Thought

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I've been thinking...

You know what really bothers me about being a programmer? The root reason of why I don't like coming to work? Sure, over the years there's many reasons; Windows is a pain, there's uninformed management, there's poor business choices, there's aggressive politics, there's the guy behind me talking to himself (well, that one doesn't really fit into what I'm about to say), there's all sorts of crap.

But it all boils down to one thing - it's pretentious.

This must be what it's like being in a successful pop band. Who cares about the curly brace being on what line! Who cares if I instantiate an object and pass it a message, or if I encapsulate the data directly in a helper class! IT DOESN'T MATTER. Why do I have to spend any time at all explaining why I thought using OpenMQ though JMS in an EJB in an SA was a better solution than accessing the NMB with a custom SE?

I think this is also why people get so crushed if their company goes under, for example Meriam's stories about the Sequent employee reactions to IBM. It's like people's lives are revolving around how company-logo golf shirts there are, like that's a measure of success...

Look at this place! Crapy furniture, breaking after a year, white office, metal framed walls, institutional carpet... This is worthless! Who do we think we are?

But lookit how cool the screen saver is on my all black PC!

It's always some sort of principle! That's why people insist on MSFT solutions, even when they don't work. That's why people build some giant expert system when the user needs trivial order-entry. That's why they are huge ETL package just to get data into a table.

In our wildest, most optimistic dreams, lines of code I type today will be erased within 5 years. Who do programmers think they are? We're building things no one will care about beyond its GUI, and then not for very long. If we're lucky, very lucky

This isn't rocket science. This isn't great history. We're not designing bridges, mush less Eiffel Towers, much, much less great pyramids.

POJO or stateful EJB? Grunge or "big hair"? Blah...

Lunch!

Here's a web page good for anyone trying to stick to a diet...

http://www.culinaryschools.org/cuisine/10-disgusting-delicacies/

"Casu Marzu, a pecorino cheese and Sardinian specialty, surely wins among most disgusting cheeses of the world. The direct translation is 'rotten cheese' and rightly so: blocks of otherwise beautiful Italian pecorino cheeses are purposely prepared to become the natural breeding grounds for nests of maggots - the natural harbingers of rot and putrefaction. As if pecorino wasn't pungent enough.

...

"Oh, and the worms jump off the cheese while you're eating it. Mange!"

Yum, Mongolian Boodog!

Bakery

http://shapeandcolour.wordpress.com/2008/05/15/kittiwat-unarrom-body-bakery/

"...brutally, gruesomely, almost unbelievably realistic looking sculptures of dismembered human body parts sculpted entirely from bread.

...

"Inspired and informed by anatomy book and visits to forensic museums, he makes sure that none of your various body part bread desires go unfulfilled: he also makes feet, hands, and internal organs which come displayed impaled on hooks. Made from dough, raisins, cashew nuts, and chocolate, all of the works on display are totally edible."

And So On

Add another crackpot to the list:

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/02/23/sanford-prayers/

"Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC) has given some indication that he will not accept some of the money slated for South Carolina"

But this is hilarious!

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/sasha_obama_keeps_seeing_creepy

According to White House security documents, Sasha told Secret Service agents that the ghostly twins spoke to her in unison and repeatedly beckoned her by chanting the phrases "come play with us," "come play with us, forever," and "Daddy's making fajitas."

Pac

Image by Crashworks via Flickr

http://home.comcast.net/~jpittman2/pacman/pacmandossier.html

The internet used for evil: way, way too much information about PacMan.

With Bunnies

http://www.angryalien.com/aa/nocountryforoldmenbuns.asp

No Country for Old Men in 30 seconds, re-enacted by bunnies.
Awesome.

"It's hard, but slowly I'm getting back to hating everyone"

Ice Cream

Har!

http://politicalhumor.about.com/b/2009/02/14/ben-jerrys-ice-cream-flavors-for-bush.htm

"Good Riddance You Lousy Motherf**ker... Swirl"

It's a Wonderful Life

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29234389/

"For three years, neighbors in a quaint, middle-class community scarcely saw the lanky 16-year-old boy who lived with his adoptive mother and her boyfriend.

"Now, they know why: According to authorities, the teen was brutally abused and held captive in his own home. Most recently, he'd been confined to a bathroom, locked from the outside and sealed with a piece of plywood over the window."

This is what people are like. It just is.

Dead Teenage Girl, Army Base?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29232438/

"A 16-year-old girl was found dead and another teenage girl was discovered unconscious in a barracks on this Army base south of Tacoma, the Army said Monday.

...

"The presence of the two civilian girls "in the barracks at 3:30 a.m. is likely a violation of any of the units' barracks visitation policies," he said."

Really... Well that's reassuring.

What FDR Said

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http://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/speeches/detail/3307

"For nearly four years you have had an Administration which instead of twirling its thumbs has rolled up its sleeves. We will keep our sleeves rolled up.

"We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace - business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering.

"They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.

"Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me - and I welcome their hatred.

"I should like to have it said of my first Administration that in it the forces of selfishness and of lust for power met their match. I should like to have it said of my second Administration that in it these forces met their master."

-- Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1936

Karl Rove: Insane?

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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123440382396475547.html

Karl Rove in the Wall Street Journal:

"Over the past month, House Republicans have used the stimulus bill to redefine their party, present ideas on how to revive the economy, and force congressional Democrats and the president to take ownership of the spending programs soon to be signed into law."

Wierd...
And it gets even stranger!

"House Republicans had the wisdom to continue to talk to the Obama White House. This made them look gracious, even as the president edged toward a "my way or the highway" attitude."

What planet did this happen on?

Tax

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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/opinion/06hastings.html

"I'm the chief executive of a publicly traded company and, like my peers, I'm very highly paid. The difference between salaries like mine and those of average Americans creates a lot of tension, and I.d like to offer a suggestion. President Obama should celebrate our success, rather than trying to shame us or cap our pay. But he should also take half of our huge earnings in taxes, instead of the current one-third."

-- Reed Hastings, chief executive of Netflix

Dog Lovers

Image by .sw_in_shift via Flickr

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29109007/

"North Texas authorities seized 22 dogs found crammed inside a station wagon with their owner. The owner locked the car doors and refused to come out when a constable tried to serve her a warrant for the seizure of the dogs"

Crazy! Oh, wait I see. It happened in Texas...

Way Too Many

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29057426/

"The fertility doctor who helped a California woman have 14 children, including octuplets born last month, is now facing a state investigation on top of harsh criticism from medical ethicists."

Good.

Is It Working?

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http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100338745

"The fourth force is the rise of Extreme Inequality. Even as the three forces listed above raise risks for most Americans, the very top of the wealth and income scale is pulling away at levels never before seen. Yet it's clear that many of the winners are reaping the rewards not of the "free market," but of clubby, manipulated schemes that are as likely to reward failure as success. Bankers who pocketed millions peddling subprime mortgages retire to their country clubs while the rest of us are left holding the bag. CEOs who preside over tumbling stock prices routinely walk away with tens of millions for their trouble; hedge fund managers who barely beat the S&P commonly earn such princely sums in a year. At what point does the ubiquity of the undeserving rich become so corrosive in a democracy that it sparks a backlash that wrongly discredits capitalism altogether?"

Here's the thing... There is the general tendency (in all people, all the time) to make choices based on dogma even in the face of overwhelming facts that contradict that approach. Most of the time, in everyday matter, those choices are correct. But these days, the dogma gets heavily distorted and exaggerated by other motivations (like gaining more seats in congress for your party - no matter what).

This tendency isn't at all new, but these days the facts are really piling up. And yet you still can't get many people to understand that, "look, it's not working!"

I don't think change will come. People, ordinary people, will stand int the way, contrary to their own best interests, just because Rush Limbaugh says so, and continues to profit by saying so (it's his job). Ordinary people will continue to shovel wealth at a smaller and smaller elite class, at their own expense.

What this makes me think of is the French Revolution.

In modern America, the system has even ordinary working people saying let 'them' eat cake.

How's the Weather?

Image by Michele Catania via Flickr

http://www.thefuckingweather.com/

People are always talking about the weather, but no one ever FUCKINGDOESANYTHINGABOUTIT.

Because They Were Hungry

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29009533/

"Two young men - one of them a butcher - have been arrested on suspicion of killing a 16-year-old girl and eating parts of her body, Russian prosecutors said Wednesday.

...

""The arrestees said they ate the girl's body parts because they were hungry," Kapitonov said. They told investigators they baked some body parts with potatoes, he said."

Don't they have pizza delivery in Russia?

Another Media Server for the PS3

A new media server has popped up for the PS3. This one is written in Java.

http://ps3mediaserver.blogspot.com/

I'm running it right now. It does all the basics, so far, and it really has some nice features. Very promising... I'm looking forward to checking out the source code when I get a chance.

Cruel and Unusual Life

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/03/us/03bar.html

"According to court papers and a report from the Equal Justice Initiative, which now represents Mr. Sullivan, only eight people in the world are serving sentences of life without parole for crimes they committed when they were 13. All are in the United States.

"And there are only two people in that group whose crimes did not involve a killing. Both are in Florida, and both are black."

Zombie Road Sign Sucks All The Air Out of the Room

Image by provia_17 via Flickr

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1108/blogs-outlet-for-economic-outrage

"While the more traditional press overwhelmingly focused on the economic crisis and the stimulus plan, the new media's attention was equally divided among three diverse subjects -- the villains of the financial meltdown, Obama's decision to criticize Rush Limbaugh and jokesters who changed a road sign to warn of a "zombie attack." The two politically oriented stories gave rise to often intense discussions, with ideological finger pointing on both sides of the aisle."

What was that, did they say zombies?

http://news.aol.com/article/zombie-road-signs-attack-austin-texas/322482

Everyone likes zombies!

Debate

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The lead story on the News Hour lastnight was an argument among senators about how big their packages were and whose was the most stimulating.

From the looks on the DOW this morning, it seems to be working.

Too Many Babies

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090131/ap_on_re_us/octuples

The woman who gave birth to octuplets this week conceived all 14 of her children through in vitro fertilization, is not married and has been obsessed with having children since she was a teenager, her mother said.

...

Diane G. Sanford, a psychologist and author specializing in women's reproductive mental health, said while she doesn't know much about Nadya Suleman's background, women that have obsessive-compulsive disorder can become fixated on different obsessions.

"Her obsession centers around children, having children and being a mother," she said. "To what degree are her esteem and identity based on being a mom and why has this from a young age been such a preoccupation of hers?"

Are you with Obama or Rush?

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0109/18194.html

"Every Republican voted with Limbaugh - and against creating 4 million new American jobs. We can understand why a extreme partisan like Rush Limbaugh wants President Obama.s Jobs program to fail - but the members of Congress elected to represent the citizens in their districts? That's another matter. Now the Obama plan goes to the Senate, and the question is: Will our Senator" - here the ad is tailored by state to name George Voinovich in Ohio, Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania, and John Ensign in Nevada - "side with Rush Limbaugh too?"

If Republicans really believe the things certain media personalities speak, then, yes, it is high time that those Repuiblicans stand up and tell us so.

Even More Ol'Time Religion

Image by M.V. Jantzen via Flickr

http://www.towleroad.com/2009/02/ted-haggard-had.html

"In a second set of clips from Michelangelo Signorile's interview with New Life Church volunteer Grant Haas, who recently came forward with new sex and meth claims about Ted Haggard, Haas describes 'Ted Two', a dildo Ted and Gayle Haggard had molded after Haggard's manhood which Gayle used on her husband and herself. Haas also discusses how Haggard came to be his "counselor" over his struggles with homosexuality."

But he's been "cured" now. Right?

Taxing

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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/30/business/30rich.html

"The income of the 400 wealthiest Americans swelled in 2006, soaring nearly 23 percent from the previous year, to an average of $263 million, according to data released Thursday by the Internal Revenue Service. Since 1996, this group has nearly doubled its share of all income earned in the United States.

"The top 400 paid just more than $18 billion in federal income taxes in 2006, or an average of $45 million, on a record $105 billion in total income - the lowest effective tax rate in the 15 years since the agency began releasing such data.

"That compares with nearly $1 trillion paid by all other individual taxpayers in 2006."

More Christian Fun!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/us/27haggard.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=Haggard%27s%20Church%20Discloses%20More%20on%20Sex%20Scandal&st=cse

"The New Life Church, a nationally known evangelical institution that fired its founding pastor, Ted Haggard, in 2006 over accusations that he had had sex with a male prostitute, made payments starting in 2007 to a young male church member who had a relationship with Mr. Haggard before the dismissal, the church.s pastor told worshipers on Sunday."

...

"But Mr. Boyd also took pains in his sermon on Sunday to say that neither the pain nor the exploration of what went wrong under Mr. Haggard's leadership was over.

"'I wish as a pastor I could give you a simple answer,' he said. 'Unfortunately, things are very complex.'"

No it's not.

Groundhog

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http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/02/why-chuck-the-groundhog-bit-the-mayor/?partner=TOPIXNEWS&ei=5099

"'Let me say this: For security reasons, there's a limit to what I can say, but I think it is fair that whenever the people of Staten Island are at risk, the mayor is willing to put himself at risk, his physical well-being in harm's way, to protect them,' Mayor Bloomberg said.

"He added, 'Given the heightened response against terrorism, and clearly in this case a terrorist rodent who could very well have been trained by Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, I'm not at liberty to say any more than that.'"