the frig blig

This morning I attended a training session for a team application development repository, and the presenter showed the above cartoon after asking everyone for their definition of code quality. It was the best part of the training.

Apple got free publicity today by announcing their newly updated line of iPods…but the one feature I’ve been waiting for is not in the new package. Mainly, I want an MP3 player which includes bluetooth so I can use the new wireless headsets to bop around listening to my tunes. So far, these headsets can only be used with cellphones. Since my music collection is rather vast, there’s no way it will fit into the paltry 4G in my phone. (And it might not be easy to play .flac and .ogg files on my N95, either.)

So I’m sticking with my bulky, clunky old iHP-140 until some smart manufacturer introduces a music player with both bluetooth support and serious storage capacity.

Yesterday’s Wired Science posted an article by Alexis Madrigal titled Biologists on the verge of creating new forms of life. It discusses how a lab led by Jack Szostak, a molecular biologist at Harvard Medical School, is building simple cell models called ‘protocells’ that ‘can almost be called life’.

Quick, somebody author a Wikipedia entry for ‘protocells’!

David Horsey’s cartoon of Palin’s Alaska record as printed in this morning’s Seattle Post-Intelligencer seems a nice summary of her political positions.

Not to be outdone, the Post-Intelligencer’s arch-rival Seattle Times printed a fascinating and enlightening in-depth investigation of Palin’s first year as mayor of Wasilla by Ken Armstrong and Hal Bernton in this morning’s edition — nice work guys.

Walking home from dinner through the alley last night we came upon this bee doing his job in this sunflower. I can’t believe how well the photo turned out (full size is even more impressive).