The Old New Thing

Happy Waffle Day! And other holidays named after food

March 25, 2008 Mar 25, 2008 03/25/08
Raymond Chen
Today is Waffle Day in Sweden, and the reason why today of all days is Waffle Day I find quite amusing. March 25th is the Feast of The Annunciation according to the Catholic Church calendar, the day on which the archangel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would conceive a child, the Son of God. Why March 25th? The date was arrived at by the ...

What's the difference between int and INT, long and LONG, etc?

March 25, 2008 Mar 25, 2008 03/25/08
Raymond Chen
When you go through Windows header files, you'll see types with names , , , and so on. What's the difference between these types and the uncapitalized ones? Well, there isn't one any more. What follows is an educated guess as to the story behind these types. The application binary interface for an operating system needs to be unambiguous. ...

Buses and trams going to this place called Reservado

March 24, 2008 Mar 24, 2008 03/24/08
Raymond Chen
One thing I noticed in Lisbon is that I will occasionally see a bus or tram whose destination sign says Reservado. I couldn't find a place called Reservado anywhere in my guide book. It must be new. Hi, everybody. I'm back from vacation, and it's taken me a while to catch up on all that happened while I was away. In addition to deleting all ...

How to write like Raymond: What I tell you three times is true

March 21, 2008 Mar 21, 2008 03/21/08
Raymond Chen
Another installment in the extremely sporadic series on how to write like Raymond. On occasion, I'll find myself engaged in a mail thread with a customer who refuses to believe what they're being told and is under the impression that rephrasing the question will get a different answer. "My customer wants to control the name and appearance of...

Raymond's highly scientific predictions for the 2008 NCAA men's basketball tournament

March 21, 2008 Mar 21, 2008 03/21/08
Raymond Chen
It's that time again: Raymond comes up with an absurd, arbitrary criterion for filling out his NCAA bracket. This time, I studied all the games played in the NCAA men's basketball tournament since 1985 and computed how many of the games were won by the favorite and how many were upsets, broken down by the numerical difference between the ...

I try not to rely on the kindness of strangers, but it's a pleasant surprise when strangers come through

March 17, 2008 Mar 17, 2008 03/17/08
Raymond Chen
I took part in a casual bike ride last month in celebration of a friend's daughter's birthday. Our first stop was Trophy Cupcakes in Wallingford. It was there that I discovered that my wallet was missing. I checked my pockets several times, but the wallet was gone. I was pretty sure I had brought it with me, but there was an outside chance ...