Today I finished something! That calls for a celebration. And furthermore it was the highest priority thing on my todo list. After celebrating for six minutes with a Diet Coke, it was on to the next thing. But it did feel good.
The other day while in San Francisco I rented a car, and discovered I'd allowed my driver's license to expire (!) So today I dutifully trudged down to my local DMV office prepared to spend hours waiting in a bureaucratic nightmare. Guess what? It wasn't bad... they have the line management well organized, the people were helpful and efficient, and I walked out with a temporarily license. Yay, could have been much worse...
Huh, seems boys with unpopular names more likely to break law. While "Ole" is unusual, I'm not sure it is unpopular. Huh :) ![Permalink](/images/link.gif)
Nassim Nicholas Taleb's (the Black Swan) rules for surviving in an unpredictable world. I need to work on #6, "Learn to fail with pride - and do so fast and cleanly." I fail without pride, it takes me a long time, and leaves a big mess :) ![Permalink](/images/link.gif)
So with Groundhog Day fast approaching (Feb 2), Slate asks the important question: How do you know whether Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow? (BTW, "Candlemas"? who knew?) ![Permalink](/images/link.gif)
Gadget lust: this clock for geeks. Oh please oh please oh please, I want one! ![Permalink](/images/link.gif)
So Google Search is still growing. Wow. A colleague pointed out something interesting about their dominance; because they have [much] higher search traffic than others, they have [much] more test data with which to improve their search algorithms. In theory the feedback they get will enable them to hold their lead indefinitely. We'll see! ![Permalink](/images/link.gif)
From the "who ordered that" department: Better JPEG standard due in 2009. In their infinite ignorance Microsoft have once again reinvented a wheel, developing their own enhancement to JPEG instead of drafting off the work already done on JPEG2000. Sheesh. Let's hope it dies a quick death. ![Permalink](/images/link.gif)
How do you know if you live in the right town? Well, if they have a soapbox derby, that's a good start :) How excellent is that? Mark your calendars and, er, start your engines...
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