July 2007 | The Old New Thing

I just discovered that the Scandinavian Gift Shop in Ballard is closing

Raymond ChenJuly 31, 2007Jul 31, 200707/31/07

When in Ballard for SeafoodFest, I was saddened to discover that one of the last remaining Scandinavian businesses in Ballard, the Scandinavian Gift Shop, is closing. They were in their final stages of "everything must go!", and I picked up a small number of Glad Påsk greeting cards, some pretty napkins (including a set that would be ...

What is the lpdwHandle parameter in GetFileVersionInfoSize used for?

Raymond ChenJuly 31, 2007Jul 31, 200707/31/07

The GetFileVersionInfoSize function returns two pieces of information. The return value is the amount of memory needed to record the version information of a file, and the DWORD pointed to by the lpdwHandle parameter is set to zero. What's the deal with this strange lpdwHandle parameter? That parameter used to do something. The documentation...

Stuart Stevens takes performance-enhancing drugs in order to see what they do

Raymond ChenJuly 30, 2007Jul 30, 200707/30/07

It's an old story, but once again timely thanks to the drug scandal that rocked this year's Tour de France. Not to be confused with the drug scandal that rocked last year's Tour de France. (But that's okay, because it's all cleaned up now. Tipster.) Amateur cyclist Stuart Stevens takes performance-enhancing drugs for six months in order ...

There's a whole Internet out there, folks, you might want to check it out

Raymond ChenJuly 30, 2007Jul 30, 200707/30/07

If you're going to add a topic to the Suggestion Box,¹ at least do the courtesy of researching the question before asking it. It takes me an hour to answer each question; it's only fair that you spend ten minutes making it a good question. For example, one entry in the Suggestion Box asked for the story behind the ...

Seattle to Portland (STP) 2007 trip report, part 4 of 4: St. Helens to Portland and beyond

Raymond ChenJuly 27, 2007Jul 27, 200707/27/07

Note: You probably want to start with Part 1. 1:33pm: S and I arrive at the St. Helens High School food stop (mile 175) just as J, M, and A are on their way out. S is pretty wiped out by this point and heads over to the nearby McDonalds for a cup of Coke and an order of French fries. "What I need is fat," she explains. (And she was ...

Don't just grab the foreground window and host UI on it

Raymond ChenJuly 27, 2007Jul 27, 200707/27/07

I was asked to look at an application compatibility bug in a program from a major vendor. But that's actually irrelevant; what I'm writing about today has nothing to do with application compatibility. That's just what drew my attention to the program in the first place. At some point during the install, the setup program encountered an error ...

How do the names in the file security dialog map to access control masks?

Raymond ChenJuly 26, 2007Jul 26, 200707/26/07

When you call up the file security dialog, you'll see options like "Full Control" and "Read and Execute". That's really nice as friendly names go, but when you're digging into the security descriptor, you may need to know what those permissions really map to when it comes down to bits. First, the summary attributes: If you go to the ...

Seattle to Portland (STP) 2007 trip report, part 3 of 4: Toledo to St. Helens

Raymond ChenJuly 26, 2007Jul 26, 200707/26/07

Note: You probably want to start with Part 1. Sidebar: There are a lot of groups that wore matching jerseys to build team spirit. Here are a few riders that caught my eye that I haven't already mentioned: Our detour to Toledo bypassed the towns of Napavine and Winlock, which meant that we missed out Napavine night life, the banana ...

Seattle to Portland (STP) 2007 trip report, part 2 of 4: Spanaway to Toledo

Raymond ChenJuly 25, 2007Jul 25, 200707/25/07

Note: This story makes much more sense if you read Part 1 first. It won't be any more interesting, but at least it'll be a coherent sort of boring. 12:20pm: We arrive in Spanaway for the lunch break (54 miles) [pic]. The consensus among seasoned riders appears to be that the Saturday lunch is pretty lame this year. It consists of a...

What is Dave's frame class?