If you go throw a function into Oracle, and it's wrong, e.g. CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION Banana IS -- Oops, no return! BEGIN RETURN SUBSTUR('Banana',2,5); -- Oops, misspelled! END; You will get no warnings about this in most tools until it comes… more »

Anyone who's a little slow filing their taxes -- or putting it off to the last minute -- has found that Revenue Canada's Netfile system has been unusable for the last few days. Fortunately the filing deadline has been extended for a few days, although… more »

While working on a site up in Fort McMurray a few weeks back, I referred to the awful brewed coffee in the office as "tar sands sludge." I was then politely, but quite clearly, corrected. It is in fact "oil sands sludge" as only dirty hippies and… more »

So, which one are you? more »

Yes, Apple, it is possible. Now go fix your iPods and iPhone so they meet current standards. more »

From a more recent episode of the "Why do people laugh at creationists?" series, Stein is shown being interviewed by Paul Crouch, Jr. on Trinity Broadcasting Network. The episode is here. Now, a lot of this particular episode is not all that… more »

There's not much I can add to the article writer's comment: But only if they pay for it a second time round. The MBG's proposal is essentially a way to help the music industry get paid twice for the same thing: first for the CD and once again, by way of… more »

This is good: the bill to restore citizenship to Canadians who "lost" it due to poorly thought-out act has passed into law. more »

Someone reposted a Kent Hovind video about the dangers of evolution. There was one slide that just caught my eye, because it was sitting in the freeze frame, ostensibly showing the evil population control that will be foisted upon us all: Reduce birth… more »

The Register Rebel DJ has a write up in the Intempo, an FM-based alarm clock with an interesting twist: it automatically records music and strips out the commercials and DJs allowing one to listen to the important bit. more »

This is an interesting concept from Ze Frank: recreating pictures of one's youth as an adult then posting the results side by side. (Via Kottke) more »

I don't normally bother linking to case mods, even when they're rather cool, mostly because, well, they're just case mods. This though, this is cool. I always wanted a ][gs but they weren't really available where I was living at the time. more »

Ah, Expelled! We knew it was going to be a propaganda-laden train-wreck from the start, despite repeated protests that because we hadn't even seen the movie, we were missing the point, or what have you. Well, it's an intellectual farce, and there are… more »

This may well be the first and last time you hear me say something nice about the BC Liberals, but good for them on making it illegal to expire prepaid gift cards. Regardless of whether one feels that gift cards are a bad idea to start with (and there… more »

Funny little music video about the Amiga by Eric Schwartz. (Via Nodwick) more »

Periodically you see a gizmo that initially leaves you thinking "Well, that's daft" but a few minutes later it becomes "Hmmmm....". Get off my keyboard, Pumpkin. Please. (Via PopGadget) more »

Another UK sourced story, this time from BoingBoing. Apparently Virgin Media, one of the major ISPs in the UK, is clearly stating that they wish to be bribed in order to give preferential treatment to websites. No, I misspoke; Virgin will actually… more »

If you are trying to get a time into a DateTime from a string, it's relatively easy: DateTime dt = DateTime.Parse(inputText,CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, DateTimeStyles.NoCurrentDateDefault); The NoCurrentDateDefault is pretty important. Otherwise,… more »

While the Apple iPhone is getting close to being able to replace my beloved Palm Tungsten T3, there are two primary issues that still make it an inappropriate choice for me. more »

Stephen Vermeulen, author of ExpressPaint and VBBS/IceBBS for the Amiga with miscellaneous other low-key software development projects since, has finally got around to blogifying his homebrew website. Following a fragment-based posting design, he's… more »

Recently Microsoft ran a pretty good promotion: buy their current version of Microsoft Office for OSX and get the new one free when it's released. So, I bit, and bought the old version and dutifully sent in the form with the original UPC barcode and… more »

Most people know that NiCd, NiMH and LIon rechargables all have different properties. What's not so apparent is that even within a particular technology, there's a lot of variety beyond the nominal mAh rating, especially when dealing with batteries… more »

The Westin's iconic, classy Owl's Nest restaurant, after morphing into the "O. N. Grill", which I did not have the chance to visit, has finally packed it in. What do we have there instead? A Keg. I do not like fancy restaurants, by and by, but the… more »

One of the nicer features about the newer electric hybrids is that they're quiet. So, in the name of safety, what do you think the next step should be? Yup. Make the cars generate digitized engine noises over external loudspeakers so pedestrians can… more »

Given the industry I work in and specific familiarity with the system in question, this article from Wired on system security and response is fascinating. The headline is a trifle "Chicken Little" but the content is good. (The somewhat generic text… more »

Penn & Teller do some odd stuff, but this one is particularly strange even for them. Keep an eye out for the camera man in the hazmat suit... (Via BoingBoing) more »

The other night my computer rebooted due to an update from Microsoft. This was a bit annoying as I'd left some test cases up running overnight. I'm still unclear on why there is no option to automatically download an update without installing it under… more »

Self-contained PCs built into a keyboard have been going around for a while and, to be honest, I've never understood the appeal. While the description of "Amiga-like" is fair, given the design of the A500/A600/A1200, these are just under-powered PCs in… more »

While looking to exchange a worn vinyl record with a newer CD, I encountered an unexpected problem. The album I wanted to replace, "Hooked On Swing", actually had several Amazon entries, each of which showed entirely different track listings. more »

Who knew that a hedgehog could be classified as a dangerous weapon? (Via Antigone) more »

Kottke has a nice round up of people using technology to catch thieves in the act. more »

This probably isn't appropriate for Dena's students. This, on the other hand, probably is. more »

What do airlines do when their annual fuel bills double? For one thing, they put their planes on a diet. more »

From one of the commenters: i made one of these at a family reunion about 18 months ago. kids loved it, adults were seriously grossed out and segregated this dessert from the others. Yeah. (Via BoingBoing) more »

Another gem from YouTube... (Via BoingBoing) more »

The first time I saw the picture of the archetypal child's trike at the top of this Gizmodo page, I didn't get it. It took a moment before the scale sunk in... (Via Gizmodo and UberReview) more »

No April Fools today*. more »