Day: June 11, 2009

Vote Vote Voter Vote Voter

I enjoyed this query listing permits for a new application called, generically, “vote.”

[bobbojones@production aeacus] > SELECT * FROM permit WHERE application='vote';
+-------------+------------+-----------+----------------------+----------------+
| application | privilege  | principal | principal_type       | subapplication |
+-------------+------------+-----------+----------------------+----------------+
| vote        | vote       | voter     | vote:voter           |                |
+-------------+------------+-----------+----------------------+----------------+

I’m reminded first of when xkcd’s blag depicted “Wikipedia’s entry on blogs, with everything that is not the word ‘blog’ (or a derivative thereof) removed.”

I’m then reminded of a line of my own code from about five years ago that went something like:

$param = $this->_params[$params['param']];

(In my defense, I saw the absurdity immediately and renamed some variables, so the verbatim line is now lost to us, but its spirit remains.)

Browser of the Lost

About 45 minutes ago, I opened a new browser window to see if any cheap tickets are available for my trip this summer.  Let’s examine what tabs are open in that window now (click the image to see the full-size, unedited screen capture):

My Browser Tabs

To review, those tabs are:

  1. Kayak, where I began my search
  2. My 2009 Budget, which I opened to confirm how much I’d originally planned to spend
  3. American Airlines’ article on Wikipedia, which there’s no reasonable explanation for my having opened, since I will not be flying American
  4. An unremarkable photograph of an American Airlines plane
  5. The article on the Douglas DC-3, which came up in the airline’s history history
  6. The article on the Boeing 787
  7. The article on the Airbus A380
  8. The article on Economy class (of course there’s such an article)
  9. A photograph of economy class in an Airbus A320
  10. A photograph of the Airbus A380 cockpit

I seem to have wandered off a bit there, like in the classic xkcd comic on the subject.  Moreover, upon returning to the Kayak tab after all that, I see that I never even entered my search terms, so I still have no idea how much airfare will be, and now I really have to get back to work.