On the comp.lang.python newsgroup, Alex Martelli (author of Python in a Nutshell) weighs in on the Python/Ruby comparison question. More importantly, he diverges into an analogous discussion of the subtle differences between two forms of pasta: Don’t be misled by these comparisons into thinking the two languages are _very_ different, mind you. They aren’t. But [...]
Through the Wire
"Hey, I'm just happy to be here…"
August 18th, 2003
Issue Entrepreneurship
Phil Agre has recently posted an interesting essay about Vaclav Havel and Agre’s concept of “Issue Entrepreneurship”. Successful people, in my experience, engage in a great deal of issue entrepreneurship, repeatedly evolving their issues and expanding their networks as they go along. A well-chosen issue will identify what sociologists call a structural hole: a bunch [...]
August 13th, 2003
Minnesota Madness
Things like this make me splendidly happy: It’s surreal! It’s inflatable! It will change how you see the Twin Cities! IT’S THE B.U.G. — BIG URBAN GAME! SEPTEMBER 3 – 7, 2003, IN MINNEAPOLIS AND SAINT PAUL WHAT IS IT? A citywide game that turns the Twin Cities into a 108-square mile giant game board. [...]
August 11th, 2003
Will To Power
Joe in politricks
from “loophole executives” on Lawrence Lessig’s blog: It is a measure of this Enronera that neither our President nor over 200 candidates in this California recall election live up to the moral standards of even Richard Nixon. By whatever means, they will claim power. Share and Enjoy:
August 10th, 2003
Metadata Turing Test
Joe in Uncategorized
There’s been a fair amount of interesting commentary about metadata and such in the last few weeks. From Don Park’s post on Emergent Markup to Jon Udell’s posts on RDF and RSS to the release of O’Reilly’s Practical RDF with its companion website. Dare Obasanjo has just offered his “turing test” for a model that [...]
August 8th, 2003
This Modern World
megnut points to an “overheard” highlighting the possible perils of Friendster in a highly connected social circle. Share and Enjoy:
August 8th, 2003
Google Goggles
Spotted on the Google Weblog: the Random Personal Picture Finder. It basically generates a random filename using the one of the common naming conventions of a digital camera manufacturer, and then searches Google for images with that name. Reload the page to get a new set of images. There’s got to be either a great [...]
August 7th, 2003
Gore Throws Down
[W]hether you’re a Democrat or a Republican — or an Independent, a Libertarian, a Green or a Mugwump — you’ve got a big stake in making sure that Representative Democracy works the way it is supposed to. And today, it just isn’t working very well. We all need to figure out how to fix it [...]
August 6th, 2003
Powerbook Battery Unfixed
Well, despite my belief that I had found a fix to my disappearing battery problem, this morning when I woke the powerbook from sleep, the “x of doom” was back. I have this weird fix where I can pop out the battery and reseat it while I’m plugged in and get things to “hold” long [...]
August 5th, 2003
Powerbook Battery Fix
So, as I was leaving the office this afternoon to go to the Apple Store, Colin pointed out to me that he had seen a Macintouch article on powerbook batteries. I told him “but then I wouldn’t have an excuse to go to the Apple Store!” However, at the Apple Store, I didn’t get so [...]