Friday, May 9. 2008
Que Orgulloso Estoy Posted by The Mad Giggler
in Personal Entry at
12:18Comments (3) Trackbacks (0) Que Orgulloso EstoyMy little twins are all grown up! Thursday, May 8. 2008
Explain This to Me Posted by Ancient of Days
in Gathering Darkness at
17:35Comments (16) Trackbacks (0) Explain This to Me
I was reading this blog post earlier today, which suggests that if you've been laid off, the first thing you
should do is book a one-way trip to Bangkok. Coupled with Bruce Webster's (BTW, how the heck does that guy manage to
maintain three seperate blogs?!) recent blog posting
about why Johnny is a
better programmer than I am, and a recent promotion at work where employees who achieved certain goals were rewarded
with GPS devices, I find myself (not for the first time) completely mystified as to what is going on in the mind of
normal people most of the time...
Maybe I'd better explain that last one. There were actually a number of options, including iPods and digital cameras, but the GPS was by far the most popular choice. I was confused by this interest in what seems to me a completely useless piece of hardware, so I asked a few people why they chose a GPS. Invariably, they responded to the effect that they plan to use it next time they travel - and a majority of responses indicated an intent to travel outside the US. With my trip to php|tek in Chicago on the horizon, I'm already starting to panic. I'll be in a strange city, where I don't know a single person, let alone know how to get from place to place or even where I should eat. What's the draw? Isn't there enough to do here - at home, or in your current job - to keep you interested and busy? I mean, I've already given you 16 books that should keep you sheltered in your bedroom for at LEAST a year, if you don't have enough to do at work...can someone explain this to me? Do you actually think it's going to be any better anywhere else? Am I the only one that realizes it's all pretty much crap no matter where you go, where you live, where you work....? Thursday, May 8. 2008
08: To Please our Robot Overlords Posted by Ancient of Days
in Month of Free (Online) Books at
09:03Comment (1) Trackbacks (0) 08: To Please our Robot Overlords
Did I say "Overlords"? I meant Protectors.
Information Theory, Inference, and Learning Algorithms, one of the texts you'll need if you want to take the Utah State University "Open CourseWare" course ECE7680 - Information Theory. Thicker than Blood which includes, starting on page 4, a ChangeLog of the revisions the book has gone through, starting with version 0.21...I wonder what happened to the revision notes prior to that. 
Wednesday, May 7. 2008
Day 07: Paranoia Posted by Ancient of Days
in Month of Free (Online) Books at
17:42Comments (0) Trackbacks (0) Day 07: Paranoia
Intrusion Detection with SNORT:
Advanced IDS Techniques Using SNORT, Apache, MySQL, PHP, and ACID, part of the Bruce Perens' Open Source Series.
Also, the fine folks at Project Gutenberg bring us Moby Dick. Wednesday, May 7. 2008We're back
Well, we survived our trip to the dangerous foreign land of TJ. I've posted the pictures that I took in the gallery,
but Daboo's brother has a lot more as well as some videos I'm hoping to post soon. For those who've forgotten, you can
get to the pictures by clicking here.
Also, Wren kept turning her head when I tried to get pictures of her at the wedding, so I have a gallery of my many failed attempts. Tuesday, May 6. 2008
Day 06: Not Feeling Quippy Today Posted by Ancient of Days
in Month of Free (Online) Books at
12:20Comments (0) Trackbacks (0) Day 06: Not Feeling Quippy Today
Yeah, I've got nothing clever for you today.
Data Structures and Algorithms with Object-Oriented Design Patterns is an interesting book - if you look at the left-hand side, you'll notice that the author is attempting to adapt the body of the text to multiple programming languages, including such surprising choices as Lua, Perl, and PHP. On the fiction front, we have John Sundman's novel, "Acts of the Apostles", described as a "techno-thriller novel". Tuesday, May 6. 2008Dr. Horrible Update
So in an Interview with Felicia Day (V in Buffy, and A castmember of Dr. Horrible) she mentioned that Joss wanted to
release Dr. Horrible by Comic-Con Which is July 24-27.
Monday, May 5. 2008
Day 05: In a Hurry Posted by Ancient of Days
in Month of Free (Online) Books at
13:39Comments (3) Trackbacks (0) Day 05: In a Hurry
I'm still in the middle of upgrading some stuff on the server (sorry for the outage, BTW), so no fanfare today, just the
links:
Graphics Programming Black Book by Michael Abrash 1632 by Eric Flint - I don't normally go in for "historical fiction", especially not this sort, but I REALLY enjoyed this book (as well as the others in the series, which you can expect to find in future posts) Monday, May 5. 2008
Day 04: Sunday Special! Posted by Ancient of Days
in Month of Free (Online) Books at
01:02Comment (1) Trackbacks (0) Day 04: Sunday Special!
Eric Raymond's The
Cathedral and the Bazaar was a VERY key book in the formation of my interest in programming in
general, and open source in specific...but the theory expressed there wouldn't have gotten me very far if it hadn't been
for the implementation, in the form of the Debian Linux
distribution, and the excellent book Learning Debian GNU/Linux.
And what's so special about Sunday, you ask? I addition to the books of the day, Sundays will feature a link to one of a series of videos published by C-SPAN, in association with the US Library of Congress' John W. Kluge Center, on "The Library in the Digital Context". The first lecture features David Weinberger, one of the best known experts on "blogging" and coauthor of the bestselling book, "The Cluetrain Manifesto". Saturday, May 3. 2008
Day 03: O'Reilly and Associates, Part I Posted by Ancient of Days
in Month of Free (Online) Books at
09:00Comments (0) Trackbacks (0) Day 03: O'Reilly and Associates, Part I
I just realized that I should have been more clear in the initial post - "recreational" is defined as books
I would read recreationally
Such as the excellent book from O'Reilly and Associates titled Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution Personally, I was sad to see ORA's series on X11 go out of print, as there's still a lot to be said for the X11 framework/protocol, even though most people want to target Qt or the GNOME libraries instead. So I was happy to see they put them out under an "open book" license. You can find volume one of this collection on archive.org. Friday, May 2. 2008
Day 02: Down and Out in the Magic ... Posted by Ancient of Days
in Month of Free (Online) Books at
05:00Comment (1) Trackbacks (0) Day 02: Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom / Programming from the Ground Up
[Ed: Typo'd Cory's last name - thanks, Johnny]
My very first experience with the writings of Cory Doctorow came from his book Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. And, as long as we're on "firsts", how about Programming from the Ground Up, a book on writing assembly for Linux? Thursday, May 1. 2008
New Category, and an Experiment Posted by Ancient of Days
in Month of Free (Online) Books at
15:28Comments (0) Trackbacks (0) New Category, and an Experiment
My goal is to post a new article every day for the entire month of May linking to at least two books that can be read
for free online - one technical, one recreational.
For the initial post, I've chosen two that everyone should read: Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (colloquially known as "the SICP") and the latest (2007) draft of Autonomy: Freedom of Thought, which is a bit rough in places but has some fun ideas Thursday, May 1. 2008
Adobe Opens Flash Posted by Ancient of Days
in Gathering Darkness at
11:46Comments (0) Trackbacks (0) Adobe Opens Flash
They've removed all licensing restrictions from the SWF format specs, as well as
FLV (the video format
that more-or-less created YouTube).
"Over 75% of broadcasters who stream video on the web use the FLV/F4V formats." This might mean we finally get a decent open-source implementation, probably from the Gnash team. Monday, April 28. 2008
I'm not sure if I should be insulted ... Posted by Ancient of Days
in Gathering Darkness at
21:27Comments (5) Trackbacks (0) I'm not sure if I should be insulted or flattered
During a discussion regarding "Personal Information Managers", wherein I tried to understand how they differ from "Email
client", the following was delivered at the end of a long string of argumentative metaphors:
< TML> For example, I've already had ElizabethN give one concrete thing I will look around for: due dates. < spoon> dont bother < spoon> you wont like a pim < spoon> they go against your moral inner fiber < spoon> they do everything you stand against < spoon> they are counter productive for you < TML> spoon: What makes you say that? < spoon> you just seem like that type of person < TML> I don't have any kind of "moral stand" regarding PIMs. < spoon> im making a character judgement < spoon> because you rock at being annoying argumentative and giving good responses < spoon> you know how to debate < spoon> and it makes me dislike you becuase i cant Hmm.... Sunday, April 27. 2008Crap Happens
I hadn't seen this joke in a while, but came across it again when I was reading on Raganwald about "Green Shift". Anyway, that's just a lead-up to the following joke:
In the beginning was the Plan. And then came the Assumptions. And the Assumptions were without form. And the Plan was without substance. And darkness was upon the face of the Workers. And they spoke among themselves, saying, "It is a crock of crap, and it stinkith" And the Workers went unto their Supervisors and said, "It is a pail of dung, and we cannot abide the smell." And the Supervisors went unto their Managers, saying "It is a container of excrement, and it is very strong, such that none may abide by it." And the Managers went unto their Directors, saying, "It is a vessel of fertilizer and none may abide its strength." And the Directors spoke among themselves, saying to one another, "It contains that which aids plant growth, and it is very strong." And the Directors went to the Vice Presidents, saying unto them, "It promotes growth, and it is very powerful." And the Vice Presidents went to the President, saying unto him, "This new plan will actively promote the growth and vigor of the company with powerful effects" And the President looked upon the Plan and saw that it was good. And the Plan became Policy. And that, my friends, is how crap happens. |
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Comments
Fri, 09.05.2008 14:10
Radar asked for a translation, so I'll do my best: Hahaha , how funny, thanks for postin g it. It has a very cle [...]Comments ()
Fri, 09.05.2008 12:50
jajaaj que chistoso, gracias p or ponerlo, se oye y se ve bie n clarito y dice bere que nos vemos gordas!!! pero yo [...]Comments ()
Fri, 09.05.2008 12:39
YEA!!! Cute Mexican girls sin ging!! That's one thing that I have always said this blog l acks. It's about time s [...]Comments ()
Fri, 09.05.2008 12:33
The problem is with increments . For me after I read the thi rd post in a row about books I would most likely never [...]Comments ()
Fri, 09.05.2008 11:02
"variety is the spice of life" This, here, is the part th at gives me the most trouble - it's completely foreign [...]Comments ()
Fri, 09.05.2008 10:59
That's a pretty good encapsula tion of the matter. I do find my work challenging, and I get more respect from [...]Comments ()
Fri, 09.05.2008 09:51
That sound just like the power hungry dictator that you are. Well, I'll have you know tha t my character is immune [...]Comments ()
Fri, 09.05.2008 09:47
I already wrote it. A boulder is going to fall on your char acter in the first five minute s and put an end to his [...]Comments ()
Fri, 09.05.2008 09:46
Don't you have a campaign to w rite?Comments ()
Fri, 09.05.2008 09:40
I've been told that I should r ead The Cathedral and the Baza ar for some time, and now that I've started browsing t [...]Comments ()
Fri, 09.05.2008 09:39
On a less accusatory note. . . 1) AoD, variety is the sp ice of life. Just as you don' t understand some people [...]Comments ()
Fri, 09.05.2008 09:33
Here, here!! Well said Johnny .Comments ()
Fri, 09.05.2008 09:32
Communist pinko.Comments ()
Fri, 09.05.2008 09:01
I think that there are many di fferent reasons why people wor k. I think that the reason th at I skip around to many [...]Comments ()
Fri, 09.05.2008 08:59
The West Wing is for people wh o don't understand the value o f travel.Comments ()