August 23, 2017

(Warning: Game of Thrones spoilers ahead)

Season 7 of Game of Thrones is the worst season so far, even compared to Season 6 (notwithstanding the fact that it was redeemed by Battle of the Bastards and Winds of Winter).

While finally seeing dragons in battle against the Lannisters and the undead was well worth the wait, the number of WTF things was too many (in no particular order):

1. Cersei suddenly developing some serious strategic chops (Tycho Nestoris' fawning compliments about how she compares to her father rubbing salt in our wounds) 
2. Euron Greyjoy's magic teleporting armada (I know he's quickly become a fan favourite this season, but the guy's a real joker) 
3. I really hope Arya is playing the long con, otherwise her character has basically gone to shit this season
4. Jaime plunging to the bottom of the Blackwater Rush with the armour weighing him down, only to blithely climb out of the river out of sight of any Dothraki that are sure to be looking for Lannisters to finish off
5. Assembling an improbable all-star crew to go on a wight hunt beyond the wall so that they can convince Cersei about the nature of the threat facing mankind. Yeah, I can almost picture her disdain as she sips her wine when she hears the news. 
6. Dany's rescue of the Magnificent Seven (r/gameofthrones/ has some really nice time/distance computations involving the speeds of carrier pigeons and dragons that attempt to rationalize the physics of it. Some people have way too much time on their hands) 
7. "Thought you might still be rowing". Cute, but too cute.
8. Tyrion has basically become a piece of luggage (for the last two seasons, actually)
9. Evidence for R+L = L being found serendipitously in The Citadel
10. Who knew greyscale could be cured so easily by the generous application of Unguents #143 and #765? Let me take a guess, one of them is aloe vera?

I'll still be waiting eagerly for each new episode, of course, but now it's more of a combination of a) an attachment to the characters' (and the story's) earlier, better days and b) a desire to see how this train wreck plays out.

August 15, 2017

Something fishy with the purportedly fake message sent out by Unocoin:

If the email about the ICO was not sent by the Unocoin team, what gives with the security details reported by Gmail?

August 11, 2017

I don't know whether to laugh or cry at this:

"This week the L.A. Times described a 17-year-old from Virginia who'd spent several hours a day perfecting his technique in Microsoft Excel, "one of 150 students from 50 countries competing in the Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship" at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim. "At stake: cash, prizes and the clout that comes with being the best in the world at Excel, PowerPoint or Word. 'I'm going to do my best to bring it home for the United States,' John said as he prepared for the competition." Microsoft's VP of Worldwide Education said the event helps students "to become more employable to companies that build their businesses around the Microsoft suite." For example, the article points out, "Past winners have gone on to attend Ivy League colleges and even work at, yes, Microsoft... Delaware resident Anirudh Narayanan, 17, prepared all summer to compete in the Excel 2013 category, 'looking up obscure facts just in case I might need to know it during the test.' He's hoping the skills he honed will help him at Carnegie Mellon University, where he will begin studying economics in the fall. 'I make sure I do a minimum of five hours a week in Excel,' Anirudh said. 'Then for a while I'll be on YouTube watching videos about Excel.'" John eventually won the first-place prize in the Excel category -- which was $7,000 and an Xbox.

In related news that will definitely make you smile rub your hands with anticipation, the next pLisp tutorial is ready -- I walk through the development of a basic unit testing framework using pLisp.