Clemens Vasters on the SQL Server worm:

I am very happy that I don't have to make any business critical Web service calls via plain HTTP and without a reliable messaging protocol layer today. I'd be screwed. On mornings like these, "HTTP is the one and only protocol" purism makes handsome gunwounds in both of your feet.[via teledyn]

I didn't know that was a "purism", I thought it was called "stupidity".

Here's one disassembly of the worm and another. [the second via peter kaminksy]

Last night Dan, Vipul, and myself discovered just how good the margeritas are at Tommy's Mexican Restaurant on Geary and 23rd Ave. Good Booze = No Hangover. Tommy's is a little loud but I think they have the best fajitas in town.

I stumbled across this site from tantek's log: authoritarianopportunistswhocozyuptogenocidaldictators-forpeace.org explaining the origins of International ANSWER. It's not pretty.

I think I learned as much about Ruby in this one post as I have in the past 6 month's worth of introductory articles and puff pieces.

Schofield has stumbled onto a basic truism here when he speculates that any language where methods are objects should be capable of recursive lambda forms.

Did you know that you can get a P4 1.7Ghz machine with plenty of expansion bays and pci slots from Dell for only 399$? I don't mean to sound like that dorky Dell Faux Stoner but damn that's cheap. Remember when everybody was talking about the sub-500$ PC being the next big thing and the rest of us were naysaying the idea based on our experiences with expensive homemade machines? We were fools. Dell has definitely figured it out. Of course, prices were bound to drop but to drop as much as they have for equipment this decent was beyond my expectations.

I was still quite skeptical of the sub-500$ PC until today; I spent all afternoon in front of one of those stock 399$ Dell machines thinking it was just a server that somebody had taken the RAM out of.

Citizens for a Snow Free Spokane. I also hate snow.

Peter Kaminsky is on the right track if you ask me.

Dan Bernstein, irritated at UIC's patent disclosure policies, makes a new year resolution to make sure he's in the clear with UIC's patent policy. The results are hilarious. [via thomas h. raygun]

I finally finished reading the Hobbit. That's not too bad, it only took me 16 years from the day I read the first page to the day I read the last. The calculations total one page every 17 days.

Huh, I just remembered that the year I started reading it was the year I took, and aced, my first speed reading class. Is that irony? I can never tell.

It was a really fun book but at 8 I just wasn't ready to think of dwarves and hobbits as heroes.

My first Chinese New Year is arriving. I am incredibly excited. Before any of you ask, and I'm sure you're all very curious, the answer is "No, I'm not a toddler". It's just my first one. Really, I'm not a toddler. Please don't be confused.

Now stop and think; If Steve were under the age of 1 would he have a blog? Or a job? Or a fine collection of alcohol and junk mail? Would he be able to speak of himself in the third person? No, not unless he was a really spectacular pre-1 year old.

Here's the most interesting dvd set I've seen in a while: Beckett on Film. Like most kids, I was introduced to Beckett in college but unlike those other little kissup bastards, I never cared for his plays very much. I'm a big, big fan of the short story form and I thought Beckett's Texts for Nothing is where he really shined. Maybe I just have no appreciate for theatre. I guess I'd just rather read on the bus. [via goldtoe]

Joey, after discovering why Blogger and Safari aren't yet playing nicely together.

So it's not Steve's fault? Now what am I going to do with the "Evan and Steve must die in seering pain" accordion mambo I wrote?

I would save that puppy for a rainy day if I were you. No reason to let a good Murder Mambo go to waste. I'll try and make sure you don't need it.

I look really goofy in that picture. One goofy-lookin' motherfucker, that's what they'll say about me after I'm famous. OGLMF.

I realize what it is, of course, that makes me OGLMF besides the fact that my eyes are closed and my arms are hanging there like salamis. They're the overage kids at DisneyLand whose parents are making them pose for a picture and I'm the 12 year old who really, completely, digs Disney-freaking-Land.

At least Jason found The Pose.