Peep Aging

My wife likes Peeps. Doesn't everyone? (To be honest, I'm not a big fan myself.) However, fresh Peeps just don't do it for her. I guess you could say that she doesn't like Peeps that are just born. Instead, they need to age for a while, so that they can have the appropriate crustiness on the outside. So, what we'll do is to poke holes in the plastic wrap and let them sit for a while (a minimum of a few days -- longer is better) until they are ready to eat.

Does anyone else do this?

If you look closely, you may be able to see that the plastic wrap is torn and set down in place. Someone (not this reporter) apparently couldn't wait and took one early.

Speech Meet, the Next Generation

High School Basketball Playoffs

In the second of a trilogy of unrelated photo posts, here are some photos from last night's high school basketball playoffs. For the past several years, we've brought some candy along, met Doug, and caught a game.


There's Pat Tabler's son down there...

The 2007 Daffodil Post

I've seen news reports that we've had the hottest early year ever recorded. I wasn't sure that I believed it as it sure seemed cold around here. Regardless, a sure sign of Spring is the blooming of the daffodils. In 2005, it was on 31 March; in 2006, it was on 30 March; and this year it's today (24 March).

The Metamorphosis and Other Stories by Franz Kafka

My most recently completed "Commute Classic" is the Recorded Books collection The Metamorphosis and Other Stories by Franz Kafka. In addition to The Metamorphosis, this collection includes Early Stories, Contemplation, The Judgement, The Stoker, In the Penal Colony, and A Country Doctor. The recording contains stories, short stories, and "prose poems" (all of which, by the way, can best be described as Kafkaesque). Also, there is an interesting introduction, which describes the cultural situation that Kafka found himself in, being a Jew in Austrian Prague at the beginning of the 20th century. Finally, there's an interview with the translator (Joachim Neugroschel) at the end.

Overall, I'd say that it's fairly interesting and accessible (unlike Faulkner). I'd recommend it to anyone interested in literature or culture. If you're not familiar with the author, which I wasn't, the first thing that struck me was that his writing can be very unpredictable. This was made worse for me because I initially didn't know the length of any particular piece. I mean, if you're reading a poem or one-page story, you know the approximate length, but if you're listening like I was, I had no idea if it was a 2-minute or 2-hour story. I eventually started looking at the length of the tracks: if something was only 90 seconds long, I'd know it was going to only take one track.

• The Metamorphosis: The title track and a classic. It was in one of my high school literature anthologies, but for some reason, my class didn't read it. My son was familiar with the idea from a Fox Trot comic strip.
• The Judgment: I really had no idea where this story was going until it got there, and then I didn't think it made a lot of sense.
• The Stoker: This is the first chapter of a posthumously published book called Amerika. It's interesting -- again you don't know where he's going with the story until he gets there.
• I enjoyed both A Report to an Academy and Jackals and Arabs.
• A Country Doctor didn't do much for me.
• I found In the Penal Colony to be very disturbing, but not to the extent that I wouldn't recommend it.
  

2007 Father-Daughter Dance

Here's another one of those annually recurring blog posts. We've been here before and before, but here are photos from the 2007 edition of the father-daughter dance:

C++ Quiz Answers

JES raised some good points in his comment, but didn't mention the answer I had in mind. Perhaps I didn't provide enough information in the original code example. Here it is, with a couple of extra pieces of information.

class Foo {
public:
 Foo(/*...*/);
 ~Foo();
 // ...
};

unsigned char *
bar() {
 // Construct a Foo into an internal character buffer based
 // upon knowledge of the internal data structure of Foo,
 // and return a pointer to it.
}

int main() {
 // ...
 Foo * foo = (Foo *)bar();
 // ...
}

Despite it being strange-looking, and perhaps not supported by the Standard, the above code works (for our compiler and environment), as far as I know. It's part of a library class that I would like to make use of. Actually, I thought it would be kind of cool to use it as a base class and write several derived classes. It seemed perfect for it. Without knowing (or caring to know) the details of how it worked, I looked at the header file. I noticed that the destructor was non-virtual. Since a virtual destructor is kind of needed for base classes, I changed the destructor to be declared as virtual ~Foo(); and recompiled everything. Core dump. After taking a while to verify that I was compiling and running what I thought I was, I discovered that the use of virtual was causing the problem. I'm not an expert on this or anything, but if you have a virtual function, most C++ compilers will put the vtable pointer at the beginning of its internal representation of the class. So, the internal representation of the class is changed by making the destructor virtual, and the weird manner of construction via foo() now messes things up.

I didn't see it as my job to understand or "fix" the Foo class, so instead I created my own base class that contained a Foo and then derived classes off of that. It works, but it was frustrating to be forced into this solution for the reason I was.

C++ developers, don't code that way!

Video Game Progress

I got an e-mail from JES regarding my recent post on EA Sports NCAA Football 07. He included the image below and said:

Can I include a picture in a comment on your blog? It's not clear how to do that, so I'll send it to you in e-mail. Feel free to post it on your blog if you want. I was going to say that football video games have come a long way since the days of the Atari 2600!

My comments are:

1. I don't think you can include an image in a comment. Check with blogger. :-)
2. Hey, I played Atari 2600 Football! It was fun, though I don't recall it being one of my favourites. Do you remember how the players flashed?
   
3. When was the heyday of the 2600? 1982 or so? That's 25 years ago. Considering the advancements in computer gaming during this time, in 2032 (25 years from now) will we be able to tell a computer footbal game from one of today's (non HD, let's say) football telecasts?
4. Years ago, at a previous employer, I remember my officemate installing a software product called MAME on his work computer and using it to emulate/play various old-time video games like those from the 2600. It was fun. I don't know MAME's current status, however.
   

C++ Quiz

What can you tell me about this code besides the fact that it frustrated this author?

class Foo
{
  // ...
};

unsigned char *
bar()
{
  // ...
}

int
main()
{
  // ...
  Foo * foo = (Foo *)bar();
  // ...
}

NCAA Football '07 on the PlayStation 2

Here's a post that will probably interest nobody but me. For Christmas ('06) we were given a gift of a PlayStation 2 along with a few games. Because our Madden '05 (NFL Football) kept freezing up in the middle of games, I purchased a version of NCAA Football '07 (by EA Sports). The years are kind of a misnomer when it comes to these kinds of games; apparently when they say "'07", they really mean "Predictions for the '06 Season". Anyway, I've been working my way though a "Dynasty Mode" season for the Ohio State Buckeyes, who were ranked #1 before I started with them. The game apparently allows you to play several seasons with the same school, as you attempt to recruit and coach made-up players that come through your system. At this point, that doesn't interest me as much as playing a season with players I know against teams (with players) I recognize.

Also, since this is my first season, I'm still learning the game. So, if the Buckeyes lose the home opener to Northern Illinois 41-14 (some score, huh?), I figure I'm allowed to not save that result and try again. I considered that kind of result to be due more to my inexperience than to something that might reflect reality.

So, though you could say I have been cheating, the system thinks I am 11-0, with one regular-season game to go. However, it took me 3 tries to beat Northern Illinois and 2 tries to beat each of Texas, Iowa, and Northwestern. I guess you could call me 7-4.

Here are a few other items of note:

• I'm usually not able to get much of a running game going. Sometimes I'll break a long run, but I'm rushing for a lot fewer yards (and a lower average) than I would have expected.
• Conversely, the passing game is usually my most effective way to move the ball. And, none of that short stuff either. Stretching the defence and flinging it downfield seems to be most effective.
• Despite starting at #1 and winning every game, I am now #2 in the polls to Florida. (More on the Gators later.) I guess I shouldn't have allowed those two late TDs to Minnesota (resulting in a 46-44 final score). That was the week that Florida moved to #1.
• So, "next week" it's #2 Ohio State hosting #23 Michigan. Thus, the 2006 regular season final was more interesting.
• Anthony Gonzalez is the leading candidate to win the Heisman. His Heisman run started when, early in the season, Ginn starting racking up a lot of receiving yards. I wanted to spread the ball around and get other guys some stats, too, so I tried to get Gonzalez the ball when in the scoring zone. So, after 11 games, I think Gonzalez has 18 receiving TDs to Ginn's 4.
• As I mentioned, the first time I played Northwestern, I lost. The second time, QB Troy Smith got hurt early and is slated to miss a month. (So, no Smith for the Michigan game.) Troy's absence was also a hit on the running game, forcing me to rely even more on the passing game. Zwick did pass for 372 yards against Northwestern in a 35-14 win. I think Pittman rushed for 23.
  

But this whole thing isn't really real or fair. The game allows you to create and edit your own players. My son and his friend did that a while ago, where the neighbour kid is the Florida quarterback, and my son is the Gator's #1 running back. I'm not sure how, but somehow these players made it into my Dynasty Mode season such that I couldn't delete them without starting my season over. They weren't bashful when giving their players the highest possible rating in most every category, either. The only restraint I'm aware of is on some of the defensive numbers. The neighbour-quarterback's tackling and other defensive numbers are such that, if he were playing defence, he'd probably be the best player on the team, but not in the country. He said that this was necessary in case he threw an interception.

Anyway, with these two "ringers", things are slightly out of whack. The Gators are #1 and undefeated. The QB is high in the Heisman race, and if (when) I beat Michigan, I'll surely have to face them in the championship. Oh well, after that, maybe I'll start over with the real rosters.

One cool thing is the generated "magazine covers" based on the generated results of your and the other teams. Here's my son as Florida's top back:
Un(?)fortunately I don't have an easy way to transfer images, data, and video from the PlayStation to here. Maybe I should get a hobby like DFV's.

Enjoying Some Reading

It's been a while since I've posted a photo like this one:

Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner

As I mentioned, my current "Commute Classic" is Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner. I selected this book for two reasons:

1. Because of the use of the word "Absalom" at the end of the song Distant Early Warning by Rush. I remember reading somewhere that Neil said he used it more because he liked the sound of it as a play on Absolute and Obsolete than because of its literary or Biblical meaning.
2. Because of Faulkner's placement on lists of "Best Novels of the 20th Century" like this one.

An Amazon review says the following:

The story of Thomas Sutpen, an enigmatic stranger who came to Jefferson in the early 1830s to wrest his mansion out of the muddy bottoms of the north Mississippi wilderness. He was a man, Faulkner said, "who wanted sons and the sons destroyed him."

I'll start by saying that I don't understand how the quote by Faulkner applies to the book. But there is a lot I don't understand about the book. Its writing style contains long, rambling narratives that go between the present of 1910 and the 1830s, and many points in between. I saw a quote on the web that says that it contains a candidate for the "Longest Sentence in English (language) Literature" at 1287 words. I don't see anywhere that lists the specific sentence, so I'm not sure I believe it. However, I also wouldn't be surprised if it's true.

In addition to talking about Sutpen, the book goes into the lives of his descendants, with a good deal of it ostensibly being Quentin (the grandson of one of Sutpen's friends) discussing Sutpen's life and times with his friend Shreve in a cold New England university in 1910. It's difficult to follow at times and is the kind of book that tells bits of the same story several times, adding more detail with each retelling. So, whenever you're introduced to something, don't miss it. It's probably important and will be expanded on later.

Sutpen was seen as evil by many, including his ex-sister in law, who's an old woman talking about the Civil War-era days to Quentin. However, perhaps the most interesting bits are when we learn about Sutpen's history and personal morality. He certainly didn't let the feelings of others stop him from meeting his goals. But Faulkner makes an effort to show that he did have his own personal code and meant well, at least at first.

It's a complex book. I am sure that I would get more out of it if I read (or listened to) it again. But is this really the sign of a good book? I'm sure that Literature-Major types, and any that like to study a book, would get a lot out of it. But if I think I need to check out the SparkNotes to understand what is going on, I have to ask myself if that's a book for me. I'm not doing this for a high school or university class or anything. I have a few different rating scales for different types of books, and have been getting away from my "Star" ratings lately. I'll give Absalom a rating of Not Recommended, at least to the general reading public.

Faulkner in New York

I was surprised by today's news story regarding New York City's meaningless attack on free speech. Well, I suppose that it isn't meaningless, as the intent seems to have been to get people to discuss the issue, which it has as evidenced by my comments here. I don't have a lot to say about it. It's interesting that different generations give different meanings to words. I've seen quotes from the "younger generation" that they want to take ownership of the word and give it their own meaning. I guess this is kind of like my idea that, instead of the complaining about public display of the Confederate Naval Jack, the NAACP should use it as its own logo. That would change its meaning fast!

Anyway, the reason why I am bringing this up is because I'm currently working my way through Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner on my commutes. Let's just say that I assume this book is now banned in New York.