This Is Not The Net You Thought You Knew | TechCrunch

This article focuses attention on the non-http aspects of the "web":

This Is Not The Net You Thought You Knew | TechCrunch

True, and interesting that he doesn't really even mention the annoying, failure prone, but highly popular flash websites.

I welcome additions and extensions to what we now know of as the web, but I am suspicious of "replacements".  Too many companies are eager to "lock-in" customers by creating closed (and often flawed/inferior) implementations.  The web is a lot of things, but the most critical is that it is genuinely decentralized.

MacGyver actor Richard Dean Anderson looks clueless as his car breaks down | Mail Online

Never break character!

MacGyver actor Richard Dean Anderson looks clueless as his car breaks down | Mail Online

More Info on the Mythbusters' cannon ball...

Seems like the MB gang are going mum about this:  Twitter Posts removed...

Also, there is this excellent graphic:

'Mythbusters' cannonball hits Dublin home, minivan

I love to watch Mythbusters.  I wondered when something would go quite wrong.  Well, it finally did.

'Mythbusters' cannonball hits Dublin home, minivan

My question is, will they put this on TV, or will they lawyer up, and shut up?

UPDATE:
A news video with pictures of the cannon ball hole in the house:
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2011/12/06/tv-experiment-goes-awry-sends-cannonball-rocketing-through-homes/

This actually works ...

Postgres syntax error with INSERT into TableFoo SELECT from TableFoo. - Stack Overflow

I'm stuck on this Postgres syntax issue. I've put my question out on StackOverflow

Postgres syntax error with INSERT into TableFoo SELECT from TableFoo. - Stack Overflow

Anyone have an ideas?

UPDATE:
Got an answer in less than 5 minutes.  The internet is absolutely amazing.

F-22 Squadron Shot Down by the International Date Line

This story demonstrates the extreme cost of software bugs:

F-22 Squadron Shot Down by the International Date Line

The quality of code is questionable if a date issue caused all systems to crash.

Andy Ruina explains how bicycles balance

This clip is interesting.  It demonstrates bicycle stability theory by constructing a bike that does not have any angular momentum, yet one that balances by itself when in motion.



Andy Ruina explains how bicycles balance - YouTube

Pre digital, the least flattering thing to say these days

Do you know that feeling going to the doctor; that feeling that your time is being wasted. Seth Godin does:

Pre digital

Also, the ridiculousness of filling out paper forms, in the same visit, with the same information, in my awful scrawl that is readable by no one.  I've personally failed to receive a medical phone call because of this.

I for one look forward to more "digital" medical care.  

This is not a headline from the Onion: New Windows promises setup in just 11 clicks

This is not a headline from the Onion:

Microsoft streamlining Windows 8 install process, promises setup in just 11 clicks -- Engadget

I find it amusing when a company's very best effort and marketing looks to me like a colossal failure.

I read a story, attributed to a MS employee, that the minimal remote control for a TV required 30-odd buttons; 0-9, on, left, right, up, down, volume up, volume down, mute ... etc up to 30-odd. That would be one way to approach the problem, but not one that I prefer. The Apple remote for the AppleTV has only 4 arrows and a select button and manages to perform all those functions and more.

xkcd: Wisdom of the Ancients

xkcd: Wisdom of the Ancients

Wow, just wow ...

I just had one of *those* moments with computers. You know, when you see them do something that you've never seen before, maybe never even imagined.

Some past examples:

Google

Quicktime VR

Google Earth

Here's one more

http://northstudio360.yb.nl/nimmobay/embed/YBPlayerLite.swf?c=config_embed

(be sure to click and drag in the movie).

[ Edit: This link seem to be broken at this time ... will try to find a good link ]

Can you restore your work?

Most people know that they should "backup".  And most folks have either a regular or irregularly timed set of backups.   You've probably heard (or maybe had your own) horror stories of the results of insufficient backup.

However, it's not "backup" that you need, it is *RESTORATION*.  Full, complete restoration of a running system.  In the business this is referred to as "disaster recovery" or "continuity of business".  I find that this is almost always sorely lacking in reality.

The way to know if you've can recover is to, well, do a restoration.  So try this out as a test:  go recover your work (or your running website) from 5 days ago, and from 25 days ago.  If this seems too difficult, for any reason, (common reasons might be: don't have extra machines, too much time, interferes with running website) then you actually have a problem.  Consider solving that problem today before you find yourself in a disaster scenario.

The Chevy Volt: the new Pinto?

The new Pinto?

Maybe, maybe not.  Certainly there is a lot of energy in the batteries of any electric/hybrid car, as well as a lot of energy in a tank of gas.  

The critical question is which form of energy storage is liable to release itself dangerously in a crash.  Seems like a good area of research.

Zynga To Employees: Surrender Pre-IPO Shares Or You're Fired - Slashdot

This strikes me as beyond slimy. Zynga To Employees: Surrender Pre-IPO Shares Or You're Fired - Slashdot

Disclosure: I don't have stock of any kind in my current gig. I have had in the past.

How's this for an analogy:

Evil Game Company: We decided to lower your salary; last year's salary to be specific. Write us a check for $50000. 

Employee: No, I don't agree to that. 

Evil Game Company: You are fired.

Seem about the same to me. Of course I understand that in legal terms there is a difference. In the real scenario, the $50000 grand is not vested, which means that its value is destroyed when the employee is fired.

Aside from the obvious nuclear bomb this has dropped on Zynga's employee attraction potential, I think this may be damaging to Z in another way. They may lose any current employees with a backbone.

EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM TEST FAILS

Funny, here is a lesson that programmers and others involved in making software products have learned long, long ago. The only way to know if your system works is to test it.

EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM TEST FAILS

And to test it under actual conditions.

I invest a significant chunk of my project time building and maintaining a build/deploy system that I use both for production instances of our product as well as test and development instances of our product. This assure us that production == development == test.

The best explanation of why the Moon appears larger on the horizon...

Comes from a comic?!   Lunar Erratum | Sci-ence! A Skeptical Comic and Blog.

Why does the Moon appear so large on the horizon?  Follow the link for the answer

xkcd: The General Problem

I'm not sure if this is funny to non-programmers ... but it sure demonstrates how we think.


xkcd: The General Problem

The End of an Era: Internet Explorer Drops Below 50 Percent of Web Usage

Worth of celebration.

The End of an Era: Internet Explorer Drops Below 50 Percent of Web Usage

Anyone that programs websites will appreciate this (as IE has created many headaches). Also, having a diversity of browsers is good for consumers. The competition results in better browsers, and provides alternatives when one browser has a bug or won't support certain websites.

Throwable Panoramic Ball Camera

Neat idea.  Wouldn't fit in your pocket very well ... seems like you could make an iphone app to capture pictures as it was tossed, spinning, in the air.  These could be reassembled into a panorama.

How Google's Self-Driving Car Works - IEEE Spectrum

Very interesting talk/demo of Google's self driving car.

    How Google's Self-Driving Car Works - IEEE Spectrum

Looks like this takes a lot of high data rate / high volume processing. The density of points in the laser scanner is impressive -- couple that with the fact that it is updated 3 times a second --- whew.

Things are funny when they have some truth in them...

Mojolicious 2.0 released: Perl real-time web framework

I'm looking forward to playing with this:

Mojolicious 2.0 released: Perl real-time web framework

I'm working in Mason right now, and I've worked with CGI::Application before.

RIP: Dennis Ritchie, 1941-2011: Computer scientist, Unix co-creator, C programming language designer

We've lost another architect and builder of the cathedrals of our age:

Dennis Ritchie, 1941-2011: Computer scientist, Unix co-creator, C programming language designer  story from  Boing Boing

I highly recommend the  K+R book on the C Programming Language

Eat your own dog food

This is worth a read

Stevey's Google Platforms Rant

A good algorithm looks like magic ...

Computers can still amaze.  Sometimes is just takes a new algorithm.  

Adobe demos the amazing unblur feature  -- from -- I Didn't Know That!


Observe the crowd reaction around the 1 minute mark in the youtube video.

Regexes Parse XML Just Fine, ( Sort of ...)

I love this:

... I (felt) like doing “impossible” things lately, ... The point of it is not to be a good solution, but rather the opposite: there is a certain joy in getting something to work in completely the wrong way.

The Big Mud Puddle: Regexes Parse XML Just Fine, Actually

I love that because sometimes the conventional wisdom is actually wrong. There is more wisdom in examining a proposition yourself to see what you come up with.

Where to get programming help and Reputation Systems

Perhaps the best place to get programming tips/help is
http://stackoverflow.com/.

What makes the site so effective, is its "moderation" or editting system.  This type of system, generically called a Reputaion system, is based on the user rating of the quality of the question or answer.  Higher ratings cause the content to bubble up.

I first became a fan of such a system on perlmonks.org, a site for perl questions.  The format really broke out when it was implemented with a beautiful UI on Digg.com for any type user submited content.

These systems quality can vary depending on the behavior of the community.  XKCD riffed on this.  I am fascinated that these system generally produce very high quality results, even when it is known that you can game these systems.  A good read on this topic is "The Wisdom of Crowds".

So long Steve. You were the very, very best of our generation. Thanks for making your vision of technology into reality for all of us. You will be missed.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. --- Steve Jobs

The Joel Test

Joel Spolsky "gets" software development. He writes an infrequently updated blog. However, his old posts are worth reading and worth re-reading.

For example:

The Joel Test: 12 Steps to Better Code - Joel on Software

is my personal litmus test of the suitability of a workplace.

I've also been trying out one of his products trello.com to self manage my work in an "agile" way. I like trello's very simplistic approach, which is very much like http://www.rememberthemilk.com/.

Not directly related ...

What work do you design into your code that is not directly related to the strict requirements?

I'll come back to a example with code, but first consider for a moment the hood to your car.  The lightest, cheapest design; the best for speed, fuel economy would have no mechanism to keep the hood up.  It would lack sprung hinges or an internal prop.  It would need an external prop of some kind. Yet, production cars do come with a built in mechanism to prop open the car hood.   In this case maintenance and ease of assembly was factored into the design.

An example of this in software is logging.  Software that is capable of logging usually needs a bit more code than is strictly needed to fulfill the requirements.  Nevertheless, I tend to think that logging is highly useful over the life of the code both for troubleshooting, maintenance and debugging.

Other things which I find are worth the extra effort:
* Automated tests
* Consistency checks
* Diagnostic displays
* Editable configurations
* Installation / Migration utilities

Thanks to Joe ...

Today I'm starting this blog, MusingCode, about my craft.   I program for a living, but it's more than just a living.  I've programmed since I was 14 years old because it was fascinating to me.  I going to share my day to day fascination on this blog.

Thanks to Joe Tavares for inspiring me to write about code.