farlane.blog

Well … maybe not, but April 1st has always been one of my favorites. One reason is because I was blessed with a father who took great pleasure in looking at the inherent possiblilities for humor in any situation. He even went so far as to create Baxter University, a ficticious university … and university newspaper … and radio program, but that's another story. Anyway, I like it and have a lot of fun with it. Read the rest of this entry »

Go ahead, click the picture. 

The good folks at Automattic/WordPress write…

A plugin is happy in its toil and this makes us very proud parents!

We know, sadly, that some copies will stray into the dark corners of the web where vicious, hungry coders lurk, waiting to rip them up and sometimes reassemble them into towering, plug-necked monsters. Do not pity these copies! Their lives are not wasted, for this what the developer intended. We encourage mutation, even if it causes angry mobs to gather with pitchforks and torches. This, too, makes a parent proud.

Happy indeed is the WordPress user pace, who can now have their Widgets to go!!

read more | digg story

check out South Side of the Sky … also not to be missed is her scrapbook.

Someone (I believe it was me) pointed out that there's been a bit more seriousness than is optimal on this blog of late. While I'm not feeling particularly humorous right now, I can direct you to a few things that I believe are funny.

Robot Exclusion Protocol by Paul Ford is a scream:

I am Google! I find many good things. I find that pair of underwear with the little dice printed all over them. And I watch the tape of you with the life-sized Stallman puppet. These are good unique things. Many keywords and links! My masters will say 'much good job, little robot!' Many searchers will find happy links of Stallman puppet see you! Ahhhh

Speaking of Google, if you've Googled "cowls" Francesco Marciuliano says it might be a sign that you are a super hero.

It doesn't really fit with the Google theme, but the concept of Leprechauns in Mobile, Alabama is inherently funny.

Located in the constellation of Cygnus, the Veil Nebula Complex floats approximately 1,400 light years from our home planet - the remains of a supernova event that took place in pre-history, between 5,000 and 10,000 years ago.

Read more at Universe Today and/or get a gigantical version of this for your wallpaper needs.

Si Se Puede! | photo by heliotropx.

Dear US Senators and Representatives,

There is so much I could say to you about "illegal immigrants".

Like it's the phrase we use for people who are likely working for a living in the US (and for my cheap produce) and want to live in our country but were born somewhere else (or their parents were)

…or that's Gerardo and Tita and the little girl in Jamie's class that he likes whose name I can't remember … and their brothers and sisters and parents and cousins. Although they may be here in violation of US law, they are not felons … and they are certainly obeying the laws of economics … and the dictates of Lady Liberty.

…or it's lucky for you they can't vote, because that House bill is appalling.

Instead, I ask you to overcome your dimestore fears of the dangers of "illegal immigrants". Guns, bombs, reckless thought and action and the fact that our economy is flying apart like a first generation Yugo - these are perils. Illegal immigrants are people, no more or less than you or I.

While you're here, you could also read A GOP faceoff over illegal immigration in the Christian Science Monitor and explain why even the more moderate Senate bill requires the would be citizen to make not one but two payments of $1,000 before receiving citizenship. Two thousand bucks? Is that all citizenship in the shining democracy on the planet is worth? I would have thought at least a hundred grand. I know Ike wouldn't have sold his for ten times that amount.

Sincerely,

Andrew L. McFarlane

Legal Immigrant

UPDATE:

Just found this poll on CNN asking "Would you illegally cross a border if that was the only way to make a better life for your family?" The results:

Yes 76% (66419 votes)

No 24% (21117 votes) 

Croquet is a combination of computer software and network architecture that supports deep collaboration and resource sharing among large numbers of users within the context of a large-scale distributed information system. Along with its ability to deliver compelling 3D visualization and simulations, the Croquet system’s components are designed with a focus on enabling massively multi-user peer-to-peer collaboration and communication.

Croquet’s treatment of distributed computation assumes a truly large scale distributed computing platform, consisting of heterogeneous computing devices distributed throughout a planet-scale communications network. Applications are expected to span machines and involve many users. In contrast with the more traditional architectures we grew up with, Croquet incorporates replication of computation (both objects and activity), and the idea of active shared subspaces in its basic interpreter model. More traditional distributed systems replicate data, but try very hard not to replicate computation. But, it is often easier and more efficient to send the computation to the data, rather than the other way round. Consequently, Croquet is defined so that replication of computations is just as easy as replication of data.

from Introduction to Croquet

Oh. My. Goodness.

Once you wrap your mind around this (the screenshots help), it’s truly revolutionary. The idea that I could “join” a collegue’s word processor so we could collaboratively edit or take a client on an interactive tour inside the design of their web site is staggering. When all apps share a common collaborative protocol, things we haven’t even dreamed of will become commonplace.

As a card-carrying member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, I feel compelled to link to them every so often to say "Hey, this organization is working very hard to protect your freedom - go there, check them out and give some money if you can".

So… go there. 

I normally hate these viral emails, but this one amazed me.

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!