NSLog();

Question: From Scott Adams: Suppose you found a thousand dollars in cash that you knew had been lost by a billionaire. Now, because this is a hypothetical question, let’s assume that the billionaire would never be aware that he lost it, and there would be no way that anyone else would know if you kept the money. And let’s say you knew there would be no reward or other indirect benefit in returning the money. Would you give it back?

My Answer: It depends. What if I know the billionaire? What if I don't know him, but I saw him drop it in front of me? What if the billionaire is only a millionaire? What if it's a fellow country club member who wouldn't let me play through last week?

As asked, and in the most general sense, I'd probably keep the money. I'd probably also spend it on something for the wife or family. Or buy a snow blower, because those things are ridiculously expensive. Finder's Keepers, I say - it ain't about religion for me.

At some amount ($5k, perhaps?) I'd give the money back. If someone you know lost a dollar, and you were near a McDonald's with their $0.99 double cheeseburger, and you were hungry and had no money of your own, would you give it back? I probably would consider it a small, short-term loan. 🙂

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

I didn't want to scare anyone, so the picture is after the jump. It's a picture of the small stitch job done on my arm from my "plastic surgery" (i.e. mole removal) yesterday.

The mole was around ¼" in size, yet the stitch job measures about an inch. I'm surprised how much they took out, but then again, better safe than sorry. I'd rather have them sure they got it all than leave some bit remaining. I still doubt with quite a good bit of certainty that none of the moles are cancerous, but if one happened to be they'd have surely gotten it all.

NSLog(@"Finish Reading %d Words", 151); »

I was watching a DVD and doing some work on my computer when a small beam of light shone through one of the holes on my office window's venetian blind. The beam of light happened to be centered on the Apple logo at the bottom of my 23" Cinema Display. I took this picture pretty quickly (and in raw mode to boot. I cropped off something on the screen, but otherwise the picture is unedited.

I scanned in a few pieces of felt (on a sample card - you get to choose the color) and wanted to make the felt a background image on a website. It may have been too tacky to use in the end, but I was looking mostly to get an image that resembled just a textured background that, when you looked at it closely, looked like the felt on a pool table.

At any rate, I spent 30+ minutes with Photoshop's Pattern Maker. It sucks.

None of the generated patterns had anything close to a seamless look. Some were better than others, but some were downright horrendous. I did better myself making a 4x4 grid of the images and using the stamp tool to copy portions to cover up some of the lines (but it still wasn't usable). 😛

Carey and I watched the first episode of "Deal or No Deal" last night. We watched a dumb woman pass up $171,000 for a 1-in-3 (2-in-6) chance of winning either $300k or $500k. The other four choices were $50k, $7500, $500, and $100 or something like that. The lady, who had never owned a house, ended up with $25,000 (her briefcase had something small; $500 I think).

Anyway, towards the end of the game, the banker's offer (I'm not gonna explain the show - look it up or something eh?) was pretty close to the average of the remaining choices. In fact, when only two cases were left, they were $50,000 and $1,000 (I think), and the banker's offer was the $25k the woman took. At the beginning of the game, with 10 "small" numbers (<$1000) and 10 "big" numbers, on average, remaining, the banker's offer is relatively small compared to the average to urge contestants onward. Last night's first offer was $17,000 - not bad money for five minutes of work.

NSLog(@"Finish Reading %d Words", 290); »

Years of living in southern Florida have apparently affected the way I see the world, for today I visited a plastic surgeon and had a procedure done. That I was home about than 30 minutes after my scheduled appointment time will probably clue you in to the fact that it was not major surgery.

No, the vanity of South Beach was not the cause: the number of people baking in the sun was. You see, I had two moles removed from my back (right in that spot you can't quite reach with your hands) and one removed from near my left wrist.

NSLog(@"Finish Reading %d Words", 358); »

Question: I read today a case for allowing users to choose disabled menu items. Instead of the action occurring (say, "Paste" or "Screw Up Document"), a dialog would explain to you why the menu item was disabled in case you were really trying to get to it. For example, if you try to rotate a locked item in OmniGraffle, the rotate commands would be dimmed, but upon choosing one, you'd be told why ("it's locked, stupid") you can't rotate the item(s). Would you like to see this implemented?

My Answer: Only if I could turn it off. If there was a "learning" mode, great. Otherwise, I'd have dialogs popping every time I mis-typed a keyboard shortcut. Plus, I like that disabled menu items don't "select" (show the selection color).

I think it's a fringe case - I can see the use in it, but I think it may do more harm than good as far as the user interface goes. People know that dimmed = not available. Start making them available, even with a dialog box, and you weaken that lesson.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

Does anyone in Erie even know what restaurants and stores are being built just south (and a little west) of the Millcreek Mall? Carey is hoping for a Cheddar's. I'd be happy with a real burger place (fast food and Overpriced & Erma's doesn't cut it). One building is already stick framed and nearly sided. Within the next eight or nine months, the whole area will probably be open, and I don't have a clue what stores/restaurants will be there.

Just about every PHP developer I know has written code that will allow users to upload files. I wrote one a long time ago for weims.net (I'd link to it if I hadn't stopped working on the site a few years ago).

I typically begin any new "upload" code by looking around the Web for example code or by looking through my existing code to find some. Perhaps next time I'll look here first.

Question: The fact that official support for IE 5 on the Mac will end on December 31 has been talked about ad nauseum in the Mac blogosphere so far today. My question is simply this: do you care?

My Answer: Hell no.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

The Steelers were 2-for-2 (1 TD, 1 FG) in the red zone, and prior to that, had converted 7 of 8 red zone trips to touchdowns. On the season, they're 57 of 58 (now 58 of 59) in converting trips to the red zone to scoring.

What will it take for Randy "14 IQ Points" Cross to stop saying "these teams are terrible in the red zone" and phrases similar to that? Seriously! Cuz I'm about sick of it.

Randy Cross used to be a good commentator. But today he's repeatedly mis-identified players (Joey Porter is #55, not #53), shown extreme bias despite overwhelming evidence on video replays and calls on the field, and so forth. He makes so many extreme statements that he has to be bipolar. After a short run is stuffed, "the Steelers haven't gotten their running game going yet at all this game." Then a play later, after a 9-yard gain "that's how the Steelers have played this game - by pounding the run at the Vikings."

Just shaddup already. You're almost worse than Solomon Wilcots and "I-an" Eagle!

Question: If you could jam cell phones in any locations you choose, where would you jam them?

My Answer: Movie theaters. If I attended meetings, classes, or similar things I'd want them blocked there, too. Also, it'd be nice to selectively jam one person's cell phone so that they either quit in the middle of the round or stop talking on the phone every four minutes while you're trying to play golf.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

Question: Will Apple have "Intel Inside" stickers or otherwise promote the Intel chips inside the computers?

My Answer: I don't think so. Apple promoted "G5" because it sounds cool and it distinguished the tower. They don't promote the fact that it's an IBM (or a Motorola on the G4) chip inside. Apple has almost never marketed using technology as a crux - they've stuck to brand messaging that promotes a lifestyle, not a slab of silicon. [Prompt: MacMinute]

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

West Wing actor John Spencer died of a heart attack. I've never been one to say something at times like this - any comment seems pithy when a life is lost - but I will miss seeing him on The West Wing and it will be interesting to see how the staff handles this adversity.

Seriously, builders suck. Contractors, builders… whatever they're called. The guy who built the house I live in has a phone that doesn't even have an answering machine anymore. It just rings and rings and rings. He promised a quote/bid last week, and when I talked to him last week, he said this week. It's Friday. Several others have failed to return bids on time, too. Not that getting ahold of these people is easy - moms and wives answer the phone an inordinate amount of the time, and when they don't, you usually get someone's answering machine. Not a business answering machine, no - a "you've reached the Smiths, please leave a message - BEEP" answering machine.

Grrrrrr. Seriously - if I'm gonna spend $15,000+ on something, the least someone can do is return a call, honor a promise, or even get a second phone line with an answering machine with the business name in the outgoing message!

NSLog(@"Finish Reading %d Words", 499); »