Author: cyberhobo

  • Database comments may only be applied to current database

    pg_restore: [archiver(db)] could not execute query: ERROR: Database comments may only be applied to current database This message was waiting for me from something I left running overnight. These are the kind of errors that really make you want to scream – a process runs for hours then fails at the end for some trivial…

  • Failed dependencies

    error: Failed dependencies: libXm.so.2 is needed by RealPlayer9-9.0.7.151-4 Clearly I had not taken enough abuse from the RealPlayer. This is a common error from the RedHat Package Manager (RPM). I found a package to install, but alas something is missing. Not too bad an error, as it makes it pretty clear I need to find…

  • Segmentation fault

    Not at all surprising that this is error #2 in the collection. In unix-like operating systems you see this error when a program tries to access memory that doesn’t belong to it. It’s like getting the bird from a car speeding by, there’s not much you can do without going to absurd lengths. Forget whatever…

  • KLauncher could not be reached via DCOP

    This is the first error in my collection! I’m not sure why it inspired me. It is a pretty typical error message. This specimen is of the pop-up error message variety, when you click something and get it instead of what you want. In this case I was trying to start a terminal program in…

  • When Things Go Wrong

    Working with computers, things often go wrong. When creating software, things go wrong far more often than they go right. Error messages have been a way of life for me for many years. I’ve appeciated the humor in error messages, written many good and bad, and been faced with thousands. It never occurred to me…

  • Alabama Hills

    Getting out for a climb is a challenge in this heat, especially if you don’t have time to wind your way up high into the mountains. After hiding in the house during the day Saturday, we decided to see how the Alabama Hills felt. We left about 5:30pm, pulled into Lone Pine around 6:45, and…

  • HOT

    It’s been toasty here in the shady backyard of our shack in the Mojave. This causes some worry that it will just be too much for some our guests at our wedding in Joshua Tree. It’s also hopeful though, because heat waves like this are often followed by cooler spells. Ann asked me as we…

  • Movie: Scent of Green Papaya

    This movie has great cinematography, and that keeps it going for a while. But the slow pace, combined with some poor acting, storylines that don’t go anywhere, and a lack of much historical feel (of 1951 and 1961 Saigon) eventually flatten it.

  • Granite Knob

    It was one of those trips where we pack up the car, take off, and then decide to go somewhere else. We were headed for Alabama Hills, but I just couldn’t let the turnoff up 9-mile Canyon go by. So we went to Granite Knob, a somewhat remote, lush, meadowy spot in the northern Domelands.…

  • Ankle Recovery?

    I have rested my ankle for three weeks without getting too unraveled. Yesterday Dr. Horn examined it and gave me the OK to start using it again. It’s a relief, but still a worry. The tendon really does have a noticable little snap when I move in certain ways – he said the lay sports…