Monthly Archives: June 2008
The Black Chinese of South Africa
In the early days of South Africa … well, not the really early days, but some time in the 19th century or early 20th century, a fairly large number of Chines people were imported as workers/slaves. One of the reasons to do this was to break the indigenous workers’ efforts for reform. It failed, and the Chinese became of no special use to the Apartheid government or the mining corporations, so they were sent back. All of them.Nonetheless, there are some 200,000 or so “ethnic Chinese” living today in South Africa. Now, I do not really know for sure who these people are or how they got there, and I’m not totally trusting that they are really “Chinese” … in South African English, the word “Chinese” means “Asian.” But whatever, there they are.The reason I’m even mentioning this is because of this fascinating news story that has come out today from the BBC: Continue reading The Black Chinese of South Africa
Freaky Picture
Look closely at this picture. Continue reading Freaky Picture
“Get ready ladies, for a summer of political courtship…”
Now I’m busy looking for the video that tells Obama and McCain what they should be doing.Hat Tip: Ana Continue reading “Get ready ladies, for a summer of political courtship…”
New Al Franken Ad
And an opportunity for you to give Al money. Click here to see the ad. The money part is optional.
Female Coders Do It With Consideration
Check it out:
Emma McGrattan, the senior vice-president of engineering for computer-database company Ingres-and one of Silicon Valley’s highest-ranking female programmers-insists that men and women write code differently. Women are more touchy-feely and considerate of those who will use the code later, she says. They’ll intersperse their code-those strings of instructions that result in nifty applications and programs-with helpful comments and directions, explaining why they wrote the lines the way they did and exactly how they did it.The code becomes a type of “roadmap” for others who might want to alter it or add to it later, says McGrattan, a native of Ireland who has been with Ingres since 1992.Men, on the other hand, have no such pretenses.
Talkin’Trash in Linux
When geeks don’t have enough work to do.
It gets really interesting just after 1 min. 30 sec.
The Sexies Are Out!
The winners of the Sex Positive Journalism Award (The Sexies) have been announced!!! And here they are: Continue reading The Sexies Are Out!
Something has gone terribly wrong …
… at Firefox Central.Firefox had been organizing “Download Day” on their web site … getting as many people as possible to show up TODAY (June 17th) todownload the newly released Firefox 3 … so many people as to set a record for number of downloads.But it isn’t there! Ha! You can download Version 2, but not Version 3. Maybe they mean some other time zone… Maybe they were only kidding… Maybe they messed up….Well, the Firefox Browser is so good we’ll forgive them. Maybe they will get he software on line in a few minutes or an hour or so and still break the record.
The Vampire, the Church Lady, and the Wardrobe
She was a church lady. I could see it a mile away. Her hair cut, her clothing, her way of standing, and as I got closer, her way of speaking and, eventually, the things she said. I will call her Joan.It is not that surprising to find a church lady like Joan at Har Mar Shopping Mall. Har Mar is a unique phenomenon. From the outside, it is a strip mall, and from the inside, it is a regular “inside” mall. Some of the stores are only on the inside part, some open on both the inside and outside part. None are only outside. So you park, walk into a store in the strip mall, like into the LeAnn Chin’s Chinese Food place, and you go to the back of the store where the bathroom or emergency exit might be, and instead of a men’s room you find this full blown shopping mall. Like the cabinet in Narnia but instead of a fantasy world run by a big lion, you’ve got a kinda run-down but quaint Midwestern style shopping mall. Continue reading The Vampire, the Church Lady, and the Wardrobe
Singer the iPhone Voos. Boos. Blues. I meant Singing.
Brian Unger can be very funny. I just got an electronic device similar to (but not) an iPhone. More on that later. But in the mean time, I heard this today while I was on my way over to Har Mar and I thought it was so funny that I’d pass it on to you. (More on Har Mar later, too .. )Go here, and click on “Listen Now. It’s Brian Unger’s letter to Steve Jobs. Written on his iPhone.(Spell check that, Mr. Sparty-pants.)The iPhone Blues
Hiaasen For Kids
I very recently reviewed Carl Hiaasen’s novels. Among his fiction are two books that are written explicitly for kids. Looking just at Hiaasen’s titles it may be hard to pick them out from the pack, so I’m making a special reference to them here. They are called “Hoot” and “Flush.” Details follow: Continue reading Hiaasen For Kids
Canadian Dinosaur Find: New Species?
The first dinosaur bones (that we know of) to have been discovered in British Columbia, Canada, are now being reported. These are bones found in 1971, eventually making their way to the Royal British Columbia Museum, and now being reported by V.M. Arbour and M.C. Graves. The bones were initially found by Kenny Flyborg Larsen, a geologist prospecting for thorium. He was drawn to these bones because the bones themselves are radioactive, and his instruments led him to them.(This is an update on this, as Arbour kindly sent me a copy of the original paper.) Continue reading Canadian Dinosaur Find: New Species?
Creationism and Its Critics in Antiquity
I have not read this book, but I’m interested in finding out more about it. Has anyone out there had a shot at it?