I don't know how I missed this at the time, but last week the average quality of the world's websites was marginally increased - Geocities is dead.

I'd like to take this moment to quietly contemplate all those little blink tags and nasty colour schemes, gone forever. But I'm not going to. Because I have better things to do.

Discovered by Shah in the source code for a product which is almost out the door:

/* Commented out for testing SWIG purposes only. If you are not Ruth, chances
are you want to uncomment this next line.
#define NULL_4_FUN NULLFN, NULLFN, NULLFN, NULLFN
#define NULL_2_FUN NULLFN, NULLFN
*/I'll start building the release-candidate again then ( Read more... )

Is it just me that misses the chatroom? I get so bored at work some days...

I think our beloved CEO has finally cracked. He's always seemed pretty normal and OK and refreshingly free from the usual management BS. I think someone must've sent him to a "leadership seminar" or similar, though, because last week he sent out an all-staff email telling us he'd shaved off his moustache after nearly 40 years and that this is a ( Read more... )

I'm being Appraised later this morning. Apparently the only reason this makes me feel scared and resentful is that there is something a bit wrong with me - all the people I tried to whinge at about having to have an appraisal appear to view them as a chance for self-agrandisement and job expansion, rather than an opportunity for your boss to pick ( Read more... )

From a website I was browsing earlier...

We stock a wide range of bridal gowns and outfits for the fuller figure.

My first thought was 'well, they'd have to be, wouldn't they?'. I think I'm a bad person.

Hi folks ( Read more... )

Today, we had a leaving presentation for one of the computing support guys. I was aware of Lee as a jovial presence, a prodigious maker of cakes and a bone dry sense of humour. Things I only learnt about him today include:

• During his time with the US military he served in Vietnam.
• He has over 12 terabytes of hard disk space on his home system. He ( Read more... )

Output from a test program I'm trying to debug:

X02BBC = 9223372036854775807
(double)X02BBC = 9223372036854775808.000000

Can anyone explain to me why casting a number from a long integer to double adds one to the number? Stupid language.

Update: I know now what causes this. The first number is the largest representable integer in 64 bits, the ( Read more... )

Well, I am no longer a closeted Poly, at work anyway. Thanks to having to fill out a form to say what I want done with my pension in the event of my death in service, the fact that I have two partners is no longer secret.

I feel oddly vulnerable and uncomfortable.