Anyway, here is a screenshot of the manual:

It is one of four thread-sleep-state control instructions in the 64-bit server variant of the Power ISA. Essentially, it is an IBM extension for their POWER series machines, as well as the Cell and Xenon CPUs I guess. See the Power ISA tutorial from the Power Architecture Developer’s Conference 2007 for some more on this.

I like this kind of whimsicalness in technical systems. It makes them human and more approachable. Sometimes, big companies (and small companies) once they are mature end up trying a bit too hard to sound business-wise and “professional”… ending up being plain boring and stone-faced and cold. There is no contraction between a chuckle and a professional system for most people.

Some people would put the Power Architecture “eieio” instruction in the same category of slightly funny. However, the limit for all assembly languages I have ever encountered seems to be the natural name for an instruction to Sign EXtend something. It is never called what it “should” be.

Note that this instruction is not new, it has been around since 2005 at least, probably longer. There are no history notes in the manual, and I have no intention of reading through lots of old manuals to find the first when this one did not appear.

At the bottom of the main content pane, next to the copyright notice, there is a clickable link with your current language setting. Click it and you see:

The result looks like this:

And I know that Google has been doing this since forever. Still, it is funny when done right.

Click image for full view, my WordPress theme just refuses to make this big enough to be readable.

Try 5000 km. I was in middle Sweden.

Here is a screenshot of the mislocation:

I think the culprit is that the 3G coverage for Telenor around here is less than ideal, and the phone backed down to GPRS. As soon as 3G coverage got back (i.e., I moved a few meters indoors), I was back to a more reasonable location:

Funny.

I guess that should tell us something about being overreliant on technology. Sometimes downright weird things happen when you pile on enough software and protocols and servers.

Or it is just a hint that despite the warmth of Spring finally arriving around here (there is still snow and ice to be found in the deeper shadows of the forests), my phone has decided that it is time to hint at a vacation in a warmer climate.

As stated in another CS song I like

And here is what Excel gave me as a graph. Totally surreal.

I kind of feel with the lonely red dot at the top, while all the other dots are partying down at the bottom of the graph.

On YouTube, the following clips of old songs that I like absolutely tore me up, leaving my 4-year old wondering what got into the head of his daddy… for him, it was just some music.

• White Wedding, which apparently was a country tune.
• Enter Sandman, in classic synth style.
• Blue Monday, with
• We will Rock You, as a light salsa.
• There is a blog with a series of classic hits fed through Songsmith…
• And just follow the related links, I know I will do all night.

For more like this, visit one of my favorite sites, the Worse than Failure.

Annoying, and a bit funny.