Recently in Snaryk Friday Category

Much has been made of late about the revival of switching to open source. Casting off the shackles of iTunes DRM and running naked in the fields of sweet, sweet Freedom!

So riddle me this, if you ditch proprietary desktop apps because you are taking a principled stand against the tyranny of closed source software or formats, are you also ditching Google web apps (search, mail, etc.)? Isn't Google's search algorithm is every bit as proprietary as Apple's iMovie? Yahoo web apps? Flickr? Exporting your data in an open format isn't or shouldn't be enough! The app must be Free (as in speech), right? Just like Wordpress. Oh, I remember the Great Movable Type exodus like it happened yesterday.

I know...I know. I'm just being an ass. We all have that line and it's in a different place for all of us. I would love to hear the reasoning behind why it's okay to use Google and not iMovie though (or mix and match any non-open source web app with a non-open source desktop app)...even if it is a sad statement as to what I find entertaining in terms of conversation.

Update: I should note that I'm not trying to mock people for taking this stand, just that it looks like there are rather large caveats about said stand.

From a friend I consider a libertarian (in a good way not in the "Hey look how insane I am! I give guns and cigs to kids in the name of phreeeeeeeeedom" way):

Arguing with a Republican is like arguing with a high-output Straw Man factory.

I knew I shouldn't have sent him that redstate.org link...

I just want to begin by saying to Roosevelt E. Roosevelt, what it is, what it shall be, what it was. The weather out there today is hot and shitty with continued hot and shitty in the afternoon. Tomorrow a chance of continued crappy with a pissy weather front coming down from the north. Basically, it's hotter than a snake's ass in a wagon rut.

Adrian Cronauer imitating Walter Cronkite
Good Morning Vietnam

Man, talk about your classic golden calf.

Really, what can we look to in today's culture that's at once immediately accessible and also representative of the speed, dexterity, magic, annoyance and utter savage bliss that is modern life? Voilà: the iPod. What, you were gonna say "Nokia?" Or "Explorer?" Or "TiVo?" Please.

Screw it, iPods rule! Mark, if there is a Hell -- I'll see you there buddy!

Cory posted a summary of Google's founder's letter done by John Battelle.

11. Don't even think about asking us to cut expenses with regard to our employees;

It's nice to see a large company on the verge of becoming even bigger to recognize that their value comes from their employees. It's like anti-Dilbert thinking and I can only hope that it spreads and that Google holds to their ideals and don't abandon that strategy.

I'll have more on gmail later...

The Campus Wellness Center is having a memory enhancement seminar next week. I wonder how many people will forget to go?

Enhance your memory!  Learn valuable TRICKS, TIPS, and TOOLS to improve your study skills.  Presented by Dr. Winzenz of the Psychology Department, Wednesday, March 3 from 5 to 6 p.m. in Plumas 102.

Inevitably you will be asked to provide a time estimate for something you have never done before. A quick discussion on irc led to some good formulas.

Estimate how long you think it will take, double it, and then up the unit; if you don't think that applies to you, then multiple by 4 instead of 2. So if you think it's going to take 8 hours, then you get 8 hours -> 16 hours -> 16 days. Unless you think that can't possibly apply to you, because you're so good, you get 8 hours -> 32 hours -> 32 days

Mine was:

( (time you think)*2 + (time you think)/2 + (time you think)%2 )

Obviously I was being too conservative.