Check out James Strachan's blog where he has links to a whole bunch of new Java features coming for version 1.5 of the JDK. Now that C# has lit a fire under Java's ass, they're moving forward.
Also check out this post on LtU. They have this bit I didn't realize:
An automatic conversion from primitive types to their corresponding reference type wrappers. This conversion facilitates the integration of generics into the language, and reduces inessential clutter.
Thank God!
Also, they took a hint from Ruby:
Enhanced for loops allow convenient iteration over collections, without the need for an explicitly defined iterator. This reduces the need for boilerplate iteration code and the corresponding opportunities for errors.
Graham Glass on religion: "... they can't all be right. so someone, or everyone, is wrong about some pretty important stuff."
Yah.
christianity doesn't say "hey, what we're really all about is loving each other and worshipping an abstract god", they say "the bible is the word of god and it's all correct". ditto for many other religions. since the texts of these various books are in conflict, they can't all be right.
The way some people choose to argue for Christianity is like this: Which book gives you a view of reality that makes sense?
For instance, the Koran contradicts the Old and New Testaments all over the place, yet it claims to be from the same God. Muslim's claim that the Old and New Testaments have been corrupted wherever they and the Koran disagree. Their god is a god who lets his own word get corrupted... how can we even know that the Koran itself isn't corrupted now? One of the problems with Islam is that Allah is a God who can't be trusted.
caring for others and being a generally nice human being doesn't have anything to do with religion - it's just common sense. not being religious doesn't detract whatsoever from my feeling of awe when i look into a clear night sky, swim with the fish in my scuba gear, or ponder life when standing in a cathedral.
This is what Christianity generally calls "natural revelation". This goes under the part about making sense. The Bible says, "Look, we're all made in the image of God, and this is his creation". That's why we can appreciate beauty, do science, understand each other and our world, etc.
However, another part of the "giving you a view of reality that makes sense" aspect of religion is this: Christianity justifies our conceptions of morality, of science, etc. What I'm saying is that the common ground you referred to actually only makes sense upon the Christian view of reality.
For instance, what we think is "moral" are only the conventions of men, and incapable of binding the conscience of any man... unless Christianity is true. Similarly, the Christian worldview gives us a basis for science, whereas the typically held mishmash of views, that of a deterministic but yet random universe where order somehow comes from disorder, life comes from non-life, rational beings come from inanimate chemicals, where we have no philosophically justified reason to believe we can even trust our senses or know that the future will be like the past so as to enable scientific inquiry, destroys what we intuitively believe to be true, as well as what we need to be true to have a view of reality that makes sense.
One of the things my (one) Christian friend and I enjoy telling people (atheists) is that we don't have as much faith as they do 
Their view of reality is so incoherent and unexplained that we think it takes a lot more faith to believe in than Christianity does.
Via PHPEverywhere, Design Really Matters.
Brand representation is vitally important. Technology, and how it works, is vital, too. And the copy... well, if your site serves up information, people must be able to read it for it to have any value.
[But] If you look at what really makes the difference for consumers online, you'll learn credibility is what matters.
Online differentiation is difficult. Many analog world cues consumers rely on (such as quality of photographic reproduction, the paper stock a catalog or a mailer is printed on, a store's cleanliness or status location, or customer service acumen of salespeople) aren't available online.
As all consumers know by now, barriers to entry for those wanting to set up an online storefront are fairly low. Taken as a whole, consumes look for something that says, "Yes, this company is credible." It just so happens design and IA are the two major components of that "something."
In the analog world, any consumer receiving a beautifully printed direct mail piece (mailer, catalog, etc.) immediately knows the company sending it is solid. No fly-by-night operation can afford glossy, four-color catalogs on heavy stock with beautiful pictures. Whether they know anything about the process of producing such a piece or not, consumers know expensive when they see it. Expensive means credible.
On the Web, a lack of this kind of tangible credibility cue causes consumers to turn to the intangible. Even if they don't know how much designers cost (or what constitutes good design), they know quality when they see it. Even if they could never comprehend a site architecture diagram, they intuit the difference between sloppy, illogical structure and structure that reflects lots of thought and research. Sites that just work better mean credibility.
Excellent.
Via Right Wing News, South Park Republicans.
If Republicans are so different from mainstream America, then who voted for them? The nation has more Republican congressmen and state governors than any other political party, plus control of the White House. There are not enough Alex P. Keatons to account for these election results. Our nation is among the most diverse on earth. Half of the voters are women, a quarter are minorities. There are millions of union workers, retirees, immigrants, government workers, customer service employees, and individuals in low paying jobs, unemployed or on some form of public assistance. All of these groups are expected to lean left. Surely, the stodgy, affluent, religious white guys are outnumbered in the electorate by a huge margin. Yet Republicans candidates still do well. How is that possible?
The answer could very well be the "South Park Republicans." The name stems from the primetime cartoon "South Park" that clearly demonstrates the contrast within the party. The show is widely condemned by some moralists, including members of the Christian right. Yet in spite of its coarse language and base humor, the show persuasively communicates the Republican position on many issues, including hate crime legislation ("a savage hypocrisy"), radical environmentalism, and rampant litigation by ambitious trial lawyers. In one episode, industrious gnomes pick apart myopic anti-corporate rhetoric and teach the main characters about the benefits of capitalism.
Come on MSNBC, it's a joke, we already covered this, and Amazon has already explained its intentions, and clarified where things might not have been as clear as people expected. It's not some evil plot to dupe customers. Sheesh.
Thursday, December 5, 2002
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new⇒I hate Norton Antivirus
Long long live AVG I love you!...
kevin sands: Sep 6, 7:31pm