She was my first

I wasn't sure exactly which buttons to press, but she was patient. Quite slow and more than a little ugly by my current standards, I nevertheless remember her fondly. I was browsing the new items at the ThinkGeek online store and saw their 2005 Classic Computers Calendar. And there she is, my first programming experience, "Miss January", the Commodore PET.

The best grad speech I've heard

Paul Graham, computer scientist, author, painter, and dot-com millionaire, writes "What You'll Wish You'd Known". I think he really nails it.

And yet every May, speakers all over the country fire up the Standard Graduation Speech, the theme of which is: don't give up on your dreams. I know what they mean, but this is a bad way to put it, because it implies you're supposed to be bound by some plan you made early on.

An interesting read for anyone, high school students and supposed grown-ups alike.

Keller vs. Stabler

I can't be the only one who would like to see the ultimate brawl between intense Law & Order detective Elliot Stabler and OZ's perverted killer Chris Keller. I only say this because they're both played by Christopher Meloni, possibly my favorite dramatic TV actor.

Picasa 2 is great

Earlier this week Google released version 2 of their photo management software, Picasa. We've been trying it out and it rocks. I won't have to help my family share photos online anymore :)

This is the first photo album program I've used that is fast, free, powerful, and has an easy to use interface. It provides all the touch-up functionality needed to enhance photos as well as tools for sharing the photos on a website, a CD, or by email. And that includes support for web-based email like Gmail, something sorely missing from the picture email functionality built into Windows.

Even though I use ACDSee, a powerful but complex image manager, I'm going to install Picasa as well because of it's Blogger and Gmail tools.

New house

The sale conditions have been taken care of and we move in near the end of February. Once this thing is really done (we move in) I'll post the details.

Gmail

I've been using Google's new web-based email service, Gmail for a few months now. I like it enough that it's replaced Hotmail as my personal email. My 2 favorite things about Gmail:

1. It groups back & forth email conversations. What could be a dozen emails is just one in Gmail: Gmail screenshot.
2. Gmail has the same the minimalist, down-to-business style of interface that Google has. I hardly even notice the ads unlike Hotmail with it's giant banners: Gmail screenshot.

You can't just sign-up for Gmail. Google calls it "beta" which means it's still in testing. During this testing you need to be invited by an existing user to get in. If you want to try out Gmail let me know and I'll send you an invite next time I get some more.

American TV gets a tiny bit better

From Ars Technica:

In the middle of October, Jon Stewart took his usual complaints about partisan hackery to his appearance on CNN's Crossfire (transcript here | streaming video here). From the beginning of the discussion, Stewart took aim at Crossfire and other media shows, saying (at first with a smile) that they "hurt America" by making politicians' lives easier by failing to "hold their feet to the fire." The gist of Stewart's complaint was that shows that were purportedly "hard" and "cutting" were really only theatrical performances of talking points and sensationalism.

Well CNN's new President agrees and has canceled Crossfire. Even better, he actually specifically cited Jon's comments.