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Name Marco von Ballmoos
Member since
Email [hidden]
Home page https://earthli.com/users/marco
Description

The (only) developer at earthli.com.

Contents

3209 Articles
111 Comments

20 years Ago

When being bad is good business

Published on in Technology

Microsoft has been just plain bad in the world of business for a long time. They break rules, abuse monopolies and starve or absorb entire industries right and left. They’ve got strangleholds in dozens of tech markets and leverage them all to acquire even more. They get caught all over the world − you relatively often read of Microsoft in court or paying fines − but they continue to do business exactly the same way.

Why is that?

The answer is relatively obvious, but Timing is Everything by Robert Cringely... [More]

Rock star programmers

Published on in Programming

Ronco Spray-On Usability (Daring Fireball) is an essay on software usability triggered by a column by the rambunctious “Eric S. Raymond”. The setup covers some of the background of Linux usability, but gets interesting near the middle, where he proposes that:

“The problem isn’t just that dear old A.T. [Aunt Tillie] can’t use desktop Linux — the problem is that even Linux geeks have trouble figuring it out.”

That indicates that people, Raymond included, who believe that Linux is a few hard nights of coding away... [More]

A la Carte Cable

Published on in Miscellaneous

The same busy little lobbyists who are doing their best to outlaw your Tivo are also hard at work preventing the Cable-TV consumer’s dream: A la Carte Cable. Sorry — No a la Carte Cable (Washington Post) explains that the same people are hard at work making sure your cable bill never, ever goes down.

What is “a La Carte Cable”? Imagine, if you would, a world in which you only pay for things you actually want and use. As a cable-consumer advocate put it: “When I go to the grocery store to buy a quart of milk,... [More]”

Scientific measurement of “Macho”

Published on in Fun

Did Somebody Say Macho? by Zack 'Geist Editor' Parsons (Something Awful) takes on the daunting task of creating an objective scale determining any given person’s “Macho-ness”.

The macho-factor is a 2-dimensional matrix defined along the Swayze-Eastwood Axis and the Shatner-Kressley Axis (Kressley is the dude from “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy”, who, apparently, is the cultural opposite of a guy who “was probably watching re-runs of “TJ Hooker” when his wife drowned in the pool”).

There is, of course, a helpful questionnaire to help you find... [More]

Kafka

Published on in Quotes

“There is hope… but not for us.”

Kafka

The merger to end all mergers

Published on in Miscellaneous

According to several sources (check Google News), the Democrat and Republican parties have officially merged into one organization. The move was ostensibly made to cut down on administration and production costs and does not mean the two parties themselves cease to exist; it just means Kerry and Bush might be sharing the same TV studio when filming mud-slinging commercials.

RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie explains:

“…this move has nothing to do with ideology — it’s simply a matter of good... [More]”

A gallon of gas

Published on in Miscellaneous

The one real good side-effect of the invasion and take-over of Iraq was supposed to be a steady supply of oil to keep gas prices stable. Alas, Americans are feeling the pinch as gas prices hit an all-time record of $1.80 (national average). The Gas Price Crisis (White House.Org) is, as always, a highly non-reliable news source, but they did include a fake quote from Bush that caught my attention:

“Vice President Cheney and I know the oil industry inside and out. In fact, one of the reasons a near-majority of... [More]”

Isn’t almost good enough?

Published on in Fun

Here’s Aaron McGruder’s helpful contribution to Bush’s re-election strategy. This is the Boondocks from March 22 − March 27.






Dennis Miller should have married Brynn Hartman

Published on in Public Policy & Politics

I got a link the other day, showing a recent talk show hosted by Dennis Miller. It was an interview with author Eric Alterman. Alterman’s written a pretty well-researched book called “What Liberal Media?”, in which he points out the rather obvious fact that the mainstream media is far from liberal. For all his trouble, he somehow got on the Dennis Miller show.

In the video, the guy on the left (Alterman) is presenting cogent arguments and facts. The guy on the right (Miller) is making fun of... [More]

ABB: forget your principles

Published on in Public Policy & Politics

 In a fantasy world where people read and form their own opinions instead of accepting their thoughts from corporations intent on making them better consumers, Bush wouldn’t be hard to beat. In this fantasy world, Bush gets as many votes as Nader will in the real world and Nader is a legitimate threat. John Kerry is ignored because he had the gall to think people were dumb enough to simply vote for ABB (Anybody But Bush), regardless of his platform.

Instead our choice is restricted to exactly... [More]

Troubleshooting for drunks

Published on in Fun

I know it’s too late for Saint Patrick’s Day, but here it is anyway. Some of you can probably use it any day of the week.

Feet cold and wet.
  • problem − Glass being held at incorrect angle.
  • solution − Rotate glass so that open end points toward ceiling.
Feet warm and wet.
  • problem − Improper bladder control.
  • solution − Stand next to nearest dog, complain about house training.
Beer unusually pale and tasteless.
  • problem − Glass empty.
  • solution − Get someone to buy you another beer.
Opposite... [More]

Published on in WebCore

The WebCore home pages have finally gotten an update — there’s a lot more introductory text explaining what it is and what it does.

  • Check out Why use the earthli WebCore?
  • The features page is all-new and focuses more on top-level usable features and time-savers offered by the WebCore.
  • Downloads actually works now and doesn’t break every time a new release is made in earthli Projects.

The new library (2.5) isn’t available yet, but we’re getting there.
 

Truly Brilliant Dilbert

Published on in Fun

Targeted marketing: Urban version of Word

Published on in Fun

This just in: Nader root of all evil

Published on in Public Policy & Politics

Nader brings on the ice age

So Nader’s running and there’s been a flood of anger from the left, curiously enough. It seems there’s a lot more people than I thought that believe that a democracy can only be properly represented as a two-party system. The Lone Ranger Of Righteousness (AlterNet) explains some of the current administration’s misdeeds:

“…That doesn’t even count global warming, which … now brings the potential for melting polar ice caps to shutting down the Gulf Stream and plunging Europe... [More]”

A dangerous candidate

Published on in Public Policy & Politics

You know George Bush and his cabal are damaging the country and must be stopped no matter what. You’ve heard, recently, that Ralph Nader is an egomaniacal loose cannon, bent on America’s destruction. Let me explain why I think John Kerry is also a danger.

There’s a groundswell of activism and political interest these days in the States, mostly driven by Bush’s extreme policies and positions on pretty much everything. People are pissed. People are getting involved. People are trying to make a... [More]

Quotes from Truman and Gandhi

Published on in Quotes

“The only thing new in this world is the history you don’t know.”

- Harry Truman

“I think it would be a good idea.”

- Mahatma Gandhi (when asked what he thought of Western civilization)

Oscar Wilde

Published on in Quotes


The story is probably apocryphal, but it is said that Wilde was at a dinner party seated next to a young woman. He said, “I’ve recently come into a small bequest of 40,000 pounds which I do not need. I have, alas, never had sex with a woman. If I were to give you the bequest, would you have sex with me?”

She responded, “Yes, Mr. Wilde, I would.”

“Well, will you do it for 2 pounds?”

“Mr. Wilde, what do you take me for?”

“Oh, we know what you are. Now we are simply haggling over the price.”

More of the same

Published on in Public Policy & Politics

Kerry: He’s Peaking, Already (CounterPunch) goes to the heart of the problem with every “viable” Democratic candidate:

“Kerry agrees with Bush about the tax cuts. He agrees with him about the Patriot Act. He agrees with him on trade. He agrees with him on the war. … Kerry voted for the Patriot Act and he voted for the ‘03 attack on Iraq.”

He’s a veteran of the war Bush skipped out on … but he objected to it afterwards. The sad thing is that objecting to the crime that was Vietnam will hurt him more than... [More]

Another IE-breakthrough

Published on in Technology

Please be advised of a new Microsoft Knowledge Base article entitled: Steps that you can take to help…. In it, you’ll find the recommendation that you should “…not click any hyperlinks that you do not trust. Type them in the Address bar yourself.”

So now, you have to type all URLs by hand because Microsoft can’t fix their browser. Isn’t it time to consider Opera or Firefox?

A read on Slashdot put this latest development into persepective:

“To go back to an often used analogy, if Microsoft... [More]”

Decline of American Civilization, part XXXVIII

Published on in Miscellaneous

I just want to remind people that every single second you wasted feeling outraged by Janet Jackson is time you can never get back. There are morons who are suing someone (I really haven’t the foggiest who they aim to lay low for their suffering) for being forced to see Janet Jackson’s nipple on Sunday. Their lawyer stated that “…[a]s a direct and proximate result of the broadcast of the acts, (Carlin) and millions of others saw the acts and were caused to suffer outrage, anger, embarrassment... [More]”

Problem with education

Published on in Fun

Why is it that so many people in America believe in it, right or wrong?

They’re taught to from a very young age.

Mel

Published on in Programming

This is an old, old story. I’ve seen it a few times before and was reminded of it again when someone posted it to a Slashdot article. It’s worth reading all the way through.

A recent article devoted to the *macho* side of programming
     made the bald and unvarnished statement:

                Real Programmers write in Fortran.

     Maybe they do now,
     in this decadent era of
     Lite beer, hand calculators and “user-friendly” software
     but back in the Good Old Days,
     when the... [More]

21 years Ago

Steroids and abstinence

Published on in Public Policy & Politics

President Bush has been on television a few times in the last few weeks, first giving his State of the Union address, then in a more recent interview on ‘Meet the Press’.

After the State of the Union (2004 edition), it was apparent that Bush was honing his laser-like focus on a new batch of enemies for this election year: gays, teenage-sex and steroids. It used to be unions, the poor, terrorists, communists, but, having vanquished all forms of evil abroad, he’s ready to fight domestic... [More]

How to watch a Bush speech

Published on in Public Policy & Politics

Coming up tomorrow night is a State of the Union address by the Commander-in-Chief of the United States of America. Considering some of the humdingers thrown around last year, the state of the country this year and the fact that it’s an election year, this year’s should be the best ever!

To get ready, you can go the serious route or the hell-in-a-handbasket route.

The serious route is a single sheet of paper, a State of the Union Scorecard (TomPaine.com), in which the major issues facing our nation our... [More]

Rocket Man State of the Union

Published on in Fun

Installment 28 (MNFTIU) made me laugh, but in a sad way.

Installment 30 (MNFTIU) just made me laugh. Quoting that is waaaayyyy easier than poking holes in Bush’s space plans myself. I’m reproducing choice quotes below just to have them, but I’d browse to the link so you can see the little office dude in a space helmet delivering the lines.


Wait a minute … how are we gonna get to Mars?

“Check it out — we’re going to build a base on the moon! Then we’ll literally FLY TO MARS!!! In space!

“And we all have to... [More]”

Was software good enough 5 years ago?

Published on in Programming

Rewrites Considered Harmful? by Neil Gunton thinks developers, especially Open-source ones, make a mistake when moving to a completely new code-base. You see, the old code-base had a lot of testing time in it and was, if not more stable, at least had known bugs.

This is a good argument and one that most project managers are aware of. However, stability is relative to the given feature set. A product is well tested with feature set A. Within 3 years, the product will have feature set B. What must a project... [More]

Male contraceptives: why not?

Published on in Miscellaneous

We’ve become used to seeing contraceptive solutions for women — there are no widely-used ingested male contraceptives. Though condoms are largely seen as a ‘male’ contraceptive, I think most reasonable people can see that they are equally as inconvenient for women. ’Are You Using Anything?’ (AlterNet) talks about a new “Reversible Inhibition of Sperm Under Guidance”, an injectable contraceptive for men “developed by professor Sujoy K. Guha, an Indian researcher of biomedical engineering at the Indian... [More]”

Foiled again!

Published on in Fun

The most amazing practical joke was perpetrated over New Year’s. Friends foil Olympia man’s home (The Olympian) shows pictures of an apartment completely, and I mean completely, covered in aluminum foil.

The pranksters covered doors, door framers, the toilet, everything … they even:

  • “unrolled the toilet paper in the bathroom, enveloped the bath tissue in aluminum foil and rolled it back up again”
  • “used foil to encircle Kirk’s spare change — each individual quarter he had left atop a living room bookshelf”
  • “overed... [More]”

Bush’s vacations

Published on in Public Policy & Politics

Here’s a question I found about George Bush’s penchant for vacations (Ask Yahoo!):

“How many vacation days has George W. Bush taken to date as president? …”

A fair question for a present sitting on top of the worst economy since the Great Depression, fighting wars in two countries (Afghanistan and Iraq, for those with shorter memories) and performing radical surgery on many of America’s most important laws and institutions (forming the largest government agency to oversee the ‘Homeland’ being one of the... [More]