Here's a fun one. The "modulo" operator (%) is commonly understood to return the remainder of a division operator. So, 3 / 2 is 1.5, but 3 % 2 is 1, because if you divide three by two, the remainder is one.

But things get a little unexpected with negative numbers. 7 % 3 is 1 (because the remainder of seven divided by three is one), but -7 % 3 is 2 because the more-precise definition of a remainder is usually the *least positive integer* you have to subtract from the dividend (-7) to make it divisible by the divisor (3). So, -7 % 3 is 2: subtract 2 from -7 gives you -9, and that's evenly divisible by three.

So what do you think -7 % -3 might be? According to Spotlight in macOS Sequoia (and a bunch of other calculators), the answer is -3.07.

I *think* I know enough about compilers and rounding towards zero vs rounding toward infinity to guess what's going on here, but I'm curious if anyone has any thoughts.

Well, great: my accounting program is making errors in integer math. I guess it really is time to write my own. You can't imagine how much this doesn't thrill me, but…I had to write my own invoicing system for similar reasons.

I'm old enough to remember when software applications were both useful and reliable. These days, it seems like every software application I use on a day-to-day basis is an increasingly large collection of problems, long-standing bugs, and "features" I never use.

So, most of 2025 I've occasionally been *hearing* coyotes in the area during wee hours, but for whatever reason I was up just before 4AM and I finally *saw* a neighborhood coyote just trotting purposefully down the drive, crossing the street and disappearing alongside an apartment building. Seemed like a young adult and in very good shape.

Feels weirdly full circle. I grew up in an area where coyotes would occasionally come into town along the river and irrigation ditches going after snakes, lizards, rodents, etc. But Seattle is so big these can't be visitors: they have to be full-timers set up in a park or greenbelt. I have some ideas: kind of tempted to go look.

#seattle

Receiving a growing number of automated fundraising requests for candidates around the country, on a phone number that has never been associated with any political activity (or, really, any activity at all).

Thanks, data breaches.

Democrats: this is not a way to make friends.

#dataProtection #spam

So what does it mean if Amazon is delivering things in U-Haul vans?

#amazon #uhaul #seattle

Spotted this at Costco recently, and had the same thought I've had every year since 2018: "Surely *this* is the year Nova Twins cracks the big time."

Yes, I realize Marshall Records handles their most recent albums, and, yes, the Kilburn II Bluetooth speaker thing is an abject marketing ploy aimed at boomers with a PRS or two in their mancaves), but still: it's literally the first time I've seen promo for Nova Twins that wasn't on the Internet or one of their shows.

Surely this is the year? Right?

#novatwins