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This weblog was originally a bunch of home-brewed python scripts. But it sucked. I became so disgusted with my programming skills, I decided to leave the weblog programming to the professionals.
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Problems worthy of attack Prove their worth by hitting back. -- Piet Hein

Writing can either be readable or precise, but not at the same time. -- Bertrand Russell

Simple, clear purpose and principles give rise to complex, intelligent behavior. Complex rules and regulations give rise to simple, stupid behavior. -- Dee Hock

If you're not making waves, you're not under weigh. -- Admiral Nimitz

Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently. -- Henry Ford

People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die. -- Jim Davidson

Tell me and I forget, teach me, and I may remember, involve me and I learn. -- Benjamin Franklin

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. -- Margaret Mead

Never ascribe to malice, that which can be explained by incompetence. -- Napoleon

This wiki addiction is hard to break. -- Kris Johnson

They laughed at my Mac: it had no CLI. They laughed at Linux: it had no GUI. I installed MacOsx, and shut them up. -- somebody at Slashdot

Stress is when your gut says "No way" and your mouth says, "Sure, no problem."

It is because shell programming is designed to rot your brain. -- John Gruber

Some people, when confronted with a problem, think "I know, I'll use regular expressions." Now they have two problems. -- Jamie Zawinski, in comp.emacs.xemacs

There has grown up in the minds of certain groups in this country the notion that because a man or corporation has made a profit out of the public for a number of years, the government and the courts are charged with the duty of guaranteeing such profit in the future, even in the face of changing circumstances and contrary to public interest. This strange doctrine is not supported by statute or common law. Neither individuals nor corporations have any right to come into court and ask that the clock of history be stopped, or turned back. -- Robert Heinlein

Whenever there is a conflict between human rights and property rights, human rights must prevail. -- Abraham Lincoln

2008-08-31

GPS: Gender Problem Solved

The two or three readers of Officemonkey.org may be surprised to know that street signs in Europe are bad. I mean really bad.

The signs are not placed on poles at the street corner. Instead they’re attached to the one of the buildings on the corner, usually 20 feet high.

The first several months we were in Europe, I would use Mappy.be, No sense linking to it, because it sucks. Later I would use Maps.google.com, which was slightly better. The main problem with both sites are the directions that would say:

1. Slight left on McGubbin Street.
2. Continue on 200 m to Marie-Anne Street.
3. Continue on 50 m to Marie-Anne Blvd.
4. Continue on 1400 m to Ambrosia Ave.
5. Slight right onto Ambrosia Court.

When all you’re doing is driving down a street. Unless you had a navigator with a rubber neck, you wouldn’t be able to keep up. My wife is many things, but she does not have a rubber neck. And when I navigate, I communicate poorly (i.e.: I say “turn left” when I mean to say “turn right”).

After a particularly harrowing trip to our friend John’s house (we were an hour late, thanks to a poorly marked detour). Sandy said (jokingly, I assure you) “Let’s get a Tom-Tom and save our marriage”.

Enter the ONE.

GPS gadgets appeal to women as well as men because they solve that age old problem of “stopping to ask for directions”. If only all problems could be solved as simply and satisfyingly.