Archive for March, 2010

Only newbies say n00b

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

When I was new to the Internet (back in the 80s) the term for someone who was new as I was was “newbie.” Recently I was told that the current term was “N00b” with zeros for ohs. Yeah, sure, what ever. I still think that n00b is a term that identifies the person using it as a late comer to the Internet. That’s my story and I’m sticking with it.

But I repeat myself

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

One of the things I worry about is that I think the same thing a second time and write a new blog post about it. It happened again today. Fortunately since I used exactly the same blog title the blog site would not let me post it. You can’t have two posts with the same permalink. Saved by technology. So I added a note to the beginning and posted the second post in a different blog. I had to get things off my chest and in semi public. Semi because not a lot of people read my blogs especially the second one I posted at. And public because of course search engines bring people from everywhere to just about any thing. Doing that is part of the release the attraction the value of blogging for me.

In case you are interested the posts are In the land of the blind at my computer science teacher blog and In the land of the blind revisited at my Live Spaces blog. They are similar – same topic, some same examples – but a little different. Enough different for two posts in the same blog? I thought not but maybe it would have been ok. This blogging stuff can be hard. Especially since I have written a lot of blog posts by now. Sigh.

10 things likely to be overheard from a Klingon Programmer

Thursday, March 4th, 2010

I have no idea where this came from originally but it showed up on a mailing list I am on this morning.

  1. Specifications are for the weak and timid!
  2. You question the worthiness of my code? I should kill you where you stand!
  3. Indentation?! – I will show you how to indent when I indent your skull!
  4. What is this talk of ‘release’? Klingons do not make software ‘releases’. Our software ‘escapes’ leaving a bloody trail of designers and quality assurance people in its wake.
  5. Klingon function calls do not have ‘parameters’ – they have ‘arguments’ – and they ALWAYS WIN THEM.
  6. Debugging? Klingons do not debug. Our software does not coddle the weak.
  7. A TRUE Klingon Warrior does not comment on his code!
  8. Klingon software does NOT have BUGS. It has FEATURES, and those features are too sophisticated for a Romulan pig like you to understand.
  9. You cannot truly appreciate Dilbert unless you’ve read it in the original Klingon.
  10. Our users will know fear and cower before our software! Ship it! Ship it and let them flee like the dogs they are!

Anchovies

Monday, March 1st, 2010

So I grew up without anchovies. I mean they just never came up. The only reason I knew they existed was because you’d hear someone on TV yell out that they didn’t want anchovies on their pizza. Where I grew up, when I was growing up, pizza was pretty much either plain on pepperoni so anchovies didn’t even come up in real life. So I was left with wondering what is is with anchovies?

Well about a year ago I was at a nice restaurant and ordered a Caesar Salad (which is not Italian food BTW It was invented in Mexico) and it came with anchovies on top. now I had had it with cheese and croutons before but this was a first. So of course being far from home (Canada – It’s like a different country 🙂 ) I tried it. Oh boy did I like them. So I found that I ordered them with salads a couple more times over the next year. Good stuff.

Then I made the big mistake. I bought some in the supermarket. Why is that a mistake? Well I have more trouble stopping eating them once I start than even potato chips. And all that salt can’t be good for you. I figure that it there was a fish version of bacon it would be anchovies.

So I’m going to try to control myself on the end of buying the tins. Maybe I’ll look for a recipe that calls for them so I can add them in small controlled doses. See what trying new foods can do to you? It expands your horizons.