The future of cosmology
There's a very interesting Slashdot interview with Charles Seife, who writes for Science magazine and is the author of "Alpha and Omega: The Search for the Beginning and End of the Universe". Charles gives a detailled round-up on the current state of cosmology, the study of the universe.
It's rather strange to see that some of the problems of 30 years ago, still exists. Such as the question on the infinity of space. There are people who believe that space is (mathematical) infinite. However, in that case, it is very possible (almost certain) that in this infinite universe, there's a mirror of you reading this mirror website on a mirror internet, located on a mirror earth, located somewhere else in space. The question of parallell worlds is nicely described in this Scientific American article, about the so-called multiverse.
It's rather strange to see that some of the problems of 30 years ago, still exists. Such as the question on the infinity of space. There are people who believe that space is (mathematical) infinite. However, in that case, it is very possible (almost certain) that in this infinite universe, there's a mirror of you reading this mirror website on a mirror internet, located on a mirror earth, located somewhere else in space. The question of parallell worlds is nicely described in this Scientific American article, about the so-called multiverse.
We will not ship shit.
If you're an IT guy, I guess this should be your mantra :
As software craftsmen, we have rules. Sometimes we feel bad when the rules must be broken. They're just rules though. What's important is that we have a moral center, a professional core, that refuses to compromise the quality of our work :
I am a professional -- a craftsman! -- No matter what pressures are on me. -- I will not ship shit.
As software craftsmen, we have rules. Sometimes we feel bad when the rules must be broken. They're just rules though. What's important is that we have a moral center, a professional core, that refuses to compromise the quality of our work :
I am a professional -- a craftsman! -- No matter what pressures are on me. -- I will not ship shit.
ThunderBird 0.1
Looks like ThunderBird (the new Mozilla mail client) is finally launched with its 0.1 release. Now that Mozilla development slows down (Mozilla 1.5 only contains some Composer enhancements), I expect the FireBird and ThunderBird packages slowly to develop the stampede we had with the Mozilla 0.9 series. God, what a wonderfull wild ride that was... As soon as ThunderBird hits Debian unstable, we'll give it a try.
Old Sun picture archive
While googling for a Sun 670MP server, I came across this : the old Sun picture archive must be the place where old Sun servers go when they die...
The new browser era
It's already some days since AOL cut the remaining Netscape staff, after AOL sold its soul to Microsoft. Some people call the firing of the Netscape crew the death of Netscape. It seems true, now that Internet Explorer has absolute control in website statistics. However, there are signs that something is terribly wrong with IE : IE6 is stone old, but IE7 will not be released within the next year. If you realise that most corporate desktops still offer IE5.5, you can count on it that IE7 will not reach your computer at work before 2005.
Ongoing writes the following : Today, the human experience of the Net stands at a crossroads, paths diverging into the future, and nobody knows which one we'll be on in a year. A lot of people who will read this have the chance to make a difference in the decision. Let's look at the options...
I'm quite certain that the FireBird and ThunderBird siblings of Mozilla will open a new browser competition : Mozilla as it is now, is simply too big to be used as a lean browser, certainly if you want to compare it against small browsers like Galeon, Opera, Camino and Safari. Debian is again light years ahead : AFAIK, it is the only distribution which has separate packages for the Mozilla components.
In the mean time, some people are watching Microsoft like a hawk.
Ongoing writes the following : Today, the human experience of the Net stands at a crossroads, paths diverging into the future, and nobody knows which one we'll be on in a year. A lot of people who will read this have the chance to make a difference in the decision. Let's look at the options...
I'm quite certain that the FireBird and ThunderBird siblings of Mozilla will open a new browser competition : Mozilla as it is now, is simply too big to be used as a lean browser, certainly if you want to compare it against small browsers like Galeon, Opera, Camino and Safari. Debian is again light years ahead : AFAIK, it is the only distribution which has separate packages for the Mozilla components.
In the mean time, some people are watching Microsoft like a hawk.
Perl state of the onion
We the unwilling,
led by the unknowing,
are doing the impossible
for the ungrateful.
One of the highlights of every OSCON is Larry Wall's annual State of the Onion address, covering Perl, philosophy, linguistics, music, theology, science, and usually funny other things thrown in for good measure. These are the thoughts of the man behind perl. (This explains a *lot* about perl. ;)
led by the unknowing,
are doing the impossible
for the ungrateful.
One of the highlights of every OSCON is Larry Wall's annual State of the Onion address, covering Perl, philosophy, linguistics, music, theology, science, and usually funny other things thrown in for good measure. These are the thoughts of the man behind perl. (This explains a *lot* about perl. ;)
Mozilla tips
Do you realize you actually can choose the browser you are working with ? Why do you want to use a browser without any development or security patching ? So quit using Internet Explorer, and start using Mozilla : here are 101 things Mozilla can do and IE not. And in case you're still experiencing problems, head over to the excellent Mozilla Tips website. Check out this very cool Amazon XUL interface (only visible in Mozilla).
PADRE : Solaris Patch dependency resolver
Some days ago, I released PADRE. PaDRe (PAtch Dependency REsolver) is a Perl CGI script, which can be run on any Perl enabled webserver, and is intended to help Solaris system administrators to easy the Solaris patching job. It will grep through the patchdiag file and compute the different dependencies of the patch. That way, you'll have a clearer view on the dependency tree of your patches.
Subtle gender messages through traffic signs
Girls dress up, boys don't. Boys need to help girls cross the street. Girls work, boys play. Subtle gender messages (and really silly hairstyles) as observed by Monsieur Jean after collecting images from different countries of children on street signs for his salon.
I never actually paid attention to it, but the site also demonstrates the subtle differences between traffic signs in different countries.
I never actually paid attention to it, but the site also demonstrates the subtle differences between traffic signs in different countries.
Euro coins
Since 2002, the Europe countries switched to a common currency. All Euro coins have a national imprinted side, different from country to country. A nice thing about all those common coins, is that after a certain period, coins from one European country start to appear in the other; this process is called Eurodiffusion. Identification of a foreign Euro coin is now possible thanks to the Euro coin site.