hwan.com > 2004/04/26

[ who ]

[ first ]

[ random ]

[ last ]

[ calendar ]

[ links ]

Featured link

The Art of Penguin Science Fiction -- Penguin covers from 1872, accompanied by trivia [link] [more]

A song you might like

"strange overtones" - brian eno and david byrne. but a heart is not enough

Friends on the Web

Favourites

Random Photos

« 2004/04/26 » 1100

programming

A strange error on a user's machine popped up a couple weeks ago -- something about an "Invalid Property Array Index", and error number 381. It was for a Visual Basic 6 product that I've been working on, and I was puzzled as to how it came about. It happened only on this user's Windows XP machine (we are running WinXP and Win2K). The especially odd thing was that sometimes her fonts would be bold, although I am not sure if this was related.

In any case, the solution was to copy the proper version of the "vsflex7l.ocx" control onto her computer, and register it (using regsvr32.exe). I got the hint from this link.

[Comment on the above]

« 2004/04/26 » 1102

pizzapops

Pillsbury Pizza Pops suck ass. I've been eating them for breakfast lately, so I have a bit of experience here. You know how their whole campaign is centered around the slogan "they have more stuff", whilst showing a picture of splattered pizza guts? Well, the way they make good on that promise is by making the damned seams break apart easily; I have as of yet to bite into one that doesn't ooze onto my hands. Which can be quite a mess if you happen to be trying to drive at the same time.

Only in my dreams do I find happiness, in those elysian fields beyond the waking world. Contentment is proving to be more and more elusive the older I become; disappointment has become the norm.

Barney: "Maybe your standards are too high!"

[Comment on the above]

« 2004/04/26 » 1220

charity cntower wwf

The climb to the top of the CN Tower was a success! That is, I managed to make it to the top without stopping ("No stops, no nothing I'm good.") or falling or being sick. It's a real mental challenge to push your body and to not listen to your lungs as you wheeze and gasp, to force yourself to breathe properly. I have to admit it helped to have other people in the stairwell -- I felt a competitive compulsion to keep going and not to quit. I came out of it with probably my most intense workout ever.

The stairs are corrugated metal, with thin metal handrails to either side. For the top third or so I made much use of these, relying on my arms to help me along. And to keep me upright. One side of the stairwell is a mesh that keeps people from falling into the hollow core of the tower -- a dim column of forboding emptiness. OH and before you can enter the CN Tower you have to pass through these machines that detect explosives (I think) by shooting air over your body and analyzing the resultant particulates. If they weren't so expensive, I'd get one for home -- they're very relaxing and save on air-conditioning.

The best part of the climb is that as soon as you're done (148 flights of 12 stairs), there are ANOTHER set of stairs before you get to the observatory level. That was a real killer, to think you're done and then be faced with more.

I finished with a time of 21 minutes 48 seconds which I'm happy with. The world record of 7 minutes plus is held by a police officer. No mention of who he was chasing. Interesting, in a galling way, were the number of 12 and 13 year olds who had done the climb in under 15 minutes. Which is why child slavery is the slavery of the future!

It is now Monday and I haven't felt any ill after effects of the climb. OH and I should mention that the day before I had a can of Pepsi, and consequently did not fall asleep until around 3 AM, so was incredibly muddy-headed when I had to get up at 5:30 AM. In fact, I left the house wearing my work shoes, forcing me into returning home to quickly exchange my footwear. Going this early was to avoid the crowds on the narrow stairwells (and the smells and possibly oral "leavings"). On top of that, the DVP was closed this weekend.

And yes, the panda was delicious! I love WWF BBQs! However, I will never eat condor pate again. I mean really.

[Comment on the above]

tenshi
they can't be "corrugated metal" stairs -
That material isn't strong enough and would never be used in the constuction of stairs. It's usually used for siding, and fencing material.
Corrugated metal refers to the "ruffle" affect the same as one would find in corrugated cardboard.

Growli
In the Philippines, corrugated sheet metal is often used in building makeshift squatter shelters for the homeless people who make a living near the garbage dumps of Manila. See pictures here.

choppy (hp)
Thank you tenshi for that incredibly boring factoid. To show that I've learned something, I will now only eat "corrugated"-style potato (pronounced "po-TAY-to") chips.

girl
Well here's another thank you to tenshi because i had no idea what hwan was talking about and just assumed it was some kind of metaphor. A faintly jarring, stretch-of-the-imagination metaphor. Each step a corrugation.. okay... I follow....

Hwan, did you mean perforated??

chingu (hp)
I guess it's really more like bumped.. you know, like the stuff on playground equipment, back in the day when they were made of metal. With those patterns of.. bumps!

Growl
Perforated -- or stamped?

anonymous
I have no idea if the floors are corrugated or not, but I don't see why they can't be used in stairs, especially the landings. Diamond pattern industrial flooring (kind used on playgrounds) are strong enough to use on stairs.

Corrugation only refers to it's geometry, if the flat metal is strong enough to support someone in the first place, then corrugation would only increase it's stiffness, and depending on how much it's bent it can be increased by around 40%.

**Stuff below is really boring.. so don't even bother.

stress caused by bending (assuming it's beamlike)

sigma = My/I M=bending moment y = distance from neutral axis I = second moment of inertia (for a square beam I = 1/12 BH^3) Increase the vertical height of the beam, I goes up by cubic, sigma goes down by cubic (makes sense, a playing card is weak when laid flat and supporting a weight, strong if vertical without bucking). Corrugation makes more of the material vertical instead of horizontal.

tenshi
Diamond pattern industrial flooring is made of galvinized steel so therefore it can be used in flooring. Corrugated metal is never made of steel - I suppose you could make if out of steel - but why would you? It wouldn't be very nice stepping on those ridges, and you could twist an ankle on the valleys - small as they are.
Plus I think it safe to say that I'm the only one here who has actually worked in construction?

Is Hwan's website based on incredibly boring factoids?

bingo (hp)
In my entry, I meant "diamond pattern industrial flooring". Thank you for correcting me; oh where would I be without your fascinating knowledge of construction materials and the inherent naming conventions.

However, couldn't you make a flooring with your magical corrugated sheets, but cut into strips and laid so that people were walking on the edges? Not that that's particularly efficient, but I think it'd be quite strong.

anonymous
ummm.. where did you hear that corrugated metal is never made from steel? It's almost always made from steel. Of course other metals are also used, but steel is the most commonly used material in construction. Why use steel? Let's compare it to another commonly used metal, aluminum. Steel is 1) cheaper 2) easier to weld 3) requires less skill/specialized workers 4) can be nailed using steel nails.

bingo. They do make flooring where you walk on the ridges. Some gantries, catwalks, balconies are made by welding vertical strips of metal together, with a grating laid on top of it. It's spectacularly efficient (in terms of strength/weight) but if you drop your pen it's likely to stab someone below you in the eye.

tenshi
honestly "anonymous" we should stop wasting space with this ultra boring exchange.
BUT
The most common use is roofing and fencing material - cheap because it's high iron content.
You maybe right it could be a very low grade steel -
I guess because I grew up around the stuff - our barn's roof and chicken coop was made of the stuff. I saw how soon it oxidized, within 10-15 years had fully rusted and in 30 years had pretty much "returned to the earth". So I suppose not having "heard" from anyone but from personal experience I think of it as an inferior building material.
I suggest however is you must comment on my comment perhaps we can talk at length about the subject in person then and you can argue with me at length - until the subject bores me into submission, or evident impenetrable expertise on all subjects does - which ever comes first

tenshi
sorry
Your - evident impenetrable expertise on all subjects
Japanese has left with the annoying habit of sometimes forgeting to add my pronouns

« 2004/04/26 » 1650

ruth wedding

The rumours are true - Ruth is now married. All our heroes have retired from their lofty avenues.

"Maybe tomorrow, I'll want settle down,
Until tomorrow, the whole world is my home."

"The Littlest Hobo"

Despite some misgivings regarding the necessity of my attendance, I had a pretty good time. The ceremonies (there were two, one Christian, one Greek Orthodox) were thankfully brief. The speeches were interesting (bonus star to Sara for having a slideshow). Everyone was in good spirits. The weather was perfect.

But I am not content. This wedding is yet another reminder of the prolonged disappointment that my life has turned out to be. With these hourglass eyes I see the grains of time slipping through my own fingers, etc.

It was nice to see Grace, Katie and Laurie. Seeing Katie and Ruth together really took me back, back to fairer days which, admittedly, much of which was spent worrying about exams. And women. And money. And power.

And sugar.

[Comment on the above]

Growl
Well I believe in you enough to think you can do something to thaw the winter of your discontent.