August « 2003 « Sub Ubi

Novice programmers, semantic errors

By matt, on August 31st, 2003%

In preparation for a trip to the British Library, I’ll be consolidating links and references over the next week regarding novice programming. Unfortunately (fortunately?), Google and Citeseer tend to be very good resources for this kind of thing; the literature shows up in too many places, and I’ve discovered lately (see previous rants on this) that . . . → Read More: Novice programmers, semantic errors

DotGNU community coding contest

By matt, on August 31st, 2003%

Once again, I should be in bed.

The contributions will be judged considering not only the
quantity and quality of the contributed code, but taking
in consideration also how well the competition participants
use the #dotgnu irc channel, the mailing lists and the wiki
for coordinating their coding efforts, and for helping
newcomers with getting started.
(emphasis mine)

These are the judging criteria . . . → Read More: DotGNU *community* coding contest

Thai red curry

By matt, on August 30th, 2003%

While living in Bloomington we were spoiled by too many good restaurants. One that I miss particularly is Anyetsang’s Little Tibet, one of the few Tibetan restaurants I have encountered in my wanderings around the US and (now) UK. Their dumplings and curries were excellent across the board; in particular, I loved their Thai red curry.

I’ve . . . → Read More: Thai red curry

Sodaplay

By matt, on August 30th, 2003%

I remember seeing Sodaplay a year or two ago. I thought it was cool then. Now?

Whoa. Oy.

They now have a downloadable version of the applet, so you can play with if offline. I know the whole Sodaplay universe is… simple–almost simplistic–in design, but something about it intrigues me in the same way that Conway’s Game . . . → Read More: Sodaplay

One year and one minute

By matt, on August 27th, 2003%

I missed it. Yesterday (the 27th) was the one year anniversary of when we arrived in the UK.

Time… what . . . → Read More: One year and one minute

Public content, public access

By matt, on August 25th, 2003%

The BBC opening up its programme archives? Consider the model: the public pays for the content on the BBC (TV and radio) by paying a yearly TV license fee. Now you can find impassioned calls to end the license, but as an American living in Britain, I think the license makes a lot of sense.

The . . . → Read More: Public content, public access

Karina is still in Antarctica

By matt, on August 22nd, 2003%

While traveling in the States, I visited my alma mater (my wife lives just down the street, so it isn’t exactly out of the way). I walked around with my father, telling him stories and remembering friends from when I was there. That kind of thing is always humbling, because it just seems like I know . . . → Read More: Karina is still in Antarctica

Babylon 5 on DVD

By matt, on August 20th, 2003%

A certain mad scientist and his beautiful assistant introduced us, once upon a time, to Babylon 5. Now, Carrie and I would like to own it. (Someday, anyway.)

Season one @ Amazon.com is $85. Season one @ Amazon.co.uk costs 35 GBP.

If I do a currency conversion (based on the value of the pound and dollar, today), . . . → Read More: Babylon 5 on DVD

And a last resort…

By matt, on August 19th, 2003%

A very good friend dropped a note w.r.t. the last few rants regarding libraries:

Good luck finding your library articles… I think it’s $1 if I want an old article turned into a PDF here; let me know if you need anything really obscure and I’ll see what I can do for you…

I think the Reader’s Pass . . . → Read More: And a last resort…

Libraries, continued.

By matt, on August 18th, 2003%

It turns out that the pricing I found for inter-library loan through the University of Kent was incorrect; prices went up this year. While it is true that departments have a budget for this sort of thing, I’m still displeased about the whole situation.

In short, the US got libraries right, and the UK got them wrong. . . . → Read More: Libraries, continued.

Sub Ubi