Mike Wilson

A reference to Mutation Testing just came across the XP list:

Mutation testing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mutation testing (sometimes also called mutation analysis) is a method of software testing, which involves modifying program’s source code in small ways.[1] These, so-called mutations, are based on well-defined mutation operators that either mimic typical user mistakes (such as using the wrong operator or variable name) or force the creation of valuable tests (such as driving each expression to zero). The purpose is to help the tester develop effective tests or locate weaknesses in the test data used for the program or in sections of the code that are seldom or never accessed during execution.

It really responds to one of the questions that’s frequently floated about test suites, be they unit tests or whatever. “How do you know you’re testing everything?”

Hello from Amazon.com.

We now have estimated delivery dates for the Kindle order you placed on 12/30/07, #123-4567890-1234567. We are now estimating that your Kindle will arrive between February 08 and February 15, 2008. We’ll contact you again to let you know when your order is shipped.

Thank God.

I keep trying to come up with kindle puns but I get nuthin.

Dr. Helen: “Some of us still believe that the worth of a CEO should be determined by stockholders rather than the President of the United States.”

According to the New York Times, Hillary Clinton says that if she becomes president the federal government will take a more active role in the economy “to address what she called the excesses of the market and of the Bush administration.” Scary stuff for anyone who still believes in the free market.

Pretty goddamn short step from there to “nationalizing” corporations and industries.

Do people really not understand the record of socialism? The Hell it’s perpetrated on this Earth? It’s perfect lack of successes?

I guess not.

…so here’s a blog post instead of me doing what I’m supposed to be doing.

I had a craving today. I don’t normally get cravings for anything that doesn’t come from a chinese take-out place, a microwave, or with fries.

So this was weird.

I’m in the stupidmarket today doing my daily “code grind” diet soda stock-up (2 2 liters of coke zero this time. I’m a little burnt out on diet dew. It’s getting a bit too much like nuclear waste.) and I walked past the vege isle.

I stopped and did a full-on barooo?. There was clearly something that I passed that I wanted. But that simply doesn’t compute.

So I parsed back over the greenness and my eyes settled on, get this, Brussels Sprouts.

Well providence is providence so I picked them up along with a head of garlic. Lord knows I’ve got enough butter.

I got my other stuff and went home.

Cut the bottoms off the thingies, peeled off the outer layer, cut them in half and put them in a bowl. The whole…whatever “quart” container.

I ripped a few cloves of garlic out of the head, smacked the skins off ‘em and finely chopped them.

So I’m standing there having done this on TOTAL autopilot as I’ve watched it a couple hundred times. And I had no idea what to do next.

My Mom makes them and I associate the butter/garlic/sprout flavor with cast iron so I figured that was a good first step.

I phoned in an airstrike of support. One wing came in with:

Trim, wash, cut in half, roast
in a 450 oven, flats down on a
greased pan, sprinkled with
chopped garlic (about 25
min - or til tender.)

Ok, that sounds almost right. But I’m not feelin’ the butter.

My sister flanked the effort with

“chopped garlic lightly browned in the frying pan with a little butter, then add the BS. P.S. DON’T burn the garlic”

Flummoxed I went for a 3rd source. No response.

Ok, I’ve got fryin’ pan in my head. In we go.

Garlic (3 cloves minus one “what does it taste like if you bite a raw garlic clove? HOLYSHITTHAT’SSTRONGOHMYGODWTFISWRONGWITHME” experiment) a chunk of butter (it was a cube, you figure it out) pan on medium.

Garlic lightly browned, turn down the pan, in with the BS and a couple more chunks of butter. Noodle around with them until they’re all(ish) face-down(ish).

Put a top on it.

NO idea how long. But after too many going to checks they were really very soft but still had some integrity. The flats were nicely browned and they were sizzling in a smidge too much butter.

Stuck a fork in one and it tasted like nothing.

Right.

Dumbass.

Salt.

Salted them, poured the whole thing in to one of those “not a plate, not a bowl” bowlish thingies (there’s a name. don’t know, don’t care) and sat down with a fork.

Now, that was 20 minutes + writing time ago.

My digestive system is on full alert having absolutely NO idea what the hell I just did and scolding me noisily.

So yeah.

I cooked something.

Time to get back to coding.

I promised I’d have the app done and ready for public consumption tonight.

So I saw this jaw-dropping video:

and couldn’t figure out what the hell I was seeing. Then I saw a link in the comments to a page about the phenomenon, over here:

Project Delphis: Mystery of the Silver Rings

The young dolphin gives a quick flip of her head, and an undulating silver ring appears–as if by magic–in front of her. The ring is a solid, toroidal bubble two feet across–and yet it does not rise to the surface! It stands erect in the water like the rim of a magic mirror, or the doorway to an unseen dimension. For long seconds the dolphin regards its creation, from varying aspects and angles, with its vision and sonar. Seemingly making a judgement, the dolphin then quickly pulls a small silver donut from the larger structure, which collapses into small bubbles. She then “pushes” the donut, which stays just inches ahead of her rostrum, perhaps 20 feet over a period of up to 10 seconds. Then, stopping again, she regards the twisting ring for a last time and bites it–causing it to collapse into a thousand tiny bubbles which head–as they should–for the water’s surface. After a few moments of reflection, she creates another.

Amazing.

I keep hearing they’ve solved the ridiculous lag time on digital cameras, but even my trusty L73 is a bit slow.

My sister is frustrated by her camera, which is admittedly a bit long in the tooth, because she’s missing pics of my niece (YAY I’m an uncle :-).

Does anyone have a recommendation on a digital point & shoot at about the 7mp range that has a rapid response time?

It’s one of those things that seems to slip through the cracks on reviews.

From Newsweek by way of Michelle Malkin:

Tags: UCCU
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »