What’s wrong with this picture? (Click for larger.) A good example of a bad user interface.

An elevator’s panel functions not just as a control mechanism but also as a visual representation of what’s happening — very important in an environment where the user is cut off from visual cues.

The confusing part in this case is that the numbers are going in the opposite direction as the physical floors — i.e., the 1st floor is on the bottom in real life. Now, this might not be so much of a problem, but in this particular instance you can actually enter the building from the first floor or the third floor, as it’s built into a hillside.

So imagine entering the building on what is called the third floor, entering an elevator, and trying to figure out what to do when you’re presented with the above panel. :)

From a /. discussion today:

How to confuse a line of ants.

1. Locate ants. This part is important.
2. Lick a finger. Normally yours, but hey if you talk somebody into it, go forth and conquer.
3. Draw the moistened digit (which sounds way worse than it is) perpendicularly across the ant trail.
4. Watch in amusement as the ants wander around in a confused crowd, trying to regain the trail.
5. Have a brief existential crisis regarding if the Universe wipes a moistened digit across humanity from time to time.

Hey, there’s a Sauce Robert. It’s a ‘brown mustard sauce’, which sounds fine to me. :)

A good reminder from Velorution about the two cardinal rules for cyclists on the road:

• Assume that you are invisible.
• Assume that drivers are blind.

Unfortunately, it’s all too often you hear about cyclists being taken out by either criminally careless or simply unaware drivers. When you’re trying to survive on the increasingly crowded streets, you can’t trust anybody else to be watching out for your safety.

And wear a freakin’ helmet.

You know you’ve successfully transitioned to vim when you try to save and close a TextEdit document with :wq — and get confused when it doesn’t work immediately. :)

The description of the upcoming episode of CSI Miami (Monday, November 21), ‘Urban Hellraisers’ —

‘When a group of criminals play out a violent video game in real-life, the CSIs must stop them before they strike again.’

I don’t know what’s worse, ‘forensic scientists’ running around shooting at criminals or yet another prime-time sensationalistic attack on video gaming. Now, I know we can’t expect reasoned dialogue about the important issues from television, but is it too much to ask for some semblance of responsibility?

Frankly, I would be more worried about this ludicrous behavior, but given the decline in television viewership in general and the networks in particular, and corresponding rise in both Internet usage and video gaming, this sort of propaganda seems more and more like the death rattle of a bloated corpse.

I find it funny that when refs call a Delay of Game penalty, the interruption causes far longer of a delay than if they had let the play continue to begin with.

Unfortunately, due to various life events (see livestrong, among other things) this past month, I’m afraid I have to withdraw from this year’s NaNoWriMo event. It bums me out more than I can say, but it is less than the increasingly worse feelings about participating and not being able to write like I need to. It’s also a relief.

This does not mean however that I am giving up on the idea. I figure I’ll declare a RoNoWriMo (Roberto Novel Writing Month) after New Year’s — in fact, January seems like it might be perfect. I’ll check back in.