PEAR bug triage roundup - Dec 27th/28th

We had PEAR bug triage on the 27th/28th.

I'd expected this to be a quiet one, but CVS activity was actually pretty heavy!

We accomplished:
* XML_Feed_Parser tests got added (1500 unit tests)! - doconnor
* HTTP_Upload parse errors fixed - doconnor
* Net_SMPP parse errors fixed - doconnor
* Net_Whois bugfix release - doconnor
* Massive improvements to PEAR_PackageFileManager tests - dufuz
* Auth_Prefmanager tests now skip if not configured - doconnor
* HTML_Template_IT 1.3.0a1 released - doconnor
* Image_Color 1.0.3 released - doconnor
* MP3_Playlist - phpcs - doconnor
* Net_IPv6 got into the pear test suite - doconnor
* Started Services_Akismet2 - gauthierm
* Started the process for new releases of DB_DataObject, HTML_Page2, HTTP_Upload, HTTP_WebDAV_Client, HTTP_WebDAV_Server, Image_Canvas, Image_Graph, Image_Transform, MDB2, MDB2_Driver_mysql, Mail_Mime, Net_SmartIRC, SQL_Parser, Spreadsheet_Excel_Writer, Validate - doconnor, troehr

The most important one here would be PEAR_PackageFileManager improvements - this is part of getting PEAR 1.8 out of the door.

Coming in second was the addition of 1500 or so tests with XML_Feed_Parser - unfortunately, we went from 145 failures to over 1000. The benefit of this: You can really see where PHP / libxml have a few holes, so over time, more bugs will be filed and this will improve.

Unfortunately, overall, it felt like we just ended up with more work on our plates as we unravelled bug after bug - so we'll power on through at the next bug triage day!

Angry: Don't make a mockery of our medium, Stephen

Image by CloCkWeRX via Flickr

Conroy finally starts 'engaging' the public.

He does it by parroting the same rubbish he's been doing all along, while actively ignoring our questions.

This is a total mockery.

An example: Why aren't PC level filters sufficient?

The previous Government's Protecting Australian Families Online strategy focused on providing families with PC-level filtering software. However, despite an $84.8 million government program and $15.5 million in advertising, only about two per cent of households with dependent children are using a filter. Unfortunately, many parents do not have the technical skills or knowledge to install and manage PC-level filters. ISP-level filtering could provide important protection for those families with limited technical expertise.

We understand that ISP filtering is not a 'silver bullet' for this purpose. However, in conjunction with the Government's numerous other initiatives in this area, we believe it can make an important contribution to protecting children online.

Stephen Conroy

So,
1. You think we are too stupid to go out and learn how to protect our children if we need to
2. No one wanted it before, which means we're too stupid to learn how to get it
3. Look at how much money was spent, and still no one cared! The answer? Spend more money, and force it on people.

RRRRRRRRR.

These are the same rubbish answers you've given in question time, this is the same junk. You wasted hours and hours of our lives, as we hated you then, and then to pacify us, you parrot it back at us?

Get out, Stephen Conroy, get out of this country: you have no place within our civil and confident society.

Training for March

So I'm wanting to do the 120km 2009 Coast to Coast in March and I'm a bit worried.

So far, I'm not really doing anything too tricky. For instance, I just did a quickish ride - about 2-2.5 hours worth of effort there.


View Larger Map

That only came in at around 45km; it was in the evening, so not too hot, and I had to stop for a rest break or two on the Corkscrew road bit (take a look around, you can see what nearly killed me.)

At least when I took the short cut option home I got splattered with every insect known to man, and managed to see lightning as few have ever seen it - from right above Adelaide.

Update: How neat is this! A photo of one of the huger lightning strikes! This is the biggest one I saw, I'm pretty sure.



Two weeks ago, I did from my house to Mt Barker - about 4 hours in total one way (55km) with two generous rest breaks, then I kind of puttered along for a while.


View Larger Map

I got a lift from Hahndorf back to Crafers, cutting out 12-20 km of uphill on the return journey.

Total distance 89.8km - 12km of car ride.

Now I'm looking at this and thinking... whoa - 120km? Am I going to die doing it?

My next plans are to repeat the Mt Barker ride, but this time make it back.

The frustrating part of this all is that I can't seem to find anyone to partner up with - I tried getting a friend interested in getting fit for when he joins the police, but there was no chance. The only other people available are going to be Bicycle SA people; who will be fitter than me; or other people who are super super fit.
I either go too fast for my friends, or I drag down people who actually ride more than once in a blue moon.
Even worse, I'm thinking about buying knicks.

WTF: Refactoring snippet of the day

<?php
class SortingClassNameHere {
    public function __construct($string) {
        $this->string = $string;
    }

    private static $c = null;

    public static function cmp($a, $b) {
        $r = strnatcasecmp($a[self::$c], $b[self::$c]);
        return ($r > 0 ? 1 : ($r < 0 ? -1 : 0));
    }

    public function process($data) {
        self::$c = $this->string;
        if (!usort($data, array("SortingClassNameHere", "cmp"))) {
            throw new Exception('Unable to sort results.');
        }

        return $data;
    }
}

Hints:
* SortingClassNameHere::cmp() is never called anywhere else in the code base apart from process()
* If you don't know why this is bad, I will shoot you.

A response from Ms Ellis

I got a response regarding my letter to Kate Ellis, my local member, regarding #nocleanfeed.

It's at least polite, and she did write a letter to Conroy on my behalf.

Her words:

Dear Senator Stephen,
I write on behalf of a constituent, Mr Daniel O'Connor, regarding ISP filtration.

Mr O'Connor is concerned that ISP filtration system will inhibit his job. Mr O'Connor is currently employed as a software engineer, and he points out that his work could not continue without a free and open responsive internet. Mr O'Connor also enquires as to whether the option of giving funder and encouragement to ISP's such as http://www.webshield.net.au has been considered.

I would appreciate it if you could please investigate this matter and advise me of your findings so I can respond to Mr O'Connor's enquiry.

She also included a number of pages detailing the other bits of the proposed plan - I'm aware of these, and largely unconcerned by them - they are in fact reasonably on target.

She mentions her support for the other parts of the package, minimizing the importance of the filter, and so on and so forth.

When I'm next to a scanner again, I'll post a PDF of it all.

My take: from the tone and wording of the letter, it seems like she's taking the party line but politely ignoring the filter aspects. She's certainly not a foaming at the mouth filter fan; but won't speak out against it.

It's at least better than the fridge magnet I got sent.

Valuations in 2020

Daydreaming at work.

Problem one: The valuation process involves lots of different people - customers, mortgage brokers, the bank / mortgage manager, valuation firm administration staff, and valuers themselves.

There is money involved here, so people like to keep all parts of the process isolated from each other. The upside of this: it prevents fraud. The downside of this: communication overhead shoots through the roof, and everyone has to play phone tag.

So: what if you were to make disposable communication hub (mailing list, or conference call) which lets all parties interact?
And the way you make money from this is to provide a trusted, impartial, honest witness to the proceedings to ensure no fraud takes place - as well as being a facilitator.

Net result:
Everyone involved gets a personal relationship, everyone is happier, communication is more effective, and the customer getting the loan gets to see behind the magic curtain.

This will probably never happen, as it is a radical shift from all previous models; and in general, banks do not make radical changes

Problem two:
Since no one talks to each other during the valuation process, everyone is anxious.

Idea:
Customer walks into bank, gets given a kit - do your own valuation in 3 easy steps, with a secure URL.
They go back to the property, take lots of photographs, and upload them ahead of time.

Give valuers geotracking devices, and wire them up somewhat like in Aliens if you are really gung ho.

When a valuer is inspecting a property, they SMS or otherwise indicate their arrival, which gets picked up by a computer.
This broadcasts emails to everyone and anyone, and they can see the valuation report (at this point, inspection date, photographs) as it happens.

Finally, the valuer goes home and types up the report - adding in his valuable risk analysis and assessed market value..

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Washout Rate at Reindeer School Exceed Expectations, Officials Say

In an alarming new study, Officials of the Christmas Institute have revealed a startling trend of washouts in its 2008 graduate program.

Decline in reindeer graduation rates by geographic area

After leading the world in course completion rates throughout the 20th century, the North Pole now ranks 21st out of 27 advanced economies.

Once second in the world for younger reindeer (ages 25 to 34), the North Pole now ranks 11th. Dropout rates for fawns have tripled in the last 30 years.

"In the last 20 years, we have lost critical ground in this country," said Stephen Morris, president of the Christmas Institute's Happiness and Joy Division, which convened a panel of 28 people from a Wombats concert to have a bit of a dance, and conduct the study.

Graduation rates have dropped from 77 percent in the early 1970s to 67 percent today, the report found. About 40 percent of 25- to 34-year-olds have attained the ability to fly, and just 58 percent of full-time undergraduates at four-year colleges receive their red noses within six years.



Graduation rates were significantly lower among minority groups; just 26 percent of Canadian Caribou and 18 percent of North American Whitetail Deer have at least an associate degree in landing on rooftops.

"As an aging and highly educated workforce retires, for the first time in the history of our country we face the prospect that the educational level of one generation of North Poleans will not exceed, will not equal, perhaps will not even approach, the level of its parents," the report stated.



"Faced with potentially high expenses, while in the dark about aid amounts, many first-generation, potential sleigh pullers are discouraged from flying," the study concluded.
William Kirwan, chancellor of the Workers Allied Super Shiny Union for Puny People & Elves (better known as WASSUP Elves) and chairman of the commission, emphasized the need for immediate action.
"We are fighting the clock now and will regret every moment lost," he said. "Other countries have made educational excellence a national priority while we have been satisfied with 'average,' and it has cost us... um... deerly."

A young reindeer gets stuck in a tree during stressful end of year exams.

PEAR Bug Triage Day Results (December 6th)

PEAR's December Bug Triage Day was alright, if somewhat quiet. It was actually more spread out over the preceding weeks rather than much on the day itself.

Christian got a new version of Services_Blogging out earlier in the month, while Console_GetArgs and Numbers_Words got updated and increased unit test coverage - just about everyone under the sun chipped in and wrote translated unit tests for Numbers_Words - Igor, Christian, Lorenzo, Kouber, David and anyone else I missed.

Payment_DTA got a new owner in Martin Schutte, which saw a good few bug fixes applied.

I fixed up Text_Figlet, which broke PHP 4 compatibility, and got out a release of it and Services_Yadis.

Finally, Validate got back in the unit test good books, with almost all unit test failures resolved.

The next one is calendared for December 28th, so we'll see how that goes :)

NoCleanFeed slogans

If you've been living under a rock, you might not know about the upcoming #nocleanfeed protests planned for December 13th.

Basically; the Labor government wants to provide a mandatory filter of Australia's internet to prevent child porn and other 'unwanted' content.

I'm against it because it is a technically unworkable solution to a problem I don't have. You can learn more at the GetUp petition, or NoCleanFeed.com.

The protests

Adelaide
12 Noon @ Parliament House

Brisbane
11am @ Brisbane Square

Melbourne
12 Noon @ State Library

Sydney
11am @ Town Hall

Hobart
11am @ Parliament Lawns

Perth
12 Noon @ Stirling Gardens

The slogans

I'm in need of more signs.

Here's some starter ideas.

"For an anti-porn filter...
... this is gonna fuck us!"

"GET /public-support?
HTTP 403: Forbidden"

"Accidentally the whole internetz?
This protest is what that means!"

"What's wrong Conroy?
Afraid to answer our questions in the Senate?"

"Clive Hamilton - LOLWUT?"

"Clive Hamilton will damage our children,
by controlling their future"

"Clive Hamilton is a philosopher;
His ideas are not designed to be practical!"

"Won't somebody think of the children!"

"Net Filters are like windows,
they don't stop criminals with purpose"

"Sen. Conroy, slow down!
You are dodging our questions too fast!"

"My Labor Government Penpal just wont write back"

"Hey, can I opt-out from Sen Conroy's rhetoric?
Oh, not that either then..."

"Conroy says:
NetAlert: wasted taxpayer's money!
CleanFeed: a winner!
HUH?"

"The only positive part of CleanFeed
will be the false positives!"

"If it doesn't work in trials,
just ignore the results! WIN!"

Possible posters

Christmas Cheer

Christmas Cheer
Originally uploaded by CloCkWeRX.

I've missed out on too many work Christmas drinking events.

Now, I'm overcompensating for it by forcing Christmas cheer on everyone.

What christmas cheer have you inflicted on others?

Minor rant correction

Rant, and you shall receive.

It only took you over year.