I have a skeleton in my photographic closet! I enjoy hacking pictures as much as I enjoy shooting them. Before digital photography I got my jollies the old fashioned way with chemicals: dark room chemicals. I still get all emotional when I remember the scent of a fixer. Ahhh --- those were the days. Now, … Continue reading Command Line C# SmugMug API Metadata Download
Why Code when you can Steal
I am learning C#. Two years ago I swore a blood oath not to learn anymore programming languages. It’s been obvious for decades that you seldom find any new and important ideas in programming languages. What you typically find are old ideas renamed and wrapped in a new syntax. Virtually all key concepts in programming are over … Continue reading Why Code when you can Steal
Let’s Hang Congress
As Mark Twain once rudely noted: “It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.” Regardless of your political or sexual orientation it’s hard to disagree. The current Congress is the largest collection of brain-dead fuckwits since the previous Congress and no doubt the next … Continue reading Let’s Hang Congress
2012 Business Opportunity
Are you an unscrupulous deranged crank with the track record of a government budget forecaster? Do you have no shame and assume everyone around you is an inbred moron? Can you say one thing one day and the opposite the next and see no contradiction? Do you consider “evidence” to be shit that you make … Continue reading 2012 Business Opportunity
Hard Ass Skeptic Rules
I am a hard ass skeptic. A hard ass skeptic is somebody that holds: Ghosts do not existGods do not existUFOs are not alien spaceshipsThere are no YetisThere are no psychics9/11 was not an inside jobLife after death is nonsenseReincarnation is more nonsenseSomebody called Christ did not rise from the graveMohammed did not ascend to … Continue reading Hard Ass Skeptic Rules
Counting Gods
How many fingers do you need to count gods? If you are like most people you simply assume the set of gods is enumerable and then you start fighting over which value in the set of positive integers $latex \mathbb{Z}_{\geq0}&bg=cfcdcd$ or $latex {0, 1, 2, 3, \ldots, }&bg=cfcdcd$ is correct. This process is elegantly explained by … Continue reading Counting Gods
F# Sirens are Seducing
For the last few days I have been playing around with an early release of F#. F# looks like it might be a .Net language that I can stand! The alpha-geeks at Microsoft Research have convinced their corporate masters that the world needs a functional programming language that can be compiled and executed as efficiently … Continue reading F# Sirens are Seducing
Nobel Peace Prize Idol
My doubts about the Nobel Peace Prize started when Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho won during the Vietnam war. In my naive youth I thought a peace prize might have something to do with peace! I was so cute and unsophisticated in those days. As I aged I developed a robust sense of irony … Continue reading Nobel Peace Prize Idol
Google Earth Image Touring
In a scientific poll of one, (I sampled myself), Google Earth was voted the greatest free program on Earth. The brilliant developers at Google have managed to turn the most unlikely subject, geography, into a video game. And what a game it is! Google Earth doesn’t troll around in an adolescent make believe world. Google … Continue reading Google Earth Image Touring
My Olympic Spirit
The US tax payer dodged a bullet yesterday (October 2, 2009). The IOC, that cabal of corrupt whores, awarded the Olympics to Rio instead of Chicago. I've seen Rio, it's a beautiful city, and I pity the poor people there that will soon be paying out the wazoo for the dubious honor of enduring another … Continue reading My Olympic Spirit
