Monday, April 30, 2007
Lotus Museum
The Lotus Museum, a website dedicated to Lotus Development Corporation, has "opened its doors" today. The museum is being launched in conjunction with the celebration of the 25th anniversary of Lotus. So far the museum contains a collection of images of Lotus-related swag and odd items such as an old phone list from the Houdini team. I guess these might interest some people but I'd prefer a collection of anecdotes about Lotus in the early days, something along the lines of Andy Herzfeld's folklore.org. (Via Art)
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
1900 Predictions
In December 1900, Ladies Home Journal published an article by John Elfreth Watkins, Jr, What May Happen in the Next Hundred Years. It includes 29 predictions of what might happen by the year 2000. Mr. Watkins had a strange obsession with large produce — "Peas as Large as Beets", "Strawberries as Large as Apples", "Roses will be as large as cabbage heads" but otherwise interesting reading. Although some of the details are off and the technical descriptions are archaic, a lot of these predictions are prescient.
Sopranos trivia
Test your Sopranos trivia knowledge. I got 9 out of 14. By the way, I don't hear or see a lot of buzz about the current (and last) Sopranos season that started a few weeks ago. We've been watching. Anyone else?
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Twenty years? D'oh!
Twenty years ago today, The Tracey Ullman Show aired a two-minute animated short by Matt Groening that introduced the world to the Simpsons: Homer, Marge and their spiky-haired children, Bart, Lisa and Maggie.
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Pearls Before Breakfast
Terrific article in the Washington Post, Pearls Before Breakfast. It describes what happens when violin virtuoso Joshua Bell, dressed as a street musician, plays his Stradivari in a crowded Metro station during rush hour.
Friday, April 06, 2007
Flixster
I recently got an invitation for Flixster, a site for sharing movie reviews with friends. The look is a bit too MySpace for me but comparing reviews is fun.
The one thing I don't like about Flixster is their mechanism for inviting friends. They offer to access your Hotmail, Yahoo, GMail or AOL address book to send out invitations. Of course to do this, they need your Hotmail, Yahoo, etc. email address and password. Their disclaimer indicates that they don't store this information but I wasn't willing to do this. Hey, we just met and you want direct access to my email accounts? Nope. Fortunately, you can send out Flixster invitations yourself.
The one thing I don't like about Flixster is their mechanism for inviting friends. They offer to access your Hotmail, Yahoo, GMail or AOL address book to send out invitations. Of course to do this, they need your Hotmail, Yahoo, etc. email address and password. Their disclaimer indicates that they don't store this information but I wasn't willing to do this. Hey, we just met and you want direct access to my email accounts? Nope. Fortunately, you can send out Flixster invitations yourself.
Refuctoring
Refuctoring is the process of taking a well designed piece of code and, through a series of small, reversible changes, making it completely unmaintainable by anybody except yourself.
I've read through a lot of Java code that uses Refuctoring pattern #2: The Treasure Hunt. I've also heard this referred to as the Baroque pattern, destroying simplicity and clarity of code. (Via reddit)
I've read through a lot of Java code that uses Refuctoring pattern #2: The Treasure Hunt. I've also heard this referred to as the Baroque pattern, destroying simplicity and clarity of code. (Via reddit)
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
The Empire's Worst Engineer
A look at the Inbox of Nardo Pace, The Empire's Worst Engineer. Funny stuff. It reminds me of an old post on McSweeney's: On The Implausibility of the Death Star's Trash Compactor.
Monday, April 02, 2007
Live Free or Die
Live Free or Die has been New Hampshire's state motto since 1945 and the slogan on the state's license plates since 1971.
New Hampshire's motto sounds more like a stern commandment rather than a statement of freedom: Be Free Dammit or We'll Kill You. And it's certainly not mellow like the previous license plate slogan: Scenic.
Note: fake plates were made using ACME License Maker where you can "Pretend you're in prison and make a license!"
New Hampshire's motto sounds more like a stern commandment rather than a statement of freedom: Be Free Dammit or We'll Kill You. And it's certainly not mellow like the previous license plate slogan: Scenic.
Note: fake plates were made using ACME License Maker where you can "Pretend you're in prison and make a license!"
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