Steve Fischer's Random Blog

Category: Crazy

  • Productionalize

    I’ve already hit the grumpy old man stage of my life and nowhere is that more clear than in English usage, grammar and font choices (observant folks will note the lack of Oxford comma). Don’t get me started on less vs. fewer.

    I was on a business call today when someone asked if something had been “productionalized“. I work in software, so I understand what they were saying, is it a feature that has been built and is actually in use. But why is that better than “in production”? The latter is clearer and has the benefit of using actual words.

    Corporate speak is full of this nonsense. It’s all jargon to make the speaker seem more sophisticated.

    What is the client’s ask?

    Ask is a verb, not a noun. Seriously, stop it. Why would you say that instead of “what does the client want?”. There’s only one reason, to be pretentious.

    And Comic Sans is evil…

  • OEIS Humor

    Serious geek humor from  xkcd. First I had to Google OEIS to find out that it stands for On-line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences. Then I had to wrap my mind around the fact that there is such a thing. Then I looked at the comic again.

    My favorite is definitely “All integers, in descending order”. If you don’t understand why that’s funny, you are not a geek.

    SUB[59]: The submission numbers for my accepted OEIS submissions in chronological order

  • Oxford Comma, Morons and Pedants

    This so appeals to the grammar nerd in me…

    1529931813-20180625201

    Via smbc, of course.

  • Steve! Build an Ark!

    This one spoke to me…

    Later, Steve just buys 14,000 inflatable life rafts on Amazon.

    From Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, of course.

  • Webster is Trolling

    Not an isolated example, this one follows the White House press conference on the administration’s “non policy” of separating families. Check out the Twitter feed…

  • Hilarious or Rude?

    The answer is obviously yes. Kim Thong Un? Only the NY Post…

    https://twitter.com/nypost/status/1001968236966137857

  • Uber Math

    I know most Uber drivers use a different maps app than the official Uber app, but this amuses me no end. My daughter regularly has to take an Uber home after late volleyball practice. I have the Uber family plan, so I get notifications for her rides, which I really like. But invariably, about halfway through the ride I get a message that her ride is taking longer than expected.

    If I check the app I usually see something like this:

    Screenshot_20180524-203910

    Yes, that would be longer than expected. Brooklyn traffic can be bad, but I promise you that over two hours from that spot is inconceivable. 15 – 20 minutes is normal. And it always fixes itself after 5 minutes or so.

    But honestly.

  • Don’t Look Down

    A daredevil climbs the outside of 450 foot tower and stands on the very tippy top without holding on. These videos both captivate me and scare the living bejeezus out of me…

  • Earth-Moon Fire Pole

    What If is back! Well, that’s not really true, the website What If never left, but the RSS feed broke for a while. And since it’s a site with about a post a month, without RSS I forget about it. (if you don’t know what RSS is, read this). The RSS feed is back working and the site is as delightful as always.

    If you don’t know what What If is, it’s a site by the same guy who does xkcd, described as Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions. The latest post, Earth-Moon Fire Pole, is a perfect example, with a question from a five year old (kid questions are great ones):

    My son (5y) asked me today: If there were a kind of a fireman’s pole from the Moon down to the Earth, how long would it take to slide all the way from the Moon to the Earth?

    In typical What If fashion, he first explains why such a pole is impossible:

    break

    But then proceeds to say:

    But let’s ignore those problems! What if we had a magical pole that dangled from the Moon down to just above the Earth’s surface, expanding and contracting so it never quite touched the ground? How long would it take to slide down from the Moon?

    and follows with a lengthy discussion of the physics. From the Moon you’d initially be sliding “up” so you have to start by climbing, but gravity is low so that’s possible. But it’s really far before Earth’s gravity takes over so you can start to slide down. And then you start sliding crazy fast, etc. etc. Crazy fun and scientific all at the same time.

    nervous

    Now I have to go back and read all the posts I missed…

  • World’s Coolest Dog