I love it when a job listing includes a code snippet. This one also serves as a CAPTCHA to mask the email address!
jobs.joelonsoftware.com
Programming puzzle follows. Read the C++ code to determine our email address.
char in = "rcduina";
for char ch = in; ch = \0; ch {
::printf"%c", ch 1;
}
::printf"@appassure.com\n";
Floating a New Idea For Going Wireless, Parachute Included - WSJ.com
Balloon Launch Gets
Google’s Attention;
Dairy Farmers Can Help
By AMOL SHARMA
February 20, 2008; Page A1CHANDLER, Ariz. — Jerry Knoblach wants to bring wireless service to millions of rural Americans. His plan: Beam it down from balloons hovering at the edge of space.
Read entire article.
Does this article make sense to you? Ken Rockwell argues that Costco (or similar stores) will make film prints for less than they do for digital prints. Therefore, one should pick up an insanely cheap professional film camera and get prints developed and the digital files on CD for “free.”
This is what I did before shelving my Nikon N60. :’( To get double 4×6 prints and a CD, it cost me about $10 for every 24 shots at Sam’s Club. I had pause when pressing the shutter, because I knew it cost almost $0.50 each time I did so.
With my digital camera, I shoot with abandon and just delete the duds. Also, only one or two dozen shots ever make it to paper each year. The rest are posted online or burned to CD and sent to family.
The only way Ken’s article makes sense is for someone who wants a print of every single shot and would be paying for it whether the shot came from a film or digital camera. Who does that?
Ken generally seems to gave good advice, and I enjoy his site. This time, I guess he just got off on a rant because electronics married photography and ran away with cameras as they once were.
Opera files antitrust complaint with the EU
The complaint describes how Microsoft is abusing its dominant position by tying its browser, Internet Explorer, to the Windows operating system and by hindering interoperability by not following accepted Web standards. Opera has requested the Commission to take the necessary actions to compel Microsoft to give consumers a real choice and to support open Web standards in Internet Explorer.”We are filing this complaint on behalf of all consumers who are tired of having a monopolist make choices for them,” said Jon von Tetzchner, CEO of Opera. “In addition to promoting the free choice of individual consumers, we are a champion of open Web standards and cross-platform innovation. We cannot rest until we’ve brought fair and equitable options to consumers worldwide.”
As an amateur web developer, there is no need to convince me of the necessity of open standards or the developers’ nightmare that is Internet Explorer! However, I think it’s bad politics for a government to step in and meddle with a free market. Unfortunately, if any major government will do it, the European Union will gladly serve as Opera’s big club against Microsoft.
Today I heard a news story about a bank robber having a dye pack explode in his face. It dawned on me that I didn’t understand how these things work, so Google and Howstuffworks.com quickly satisfied my curiosity.
System Support’s Night Before
Author Unknown
Twas the night before crisis, and all through the house
not a program was working, not even a browse.
The programmers were wrung out, too mindless to care,
knowing chances of cutover hadn’t a prayer.
The users were nestled all snug in their beds,
while visions of inquiries danced in their heads.
When out in the lobby there arose such a clatter
I sprang from my cube to see what was the matter!
And what to my wondering eyes should appear
but a super programmer, oblivious to fear.
More rapid than eagles, his programs they came,
and he whistled and shouted and called them by name.
‘On update! On add! On inquiry! On delete!
On batch jobs! On closing! On functions complete!’
His eyes were glazed over, his fingers were lean
from weekends and nights in front of the screen.
A wink of his eye, and a twist of his head
soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
turning specs into code, then turned with a jerk,
and laying his finger on the ‘ENTER’ key,
the system came up and worked perfectly!
The updates updated, the deletes they deleted,
the inquiries inquired, and the closing completed.
He tested each whistle, and tested each bell
with nary an abend, and all had gone well.
The system was finished, the tests were concluded.
The client’s last changes were even included!!
And the client exclaimed with a snarl and a taunt,
‘It’s just what I asked for, but it’s not what I want!’
Nation & World | Consumers feel helium squeeze | Seattle Times Newspaper
…But demand for the gas has taken off in industry and scientific research in recent years, and the helium squeeze is being felt everywhere from university physics laboratories to plants in India, China, Taiwan and Korea that make today’s hottest consumer products. Japanese helium suppliers recently warned customers in the electronics industry to prepare for supply cuts of up to 30 percent.
…
It is also noncombustible and can be liquified to temperatures approaching absolute zero, properties that render it ideal for cooling metals that produce superconductivity or in processes that throw off a lot of heat. It is used to make flat-panel TVs, semiconductors, optical fibers and magnetic resonance imaging machines, and it toughens industrial welds. NASA uses a train-car load to pressurize a liquid fuel rocket.
The U.S. government is the world’s No. 1 source, sucking helium out of a Texas reservoir it began filling after World War I, when dirigibles were thought to be the coming thing in transportation and warfare.
KnowledgeNews :: Radio Goes Nano
Friends, researchers in Berkeley, California, have built by far the smallest radio ever made–a nano radio. Though its fashioned from a carbon nanotube just billionths of a meter long, the radios creators say its fully functional. Theyve even used it to play the Beach Boys hit “Good Vibrations.”According to lead researcher Alex Zettl, the nanotube “serves simultaneously as all essential components of a radio–antenna, tunable band-pass filter, amplifier, and demodulator.” But hes not just hoping to build a microscopic iPod. Since “the entire radio would easily fit inside a living cell,” he thinks the nano radio should be able “to safely interact with biological systems.” He even envisions “radio-controlled devices moving through the bloodstream.”
This is far out stuff — the idea that cells in our body could be controlled via radio! The potential for medical advancement as well as a whole new level of bio-terrorism are absolutely staggering!
We had some friends over Saturday, including Matt Sample, who is a professional illustrator. He showed us how he “paints” with oils using his MacBook
Hail the Hasselblad H3D-39! Most digital cameras have an image sensor that is smaller than standard 35mm film. This beast has a 48×36mm sensor — analogous to film’s “medium format.”
I won’t be adding this beauty to my collection — or even my wish list — any time soon. It has a car-sized price tag of $31,995!
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