doof.me.uk

It’s so hot at the moment I can’t really face going outside. Occasionally in the evening it’s tolerable though and here’s a large mass of concrete I passed under the other evening.

I’ve released a new version 1.5.2 of the VHDL compiler I’m working on. This is the second bug fix release on the 1.5 branch containing the following changes back-ported from the development branch:

• Link libexecinfo on FreeBSD.
• Implement textio READ procedure for BIT and TIME.
• Fixed a crash when a long running procedure suspends in a loop.
• Fix static linking with LLVM 12.0.
• Fix crash when assigning to a signal declared in a package.
• Fix incorrect recording of dependencies which caused a failure to load generated DLLs on Windows.
• Fix file locking error when a library is located on NFS.
• Optimise loading large library index from disk.
• Fix a crash when using ‘VALUE with enumeration subtypes.
• Fix a crash when a signal with more than 256 elements is declared in a package.

nvc-1.5.2.tar.gz
nvc-1.5.2.tar.gz.sig

This release is signed with GPG key fingerprint 0784 505A DB5D 7D86 D2BD E6DA BCDB 295F 7431 9F1A. Download both the .sig and .tar.gz files and verify with:

gpg --keyserver pgp.mit.edu --recv-keys BCDB295F74319F1A
gpg --verify nvc-1.5.2.tar.gz

There is now a public git mirror at https://git.nickg.me.uk/nvc.git if you prefer not to use GitHub.

Throughout June and July the Shanghai local government has been trying a new tactic to convince people to take the coronavirus vaccine: bribes. At many vaccination centres you can be entered into a draw to win a phone or receive some other free gift. It’s clearly working as apparently 70% of adults have now been vaccinated. I’ve collected a few examples below that I either saw myself or were shared around on WeChat.

I passed this one on the way to work. The text says “get the coronavirus vaccination here and receive five litres of cooking oil”.

This district is clearly lacking imagination: the sign says “take the vaccine and receive 300 RMB cash after the second injection”.

A sign at Shanghai International Tourism Resort. It says “take the vaccine inside the resort and receive a free entrance ticket”.

This one says if you take the vaccine here, you’ll be entered into a prize draw. The top prize is an iPhone 12 and the second one is a Macbook, although the seventh prize is just some eggs.

This lady won a phone at another location after getting her vaccination. There’s a maximum of one per day but if you don’t win anything you still get five litres of cooking oil.

In the interests of team building or something I made a clay cup at some pottery workshop. The results were surprisingly good and said cup is quite usable for drinking water.

The raw materials shaped with my own hands into something resembling a cup.

The painting process. Note the expert colour mixing going on.

The finished article. Note that it has shrunk quite a lot in the baking process.

The bright shopping mall from a few posts ago has an open courtyard in the centre with a large funnel-like object reaching up to the roof. Well I recently discovered you can go right to the top of it. And so here, for the first time ever, we bring you two exclusive views of said funnel.

If you’re wondering what’s inside the funnel, don’t bother: it’s just an elevator and doesn’t make for a good photo. It might also serve a secondary purpose for collecting rainwater.

After several years living abroad with all sorts of strange foreign food, I decided recently that I’d really rather just eat sandwiches for lunch. And finally I’ve found a bakery chain in Shanghai that sells sandwiches worthy of the name (hint: it’s not Family Mart).

The shop in question

It’s called Paris Baguette. But actually they’re not French at all but Korean. Whatever, their sandwiches are excellent, and also the egg tarts.

Exhibit A: three delicious ham rolls

Exhibit B: a delicious tuna sandwich

I unexpectedly had to suddenly move apartments last month. The new one is quite close to Hongqiao airport, which is Shanghai’s original and older airport. Thankfully not directly under the flight path, but parallel to it.

Taking off…

Much fun to be had cross-referencing with Flightradar24. Makes me wish I had a lens with a longer zoom.

Local shopping mall causing massive light pollution

Some photos I took when I went out for a walk last weekend. The afternoon light and the shape of this massive highway intersection looked quite nice.

The last few months I’ve been playing through the PC version of Final Fantasy VII. I first played this on the original PlayStation way back around year 9 in secondary school and it was the first time I’d played any kind of Japanese RPG.

Emerald Weapon

Press [OK] to slap…

A regular battle

Finally got to level 99