Updated photography section

Posted by Steve Hanna on July 28th, 2008 filed in Random
2 Comments » Tags: art, cameras, d300, flickr, photography, update!

The photography section has been updated with links to my photo stream, my current favorite pictures, a list of gear that I currently have, a list of gear that I want, licensing information, and most importantly, what photography means to me.

my summer seems to be passing like this:

Posted by Steve Hanna on July 21st, 2008 filed in Random
1 Comment » Tags: bart, flickr, photo, photography, summer

bart, originally uploaded by justonlysteve.

I can’t help but feel a little left behind.

Crash when using dynamic_cast in GCC!

Posted by Steve Hanna on July 8th, 2008 filed in Random
Comment now » Tags: "-fno-exceptions", c++, coding, compiler, crash, dynamic_cast, flags, gcc, research, segfault

Most of the time, I don’t post about these sorts of things on my blog; however, because the corpus of the internet didn’t offer a clear solution, I decided to edify the world with my hours wasted.

Working with a large code base, it’s easy to just make the required modifications and keep moving.

So you probably have some code like this:

---

class A { };
class B : public A { };

//imagine a situation when you actually need dynamic cast,
//it’s difficult. if you use it all the time, you need to reevaluate
//your class hierarchy and coding style!

B b;
A* b_a = dynamic_cast<A*>(&b);
if (b_a) { /* yep, it worked */ }

---

If you have the flag -fno-rtti enabled, it WILL segmentation fault! It will not even throw a warning. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200. Solution: turn on run time type information by removing that flag!’

I find this behavior to be quite unbelievable, especially because if you disable exceptions (-fno-exceptions), GCC will not compile the code and complain about the flag being enabled; why isn’t this the behavior for RTTI?

Happy boulders, central happiness, dynos!

Posted by Steve Hanna on June 11th, 2008 filed in Random
Comment now » Tags: bishop, bouldering, climbing, photography, saves the day

Mark, Angel and I just got back from our amazing bouldering trip in Bishop, CA. If you’re familiar with climbing, you know this area has world class bouldering; basically, a climbers dream. We had a stellar time climbing, camping and exploring small town usa. We got very lucky because right now it’s the offseason in Bishop due to extreme heat and both days we climbed we found that a gentle breeze cooled the canyon. It was stunning how different the night sky looks when camping without the light of the city to dull the brilliance of the stars. I always forget how beautiful it is but I suppose that forgetting is a good thing because every time that I look up, it’s like I’m experiencing it all again for the first time. It was the vacation I needed, albeit short, and I cannot wait to go back. I brought my camera along and between the three of us, we took over 500 pictures. After pruning the set and doing some editing, we were left with nearly 140 pictures. Here are a few of them, but be sure to check out the set!

“I wonder how long it will take before I pass out, drunk off night skies.” –Saves The Day

Kind of like GATTACA

Posted by Steve Hanna on May 28th, 2008 filed in Random
Comment now » Tags: designer babies, gattaca, gene discrimination, GINA, science

Designer babies are next!

…The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) is the first and only federal legislation that will provide protections against discrimination based on an individual’s genetic information in health insurance coverage and employment settings.

Hopefully we’ll also be launching shuttles 12 times a day, too!

In the Basement of the Ivory Tower

Posted by Steve Hanna on May 16th, 2008 filed in Random
4 Comments » Tags: article, atlantic online, college, education, intelligentsia but not the coffee for once, university

The Atlantic Online had this article with subtitle: “The idea that a university education is for everyone is a destructive myth. An instructor at a “college of last resort” explains why.”

I found the article really illuminating. This professor talks about the struggles of teaching students at the absolute bottom rung of the academic ladder and the internal struggle he faces when failing them. Additionally, he discusses the current idyllic vision people have that everyone should go to college and how this mentality degrades the quality of education. I promise this is a worthwhile read.

They’ve all seen The Wizard of Oz. Some have caught it multiple times. So we work with the old warhorse of a quest narrative. The farmhands’ early conversation illustrates foreshadowing. The witch melts at the climax. Theme? Hands fly up. Everybody knows that one—perhaps all too well. Dorothy learns that she can do anything she puts her mind to and that all the tools she needs to succeed are already within her. I skip the denouement: the intellectually ambitious scarecrow proudly mangles the Pythagorean theorem and is awarded a questionable diploma in a dreamland far removed from reality. That’s art holding up a mirror all too closely to our own poignant scholarly endeavors.

Even the title of the article is clever.