Thank goodness for long weekends

[altivo]

I'm worn out. At least I seem to be getting over the stiff back I acquired while getting the shearing done.

Started more garden seeds today. Spent time puzzling over this programming exercise, which consists of writing an RPN hex calculator in BASIC (ewww) to run on an 8-bit machine with 32K of RAM. BASIC, of course, has no unsigned integer type and all the normal operations you want to do on hex numbers cause overflows if done with BASIC's signed 16-bit integers.

Tess lost a substantial chunk of that hoof today. It looks really scary now, but she's still walking on it as if it didn't bother her, so that's good. John will be here tomorrow to do something about it.

Also went and bought groceries, made dinner, and got a little too deeply into a disagreement over the nature of foxen in furrydom. (Note to fox friends: Tivo stood up for you and insisted that you are not all empty-headed and irresponsible.)

Comments

[flaredragon.livejournal.com]

Foxyfluffs are everything.

That means for every blond yiffmenow fox out there there should be an intelligent, well kept fox hiding in the shadows. The yiffmenow foxes are just more accustomed to being out in the spotlight.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

That's more or less my argument too. And I named notable non-fluffbrain foxen to support my opinion. The answer, alas, was "I don't know any of those people, so they don't count."

[flaredragon.livejournal.com]

*chuckles* I wonder what category I fall under myself. You might be interested in a contest I'll be announcing shortly along with a spectacular treat I've had prepared for my (albeit small) viewing audience.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

As an equine, you weren't part of the fox discussion directly.

However, when the other party said he had no pre-formed opinion about horses because he only knew four and they were all very different, I listed another dozen or so, confusing the issue further. You were one of them, and I identified you as a talented musician and Equus as a skilled mechanic. ;D

[quoting-mungo.livejournal.com]

I'm scatterbrained, forgetful, and therefore sometimes seem irresponsible. Big difference. ;) Besides, I'm not a red fox.

That sounds scary about Tess's hoof. I hope it doesn't take too long for it to get back in shape!


-Alexandra

[altivo.livejournal.com]

You are nothing like the stereotype that was being imposed on ALL foxes in this instance.

I'm pretty confident that Tess will be fine. She has had similar issues in the spring before, they just didn't look so disturbing. John will know what the best treatment is, and we'll follow his advice. She has been barefoot since I got her in 2002, and he may well suggest front shoes for a while. I'm not sure whether the traditional nails will be reliable, but there are other options now and he has a lot of methods in his repertoire. It appears that the actual cracks that caused this chip weren't as deep as we feared, so it's just a matter of keeping new ones from appearing.

[quoting-mungo.livejournal.com]

Stereotyping doesn't bother me much in the first place; I find "species X is like Y" statements amusing. What does bother me a little is the idea that anything with "fox" in its name is a vulpine (up until recently arctic foxes weren't in vulpes, and I don't believe fennecs were, either - I had a classmate who swore fennec foxes could interbreed with dogs!), which leads to very confused stereotypes. I'm just waiting for someone to apply the fox stereotype to flying foxes. Because they're called "fox", right? ;)

But there's a difference between voicing a stereotype as a joke or making an observation that "most/all X I know seem to meet criteria Y", and stating as fact that the stereotype is Truth.


-Alexandra

[hartree.livejournal.com]

Hope Tess' hoof turns out alright.

I used to maintain a check database system written in business basic. It had been intended for maybe 50 thousand items. It was over 1.2 million. No journaling and thus no transaction control. It was ugly. Very ugly.

As to foxes: Darn right. We're not all empty headed and irresponsible. (Just "mostly" emptyheaded and irresponsible. ;)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Tess should be fine. John is on his way now.

Yes, that sounds like a pretty ugly, overgrown system. I don't think any BASIC was ever intended to work at that level. Maybe as a front end with calls to an SQL system or something, but to manage the database itself? No way.

The simplest answer to my puzzle seems to be to do the math in "base 256" a byte at a time. That will avoid overflows and give accurate results.

You, of course, were among my examples of reliable and responsible foxen. XD

[keeganfox.livejournal.com]

Your kindness towards foxes will not go unnoticed once we have established world domination.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Well, now, world domination is another matter entirely. I'll believe that one when I see it actually happen. A single fox emperor seems at least possible. A government or even a political party made up of foxen, though? Talk about going against nature...

*ducks and gallops*

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

Our neighbour is also kind to foxes..for leaving his chicken coup so amazingly unguarded.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

My neighbors do that too. I wish the fox would take them out quicker, though, 'cuz I'm tired of chasing them away.