Quick straw poll. Whoever wrote the Java interface to Applescript for OS X was: (a) So comfortable with AppleEvents that he or she just wanted to replicate them verbatim in a new syntax, instead of providing a useful abstraction, (b) Completely ignorant of the Java Language, (c) A sadist, (d) All of the above. →

Sure, I could treat my body better. It could do with more exercise, and a better diet. (or maybe this is my body reacting violently to the fact that I actually fed it a large quantity of salad yesterday, and it was unused to the nutritious content?) But still, it's let me down this morning, and I'm not going to forgive it easily. →

You know you've been hacking too long when you see the band-name ZWAN, and your first thought is "What does the Z stand for?" →

I'm a good programmer, and a pretty good designer. On all other counts, I'm told I interview quite well. That said, if you put me on the spot and say "Write this code in the next five minutes", I'll flounder around, and probably make a pig's breakfast of the whole thing. →

It's been pointed out to me once or twice that I don't enable comments on my posts. Today, I read that this is the number one habit of highly annoying bloggers. So in my inaugural comment-enabled post, I invite you all to say hello, in the spirit of two-way communication. →

I'm sure some people in the office wonder why the three of us greet each other in the morning with a hearty "moo". Or maybe they don't. Programmers tend towards eccentricity anyway. →

Generalise your data. Specialise your apps. Computing nirvana will follow. →

"LiveJournal is currently under a Distributed Denial of Service attack, and has been since about 5:30pm PST (1:30 AM GMT) tonight. We have been working with our upstream providers (including several major backbones) to filter traffic as quickly and effectively as possible." →

These pictures really don't do justice to the size of the crowd that turned up in Sydney today to protest against Australia's involvement in any war in Iraq. →

It's getting to the point where opinion polls on war in Iraq contemptuously ignored by my country's government, because those in power trust the power of their media allies to convince us they're right, and we're wrong. Where we all have questions we want to ask our elected officials, but get no answers because those in the position to ask them for us, have their own agenda. →

I'm considering moving from Newtown to Kirribili. I want a view of something more than just Erskineville Road, damnit. →

Javascript is a small language, but the problem didn't lie there. The problem is that what we generally refer to as "Javascript" is really the intersection of the language itself, plus the DOM (and to some extent CSS) support of whatever browser it's being run in. And it's only in the last year or so that web browsers have had anything approaching decent DOM/CSS support. →

Java, being rooted firmly in the C tradition, believes that the first number is zero. Arrays and lists begin at index 0. The first character of a String is string.charAt(0). Thanks to the legacy of time.h, Java even believes January is month 0, skewing up the mental landscapes of anyone used to thinking of June as month 6, and December as month 12. →

55. If you think you might be slurring a little, then you are slurring a lot. If you think you are slurring a lot, then you are not speaking English. →

JSR-666. n. The Java Specification Request from Hell →

Tonight, just before going to bed, I learned of the tragic break-up of the Space Shuttle Columbia on re-entry, and the probable death of her seven crew. To those astronauts and their families, I send my thoughts before I go to sleep. →

This is entirely Lonita's fault. The rest of my apartment will have to wait until I've finished tidying, but I thought I'd do the kitchen beforehand, just for all the beer bottles. →