From the wonderful folks at the Boston Sci-Fi Marathon, I present 13 Things Horror Movies Taught Us. These people run other movie marathons, like HorrorThon (which I attended), but the Sci Fi marathon is their biggie. It’s a 10 day event (starting 02/05/10), ending in the 24-hour marathon (which I hope to go to). I just wish their website was in better shape.
First, a little fun. I found this survey asking just that question, but in a humorous way. Here are the results, which were presented at the Agile 2008 conference in Toronto. I also found (through LinkedIn) a post on Peter DeYoe’s blog with a humorous job posting for a Scrum Master.
Now for a real live case study. In my job hunting, I discovered this article by Damon Pool on Litle & Co. The reason I like this story so much is that not only did the push for Agile come from the top, but they started out that way. They didn’t adopt Agile, they were born with it. That eliminates a lot of problems that come along with trying to adopt Agile later on:
Read on…
Today I’m trying to fix a friend’s Windows Vista laptop that BSODed because we had the audacity to hook up a Bluetooth dongle to it to use Bluetooth headsets with. Now it won’t run for more than a minute or so before it crashes again. My usual mantra of “Install Linux” is not an option in this case, because it needs to run iTunes. So far, the computer is winning. CHKDSK is running, and the percentage done on stage 5 is stuck at 11% , even though it continues to count how many files it’s processed, so I can see it’s about 80% done. Learn to count, and maybe I’ll think about buying your OS.
As a form of therapy, we went to Jake’s Dixie Roadhouse (yes, their food is much better than their website), to help them celebrate Hogtoberfest. For an appetizer, we shared Death By Bacon, which is chicken-fried bacon with southern gravy. I am afraid it was insanely good. Dangerously good. I’m glad this is a temporary special, or my Doctor would probably have me banned from the joint. Memphis dry rub ribs for the main course, natch. I’m not a big fan of BBQ sauce. It takes away from the flavor of the meat too much. Dry rubs tend to complement the taste instead of hiding it. I washed it down with a Three Philosophers, which is a Belgian beer.
For dessert, we had bacon drizzled in chocolate with spinkles. Again, I was pleasantly surprised how good this was. The bacon had a heavy maple component, which made it pair with the chocolate very well. The extra sugar in the sprinkles tempered the salt in the bacon nicely. Note that this bacon was cooked to the point that it was still moist and chewy, not hard.
Evil foods, truly. And I would do it again.
How about a toaster… with a countdown timer? This toaster counts down the time as your slices of bread are gently transmogrified into toast.
Finally, a toaster that tells you exactly how much time is left before your toast will be ready. No more guessing when it will be done—and coming back to find it cold.Hectic mornings? This is the toaster for you! Unique digital toaster counts down the time until your toast is done on a backlit LCD screen, eliminating guesswork and making it easier to multitask amidst the morning hustle and bustle.
Large capacity and special features make this the ultimate household toaster.Four-slice toaster has 3 indicator lights and easy-touch control buttons that let you toast frozen goods like waffles, stop toasting mid-cycle, and reheat cold toast without overbrowning. Plus, the bagel function with “set and forget” slide control toasts the cut side of the bagel and warms the outer crust. Electronic sensor ensures consistent browning, every time.
This toaster is also perfect for people with CDO, which is a very serious condition. CDO is
OCD, but with the letters in alphabetical order, the way they should be.
For the type B people out there, how about a hammer with a built-in bottle opener?
I’ve mentioned StackOverflow before. It’s a place you can ask and answer questions about software development. It’s got a strong reputation system that keeps the nut jobs and spammers at bay, and I’ve found it very useful. Not all the posts are about slaving away over a hot keyboard, though.
Disclaimers: This is not a new book, nor have I read it. I have read reviews of it, and am recommending its concept here, but can’t honestly recommend the book, not having read it. OK, that probably sounds awkward, but there you have it.
I found this review of the book The Art of War for Women: Sun Tzu’s Ancient Strategies and Wisdom for Winning at Work, which is a modern interpretation an application of the original The Ar Of War by Sun Tzu, now thousands of years old, yet still relevant. The reason I am promoting this book’s view of the original work is simple: It points out that The Art Of War is not just relevant to war. It is relevant in any situation where you are facing one or more parties with conflicting goals, or competing for the same resource. It could be at work, or dating, or politics, or even dealing with your relatives. It’s mostly about finding your strengths and the others’ weaknesses and using both to your advantage. It’s about looking for things in your environment that can help you. It’s about focus and balance.