03.05.07
Social Bookmarking Is Officially Too Social
This image is from here
Is it just me, or this getting a bit ridiculous. How many bookmarking sites do we need?
02.01.07
That’s not a hair question. I’m sorry.
I’m filing this technique away for my next project postmortem…
From http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/02/01/boston.bombscare/index.html
At a news conference after the hearing, Stevens and Berdovsky stepped to the microphones and said they were taking questions only about 1970s hairstyles.
When a reporter accused them of not taking the situation seriously, Stevens responded, “We’re taking it very seriously.” Asked another question about the case, Stevens reiterated they were answering questions only about hair and accused the reporter of not taking him and Berdovsky seriously.
Reporters did not relent and as they continued, Berdovsky disregarded their queries, saying, “That’s not a hair question. I’m sorry.”
11.30.06
Last one, I promise :)
Freedom is hammered out on the anvil of discussion, dissent, and debate.
Kisses honeyed by oblivion.
11.23.06
More Spam Poetry
Proove her that you love her forever!
because the Moon.
Abdikadir had tried on the smaller Eyes,
because the Moon.
I think there’s something in that for all of us.
11.17.06
Spam Shakespeare
Remember those old computer poetry programs that would generate random poems from a list of set phrases and words. They would mostly produce gibberish but every now and then spit out something that sounded profound.
It seems they’re now being used to try and beat Bayesian spam filters. I got an email with the following title just now:
“And be vilest men laid up, the Egyptians, and Joan “
Try saying it in your best Kenneth Branagh voice. Go on.
09.25.06
Imprecision
Reminder to self: Even the most mundane floating point operations can be inaccurate
irb(main):030:0> str = '$2.01'
=> "$2.01"
irb(main):031:0> str =~ /\$(\d+\.\d+)/
=> 0
irb(main):032:0> $1
=> "2.01"
irb(main):033:0> ($1.to_f * 1000).to_i
=> 2009
irb(main):034:0> (($1.to_f * 1000.0) + 0.5).floor
=> 2010
The Value of Experienced Developers
this link on reddit caught my eye. It’s about the value of experienced developers. I find myself in agreement with the sentiment for two reasons:
1: I’m an experienced developer. The idea that I am valuable is both pleasing and correct.
2: Here’s the difference between experienced developers and new ones: experienced developers don’t spin their wheels as much. The experienced developer will fix that weird link error or memory allocation bug right away instead of spending two days on it. Why? Because they’ve seen it before, they spent two days on exactly the same bug eight years ago.
There are amazing graduate developers, of course, but how are they to be detected in the hiring process?
06.20.06
World Cup Fever
Listening to the news on the radio on the way to work:
“Early this morning Japan won…”
WHAT???? (PANIC! )
“…a key vote on the resumption of commercial whaling at the International Whaling Commission…”
PHEW! Only whales. For a moment there I thought it might have been about something important, like the results of the Japan Croatia match* 
* Which, if you’re not following the Cup, has great bearing on whether Australia makes the second round.
