Month: December 2007

Categories
Geek

Meanwhile, on “Global Nerdy”…

In case you’d forgotten, I write another blog: Global Nerdy, where I cover articles of interest to programmers, techies, nerds and all you folks who like keeping up with all things geeky. Listed beow are some of the most recent postings:

Angry woman holding a rolling pin beside “Master Chief” from “Halo 3”.“Halo 3” Cheat Codes, as Explained by a Neglected Girlfriend: “X, A, B, DOWN, RIGHT, Y: God mode. Total invincibility to all attacks. You can just stand there and the aliens can’t kill you. Heck, you could even put the controller down and they still can’t do anything. You could even walk away from the Xbox and—crazy idea—talk to someone who’s been sitting here for the past hour wondering if that was in fact an actual conversation she had earlier about going to the movies this afternoon and not just an incredibly realistic dream.”

Bug vs. Feature: Just in case the difference wasn’t clear to you.

It’s Complicated: An XKCD comic on everyone’s favourite Facebook relaionship status.

Photo of my desk and gear setup at TSOT.

Developer Hardware Nerdvana at TSOT: They give us some pretty nice gear at work.

In PHP, There’s Equality and Then There’s EQUALITY: Not all “equals” operators are created equal.

Area Man Gives Glowing Review for His Windows Vista to XP Upgrade Experience: I’m thinking about upgrading from Vista to XP myself.

Panel from a comic: “Show her how good you are at math!”Pythagorean Pick-Up: If you were (or are) a high school nerd, you’ll wish school social life worked like this.

1000 Copies of “Rock Band” Taken in Truck Heist: A sure sign we’re living in the 21st century: a couple of guys hijacked a truckload of videogames!

“BioShock” Meets a Shopping Cart: Quite possibly the world’s first Objectivist shopping cart.

Categories
funny

Comedy Family Tree

Here’s a comedy family tree that shows all the spiritual descendants of two British comedy television shows: At Last the 1948 Show (whose cast included John Cleese, Graham Chapman and Marty Feldman) and Do Not Adjust Your Set (whose cast included Michael Palin, Terry Jones and Eric Idle) .Their influences can be traced from these two TV series you might not have heard of all the way to South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut.

Comedy family tree
Click the image to see it at full size.
Image courtesy of Miss Fipi Lele.

Categories
It Happened to Me Work

El Zone Del Trabajo

For the curious, I’ve got a Flickr photoset showing my current workplace, TSOT’s temporary office (we’re moving to the permanent office in January).

Tcotchkes on my desk
Click the photo to see the whole photoset.

I’ll be updating it from time to time, so check it often!

Categories
It Happened to Me Toronto (a.k.a. Accordion City)

Sign of the Day

I noticed something strange on a sign on Bloor Street, just west of Avenue Road:

Medical Directory sign on Bloor Street listing “Imagineering” as one of the services.
Note the services offered: “Imagineering”?

I read the sign: “Accupuncturist, cardiologist, dentist…imagineering? As in Disney ride engineer?” (Clearly Cory Doctorow has rubbed off on me.)

It turns out that Imagineering is also the name of a multimedia company. Ah well.

Categories
Work

Office Holiday Party Memo of the Day

Ah, the peril-fraught office holiday party…

Scene from an office Chistmas party: the drunken grope

I’ve always worked in small- to medium-sized companies that had casual dress codes — if they had any at all. Hence when the office Holiday/Christmas/Festivus/whatever party rolled around, the most I’ve ever received in the way of a dress guideline was “it’s at the Palais Royale, so it’s semi-formal”. It’s a simple, reasonable request (TSOT’s party, which takes place tomorrow, is semi-formal).

Other people are not so fortunate. A reader whom I’ll call “Noel” sent me a copy of the memo s/he received from her/his company’s social committee regarding appropriate dress for their upcoming holiday party. It appears below — the only change I’ve made was formatting it so that it’s easier to read:

This year’s event is not as formal as last years. The dress code is semi-formal/cocktail attire. Please find below some suitable clothing examples for the occasion:

Suitable Articles of Clothing:

  • For Women:
    • Dresses (short to mid-length elegant dresses, i.e. hem one inch above/below the knee to two inches above the ankle)
    • Pants Suits (ankle length hems)
    • Dress Suits (dressy evening separates, not business suits. hem knee length to floor length) (Suggestion: choose looks with a bit of sparkle or holiday bent (for example a beaded sweater with black pants, a red silk blouse with a black skirt). dressy evening separates)
  • For Men:
    • Suits
    • Tie (Optional) (General Rule of thumb: if a button-down shirt is worn with the suit, then a tie would be in good taste).
    • Dress shirt (with or without tie) with dress pants

Appropriate Fabrics and Materials:

  • Women: Silk, Chiffon, Satin, Sateen, Gossamer, Brocade, Rayon, Cashmere, Polyester, Velour, Velvet, Velveteen, etc.
    *Also, embellishments such as sequins and beads are appropriate for women.
  • Men: Wool, Polyester, Gabardine, Cotton, etc.

Many thanks,
Your Social Committee

When I asked “Noel” if I could post this memo on this blog, s/he replied: “Certain ‘cultures’ thrive in darkness. I think shedding a little light on this particular one would be a good thing!” In case you were wondering, the company from which this memo came is located somewhere in the greater Accordion City area.

Got any examples of corporate overly micro-managey behaviour that you’d like to share anonymously on an insanely popular blog? Send ’em to me!

Categories
It Happened to Me Toronto (a.k.a. Accordion City)

Is Something Up with the TTC?

TTC LogoSwitching jobs from Tucows to TSOT means that for the first time in four and half years, it’s quicker to commute by subway than by bicycle. Hence for the past couple of weeks, I have been doing something I haven’t done in a long time: I’ve been riding the subway during rush hour on a regular basis. I’m concerned by what I’ve been seeing.

It’s been a while since I was a regular subway rider, so my memories may be wrong. Could someone tell me if there’s been a downhill slide in the Toronto Transit Commission’s service? I’ll admit that my commute is incredibly quick — it’s a quick walk to High Park station, 10 stops to Bay station, then a quick walk to the office — but even in that short trip, I’ve faced trains too full to board, trains running at half-speed and trains sitting idle at the station, sometimes for five minutes at a time.

I know that when it comes to its website and to promoting itself through merchandise, the TTC often tempts me to declare “Toronto Transit Commission, Thy Name is Half-Assery!”. The TTC’s apparent attempt to mimic San Francisco’s MUNI’s core incompetency at public transport worries me.

Categories
Geek Toronto (a.k.a. Accordion City)

TSOT’s Ruby/Rails Project Nights – Starting January 8th

Bruce Lee, wearing a TSOT t-shirt and holding Ruby on Rails nunchuks.

The Quick Version

TSOT Ruby/Rails Night
Tuesday, January 8th, 2008 (and the second Tuesday of every month)
@ TSOT’s office — 151 Bloor Street West (on the south side, just east of Avenue Road)
11th floor
Door open and food at 5:30 p.m.
Presentations start at 6-ish
FREE ADMISSION (but limited space)
To register, please email joey.devilla@tsotinc.com

About TSOT

TSOT is a Toronto-based start-up that develops — look out, here come the buzzwords — social networking applications using Ruby on Rails. Our first applications are FraternityLive and SororityLive, social software built specifically for people in fraternities and sororities. Both apps are currently being tested with a userbase of thousands of university students and alumni, and we expect to release them in early 2008.

About Ruby/Rails Project Nights

We believe that it’s good for Toronto to have a healthy developer ecosystem — it’s good not only for us as a Toronto-based development shop, but also as a group of developers who are passionate about the work we do. We’d like to see Toronto as “Silicon Valley++” — with the vibrant high-tech scene, but with all the amenities that make Toronto a better place to live than the Valley (such as not being a dreary 50-mile stretch of suburbia and having decent places to go at night).

Hence our contribution to the local developer scene: TSOT Ruby/Rails Project Nights, which will take place on the second Tuesday of every month. They’ll feature in-depth presentations by developers working on interesting projects — primarily Ruby and Ruby on Rails — along with drinks and munchies and a chance to socialize with your fellow developers. They’ll be hosted by Yours Truly, TSOT developer and DemoCamp regular Joey “Accordion Guy” deVilla.

The First Night: Tuesday, January 8th

This first Ruby/Rails Night will feature presentations by a couple of Ruby/Rails local heroes on their current Ruby/Rails projects:

The doors will open at 5:30, the first presentation will start at about 6, and we hope to wrap up the evening by 8:30 or 9. We’ll provide food and drinks, and if there’s enough of a demand, we can always go out to a nearby pub afterwards. There’s no cost to attend (but be advised that seating is limited).

If you’ve been thinking about making a Ruby or Rails presentation (perhaps you want to rehearse for RailsConf 2008!), we’d like to have you present it at one of our project nights!

Add TSOT Ruby/Rails Nights to your list of New Year’s resolutions!

How Do I Register?

Registration is free, but space is limited. To register for the upcoming Jan 8th gathering, please email joey.devilla@tsotinc.com

For More Information

For more information about TSOT Project Nights, please contact:

The event is also listed on Upcoming.org.