Now that the Oscars are over, there'll be another show from the US waiting for us in November. But due to an unfortunate mishap, its entertainment value could just have gone down the drain. The Onion News Network reveals why those electronic voting machines need to be banned, just like many have been requesting for years: Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early

→ Read more...

It may not be totally hot news any more, but if something's giving me an asthma attack from laughing, it has to be put here. The setting: Jimmy Kimmel is a US talk show host that's made a routine of making snide remarks on Matt Damon. He even invites him as a guest but then doesn't call him up because, unfortunately, "we're out of time". It must have been a bummer when his girlfriend, comedian Sarah Silverman, sent him this video message: </p> But not much time later, Kimmel took sweet revenge... [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIQrBouWRiE&rel=1]

→ Read more...

Everyone is asking me for updates. There's Thomas who wants for me to finally release perl-SIOC, there are the participants of my Perl online seminar waiting for the final version of the course manual, and there's Eva that's curious about how the baby's doing. Well, what Eva wants of course Eva gets! The baby's great -- alive and kicking would be the correct term. Kicking like a pony, Carolin would add. Here's the latest ultrasound picture. Now I'll have to put some work into the other two release duties. I'm sure they'll be finished first. :-)

→ Read more...

I've been using Twitter for many months now and it became a standard communication tool for me. Not everyone likes the service, though. Many people think of it as a continuous source of worthless distractions. And indeed, it can seriously disrupt your work flow. Since fellow geek Tom Schimana discovered Twitter himself recently and is asking for help, I'll write a bit about why I use Twitter despite this risk. Twitter asks its users: "What are you doing?" and puts a 140 character limit to your answers. Those "tweets" get sent to everyone who subscribed to your Twitter account, either by the Twitter website, via email or over SMS sent to their mobile phone. You can also mark tweets that are meant for a certain person by starting them with "@username" (an at sign followed by their Twitter name). If you'd like to send them a non-public message, start it with "d username". In a way, Twitter is the virtual equivalent to your pub at the corner. You periodically spend some time there and, over time, start conversations and learn to know the other regulars. Sometimes, you even engage in a deeper discussion, but most of the time it's just smalltalk. Nonetheless, you learn about what people are doing, what happens in the community or in the lives of your friends. Twitter does the same for you, but you are able to choose the people whose messages you get. It's your decision who you'd like to "follow", as Twitter puts it. By posting what you're doing or thinking, you let people participate in a little bit of your life. Over time, your followers will recognize things they share with you, be it that you are a Mac user or going to be a parent. You can direct people to interesting websites, maybe your own. Pose a question and often you'll get responses from your followers in a matter of minutes. On Twitter and its complementary services like TwitterMap, I found a blogger meetup in my home town and gained contact to the local Barcamp scene. I even found new business partners by answering quickly to their requests for support and then switching to IM or email. Twitter isn't an Instant Messaging service, though. A publicly held dialogue will soon annoy your other followers and make them think about "unfollowing" you. It's considered as quite rude as is talking loudly to someone in a pub so that anyone can't help but overhear you. So, just give Twitter a try and your network some time to develop. Find interesting people to follow and share interesting or entertaining bits with your followers. As long as you contribute information more valuable than "Going to the loo.", you'll build new connections that can in turn be interesting and useful to you. And don't forget to click "Follow" on my Twitter page! ;-)

→ Read more...

The German Perl Workshop that I'm attending at the moment inspired me to collect all Perl content I've created so far and use it to launch a new website: Perl-Programmieren.de will from now on be the place where I publish my articles about Perl programming as well as the episodes of my audio podcast "Radio Perl". You might wonder where I'll be taking the time to maintain yet another blog. Well, I don't expect miracles. So far, only the URL changed, not the posting frequency. But at least there's now one single place where you'll find the things I do all around Perl.

→ Read more...

Holy crap, this short 3-part CGI animation showing Spiderman, Ironman and The Hulk fighting giant killer robots is just awesome! Better than every Marvel adaptation I've seen in the recent years. If they'd make a full feature out of it, I'd run all the way to the theater. In thunder and rain. Part 1: </p> Part 2: </p> Part 3: </p> (via Dobschat)

→ Read more...

To everyone out there I wish happy holidays. Enjoy the festive season, spread some love and happiness! And remember: there's a reason christmas has been a special time for joy and love for so many centuries.

→ Read more...

In Top 20 Hackers in Film History, Scott Willoughby collected the "20 coolest, funniest, dare I say sexiest hackers and computer geeks" that appeared in movies. While I'd have picked Wyatt Donnelly, John Draper, Michael Bolton & Samir Nagheenanajar, The Puppet Master, Martin Bishop and Neo myself, I'd have put them on the top ranking places. A boy creating Kelly Le Brock with his computer, a real life hacker pioneer, two prototypes of the corporate IT guy, the worthy opponent of a gorgeous cyber police girl, a hacker become smart and good-looking, and the god of cyberspace obviously have to be on the leading ranks. But come on, David Lightman only on rank 4? He's clearly my number one! "War Games" is my most-watched DVD and it'll always remind me of the times when I started hacking myself. The movie also explains why I'm still amazed by speech synthesizers. (And additionally, the same actor, Matthew Broderick, also starred in my eternal #2 movie of all times, "Ferris Bueller's Day Off".) These are the guys that make me proud being called a geek.

→ Read more...

With his blog entry Der Führungsstil von Jean-Luc Picard ("The leadership style of Jean-Luc Picard"), Thomas Schimana gave me some food for thought. As a fan of "Star Trek -- The Next Generation" owning the complete DVD collection, this immediately peaked my interest. Thomas perceived the following: Most of the times when Captain Picard had to make a decision, he used to first ask his leading crew for their opinions. Everyone got their chance to suggest a course of action. Based on that, Picard reached his own decision that wasn't to be discussed any more. By all means, he was the one carrying the final responsibility. The command "make it so" was his signature finishing line under the decision process. I've already realized years ago that Star Trek had instilled me with a deep interest in science and computers. But reading Thomas' article, it became clear to me that I've also adopted a leadership style similar to Picard's. I'm deeply convinced that each of my directs is a specialist that can contribute to a solution and whose opinion has to be taken seriously. But at the end of the day, I'm the one responsible and also the one that's in the front line when the stuff hits the fan. Therefore, I claim the right to decide the course of action. Even if that course isn't backed enthusiasticly by my team, I expect them to pursue the plan as well as they can nonetheless. On the other hand, they can expect me to do everything in my might to support them in making it so. So far, I've had amazing success with that approach. I've got a loyal and highly motivated team that I depend upon every day. Like Picard's crew, they're different from each other, but every one has his own features, know-how and experience to contribute. The important things don't happen in my secluded ready room -- we rock when we're moving things together, each at his place of the bridge. And, other than Picard, I still haven't lost all of my hair over the job. :-)

→ Read more...

I've got as little spare time these days as I've always had over the last years. If you know me, you know that there always are many things I'm doing and thinking about. A few weeks ago, something new appeared that's going around in my mind and hopefully will make sure I won't run out of occupation in the years to come. Carolin and I are very happy that our tries finally were successful and that everything is going well. We're looking forward to a time of joy and desperation! ;-)

→ Read more...