What is it with me and music?

Just like my journey toward Jewish faith started with the Barry Sisters, my reconciliation with Germany starts with Helene Fischer . I simply can't imagine her songs in the Blood And Soil Germany that destroyed my race in the Holocaust. Must be very naive of me, but there you have it. (The fact that she was born in Russia is just icing on the cake)

Experts Exchange and DMCA

Google now shows the DMCA notices that cause it to remove search results. I just saw one from Experts Exchange. These people actually spend money on lawyers to send out those notices! No wonder their site is going down the drain.

As heard on NPR

"The President tried to position himself in the middle of the political spectrum today.  ...  He called the Republicans "hostage-takers".

Some compromise!

So Obama gets to spend more and Republicans get to tax less. And Chinese workers get to pay for it. Perfect illustration of our politics.

The shape of thins long gone

This is the familiar shape,  right? A regular coat hook.

I am willing to bet that the young among us do not know what the top part is for... Well, for the record - it is for hats.

The entire culture, gone decades ago, still visible in the everyday life. Archeology in plain sight.

Joy to the world

...or at least to me. I've translated my Python atmega CPU emulator and I can now officially say: Python is unbearably slow.

Pure Python naive implementation is 16 times slower than the real CPU. Pure Python with improved assembly command lookup is 4 times slower. C++ with each command invoked from Python is two times slower. And finally entire emulation loop in C++ is ... 10 times faster!

I did not expect that last difference. Just writing a Python loop around C++ slows it down by the factor of 20? This insanity!

I still intend to write extensions (such as timer subsystem) in Python, but the rule is clear: no Python in the tight loop for me.

Only in America

I drove by Marriot in Stamford tonight and I realized something: a girl next door and President Obama both had a party there. Ashley (the daughter of a union man) had a birthday party a couple years ago and Obama had a fundraiser before the elections. Is this a great country or what?

On WikiLeaks

Not that anyone cared, but I feel like adding my opinion to the growing pile out there.

I think we have two very different things here: WikiLeaks itself and the leaker.

The leaker signed an agreement and swore an oath not to do what he did. He needs to be prosecuted and hopefully jailed.

WikiLeaks, on the other hand, never promised not to publish juicy bits. I think they are morally wrong, but they aren't doing anything illegal. They are no different from any other newspaper. We have no basis to prosecute them.

As heard on NPR

Professor Nash on Wikileaks: "Usually the historians get to see such documents after the state has already collapsed". Is US a walking corpse?

The future is here!

I am posting this from my Personal Communication Device (AKA T-Mobile G2). The 21st century has arrived! Can the 24th be far behind?