0xUmpteen

In the "things that are easier to write than say" hexadecimal numbers step up to the plate. What is the best way of saying "0x32"?

* "Hex three two" or "Oh ex three two" or "three two hex" or "three two". Unambiguous, good enough for most situations, but slightly clunky and unsatisfying.
* "Hex thirty-two" or "thirty-two hex" eta: or "oh ex thirty-two" quicker, easy to work out, but prone to confusion[1].
* Not used by 32, but with "able, baker, charlie, dog, easy, fox" instead of "ay, bee, cee, dee, eff"
* Some completely new system eg, trisuffix-duo.
* Something corresponding to our current decimal system, where "ty" is I believe distantly related to "ten", using 'hex' or 'sex' as abbreviations for terms for sixteen, eg:

Thirhyn-two
Thirsy-two

It may be obvious that I use the first, sometimes slip into second, and would like to use the last. Does anyone have any suggestions?

[1] Objection: Incorrect, because thirty two refers to the number represented in decimal by "32", not that representation which in different bases means different numbers.
Rebuttal: Says who? No-one ever uses the terms other than in decimal, so people's normal use could equally well be either.

Feetneet

( Cut for CSS )

Belated memage

I found a half written post from last monday. I tend to try to collate these so if I have an interesting thought I can finish writing it up later, but this might as well be shared.

* Happy Starwars Day
* The problem with this meme is I end up thinking about it all day until it goes off. Setting an alarm to do it at a random time would make it worse, as I'd always be on tenterhooks. But I am spodding things I wouldn't otherwise so I'll probably keep doing it.
* Yay, M&S wedding next week!
*LARP: haven't fixed character, or kit, not sure whether to go, or go with a temporary character, or ceilidh.
* I like the smell of chlorine (as provided by drain cleaner), probably because it reminds me of going swimming with dad.
* Work: Two weeks after I pump out some code, flatten out the problems, and pat it into place in the whole project, I find a couple of bugs sprouting from it like mushrooms. I don't like what this metaphor is comparing my code to :)

Commenting code

I think my brain is hardwired to solve problems in the most elegant way. This has good consequences (I got a good degree from Cambridge, am paid £n0k/yr to program, and can beat Tony at noughts and crosses generalisations) and bad consequences (I don't like asking for directions or other help, I find it hard to get on well with people, etc).

When I was young, it used to almost be a point of pride that I didn't comment my code. Now I do so quite well, or so I believe. But I think both stem from the same underlying trait. When I was young, I saw the problem as "Write this program." Now, the problem has evolved into "Write this program so it works, and solves a specific problem, and in the future update it with the least possible effort."

A deluge of livejournal

You probably noticed I hit a deluge of catching up on LJing last night. I notice the posts seem to be in two sorts:

* Medleys of things I did, which attracted no comments.

* Thoughts on topics, which attracted many comments and in some cases webpages (:) thanks, Owen).

Is it that a medley makes it hard to read, or to pick one thing to reply to, or just that topics often have something that needs a reply to, but things I did don't?

I danced with a man who...[1]

I went to the round, and danced with many nice people. The dance in the middle I joined in with the girl's part, and it's been ages since I've danced a non-symmetric dance the wrong way round, but apparently at some point in my patchy dancing career my body learnt to follow.

This did have "being led round in promenade" and "doing that elegent thing where you take both hands and go round someone under their arms spinning in such a way that neither of you break your wrists" and all the guys led them well, and I've got practiced enough at taking physical cues in country dancing that it all just worked.

Leading and following is much less demarked in round than in ballroom, because there's no choice about where to go next, just sometimes about which sort of step to use, and because women at least often dance as either, but people definitely led me more than they do when I'm a man :)

There also was a round-waltz in one of the dances, which I've muddled up before due to clash of round/ballroom signals, but went perfectly smoothly when I worked out to trust my feet to go lefrightleft rightleftright to the music, my brain to steer, and my partner to indicate which way we were supposed to rotate and how far :) (Thanks!)

[1] "I danced with a man who danced with a girl who danced with the Prince of Wales," is a line from an old song, apparently 1920s, so I've no idea why it's a meme in my head except that my parents say it. I think I danced with a girl who *did* this, kinda.

Dodgy ankle comparing competitions

I stopped at the Carlton on my way back. I was there and remember all of it, but basically can add nothing to the notes I jotted down, so will reproduce them nearly verbatim.

* "If I said that your girlfriend said she owed my £5 would you believe me and pay me it?"
* Be invited to Rich and Jennie's for dinner and bring mead.
* Hold international Obfuscated Mead Drinking Competition.
* "Dodgy ankle hair comparing competition."
* "A sticky situation invading two nested castles."
* Lynch: "To execute without due process of law, especially to hang, as by a mob." (American Heritage)