23:25: Porting from Nautilus 2.20 to 2.22

So far, I've been working with Nautilus 2.20, because that's what Debian is shipping in Lenny. Mainline Nautilus is actually up to 2.22, and there have been significant changes to the APIs between 2.20 and 2.22. In particular, nautilus-icon-factory.c, which is where the bulk of my patch applies..., has been /removed/. Luckily, it's easy to find where the code went--and most of it is still even substantially similar, just in a different file. So, the port to 2.22 should be fairly easy.

My patch for Nautilus actually didn't end up being that big, anyway--it basically just changed the default behaviour of the thumbnailer-subsystem.

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17:43: Do You Know Where I Am?

16:51

Kier Dullea is reading this, on the radio, right now:

• http://www.seattleweekly.com/2002-10-16/food/do-you-know-where-i-am.php/

Sherman Alexie's story, `Do You Know Where I Am?', a story about human being relating to each other, journeying together, lying to each other, loving each other, and coming to grips with what all of those things mean. This follows the `This American Life' episode, `Something for Nothing', in which a mother and father divorce because she cannot accept the mindset that induces him to eat the heart (of watermelon, literally; of life, metaphorically), and he cannot understand the mindset that induces her to refuse it.

Petting the cat, the other day, I thought about an episode of `On Point' in which Tom Ashbrook spoke with two psychologists about Leona Helmsley's decision to split her Will between her dog and `the dogs of New York and beyond'--Ashbrook had used the term "unconditional love", if I recall correctly, and both of the psychologists agreed that... that wasn't really what it was; that it wasn't really `unconditional love' that was going on but that:

They bring out the best in us, and they enjoy the benefits.

And I see this in my relationship with our cat. Walking by, I glance over at the cat, and then I stop and stare, and smile, at the cat--and she stares back. I ask of her, "What do you want?". She seems almost to smile, though cat's don't literally smile, and she rolls over while her eyes remain fixed droopily on me.

"Ah."

So I oblige, and I think--and I even /say/--"Awe, you're such a good cat. I love you.". `But what does that mean?', I ask myself. What exactly is she doing that's so good? Simply accepting affection is sufficient. That's it. And it's amazing, I think, that this is the sort of relationship that we have with our pets--that this is the nature of humanity, even: that we really want so much to love that it's enough for something, or someone, to simply /accept it/.

If I offered you my love, would you accept it?

Yes.

Then I offer you my love.

Wouldn't the world be a better place if we humans could (consistently) relate to each other like that?

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16:38: `If Cars were like Computers', a retrospective....

My aunt recently mailed-out a copy of the old `Bill Gates recently compared the computer-industry to the auto-industry' story (having just seen it for the first time).

I think that the first time I saw that must have been in about 1996 or so (the `start-button' remark must have been a response to Windows 95, right?). At the time, I would have laughed in commiseration.

But by now, I'd forgot all about it; it's interesting to read it again from where I now sit--I think I'd add a point #11:

• There would be no independent auto-mechanic shops, and there probably wouldn't be any dealer shops either; the answer to all problems would be `buy the new model'.

The interesting thing is that, I'm basically the analogue of an independent mechanic as far as software goes; said my wife, the other day:

It's so strange, having this thing that looks like something to me, but then you can just come over and stick your finger right through it.

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23:59: Similar VisualIDs for similarly-significant files

I've finally started-in on implementing the `similar icons for similar files' logic--so far, I've got the weighted-least-common-substring logic working, which searches through the (ever-growing) cache of VisualIDs for a base-icon. I haven't worked out a system for `mutators' yet, so sufficiently-similar names actually result in the /same/ icon..., but it's getting to be quite a nice demo.

Oh--I've also implemented the `around a shape' and `relaxed inside', and `along a path' generators. The presence of these additional options means that all of my icons have changed. Alas--it's no longer generating turtles. It /is/ generating other interesting things, though.

I think that, before I call it `done', I'm going to want to add some way for the user to specify constraints for which generators are used, and how the random selection of generators should be weighted.

In the mean time, here's another (updated) screenshot:

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00:59: Economic Simulus 2008

So, tried calling the IRS, today... to ask them if we can official refuse our Economic Stimulus Payment--give it back, lodge a protestation, etc. Because we really, collectively, don't have the funds for this--we can't spend all of our money as a nation and not take any in.

It's all just a lone, any way you count it.

Collectively, it's a loan from China. And I'd really like to register a complain to the effect of:

Look, if I need a loan, I can take my own loan out from a local lender. Please do not take a loan out for me from the bank of China.

Even only counting individually, I'm sort-of expecting that we'll be taxed more heavily next year to make up for. That's how I remember my first Bush `tax relief' going....

So, the IRS put me on hold until I gave up.

In the mean time, they offered canned answers to lots of questions like "When will I get my cheque?", "What can I do with my cheque?", "How much will my cheque be?", "What do I have to do to get my cheque?"..., etc.

There weren't any questions like "How can I help buy my country back from China?"

But I'll try again. Maybe I'll find an answer after all.

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