Asymptomatic

There must be intelligent life down here

Create Thumbnail in PHP
May 08, 2007

I wanted to get some thumbnail creation code in PHP to use for a little project I was working on, and so I traipsed over to Google and asked for “php thumbnail”. I took a peek at the first search result, snagged the code, inserted it in my test app, and went merrily on my way. And that will be the last time I trust Google to find me code.

There are many problems with the code that I got. It’s not malicious, but it does many easy things wrong. And the one thing that it’s supposed to do well - the thing for which Google found it - it doesn’t do correctly.

Latent Thoughts on Old News
May 07, 2007

I had a few thoughts on the recent HD-DVD folderol that was going on at Digg and other places, and I figured I would let them stew a couple of days to see what I managed to mentally sift out of them.

There have been a few interesting points made on the subject of the release of the HD-DVD key. If you haven’t heard, or you just didn’t care, or you had been left ignorant by big media news (no surprise if that’s the case), then you should know what happened before we begin.

The Bulletin
May 04, 2007

A new front in the junk mail war has opened.

I struggle from day to day trying to keep loose trash out of my yard. It’s not as bad in the new house as in the old, where the wind swept all of the trash into our lawn to roost, but the other yards in our neighborhood are so immaculate that one piece of rubbish in our lawn looks like a bright red boil on the face of a supermodel. That is why I am a bit concerned about this new Bulletin epidemic.

Lion's Teeth Evolution
May 02, 2007

We have an experiment in evolution in our own back yard – a vivid and undeniable example of natural selection at work.

Dandelions. The plague of the suburban lawn. Dandelions sound like a cute little plant, and they’re really not all that bad looking taken as just the flower. Indeed, their method of distributing seeds gets my vote as pretty darn ingenious.

Something Fishy
May 01, 2007

Berta’s sister’s family was in town for the weekend, and on Saturday we packed up everyone and trekked over to Adventure Aquarium in Camden.

They’re making some changes at the aquarium, or at least they have since the last time we visited. We had to enter through a different entrance, and there was a lot of construction. Still, the aquarium was in plenty good enough condition to make the trip worthwhile.