Static Variables in Shared Libraries

I haven't posted for a while, and this isn't really a deserving post, so I apologize for that.

This is however, something I can never seem to keep straight in my head, so I'm throwing it out here to keep track of it for myself and possibly others.

How Static Variables within Shared Libraries (C or C++) Work Under Linux
Static variables within shared libraries for the most part work exactly as they do directly in an executable, on a per process basis. There is no consistency of value between multiple processes using the same shared library.

Each process will have all static data within these shared libraries initialized to zero, and then their scope will be maintained throughout the lifetime of that process, independent of other processes.


I have tested this empirically and found it to be true, and in line with how I theorized that it worked. If you know otherwise and can explain it to me (and shatter my understanding of the world) - I would love to hear it.

5 of the Recent

I've had this post and these songs queued up for a while, so they aren't exactly "of the now". However, they are all still high on my playlist.

Before hitting the list of 5, I have to throw in a plug for an album I bought last night. Del (aka Deltron, aka Del the Funky Homosapien) just threw down his first "real" album in at least 8 years, and the first to be listed as just from him in over a decade. As always, Del is awesome.

Pick it up from iTunes, or grab it from Amazon for a buck cheaper. In either case, you can grab it before it is even available in stores on Tuesday.

Now, on to the list:

Eddie Vedder - Into the Wild (Music for the Motion Picture) [Deluxe Version] - Hard Sun
I wouldn't recommend this movie unless you're looking to get depressed. However, this song reminded me of why Pearl Jam rocked so hard back in the 90's. I think Eddie is finally back to his roots, when I enjoyed listening to them. This is a bit of alt-rock mixed with folk, but mostly it just showcases Eddie's voice.

Pearl Jam - Love, Reign O'er Me (As Featured In the Motion Picture "Reign Over Me") - Single - Love, Reign O'er Me
This movie is also a bit on the downer side - the difference being that there are 2 amazing actors in it. I recommend this highly (which I would for pretty much any Don Cheadle movie). This song (mostly the original by The Who) is a central theme to the movie. Pearl Jam's version plays just as the credits begin to roll. Eddie easily has the pipes to emulate Roger Daltrey on this one.

Craig Morgan - Little Bit of Life - International Harvester
Here's something to liven up the list a bit. You might have to have grown up in a small, farm town in Iowa, playing with farm implement toys to truly appreciate this one. You might also need a 3 year old who loves to sing along. I happen to have both.

The White Stripes - Icky Thump - You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You're Told)
This is my surprise song of the list. I always knew that Jack White was a great producer, but I was never a fan of his band's music. I happened to catch this song on a rock station one day and assumed it to be some long-lost classic rock song I didn't know. Nope, new White Stripes.
This has a mixture of Black Crowes, with some 70's Cheap Trick thrown in. In other words, catchy as hell and exactly my type of music.
Overall, I've been happy with the whole CD. This is the brightest spot on it, but I dig it all.

Miley Cyrus - Hannah Montana 2 - Meet Miley Cyrus - See You Again
So, I threw this on here mostly to prove that I can. Yes, that's right, I just put a Hannah Montana song on here. That's because I'll admit that I think it's a damn catchy song, and that Miley Cyrus actually has a really cool voice. Go actually listen to it and just try to claim that it isn't catchy.

I'm not sure if it was intentional or not, but I swear it was influenced by "Sunglasses at Night" - see if you agree.

Besides, the Cyrus family has a dynasty in the making, so you can't avoid them. Billy Ray is getting the last laugh at everyone. Not only are he and his daughter making millions (or billions), now his son has his own band on the radio too.

Gwendolyn Fae

(This blog is often about my interests, such as technology. This post probably makes it obvious that it is still my personal blog as well)

Gwendolyn Fae was one of the best people you would ever meet in your life. She spent her entire life providing love and hope to others, and all she ever knew was love by all who came in contact with her. I really wish you could have met her in person. That wasn't possible though, since she died on Sunday, the 3rd of February in 2008, 6 weeks before she should have been born.

Morpheus in The Matrix said "Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?" That's been my life this past week. This can't be reality. There's no possible combinations of events and universes where I can be expected to do these tasks. You can't go from anticipating yet another addition to the happy family, to knowing that person will not be alive, in a single moment. I can't be balancing trying to help others cope, planning events, and mourning all at the same time. How do I wake up? How do I know when it is over?

Without any insight, I always thought I understood when people stated that "children should bury their parents, not the other way around." I had no grasp of the true gravity of it though. It is absolutely unconscionable to require this of a parent, but it goes well beyond that. No parent should have to go through losing a piece of themselves, which every child is in some way. No parent should have to find a way to tell brothers and sisters who have been longing to meet their new sibling that they will not be able to play with them as they had been hoping. Finding a way to say that, and continuing to help them understand it all might be the most difficult aspect of the entire ordeal.

When all of this happens so unexpectedly and and in a mostly unexplainable way, it makes it that much more difficult to process. So much potential and future events that will never get to be, and we have no clear answer why. This is where faith can either be tested or fully realized.

If any good can come of all of this sorrow, it is an increased realization of the power of people all around you. Family and friends can in an instant demonstrate how much they care, and how involved they really are in your life. I always realized the value of both of these, but not to the fully level that it exists. Hopefully everyone who has been affected or involved can also take away some increased realization of how fleeting things can be, and how valuable time with friends and family should be. This sounds a bit trite, but it bears truly thinking about and believing.

I'm sure there is more I should explain, but at this point my mind has been in this dream state for so long, I find any additional thoughts to be fleeting. If you have come across this and have had a similar experience, let me know. I hope that this can help you in understanding the thoughts drifting in your mind as well.

Good luck on your journey without me Gwendolyn, I hope to understand it all someday.

Recovery

I never quite got around to posting this over the holidays, but I saw the pictures tonight and thought I would do it.

It turns out sometimes I do unplug from my computer. I actually try to do it as often as possible (although not as often as I might like, especially during the arctic winter). I make a habit to only check once in the morning and before bed on weekends, and I try not to use it at all during the night while I am home with the kids.

I'm very glad when I find new tasks to try and do that aren't computer-related also. Expanding my knowledge of varied other topics is very refreshing.

When we moved into our current house, we bought a new dining set that happened to come with upholstered chairs. At the time we knew that probably wouldn't mix well with our kids, but the set works really well with our house. Less than 2 years later, the seats were completely trashed and looked horrible.

Since I like new challenges, and I don't like money coming out of my wallet, I convinced my wife that her idea of recovering the chairs was a good one, but I should do it myself. I kept saying I would eventually do it, but then she used the fact that we were hosting Christmas dinner as a reason I should speed up the process. Couple that with my nearly 3 week vacation from work, and I made it happen.

In reality, it only took me 2 nights to get all 6 chairs recovered. I needed very few tools and things to make it happen. I borrowed an electric staple gun, bought a nice pair of scissors for cutting the fabric, and some very nice leather-like fabric from a local fabric store.

Here is a gallery of some before and after pictures. I can't say I'm a master upholsterer yet, but I will say they look far better than before, and even better than when we originally got the chairs.

Who's Fault?

Sometimes, even the best stores can be a pain.

Amazon is far and away my favorite online retailer. That means I can pretty safely say they are my favorite retailer period too. However, I was a bit annoyed when I had to return something.

I recently ordered something, and inadvertantly ended up with 2 in my cart. Because I was using a gift certificate it didn't dawn on me as quickly that I was paying too much either. All mostly my fault.

When I received the package I immediately realized the error. My handy included packing slip indicated that for a full refund I could simply visit their returns site. After clicking on recent orders, and choosing exactly which item I wanted to return, I had to choose a reason. "No problem", I thought, "I'll just choose the 'Accidentally Ordered Duplicates' option, or something similar." No, that was not even close to one of the options:

So, at first I selected the first option. I didn't really order the wrong item, just too many, but I figured this was the closest. However, while I would receive a refund in that case, they stated that I would have to pay shipping costs (prepaid USPS, but they would deduct the shipping from my refund amount).

This probably should have been acceptable to me, but since I didn't pay for shipping in the first place, I was annoyed. So, I began choosing other options to find out the varied outcomes. It turns out that if I simply claim I didn't like the item (as displayed in the image above), they'll cover the shipping costs. Hmm.

So, if you end up needing to return something to Amazon, this is apparently the route to go.

Albums of 07

Ryan switched up a bit from our 5 of the now format, and gave us his favorite full albums of last year.

I'll admit, I'm as big of an album fan as him. As much as I like just finding new music, and skipping around in my playlist, I'm still thoroughly impressed and amazed when I find an album that truly works from start to stop. This should be obvious I guess, Floyd never put out anything as a single that wasn't ten times better within the context of the album.

I had to stretch a bit to figure out my 5 favorite of last year. I can't say it was the best year for the album, but these were all at least ones that earned repeat from me. Also, this is a list of albums I enjoyed this year, not necessarily albums released this year.

1. Shooter Jennings - The Wolf
Yeah, this probably seems obvious, I'm a huge Shooter fan. That said, even I was amazed how much I liked this album. It just grew even better over time. Hands down his best effort yet. See you in August, Shooter.

2. Timbaland - Timbaland Presents Shock Value
This stretches the concept of album a bit. The amount of collaboration here makes it difficult to get a consistent theme going...or does it? The consistent theme here is Timbaland's continued incredible production value. That and the fact that I kept finding a new track to be my favorite. "Bounce" is the current one - Missy and Dre along with JT, that's just good business.

3. Z-Trip - All Pro
Old-school hip-hop masters, with some nice metal behind it. Where was this in high school?

4. Aesop Rock - Fast Cars, Danger, Fire, and Knives
This album and I had some difficult times. I often referred to this as the devil album, due to it having superhuman DRM from iTunes somehow. I also thought that it wasn't nearly as good as some of his former or his current album. I was wrong, it just took some time.

5. Various Artists - Lost in Translation Soundtrack
Yes, this is fairly old at this point. I just finally got around to watching this movie this year though, and then getting the soundtrack. RZA is a master minimalist.

First Post

...of 2008 that is. Only 366 days to go until the end of the year, time to get going on your yearly plans.

Let's start with some news from 2006. That was the original year when analog TV was supposed to be done. However, it really looks like it will finally happen in 2009.

For quite a few years I was rather annoyed by the government's plan to supply converter boxes to those who needed them. I wasn't sure that television should qualify as a basic need that should be assumed to be provided by the government. Actually, in this day and age (probably aided by the fact that I don't have television service) I think the Internet is a much more valuable and basic need. As a matter of fact, that's where I watched the 2007 countdown live from New York.

Back to the point, it turns out the the cost of converter boxes is just a cost of business associated with the government's overall plan. That cost is a drop in a bucket compared to what they intend to make by selling off the returned analog frequencies.

Thus far, they have attempted to implement this whole process by providing silly $40 coupons to people who request them, up to 2 per household. I say if you have any need for this at all, go take advantage of this offer.

The site appears to be having issues today, but here it is for reference.