The production of too many useful things results in too many useless people.

The Lottery is a tax on people who are bad at maths

funny

Bill de h�ra: I am Jack’s new messaging experience (flash flash flash. Click.What?! Oh, nothing much - alt-tab)

Butit’shardtofinisihthepostbecausethe (flash flash flash. Click.What?! Oh, nothing much - alt-tab) imclientkeepspoppingup. Arggh. It’s like a TV that changes the channel when the ads are on somewhere else.

R

darragh took a very nice shot recently,

christmas trees… on a beach

nice one Darragh

R

this is interesting, the Ian Dempsey Breakfast show now has a podcast available. looks good.

it would be great if they also created podcasts for either the Tom Dunne, Pet Sounds show, or again even better for the Donal Dineen, Small Hours show. this last one at least now has playlists available

… arrived in the post today.

it was a bag, one of those coal bag types, although smaller, with a cable tie around the top, and a couple of tags attached with string. very strange I thought, this does not look like anything I ordered recently. curiosity eventually got the better of me, and the trusty leatherman came out, and yet again performed its duty.

Inside the bag, was a box, am amazon.com box… and it was the books I had ordered only a couple of weeks ago. I promptly put them at the top of the ‘to read’ pile.

it now stands as such (in a vaguely chronological fashion):

• How to Change the World : Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas By: David Bornstein (yes - eventually got around to order it )
• User Interface Design for Programmers By: Joel Spolsky
• Hackers and Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age By: Paul Graham
• Joel on Software: And on Diverse and Occasionally Related Matters That Will Prove of Interest to Software Developers, Designers, and Managers, and to By: Joel Spolsky
R

this article outlines the plans of a new initiative, Homeland Security helps secure open-source code.

It is an interesting idea, but there is something with the idea, that does not fit - I can’t quite put my finger on it. it is good in principle, but as Ben Laurie said,

The bug database should help make open-source software more secure, but in a roundabout way

“It is regrettable that DHS has decided once more to ensure that private enterprise profits from the funding, while the open-source developers are left to beg for the scraps from the table” … “Why does the DHS think it is worthwhile to pay for bugs to be found, but has made no provision to pay for them to be fixed?”

on the other hand, the use of such extensive and powerful tools could possibly be of great benefit to the community, so that they could worry more on creating even more innovative and powerful software, instead of chasing down bugs.

This is pointed out by Dawson Engler, of Coverity,

“The money is going to provide them with things they need to fix the bugs, which is bug reports. That is a lot better than they have now, which is nothing,”

In part, this is the part that sits akwardly… a lot better than what they have now? hmm, how come the software in question was able to make it to the prominence it has now, in a place where it is vying and contending for serious market share?

the other part, and perhaps this is misplaced, but why does the DHS believe that open source software must be examined in such a way? does it believe that open source software is more of a threat than other propriatery software, that has a tendency to allow thousand of machines to be turned into bots for the sending of oodles of spam and other such nefarious emissions.

it is a good idea - somewhere - i think - at some level, but it still sits a little odd at the back of the mind.

R

[Update:]Bruce Schneier has picked up on this too. The comments on his post seem to reflect some of my own ideas.

should you have some nrg (Nero CD Image) files, that you want to burn under linux, using k3b for example, take a look at this, GREG’S PLACE v4 : Nrg2Iso.

nice little tool that converts your nrg files to iso’s, and quicly too!

R

could be useful, have not tried them yet (have no ink for printer at the moment…)

Openoffice.org Label Templates for Ooo Writer free 2.0 version for Writer. Templates include CD and DVD. Avery� cross reference, a large

Finding the occasional straw of truth awash in a great ocean of confusion and bamboozle requires intelligence, vigilance, dedication and courage. But if we don’t practice these tough habits of thought, we cannot hope to solve the truly serious problems that face us — and we risk becoming a nation of suckers, up for grabs by the next charlatan who comes along.

– Carl Sagan, “The Fine Art of Baloney Detection,” Parade, February 1, 1987

If A is a success in life, then A = x + y + z. Work is x, y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut

Albert Einstein