By Rip Rowan on
6/8/2009 2:22 PM
Being sick sucks. Being sick and half-blind, more so.
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By Rip Rowan on
4/8/2009 10:47 PM
As the Editor-in-Chief for ProRec, I get a lot of music-industry spam. Most of it I disregard. This is why:
Eco-tainer Alyssa Anjelica James put a fresh spin on the green movement with the release of her first full-length album entitled "within.” Tree-huggers and environment scoffers alike are impressed with her smooth style and soulful lyrics. More than just a performer with a cause, Alyssa has dedicated her support to numerous environmental causes including, “Tree-People,” and “Heart-Song.” As a pioneer of the “eco-tainment” movement, Alyssa hopes to use her talents and experience to entertain and inspire her audiences to “go green.”
Eco-tainment?
I am speechless.
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By Rip Rowan on
4/5/2009 11:07 AM
The keyword to watch for now is #doubledip. Because with the recent uptick in the economy, the investing world is going to start looking for signs of a double-dip recession.
There's every reason to predict another dip:
- Profit taking from the current rally causes the market to drop again, possibly below 6500
- Continued bad news in unemployment
- Continued bad news in housing
- Continued falloff in GDP
- Failing auto companies
The list goes on. Housing and auto sales are likely to have a double-dip feel to them as well. Housing and auto sales have fallen far below their historical averages, so we should expect them to pick up, at least briefly. But we shouldn't expect strength in either sector as long as unemployment and overall GDP are falling. That means a brief (1-2 quarter) uptick followed by another drop.
I'm expecting the current rally to end very soon as profit-takers force the market downward. I don't think we've seen the bottom yet.
The real question is: what is going to happen with the US auto manufacturers? The government has shown little interest in helping out - about $12B in loans (compared to the trillions given to the financial sector). The auto executives have gotten a bum rap. Millions of jobs are at stake. Working class jobs. Will these be saved?
If not, beware.
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By Rip Rowan on
4/3/2009 9:33 PM
Jeff Atwood couldn't be more right when he says
I have not found in practice that programmers need to be mathematically inclined to become great software developers. Quite the opposite, in fact. This does depend heavily on what kind of code you're writing, but the vast bulk of code that I've seen consists mostly of the "balancing your checkbook" sort of math, nothing remotely like what you'd find in the average college calculus textbook, even.
Exactly. Programming - especially GUI-based web-centric software development of the sort that most people are up to these days - is much more a "right-brained" than "left-brained" activity.
Question for the group: is logic - especially set theory - more right- or left-brained? Modern software development may not be highly mathematical, but it often requires heavy database design and optimization, where a strong aptitude in set theory is a big plus.
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By Rip Rowan on
3/22/2009 1:02 PM
 Remember "Change You Can Believe In?"
Remember how we were going to do away with earmarks? Toss out the lobbyists? Get away from old-school politics-as-usual?
"Hope" - remember? Isn't that why you voted for Obama?
Still feel that way?
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By Rip Rowan on
3/22/2009 12:19 PM
The recently passed "Spendulus" package has left me totally aghast.
I'm pretty (small-L) libertarian, so when I hear of the federal government taking on this kind of authority and power I naturally pucker up pretty tight.
A lot of my friends - Obama supporters from the go - are big supporters of the plan. They see good intentions everywhere. Helping the poor with increased Medicaid funding. Helping the middle class with more tax rebates. Building roads and bridges.
Motherhood. Apple pie. Who can argue with that?
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By Rip Rowan on
3/2/2009 2:55 PM
Are we living in a new Depression era?
A few years ago I was working in the IT shop of a national US homebuilder. Even though the world was chanting "there is no housing bubble" it seemed obvious to me that we were in a major housing bubble. This company couldn't build houses fast enough. Growth was astronomical. Folks, this is housing we're talking about. If housing typically grows at a rate of 2% a year, and you see it growing at 20%+ for several years, you can bet your sweet bippy it's a bubble.
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By Rip Rowan on
12/11/2008 10:09 AM
A new Senate report is poised to present a major challenge to the dogma of global warming. The preview, made available today, provides some tasty hints as to what the full report will contain. Here’s my favorite quote: “Since I am no longer affiliated with any organization nor receiving any funding, I can speak quite frankly….As a scientist I remain skeptical.” - Atmospheric Scientist Dr. Joanne Simpson, the first woman in the world to receive a PhD in meteorology and formerly of NASA who has authored more than 190 studies and has been called “among the most preeminent scientists of the last 100 years.” My favorite part of the quote: “Since I am no longer affiliated with any organization nor receiving any funding, I can speak quite frankly.” The unspoken implication is deafening.
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By Rip Rowan on
12/10/2008 9:36 PM
Is global warming dead? Last March, NASA reported the oceans have been cooling for the last five years. Sea level has stopped rising, and Northern Hemisphere cyclone and hurricane activity is at a 24-year low. Environmental extremists and global warming alarmists are in denial and running for cover. Their rationale for continuing a lost cause is that weather events in the short term are not necessarily related to long-term climatic trends. But these are the same people who screamed at us each year that ordinary weather events such as high temperatures or hurricanes were undeniable evidence of imminent doom. I wonder how long it will be before this guy gets shot? To the extent global warming was ever valid, it is now officially over. It is time to file this theory in the dustbin of history, next to Aristotelean physics, Neptunism, the geocentric universe, phlogiston, and a plethora of other incorrect scientific theories, all of which had vocal and dogmatic supporters who cited incontrovertible evidence. Couldn’t agree more.
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By Rip Rowan on
12/9/2008 9:42 AM
 I’m not particularly interested in reviewing Malcolm Gladwell’s latest pop-sociology treatise, Outliers. Who needs another review when such outstanding writers as Stephen Kotkin, Michiko Kakutani, and our buddy Joel Spolsky have all weighed in?
Instead, I thought I might critique the critics. In order to critique the critics, however, I will have to at least briefly review the book. So, here goes. I read Outliers. It was a fun and insightful read. The author’s thesis is that innate talent isn’t sufficient to create success, but instead hard work and good fortune are also required. Gladwell points out and refutes two common misconceptions: that the gifted rise effortlessly to the top, and that if you aren’t the very best and brightest you have no chance of success.
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By Rip Rowan on
12/7/2008 1:09 PM
There was a bit of debate on the issue of bugs versus features I raised in Coding Horror-ibly. I tried my best to keep it concise, but apparently, didn’t explain myself well. It seems worthwhile to clarify, Mythbusters-style.
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By Rip Rowan on
12/2/2008 7:05 PM
So I got roped into trying this health-food crap called "VaNu". It's an acai / goji / cupuacu juice from the rainforest, sold by an MLM company from Dallas called "Fountain of Life". It's blended with cacao and vanilla, and has a nice taste in my opinion, sort of red wine meets chocolate.
If you know me, I'm really skeptical about this sort of thing. And the stuff is really expensive - about $40 for a 24 oz bottle. So it'd better do something.
As it turns out, it really seems to. I tried it at the recommended serving size of approx 2 oz per day, and it didn't have much effect. So, being me, I tried doubling the amount. And you know, I felt great. My energy levels went way up, my performance in my yoga class was stronger than ever, my digestion improved almost immediately, and I just felt good.
I know what you're thinking. "Are you sure it says cacao and not coca?" No, the ingredient list is quite pristine: acai, agave, cupuacu, goji, camu-camu, cacao, and vanilla. That's it.
Yeah, whatever. Call me crazy. But you know what, the stuff actually worked. And I think I'll keep on using it. It's expensive, but no more so than what a lot of people spend daily on Starbucks. And this is a lot better for you.
OK, fine. Go ahead and laugh.
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By Rip Rowan on
11/25/2008 5:04 PM
So I’m deleting this really big folder from my USB hard drive, and I get the message from Windows: 
which is odd, because I know there’s over 35,000 files totaling over 370 GB of data in that folder.
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By Rip Rowan on
11/25/2008 11:44 AM
I love Jeff Atwood’s blog. But sometimes, I think he’s smoking crack. His latest post, “That’s Not a Bug, It’s a Feature Request” gets it way wrong. Regarding Bugs versus Feature Requests, Jeff writes: There's no difference between a bug and a feature request from the user's perspective. I almost burst out laughing when I read that.
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By Rip Rowan on
11/22/2008 11:11 AM
- That can’t happen.
- That doesn’t happen on my machine.
- That shouldn’t happen.
- Why is that happening?
- Oh, I see.
- How did that ever work?
Hat Tip: Brian Shaler.
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By Rip Rowan on
11/14/2008 9:56 AM
I was looking for a power antenna replacement for my car today, and the top site returned for my search was Installer.com. The web site is so horrific I refuse to shop there. I opened it and immediately closed my browser like I’d accidentally clicked a pr0n link. It’s like walking into a store with ultra-bright lights playing loud death metal, with salesmen shouting at me – I’d walk right out. SEO is good, but someone needs to seriously reconsider this web site.
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By Rip Rowan on
11/14/2008 9:38 AM
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By Rip Rowan on
11/14/2008 7:54 AM
This is probably much funnier for me than for others, having actually played Zork compulsively on an actual Apple ][+. Lyrics here.
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By Rip Rowan on
11/13/2008 4:40 PM
This morning Google announced its new video chat capability with an eye-catching link at the top of the Gmail window. Clicking the link takes you to this page, where you can see a nifty video that makes video chat look pretty cool. But the link to “Get Started” takes you to a dead page (http://mail.google.com/videochat). The interesting thing isn’t that the service coughed up blood on its first day out. The interesting thing is that, ten hours later, http://mail.google.com/videochat is still 404. It can be hard to revive an overwhelmed application, but it’s really, really easy to put up a page to let users know what’s going on. I wonder why Google is leaving this page 404? It doesn’t inspire confidence.
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