A while ago, Mark blogged about the new Ubuntu branding effort that was introduced in Lucid and will continue to be carried forward for future releases. Notably: On the consumer/enterprise spectrum, we took inspiration from the aerospace industry, and identified a texture of closely spaced dots. When you see more of that, it means we’re [...]
Researchers Masaki Kita and Daisuke Uemura have isolated the peptides in platypus venom that induces pain in humans. The peptides induce calcium ions to rush into cells, and as we all know, calcium ions bring the pain (or perhaps more accurately, lead to long-term potentiation (LTP), which is basically…. pain). In what was news to [...]
Computer folks, especially Linux hackers, are a little weird when it comes to vacation. A lot of them look forward to a large uninterrupted block of time so they can focus on their personal programming projects. The reason this is weird is because to the observer, the form of what the hacker is doing remains [...]
Apologies if you’re reading this via a reader. I discovered a bug in twitter tools and decided to fix it. The bug was that it wasn’t linking to hash tags properly because it had some weird regexp that limited it to 15 characters. I hate fixing regexps. Really. Especially in a language that I don’t [...]
Actually, sometimes there are stupid questions. Especially if you keep asking your question, hearing an answer you don’t like, and then re-asking your question hoping to hear a different answer. The Linux kernel mailing list has a reputation for being somewhat unfriendly, but for the most part, it’s actually quite civil. The experienced folks often [...]
Here’s a shout-out to Jess, who is nearing the end game of her new career as a nutritionist. She was accepted to her top choice of internship programs and will be spending her proximate future in Houston (nb, this is a good thing, not a punishment). Congrats Jess! Her friends here have heard a lot [...]
Sorry friends in real life, today’s entry is extremely nerdy. I received a new machine at work today and proceeded to do a fresh install of Ubuntu Jaunty. One thing I tend to do is drag around old ssh keys with me. Yes, I know this is bad security practice. I do it anyway. Bugger [...]
This is definitely the best changelog that I’ve ever written: http://git.kernel.org/linus/50d716e477a456f6ef8ef05f06a34f3d96b66e80 ACPI: dock: fix “sibiling” typo Crossword clues as haikus: Snakes from the same brood fighting Jackson on a plane? sibilant siblings I guess Will Shortz’s job is still secure. I am sick and tired of these motherf@#$ing typos in the motherf@#$ing kernel! Maybe Brendan [...]
The HP B9180 is a great printer… except when it’s not. Watching it go on the fritz, munching its way through expensive consumables is one of the most frustrating feelings in the computer world. One common problem is this annoying band that gets printed near the top or bottom of the page. The HP solution [...]
Paul Graham has written another fine essay titled Maker’s Schedule, Manager’s Schedule. I highly encourage you to read it, Right Now. First paragraph? One reason programmers dislike meetings so much is that they’re on a different type of schedule from other people. Meetings cost them more. My only “complaint” is this paragraph: For someone on [...]