Ken Dyck

I’ve known about Pandora since it was first publicly announced, but I’ve been ignoring it until today when Paul Kedrosky managed to convinced me to give it a try. It is absolutely amazing — at least the 4-song demo is, anyways.

Then it asks you to sign up.

It is the typical americentric registration screen: email address, password, gender, birth year, and zip code. So I check the terms of use…

In order to use any of the Pandora Services, you must be a resident of the United States of America

Gah! Foiled again!

If anybody at Pandora is listening, please come to Canada soon. I’d love to use your service.

Scott Adams is giving away all his secrets:

The core of humor is what I call the 2-of-6 rule. In order for something to be funny, you need at least two of the following elements:

• Cute (as in kids and animals)
• Naughty
• Bizarre
• Clever
• Recognizable (You’ve been there)
• Cruel

I invented this rule, but you can check for yourself that whenever something is funny it follows the rule. And when something isn’t, it doesn’t.

I recently read Comedy Writing Secrets by Mel Helitzer, who had a similar theory about humour (or as you Americans spell it, humor). His is the rule of THREES. The more of the following that a joke contains, the funnier it’ll be:

• Target: the butt of the joke
• Hostility: works best if directed at somebody superior to the audience
• Realism: be believable
• Emotion: get people involved
• Exaggeration: but not too much
• Surprise: otherwise known as the punch line

The two theories are completely different, but both seem plausible when you think about it. So what’s your theory on what’s funny?

JenSense is reporting that publishers are losing huge in a recent audit by Chitika:

In a thread at DigitialPoint, it didn’t take long to see the full extent of just how significant these audits actually were. One publisher saw one day’s income drop from $28.02 to $3.05 and saw similar drops on other days. Publishers are reporting drops anywhere from 10% to as high as 60% of revenue cut.

I applied to the Chitika eMiniMalls program when Darren Rowse was hyping it. It sounded like a an excellent opportunity at the time.

They rejected me, though, for reasons they kept to themselves.

Somehow I’m feeling pretty good about that now.

Like the NT-CC1 Assembly Manual, some purchasers have missed out on receiving the NT-CC1 Owners Manual and Fitness Handbook. So here it is, in all its glory:

• Cover Page
• Warnings and Precautions
• Page 1: Table of Contents/Warranty Information
• Page 2: Get to Know Your Machine
• Page 3: Machine Maintenance / Define Your Goals
• Page 4: Define Your Goals cont’d
• Page 5: Leg Extension / Chest Press
• Page 6: Military Press / Chest Press (Incline)
• Page 7: Shoulder Shrug / Squat
• Page 8: Calf Raise (Standing) / Seated Calf Raise
• Page 9: Low Row (Seated) / Standing Bicep Curl
• Page 10: Oblique Crunch / Standing Lateral Raise (with straps at elbows)
• Page 11: Lower Back Extension / Tricep Pushdown
• Page 12: Lat Rows (Standing) / Shrugs
• Page 13: Pullups (Wide Grip) / Pullups (Narrow Grip)
• Page 14: Hip Adduction / Hip Abduction
• Page 15: Shoulder Press (Seated) / Shoulder Press (Standing)
• Page 16: Rear Deltoid Row (Seated) / Rear Deltoid Row (Standing)
• Page 17: Seated Ab Crunch / Trunk Rotation (Seated)
• Page 18: Trunk Rotation (Standing) / Hip Extension (Standing)
• Page 19: Standing Hip Flexion / Leg Kickback (Standing)
• Page 20: Decline Chest Press / Incline Chest Press
• Page 21: Chest Press / Chest Press (Standing)
• Page 22: Chest Fly / Chest Fly (Standing)
• Page 23: Muscle Chart

Update (2011-11-16): The manual is now available as a single PDF document, Nautilus NT-CC1 Owners Manual and Fitness Handbook. Many thanks to William Brown for putting it together.

Larry Borsato writes about some experimental new devices:

Transport Canada is testing an integrated GPS device that compares your speed to the posted limit of the streets you are driving on. The idea is to make sure that you can’t exceed that posted limit.

You can read more about the device on Engadget.

While I find the technology interesting, I wouldn’t want one of these devices in my car. I just don’t want some centralized authority invading my life like that.

I’ve occasionally wondered whether there is a more effective approach to keeping our roads safe. Here’s my nutty idea: Install a digital video camera on everybody’s dashboard. The camera is set to constantly record everything. Accompanying the camera is a big blue button. When you press the blue button, the camera sends the last five minutes of recorded video to the nearest police station wirelessly for review. If the reviewer agrees that an infraction has occurred, the offending driver is immediately issued a ticket.

Don Box:

I still find myself occasionally having to remind people that objects are at best a means to an end. They aren’t the end unto themselves. Trying to design software only in terms of object-oriented concepts is like trying to speak English without using adjectives or adverbs.

Well said, Don.

I’m glad to see all the hype around object-oriented programming is waning. There are other ways to approach computer programming. If you don’t believe me pick up a copy of Concepts, Techniques, and Models of Computer Programming. It’s worth it. Really.

The TIOBE Programming Community index is a list of the 20 most popular programming languages in use today:

The index is updated once a month. The ratings are based on the world-wide availability of skilled engineers, courses and third party vendors. The popular search engines Google, MSN, and Yahoo! are used to calculate the ratings. Observe that the TPC index is not about the best programming language or the language in which most lines of code have been written.

It should come as no surprise that Java, C, and C++ top the list.

Tip of the hat to Ian Landsman.

I am the recent beneficiary of new desktop machine at the office, which leaves my old machine available for other experiments.

In another bold step into the 90s, I’m looking into setting it up as an office wiki server.

I’m not at all familiar with any of the Wiki packages and I don’t really know what features I should be looking for, though this comparison of wiki software chart has provided some hints.

One.. Two.. Three… Four… I declare a flame war.

Which wiki software is the best, and why?

In one of her rare blog posts, Mandy writes:

The next weekend is then Christmas… this year has certain zipped by, hence why I haven’t spent much time publishing… oh, that and the fact that I would need to beat my hubby over the head with a stick in order to get any significant computer time. 😉 Just kidding dear! 🙂

Heh. I’m reminded of that Homer Simpson quote: it’s funny ’cause it’s true.

Mandy just shouted up to me that the Liberals are dead. The opposition parties, led mainly by Steven Harper’s Conservatives, have forced another election with a vote of non-confidence.

What I’m still trying to figure out is why the NDP would vote along with the Conservatives and Bloc on this. Their handful of MPs effectively had the much larger Liberal contigent by the balls. They could have gotten the Liberals to pass virtually any bill they put forward.

Or maybe not. Maybe those NDP pushed too hard, too fast, and Martin decided he’d rather take his chances in another election than spend another year pandering to Layton.

Harper, I’m sure, will be out taking credit for toppling the government, though he really didn’t have much to do with it. What he doesn’t seem to realize is that by taking credit of it now, he is winning the blame of voters when they are forced to trek out the booths in Canada’s coldest month.

And that’s politics as usual, in Canada.