And you are here why?

Rewrite after the third update Corollary For sure, yea and most definitely so after the third bugfix! The third time you update a piece of code with a new feature or new functionality, take a look at the module, and see whether it can be re-written better, differently, simpler, with more documentation, etc. Odds are that it can. Odds are that the time you take to do the rewrite will be more than paid off the next time you edit this code. Mind you, if you've been updating the code due to bug-fixes, there is something profoundly wrong with what you are doing, so take a long hard look at not just the module but everything else. Is there a logical/semantic issue here? Is the code being rushed into production? Are the requirements bad? Do you need help? (and so on, and so forth...)

In Buenos Aires, there exists Filo (975 San Martin)  where one can get Damn Fine Pizza, and much more importantly, the Alle Patate - A pizza with a topping of thinly (oh, *so* thinly) sliced potatoes and rosemary.  Shockingly good stuff.  One that The Nikki has been trying to replicate for a while.  The potatoes (raw.  but they are sliced translucently thin, and i suspect the few minutes that the pizza spends in the oven are sufficient to get 'em Just Right) maketh the pizza.  To make it truly bad for you, they bring you a little thingie of olive oil to pour on, over, under, and around the pizza, which doesn't help things at all.  Don't be put off by the touristy vibe - or the neighborhood - it is, and always has been, quiet possibly the best pizza I've had in the Americas.  Do note, however, that this is Roman style Pizza, i.e., thin crispy crust (that stays crispy for the entire duration, however infinitesimal that duration may be due to the rapidity with which yo

If you suspect that there is something wrong, but then proceed to convince yourself that everything is OK, then there actually *is* something wrong. Corollary Its probably *much* worse than Just Wrong. Corollary 2 If you think its somebody else's problem, its probably not, and it almost certainly is actually yours.   Hmmm, is that something burning? From the stove area? Where I was just making myself breakfast? Naah. Probably not.  I did char the bacon (mmm. bacony goodness) slightly. Probably just that. I should get up and go take a look.  Just play safe. But, but, but, I'm comfy, there is a particulary interesting commercial on TV, and my dog has her head on my feet. Besides, it probably really is the charred bacon. Yeah, thats it. But I don't usually char bacon. I'm pretty good at bacon (mmm. bacony goodness). Nah, theres a first time for everything. And this is my first date with the Char of Bacon. I guess i'll ignore the b

As I plow through this report in detail, it became apparent that i basically have a 1 in 25 chance of getting heart disease once I get into 'middle age' (60?). Its a chance mutation, which kicks in *after* the child-bearing years, which basically means that over time it accretes in the general population. I just wish theyd' say more about *what* they mean by Heart Disease. Heart explosions? Plaque? Mitral valve failure? Failure in Love? Sooo confused.....

Supposedly, AA has a "Chef's Conclave" which puts together the "food" we get to consume in the air.  Last week, I actually *read* the description on my airline meal. I quote "To meet your discriminating taste, we have created a range of innovative cuisine.  Many menus are inspired by some of the most highly respected and talented chef's in the United States." Is it just me, or does this smack of wacky-speak? Which of these menus? The one I was looking at last week?  Which included that - be still my beating heart- oh so innovative and cutting edge item Beef Filet ? I wonder which " highly respected and talented chef " came up with that? I can just see it - Tom Keller, Charlie Trotter and Grant Achatz sharing a doobie - (deep puff) " Oooh, I know!  Lets do a Beef Fillet!  Yes! Yes!" (deep puff)

Consider the situation. You are trying to do something on your macintosh. Doesnt matter what.  Something.  You just can't figure out how to do it, so you ask.... At this point, the road bifurcates. The road more traveled (i.e., the way the rest of the  world - and clearly, the way any sane person - does it)  :  You get a response saying "Ah, just do blah blah blah..." or "You can't do that. Sorry mate..." The road traveled by Apple Fanboys (i.e, you want to do something different .   Quel Horreur! ) : You get about 38 responses saying "Why do you want to do that ?"  "Oh, thats not a smart thing to do!"  "Don't do that!", "Nobody does that!", etc., etc. What is  it with Mac people?   I *dont* want to use the Search Bar in Safari.   Really.  I..Just..Dont.. I want it to work the way Firefox works - type in your query in the URL bar, and google searches it for you.  Is that so difficult

Picture me, John Fortune100, the CFO of BigCo. Its that time of the year - when Dividends get paid, and I'm faced with a (somewhat) minor issue - there just isn' t that much cash sitting around. Now remember, Cash Is King - supposedly - in the Dividend world. I can play silly buggers with virtually any amount of paper shuffling, but in the end, if I need to pay Dividends, it is Cash Money out the door. And all I have is my standard operating profits sitting around - oh, say, 10 cents. I could just ship that out to the shareholders. In fact, I used to just ship that out to the shareholders. But this time around, I have an epiphany - nay - a veritable brainstorm of historically epic-ian proportions. Its 2004, and credit is cheap. Heck, Wall Street is practically giving money away, and all I have to do is borrow from my friendly Wall Street Banker, and Boom!, I've got all this money, which, lets see, I can pay out as a Dividend. Cool! And I get a big fat bonus check t

At some point in the past, you might have said to yourself - " What is this pesky Free Market thing that everybody keeps talking about? " If you are too lazy to actually spend the time and use the Inter-tubes, and books are way too verbose for you to bother with, you will do what pretty much everybody else does in these situations, which is a) ask someone, or b) go get a drink and forget the question. Odds are that you'll do (b), but on the off-chance that you actually do ask someone, and that someone is a wee bit smarter than your average turnip, you'll find out that  Free Markets just don't work in isolation. Huh? Whut? Look at it this way - if Bob offers to mow your lawn for $20, and John offers to do it for $200, and promises to not break your legs , you pretty much know who gets to mow the lawn. The whole point of government, law enforcement, regualation, etc. is to ensure that the Johns of the world don't get a chance to exercise their Leg-Br