It was so very cool to get a behind the scenes peek at what was going on with a group of people making a top notch game. Other developers began doing this also, and soon there was a nice little ecosystem of plan updates flying around. This was all pre-RSS.

Over time the .plan file fad kinda fizzled out and died. But now with the rise of twitter, it seems like it could see a come back. True, 140 characters is not a lot of room to explain certain technical issues, but John Carmack’s tweets are a step in the right direction. I’m glad he’s back.

In short: Pretty good!

As a computer programmer I’m rather attached to my eye sight. I was concerned that staring at screens all day might be in for a rough ride because you will have “dry eyes” after the surgery. Some days were tough, but using the preservative-free eye drops (like the doctor suggests) really helped with this. For me the dry eye problem went away pretty quickly, I would say within a month or two I was only having to put the drops in a few times a week as opposed to a few times a day.

The doctors said my eyes were in good shape and it really showed in the recovery phase. The only thing that seems to heal slowly for me was my night vision.

Loss of night vision is a common side effect of Lasik. My night vision has gotten better since the surgery, but it took almost a year, and it still doesn’t feel quite the same as it did pre-surgery. The flip side of this is that in low-light conditions, I feel like I can make out some details a little bit sharper than I could before. I know that sounds odd, but it seems like as long as there’s some good like like a quarter-moon or so, I feel like I can see better than I could with my glasses in that same condition.

So, all in all I’m pretty happy with the way things turned out. Some people do suffer from negative side effects for longer or more intensely than others, but I think that as long as you follow your doctors instructions:

• Moisturize (your doctor will tell you how, usually with preservative free eye drops)
• Don’t rub your eyes!
• Use the medicines and cremes as directed by the doctor.
• Take your vitamins, eat your Wheaties, and get lots of rest.

So that is pretty much my follow up report. I’m glad I did it and I encourage others to talk to their eye doctor if they are thinking about it. I had my surgery at LasikPlus here in Atlanta Ga., and the staff was great and very helpful. Check them out if you are thinking about it!

To me this begs the question: Why risk humans (and the fragile shuttle) to repair the ailing satellite, when for probably the same amount ($900 million) they could just launch one or more new Hubble-class satellites? The big thing about Hubble is that it is serviceable, but what if it wasn’t? Wouldn’t that make it cheaper?

It just seems to me that it would be smarter, faster, and cheaper to take that money and launch a couple of new replacements.

But this is NASA we’re talking about. Logic doesn’t seem to have a place in their planning when it comes to topics like the shuttle, the ISS, or the Hubble. *sigh*

Its basically a wish list from a bunch of venture capitalists of companies they would like to fund (read: would like to see started so they can get a big chunk of it so that when it gets taken over they get a ton of money). The list ranges from the interesting to the insane, as most lists like this would. But one thing I noticed where a couple of entries that read more like a Nigerian Scam.

A few VC’s were offering a small amount of money, but wanting to see a “proof of concept” site with customers. That strikes me as odd because if a startup were able to get to that point, why would they need the VC cash? Having customers is a huge step, at that point you’re probably already bringing in some money. And I can understand that the VC’s don’t want to throw cash at just anyone, but bringing a site/product to life usually doesn’t happen for free for the developers.

Part of me knows that they are doing this to try and prevent a bubble-type-situation where money is flowing like crazy to anyone who can string together enough words to form a sentence. But another part of me thinks that these requests are going too far in the other direction. Especially since some of the requests are derivative products (as opposed to completely new ideas).

Now I wonder how much better people are going to keep on going…

In case anyone out there is wondering about the pro’s and con’s of getting an ICBM (Intel Chip Based Mac), I thought I would toss out my thoughts on the topic:

• Speed- It is sooooo much faster than the old PPC machines. Don’t get me wrong, the PPC machines are fast, but the duo core aspect of the MacBook makes everything that much faster.
• Ease of Upgrade- I bought 2GB of RAM and dropped it in the machine after I got it all set up. That has made all the difference in the world. The Mini only had 512MB, and I think that really holds it back. Being able to get 2GB for less than $200 was a no brainer, and the performance is phenomenal.
• Heat – The MacBook gets hot. Real hot in some spots. The Mini is one of the best combinations of speed and coolness that I have ever seen. Most of the time I don’t have the MacBook on my lap, but I’m still concerned about heat.
• Compatibility – The Intel based machines are supposed to support the old PPC binaries, and for the most part I have found this to be good. However, I did find two glaring problems right off the bat: Eclipse and NeoOffice. Both of these programs would not start up. It turns out that Universal Binaries are right around the corner for both. I thought it was odd though that both apps (which are Java based) wouldn’t run. It turns out there is some JNI in the background and that’s where the problems were. Once the Universal builds are released (I think Eclipse is already out with its 3.2 release) that should solve those problems. Also, I’ve found that PyGame isn’t 100% functional on the MacBook, but I’m thinking I might have done something to cause that. (More on that later)
• Form Factor – Both the Mini and the MacBook are just slick looking machines. Thin, compact, yet packed with power. Its great! I recently took the MacBook on a trip and it was a breeze to bust it out and knock out some code. The built in Wi-Fi is great, though sometimes I wish I could get a little more detail out of it (Windows machines have a really good interface for its WiFi stuff, its great for users who want more advanced information).

Overall I’ve got to say the MacBook just rocks.

It turns out if you do a search for SearchURLList.plist it will bring up the config file that allows you to enter in new engines. Just follow the format, and be sure to change the “PreferredSearchEngine” value to your preferred engine. Now I can hit Ask.com straight from the search box!

His idea for a simple and anonymous watch list checking is one of those forehead-slapping, “why didn’t I think of that” ideas that I just love to read about. Basically the idea is that if sensitive fields in a database (name, birthdate, etc.) are encrypted in a one-way hash, then the database can be distributed without fear of a massive invasion of privacy (because all of the data in it is encrypted). If you need to check to see if someone is in this database, you simply apply the same one-way hash to their information, and then see if the hashed data is in the database. If it is, then it gets reported back to the original database holder who then is responsible for keeping the data.

Einstein, Dijkstra, and everyone else who ever talked about elegance and simplicity were 100% right. And this idea is simple and elegant. Check out this entry about how the network that connects the facts should be interpreted: Jeff Jonas: Sometimes a Big Picture is Worth a 1,000 False Positives

“Our nation is on the threshold of new energy technology that I think will startle the American people,” Bush said.

“We’re on the edge of some amazing breakthroughs — breakthroughs all aimed at enhancing our national security and our economic security and the quality of life of the folks who live here in the United States.”

I hope this means something real, and not just some pipe dream. I wonder if there’s going to be some interesting announcement in the near future. If there is, I wonder what it will be about (solar, nuclear, oil, table top fusion, zero-point energy, etc.)

Hopefully something real and attainable in a decent amount of time.

This of course misses a big point of the article, that the source of the data isn’t that important, it more about what you can do with that info. A lot of people missed that point, but hey, that’s ok. (Honestly, anyone who was upset that their wishlists can be viewed by the public at large really shouldn’t be posting that information on the net in the first place, no?)

For me this article was amazing because it showed data mining using simple, readily available tools. No fancy databases, no complicated AI programs, just simple script files and the file system. That’s the real beauty of the article the fact that it can be done by anyone (ok, anyone not running Windows). Simplicity really is the key, ya know?