If you need a good laugh, here’s a 45 minute show of the world’s funniest commercials. (via Digg)
Ace Is In Heat
Ace (my cat) is in heat. I previously didn’t want to have her spayed because I really didn’t want to have her go through an operation. Also, all the pro-spaying reasons are to spare us, humans, from pain, not cats. But now that she’s in heat I think I’ll actually spare her some agony if I do get her spayed. It’s amazing to see how primal her behavior is during this period. She’s constantly howling in hope to attract male cats and she’s also overly friendly – rolling on the floor and begging for attention – something which she usually only does when I come back home after a day’s work.
Most of the time I feel sorry for her because she seems so miserable. I even tried to look for ways to calm her down and make this experience less painful for her. Some things, like petting her and giving her a lot of attention, I happily do. I actually like the very friendly version of Ace. But some things, like this advice on how to calm a cat in heat by inducing an orgasm with a Q-tip I won’t do. Thinking about it makes me nauseous. I can handle the howling and being woken up 3 times every night to calm her down.
I noticed that distracting Ace sometimes works, even if it is for short periods. If I give her some of her treats or play her favorite game of chasing plastic bottle caps then she forgets about the howling and later on she might actually take a nap and give me one or two hours of peace and quiet.
I already talked with the vet and once Ace is after this period I’ll get her spayed. Apart from being the responsible thing to do, I think it will really make her life better.
Bill Gates On The Daily Show Video
Bill Gates is… you know who it is. Microsoft’s chairman and one of the world’s biggest philanthropists rarely gives interviews to entertainment shows, but I guess Windows Vista needs justifies it. So here’s the video of Bill Gates On The Daily Show. (via Digg)
The Amazing Story Of Tetris Video
Tetris needs no introduction. It’s one of the most popular games in the world despite its simple gameplay. This 1 hour BBC show tells the amazing story of this game, which includes collisions between cold war politics and big capitalist companies, as the game was originally created in Russia. (via Digg)
Train Your Brain
Did you know that doing taxes might actually help you to keep your brain sharp? Here are two articles about things you can do to keep your brain sharp.
By the way, you’re welcome to do my taxes anytime. (via Lifehacker)
Visual C++ Express Edition 2005 – First Impression
Not too long ago I installed Microsoft’s Visual C++ Express Edition 2005 (link to all express editions of Visual Studio) at home. Mainly because I needed a good development environment for C++, and not for developing something big. Visual Studio 2005 has a solid feel to it, unlike Visual Studio .NET 2003, which always gave you a sense of insecurity in the sense that it might crash on the next mouse click event (and definitely unlike Visual Studio .NET 2002, which actually did crash).
Another good thing about Visual C++ Express Edition 2005 is that you can open a new project from existing code and still get the benefits of IntelliSense, which has also improved. I use this feature to edit work-related code at home instead of remote-controlling my work PC from home. I didn’t try writing Windows code, only native C++ code (and I definitely didn’t try writing managed C++ code).
So, generally speaking, my first impression is very good. I like Visual C++ Express Edition 2005. It’s a solid product, and best of all – it’s completely free (as in beer). However, I have two complaints:
- To write a native C++ application you have to start from an empty project. Otherwise, Visual Studio will write a function called _tmain() instead of main() for you. There’s probably a reason for this, but if you’re a student who just wants to write plain C code for a course, it’s an annoyance.
- The default debug settings for an empty project cannot be used for debugging. This is very strange and very annoying. Why is it called a debug build if I can’t actually, you know… debug? Anyway, the settings you need to change in order to debug are in your project’s properties:
- C/C++ -> General: Debug Information Format=Program Database
- C/C++ -> Optimization: Optimization=Disabled
- Linker -> Debugging: Generate Debug Info=Yes
More People With A Lot Of Free Time…
…for example, the people that create the Ban Comic Sans website, which is dedicated to… well…. banning the font Comic Sans, releases by Microsoft to the world in 1995. They even have a Comic Sans-spotting flickr group.
Happy Birthday To Me. I’m 30
I’m 30. Who would have thunk it? :)
Phone in your happy birthday wishes.
I have a lot of meetings today on the schedule, so don’t give up and call again later if I don’t answer your call.
Cockroach Adoption. Really
Cockroach Adoption is one of those websites that really make you wonder why. Why would anyone create a website like that? Anyway, if you want to give your loved one a great gift, adopt an online cockroach for him/her. It will sure make them happy.
CloneSpy – Find Duplicate Files In Windows
CloneSpy is a very small and nice application for finding duplicate files on your machine. After one minute of reading the quick-start guide you can get a list of all the duplicate files on your computer. I found about 200 MB of duplicates, most of them were deleted. Very nice for keeping a tightly organized Windows machine. (via Download Squad)