Lost Party!!!

In preparation for tonight's Lost Viewing party, I decided to work on some craft projects

I found labels for some of the foods on the web, and made some others using photoshop.

The Boarding Pass Shiraz is very close to Oceanic Flight style.. so no labeling was required there.

I had thought about doing mini liquor airplane bottles for cocktails, but didn't have the time to get to the liquor store before they closed.


Next I took pearl station Dharma logos and rolled them into the toilet paper for the bathrooms.

I didn't plan for the correlation to Paulo finding the toilet in "The Cost of Living" episode, season 3, but it worked out really nicely.

I am wondering who will be the first to get the TP surprise this evening.

The centerpiece of the table is a conglomeration of Dharma food rations and meds.



Epi pen testers make great pseudo auto injectors and left over med bottles have been labeled with the antidote for the island.

The menu for tonight is Cluck's Chicken (for Hurley), Dharma mac and cheese supper rations, assorted island fruits and veggies, and I found some Peanut Butter Klondike bars. (Peanut Butter and Polar Bears - Oh My)

There are also Saywer's Fish Biscuits (I baked and detailed sugar cookies instead of preparing actual fish flavored ones) , Dharma Rationed beer and soda, and random other assorted themed foods. It should be a fun night!!!

urban hacking / space invaders

Closing Branches

I was shocked to read this headline this morning:
CoastHills Federal Credit Union shutting down two branches

It looks like there will be no layoffs for the employees, but this is a definite sign of the economy.

floating point binary

from the math thread on smug earlier today... why MONEY doesn't compute

http://www.calculateforfree.com/sci.html

Here's my 2 cents on fuzzy computer math: (please feel free to ignore my ramblings)

Floating-point is a lot like scientific notation. It generally has a radix (coefficient), which can be adjustable and an exponent or scale. The radix is multiplied by the base to the power of the exponent.

Ex: 123456.7890 in ten digit precision = radix - 1234567890 with a exponent of 2 (the radix point follows the first digit).

So the value is 10^2*1.234567890 or 123456.7890

Because the radix point is adjustable the floating point notation the math gets fuzzy.

EX: 0.15 * 0.15 = 0.0225

In float point

EX: (1.5*10^-1)x(1.5*10^-1)=(2.25*10^-2)

Computers then use rounding modes to compute the results of floating point operations

In multiplication the radix is multiplied while the exponents are added and the result is rounded, small errors are reported as multiple operations are completed. The errors will occur then the exponent is either too large or too small resulting in hidden bit differences in the math. (side google note: Horner scheme computation for a great algorithm for floating point multiplication and division)

If you made it this far and didn't fall asleep, check out this book "What Every Computer Scientist Should Know About Floating Point Arithmetic" Goldberg, 1991... It's a great read if you enjoy this kinda stuff.

http://docs.sun.com/source/806-3568/ncg_goldberg.html

Or in the words of Xena... WIZARD!

The Pandas are coming

I saw this in the news this morning:

Panda Attacks Man... Again

I am amused by the previous drunken attack where the man bit back.

The story reminded me of the Sifl & Olly "Panda Song"



After dark the pandas stalk
Nightmare creatures with black hearts
Ravenous teeth that glow in the dark
feasting on bums that sleep in the park

the panda is indeed the most mysterious of all creatures
shrouded in the enigma of it's black and white coat
what kind of camouflage is this?
black and white?
hiding in an Oreo factory could be
that's just another chapter in the endless saga of the panda!

chorus
the pandas are coming!
to rip off your head!
the pandas are coming!
on a rampage of the dead!

Hannah Montana Release

Should I be concerned that on my commute into the office this morning I found an insightful work related song? I am driving a rental until my car gets fixed form the wreck. Figures no German car parts are in stock anywhere near here.
Rental has satellite radio and I have been sampling the airwaves on my commute each day. Radio Disney is a few clicks away from Raw Dog which makes me laugh too much (broken ribs).

Hannah Montana must have dealt with last minute release loading issues to pull this one off:


Sometimes I'm in a jam
I've gotta make a plan
It might be crazy
I do it anyway
No way to know for sure
I'll figure out a cure
I'm patchin' up the holes
But then it overflows
If I'm not doin' to well
Why be so hard on my self?

[Chorus]

Sometimes I work a scheme
But then it flips on me
Doesn't turn out how I planned
get stuck in quick sand
No problem, can't be solved
Once I get involved I try to be delicate
Then crash right into it
My intentions are good
Sometimes just misunderstood

[Chorus]
Next time you feel like...
it's just one of those days...
when you just can't seem to win
If things don't turn out the way you plan,
FIGURE SOMETHING ELSE OUT!
Don't stay down! Try again! YEAH!

I think I will have to download the mp3 to listen to today while I try to find out who has the patches for the holes in 2008.02 Indirect lending purge fatals. I have a deadline of Sunday January 11,2009 to get this release up and running without corrupting the system. I escalated the cases, and now I am just waiting for a patch re-install. Maybe it's about time to start up a indirect lending module support group? Symitar is being supportive, but I think they're feeling the stress form this one too.