buffer overflow

This is a sweet look at the Peregrine Falcon. The top speed you hear from the video is 242 MPH, but I’ve talked to people who have talked to the guy that did this, and the bird hit 300 MPH.

Insanity.

National Geographic Video

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As the Slashdot article says, Creative Labs is trying to shut down a guy who is modding the Vista drivers for Creative Labs sound cards. He makes them work. The folks at Creative Labs can’t seem to pull their heads out of their asses and write a good driver (I’ve had many-a-problem with my Audigy 2 on Windows XP), so he’s doing what everybody what’s Creative Labs to do and fix the shit.

While I do agree with what CL is talking about: he’s probably dancing on some legal lines.

But I have a better idea: GIVE THE MAN A JOB!

Pay him lots of money to sit in a room and hack up drivers. He’s doing all this work without source code, so imagine what he could do if he had the source to everything. I’d thoroughly enjoy some better drivers for my card, and if upgrading to an X-Fi and eventually Vista is going to make me want to drill my ears out, then the answer is no.

Slashdot | Creative Goes After Driver Modder

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Jinx, the Solomon Island Ground Boa

Clamps, the Emperor Scorpion

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Some of these are money!

Fun Fever: Top 50 Pictures Taken at Just the Right Time

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I recently found this article about why it sucks to be an engineering student. I’m going to assume the author has actually attended a university and taken the engineering program, but I can’t tell from the writing whether or not he finished.

Regardless, I have a few problems with the article.

Right off the bat, the author emphasizes the bad name engineers already have in the English department by including two spelling errors in the article, which would have been picked up by a spell checker. Either the author uses spell check and chooses to ignore it, or doesn’t, and chooses not to proof his writing before publishing.

Reason 5: Textbooks for the most part are reference material. You learn the shit, and then when you need to, can refer back to the textbook. They aren’t meant to be Pulitzer prize winning, New York Times best sellers. Granted, most text books are as the author describes. That’s not to say textbooks from other faculties are any better. Have you picked up an arts book? History textbooks make me cry.

There is good writing to be had in the engineering world though. In my field, pick up anything by Joel Spolsky. He gets his point across without being dry or boring. His books aren’t textbooks mind you, but they were never meant as a reference. They are meant to read for educational and entertainment purposes.

Reason 4: Boring professors eh? Have you been to a philosophy class before? I don’t care what you are taking, you probably have some boring, crappy professors. It’s not engineering specific. The difference lies in the number of those crappy profs. I go to a good school, and more specifically, a good engineering school. The quality of the school brings in quality professors who enjoy teaching as much as their research. At the end of one of my semesters, we went to the bar with 3 profs and 2 teaching assistants. That’s not exactly boring.

If you don’t like the prof, stay the fuck home, and learn the material yourself.

Reason 3: This sounds like a high school related thing. I never talked to my counselor in high school. I took things into my own hands. As far as university stuff goes, the coop department is helping me get amazing jobs that help me decide what I want to do when I’m rocking the iron ring.

Reason 2: Let this pick your brain: how would you feel if engineering lowered the bar and students that would normally fail or get grades low enough to cause them to leave the program, kept on trucking, and graduated. Would you want them to oversee skyscraper or bridge construction? Not me. If an arts student (not to pick on arts) graduates because of ‘inflated grades’, nobody is going to die. If an engineering student graduates that doesn’t make the cut, people can fucking die. Do you want that?

Reason 1: Okay, I don’t know about you, but my statistics assignments feel a bit different than my software assignments, which feel a bit different than philosophy elective assignments.

If you have to make a list of why it sucks to be in the position you are in, maybe you shouldn’t be there. While my degree hasn’t been, nor will continue to be a cakewalk, I still enjoy going to school. I enjoy learning about the material I am learning about, and I like what the gained knowledge allows me to do. If you aren’t happy with your schooling, do something about it other than whine. Change programs, change school, or change the attitude.

Now, here’s why I love being an engineering student, in no particular order:

1. Hot engineering girls: Okay so engineering isn’t exactly known for the plethora of attractive women enrolled in it, but I’m glad that everybody thinks this. The sexy ladies that are enrolled, are damn hot. And smart to boot. And probably nerds. Hell yeah.
2. Useful knowledge: I’m in software engineering. Now, if I need some software, I can create it. I don’t have to pay for software if I can make it myself. I can write programs to do whatever I want, and even do some hardware work to create custom devices, like a multi probe USB temperature monitor for my reptiles.
3. You get to be a nerd: I love being a nerd, but that’s just me.
4. Lots of cool people: Getting trashed with a bunch of other engineers at a conference is amazing. You should try it sometime.
5. Excuses to buy shit: If I wasn’t in engineering, this computer I’m typing on would be much less amazing. I’m not a materialistic individual, but at the same time, I love my computer.
6. The prestige: Doctors get a stethoscope, engineers get our iron ring (in Canada anyway). I don’t even care if anybody knows what it is, or notices, but when I get mine, I’m wearing it with pride.
7. Great opportunities: I don’t know if you’ve heard, but I have a totally sweet job. I get to make video games for BioWare ULC. Had I done anything differently, I doubt I’d be where I am now. If things keep up as they are, I’ve already started my career.
8. Added benefits: Engineering school teaches you more than just how to build shit, it teaches you people skills as well. Granted, some people would disagree, but they are probably old There are specific classes you take, plus all the groups projects that get done. If you don’t walk away from all of that without some people skills, you missed the point.

There are more, but that’s a pretty good list to start. I hope you get the point.

- Daniel Huckstep, 4th year Software Engineer, University of Alberta

Top 5 Reasons It Sucks to Be an Engineering Student | Wired Science from Wired.com

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Maybe this is just funny because it’s 4am, but we’ll see

see more crazy cat pics

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