Author: koalie

The sound of things

Sound that things make and their levels, as analysed on my smart phone with Decibel Ultra:

Light rain under the porch: 60 – 70 dB
Heavy rain under the porch: 90 dB
Thunder striking a couple kilometers away: 100 dB
Downpour under the porch: 100 dB

This is usually when I give up staying out under the porch, because it means ricocheting water will soak me soon. And my computer too. [User relocates] Here, let me wipe a few drops from my screen and trackpad. Done. You should see the cat –having migrated indoor against her will, she sits under the table in front of the French window and looks dismally at the curtains of rain.

I like to measure the sound of things. Not all things, only things which sound level I find notable. Here are a few additional examples:

Loud snoring: 86 dB (peak)
MIT machine room: 83 dB? I haven’t committed that one to memory, I was too busy being impressed.
Meadhall nearby Stata Center: 103 dB! I lasted throughout dinner once, kept only by the fine company of two people I like.

Chatting with a bot

We use several IRC bots at work, and this is what happens when sometimes they interrupt a conversation, out of the blue (we, humans, usually invoke them with triggers, none of which I knew I typed). This bit has only my side of the conversation, and I chose to leave out all context as it entertains me better this way:

2012-07-27T15:02:23Z <koalie> so I'll do it by hand
2012-07-27T15:02:23Z  * Zakim koalie, you typed too many words without
commas; I suspect you forgot to start with 'to ...'
2012-07-27T15:02:40Z <koalie> ok, Zakim
2012-07-27T15:02:57Z <koalie> to ... have it with both, so I'll do it by hand
2012-07-27T15:02:57Z  * Zakim sees koalie on the speaker queue
2012-07-27T15:03:05Z <koalie> silly bot
2012-07-27T15:03:10Z <koalie> ack me
2012-07-27T15:03:10Z <Zakim> koalie, you wanted to ... have it with both,
so I'll do it by

Opera 12: new version, new esoteric bug

I’m taking the time to document the obscure bug that I often experience with Opera 12 (like every other day since I installed version 12 on the day it was released).

It is a surprising bug to say the least, not too annoying (as you’ll understand, Opera quickly recovers from it), but still, I reported it (DSK-367824).

[Update 2012-06-26: This is a duplicate of DSK-365797]

For no good reason that I can see or that console logs can explain, Opera actions are suddenly mapped to others, regardless that I use their keyboard shortcuts or that I click commands in the menus. When this happen, I feel like Opera is in play mode (like it’s a software thing to replace commands with other actions!).

For example, I want a new tab but get the window to “Open…”. The first time that occurred, I thought “aha! so I need to press cmd-o if I want to get a new tab.” Nope, all I got was the “Save As…” window. In play mode, it’s “Save As…”, or cmd-s, that will open a new tab. Consistently. Except that I don’t know what triggers play mode.

I played as long as I could, it was entertaining. The play-mode key-combos I found are:
cmd-t (for new tab) == open file
cmd-n (for new window) == save-as
cmd-s (to save) == new tab
cmd-c (to copy selection) == fullscreen
cmd-v (to paste selection) == right click
cmd-w (to close tab) == game over, it does cmd-q (to quit).

Odd encounter with an old woman

I had a strange encounter with a little old woman today. I stood outside a restaurant smoking and she stood nearby, observing me. At some point she said “You’re pretty tall. You’re 190 cm tall, aren’t you?” I replied I’m 177 cm tall. She kept observing, looking sulky and then pointed a finger at me and seemed to count in a low voice, her finger moving up one notch at a time toward my head. I suppose she counted how many heads taller than her I was. She looked me in the eyes, I smiled, she started counting again! Then she added, almost to herself “young ones these days are way taller than us.” I put out my cigarette and slipped away.