<![CDATA[Christopher Smith's Blog]]> http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-NGG_XKMyebVXpbF6EpCU en-us Mon, 11 Sep 2006 15:38:09 GMT <![CDATA[360... it was nice knowing you!]]> http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-NGG_XKMyebVXpbF6EpCU?p=271 http://xblog.xman.org/.
]]> Mon, 11 Sep 2006 15:38:09 GMT <![CDATA[Treasure Island Online]]> http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-NGG_XKMyebVXpbF6EpCU?p=269 dig for buried treasure. Spammers appear to be modern day pirates. Wow... today is bizarre enough I'm ready to consider that hell really is freezing over....
]]> Wed, 16 Aug 2006 02:03:02 GMT <![CDATA[Sun starts to let go of Java]]> http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-NGG_XKMyebVXpbF6EpCU?p=260
But now the hammer drops: Sun has said they are going to open source the compiler and the *VM* by the end of the year.

In other news: scientists have observed an odd evolutionary path in pigs which should result in them sprouting wings by early next year. Someone by the name of Lucifer, anticipating a cold winter, has put in a massive order for heaters, causing a worldwide shortage. Richard Stallman has announced his 2007 new year's resolution will be to stop insisting that it be called "GNU/Linux". Osama Bin Laden announces that he is renouncing violence in all forms and converting to Buddism......
]]> Tue, 15 Aug 2006 17:47:19 GMT <![CDATA[Best C++ Quote Ever]]> http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-NGG_XKMyebVXpbF6EpCU?p=258
 "C++ is notoriously complex. Whereas smaller computer languages have features designed into them, C++ is unusual in having a whole swathe of functionality discovered, like a tract of 19th century Africa."
]]> Tue, 15 Aug 2006 16:59:38 GMT <![CDATA[The Power of None]]> http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-NGG_XKMyebVXpbF6EpCU?p=254 Andrei Alexandrescu should be locked up somewhere and not allowed out until he's finished completely reinventing C++. Just great stuff coming out from him all the time. I think the key is he looks at the fundamental mechanics of the language, and then looks at what he wants the language to do, and then finds a way to express that using the mechanics of the language, regardless of what the established convention is. Sometimes this results in some seriously complex code, perhaps too complex to be of general use, but sometimes it results in incredibly simple concepts that just work well. Such is the case here.

His latest concoction can be found in the slide show (which apparently is undergoing revision) titled: The Power of None. Read it and rethink how you do exceptions and error handling in your C++ code.
]]> Tue, 08 Aug 2006 08:29:43 GMT <![CDATA[First Day of School]]> http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-NGG_XKMyebVXpbF6EpCU?p=252
This is really the beginning of that process where slowly he starts to deal with the "real world" on his own. Sure it's just a baby step, but as a parent you are forced to confront this step is just one out of millions which he will take over the next couple decades, each one bringing him one step closer to being his own independent person. I feel some trepidation and some sense of loss, but the primary sensation is more like a giddy excitement. I want him to charge out in to the world and tell me all about what he experiences, and if he's at all a human or a chip off the old block, he won't have a clue what is so interesting and probably only tell me the highlights, often grudgingly (until he's old enough that he'll want to keep even the highlights mostly private).

Anyway, I'm sure this is old hat to anyone who is already a parent, and those that aren't are probably scratching their heads wondering what the heck I'm talking about, so I'll shut up now.
]]> Tue, 08 Aug 2006 07:44:13 GMT <![CDATA[The Problem With Global Warming]]> http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-NGG_XKMyebVXpbF6EpCU?p=250 a poll today: "Do you believe that global warming is responsible for the heat waves this summer?" So far the results are as follows:
  • 36% say Absolutely.
  • 25% say Somewhat.
  • 33% say No way.
  • 6% say Not sure.
Now, the 6% who said not sure is kind of off already, because I'd be surprised if even with Al Gore's efforts, 94% of the population really has a clue about global warming, but hey, maybe only the knowledgable people are answering the poll. That theory falls apart as soon as you look at the most popular answer: "Absolutely". Sorry, but I have yet to hear of a model that would predict this kind of a shift in temperatures. Generally the models describe a change of about one degree celcius globally over the last 100 years! Local effects can be more pronounced, but nothing like the heat waves that are hitting certain parts of North America.

And this is the problem (well, one of many) with Global Warming. It has become so politicized that rational thought gets blocked out. Heck, hype about it even seems to follow weather patterns in North America. It was a real hot topic in the late 80's when we were getting hit by some nasty heat waves. There was a lot less discussion of it during the year a record setting blizzard left parts of Quebec, Ontario, and the US North East in darkness, and after last years heat wave, it started picking up steam again.

Folks, global warming is more like the ol' boiling the frog trick: the change is so subtle (but steady), that you hardly notice it until it is too late. There will be some major climate shifts that result from this, but currently there is little reason to think that's what is going on right now.
]]> Fri, 04 Aug 2006 22:10:35 GMT <![CDATA[Time to buy a UPS]]> http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-NGG_XKMyebVXpbF6EpCU?p=247
Yeah right. So, let's see, in the last two weeks almost all of the above have failed me.

My water filtration system has bailed on me, and that matters because LA's plumbing includes miles and miles of unshielded copper piping that have been picking up corrosion from impurities in the water over the past 50 years. Some of this stuff won't get replaced/fixed for another 50 years. Awesome.

The roads haven't really caused a specific problem, but I did get hit while driving (lots of fun). However, anyone who thinks we don't have an infrastructure problem when it comes to our roads needs to drive around LA for a bit. Pot holes everywhere on account of the heavy rains we've had the last couple of years. Joy.

And then last night we had problems with the power. Major problems. It appears that it screwed up my wireless router (which thankfully we were able to fix) and my desktop. Yeah, that's right, my desktop. It appears that one of my hard drives (don't worry, its only the one that I store all my important data on ;-) is dead. I honestly can't be certain this is a power issue, but the fact that people are talking about brown outs and rolling black outs, and then two electrical devices fail at the same time, seems like a strong indicator that we've got a problem.

I've been holding off for the better part of two years on getting a proper computer infrastructure at home. In particular, I haven't purchased a UPS and I haven't set up a nice RAID storage system. Now those chickens have come home to roost. This is gonna be fun. Combined with a few other expenses that have appeared overnight (Quentin's day care for next year has fallen through, and we have come to realize that our bed must be replaced) and the lovely tanking of YHOO, this seems like the worst possible time to upgrade computer infrastructure. So now I'm trying to decide if lightning is really that likely to strike twice. ;-)
]]> Fri, 28 Jul 2006 18:18:09 GMT <![CDATA[Blogs as a reliable news source]]> http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-NGG_XKMyebVXpbF6EpCU?p=245 blog entry was highly rated on reddit, with the implication being that the DOJ was effectively telling congress that the President can do no wrong (which is problematic both in terms of reality and from a legal perspective). The blog entry continues the point, even providing a transcript of the video where Steven Bradbury apparently says, "the president is always right". Watching the video.... well, you get a very different interpretation of events. First, it is clear that the Senator was trying to jam him up by making answer a question about a complex legal issue with a yes or no answer. More importantly though, Mr. Bradbury said something different: "we hope the president is always right" (which was obviously a case of thumbing his nose at the Senator for trying to get a yes or a no). So the blog transcript effectively truncated "lightning bug" to "lightning".

I notice now that the reddit comments have one fairly low modded comment that points this out, so I guess the rule is "read all the comments". ;-)
]]> Wed, 12 Jul 2006 20:09:07 GMT <![CDATA[Theory on PHP]]> http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-NGG_XKMyebVXpbF6EpCU?p=241
PHP is C for people who find C too hard, and therefore probably shouldn't program in C... or PHP.

I'm posting this here in the hopes that it's a catchy enough phrase that it might propogate around the web a bit and perhaps erradicate the PHP virus.
]]> Mon, 10 Jul 2006 20:46:59 GMT