Viewing profile — phr

Last time I looked, MacPorts had a more paranoid approach to dependencies. That can be good and bad. Homebrew can be easier to use, until you run into a corner case that trips it u…

Intriguing idea. Extending it to absurdity: All functions should be stored in a searchable key/value database, where the key is a cryptographically signed canonical representation …

Wooden boat building is a lot of fun, and doesn't have to take a lot of space. There are kits available for beautiful kayaks and such that people have built in their apartments. Be…

Steve Yegge says every programmer should be a fast, accurate, touch-typist: http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2008/09/programmings-dirtiest-little-secret.html I couldn't find his min…

When receiving criticism, I should do as you say, and assume my mistakes are the target, not my (oh so sensitive) self. But when handing out criticism, I should assume the other pe…

If, like me, you have heard bits and pieces about McLuhan, but never delved deeper, the 20 minute introduction by Tom Wolfe is well worth your time.

I thought EMC bought VMWare?

I can't judge how useful the data-mining stuff is, but there's some nice Lisp code in there. Simple, powerful, and makes it look easy.

If you own several different media properties like this guy, is it a good strategy to incorporate each one separately, to keep an unintentional Adsense TOS violation from affecting…

Any thoughts on Heroku, now that you have some paid experience with it?

16/19: No surprise that I missed php and groovy, but I should have guessed fortran. I read somewhere that Backus was involved in the early stages of the functional programming lang…

Same on Mac Safari. Webkit bug?

A cancel button?

Very cool. I didn't see a link to back out of the page for adding a component, for example a hard drive, other than the browser back button of course. Maybe it's there and I'm blin…

I'm also strongly against drug use, and think society should discourage it through education. On the other hand, the war on drugs is destroying Mexico, and is not stopping drug use…

I'd rather see a fairly low karma and a few weeks or months account age thresholds, but then I'm biased, being mostly a lurker here.

Several comments mention the upcoming intersection as if crossing traffic were likely. It is actually a classic cloverleaf. Search google maps for Renton Washington and look for hi…

Two questions: 1) What is best for my business? The answer may well mean sticking with a flawed technology that nonetheless is serving the business well. Remember there is still lo…

I have to agree that the higher-education bubble is just as cruel in its way as the real estate bubble was. Please don't let yourself rot away at your parents' house: work on open …

I remember when "structured programming" was the new silver bullet all the guru's were talking about. This must have been the late 70's or early 80's. I was programming in DEC Basi…

One small thing I noticed is that selecting a white background on the main screen doesn't "stick" when you choose news/america. Another small UI thing: the choice of large font is …

I spent this spring and summer walking about an hour a day, first in Vibram Five-fingers. I have a funny twist in my step on the left side which wore holes in a couple toes in the …

If I had built a working time machine in my garage, I'm pretty sure mass production would not be my next step.

Typical grade school teachers spend their days on their feet, rushing from one crisis to another, trying to help mainstreamed kids with serious disabilities, kids with chaotic home…