Misc. links Aug 2nd - 18th
Paul Krugman suggests reacting to a fake alien invasion as the cure to our economic troubles. Mind you, this guy won a Nobel Prize, so the subtext is perhaps the only cure is some kind of global war (and so, of course it better be against a fake enemy from Mars). But the suggestion also implies that the whole of global economy runs on will, and we are in crisis as long as They want us to. So while we’re at it, we could pull a Civ and direct the whole global economy towards sending a giant robot to Alpha Centauri, or maybe towards building a network of 2km high vertical cities, or - I dunno - actually fixing things?! ¶
Criticising a brand lowers the self-esteem of its adherents. Well, duh! Just consider sports fans, the penis-extension jokes about certain brands of cars, the way Apple computers somehow feel like a prerequisite to many in the creative industries, and the implied criticism when a brand itself ‘declares’ your computer/car/etc. to be last year’s model. ¶
The Objective of Education is Learning, not Teaching. As a cynical would put it, institutions’ survival depends on their own lack of effectiveness, which is why the educational system is thoroughly broken. A very worthwhile read. ¶
An useful side-by-side comparison of PHP, Perl, Python and Ruby. (via Kottke) ¶
Smartass responses to 'well-meaning’ signs. ¶
xkcd has a good lesson on password strength. ¶
This 2001 article from The Onion shows how predictable these last ten catastrophic years actually were. ¶
The Assembly 2011 archive means it is time for my annual demo watching marathon. ¶
The trailer for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy sends the film straight into my Must Watch list. ¶
