Computers & Technology

i've been installing openSolaris on a virtualbox as a guest OS on my Win Vista host.  this is the (current) black hole sucking my time.

give us code or cash, give us something

enemy is obscurity

mySQL adding closed extensions

competing interests of shareholders and users/enthusiasts of the technology

apache/python move at a rate that people are happy with

An interesting view of blogging.  Article in the New York Times on the Web about blogging, titled "Exposed".

There is a smart way and a stupid way to ask questions, says this guy. Interesting.
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way

murphy field refers to the field around a person that attracts the effects of Murphy's Law.

For example, in the context of a casino, a cooler carries around a murphy field.  A cooler is someone who is thought to bring bad luck to a gambler who is "hot" or on a winning streak.  Once the cooler brings his murphy field around, the hot streak gambler starts losing, bringing about the effects of Murphy's Law.

There is also the "reverse murphy field", which refers to the field around a person who brings about optimist effects, opposite to Murphy's Law.  This cannot be formulated in terms of, for example, Lieberman's Law, since it does not happen predictably enough as laws must.  Yet in certain contexts it occurs enough for it to be identified. 

For example, when driving around and your car is making "that noise", if you bring the car to the mechanic so that she can hear that noise then your car will suddenly not make that noise.  When you leave the mechanic shop, the noise returns, but while you are in the presence of certain people the noise is not there.  This is known as the mechanic effect, and can be considered to be part of a reverse murphy field.  When using a computer, any problem you run into will not manifest itself in the presence of technical support staff.