makeshiftmind

“Certainty? In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.”
– Benjamin Franklin

I have an admission to make. Weird Al is one of my heros. Yes, Weird Al. He’s been around forever and a day, and yet he manages to keep producing genuinely funny music, lyrics, and videos. So, in case you’re overdue for a dose of Al, here are a few things you might want to check out:

• The Official Weird Al Site
• Weird Al’s Myspace Account
• Amish Paradise
• Smells Like Nirvana
• Weird Al Interviews Eminem
• Weird Al Interviews Madona
• Fat
• Weird Al Interviews Michael Stipe
• A free song that Al is giving away FREE!
• Weird Al Interviews Celine Dion
• Don’t Download This Song
• Al Gore vs. Weird Al
• Conan the Librarian
• Weird Al Interviews Avril Lavigne

“Programmers have very well-honed senses of justice. Code either works, or it doesn’t. There’s no sense in arguing whether a bug exists, since you can test the code and find out. The world of programming is very just and very strictly ordered and a heck of a lot of people go into programming in the first place because they prefer to spend their time in a just, orderly place, a strict meritocracy where you can win any debate simply by being right.”

– Joel on Software, Field Guide to Developers

I am all about cool software, especially if its free. Recently I’ve picked up a utility called Star UML that has made my life as a software developer a lot easier. UML (Unified Modeling Language) is a symbolic language for modeling complex software systems. It could really be used to model just about any system, but portions of the language are tailored specifically for software. It involves a standardized set of rules about how to write models that will be uniformly understood by other developers who are also familiar with UML. Star UML provides a nice user interface and management system for compiling a large set of UML diagrams together into one project file, keeping me organized and productive.

This animation is one of the most incredible things I’ve seen in a while. It shows the creation of a single cell, but I swear that every time I watch it I’m looking at an alien world where these bizarre machines are constructing the edifices of an ancient civilization.

Very, very cool.

In a rare moment of fortunate Stumbling, I have found the greatest thing since Action Church — Action Philosophers!