22 May 2006, 16:59 p.m.

You Never Expect Burlesque

Leonard is back! The era of buying airplane tickets two days in advance is (I hope) over! Last night I saw Dara and her friend Amina, and we stayed up too late talking; now my …

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21 May 2006, 15:07 p.m.

Incredibly Valuable Reads

"[W]e also want our creations to be out of control....We want pride, but more than that, we want astonishment." "The lie of everlasting novelty: a different take on the case against porn." Kameron Hurley almost …

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21 May 2006, 14:54 p.m.

MC Masala on "House, M.D."

Would you rather work with an affable incompetent, or with the most abrasive genius ever? Software developers, the stereotype goes, have House-ish characteristics: They don't care about their colleagues' emotions and see everyone who does …

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21 May 2006, 14:30 p.m.

The Customer Is Always The Customer

Sometimes I wish I could defend "Keep it Simple, Stupid" with flair and confidence to people who think they need things that they probably don't. Folks who say "the customer is always right" have almost …

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20 May 2006, 14:40 p.m.

Amusing, Amusing, AAAAAGH

"This guy's incredible." Cynical, topical, addictive. The AAAAAGH: Finally, in March of 2004, the CIA figured out they had screwed up. Masri's passport was genuine, and he was just some poor unemployed schmoe who had …

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20 May 2006, 14:20 p.m.

An Archaeopteryx And A Pig

Poet Jim Fisher (a.k.a. Mountain Goats fan Jim Fisher) is finishing up a two-year poetry fellowship at Stanford. He pointed me to a cutting Billy Collins poem about workshopping poetry -- oh man, no code …

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20 May 2006, 13:32 p.m.

MC Masala, and Something Laughworthy

I'll start with a taxonomy that made me laugh (caution: it's raunchy). Some columns I've written lately (tardy because of ANG technical problems): From April: Scheme, scheming, and geek authenticity and getting married -- a …

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20 May 2006, 10:56 a.m.

Just What I Needed

Last night I went to a Mike Daisey show about Tesla, which was very good of course, and I'm really looking forward to next week's conclusion of his "Great Men of Genius" series (L. Ron …

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19 May 2006, 17:17 p.m.

Things I Like About Myself

Keep my nails short Almost always honest & straightforward can make jokes am finally, finally, goddammit, learning to listen to other people hold on, this is supposed to be a self-affirming list am basically pretty …

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17 May 2006, 14:15 p.m.

Three Equals Three Except After E

Coworker 1, futzing with double-precision or floating-point or something: "Does 3 equal 3?" Coworker 2, immediately: "Sometimes." Me, cracking up: "Coworker 1, did you ask that just to try to get Coworker 2 to make …

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