In the mail: Code Craft - The Practice of Writing Excellent Code

The book looks excellent - I have already gone through the chapters for error handling and testing. They seem very informative.

The only slight drawback I see here is that the book has been written keeping in mind developers from all languages - C, C++, Java, C# - what have you, so essentially you are reading a few things going, “how often does that happen to me?” or finding a few things completely irrelevant to what you work with - case in point, the advice to make sure your function parameters always match the signature - Java, the language I work with doesn’t allow you to do that - it won’t compile.

Such nit-picking aside, it is turning out to be a great read. More as I complete it.

Head First OOA&D

Just got the book from O’Reilly to review. I am really impressed that the book actually managed to keep me hooked at a time when my project pressure is so high, I don’t have time to breathe…..

Interestingly, my first exposure to the Head First books was the Head First Design Patterns book that I had found quite fun to read unlike the usual set of technical books that you have to force yourself to read while telling yourself not to fall asleep.

Will post a more detailed review once I get through the book.

This is really true

How crazy is this? Seriously….what am I doing up this late? Definitely NOT watching the Mavs lose miserably to the Jazz :(

Fodor’s Travel Wire | Japanese Tourists Suffer “Paris Syndrome”

It could only happen in France. MSNBC recently carried a story about Japanese tourists who become so overwhelmed by the contrast between the Paris they imagined at home and the real city that “psychological treatment” is required. “Paris Syndrome,” as the malady is called, passes quickly for most, but others experience lingering psychoses and paranoid delusions. Indeed, MSNBC reports that four Japanese tourists this year required “repatriation” after complaining that their “hotel was bugged and that there was a plot against them.”

Sadistic misfits

Oh My! This link (via Althouse) really set me off to the point I had to take a few deep breaths to calm myself before I posted.

Wanting Babies Like Themselves, Some Parents Choose Genetic Defects - New York Times

Wanting to have children who follow in one’s footsteps is an understandable desire. But a coming article in the journal Fertility and Sterility offers a fascinating glimpse into how far some parents may go to ensure that their children stay in their world - by intentionally choosing malfunctioning genes that produce disabilities like deafness or dwarfism.

Where do you start? How about sterilizing these people forever? How can any “so-called” parent make a decision like that? Lessee…I am deaf/dumb/blind, whatever and suffered greatly in the world, so I want to make a baby who can do the same?

Specifically choosing deficient genes to create disabled babies? Do these idiots even fathom how much pain they are inflicting on an innocent so they can “bond in pain”? Blecchhh!

What next? cutting off arms, legs and other appendages on babies born to those who are missing limbs?

Art over emotion?

Here is an article I found via Instapundit….
A Chilling Photograph’s Hidden History - WSJ.com

“Our play was fabulous,” exults Mr. DeSantis, now retired. “It was a once in a lifetime…. Like it was a movie set. One guy kneeling, aiming. One guy falling. A mass execution.”

Thos words somehow disturbed me. For a moment, there is more of a naked triumph of a score in the words - there is no horror at the situation - no condemnation of an atrocity - no judgment - no feeling….

Is it really that important to have done something unique when you are so focused on it that you have forgotten your human empathy?

The House of the Flying Imams

The case seems to be getting better and better…..

Pajamas Media: THE FAKING IMAMS — Pajamas Media Exclusive: Police Report, Passenger Reveals That Flying Imams Were Up to No Good

update: Here is a little more information on the investigation….All findings still point strongly in favor of the airlines and against the Imams’ claims of discrimination.