1. Rename patch.exe to patsh.exe.
2. Then create patch.bat in the same directory containing the following command:
   @patsh.exe %*

You will never notice a difference, and Windows 7 can go politely F*** itself.

Using their system, if you have about an hour and a half of time around the house, you can have a delicious loaf of bread. It only takes about 5 minutes of work, but it breaks down to something like:

• 40 minutes to rise
• 30 minutes to bake
• 20 minutes to cool

But really, you only have to do about a minute's worth of work between each phase. I liked the recipe so much, I bought their book. The full recipe is listed after the jump.

This recipe is essentially the same as can be found in the linked article and in Jeff and Zoe's book, though without all of their helpful tips. It makes 4 1-pound loaves:

• 3 cups warm water
• 1 1/2 Tbsp yeast
• 1 1/2 Tbsp coarse salt
  • for tablesalt reduce by 25%
• 6 1/2 cups unbleached flour

In a 5 quart bowl mix the yeast and salt into the water. Don't worry too much if everything doesn't dissolve.

Mix in the flour all at once. Don't worry about kneading the dough as it is not necessary. Just mix it until all the dry patches of flour are gone.

Cover with a lid (not air tight!) and leave out for 2-5 hours to rise.

Refrigerate for up to two weeks, but a minimum of 2 hours (so its easier to work with).

Dust the dough with a bit of flour, grab about a grapefruit sized ball and cut it away from the rest of the dough.

Cover and refrigerate the remaining dough.

Grab the corners of the dough and stretch them around to the bottom so that it has a smooth finish (do not kneed the dough, it is not necessary).

Dust a pizza peel with corn meal and place the dough on it.

Allow the dough to rise for about 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, place a baking stone in the oven, and a broiler pan on another level.

Preheat oven to 425 for 20 minutes (to prep the baking stone).

Place dough on baking stone.

Pour 1 cup hot water into broiler pan to create steam.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Remove and let cool for about 20 minutes or until completely cooled.

Enjoy delicious bread!

The basic style is that you run on the balls of your feet instead of landing on your heels and rolling to your toes. Modern shoes prevent running on your toes, unless you are perhaps at a full sprint. Interestingly, the barefoot running style allegedly also helps prevent many common running related injuries. People who run barefoot generally have fewer problems with shin splints, ankle problems and knee problems.

Recently I started mulling over the concept again, and wondered what a shoe would look like that allowed you to run as though you were barefoot, but still gave you some protection. I played with the idea a bit, and then searched to see if anyone had made it yet. Turns out the awesome people at Vibram beat me to it with the Five Finger.

I haven't been able to jog in about a year, because of back problems that are aggravated by the impact of traditional jogging styles. Wearing these shoes, though, I have been able to run 10x as far and still no back pains. Best. Purchase. Ever.

IANAMD, but if you cannot run because of chronic pains in your ankles/knees/back then perhaps you should give them a shot.

[Updated: 10/13/2009]
After writing this article the SOCI team has resolved some of these issues, so some of these steps are no longer necessary.

Step 1: Setup SQLite

Step 1.1

Download the SQLite 3.6.18 source and library files.

• Source
• Libraries

Step 1.2:

Unarchive the SQLite archives into a directory, mine will be c:\usr\sqlite3

Step 1.3:

Create the sqlite3.lib file by using Visual Studio's lib command:

LIB /DEF:sqlite3.def

Step 2: Setup SOCI

Step 2.1:

Download the head of SOCI's git repository

Step 2.2:

Decompress the file into another directory, mine will be c:\usr\soci

Step 2.3:

Soci requires stdint.h but Visual Studio 2008 does not provide it, so simply download pstdint.h and rename it to stdint.h in the soci\src\core directory.

Step 2.4:

Open the directory soci\build and copy msvc80 to msvc90.

Now open the msvc90\dll directory.

Through Visual Studio 2008, open the soci_dll.sln file and allow it to convert it with the default parameters.

Step 2.5: Build SOCI's Core and SQLite3

SOCI's core project should build without errors, but the sqlite project will have several.

Step 2.6: Fixing Build Errors

Now SOCI's core project should build without errors, but the sqlite3 project will definitely fail. It will give two specific errors:

fatal error C1083: Cannot open include file: 'sqlite3.h': No such file or directory

and

error C3163: '_vsnprintf': attributes inconsistent with previous declaration

Both are relatively easy to fix.

Step 2.6.1: Fixing SQLite3 include paths

In Visual Studio, navigate to View->Property Manager, then in the pane that shows up, expand the sqlite3 project, then expand "Debug | Win32" then "soci_dll" then double-click on the "soci" object. Select "User Macros" on the sheet you find there.

Find SQLITE3_INCLUDE_DIR and SQLITE_LIB_DIR and change them to the directory created earlier, "c:\usr\sqlite3"

Step 2.6.2: Fixing _vsnprintf

[Update 10/13/2009]
This step is no longer needed.

Expand the core project and look for soci-platform.h and find a line that says "HAVE_VSNPRINTF"

This is redefining something that VS2008 provides already and confuses the hell out of the compiler. Just comment it out, or change it to look like:

// Define if you have the vsnprintf variants.
#if _MSC_VER < 1500
#	define HAVE_VSNPRINTF 1
#	define vsnprintf _vsnprintf
#endif

Step 2.7 Building SOCI's sqlite3_test project

This project will be riddled with errors unless you have boost installed. I personally don't use it, so had to comment out large chunks of common-tests.h.  Specifically, comment out the area at the top where it includes the boost headers. Also comment out the contents of test26, test28 and test30.

Also add this line at the bottom of soci-platform.h:

#undef SOCI_USE_BOOST

Finished

Now you should have a working copy of SOCI 3.0.0 with SQLite3 support in Visual Studio 2008. Congratulations!

Download: SimpleFileWatcher 2009.09.14

This utility sends us lots of crash dump files and until now we've always had to dig back through our archives to find the corresponding symbols and source code. But today I decided to rid us of the headache and set up a Symbol Server that could automatically determine our version and load it into Visual Studio 2008. The documentation can be a bit lacking at times, so I will try to illuminate the path that I took.

Step 1:
Download Debugging Tools for Windows. This provides you with symstore.exe which will be important for creating the symbol store.

Step 1.5:
Add the Debugging Tools directory to your path, so we have access to symstore.exe.

Step 2:
Create a folder on your build server and share it such that you have something like \\BuildServer\Symbols available to your workstation.

Step 3:
For each build, execute a command like

symstore.exe add /r /p /f U:\Project\Bin\*.* /s \\BuildServer\Symbols /t "My Project" /v "Build 42"

Where U:\Project\Bin is the directory with your .pdb files, \\BuildServer\Symbols is obviously the symbols directory, "My Project" is the name of the project, and "Build 42" is the description of the version.

Step 4:
Open Visual Studio 2008,  go to Tools->Options->Debugging->Symbols. Set your cache directory to something like C:\SymbolCache, then add the location of the new symbol store: \\BuildServer\Symbols.

Step 4.5:
At this point, it would be advisable to add the Microsoft Symbol Store to the locations list too: http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols.

This should facilitate debugging crash dumps without tracking down the symbols. Also, check out the Source Server which will access your VCS system to pull out the correct source code files for you automatically too.

To these people, I would like to  suggest they do what so many other net-savvy people have done, specifically blogging. Blogging is essentially the same thing as sending out that armada of email, except that it is seen when and how the end user desires. If you haven't quite figured out the whole blog thing, or think that its too technical, rest assured its actually quite simple. In fact, websites like Wordpress, blogspot, and livejournal do all the work for you. And this tutorial explains how to get started on your new blogging adventure.

After you've created your new blog, don't immediately send out a barrage of 'Check out my new Intarweb!' emails.  First try to find your friends' blogs and comment on them, leaving a link to your own.  Its a little more polite.

Don't think you need to abandon your friendly emails though, these can still be quite pleasant when not sent in bulk. A few rules of thumb for writing a blog instead of an email:

1. Is your mailing list large enough that you need to use BCC?
2. Do you have to think about to whom you want to write the email?
3. Does it envolve sending an image or video?
4. Are there more people than just your recipients that might find the email interesting?

If you found this useful, then you might also do a quick google on RSS or go take a peek at Google Reader. Most blog platforms allow you to subscribe using RSS and use software like Google Reader to read all your blogs in one simple interface.

Cool though they may be, I don't see technology like this replacing current mainstays like the joystick and keyboard/mouse. More likely, they will fall into the "add on" category like the gaming keypads and 6 button mice. 

That said, it is truely a piece of interesting technology and I look forward to playing with them in the future.

SimpleFileWatcher

And the new release:

SimpleFileWatcher v.2009.05.14