August 2007
Friday, 31 August 2007
The Laptop Herring
Rands In Repose: “A bunch of people sitting in a meeting, staring at their laptops, is a fat meeting. The people sitting at their laptops have no incentive to change a thing because they’re lost in whatever has captured their interest on their laptops. This is a lazy meeting full of people who are ignoring the most important question: ‘How do we figure out how to never have this meeting again?’”
Tuesday, 28 August 2007
North-West Passage is now plain sailing
North-West Passage is now plain sailing
Friday, 24 August 2007
Astronomers Puzzled by Massive Blank Spot in Universe
Astronomers Puzzled by Massive Blank Spot in Universe: “This is incredibly important for something where there is nothing to it.”
Thursday, 23 August 2007
The Rock and Why Its Bad for Your Mind
The Rock and Why Its Bad for Your Mind: “They are not thinking concurrently, only thinking about what to mark as atomic. This is still sequential programming. People using SQL have been thinking this way for years and I’d hardly call it concurrency-oriented. Raise your hand if you’ve worked on a project where someone kills database performance with some poorly-written transactions. All hands up?”
Wells Fargo Gorges on Mark-to-Make-Believe Gains
Wells Fargo Gorges on Mark-to-Make-Believe Gains: “Under Statement 157, this means fair value is measured using ``unobservable inputs.” While companies can’t actually see the changes in the fair values of their assets and liabilities, they’re allowed to book them through earnings anyway, based on their own subjective assumptions.“ – "First, we assert a pony.”
Sunday, 19 August 2007
Message in a Bottle
Message in a Bottle: “Each water bottler has its own version of this oxymoron: that something as pure and clean as water leaves a contrail.”
Thursday, 9 August 2007
Report: Iran Less Than 10 Years Away From 2016
Report: Iran Less Than 10 Years Away From 2016: “The report recommended that the U.S. engage in bellicose international posturing, careless brinksmanship, and an eventual overwhelming series of nuclear strikes in order to prevent Iran from reaching this milestone.”
Free software darling SugarCRM blasts OSI
Free software darling SugarCRM blasts OSI: “Roberts continues to question why the OSI gets to be the arbiter of all things open source – a query made stronger by the chaos often displayed by the organization and the fact that the board members are not elected but rather tapped to lead during a bizarre hazing ritual performed at midnight in the San Diego Zoo’s penguin display.”
Tuesday, 7 August 2007
Creative thinking hacks
Creative thinking hacks: “These popular tales of creativity and discovery are deceptive at best, wild lies at worst, shaped to placate the masses, not to inform creative people on their craft. Tear it all down, throw a dozen napalm coated hand grenades in for good measure, and watch your old, broken down view of creativity go up in flames. Dance over the smoldering ruins! Roast marshmallows on the still warm remains of your creative fulminations!”
Friday, 3 August 2007
Of Cosmic Rays and Dangerous Days
Of Cosmic Rays and Dangerous Days: “the radiation consists of particles called muons, which are so powerful they can penetrate about 2.5 kilometers of sea water or 900 meters of rock”
Game Over
Game Over: The U.S. is unlikely to ever regain its broadband leadership: “It is very doubtful, almost impossible, that we’ll catch up to those countries ahead of us in broadband penetration. They are too far ahead and our native demand is simply less because our Internet economies are developing more slowly. Absent some miracle, the game is already over.”
Thursday, 2 August 2007
100MM Nokia Phones in Q2
100MM Nokia Phones in Q2: “So much hype and buzz for Apple, yet Nokia is still able to sell a phone that is $150 more expensive without breaking a sweat.”
Wednesday, 1 August 2007
Chocoholic squirrel steals treats from Finnish shop
Chocoholic squirrel steals treats from Finnish shop: I had to put myself on Kinder Surprise restriction.