Monthly Archives: May 2007

Rule #1 – Never check for an error that you don’t know how to handle. I don’t know where I learned this one [probably some fortune cookie file], but it’s sure useful. Better to crash horribly than write a lot … Continue reading →

Nothing like reading a nice landmark decision by the Supremes.  Ancient history, but still fun.  Link.  

Some more rules of thumb: A firm with more VPs than bathrooms is in trouble. Computer industry kiosks always, always suck. It doesn’t matter what they’re for (demonstrating a product, letting customers do downloads, whatever), they are always broken, out … Continue reading →

A fluffy but kind of fun overview of constructing chips in three dimensions.  Link.  I liked the cutaway view of 8 layers of metal; kind of humbling that they can make this stuff this small and still get any kind … Continue reading →

The American Civil War, animated.  Link. Damn, now I’m going to have to read about it again.

“A certain televangelist dies and goes to That Other Place –” “Which place?” “Hey, he gets there, to the other place, right, and everybody’s like, watching teevee –” “What are they watching?” “I don’t know.  24, maybe the Simpons, whatever, … Continue reading →

“Dadddddy, there’s a chocolate tomato in the pretzels!”  (Holds up a crayon). “Ummm . . . what’s it doing there?” (Gets a serious expression, examines the crayon)  “Hang on, daddy.”  (runs off)  “Okay, bye!”  (Door slams.  He discovered doors a … Continue reading →

Yahhhhgggh.  Bifocals. (Actually not too bad, though my neck hurt for a day or so). [Not much posting.  Busy, and not much spare time.]  

The Spagthorpe System/37 was … Who am I kidding? There wasn’t any such thing. There wasn’t a mainframe that ran on 440 volt five cycle power, it didn’t make double use of its mercury delay lines for cooling, it didn’t … Continue reading →

This post (via reddit) pretty much sums up what I thought about writing software for phones.  Link. To summarize: Phone platforms are about as homogenous as a fruitcake.  If you thought that doing a Windows and a Mac version was … Continue reading →