Should Microsoft pull an Apple-style architecture migration?
Link: http://db.tidbits.com/article/9674?rss
An interesting article from TidBITS suggesting that perhaps it's time for Microsoft to rebuild their operating system from the ground up in order to handle performance and stability issues.
The argument for the feasibility of this: Apple has successfully done it three times in the last fifteen years.
The instigator for the article appears to be one from the New York Times which is also worth reading (via Daring Fireball).
Bishop's University has a new principal
Link: http://www.cnw.ca/fr/releases/archive/June2008/27/c8649.html?view=print
After the somewhat unfortunate affair of staff striking over the choices made by its then-principal, Robert Poupart, Bishop's University in Quebec now has a new one. I have no comment on this since I only met Poupart once (he seemed a decent fellow at the time) and don't know the replacement at all.
What I do have a comment on is this:
"The Search Committee was unanimous in its recommendation to the Bishop's
community and the Corporation," said Dr. Robert "Squee" Gordon, President of
the Corporation (Board) and Chair of the Search Committee.
"Squee"? What grown man, especially with a doctorate, calls himself "Squee" on a press release about a university appointment?
(Update (08/07/01): Paul Wells of Macleans likes the new hire.)
Laurell Hamilton's "Anita Blake" books
Link: http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/6/2/
The comedians over at Penny Arcade nail this one. Well, almost.
My personal suggestion for similar genre reading after the Blake novels get a bit much is to try Karen Chance's "Cassandra Palmer" series or Jim Butcher's most excellent "Dresden Files" series. That said, the last time I popped into Chapters/Indigo I saw the style pretty much monopolizing the fantasy section. There's lots of choice now but I imagine most will, um, what's the word, bite.
The end of the commercial banana
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/18/opinion/18koeppel.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Interesting article on the banana from the New York Times covering its history (political, genetic) and future (environmental, political, genetic.)
(Via Matthew Yglesias)
Apparently I really am a financial naif
Recently I changed from using a no-frills low-interest Visa card to one that apparently had a few benefits built into it. It seemed reasonable to me as I never leave a balance month-to-month so I might was well see some other benefits.
LensLok
Link: http://torrentfreak.com/crazy-video-game-drm-prism-1980s-style-080617/
I had completely forgotten about this innovative and utterly daft piece of DRM technology form the early '80s. Fortunately it was quite expensive and unreliable so it was quickly dumped for the cheaper black-text-on-red-paper word lookup solution. I didn't like that one either.
The most amusing variation was that of "Birds Of Prey" for the Amiga wherein an incorrect entry made possible by a hacked binary resulted in unstable aircraft handling that became progressively worse the longer the game was played. I guess it was sort of like a demo-mode but for the pirates it made for a very time-consuming experience to ensure that their crack was 100% complete...
(Via BoingBoing)
Plagiarism in the games industry
Link: http://www.gameplasma.com/limbo_of_the_lost_or_oblivion/
A games development house in the UK put out a point'n'click Myst-like adventure game that curiously resembled the in-game graphics of a number of other major releases. They've since been called on it
What I don't get is how they expected such blatant pilfering to go unnoticed; I mean, when you're grabbing the art from "Oblivion" and "Unreal Tournament 2004" you're choosing some of the most prominent games in the last five years as your source...
(Via The Register)
Rules lawyers and the Joy Of Cooking
Link: http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/commentary/alttext/2008/06/alttext_0618
Anyone who has played a game -- particularly tabletop RPGs or boardgames -- knows that there'll be some pillock who knows exactly how to manipulate the written word of the rules to work exactly how they need.
Now imagine that applied to cooking...
Roomba and pets
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAGZwGgQZR0
Nice little video on Gizmodo's page (itself linking to the Wall Street Journal article) about trying to get pets and Roombas to co-exist. Given I have both at the moment, it amused me.
(Via Gizmodo)
The solution to not having enough room for a model railroad
Link: http://www.boingboing.net/2008/06/06/model-train-runs-ups.html
Ok, this is not the solution I would have come up with, but it's rather clever nonetheless.
Wired's "Found: Artifacts from the Future"
Link: http://www.wired.com/culture/culturereviews/magazine/16-06/found
For many years now, Wired has had a feature called "Found: Artifacts from the Future" which is a photo-realistic illustration of some throwaway item that represents the way they feel the future will unfold.
They're typically pretty good and always interesting. Like the linked to example above, they're always full of subtle jokes beyond the obvious prognostication. The Alaskan vineyard amused me almost as much as that it's supposedly owned by Larry Ellison. The one thing it seems to be missing is the cameraphone-friendly square barcode but perhaps that's on the bottle's rear label.
This is one feature that would be wonderful if compiled into a coffeetable-style book. Currently Wired hasn't even put together an index linking them together for easier online browsing although a couple of year's worth can be found after a bit of searching. Hm...
Top 10 home cooking mistakes
Link: http://www.meadowparty.com/blog/?p=254
The list won't make you an uber-chef but it's a pretty good list of things to avoid.
(Via Kottke)
Bad Google
Link: http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2008/06/google-browser-sync-to-be-discontinued.html
One of my favourite parts of Firefox is the Google Bookmark Sync which allows cookies and bookmarks to be synced across multiple computers. With multiple operating systems (and thus browsers) on my MacBook plus computers at work and home, it made life much easier.
Emphasis on the past tense.
As of Firefox 3, the plug-in no longer works and Google has no intention of updating it. Their comment:
It was a tough call, but we decided to phase out support for Bookmark Sync. Since the team has moved on to other projects that are keeping them busy, we don't have time to update the extension to work with Firefox 3 or to continue to maintain it.
There are other plug-ins that basically do the same thing so I suspect I'll migrate to one of them, but it is a pain. However, what really irritated me was that Google did not announce the discontinuation on the page where one downloads the tool; it's just been left to wither away.
Snarky
Link: http://pandagon.net/index.php/site/al_gore_endorses_obama/
When I first read the linked-to post via RSS, it didn't make a whole lot of sense. This is how it read in NewsFire:
Via the AP:
Al Gore made his
What’s most interesting, though:
second time Obama has
I think its a good strategy, myself.
Needless to say, my reaction was "Uh, what?"
It's actually a subtle bit of snark about the Associated Press' quoting rules.
