JoeAlba.com

• Fold is just about the coolest Web “page” I’ve seen in a long time. It’s essentially a very cool Web desktop using Ruby, Ajax, and some fancy Javascript. If you are a Web developer and plan to still be a Web developer 2 years from now, you need to know these tricks. Amazing.
• Another Ruby site, Cats in Boxes is a pretty fun illustration of how Web development in Ruby seems to provide an elegance and simplicity that either gets out of the way of great design or facilitates it. I guess I won’t figure out which it is until I write my first RoR app.
• Sicilian Mafia head caught after “encryption” decoded. Hey guys, ever hear of a 2048-bit asymmetric cipher? C’mon now.

• Cilantro haters of the world unite!
• Now *that* is a bad day at work.

If you are a hardcore geek, have $72 burning a hole in your pocket, and want to know exactly how pretty much everything works, you need this book. And hey, I’m even mentioned in the liner notes for helping the Good Doctor Cyganski with some LaTex (no, *not* latex) document typesetting and layout for a few chapters. Cyganski is one of the most brilliant people I met at WPI, and he wasn’t even one of my professors. But I remember working on one chapter that illustrated exactly how cell phones work, and it was worded so perfectly that the information is still stuck in my mind to this day. I gotsta get me a copy.

Speaking of learning stuff, I learned a little about golf this weekend… And I think I might actually llike it! We’ll see if I can keep it going.

• Take a look at some FLYING CATS! I really need to get on the flickr train. That’ll convince me to get my damn camera batteries charged.
• Apparently there are a bunch of wussy geeks out there playing video games and complaining about being cold. Well, enter the Slanket.
• A while back, I pointed to some lists of why girls should love that they have a geek as a boyfriend. Well apparently if you’re a cheater, it’s not so great because we’ll catch your lying butt using packet sniffers.
• The alleged oldest bottle of whisky — Glenfiddich Rare Collection 1937 — is going up for auction. John, do *not* get any ideas.

Getting back on track. Getting organized. Definitely starting to enjoy stuff again. And hey, it’s Cadbury Creme Egg season!

Got a shot at buying this thing.

And out of necessity, I got one of these here cool MacBook Pro toys productivity devices. It impresses me more every time I use it, although it runs hot as a mo fo!

And there’s a Bob Ricci show this Saturday at Sha-Na-Nas, 731 Airport Road in Warwick. 21+, $5 cover, starts at 8 PM. We’re playing with Recore — a pretty cool local band, even if the guitarist still uses a chorus pedal. But I suppose not every guitarist has gone totally dry and tubey like me. Come on out!

• Speaking of eggs, check out these funky little egg planter thingies. The site has other funky gift ideas / weird things on it too.
• Shakespeare’s 18th sonnet — in ActionScript

• Wikipedia category: People shot by standing vice presidents.
• Audio pre-teen repellant? They say that no adults could hear it, but they also say that adults shouldn’t be able to hear those awful audio bird repellant devices that give me a headache for hours.
• Those silly Dutch made a stamp with a little movie on it. Weird. It’s the kind of idea that I would have just completely dismissed as ridiculous… Kinda like the Cue Cat.