<div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/programming">programming</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/tips">tips</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/exceptions">exceptions</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/error">error</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/toread">toread</a>)</div>
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<div class="delicious-link"><a href="http://damieng.com/blog/2008/08/01/ten-commandments-for-developers">Ten commandments for developers » DamienG</a></div>
<div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/development">development</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/programming">programming</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/design">design</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/usability">usability</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/ui">ui</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/commandments">commandments</a>)</div>
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<div class="delicious-link"><a href="http://mathworld.wolfram.com/ReuleauxTriangle.html">Reuleaux Triangle -- from Wolfram MathWorld</a></div>
<div class="delicious-extended">A bit to drill square holes</div>
<div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/interesting">interesting</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/mathematics">mathematics</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/triangle">triangle</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/reuleaux">reuleaux</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/drill">drill</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/engineering">engineering</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/geometry">geometry</a>)</div>
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<div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/politics">politics</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/list">list</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/johnmccain">johnmccain</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/2008election">2008election</a>)</div>
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<div class="delicious-link"><a href="http://blog.uncommons.org/2008/08/24/a-java-syntax-quirk/">New Adventures in Software » A Java Syntax Quirk</a></div>
<div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/java">java</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/puzzle">puzzle</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/syntax">syntax</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/humor">humor</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/programming">programming</a>)</div>
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The following comparison is from Dive into Python, by Mark Pilgram, Section 2.2.1:
dynamically typed language:
strongly typed language:
weakly typed language:
<div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/society">society</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/marketing">marketing</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/quality">quality</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/sethgodin">sethgodin</a>)</div>
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<div class="delicious-link"><a href="http://www.coderholic.com/free-python-programming-books/">Coderholic » Blog Archive » 10 Free Python Programming Books</a></div>
<div class="delicious-extended">Free books!</div>
<div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/toread">toread</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/development">development</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/python">python</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/django">django</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/documentation">documentation</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/books">books</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/computer">computer</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/free">free</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/programming">programming</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/library">library</a>)</div>
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<div class="delicious-link"><a href="http://www.linuxscrew.com/2007/10/11/7-must-read-linux-tutorials/">7 "must read" Linux tutorials | Linux Screw</a></div>
<div class="delicious-extended">Putting the "i" in Linux</div>
<div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/toread">toread</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/linux">linux</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/unix">unix</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/reference">reference</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/shell">shell</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/bash">bash</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/list">list</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/os">os</a>)</div>
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<div class="delicious-link"><a href="http://www.pomonahistorical.org/12times.htm">Folding Paper in Half Twelve Times</a></div>
<div class="delicious-extended">Two to the twelfth power is 4096 layers.</div>
<div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/howto">howto</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/geek">geek</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/interesting">interesting</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/paperfolding">paperfolding</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/mathematics">mathematics</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/research">research</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/puzzles">puzzles</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/geometry">geometry</a>)</div>
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<div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/security">security</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/humanrights">humanrights</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/immigration">immigration</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/rights">rights</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/dhs">dhs</a>)</div>
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This morning I had a dentist appointment to have a couple of small cavities filled. Growing up when I did, I have a almost paralyzing fear of the dentist. Between braces, three abscessed teeth, a couple of root canals, and one root amputation, I’ve had more than my fair share of difficult dental procedures. My childhood dentist was a fearful character in my life; he used to tell me that he was spraying rat poison in my mouth, to keep me from swallowing when he sprayed fluoride on my teeth. “Don’t swallow! Rat poison!”
I believe that we are all born with a certain amount of dental courage, and once it is used up, there isn’t any more. I used mine up long ago.
Finding a dentist you like isn’t easy. Finding one you like, who is compassionate to your fears without being condescending or saccharin is next to impossible. Last winter, at the recommendation of one of Sibylle’s friends I tried a new dentist. I hadn’t been in a number of years and I was afraid, not only of going, but that he would find lots of problems.
I was hugely relieved when there weren’t any problems that couldn’t be taken care of by some more rigorous flossing. Unfortunately, the dentist himself was less than I’d hoped for. Still, first impressions are sometimes wrong, so I thought I’d give it a go, and scheduled a second, six-month cleaning. At the cleaning last week the hygienist discovered two small spots that concerned her. The dentist agreed and said I needed fillings.
My worst fears realized.
Upon arriving at the office, and being led back to the treatment station, the assistant said that Sibylle would have to wait in the lounge. I said that I was terrified of the dentist and that if she couldn’t stay with me, the procedure wasn’t going to happen. She excused herself to talk to the dentist, and came back saying that they would recommend another dentist.
I said, “Thank you, I’ll find my own dentist,” and we left.
Part of the fear equation when I was a child was that I had no choice but to go to the dentist. It was scary, and often painful. The lack of control only added to the situation. Even as an adult, it is hard sometimes to disagree with authority - especially medical authority. We are all conditioned to respect and listen to doctors. Listening to myself, and doing what took care of me this morning, was hugely empowering.
<div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/toread">toread</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/security">security</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/privacy">privacy</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/surveillance">surveillance</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/freedom">freedom</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/identity">identity</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/schneier">schneier</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/society">society</a>)</div>
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<div class="delicious-link"><a href="http://kk.org/kk/2008/08/very-longterm-backup.php">Long Term backup</a></div>
<div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/toread">toread</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/interesting">interesting</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/history">history</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/technology">technology</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/storage">storage</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/backup">backup</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/kevinkelly">kevinkelly</a>)</div>
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<div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/johnmccain">johnmccain</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/politics">politics</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/opinion">opinion</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/2008election">2008election</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/vietnam">vietnam</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/toread">toread</a>)</div>
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<div class="delicious-link"><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/18/cafferty.mccain/index.html">Commentary: Is McCain another George W. Bush? - CNN.com</a></div>
<div class="delicious-extended">In a word - yes. Be afraid.</div>
<div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/cnn">cnn</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/johnmccain">johnmccain</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/politics">politics</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/opinion">opinion</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/president">president</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/2008election">2008election</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/toread">toread</a>)</div>
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<div class="delicious-link"><a href="http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/08/was-mccain-tort.html">The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan</a></div>
<div class="delicious-extended">Violence begets more violence, and torture, it seems, begets more torture.</div>
<div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/history">history</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/johnmccain">johnmccain</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/vietnam">vietnam</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/hypocrisy">hypocrisy</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/torture">torture</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/bush">bush</a>)</div>
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<div class="delicious-link"><a href="http://philip.greenspun.com/humor/eecs-difference-explained">EE versus CS</a></div>
<div class="delicious-extended">Once upon a time...</div>
<div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/engineering">engineering</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/programming">programming</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/science">science</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/funny">funny</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/humor">humor</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/geek">geek</a>)</div>
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<div class="delicious-link"><a href="http://www.wesg.ca/2008/06/automatically-update-your-computers-uptime-on-your-website/">Automatically update your computer’s uptime on your website | wesg</a></div>
<div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/bash">bash</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/uptime">uptime</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/script">script</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/interesting">interesting</a>)</div>
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<div class="delicious-link"><a href="http://www.governmentsecurity.org/articles/DefaultLoginsandPasswordsforNetworkedDevices.php">Default Logins and Passwords for Networked Devices</a></div>
<div class="delicious-extended">For when you want to "borrow" your neighbor's router</div>
<div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/reference">reference</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/list">list</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/wifi">wifi</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/passwords">passwords</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/default">default</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/wireless">wireless</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/useful">useful</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/hack">hack</a>)</div>
</li></ul>
The front page of today’s Kansas City Star has an article about an incoming freshman basketball player who has been arrested on suspicion of shooting a passerby with a plastic BB from a BB gun, possibly while intoxicated.
Personally, if I were the coach or athletic directory at a university, I would make it abundantly clear to those students who were there, in part, because of their ability with a ball, that any infraction of the rules of the team, the institution, or society, would result in their being removed from the team and stripped of any scholarship related to their sport.
That we again and again appear to have a double standard when it comes to enforcing the rules when it comes to athletes is appalling. Being able to dunk a basketball or catch a football is not license to treat the rest of the world as somehow less than you.
The game that got you a spot at the university has rules, that when violated bring a penalty. The game of life has rules too. Ones that should be just as true for athletes as it is for other citizens. Break those rules, and you are off the team.