I’m terrible at multi-tasking.
When I am busy, I’m never able to find a good balance between the must do things and the smaller priority items. Unfortunately, one of the things that is the first to fall is blog entries.
I’ll try to work on that.
Mrs. NakedPaulToast is taking me to The Keg for my birthday. My favorite steakhouse.
I’m going to get the biggest fattest steak in the place, with a big ol’ honk’n baked potato loaded with crap that will send my cholesterol through the roof, and a Keg Size Bloody Caesar.
Happy birthday to me,
Happy birthday to me……..
Conspiracy theories (and theorists), the world is absolutely full of them.
JFK assassination, 9/11, moon landing hoax, are probably the most notorious modern day conspiracy theories. They have a lot in common, like most conspiracy theories, they fail Occam’s Razor, they’re not falsifiable, they’re not support by industry experts, they defy logic, they demand too many people stay silent.
They just don’t make sense.
(more…)
I went golfing today with my brother-in-law, and father-in-law. Whenever we play, we play skins for a buck a hole.
Whoever wins a hole gets the skin (a buck), a tied hole gets carried over to the next hole, that hole is then worth two skins. If a tie occurs on the final hole, low game score determines the last skin, and outstanding carry overs.
We are pretty evenly matched, and have basically passed the same loony back and forth all season. We were all off today, had any one of us been on, he could have probably walked away with 7 or 8 skins, for a net gain of $12 - $24.
Father-in-law ended up with the money, winning 5 skins for a net gain of $6. I broke even with 3 skins for a net gain of $0. Brother-in-law took a loss, with 1 skin, for a net loss of $6.
(more…)
I’m on vacation, actually I’ve been on vacation a couple weeks now. Contrary to popular belief, you have less free time when you’re on vacation. Way less.
Another trip to Canada’s Wonderland, lots of golf, converted a bedroom into an office and an office into a bedroom, still need to paint, fixed a plugged pool line, made three trips to get rid of accumulated junk, other assorted household chores. I’ve barely been on the computer.
Oh yeah, bought a gazebo, installed it on the back deck. The back yard gets a lot of sunshine. That’s great to keep the pool warmer, but it’s also nice to have shade. It’s also impossible to try to use my laptop outside, because of the glare.
The gazebo is perfect. Lots of shade and reduces the glare so I can use the laptop outside.
In my previous entry, I discussed why floor(), when used with random() is often preferable than ceil().
Now, it’s time to discuss why round() is undesirable, when used with the random() function.
The round() function will round real values, towards the nearest whole number. 10.2 is rounded downward to 10, 8.7 is rounded upwards to 9.
Values with exactly .5 after the decimal point are a special case, as they are exactly halfway between the nearest decimal point. Game Maker uses a technique called Bankers’ Rounding when rounding .5 decimal points. Essentially, half the time it rounds downward, the other half upward. Always creating an even whole number.
0.5 will be rounded down to 0, 1.5 rounded up to 2, 2.5 rounded down to 2. This form of rounding is used to reduce cumulative errors that can be introduced by a lot of rounding.
(more…)
Often on the GMC, a poster is interested in obtaining a random integer within a certain range.
IE.
How can I get a random number in the range 1-10?
Responses, typically will be:
r_number=floor(random(10)) + 1;
or
r_number=ceil(random(10));
The problem is many do not recognise the dangers of using ceil(), in that context.
(more…)
I finally bought my new van.
As much as I detest, the rising cost of gas, and the extra consumption by mini-vans; the functionality, convenience and comfort is just not something I’m willing to give up. And yes, I am being selfish.
I found a Dodge Caravan, considerably smaller than my Windstar, the smaller and better running engine should provide some pump relief. I’m looking forward to picking it up in a few days.
Back in a few days.
I donated blood today. Usually I, donate at work when they set up a clinic, but I found that often my schedule doesn’t allow me to attend. There’s a permanent clinik near where I live so Mrs. NPT and I set up an appointment.
I’m such a wimp though, I can’t stand looking at it when they prick my finger for the quick test, and turn my head away when they insert the tube. I won’t look at all.
I do get a kick out of all the questions they ask, during the screening process. Some consider them pretty intrusive, others homophobic and discriminatory.
(more…)