Monday, January 31, 2005
What You'll Wish You'd Known
Another interesting essay by Paul Graham. He wrote this for a talk at a high school which he never actually gave because school authorities vetoed the plan to invite him. I wonder if they knew or suspected that the talk would be this subversive?
The forgotten British dish
Given the derogatory meaning of the word in America, it's hard to make it through this BBC article without thinking it's a rude joke. The British dish is described as a "meatballs made from low quality pork, kind of like an English version of haggis". Sounds vile but lots of people think tofu pups are pretty vile too. I like 'em just fine.
Quicken rant update
I'm not the only one unhappy with Intuit's plan to disable older versions of Quicken. This article on BoingBoing strikes a similar tone. It goes on to say that Intuit charges substantial licensing fees to financial institutions to provide support for Quicken. The plot thickens.
As I said in my other post, the main reason I continue to use Quicken is to synch with PocketQuicken. I really like PocketQuicken but it looks like there may be a good alternative. I found a similar product called Ultrasoft Money that synchs with Microsoft Money in the same way. The reviews for Ultrasoft Money are very positive. Microsoft Money compares very favorably to Quicken; besting Quicken in some recent reviews. Maybe it's time to consider a change.
As I said in my other post, the main reason I continue to use Quicken is to synch with PocketQuicken. I really like PocketQuicken but it looks like there may be a good alternative. I found a similar product called Ultrasoft Money that synchs with Microsoft Money in the same way. The reviews for Ultrasoft Money are very positive. Microsoft Money compares very favorably to Quicken; besting Quicken in some recent reviews. Maybe it's time to consider a change.
Man peed way out of avalanche
Whether Richard Kral's story is true or not, it's the best rationalization I've ever heard of someone keeping sixty bottles of beer in their car. In case of avalanche, of course. I especially like the part of the story where he realises that the snow is going to fill his car before he can dig out. So what's he do? He cracks open a beer to think about the problem. (Via Andrea)
Sunday, January 30, 2005
Quicken rant
I used to upgrade to the latest version of Quicken each year and then wonder why I bothered. It was like I was paying my annual "Quicken Tax". I stopped doing that when I bought Quicken 2001. It works fine, why upgrade? I also use Pocket Quicken on my Treo. The combination of Quicken and Pocket Quicken works great for me.
The other day I got a letter from Intuit, the maker of Quicken, telling me that they were discontinuing support for Quicken 2001. Fine, I don't use Intuit support anyway. But it goes further than that. They are also disabling online services for Quicken 2002 and older. The ability to download bank and credit card statements from financial institutions will stop working on April 19th, 2005. I don't get it. Where does Intuit enter into this? It's a data format. As far as I know, I'm not paying Inuit for this service. Will the software disable the service itself? Granted, I didn't pay very much for Quicken but I never expected that the software was, effectively, time-bombed.
Inuit offered to sell me a copy of Quicken 2005 for $39. That's not expensive but I felt like my arm was being twisted to upgrade. To pay the "Quicken Tax" again. So I decided to take a cheap route: I found a shrink-wrapped copy of Quicken 2003 for $10. I haven't installed it yet but my plan is to upgrade before the April deadline.
A few years ago Intuit included an intrusive activation scheme in TurboTax. I was a TurboTax user for years and MacInTax user for years before that. After hearing about problems others were having with that version of TurboTax, I decided to try TaxCut instead. The UI may not be quite as slick but it works fine. I've been using it each year ever since. If I didn't depend on PocketQuicken, which is not an Intuit product, I'd probably consider switching away from Quicken as well. Granted, Intuit isn't making any money from me now, but I'm disappointed that an apparently functioning product, Quicken 2001, is about to just stop working.
The other day I got a letter from Intuit, the maker of Quicken, telling me that they were discontinuing support for Quicken 2001. Fine, I don't use Intuit support anyway. But it goes further than that. They are also disabling online services for Quicken 2002 and older. The ability to download bank and credit card statements from financial institutions will stop working on April 19th, 2005. I don't get it. Where does Intuit enter into this? It's a data format. As far as I know, I'm not paying Inuit for this service. Will the software disable the service itself? Granted, I didn't pay very much for Quicken but I never expected that the software was, effectively, time-bombed.
Inuit offered to sell me a copy of Quicken 2005 for $39. That's not expensive but I felt like my arm was being twisted to upgrade. To pay the "Quicken Tax" again. So I decided to take a cheap route: I found a shrink-wrapped copy of Quicken 2003 for $10. I haven't installed it yet but my plan is to upgrade before the April deadline.
A few years ago Intuit included an intrusive activation scheme in TurboTax. I was a TurboTax user for years and MacInTax user for years before that. After hearing about problems others were having with that version of TurboTax, I decided to try TaxCut instead. The UI may not be quite as slick but it works fine. I've been using it each year ever since. If I didn't depend on PocketQuicken, which is not an Intuit product, I'd probably consider switching away from Quicken as well. Granted, Intuit isn't making any money from me now, but I'm disappointed that an apparently functioning product, Quicken 2001, is about to just stop working.
Don't Click on the Blue E!
There's a new O'Reilly book coming out next month called Don't Click on the Blue E!. It's intended to teach non-technical users how to switch to Firefox for browsing the web.
It's a clever title and I'm sure that the book has lots of nice information about Firefox but does it really require 152 pages to say this? And will a book about Firefox change the average non-technical user's browser habits?
Wilhelm scream
Another great Wikipedia entry: The Wilhelm scream is a stock sound effect that's been featured in dozens of movies. Here's a WAV recording of the scream. The Wikipedia page has a link to a page of other film sound clichés. Among the entries are the red-tailed hawk screeching sound which is often used to signify the open, desolate outdoors.
Movie sound effects remind me of the under-appreciated Brian DePalma film Blowout. A movie sound-man discovers a crime after listening to a recording that he made one evening while "sampling" sounds. Terrific thriller. The title is a takeoff on the Antonioni film Blowup which involves a photographer who may have accidentally photographed a crime while taking photos in the park.
Movie sound effects remind me of the under-appreciated Brian DePalma film Blowout. A movie sound-man discovers a crime after listening to a recording that he made one evening while "sampling" sounds. Terrific thriller. The title is a takeoff on the Antonioni film Blowup which involves a photographer who may have accidentally photographed a crime while taking photos in the park.
Saturday, January 29, 2005
Moving pictures
While traveling on the T between Harvard Square and Central I noticed a mini-movie running outside the windows of the train as it moved through the tunnel. It's an advertisement for Target with people moving around. I think at one point someone dives into a pool. It's like you took the pages from a flip book and mounted them on the walls of the tunnel. The movement of the train makes the book play. I thought the effect was pretty cool. The other people on the train either didn't notice or didn't find it interesting. Am I a target audience of one?
Friday, January 28, 2005
Heavy metal umlaut: the movie
John Udell has done a fascinating screencast on the creation and modification of an entry in Wikipedia on the Heavy metal umlaut. It's not really about this specific Wikipedia entry, it's about how entries evolve and get corrected; even surviving vandalism attempts. It's amazing.
Related to Jon's post about Wikipedia's collaborative editing, Pito Salas had mentioned that there was a pretty accurate entry in Wikipedia on Lotus Improv. He wondered who had authored the entry and noted that there were a few inaccuracies.
All Wikipedia entries have revision history. In this case it looks like most of the content was written by Maury Markowitz. I don't know Maury but it looks like he's a prolific Wikipedia author and editor.
Another cool thing about Wikipedia that's also a bit scary is that if you want to join in, you can edit entries yourself by clicking on the "edit this page" tab. If there are errors, you can fix them. There's no guarantee that your changes will stay there. Someone else can remove them later. That's the weird aspect of Wikis in general and specifically with Wikipedia. Edits are encouraged. Wikipedia encourages users to be bold. For controversial topics there's an informal way to reach consensus via talk pages. And somehow it works pretty well.
Related to Jon's post about Wikipedia's collaborative editing, Pito Salas had mentioned that there was a pretty accurate entry in Wikipedia on Lotus Improv. He wondered who had authored the entry and noted that there were a few inaccuracies.
All Wikipedia entries have revision history. In this case it looks like most of the content was written by Maury Markowitz. I don't know Maury but it looks like he's a prolific Wikipedia author and editor.
Another cool thing about Wikipedia that's also a bit scary is that if you want to join in, you can edit entries yourself by clicking on the "edit this page" tab. If there are errors, you can fix them. There's no guarantee that your changes will stay there. Someone else can remove them later. That's the weird aspect of Wikis in general and specifically with Wikipedia. Edits are encouraged. Wikipedia encourages users to be bold. For controversial topics there's an informal way to reach consensus via talk pages. And somehow it works pretty well.
PostSecret
PostSecret is a blog that shares secrets collected via postcards sent to a postal address in Maryland. Lots of creative and humorous content. (Via Matt Flaherty)
Thursday, January 27, 2005
Mozart's birthday
Today is Mozart's birthday. He was born 249 years ago in Salzburg, Austria. Besides music, this reminds of two things: About ten years ago we traveled through Austria and spent a day in Salzburg. It's a small, picturesque town that we really enjoyed walking around. The second is Mozartkugeln. These are chocolates, named after Mozart, that are sold in Salzburg as well as other places in Austria. Each is a layered construction: the center is marzipan, surrounded by dark nougat, then light nougat and then coated with dark or milk chocolate. Really terrific. They can be a little hard to find in the US but I've bought them here. I know, for example, that Lindt stores often sell them.
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
What kind of blogger are you?
A silly quiz for bloggers. It says that I'm snarky. Yeah right. Real useful quiz. 
Jonathan Schwartz tears it
Jonathan Schwartz cracks me up. Read this post on his blog that he calls an "Open Letter to Sam Palmisano". A lot of the content is misleading but the end is the best part. Jonathan paraphrases Ronald Reagan's famous Brandenburg Gate speech:
Note: Just in case you're curious, here's what I found misleading about the rest of his post — Jonathan repeatedly blurs the distinction between Solaris 10 the operating system and Solaris 10 running on x86 hardware. Not the same thing. And he minimizes the costs of testing and certification of complex enterprise software — it's just a "simple recompile". Right, and you're Ronald Reagan.
We stand at the ready to help you tear down this wallSo Sam Palmisano is Mikhail Gorbachev and IBM is the Soviet Union? I'm sure Jonathan thought he was being clever but this is just too much.
Note: Just in case you're curious, here's what I found misleading about the rest of his post — Jonathan repeatedly blurs the distinction between Solaris 10 the operating system and Solaris 10 running on x86 hardware. Not the same thing. And he minimizes the costs of testing and certification of complex enterprise software — it's just a "simple recompile". Right, and you're Ronald Reagan.
Google from the inside
Mark Jen recently started working at Google. He previously worked at Microsoft and interned at IBM. He's got a blog called ninetyninezeros. I'm not sure where the name comes from — maybe from a Google which is 10100? No, that's one hundred zeros. One followed by ninety-nine zeros is a duotrigintillion. But I digress.
Mark is using his blog to document his experience as a new Google employee (aka noogler). He's pretty open about the good and bad. He got into some minor trouble when he disclosed a bit too much about a presentation that contained financial-related info. But there's no "Google blogger fired" story here.
Some of the benefits that Google makes available to employees are pretty amazing. For example:
This reminds me of a benefit that we had at Iris. A concierge and personal assistance service called Circles. Circles was a great perk but, really, the intent was to keep you at work. Someone once joked "Gee, can I get Circles to go to my house and play with my kids?" Don't get me wrong, I'm not criticizing creative benefits to improve productivity and morale. And these benefits cost real money so it's hard to complain when a company wants to spend more money to keep you happy. But there's also that work/family balance that becomes harder to achieve when you spend an inordinate amount of your time working.
Mark is using his blog to document his experience as a new Google employee (aka noogler). He's pretty open about the good and bad. He got into some minor trouble when he disclosed a bit too much about a presentation that contained financial-related info. But there's no "Google blogger fired" story here.
Some of the benefits that Google makes available to employees are pretty amazing. For example:
Mark does note that a lot of the benefits could be viewed as thinly veiled timesavers to keep you at work. Free lunch, free dinner, on-site doctor, on-site dentist, on-site car washes, etc. Every benefit is on-site so that you never leave work. It's hard to complain about great perks like this but there is an underlying corporate motivation.For employees who want to live in San Francisco: a free shuttle. Not only is the shuttle free, but during your commute, you can connect onto the internet and do work. Somehow, they have a high speed wireless internet uplink on the bus which is shared to the passengers via a wireless router. As you can imagine, this is pretty nice because you can actually get work done while you're commuting; thus, further increasing your productivity. This shuttle is so popular that they actually use full size charter buses which seat about 50 people and they run 6 times to Google in the morning and 6 times back to San Francisco in the evening.
This reminds me of a benefit that we had at Iris. A concierge and personal assistance service called Circles. Circles was a great perk but, really, the intent was to keep you at work. Someone once joked "Gee, can I get Circles to go to my house and play with my kids?" Don't get me wrong, I'm not criticizing creative benefits to improve productivity and morale. And these benefits cost real money so it's hard to complain when a company wants to spend more money to keep you happy. But there's also that work/family balance that becomes harder to achieve when you spend an inordinate amount of your time working.
It's snow or never
January 2005 has set a new record for total snowfall in the month of January as well as a new mark for the most snow in any one month in 133 years of recorded weather history in Boston. Okay, that was impressive. Now that there's a new record, we can just coast through the rest of winter, okay?
It's not one or two big snowstorms that get to you, it's a long winter of storm after storm that wears you down. Here's a funny example of what I mean. (Last link via David Weinberger)
It's not one or two big snowstorms that get to you, it's a long winter of storm after storm that wears you down. Here's a funny example of what I mean. (Last link via David Weinberger)
Snowy Tribute to Calvin and Hobbes
We're getting another snowstorm today. Another 5-9 inches. What do we do with all of this snow? Build snowmen!
Here's a funny set of snowman pictures done as a tribute to Calvin and Hobbes. Scroll down through each set. There's the original cartoon followed by a reproduction in snowmen. I forgot how gory some of these were. My personal favorite is the snow sharks.
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
January 24 called worst day of the year
Gee, I wish I knew this yesterday. Oh wait, the reasoning for this choice was a formula devised by a psychologist with all sorts of squishy variables that "calculated" yesterday to be when misery would peak. Bogus.
Note: I'm not making light of the fact that January is a tough month for a lot of people. But I don't need a formula to tell me that.
Update: Tim Jarrett has a very funny post where he tries to apply the misery formula and runs into a few snags.
Note: I'm not making light of the fact that January is a tough month for a lot of people. But I don't need a formula to tell me that.
Update: Tim Jarrett has a very funny post where he tries to apply the misery formula and runs into a few snags.
Starbucks density
Jason Kottke has an interesting post about Maximum Starbucks density. That is, how many Starbucks are located within a 5-mile radius of your house or workplace? You can figure this out by putting your address into the Starbucks locator. The highest density reported is in New York City at 169. My Starbucks density at home is only 19.
You can play the same game with Dunkin' Donuts density by using their store locator. Oddly enough my Dunkin' Donuts density is 19 as well. I've achieved Coffee Feng Shui.
You can play the same game with Dunkin' Donuts density by using their store locator. Oddly enough my Dunkin' Donuts density is 19 as well. I've achieved Coffee Feng Shui.
Tim Burton's Corpse Bride
Tim Burton is directing a stop-motion animated film called Corpse Bride. You can watch the trailer here. The style and tone are nearly identical to The Nightmare Before Christmas (which he wrote and produced but didn't direct). Voice cast includes Johnny Depp, Emily Watson, Helena Bonham Carter, Albert Finney, Richard E. Grant and Christopher Lee.
Monday, January 24, 2005
Norwegians Confused by Bush Salute
According to this AP story, Norwegians were shocked by this hand gesture made by President Bush during his inauguration. They interpreted it as a salute to Satan. It's the "Hook 'em, horns" salute of the University of Texas Longhorns. Pretty funny considering the apparent Texan sensitivity to Satanic imagery.
Wonder what the Norwegians would think of the one-fingered victory salute?
Wonder what the Norwegians would think of the one-fingered victory salute?
These bad things just blow in...
Which is more painful to watch: the Insecure Weatherman or the Confident Weatherman?
I feel bad for the first guy. It was like watching Albert Brooks' character read the news in Broadcast News. It made me cringe. Apparently it's from a public-access channel that broadcasts shows from a college Media Studies department.
The second guy was just so wired and out there. It's not surprising to learn that he was fired. This was after he had checked himself into a rehabilitation program for alcohol and substance abuse problems. (Via Metafilter)
I feel bad for the first guy. It was like watching Albert Brooks' character read the news in Broadcast News. It made me cringe. Apparently it's from a public-access channel that broadcasts shows from a college Media Studies department.
The second guy was just so wired and out there. It's not surprising to learn that he was fired. This was after he had checked himself into a rehabilitation program for alcohol and substance abuse problems. (Via Metafilter)
Natural Phenomena Named After Frank Zappa
According to this series of articles, Frank Zappa's name has been applied to natural phenomena from very small (a gene belonging to a bacterium) to very large (an asteroid). The spider, Pachygnatha zappa, really looks like him.
Bunnies
Update: looks like someone noticed that this was copyrighted material and removed it.
Sunday, January 23, 2005
RSS Feed changes
I've added a proper "published date" to the items in my RSS feeds. This should make RSS feed readers happier. There may be a short-term hiccup when the updated entries first appear. Let me know if you have any problems.
Update: Speaking of RSS feed readers... I use Bloglines but I'm interested in seeing how my feeds behave with other applications. I've tried FeedDemon, RSS Bandit, BlogBridge and BottomFeeder. Any other readers / aggregators that I should try? (Note: My feeds validate, I'm looking more for issues with content, timestamps, icons, etc.)
Update: Speaking of RSS feed readers... I use Bloglines but I'm interested in seeing how my feeds behave with other applications. I've tried FeedDemon, RSS Bandit, BlogBridge and BottomFeeder. Any other readers / aggregators that I should try? (Note: My feeds validate, I'm looking more for issues with content, timestamps, icons, etc.)
Blizzard 2005
The snow has pretty much stopped but it's still blowing around. There's more than two feet of fluffy snow on the ground in Arlington. The snow drifts are much higher than that. Two feet of snow is a lot to deal with. It's hard to figure out where to put it all. And then there's the wind. Blow the snow in the wrong direction and it just comes right back at you. And it's cold too — currently 9°. The notion that it's "too cold to snow" when the temperature drops below 20° or so is clearly bogus.
If you're reading this from a warmer and drier climate, check out these pictures on the Boston Globe website for a taste of what it was like here. Speaking of taste, the funny thing about a windy snowstorm like this is how much of the snow gets into the air as fine powder. It sometimes is a bit hard to breath if you inhale a bunch of it. Tastes like dust with a wintry tang.
If you're reading this from a warmer and drier climate, check out these pictures on the Boston Globe website for a taste of what it was like here. Speaking of taste, the funny thing about a windy snowstorm like this is how much of the snow gets into the air as fine powder. It sometimes is a bit hard to breath if you inhale a bunch of it. Tastes like dust with a wintry tang.
Goodnight Johnny
Johnny Carson has died of emphysema. He hosted the Tonight show for 30 years before retiring in 1992. He was such a constant presence on American television that it took years before people got used to the idea that he wasn't going to come back. I guess he didn't retire completely. I saw an article the other day that said that Carson still wrote jokes and occasionally sent them to David Letterman.
Compare your height to famous people
How does your height compare to famous people? It's interesting to note that quite a few popular actors are average height or below: Tom Cruise, Martin Sheen, Paul Newman, Mel Gibson, etc. You'd never know it from watching them on screen.
If you're looking for a cheap ego boost just make yourself nine feet tall. Remember, on the Internet nobody knows how tall you are. You'll even tower over Leonid Stadnyk, the world's tallest man. But be careful what you wish for. If you follow the last link, you'll see that Stadnyk has lived a pretty unhappy life.
If you're looking for a cheap ego boost just make yourself nine feet tall. Remember, on the Internet nobody knows how tall you are. You'll even tower over Leonid Stadnyk, the world's tallest man. But be careful what you wish for. If you follow the last link, you'll see that Stadnyk has lived a pretty unhappy life.
Saturday, January 22, 2005
Octal considered harmful
I agree with Nelson Minar that support for octal notation in contemporary programming languages is pretty silly and can be a source of bugs. Few programmers use octal anymore so why support C-style octal notation (leading zero indicates octal)? Backward compatibility? Even in C, octal was mostly used in low-level bit-twiddling. So it's pretty odd that a language like Javascript supports octal numbers. What's the point except to be a source of subtle errors?
Any mention of octal requires me to drag out an old Unix geek joke.
Q: Why do programmers confuse Halloween and Christmas?
A: Because Oct 31 == Dec 25
Need proof? See here.
Any mention of octal requires me to drag out an old Unix geek joke.
Q: Why do programmers confuse Halloween and Christmas?
A: Because Oct 31 == Dec 25
Need proof? See here.
Sideways
I saw Sideways last night. It's directed by Alexander Payne who also did About Schmidt and Election. This is a superior film. It's the story of two friends, Miles and Jack, who set off on a road-trip through California wine country for one week before Jack's wedding. They were college roommates, now reaching middle age. The cast is excellent: Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh. Giamatti is especially good as Miles, a complex, flawed and deeply troubled person. Definitely recommended.
Update: some interesting trivia about the cast from IMDB. Sandra Oh is married to director Alexander Payne. Virginia Madsen is the sister of actor Michael Madsen. Paul Giamatti is the son of the late Bart Giamatti, the major league baseball commissioner who suspended Pete Rose from baseball for life for gambling.
Update: some interesting trivia about the cast from IMDB. Sandra Oh is married to director Alexander Payne. Virginia Madsen is the sister of actor Michael Madsen. Paul Giamatti is the son of the late Bart Giamatti, the major league baseball commissioner who suspended Pete Rose from baseball for life for gambling.
Blizzard
We're getting up to two feet of snow tonight driven by 50 mph winds. A blizzard. We plan to stay home and dig out when the snow stops. So far the snow has been very fluffy so it shouldn't be too hard to manage. It may actually be fun as long as the power stays on. There's something wonderful about seeing the whole world blanketed by a thick pristine coat of fluffy snow.
Friday, January 21, 2005
PetsMobility
PetsMobility is a cellphone for your pet. It attaches to the pet's collar. By pet I think they really mean dog. I can't imagine anyone attaching this to a cat, turtle, goldfish, etc. So it's a cellphone for your dog. Just think of the uses:
- You can call your dog. Imagine the fun while your dog runs wildly around the house trying to figure out where the voice is coming from.
- Your dog can call you. The idea is that if someone finds your dog they can push a button on the device to call you — assuming that they would understand what the button is for.
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Wrong side of the road
Cameron Marlow talks about his experiences in Ireland adjusting to driving on the opposite side of the road. He realized that all of his memories of driving there had been reworked by his brain to driving American-style. As he says, it probably has something to do with how our brains store memories as extensions of things we already know.
In my own recollections of driving in England, I do find it difficult to see myself sitting in the right-hand driver's seat with the rear view mirror on my left. I can force it but if I just let the memories flow, I'm sitting on the wrong side of the car. I think my brain has trained itself to be disinterested in that aspect of driving. It's what you see ahead and beside you that's of interest and worth remembering.
Think for a moment about watching a movie or television show. Bring to mind a scene from a favorite movie, say the early scene of Jules and Vincent driving in the car in Pulp Fiction. Does your memory include the surrounding blackness of the movie theater or the room in which you watched the film in? Probably not, at least if you focus on the scene. Why bother storing extraneous information?
In my own recollections of driving in England, I do find it difficult to see myself sitting in the right-hand driver's seat with the rear view mirror on my left. I can force it but if I just let the memories flow, I'm sitting on the wrong side of the car. I think my brain has trained itself to be disinterested in that aspect of driving. It's what you see ahead and beside you that's of interest and worth remembering.
Think for a moment about watching a movie or television show. Bring to mind a scene from a favorite movie, say the early scene of Jules and Vincent driving in the car in Pulp Fiction. Does your memory include the surrounding blackness of the movie theater or the room in which you watched the film in? Probably not, at least if you focus on the scene. Why bother storing extraneous information?
One day I will wake up in Trenton
Another funny post on Maciej Cegłowski's blog Idle Words.
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Eclipse spell checker
Eclipse 3.0 includes a spell checker for comments. It's a good idea, especially if you're generating Javadoc. But Eclipse 3.0 does not include a dictionary. So if you enable spell checking, every word will appear to be misspelled. Huh? Oh, it's a bug.
I find it a little surprising that few people have noticed this. Then again, given the creative spelling I see in some Java source code maybe I shouldn't be that surprised.
In the meantime, you can work around the lack of a dictionary by supplying your own. Eclipse just expects the dictionary to be a list of newline separated words. I created a wordlist file by concatenating and sorting the wordlist files from the ISpell English Word Lists that can be found here. Now I've got the spell checker marking misspelled words but it doesn't offer corrections. I'm not sure if there's more to configure or if corrections aren't' implemented yet — yes, I could dig into the Eclipse spell checker code but what's the fun in that?
If anyone has more details or would like to try this out, add a comment to this post or drop me an email.
I find it a little surprising that few people have noticed this. Then again, given the creative spelling I see in some Java source code maybe I shouldn't be that surprised.
In the meantime, you can work around the lack of a dictionary by supplying your own. Eclipse just expects the dictionary to be a list of newline separated words. I created a wordlist file by concatenating and sorting the wordlist files from the ISpell English Word Lists that can be found here. Now I've got the spell checker marking misspelled words but it doesn't offer corrections. I'm not sure if there's more to configure or if corrections aren't' implemented yet — yes, I could dig into the Eclipse spell checker code but what's the fun in that?
If anyone has more details or would like to try this out, add a comment to this post or drop me an email.
Wolf prize
This news item caught my eye:
I'd heard about the Wolf prize last year in reference to Mathematics since there's no Nobel prize for Mathematics. According to this list, Stephen Hawkings and Benoit Mandelbrot were Wolf prize winners as well. I think I recognize a few other names on the list but I'm not well-versed on Physicists.
Congratulations to Professor Kleppner!
Daniel Kleppner is the father of a friend and ex-co-worker of mine, Paul Kleppner.The 2005 Wolf prize for physics has been awarded to Daniel Kleppner of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for "ground-breaking work in the atomic physics of hydrogenic systems, including research on the hydrogen maser, Rydberg atoms and Bose-Einstein condensation". The prize, awarded by the Wolf Foundation in Israel, is often thought to be the most prestigious prize in physics after the Nobel prize.
I'd heard about the Wolf prize last year in reference to Mathematics since there's no Nobel prize for Mathematics. According to this list, Stephen Hawkings and Benoit Mandelbrot were Wolf prize winners as well. I think I recognize a few other names on the list but I'm not well-versed on Physicists.
Congratulations to Professor Kleppner!
One does not simply walk into Mordor...
LOTR scene with Monty Pythonesque dialog. Funny. (Via Waxy.org)
Google interviews
Greg Wilson has a friend who recently interviewed at Google. Greg has posted some details on the experience. Could be useful information if you're thinking of interviewing there. It sounds grueling.
I haven't interviewed for a job in a long time but I remember that the interview process at some companies was pretty cool. Maybe I'm a little twisted but I liked being challenged during interviews. It seems more appropriate to me than someone asking me to enumerate my strengths and weaknesses. For example, I enjoyed my full day of interviews at Apple years ago even though I was exhausted by day's end. And the series of interviews I had with Lotus before I joined were fun. It made me want to work with these people. Fortunately, I was offered the job. For the record, my interview at Apple resulted in a job offer as well but I decided to stay in Boston — and just so noone gets the wrong idea, this was long, long ago, not recent.
I haven't interviewed for a job in a long time but I remember that the interview process at some companies was pretty cool. Maybe I'm a little twisted but I liked being challenged during interviews. It seems more appropriate to me than someone asking me to enumerate my strengths and weaknesses. For example, I enjoyed my full day of interviews at Apple years ago even though I was exhausted by day's end. And the series of interviews I had with Lotus before I joined were fun. It made me want to work with these people. Fortunately, I was offered the job. For the record, my interview at Apple resulted in a job offer as well but I decided to stay in Boston — and just so noone gets the wrong idea, this was long, long ago, not recent.
What kind of fool...
Someone, possibly Mark Twain, possibly not, once said:
By posting to a blog I'm completely ignoring this sound advice. And that brings me to iworkwithfools.com, a web site for people to anonymously rant about their coworkers. It's an interesting idea but many of the rants are poorly written and often incoherent. Maybe it's cathartic for the writers but who wants to read it? Given the nasty tone of a lot of the content, instead of being sympathetic, I think "this is definitely someone I would not want to work with". And I started to feel sorry for the people who they were ranting about. Not exactly what was intended. Very foolish.Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak aloud and remove all doubt.
I put a spell on you
I've been fiddling with the spell checker in Eclipse 3.0. I'll post about that later. When I wrote a post about Arctic cold, I had to do a mental spell check (Arctic) which isn't how the word is often pronounced. I'm not sure how the "silent c" pronunciation came about but it's very common in the US. From there, it's easy to misspell the word. To compound the problem, Coors sells a beer called Artic Ice — spelling and pronunciation are hard enough without more corrupting influences. Here's a good list of commonly misspelled English words and phrases. Some of the entries are a bit odd. I don't think I've ever heard anyone say "a blessing in the skies" or "doggy dog world".
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Goodnight noises everywhere
My younger son has been having trouble falling asleep this past week. His brain has just been too active. So I stay with him to help calm him into slumber. Yes, it's been said that I can put people to sleep; but now I'm able to put that talent to work
Anyway, it's interesting to see the transition to sleep up close. One moment awake, the next on the edge, the next asleep. It's fascinating and a little scary how we shut down to slumber for the night.
Anyway, it's interesting to see the transition to sleep up close. One moment awake, the next on the edge, the next asleep. It's fascinating and a little scary how we shut down to slumber for the night.
The Blog Shirt
The Blog t-shirt is pretty funny. The text at the bottom of the shirt says: The design is similar to a poster for the 1958 film The Blob.She wanted to stop reading it — but she had nothing better to do! Produced by average people who seem to think their lives are interesting. Filmed in thrilling HTML-O-Scope with exciting new fonts!
Did you know that there was a theme song for The Blob? It was written by Burt Bacharach complete with cheesy lyrics:
If you click on the link, there's a long instrumental part and then the lyrics kick in. Weird. (Via BoingBoing)Beware of the blob. It creeps and leaps and glides and slides across the floor right through the door and over on the wall. A splotch. A blotch. Be careful of the blob...