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The Magpie Developer
Jeff Atwood is one of the best programmer/writers around. I love reading his stuff, some I agree wholeheartedly with, other stuff we disagree, but this post is about a dead-on as they come. This idea has been floating in my head for a long time, but it is hard for me to conceptualize it in words, Atwood does a brilliant job at it. Must read for any developer. |
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Andy Olmsted's Last Blog Entry.
(Warning: Pretty rough) No matter how you feel politically about the war, this reminds you that each number people throw around as statistics is a human life. This is extremely well written, and pretty rough on your soul towards the end, but something everyone should read. Its a shitty situation all around, but there is always a human face behind the statistics and I want to make sure I never forget that. |
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Drinking stories that put yours to shame
Via Keith
To preserve his body during the voyage home, the second-in-command stored Nelson's body in the ship's vat of rum and halted all liquor rations to the crew. Not a bad idea, but when the ship reached port, officials went to retrieve Nelson's body and found the vat dry.
Disregarding good taste (in every sense), the crew had been secretly drinking from it the entire way home. After that, naval rum was referred to as Nelson's Blood. |
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making vodka pills in 24 hours
Recently, Chef Fabian was experimenting further with the Adria/Torreblanca technique of making 'vodka pills.' I use this word to describe the process of making liquid-filled candies by pouring flavored alcohol syrups into cornstarch and letting it set until a hard outer shell forms. |
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Strategy Letter VI - joelonsoftware.com
As a programmer, thanks to plummeting memory prices, and CPU speeds doubling every year, you had a choice. You could spend six months rewriting your inner loops in Assembler, or take six months off to play drums in a rock and roll band, and in either case, your program would run faster. Assembler programmers don’t have groupies.
Entire Article is Dead On. A must read for anyone in the software biz. |
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(Thursday, May 26)
Lost (as I was at Episode 4)
Well I am a little disappointed at Lost tonight. It was not a bad episode, it just seems that nothing really progressed. I think that the writers were probably told to stretch this thing as far as they can (did you see how many commercials there were tonight?) and I personally think that they stretched it too far. Minus the Walt development (which was somewhat foreshadowed with Walt�s powers) there really was not much plot advancement. There was the whole episode subplot of Aaron (Clarie�s baby) and the French woman, and also Charlie stumbling back upon he Heroin (everyone knew that was coming) but other than Sawyer getting shot I really didn�t see that much plot or character development. This was the season finale, I understand If you still got to keep writing the thing and need to stretch the plot but please give us some kinda tidbits to chew on. This episode bordered on the thin line of intriguing and frustrating. Dear writers, don't stop creating questions just to delay giving the answers of others already asked.
Things discovered this episode:
a.) Jin had to deliver the watch or he was gonna catch shit (already understood)
b.) Michael didn�t think he could take care of Walt (new)
c.) Jack switching the packs because he digs Kate (ok kinda knew this)
d.) The security mechanism is underground and mechanical (I am still going with machine/alien theory)
e.) Locke thinks he knows the island too well, which could get him hurt someday (obvious)
f.) The weatherman blowing up (nice addition, thought was comical in a morbid way)
g.) Sawyer developing as a hero and not an ass (nice development, started to see last week)
h.) Walt and Hurley both didn�t want to open the hatch (both are harbingers of doom in outside island life, heavy foreshadowing)
i.) �Pirates� aboard the Black Rock and �Pirates� that take away Walt. They must have not been keeping a good eye out (extra planer powers) because unless Michael had fired the flare they would have left.
j.) �Pirates� had a newish looking gun and the smarts to make some maltov cocktails
Sorry if I seem a downer about this episode, I just expected more explanation. Even if you need to leave the season with a hanger I understand, but in all honesty the plot has not advanced in any manner whatsoever from last week minus Walt being taken. This episode kind of let me down after the �season finale� hype. It may be the reason I don�t buy the box set when it comes out. Just nothing new.
Update (5/26/2004 1:45 PM): Looks like some other people were also in the same boat as me. As a whole the series rocked. But the season finale was just fair.
Sweetdex's Opin
Kung Fu Monkey's Opin
Also for the Alias readers:
I was at the computer when my wife screamed bloody murder that she was just in a car with Michael Vaughn and there was a car accident and Michael had just told her he really wasn�t Michael. Oh the humanity. Do you think my wife might be too into this show? I swear she was upset about Michael the rest of teh night.
Also for American Idol Fans:
Rascal Fags and Bo singing �Sweet Home Alabama�, Why don�t you just get Gretchen Wilson up there to complete the �Psuedo-Redneck Clich� Ultimate Industry Created Suckage Trifecta�?
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Travis - The Boy With No Name
Travis is back. I wouldn't say I hated 12 memories, it was meant to be very political, I just thought it went a little overboard and was somewhat preachy. Then when the greatest hits CD came out to be honest I was really hoping it didn't mean the end to one of my favorite brit bands. Boy With No Name is everything they were capable of. Supurb CD all the way through. Every song is brilliant. Big Chair is probably my favorite song and the opening to the CD on 3 Times is as good as it gets in music imho. |
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Pop! Why Bubbles are Great For The Economys (Gross)
One of the better economic books I have read in while, where the author gets their premise across in a well written, clear and concise manner. Basically Gross believes that the infrastructure left over after economic bubbles, provides companies with the ability to move forward (maybe more than the original bubble did). Not a hard read, I would definitely suggest it for a day and the beach/lake. |
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Feist - The Reminder
I CANNOT GET "I feel it all" OUT OF MY HEAD. Period. Great album, angelic voice. |
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Catan - Xbox Live Arcade
I am hopelessly addicted to this board-turned-video game on the xbox360. I had never played the board game but had seen it being played in some comic shops growing up. Click the Pick and play the demo, it isn't the 360 interface, but same game. |
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Arctic Monkeys - Favorite Worse Nightmare
No Sophomore slump here. Just as good (if not better) than Whatever they Say. |
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Beautiful Evidence (Tufte)
Tufte reads like a text book, most people would say bleh, but the information about "information" that he can deliver is top notch. My first Tufte book was "A Visual Display To Quantitative Information" and it was extremely well done, albeit confusing at time. I think beautiful Evidence is a little easier of a read (I am still only half way through it) and a little easier for myself to understand the ideas he is presenting.. |
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Fountains of Wayne - Traffic and Weather
Fountains of Wayne are the Gods of pop music. If Welcome Interstate Managers was a collection of short stories in song form, then Traffic and Weather is an even better collection with more humor. I already feel like CNN has the hottest female anchors, imagining them throwing their lust around like the Title track to the CD makes it even better. |
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Game of Thrones (Martin)
I started this book assuming it was going to be a high fantasy novel. Elfs, Dragons, Magic and the like. It isn't. It IS fantasy but more surrounding the politics and cunning of a few high ranking families. Incest, Murder, Intrigue, unscrupulous midgets. It has it all and more. |
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Disclaimer
The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in anyway.
© Copyright 2003-2007, Eric Thompson |
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