Aeturnalus

So I realized pretty quickly that manually updating a snarf site is quite annoying. I suppose it isn’t so bad if you’re Mr. Peck, but I just wrote a short little PHP script to go and update it for me.

They are as follows:

snarf.php Downloads a snarf XML file from a server, opens it, and downloads all of the projects listed inside of it. It then creates its own snarf.xml. Variables are on the top of the code, to download, right-click and save as…

create_snarf.php Goes through a non-recursive filename search through a directory, then creates a snarf.xml for it. It’s pretty easy to improve this one, but I never got around to it. Things for the future:

• Add recursion for folders
• Add folder-based categories

transfer.php This is the one that is both the simplest and the most time consuming. It reads a given snarf file, and downloads the projects. What took a really long time on this one was the “downloading” bit… It appears that PHP doesn’t have a built-in downloader that accepts inputs from my string… I just used wget in the end. Note: This will not maintain category structure while downloading, it all goes in ‘./’.

Currently, since Mr. Peck’s snarf isn’t back up yet, they are all coded to point at www.aeturnalus.com/snarf/snarf.xml. When the district’s server port gets opened up, I’ll point it at http://205.173.41.8/staff/peck_george/notemplate/apcssnarf/snarf.xml to mirror the snarf with one click.

Comments?

Since Peck’s webserver got turned off by the district, I’ve made mirrors of the more important things.

Lab instructions for all “A##_#” type problems.

http://www.aeturnalus.com/snarf/snarf.xml

A backup Snarf site, at the moment, it only has Ornament, FunLoops, and ParallelLines.

So I’d thought that my parents were being totally “asian” in that they refused to buy me an iPod (of any sort) or a laptop costing more than $420 (per four years). Then I see an interesting package on the dining room table this afternoon, but I don’t really think about it.

Then, this evening, I find out that it is a pair of iPod Touches (8gb). For my relatives. In China. While I have nothing against giving relatives presents (that’s a good thing…), I do wonder… is there a reason why I don’t get one too?

As God’s consolation prize, I suppose, I found an IBM Thinkpad X41 in the “old computer stuff closet” at my house. With a dock. It’s actually pretty nice, 1.5Ghz and 1.5GB RAM. Plus it’s very small. Veerrryyy small. Like, only a bit bigger than netbook small. And its only 3.2 lbs.

I got out of school half an hour early today to get my braces taken off. It’s been two years, so I’m understandably relieved. Unfortunately, I still have to wear retainers. Retainers are arguably worse than braces, since they take up more room. However, the benefit is that I don’t have to wear them all the time… xD. They kinda screw with my enunciation though. I’ll be doing random speech exercises to get the ability to say “th-” back for the next couple of days.

Dum de dum dum… a smart guy said this:

I remember, that as a student in high school, I would often question my math and science teachers after school about topics that we covered only superficially in class. A good 80-90% of the time, however, their reply would be “Don’t worry. You won’t be tested on it,” and out of politeness, I wouldn’t ask them any further. I was quite annoyed at that answer, since my reason to learn wasn’t to pass some exit exam or do well on the SAT’s. Currently, in Stanford, I’m learning the same topics that I queried about in high school, and that makes me realize that exit exams are a simple excuse to limit the learning of curious, intellectual students. –Upadhyayula Prajakta