iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Crazy they don't do gift cards. I've taken people in to fast food and take out places to get them a meal, but that doesn't scale well. Giving out gift cards seems like a better way, but it sucks that McD doesn't do them

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OldMattyB @oldmattyb.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Smoked salmon nigiri at my favorite Bay View restaurant #HungrySumo #MKE

A blue square plate holding two pieces of smoked salmon nigiri. The salmon is well cut and garnished with wasabi, ginger, radish, tomato, and a small flower

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OldMattyB @oldmattyb.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Connections Puzzle #1203 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟪🟪🟪🟪

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OldMattyB @oldmattyb.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Strands #937 “A breath of fresh air” 🔵🔵🔵🔵 🔵🔵🟡🔵

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OldMattyB @oldmattyb.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I remember when this album came out. Drove 2 hours to the "big" record store to get a copy. Everyone was talking about in the store, really cool energy.

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OldMattyB @oldmattyb.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Obligatory photo of Blarney Castle. Yes, I kissed the stone. No, don't tell me you pissed on it.

The tower of Blarney Castle as seen through a standing stone on the grounds.

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OldMattyB @oldmattyb.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Connections Puzzle #1201 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🟨🟨🟨🟨

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OldMattyB @oldmattyb.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

definitely one of the very best of the power ballads. It just hits so hard.

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OldMattyB @oldmattyb.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

After 30 some years on the Green Bay Packers season ticket waiting list....

Annual post card from the Packers showing I'm number 29046 in line for season tickets

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OldMattyB @oldmattyb.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

That is a cool machine, especially with the history intact!

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OldMattyB @oldmattyb.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Actually, I think the power strip is a type E, I think I picked up the plug in France. Can't remember for sure.

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OldMattyB @oldmattyb.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Gathering stuff for a trip across the pond. Most pluggy-in things being multivoltage, I've accumulated a collection of homemade forbidden cables. Yes, both have 300V rated insulation on the wires. Yes, I know Type B is not rated for 240V. Yes, I've used them extensively for years with no problems.

A power strip of Type B (US) receptacles with a Type C (typical continental Europe) plug at the end of the cable.

Another short cable with a Type B (US) receptacle at one end and a Type G (UK) 13 amp plug on the other.

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OldMattyB @oldmattyb.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Alpine Blast: an according and a 5 string bass. They rock. #mke

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OldMattyB @oldmattyb.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Bavarian Bierhaus in Milwaukee #MKE

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OldMattyB @oldmattyb.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Milwaukee guy strongly voting for poutine. I was covered and a trip to Montreal.

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OldMattyB @oldmattyb.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Great write up and very nice work!

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OldMattyB @oldmattyb.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

If you're a football fan, regardless of team affiliation, you should tailgate at Lambeau at least once

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OldMattyB @oldmattyb.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

I would cast in the if() statement. It’s hard to say what the optimization will do. I was going to check godbolt.org, but I’m having some issues getting it to work on a mobile device. I’ll be away from a computer for the next week, so 🤷‍♂️

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Reposted by OldMattyB

WuTangIsForTheChildren @wutangforchildren.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Jack White is already paying tribute to Dolly Parton with a cover of Jolene in London

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OldMattyB @oldmattyb.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Working on my Altair 8800 file manager in assembly code. Moving along nicely :) Source is at github.com/mbrugman67/s... #retrocomputing youtu.be/VWdoinQcBtQ?...

youtu.be

STEM file manager example 1

YouTube video by Matthew Brugman

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OldMattyB @oldmattyb.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

but uint8_t thing; ... uint8_t thing2 = thing + 1U; if (thing2 == 0xff) { would be fine. Another good thing to read about in the spec is "Sequence Points" :) Gosh, this got longer than I expected - sorry for that! (P.S. The cats say "thank you!!")

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OldMattyB @oldmattyb.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Add a suffix to your fixed values. For example, "var + 1U" tells the compiler that the "1" is an unsigned value. Otherwise, it assumes signed. When using variable types other than int, you might also need to do more casting than you'd expect. uint8_t thing; if ((uint8_t)(thing + 1U) == 0xff) {

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OldMattyB @oldmattyb.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

To get back to your original issue, I usually make sure to use inttypes to specify variable sizes when it's important; e.g., uint8_t, int16_t. That also makes it clear to other readers of your code that you are being intentional about declaring the size of this variable.

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OldMattyB @oldmattyb.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

The C standard exists so that compiler makers produce a tool that is consistent across platforms in a predictable way. Users of compilers, like us, can use the standard to better understand how the language is expected to work.

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OldMattyB @oldmattyb.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Another example are signed integers. ARM/x86 developers expect signed integers to be 2's complement binary, but that's not the only way to represent them. Therefore the standard states bit shifts on signed integers is "Undefined Behavior", while bit shifting unsigned integers is fine.

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OldMattyB @oldmattyb.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

It's not something a desktop/front end/back end/etc. developer thinks about, but there exists a wide variety of architectures out there! Like the PDP-8 (yes, this is old), which operated on 12-bit words. The standard makes sure the language is portable across every platform that has a compiler.

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OldMattyB @oldmattyb.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

The only important thing is that the size of an int is what the hardware/CPU likes to work with. That's all platform/implementation specific. So, the reason for integer promotion is so arithmetic is done in the most efficient "machine" sized units of data, if that makes sense.

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OldMattyB @oldmattyb.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

You have to go back in the history of C a bit for it to start to make sense. C is meant to be portable and platform agnostic. That means a lot of different hardware architectures. If you look at the spec, you'll see that nowhere does it specify the actual bit size of int, short, long, bool, etc.

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OldMattyB @oldmattyb.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

To be fair, any compiler that says it's compliant to the C standard must do the same thing. Promotion also applies to the C++ standard; but for things like this that fall into the category of "base language", I start with the C standard.

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OldMattyB @oldmattyb.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Section 6.3.1.1 talks about integer ranks for arithmetic, and how integers get promoted. Basically, if the variable size is equal to or less than the size of a signed int, it is promoted to a signed int for the math operation. That's the rule in the C specification that GCC is following.

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OldMattyB @oldmattyb.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

I always suggest looking at the c standard, especially Undefined Behavior. It’s good stuff. Just want to add that I'm not gatekeeping or stroking my grey beard; I'm sincerely trying to help based on my experience learning the same things the hard way 😊 www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg...

open-std.org

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OldMattyB @oldmattyb.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

I learned this same lesson the hard way doing embedded development on 8-bit microcontrollers. XOR on a uint8_t gave me results I didn't expect. Historically the C standard calls for integer promotion; GCC is just following the C standard. One of those lessons you learn once & remember forever 🤷‍♂️

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OldMattyB @oldmattyb.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

I picked up a new emotional support cheese at the local farmer's market. 20 year yellow cheddar. Trying to think of a special occasion to break it out....

A small block of yellow cheddar cheese. It is sealed in clear packaging on which is printed "Glas All Natural Extra Sharp 20 year old cheddar".

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OldMattyB @oldmattyb.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

He's the most interesting cat in the world

A black cat sitting in a recliner. He's leaning against the arm, looking straight into the camera

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OldMattyB @oldmattyb.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Smoke Shack in #MKE, great barbecue and fun environment in Milwaukee's Third Ward.

Side view of the Smoke Shack in Milwaukee. Sitting outside on the patio enjoying a cocktail before dinner

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