The Old New Thing

Another chapter in Swedish political hypocrisy (2007 edition)

May 22, 2007 May 22, 2007 05/22/07
Raymond Chen
A few years ago, Gudrun Schyman, then-leader of Sweden's left-wing party, Vänsterpartiet ("The Left Party"), was forced to resign after it was revealed that she had been cheating on her taxes for at least five years, specifically by claiming fake deductions. This was particularly ironic because, as the left-wing party, Vä...

The unidentified award

May 21, 2007 May 21, 2007 05/21/07
Raymond Chen
I have in front of me a small bag of a trail mix type of concoction. On the bag it proudly proclaims, "Award Winning Snack". First of all, there's a missing hyphen. (It should be "Award-Winning Snack" since "Award-Winning" is a phrasal adjective. The snack won an award. The award isn't winning a snack.) But what award is it? There is no ...

Don't be helpless: I don't know anything about MFC modal loops, but unlike some people, I'm not afraid to find out

May 21, 2007 May 21, 2007 05/21/07
Raymond Chen
Commenter Tom Grelinger asks via the Suggestion Box: If I have a modal CDialog that is visible and usable to the user. Let's say I receive an event somewhere else in the program and I call DestroyWindow on the modal CDialog from within the event. I notice that the OnDestroy is called on the CDialog, but DoModal never exits until a WM_QUIT ...

Getting in on the action while it's still there

May 18, 2007 May 18, 2007 05/18/07
Raymond Chen
Remember day trading? All the cool people were doing it. Glamour stories of people who tripled or quadrupled their stake in a single day. With all this money available for the taking, you'd be a fool not to be day-trading! During the era of day trading frenzy, I got a particular chuckle out of one PC manufacturer who produced a Precision ...

Store Wars and the Meatrix

May 17, 2007 May 17, 2007 05/17/07
Raymond Chen
Store Wars is a propaganda video for the Organic Trade Association, starring vegetables and bad puns. ("Darth Tater" indeed.) Yes, it's a propaganda video, but at least it's an entertaining propaganda video. The same company also created The Meatrix, in conjunction with (deep breath now) the Global Resource Action Center for the ...

Please refer to the instructions that don't exist

May 16, 2007 May 16, 2007 05/16/07
Raymond Chen
I bought myself a wireless mouse and was setting it up. Step 1: Insert the batteries. Check. Step 2: Position the receiver. Make sure the distance between the mouse and receiver is within the wireless range specified on the packaging. I wanted to put the receiver on the floor, off of my desk, so I had to make sure it would still ...