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Rock Star alter egos are growing in numbers
"You're forming a fake band -- that's what you do," says Sadri, calling the game "the best part of karaoke, adding in a drummer and guitars."
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.
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.
LSU scared of the prospect of some Moreno action?
Photos of Abandoned Swimming Pools
9 Things You Didn't Know About Rockband.
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.
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.
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.
Mystery illness strikes after meteorite hits Peruvian village




 
 
 
 


(Thursday, November 30)

In 20 years, would you have rather been the 2007 Heisman or the 2008 First Round Draft Pick? Only One.

Me and a bunch of good friends have an email list that we have had for about 4 or 5 years now that basically contains only posts about politics, tech, brew, religion, and ncaa football (The 5 Pillars). On Nov 13th I gave my prediction about how the rest of the ncaa season would go down:


Cyan the Swammiii says:

OSU beats Mich
USC beats ND
Ark beats Fla (look at SC/UGA games)
Ark gets in BCS Vs Mich
LSU will get a BCS invite also (sympathy for hurricane) and UF will be pissed they didnt get one.


It will be OSU Vs USC, OSU by 17

Smith get Heissman and Champ Game MVP, but will not get first pick, that will go to Calvin johnson (even though Tech loses to us)


Looks like the 5th list item is starting to happen:


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15969953/

I have a good feeling about Ark on Sat also. Have to wait and see.

As for CJ getting 1st round draft pick, I honestly think he will. Being a UGA grad I hate tech with a passion, but Calvin was a blast to watch last Saturday. Oliver did a hell of a job covering him, but I have never seen a receiver lay out for catches like that throw after throw (and yes, he might not have had to superman so much if Ball could have placed it better) but the guy gave 110% on every pass thrown to him Besides being a state rivalry, Tech had already secured the ACC Champ game, so I really wondered if he was going to play more conservatively to minimize the risk in him getting hurt. To be fair for someone 1st round draft bound every jump or tackle their parents hold their breath to make sure they get up and every piece is where it should be. One arm break could be worth a couple million dollars less on a contract negotiation. But Calvin gave it everything on every play. He was very impressive. I am just glad we had someone like Oliver with the skill to cover him (with the help some great free safety playing).

Also everyone is saying Peach vs VT for the dawgs. That would be nice. We usually don't go to bowl games, but peach is so close I don't know why we would not.


Brainstorm it:

You make a fool's pick with the CJ Johnson for first pick of the draft. You have no idea what team will get the first selection, which is the most important thing in making the prediction.

This matters for several reasons.

First, if the team doesnt need recievers then they will draft at another position.

Second, if the team is picking first it is because it is terrible. So even if they need receivers, their front office has a good chance of blowing it and talking themselves into something else. See Reggie Bush last year.

Third, the team might take someone with the intent of trading them to another team that really wants that player. See Eli Manning.

But, I am all for making crazy irresponsible predictions.
# posted by Justin : 12/01/2006 12:13:00 PM

I akm still sayign CJ is the first pick regardless, people will trade up for him and/or sign him as bait for a trade.

Regardless USC/FL games destroyed these predictions this weekend.
# posted by cyan : 12/03/2006 07:56:00 PM

How much do you think Johnson hates Reggie Ball? If Johnson isnt picked in the top 5, isnt that the fault of Ball? How much money do you think Ball's crappiness could end up costing CJ? 1 million? 2 million?

Arkansas never had a shot against Florida. They were the quintessential team that got hot at the right moment, had a few lucky breaks, and fell into the SEC title game. By the way, did you notice that UF has the hardest schedule in college football? I think they have a pretty decent shot at beating Ohio State.
# posted by Justin : 12/04/2006 11:25:00 AM
 Your Thoughts?











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.
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.
Feist - The Reminder
 I CANNOT GET "I feel it all" OUT OF MY HEAD. Period. Great album, angelic voice.
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.
Arctic Monkeys - Favorite Worse Nightmare
 No Sophomore slump here. Just as good (if not better) than Whatever they Say.
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..
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.
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.

 
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