Lucky number seven already? How time flies.
For those of you who haven’t heard of DemoCamp, here’s a quick summary. DemoCamp is basically “show and tell” for Toronto’s techies. Every month since December 2005, we’ve been getting together for Democamp, during which 5 or so people show a software or hardware project that they’re currently working [...]
Monthly Archives: June 2006
Jun
30
2006
DemoCamp 7: Tuesday, July 4th at No Regrets
Jun
30
2006
Boston Bumper Stickers
When I was last in Boston — just a couple of weeks ago, to attend Wendy’s 10th college reunion — we were driving about and saw the car below, which sported a couple of amusing bumper stickers:
Yeah, I Photoshop-blurred the licence plate.
Here’s a close-up of the bumper sticker on the left. I need one of [...]
Jun
30
2006
RailsConf 2006: why the lucky stiff and the Thirsty Cups
(This article also appears on Tucows Farm.)
The Ruby community are a bunch of lucky stiffs because why the lucky stiff is among their number. We’re lucky enough that why has given us his book-in-progress, why’s (poignant) guide to Ruby, the most whimsical programming book ever. Somehow, it manages to be both entertaining and still useful [...]
Jun
30
2006
RailsConf 2006: Where AC/DC, Stravinsky and Ruby on Rails Meet!
(This article also appears on Tucows Farm.)
I had the distinct honour of being invited to play an accordion opening number for Adam Keys’ most amusing presentation, AC/DC, Stravinsky and Rails. I played AC/DC’s You Shook Me All Night Long, and did a bonus round of Big Balls at the end of the presentation based on [...]
Jun
30
2006
Blogging Has Officially Jumped the Shark
Back in the Archie Goes Goth entry, I wrote “It’s a little-known fact that your subculture is over the minute it becomes a plot point in an Archie comic.”
I declare that blogging has jumped the shark, but not because Reggie now has a MySpace page:
Blogging has jumped the shark because it’s been referenced in the [...]
Jun
30
2006
A Year’s Worth of Girl Trouble
The web statistics suggest that I’m getting a crop of new readers, partially because of the Love/Hate T-shirt entry, partially because of the entry featuring the Family Circus/Cthulhu mashups and partly because of RailsConf and some nice linkage from the Ruby community’s very own rock star, why the lucky stiff and his Ruby-related site, RedHanded.
Welcome, [...]
Jun
29
2006
Meanwhile, in the Blog I Get Paid to Write…
Over at Tucows Farm, an entry about being both a developer and a marketer, with a link to a particularly intriguing entry in Seth Godin’s blog. That, and a little Photoshoppery…
Jun
29
2006
"Bender" and Al Gore Promote "An Inconvenient Truth"
Click the image to see the video.
Here’s a strange collaboration: “Bender” from Futurama and Al Gore in cartoon form appear in a promo for An Inconvenient Truth, which has been posted on YouTube. I never thought I’d ever hear Al Gore utter the word “pimp”.
Jun
28
2006
A Sense of Scale
My best math teachers and professors used to encourage the class to get a better feel for numbers by playing estimating games of all sorts: “How many jellybeans do you think are in this jar?” “How many bricks do you think are in the far wall?” “”How many houses are there on the next block?” [...]
Jun
27
2006
RailsConf 2006: A Bag of Squishy Cows is a Bag of Trouble
Pictured below is the inside of my knapsack as it appeared in the late morning on Thursday, June 22nd. The cute little creatures within are Tucows’ most popular pieces of swag: the beloved Squishy Cows. They fit quite comfortably in most adult hands and have a very lovely “give” to them.
I never thought these lovely [...]
Jun
27
2006
RailsConf 2006: Nathaniel Talbott: “Homesteading: A Thriver’s Guide”
(This article also appears in Tucows Farm.)
“Paul Graham might have be the first speaker at this conference to quote the Old Testament,” said Nathaniel Talbott at the start of his presentation titled Homesteading: A Thriver’s Guide, “but he won’t be the last!” He then quipped that unlike Graham, he wasn’t going to contradict the Old [...]
Jun
27
2006
RailsConf 2006: Paul Graham: "The Power of the Marginal"
(This article also appears on Tucows Farm.)
“Well, well, well…” said Paul Graham at the start of his keynote to much audience laughter. “I thought that having to speak just before Damian Conway’s classic rants on Perl and Klingon, with a complete multimedia slideshow would be the toughest gig I’d ever have to do, and now [...]
Jun
27
2006
RailsConf 2006: Back, and Macs
(This article also appears on Tucows Farm.)
I’m back from Chicago, where I attended the first international Ruby on Rails Conference, better known as RailsConf. Taking place from Friday, June 23rd to Sunday, June 25th, it was the largest single gathering of Ruby on Rails developers ever held. The vibe there was great — it was [...]
Jun
25
2006
Hello from RailsConf!
Actually, I’ve been in Chicago since late Thursday afternoon and RailsConf since Friday, but the internet connection’s been rather spotty, what with 600 nerds all hitting the local wireless access point all at once. Things have been pretty good, and I’ll have a full report in a couple of days.
Jun
25
2006
Happy 9th Month-a-versary, Wendy!
It’s been nine months since I said “I do” to my lovely wife and every day has been as wonderful as it’s been for the cats shown below:
Happy 9th month-a-versary, Wendy!
