WashU got some good press this week. This week's I, Cringley column said that "Washington University is every bit on the same level as a Stanford or UC Berkeley." I'm not sure that I fully agree with that statement, but that's not going to keep me from repeating it to someone the next time I have to explain that WashU is in St. Louis, not Washington State or the District of Columbia.

Comments: 1 Posted by david on 31 October 2003 at 11:13 AM

Reading about Harry, Ron, and Hermione can make you sick. Or so claims one doctor, who has diagnosed three cases of "Hogwarts headaches." The doctor claims that "Hogwarts headache" is a "tension headache brought on by the effort required to plough through an 870-page book." Here's the full article.

Comments: 1 Posted by david on 31 October 2003 at 10:32 AM

For fans of "The OC," Lisa de Moraes has some amusing inside information about the most recent episode in her TV Column. Here's the link. The part about "The OC" starts about half-way down the first page.

Comments: 0 Posted by david on 31 October 2003 at 9:10 AM

In a report that I can only imagine is sending the slashdot crowd into hysterics, the New York Times is reporting that google has had meetings with Microsoft to discuss a possible partnership or a merger. Personally, I don't see what google would gain out of a merger with Microsoft, but I didn't see what google gained by buying blogger, so what do I know?

Comments: 1 Posted by david on 31 October 2003 at 7:45 AM

I'm not sure if I'm supposed to mention this, but HRH the Duke of York, Prince Andrew will be visiting work tomorrow. He's appearing in his role as UK trade ambassador to celebrate E--'s opening of a rental branch in Belfast, Northern Ireland. This puts E-- branches in all the countries of the United Kingdom. But you don't care about that. You care about all the craziness that accompanies His Royal Highness's visit. For example, the Prince, as we're all calling him at work, doesn't do revolving doors. This shouldn't be a big deal, as the revolving door in the front of the main building is flanked by two swinging doors. However, the Prince doesn't enter buildings through "side entrances." So the revolving door is being removed so the Prince can get into the building. Also, the Prince doesn't do stairs, so a large ramp is being constructed so he can climb the three steps to the make-shift stage in building 2's multi-purpose room. Also, new carpets are being installed all over the place, furniture is being replaced, and the cafeteria is closing early tomorrow; all for the Prince's visit. Sadly, while all the corporate employees have been given permission to attend the Prince's visit, we have been informed that he are not allowed to give the Prince any gifts. Fortunately, I've not yet met anyone upset by this last rule.

Comments: 0 Posted by david on 23 October 2003 at 12:03 AM

I don't usually go for the controversial here, but tonight I think I will. As some of you may know, there is a lady, Terri Schiavo, in Florida who has been in a vegetative state since 1990. She's not on a respirator, but is unable to feed herself, and has a feeding tube. Last week, Mrs. Schiavo's husband finally won a protracted legal battle with his in-laws and has given judicial approval to remove the feeding tube and let his wife die. Starving to death would be a terrible way to die. It's slow and agonizing and there are few cases where I would want someone to die that way. But I feel it was appropriate in this case. Mrs. Schiavo's parents claim she could smile and grunt, but doctors say this is a normal, involuntary response. I wonder if it is really relevant? If I were in a vegetative state and was capable of only the most base actions for more than ten years, I would certainly prefer death to life. But now the Florida legislature has decided that they are better arbiters of the dispute between Mr. Schiavo and his in-laws. They studied the issue for less than a week and then threw out years of court decisions. Yesterday the legislature enacted a narrowly-worded statute that lets Gov. Jeb Bush restore Mrs. Schiavo's feeding tube. And Gov. Bush has done just that. The legal scholars seem to think this law will be ruled unconstitutional. I certainly hope so. Why continue to put this family through all this grief?

Here is the NY Times article on this case.

Comments: 5 Posted by david on 22 October 2003 at 12:03 AM

Google keeps adding new features. Now you can use google to get definitions as well as all the other things that it does.

Comments: 0 Posted by david on 21 October 2003 at 11:03 AM

If there is anyone more deserving of your pity right now, it is that poor, headphones-wearing Cubs fan from last night's game. He puts his arms up to catch a foul ball and the next thing he knows he's become the scapegoat for the Cubs horrible defense. Its not like he reached over the wall and dragged in a home run. He stuck his arm out - on his side of the wall - and tried to catch a foul ball. The Cubs didn't give up any runs on that play, they just didn't get the out. Everything would have been fine if they hadn't walked the batter on the next pitch, and then given up hit after hit for the rest of the inning. And now the Chicago Sun-Times, The Smoking Gun, ESPN, and our own St. Louis Post-Dispatch are publishing his name and, in some cases, his address. If anything happens to this guy, I hope whoever does it goes to jail. And the Cubs deserve to lose tonight for blaming their poor performance on their fan.

Comments: 2 Posted by david on 15 October 2003 at 6:30 PM

Here's how I would vote in California's recall election today. No on the recall, Yes for Gary Coleman. Although I think Gray Davis is a horrible governor, I don't support recall elections, so the "No on the recall" part of my vote is pretty easy. The tougher part was who to vote for as a potential replacement governor. None of the candidates made a very good case for why they should be governor, so in the absence of any positive case for one, I decided to penalize California for this whole debacle. As I see it, whether of not California ends up with Gary Coleman or Gray Davis is pretty much a wash policy-wise (neither of them has any policies -- at least not consistently), so I might as well go for the one that most amuses me. And makes California look silly.

Comments: 1 Posted by david on 7 October 2003 at 12:07 PM

Who says there aren't any super-heros? London has a real-life super-hero, complete with blue tights and a cape. He seems to lack any real super powers, and his claim to fame is cutting the wheel-clamps off of illegally parked cars. His self-chosen nickname is Angle-Grinder Man. More in the NY Times.

Comments: 1 Posted by david on 7 October 2003 at 9:14 AM

Watch out, television fans. The Washington Post's TV Column is reporting that Jason Alexander of "Seinfeld" fame has signed on to play Tony Kornheiser, a Washington Post columnist and co-host of ESPN's "Pardon the Interruption," in a show tentatively titled "Shut Up and Listen." The show is being developed for CBS and will be based on Tony's Washington Post Style-section columns about his home life.

This seems like a bad idea on so many levels I don't even know what else to say.

Comments: 1 Posted by david on 4 October 2003 at 11:32 AM

According to the Post-Dispatch, having a weblog can get you fired.

Comments: 1 Posted by david on 3 October 2003 at 2:55 PM

Yesterday at work I was given a mysterious document by the Senior Software Engineer who sits on the other side of the aisle from me. I thought I should reproduce it here for everyone's benefit, as it seems to contain useful business advice.

1) Never walk down the hall without a document in your hands. People with documents in their hands look like hardworking employees heading for important meetings.

2) Use computers to look busy. Any time you use a computer, it looks like work to the casual observer.

3) Messy desk. To the casual observer, last year's work looks the same as today's work; it's volume that counts.

4) Voice mail. Never answer your phone if you have voice mail. People don't call you just because they want to give you something for nothing - they call because they want you to DO work for THEM.

If anyone else has helpful tips like these for a guy just getting started in a new job, feel free to leave them for me.

Comments: 0 Posted by david on 3 October 2003 at 9:37 AM

I've posted before about the fact that Wisconsin is the evilest of the fifty states. Now there is proof that Wisconsin is also the lamest of all the states. Here is that proof, in the form of Wisconsin's newly approved state quarter design:

Now, I know most of these quarters look pretty bad. The one from Indiana, for example, has an Indy 500 car on it. But, as you can see, the people of Wisconsin, by a margin of 25,000 votes, choose a coin design with a cow, a block of cheese, and corn as the only design elements. I guess it makes sense. This is what most people associate with Wisconsin. (Not me of course; I think of evilness personified.)

Comments: 0 Posted by david on 1 October 2003 at 11:23 PM