Monthly Archives: June 2008

Get Smart: One Paragraph Review

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Maxwell Smart in the CONTROL exhibit

Since I’d never watched the TV show, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the movie. On the other hand, I figured it’s Steve Carell doing a slapstick spy movie, which is right up my alley. Thankfully, it turns out to be really funny. Maxwell Smart is an analyst working for CONTROL, a top-secret spy agency. Max dreams of becoming a field agent and getting away from his boring desk job. He gets his wish when the identities of all existing agents are exposed, and they’re forced to put Max in the field. Surprising, a lot of the funniest bits of the movie happen back at CONTROL headquarters, where the remaining agents have been turned into analysts. Mirroring Max’s struggles in his new role, the agents have difficulty adapting to office culture, struggling with their computers and fighting over the copy machine. (Prompting Alan Arkin to yell at them, “That’s CIA crap!”) I think a lot of people will come into this movie expecting “the Office with spies” and will walk out disappointed. Still, if you are willing to let this movie do what it does best — poke fun at the spy genre — then I think you’ll really enjoy it.

Dojo is Coming Together Nicely

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I haven’t had a chance to have another coding marathon for Dojo yet, but I’ve been able to spend an hour or so here and there, and I’m really pleased with the way it’s coming together.

First and foremost, I’m proud of the code. I haven’t even gotten to the CSS yet, it’s just markup right now – but it’s some of the best markup I’ve ever written for a personal site. All the techniques and little touches I’ve picked up working on Sara Ryan‘s site and in the last few years at Pop Art are really paying off.

Even better than that, though, are the WordPress theme techniques I’m using. The last few versions of WordPress have added a lot of really nice bits for themers, like support for dynamic sidebars and custom widgets. Right now, I’ve got support built into the theme for several key plugins that I really like, and I’ve got three separate areas to customize with widgets.

My favorite bit, though, is the custom admin panel. I found a nice little tutorial explaining how to add one, and it’s pretty simple. As a result, I’ve added the ability to customize a couple of areas of the theme that normally aren’t editable without touching source files.

This weekend, I’m going to add some templates for a links page and an archives page, and maybe get started on some design. Miles volunteered to be a guinea pig alpha tester, so I want to get it pulled together sooner rather than later. All in all, I’m happy enough with this theme that I’m probably going to end up using a slightly modified version here on my own site.

Everyone is Sick

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Biohazard by Totoro!

Zoe has been sick off and on for about two weeks now. It started with an ear infection, which got bad enough that her doctor put her on antibiotics. Then she got a bit of a cold, threw up a couple of times, and then diarrhea for about a week. Plus she’s been teething.

Yesterday, I stayed home sick with some sort of intestinal bug. It was unpleasant but not horrible, and I honestly didn’t think it was connected. I figured I ate something that didn’t agree with me, but then I found out that:

  • Zoe’s friend Maia was puking so much she’s at the hospital right now.
  • My nephew Milo is sick.
  • My brother-in-law David is sick.
  • My mother-in-law is sick.
  • My mom is sick.
  • Three of my coworkers are sick.
  • Annie is sick
  • Annie’s uncle Darby is sick.

Now, I’m not a medical professional, but it sounds to me like we’re the incubators for some advanced new form of the Black Death. If you’ve been in contact with us anytime in the last three years, I would advise you to go home and take a hydrogen peroxide bath.

Edit, the next day: Added my mother-in-law to the list. It’s spreading.

Edit, three days later: Added Annie and Darby to the list. Will it ever stop?

(photo by Totoro)

Striking Fear into the Hearts of Programmers

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“In every project there is always one file that strikes fear into the hearts of all programmers everywhere. These files are usually full of code that could render a battle-hardy coder to complete gibbering tears within seconds and that is just for looking at it – if they have to make changes to the file then they usually make their farewell calls to their loved ones, have a swift drink of something to bolster their courage and run into the battlefield screaming as they go. Somewhere in the world is an honour monument to those who fell.”
– Byron Atkinson-Jones of Introversion discussing game UI, though his comments apply equally well to any project.

Robert Metcalfe Demonstrates the Arpanet for AT&T

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Imagine a bearded grad student being handed a dozen AT&T executives, all in pin-striped suits and quite a bit older and cooler. And I’m giving them a tour. And when I say a tour, they’re standing behind me while I’m typing on one of these terminals. I’m traveling around the Arpanet showing them: Ooh, look. You can do this. And I’m in U.C.L.A. in Los Angeles now. And now I’m in San Francisco. And now I’m in Chicago. And now I’m in Cambridge, Massachusetts—isn’t this cool? And as I’m giving my demo, the damned thing crashed.

And I turned around to look at these 10, 12 AT&T suits, and they were all laughing. And it was in that moment that AT&T became my bête noire, because I realized in that moment that these sons of bitches were rooting against me.

To this day, I still cringe at the mention of AT&T. That’s why my cell phone is a T-Mobile. The rest of my family uses AT&T, but I refuse.

– Robert Metcalfe, founder of 3Com, inventor of Ethernet, and part of the Arpanet team at M.I.T., describing his demonstration of the system at its coming-out party, at the I.C.C.C. meeting at the Washington Hilton, in 1972. From theVanity Fair oral history of the Internet.