http://empathybox.com living la vida obscura Mon, 10 Nov 2008 00:30:07 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en From the chorus to the Berlin song "Sex": Man: I'm a man Girl: I'm a goddess Man: I'm a man Girl: Well I'm a virgin Man: I'm a man Girl: I'm a blue movie Man: I'm a man Girl: I'm a bitch Man: I'm a man Girl: I'm a geisha Man:I'm a man Girl: I'm a little girl Man: I'm a man Girl: I'm ... http://empathybox.com/archives/17 After several failed attempts to limit our book buying habit, I think my wife and I have agreed to just look for a bigger apartment. New ones: The Minimum Description Length Principle Beowulf Grendel (Just to be fair and balanced...) Causality http://empathybox.com/archives/14 At work today I saw this little beauty at the end of a method with void return type: if(true) return; I thought it was quite wise of him to check that. Incidentally, the author of this little koan now works at Google. http://empathybox.com/archives/13 Quick question: if your last name was Mountjoy would you really go by "Dick" instead of "Richard"? You would if you were California State Senate candidate and self-proclaimed "Immigration Control Consultant" Dick Mountjoy. His website asks that you add him to your prayer list. I am not ... http://empathybox.com/archives/12 The proponents of new technologies always seem to see themselves as involved in some kind of populist rebellion. For example, judging from rhetoric, I am pretty sure that Ruby programmers see themselves something like this: I think the underlying reason these little wars go on is that so few people ... http://empathybox.com/archives/11 Just finished reading this awesome Prep School/Coming Of Age/Thriller thing. Don't start it unless you have some time, though. I really did nothing but read for about three days. Next up The Emperor's Children, this should round out my trendy bestselling lit. indulgence. http://empathybox.com/archives/9 Here are a few things I have learned about programming computers, in no particular order. I didn't invent any of them, and I don't always follow them. But since nobody seems to know very much about making good software, it makes sense to try to distill a little wisdom when ... http://empathybox.com/archives/8 I don't know how something that fails to make the proper Foleyesque slobering noises about dynamic typing and Ruby on Rails managed to get voted up on reddit, but I am glad this did. It is a rather excellent article that manages to nail the issue without really taking ... http://empathybox.com/archives/7