Sara Little Turnbull used materials science to invent and design products for the modern world

Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks will make its closest approach to the sun this April—right after North America is treated to a total solar eclipse

These easy scalloped potatoes combine the creaminess of the classic side dish with the ease of frozen hash browns. You don’t even have to thaw them out! I thought I was finished writing about scalloped potatoes. I posted my first scalloped potatoes recipe in my second month of blogging, way back in 2006. Then ten...

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The post Easy Scalloped Potatoes (Vegan Hash Browns Casserole) appeared first on FatFree Vegan Kitchen.

The Army, The Navy “BBIDGI” The Army, The Navy are a folk duo with the same basic set up as Simon & Garfunkel – two singers, one guitar. The interesting thing with them, most especially on “BBIDGI,” is how their melodies and vocal harmonies are much closer in style and tone to mid 90s through […]

The Smile “The Slip” It’s unfortunate that The Smile records have to carry the weight of questions like “wait, is there never going to be another Radiohead album?” and “hold on, so is this basically Radiohead from now on?” But what can you do? Those are big questions for anyone who’d want to listen to […]

Katrina Ford “World On A Wire” I’ve been writing about songs most days of my life for over 20 years and one thing I’ve learned from this is that a lot of the music I love most resists description. And of course it does – music is ultimately an abstract medium, something that exists to […]

Vader really is the galaxy's greatest detective because he kills anyone who doesn't give him the answers he wants. Just watching him walk up to you, pipe in face mask, fire in his eyes, intimidates you into giving away who the murderer on Cherry St. is. Also, his Force sensitivity is greater than anyone else's. He can just sense if the killer is hiding in the cupboard under the staircase. He doesn't even have to look. He'll hold his lightsaber up to the door and activate it, making it thrust through the guy. This is the kind of shirt you wanna wear around your torso if you're in the middle of writing a genre-bending fan fiction. $7-21 | URL | Paypal Credit | S - 3XL ')}

Horror movies, as of late, have gone to great lengths to solve the key obstacle to horror movies- cell phones. When we live in a world where help is a phone call away, it's hard to imagine the characters not doing that. So screenwriters put them in situations where this is impossible: in Midsommar they isolate them in rural Sweden, in Get Out calling the police is only going to put our protagonist in more danger. But what's possibly more common is making the film a period piece- like the X/Pearl/Maxxxine trilogy, Late Night with the Devil, or Netflix's continuing series of R.L. Stine adaptations.

I bring this up, because today's horror starts in 1993. A Norwegian software company launched its software product to mild acclaim. Like every company, it had its ups and downs, its successes and missteps. On the surface, it was a decent enough place to work.

Over the years, the company tried to stay up to date with technology. In 1993, the major languages one might use for launching a major software product, your options are largely C or Pascal. Languages like Python existed, but weren't widely used or even supported on most systems. But the company stayed in business and needed to update their technology as time passed, which meant the program gradually grew and migrated to new languages.

Which meant, by the time Niklas F joined the company, they were on C#. Even though they'd completely changed languages, the codebase still derived from the original C codebase. And that meant that the codebase had many secrets, dark corners, and places a developer should never look.

Like every good horror movie protagonist, Niklas heard the "don't go in there!" and immediately went in there. And lurking in those shadows was the thing every developer fears the most: homebrew date handling code.

/// <summary>
/// 
/// </summary>
/// <param name="dt"></param>
/// <returns></returns>
public static DateTime LastDayInMonth(DateTime dt)
{
	int day = 30;
	switch (dt.Month)
	{
		case 1:
			day = 31;
			break;
		case 2:
			if (IsLeapYear(dt))
				day = 29;
			else
				day = 28;
			break;
		case 3:
			day = 31;
			break;
		case 4:
			day = 30;
			break;
		case 5:
			day = 31;
			break;
		case 6:
			day = 30;
			break;
		case 7:
			day = 31;
			break;
		case 8:
			day = 31;
			break;
		case 9:
			day = 30;
			break;
		case 10:
			day = 31;
			break;
		case 11:
			day = 30;
			break;
		case 12:
			day = 31;
			break;
	}
	return new DateTime(dt.Year, dt.Month, day, 0, 0, 0);
}

/// <summary>
/// 
/// </summary>
/// <param name="dt"></param>
/// <returns></returns>
public static bool IsLeapYear(DateTime dt)
{
	bool ret = (((dt.Year % 4) == 0) && ((dt.Year % 100) != 0) || ((dt.Year % 400) == 0));
	return ret;
}

For a nice change of pace, this code isn't incorrect. Even the leap year calculation is actually correct (though my preference would be to just return the expression instead of using a local variable). But that's what makes this horror all the more insidious: there are built-in functions to handle all of this, but this code works and will likely continue to work, just sitting there, like a demon that we've made a pact with. And suddenly we realize this isn't Midsommar but Ari Aster's other hit film, Hereditary, and we're trapped being in a lineage of monsters, and can't escape our inheritance.

"Check out Visual Studio optimizing their rating system to only include the ratings used," shared Fiorenzo R. Imagine the performance gain!

 

"This sounds about right," says Colin A.

 

"Wow! Must snap up some sweet Anker kit with this amazing offer; but less than four days to go!" exclaims Dave L., who then goes on to explain
"The actual WTF is this though. I sent this image to Anker with this email: But only 3days left? I hope this offer continues!
Anker replied: Thank you for your feedback! I understand that you appreciate the savings on the Anker SOLIX PS100 Portable Solar Panel and wish the offer could be extended beyond the current 3-day limit. Your suggestion is valuable and will be considered for future promotions to enhance customer satisfaction. If you have any other requests or need further assistance, please let me know.
I for one welcome our new AI overlords. "

 

Graham F. almost stashed this away for later. "Looks like Dropbox could use a few lessons in how to do Maths! Although maybe their definition of 'almost' differs from mine."

 

Finally Joshua found time to report a brand-new date-handling bug. "Teams is so buggy; this one just takes the cake. I had to check with the unix cal program to make sure I wasn't completely bonkers." For the readers, November 8 this year is supposed to be a Friday. I suppose things could change after the US election.

 

Have a great weekend. Maybe I'll see you next Friday, or maybe all the weekdays will be renamed Thursday.

Since it's election day in the US, many people are thinking about counting today. We frequently discuss counting here, and how to do it wrong, so let's look at some code from RK.

This code may not be counting votes, but whatever it's counting, we're not going to enjoy it:

case LogMode.Row_limit: // row limit excel = 65536 rows
    if (File.Exists(personalFolder + @"" + fileName + ".CSV"))
    {
        using (StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(personalFolder + @"" + fileName + ".CSV"))
        {
            countRows = reader.ReadToEnd().Split(new char[] { '
' }).Length;
        }
    }

Now, this code is from a rather old application, originally released in 2007. So the comment about Excel's row limit really puts us in a moment in time- Excel 2007 raised the row limit to 1,000,000 rows. But older versions of Excel did cap out at 65,536. And it wasn't the case that everyone just up and switched to Excel 2007 when it came out- transitioning to the new Office file formats was a conversion which took years.

But we're not even reading an Excel file, we're reading a CSV.

I enjoy that we construct the name twice, because that's useful. But the real magic of this one is how we count the rows. Because while Excel can handle 65,536 rows at this time, I don't think this program is going to do a great job of it- because we read the entire file into memory with ReadToEnd, then Split on newlines, then count the length that way.

As you can imagine, in practice, this performed terribly on large files, of which there were many.

Unfortunately for RK, there's one rule about old, legacy code: don't touch it. So despite fixing this being a rather easy task, nobody is working on fixing it, because nobody wants to be the one who touched it last. Instead, management is promising to launch a greenfield replacement project any day now…

There's the potential for endless installments of "programmers not understanding how UUIDs work." Frankly, I think the fact that we represent them as human readable strings is part of the problem; sure, it's readable, but conceals the fact that it's just a large integer.

Which brings us to this snippet, from Capybara James.

    if (!StringUtils.hasLength(uuid) || uuid.length() != 36) {
        throw new RequestParameterNotFoundException(ErrorCodeCostants.UUID_MANDATORY_OR_FORMAT);
    }

StringUtils.hasLength comes from the Spring library, and it's a simple "is not null or empty" check. So- we're testing to see if a string is null or empty, or isn't exactly 36 characters long. That tells us the input is bad, so we throw a RequestParameterNotFoundException, along with an error code.

So, as already pointed out, a UUID is just a large integer that we render as a 36 character string, and there are better ways to validate a UUID. But this also will accept any 36 character string- as long as you've got 36 characters, we'll call it a UUID. "This is valid, really valid, dumbass" is now a valid UUID.

With that in mind, I also like the bonus of it not distinguishing between whether or not the input was missing or invalid, because that'll make it real easy for users to understand why their input is getting rejected.

Nerdist got the exclusive reveal of the official theatrical poster for the big new anime film coming in December.

All the details are spelled out over on Nerdist as they revealed the official new poster for The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim coming to cinemas worldwide December 13, 2024.

Hot dwarves to hot horse lords?

Fans of course are finding their own inspirations!

https://twitter.com/sauronsrings/status/1849178036609970549

Originally theorized by Happy Hobbit, a music industry blog seems to confirm the song name.

While there is still no official confirmation from the studio, the folks over at Film Music Reporter seem to have found the song track title for a new Paris Paloma song attached to The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim:

English folk-pop artist Paris Paloma has recorded an original song for the upcoming anime feature The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim. The track, entitled The Rider, written by Phoebe Gittins (who co-wrote the project’s screenplay with Arty Papageorgiou and Jeffrey Addiss & Will Matthews) & composer David Long and performed by Paloma, will be featured in the movie.

Where is the Horse and The Rider

Paris Paloma is fresh on the music scene having released her first album earlier this year. Kellie from Happy Hobbit is a huge fan and in this TikTok posted a few months ago she speculated that Paloma was involved in The War of the Rohirrim. Just last week at NYCC, Executive Producer Philippa Boyens teased a great new song without revealing the artist. You can watch the full panel on our YouTube.

On this week's TORN Tuesday, Kellie explains who Paris Paloma is and why she is perfect to be involved in the story of Rohan's shieldmaidens. Segment starts at 1:17:00

https://www.tiktok.com/@happy_hobbit_/video/7408239649933724974

It’s one thing to just be a reporter who covered The LOTR Trilogy during it’s lengthy production —...

The post EXCLUSIVE: LOTR Secrets Revealed in NEW Memoir from Ian McKellen’s Webmaster first appeared on Lord of the Rings & Tolkien News - TheOneRing.net Fan Community, since 1999.

Welcome to The Great Hall of Poets, our poetry feature showcasing the talent of Middle-earth fans. So come and join us by the hearth, and enjoy!

If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem you’d like to share, then send it to poetry@theonering.net  One poem per person may be submitted each month. Please make sure to proofread your work before sending it in. TheOneRing.net is not responsible for poems posting with spelling or grammatical errors.

The Steward and the White Lady

by: Cassie Hughes

She lay bereft of all she loved and wished her life was done,
That King had never called her back from limbo’s darkened home,
Within these hallowed healing halls her heart felt caged anew,
What now for maid without a shield? No cause to cleave unto?

In waking dreams she wandered there a ghost in living form,
Her hopes and dreams dispersed as dust, her mind encased in storm,
‘Twas thus he first did spy her there caught up in moonlights glow
And from that moment lost his heart to Rohan’s greatest jewel.

Fair Eowyn he then pursued though she desired naught
But finding honour within death, this goal, her only thought,
With inner strength he persevered and piece by piece did steal
Away despair and hopelessness, her zest for life reveal.

At last the scales fell from her eyes, she finally perceived,
The wise and steadfast prince of men to whom her heart had cleaved,
The Steward and the Lady found at last their just reward,
A strong, enduring love in which to live in light restored.

~~ * ~~

I've included this following poem to commemorate Remembrance Day. It's one I wrote as part of my Literature degree in memory of my Grandfather. Lest We Forget

Grandad Speaks

by: Kelvarhin

They called me Jack,
Though my mates
Called me Snowy.

A hazel-eyed beauty,
From London’s east-end,
Became my life’s love.
Two adored daughters,
Completed our home.

War intervened,
To the R.A.F. I soared.
Not to drop bombs,
Or dogfight in the sky,
Dinghy Drop rescues
Were my choice to fly.

The fates made their call,
Rescuers missing,
Lost over North Sea.
Three simple words,
All that were shared.

Missing in action.

No body to mourn,
No grave to cry on.
A telegraphed epitaph,
My Loves only memorial.

~~ * ~~

If you have a project to show - this is great chance...

The post A’Design Awards & Competition 2024 – Call For Entries first appeared on peopleofdesign.

Amazing KITH flagship store opened in Malibu...

The post Kith Malibu Flagship first appeared on peopleofdesign.

Bielke & Yang made a packaging redesign for Talor&Jørgen coffee...

The post Coffee packaging for Talor&Jørgen first appeared on peopleofdesign.

Everything you need to know about Rwanda's outbreak of Marburg virus, which has been described as one of the deadliest human pathogens

Adding blade-like sails to tankers could reduce their annual fuel consumption by up to 30 per cent, slashing the climate impact of the shipping industry

Large language models can be used to scam humans, but AI is also susceptible to being scammed – and some models are more gullible than others

Ancient stone goods found across France may have been made by skilled craftspeople in what is now Paris, who traded along vast networks

The recent surge in warming led to fears that climate change may be accelerating beyond model projections, but a fall in how much heat Earth is gaining makes this less likely

In 2022, countries pledged to halt biodiversity loss by protecting 30 per cent of the planet by 2030, but progress has been too slow thus far

A massive undertaking to map cancer tumours is providing new insights into how the disease forms, evolves and develops resistance to treatments

An off-the-shelf millimetre wave sensor can pick out the tiny vibrations made by a smartphone's speaker, enabling an AI model to transcribe the conversation, even at a distance in a noisy room

People conceived during the UK's 1940s and 50s sugar rationing have a lower risk of type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure than those conceived after rationing ended

In support of their AI ambitions, tech companies are rapidly expanding US data centres, and this growth is on track to significantly increase US gas demand by 2030

Light can be directed and steered around bends using a method similar to the way clouds scatter photons, which could lead to advances in medical imaging, cooling systems and even nuclear reactors

DNA analysis suggests Pando, a quaking aspen in Utah with thousands of stems connected by their roots, is between 16,000 and 81,000 years old

Before Mesopotamian people invented writing, they used cylinder seals to press patterns into wet clay – and some of the symbols used were carried over into proto-writing

Fibres in wet wipes and clothes often make their way into soil - and natural versions could be more damaging than synthetic ones

Experiments where vampire bats were made to run on a treadmill have revealed how they extract energy from protein in their latest blood meal

The brain pathway that causes hairy mammals like mice and dogs to shake themselves dry appears to have more to do with pressure than temperature

Genetic analysis of five individuals preserved as plaster casts in the ruins of Pompeii contradicts established beliefs about the people and their relationships

Four-legged robot dogs learned to perform new tricks by practising in a virtual platform that mimics real-world obstacles – a possible shortcut for training robots faster and more accurately

Voyager 2 flew by Uranus in 1986, giving us our only up-close look at the planet – but unusual space weather just before the craft arrived has given us a misleading idea about the planet’s magnetic field