Twitter for Week of 3 August 2008
These are my annotated tweets for the week of 3 August 2008. Follow my microblog on Twitter at http://twitter.com/conrad_halling, then come here for the expanded version.
Google ads
2008-08-03: Clueless Google ads on twittercounter.com: ad for granite counter tops, ad for quartz counter tops, and ad for counter-terrorism degrees.
This is an example of why humans are (so far) smarter than computers. The ads are gone now, so possibly Google tweaked its algorithms.
Haruki Murakami
2008-08-03: I recently read A Wild Sheep Chase, by Haruki Murakami. Now I want to read his new book, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running.
Geoff Dyer at the New York Times Book Review didn’t think much of What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, but I read an excerpt in the New Yorker, and that was when I decided I wanted to read the entire book. Like Murakami, I’m a marathon runner, so I’m very interested in what he has to say about running and its relation to the rest of his life.
Perl’s Weaknesses for Large Software Projects
2008-08-04: Today I read about the Ensembl core software libraries and disadvantages of using Perl.
In the paper, the authors state:
However, some aspects of Perl are not well suited for a software project of Ensembl’s size. Whereas weak typing allows for rapid program development, absence of compile time checking of function prototypes and variable types is a steady source of runtime errors. Another disadvantage of Perl is its reference-count-based garbage collector, which effectively limits the use of circular references. Variables that are part of a circular reference structure are never garbage-collected and can introduce potentially serious memory leaks. Avoidance of circular reference memory leaks has necessitated some compromises to the overall system design.
Later, the authors give this rationale for moving from Perl to Java:
Perl suffers from certain disadvantages as an implementation language for a large-scale project. Java overcomes many of these problems and has the benefits of compile time type checking, enforced interfaces, multi threading, better support for graphical user interfaces, and correct garbage collection of circularly referenced objects.
Installing Perl Modules Into a User Directory
2008-08-05: Today I installed libgd and GD, GD::Graph, and GD::Text Perl modules into a user directory; this was tricky because I didn’t have root.
I plan to write a separate post about this.
Verizon’s Slow Response to Outage
2008-08-06: Both companies in our building lost phones and Internet today, making it difficult to work. Apparently someone cut fiber on Vassar Street.
MIT and Cambridge are renovating Vassar Street from Massachusetts Avenue to Amesbury Street. A construction worker cut Verizon’s fiber, disconnecting businesses at the end of Vassar Street near Memorial Drive. It took ten hours for Verizon to identify and fix the problem. Our site manager said Verizon didn’t believe him when he first called; Verizon contented it was a problem inside our building. It wasn’t until other companies called to complain that Verizon took real action.
stackoverflow.com Beta Test
2008-08-06: I’m participating in the stackoverflow.com beta test. I’ve already learned some useful things from answers to others’ questions.
2008-08-07: I’m lonely on the stackoverflow.com beta test site. So far, there have been only six posts about Perl. The site is very Microsoft-oriented.
I have greatly enjoyed listening to Jeff Atwood and Joel Spolsky’s podcast, Stack Overflow, which is hosted by IT Conversations. Jeff is creating a web site, stackoverflow.com, that is intended to serve as a repository of knowledge for programmers. I am a participant in the private beta test.
My useful programming experience is in Perl, C, and C++, and I spend most of my time these days writing Perl. As I have commented before in this blog and on twitter, there are already substantial online resources available to Perl coders, so I think it is unlikely that the stackoverflow site will attract much Perl-related traffic. But I decided it was worth my effort to try.
In the meantime, I’m learning lots about C# and .NET. I may need to learn C# soon.
Worst Personal Genome Project Scenarios
reading worst Personal Genome Project scenario: someone makes synthetic DNA corresponding to the participant and plant it at a crime scene!
I responded:
2008-08-08: @agbiotec Worst Personal Genome Project scenario: Professor clones you, and the resentful clone escapes to hunt you down and kill you!
Presumably, the unnamed professor in this scenario works at a famous ivy league university and is a pioneer in personal genomes…. And I wonder: if your clone kills you and takes your place, who would know? I think I have here the makings of a biotechnology thriller.
agbiotec responded:
@conrad_halling worse, the clone being next to you constantly and saying: “Write your thesis”, “Write your paper”, “Write your thesis’…
I agree, this is the most frightening of all.
agbiotec’s blog is located at http://semanticlifescience.wordpress.com/.
New LCD Display
2008-08-08: My quest for a new display is over. Today I ordered a Dell 22-inch UltraSharp 2208WFP 1680 x 1050; with discounts and free shipping, $292.
At work I use a Dell 20-inch E207WFP display that has 1680 x 1050 resolution. Our IT group ordered this model because it was inexpensive, but I experience a lot of eye strain with this monitor because the image isn’t very sharp. My work laptop, a Dell Latitude D610, has only 1024 x 768 resolution, and this is inconveniently small when I work at home. So I decided to buy a larger and sharper monitor for use at home. I’ll report when it arrives.
Broccoli Is Good For You
2008-08-09: If broccoli is so good for you, why can’t you buy broccoli yogurt? (For me, raspberry yogurt is the most delicious.)
I eat broccoli because it is good for me, but I really dislike its flavor.
August 10 2008 09:32 am | Microblog
