp/branches/jp_release' svn: '.../jp/branches/jp_release' path not found<br/> <span style="color: #55F;">b.vandgrift</span>: that is correct. there is no such branch as branches/jp_release<br/> <span style="color: #55F;">b.vandgrift</span>: there is branches/release, but that hasn't been updated in 8 months.<br/> <span style="color: #55F;">b.vandgrift</span>: the last tag is three days old.<br/> <span style="color: #55F;">b.vandgrift</span>: the last trunk is 5 hours old.<br/> <span style="color: #F55;">Barry</span>: I was drunk. ... ben vandgrift Fri, 20 Jun 2008 07:41:31 -0700 /posts/520096043 /posts/520096043 giving twhirl a .. you know. ... ben vandgrift Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:38:54 -0700 /tweets/520096052 /tweets/520096052 home again, home again. ... ben vandgrift Thu, 12 Jun 2008 18:54:44 -0700 /tweets/520096053 /tweets/520096053 Jcalhoun is learning about twitter for the first time. ... ben vandgrift Tue, 10 Jun 2008 11:36:59 -0700 /tweets/520096054 /tweets/520096054 - this keeps up, and i'm going to destroy the world. ... ben vandgrift Mon, 09 Jun 2008 18:07:33 -0700 /tweets/520096055 /tweets/520096055 - i miss being a contractor. ... ben vandgrift Sat, 07 Jun 2008 14:35:35 -0700 /tweets/520096056 /tweets/520096056 Watching the celtics game. Not sure why. ... ben vandgrift Thu, 05 Jun 2008 20:20:01 -0700 /tweets/520096057 /tweets/520096057 not briefs, you dirty minded bastards. the past couple of weeks have been me clearing my head and docket so i can be sane. this has been something of an uphill fight. i am now 17 lbs lighter than i was when i left for the subcontinent. i've been trying to maintain this with some hard biking, and watching what i eat to a stronger degree. i am now driving an 07 civic, which should net me a $3000/year savings in fuel, maintenance, insurance, and payments. with the potential savings, i got a new tv. i was, it turns out, around $50k over the limit to get a 'stimulus package' tax refund. stingy bastards. wednesday i head back to the burg for another week of covering for a new father, and copying text from word documents into web forms. while a waste of potential, it's their nickel. for the moment. ... ben vandgrift Mon, 02 Jun 2008 14:04:49 -0700 /posts/520096042 /posts/520096042 baseball at applebees park. Legends in pink. ... ben vandgrift Sun, 01 Jun 2008 15:14:31 -0700 /tweets/520096058 /tweets/520096058 Papers have been signed. ... ben vandgrift Sat, 31 May 2008 14:30:16 -0700 /tweets/520096059 /tweets/520096059 looking for a car. mixed bag. ... ben vandgrift Sat, 31 May 2008 12:09:46 -0700 /tweets/520096060 /tweets/520096060