mere cat

Broken Perl Following Leopard Security Update

I started getting errors about “weak references” from a Perl script that used SOAP::Lite and XMLRPC::Lite modules after installing Security Update 2009-001 recently. Many people reported problems with their Perl installs, and the most common advice I found was to reinstall the IO module manually, which I did (see macosxhints), but that didn’t fix it. Another affected module was Scalar::Utils, which I also installed manually, and it did fix the problem.

“Yes Indeedy!”

Harrison Ridley, Jr., jazz historian and scholar who hosted “The Historical Approach to the Positive Music” on WTRI for over 30 years, died Thursday a week ago. I can’t say I listened to his show every week, but I have listened to hundreds of his shows over the years. His knowledge was immediately obvious from listening to him, but until I read his obituary, I didn’t realize the scope of his accomplishments and accolades, including an honorary doctorate from Villanova.

As for the title of this post, Harrison would invariably exclaim “Yes Indeedy!” after playing a particularly exciting track. It was his trademark.

Although I never met Harrison Ridley, he was an inspiration, and I admired him very much. I am planning to go to a memorial service celebrating his life tomorrow (Saturday, February 28th) at 10:00 am at the Lutheran Church of the Holy Communion, 2110 Chestnut Street.

Outlook Webmail Toggle Checkbox Bookmarklet

A while ago, a friend who was frustrated with Outlook Web Access (the web-based interface to Microsoft Exchange) wondered if there were a way to programmatically check the checkboxes next to each message so he could “select all.” That would be handy (I use OWA myself from time to time), but I couldn’t think of a way until I realized a bookmarklet could do it. So, here it is:

OWA Toggle Checkboxes

Compatibility Note: While this works with our version of OWA (Exchange 2003), I bet it won’t work at all with newer versions. No harm in trying; it should just do nothing if it’s incompatible. It even works in Internet Explorer, although IE doesn't need the capability.

Quiet Car Thoughts

SEPTA has been campaigning for quieter rail cars for quite some time, asking that riders “be considerate of others and set phones on vibrate or mute, limit cell phone usage, keep conversations brief and speak using your ‘inside voice’.” In January, they cranked up the volume with a pilot program called QuietRide where one car is designated silent—no cell phones, no conversation, no exceptions.

That’s all well and good, and I wish my fellow riders in the quiet car all the best. I, on the other hand, enjoy the hubbub of conversation, and the occasional cell phone ring doesn’t upset me. In fact, I usually sit in the last car, which is typically the noisiest. That’s not to say that noises don’t bother me—some definitely do. If the car is otherwise quiet (as it usually is in the morning) and there’s just one person yapping on a cell phone, that’s annoying. And I hope there’s a special place in Hell for those people who use push-to-talk phones, where you get to hear both sides of their conversation, not to mention that stupid chirp.

But the real problem with this quiet car program is that SEPTA doesn’t even address the sounds I find most objectionable. I’ve spent the last few years doing extensive field work collecting examples that should help make my point. Enjoy. [8MB mp3 6:39]