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<title>Accidental Attractions</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.mckechnie.net/" />
<modified>2010-05-11T18:14:07Z</modified>
<tagline>things that happen on your way to somewhere else</tagline>
<id>tag:www.mckechnie.net,2010://1</id>
<generator url="http://www.movabletype.org/" version="3.01D">Movable Type</generator>
<copyright>Copyright (c) 2010, Michael</copyright>
<entry>
<title>History of Programming</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.mckechnie.net/archives/2010/05/history_of_prog.php" />
<modified>2010-05-11T18:14:07Z</modified>
<issued>2010-05-11T18:14:07Z</issued>
<id>tag:www.mckechnie.net,2010://1.287</id>
<created>2010-05-11T18:14:07Z</created>
<summary type="text/plain">In spite of its lack of popularity, LISP (now &quot;Lisp&quot; or sometimes &quot;Arc&quot;) remains an influential language in &quot;key algorithmic techniques such as recursion and condescension&quot; - from One Div Zero: A Brief, Incomplete, and Mostly Wrong History of Programming...</summary>
<author>
<name>Michael</name>
<url>http://www.mckechnie.net</url>
<email>michael@mckechnie.net</email>
</author>
<dc:subject>Commentary</dc:subject>
<content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.mckechnie.net/">
<![CDATA[<p><em>In spite of its lack of popularity, LISP (now "Lisp" or sometimes "Arc") remains an influential language in "key algorithmic techniques such as recursion and condescension"</em><br />
- from <a title="One Div Zero: A Brief, Incomplete, and Mostly Wrong History of Programming Languages" href="http://james-iry.blogspot.com/2009/05/brief-incomplete-and-mostly-wrong.html">One Div Zero: A Brief, Incomplete, and Mostly Wrong History of Programming Languages</a> via <a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2010/05/10/funny-history-of-pro.html">Boing Boing</a></p>]]>

</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>Marriage experts</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.mckechnie.net/archives/2010/03/marriage_expert.php" />
<modified>2010-03-03T04:33:32Z</modified>
<issued>2010-03-03T04:33:32Z</issued>
<id>tag:www.mckechnie.net,2010://1.286</id>
<created>2010-03-03T04:33:32Z</created>
<summary type="text/plain">Why is the center for disease control the authority for the statistically significant attributes of marriage? Marriages last longer than living together? - Yahoo! News...</summary>
<author>
<name>Michael</name>
<url>http://www.mckechnie.net</url>
<email>michael@mckechnie.net</email>
</author>
<dc:subject>Commentary</dc:subject>
<content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.mckechnie.net/">
<![CDATA[<p>Why is the center for disease control the authority for the statistically significant attributes of marriage?</p>

<p><a title="Marriages last longer than living together? - Yahoo! News" href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100302/od_nm/us_marriage_usa">Marriages last longer than living together? - Yahoo! News</a></p>]]>

</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>Uzbeks</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.mckechnie.net/archives/2010/02/uzbeks.php" />
<modified>2010-02-11T13:59:31Z</modified>
<issued>2010-02-11T13:59:31Z</issued>
<id>tag:www.mckechnie.net,2010://1.285</id>
<created>2010-02-11T13:59:31Z</created>
<summary type="text/plain">&quot;An employee of the Uzbek general prosecutor’s press office said that only his manager was authorized to comment and that the manager’s position was at present unfilled.&quot; Priceless. From New York Times...</summary>
<author>
<name>Michael</name>
<url>http://www.mckechnie.net</url>
<email>michael@mckechnie.net</email>
</author>
<dc:subject>Journalism</dc:subject>
<content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.mckechnie.net/">
<![CDATA[<p>"An employee of the Uzbek general prosecutor’s press office said that only his manager was authorized to comment and that the manager’s position was at present unfilled."</p>

<p>Priceless. From <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/11/world/asia/11uzbekistan.html">New York Times</a></p>]]>

</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>Enterprise Computing</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.mckechnie.net/archives/2010/01/enterprise_comp.php" />
<modified>2010-01-06T13:23:26Z</modified>
<issued>2010-01-06T13:20:35Z</issued>
<id>tag:www.mckechnie.net,2010://1.284</id>
<created>2010-01-06T13:20:35Z</created>
<summary type="text/plain">Tim Bray pegs it nicely; the solution is less clear. &quot;The community of developers whose work you see on the Web, who probably don’t know what ADO or UML or JPA even stand for, deploy better systems at less cost...</summary>
<author>
<name>Michael</name>
<url>http://www.mckechnie.net</url>
<email>michael@mckechnie.net</email>
</author>
<dc:subject>Development</dc:subject>
<content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.mckechnie.net/">
<![CDATA[<p>Tim Bray <a href="http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/201x/2010/01/02/Doing-It-Wrong">pegs it nicely</a>; the solution is less clear.</p>

<p>"The community of developers whose work you see on the Web, who probably don’t know what ADO or UML or JPA even stand for, deploy better systems at less cost in less time at lower risk than we see in the Enterprise"</p>]]>

</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>DB Optimisation</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.mckechnie.net/archives/2009/05/db_optimisation.php" />
<modified>2009-05-27T10:28:44Z</modified>
<issued>2009-05-27T10:27:32Z</issued>
<id>tag:www.mckechnie.net,2009://1.283</id>
<created>2009-05-27T10:27:32Z</created>
<summary type="text/plain">&quot;I’ve been in a lot of Cloud-flavored discussions recently about what kind of Platform-as-a-Service offerings might hit sweet spots. On several occasions, People Who Should Know have said things like “A huge proportion of apps, even really big apps, can...</summary>
<author>
<name>Michael</name>
<url>http://www.mckechnie.net</url>
<email>michael@mckechnie.net</email>
</author>
<dc:subject>Development</dc:subject>
<content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.mckechnie.net/">
<![CDATA[<p>"I’ve been in a lot of Cloud-flavored discussions recently about what kind of Platform-as-a-Service offerings might hit sweet spots. On several occasions, People Who Should Know have said things like “A huge proportion of apps, even really big apps, can coast along just fine on a single MySQL instance with help from memcached.” Some numbers crossed my radar today that would tend to support that theory; and they’re sort of astounding."<br />
- Tim Bray at <a href="http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2009/05/20/Memcached-Performance">http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2009/05/20/Memcached-Performance</a></p>]]>

</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>Tom Glocer sails off on a sea of others&apos; troubles</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.mckechnie.net/archives/2008/06/tom_glocer_sail.php" />
<modified>2008-06-03T11:03:29Z</modified>
<issued>2008-06-03T11:03:29Z</issued>
<id>tag:www.mckechnie.net,2008://1.282</id>
<created>2008-06-03T11:03:29Z</created>
<summary type="text/plain">Tom Glocer sails off on a sea of others&apos; troubles - Times Online In an act of callousness that might have brought a blush to the cheeks of Marie Antoinette herself, Tom Glocer, the Thomson Reuters chief executive, has chartered...</summary>
<author>
<name>Michael</name>
<url>http://www.mckechnie.net</url>
<email>michael@mckechnie.net</email>
</author>
<dc:subject>Journalism</dc:subject>
<content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.mckechnie.net/">
<![CDATA[<p><a title="Tom Glocer sails off on a sea of others' troubles - Times Online" href="http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/columnists/article3981037.ece">Tom Glocer sails off on a sea of others' troubles - Times Online</a></p>

<p>In an act of callousness that might have brought a blush to the cheeks of Marie Antoinette herself, Tom Glocer, the Thomson Reuters chief executive, has chartered a yacht to moor in the harbour at Monaco just as the newly merged company announces 1,500 job cuts. The losses were put down to the urgent need to cut costs, and staffers there are understandably sick to see Glocer, as part of the group's sponsorship of F1, hire the yacht to entertain investment banking clients to coincide with the grand prix there. <br />
Thomson Reuters is refusing to comment. Glocer made a �22.5 million windfall out of the merger between Reuters and Thomson that led to the job cuts. So 1,500 relatively poor people become poorer while a rich man, now considerably richer as a consequence, hires a yacht with someone else's money to entertain some other very rich people. Could there be a more perfect parable for our times? </p>]]>

</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>car lover</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.mckechnie.net/archives/2008/05/car_lover.php" />
<modified>2008-05-23T14:04:56Z</modified>
<issued>2008-05-23T14:04:56Z</issued>
<id>tag:www.mckechnie.net,2008://1.281</id>
<created>2008-05-23T14:04:56Z</created>
<summary type="text/plain">He added: &quot;There are moments way out in the middle of nowhere when I see a little car parked and I swear it needs loving.&quot; Man admits &apos;having sex&apos; with 1,000 cars - Telegraph...</summary>
<author>
<name>Michael</name>
<url>http://www.mckechnie.net</url>
<email>michael@mckechnie.net</email>
</author>
<dc:subject>Journalism</dc:subject>
<content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.mckechnie.net/">
<![CDATA[<p>He added: "There are moments way out in the middle of nowhere when I see a little car parked and I swear it needs loving."</p>

<p><a title="Man admits 'having sex' with 1,000 cars - Telegraph" href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/2000899/Man-admits-'having-sex'-with-1,000-cars.html">Man admits 'having sex' with 1,000 cars - Telegraph</a><br />
 </p>]]>

</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>10 Litres of heaven</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.mckechnie.net/archives/2008/05/10_litres_of_he.php" />
<modified>2008-05-22T16:20:43Z</modified>
<issued>2008-05-22T16:20:43Z</issued>
<id>tag:www.mckechnie.net,2008://1.280</id>
<created>2008-05-22T16:20:43Z</created>
<summary type="text/plain">I&apos;m just finishing a bottle of La Meurtrière while listening to a boring conference call that is no longer so annoying. I can recommend without hesitation the Brasserie des Murailles...</summary>
<author>
<name>Michael</name>
<url>http://www.mckechnie.net</url>
<email>michael@mckechnie.net</email>
</author>
<dc:subject>Commentary</dc:subject>
<content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.mckechnie.net/">
<![CDATA[<p>I'm just finishing a bottle of La Meurtrière while listening to a boring conference call that is no longer so annoying. I can recommend without hesitation the <a title="Brasserie des Murailles" href="http://www.bmurailles.ch/">Brasserie des Murailles</a></p>]]>

</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>His Noodly Goodness</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.mckechnie.net/archives/2008/05/his_noodly_good.php" />
<modified>2008-05-22T11:05:33Z</modified>
<issued>2008-05-22T11:03:42Z</issued>
<id>tag:www.mckechnie.net,2008://1.279</id>
<created>2008-05-22T11:03:42Z</created>
<summary type="text/plain">&quot;I’d really rather you didn’t act like a sanctimonious holier-than-thou ass when describing my noodly goodness. If some people don’t believe in me, that’s okay. Really, I&apos;m not that vain. Besides, this isn’t about them so don’t change the subject....</summary>
<author>
<name>Michael</name>
<url>http://www.mckechnie.net</url>
<email>michael@mckechnie.net</email>
</author>
<dc:subject>Humour</dc:subject>
<content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.mckechnie.net/">
<![CDATA[<p>"I’d really rather you didn’t act like a sanctimonious holier-than-thou ass when describing my noodly goodness. If some people don’t believe in me, that’s okay. Really, I'm not that vain. Besides, this isn’t about them so don’t change the subject. "<br />
- from the Wikipedia entry on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gospel_of_the_Flying_Spaghetti_Monster#The_Eight_.22I.27d_Really_Rather_You_Didn.27ts.22">The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster</a><br />
</p>]]>

</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>cold porn</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.mckechnie.net/archives/2008/03/cold_porn.php" />
<modified>2008-03-28T19:20:22Z</modified>
<issued>2008-03-28T19:20:22Z</issued>
<id>tag:www.mckechnie.net,2008://1.278</id>
<created>2008-03-28T19:20:22Z</created>
<summary type="text/plain">Key quote: &quot;I didn&apos;t recognise myself,&quot; said one soldier &quot;Neither did my wife, thank God.&quot; Secret Stasi pornographic films found - Telegraph&quot;...</summary>
<author>
<name>Michael</name>
<url>http://www.mckechnie.net</url>
<email>michael@mckechnie.net</email>
</author>
<dc:subject>Journalism</dc:subject>
<content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.mckechnie.net/">
<![CDATA[<p>Key quote: <a title="Secret Stasi pornographic films found - Telegraph" href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/28/wporn128.xml">"I didn't recognise myself," said one soldier "Neither did my wife, thank God." <br />
Secret Stasi pornographic films found - Telegraph"</a><br />
</p>]]>

</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>nice kitty</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.mckechnie.net/archives/2008/03/nice_kitty.php" />
<modified>2008-03-28T19:13:57Z</modified>
<issued>2008-03-28T19:13:57Z</issued>
<id>tag:www.mckechnie.net,2008://1.277</id>
<created>2008-03-28T19:13:57Z</created>
<summary type="text/plain">OK, props for &quot;thinking outside of the box&quot;; Pubic Topiary: Pube Grooming Kit Makes Your Muff Best In Show...</summary>
<author>
<name>Michael</name>
<url>http://www.mckechnie.net</url>
<email>michael@mckechnie.net</email>
</author>
<dc:subject>Journalism</dc:subject>
<content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.mckechnie.net/">
<![CDATA[<p>OK, props for "thinking outside of the box"; <a title="Pubic Topiary: Pube Grooming Kit Makes Your Muff Best In Show" href="http://gizmodo.com/373398/pube-grooming-kit-makes-your-muff-best-in-show">Pubic Topiary: Pube Grooming Kit Makes Your Muff Best In Show</a></p>]]>

</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>mmmm, bacon</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.mckechnie.net/archives/2008/03/mmmm_bacon.php" />
<modified>2008-03-10T13:35:19Z</modified>
<issued>2008-03-10T13:35:19Z</issued>
<id>tag:www.mckechnie.net,2008://1.276</id>
<created>2008-03-10T13:35:19Z</created>
<summary type="text/plain">Alcool + Bacon = fun...</summary>
<author>
<name>Michael</name>
<url>http://www.mckechnie.net</url>
<email>michael@mckechnie.net</email>
</author>
<dc:subject>Journalism</dc:subject>
<content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.mckechnie.net/">
<![CDATA[<p>Alcool + Bacon = <a title="Make your own Bacon Vodka | Random Good Stuff - The Entertainment Blog" href="http://www.random-good-stuff.com/2008/03/08/make-your-own-bacon-vodka/">fun</a></p>]]>

</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>Mommy?</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.mckechnie.net/archives/2008/02/mommy.php" />
<modified>2008-02-08T08:53:37Z</modified>
<issued>2008-02-08T08:53:37Z</issued>
<id>tag:www.mckechnie.net,2008://1.275</id>
<created>2008-02-08T08:53:37Z</created>
<summary type="text/plain"></summary>
<author>
<name>Michael</name>
<url>http://www.mckechnie.net</url>
<email>michael@mckechnie.net</email>
</author>
<dc:subject>Humour</dc:subject>
<content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.mckechnie.net/">
<![CDATA[<p><a title="xkcd - A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language - By Randall Munroe" href="http://xkcd.com/11/"><img src="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/barrel_mommies.jpg"/></a></p>]]>

</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>tiny bursts of flavour</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.mckechnie.net/archives/2008/01/tiny_bursts_of.php" />
<modified>2008-01-08T10:29:06Z</modified>
<issued>2008-01-08T10:29:06Z</issued>
<id>tag:www.mckechnie.net,2008://1.274</id>
<created>2008-01-08T10:29:06Z</created>
<summary type="text/plain">Yum! Key quote: &quot;This isn&apos;t the right sauce for everyone, but for someone out there, this is going to be absolute heaven. Of course, for a handful of people, it&apos;s going to be hell,&quot; Snacking on a wing and a...</summary>
<author>
<name>Michael</name>
<url>http://www.mckechnie.net</url>
<email>michael@mckechnie.net</email>
</author>
<dc:subject>Journalism</dc:subject>
<content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.mckechnie.net/">
<![CDATA[<p>Yum! Key quote:</p>

<p>"This isn't the right sauce for everyone, but for someone out there, this is going to be absolute heaven. Of course, for a handful of people, it's going to be hell," </p>

<p><a title="Snacking on a wing and a prayer - Yahoo! News" href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080104/od_nm/wings_dc">Snacking on a wing and a prayer - Yahoo! News</a><br />
</p>]]>

</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>fast flu</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.mckechnie.net/archives/2008/01/fast_flu.php" />
<modified>2008-01-04T10:04:50Z</modified>
<issued>2008-01-04T10:04:50Z</issued>
<id>tag:www.mckechnie.net,2008://1.273</id>
<created>2008-01-04T10:04:50Z</created>
<summary type="text/plain">I know 4 people who&apos;ve fallen ill of sudden flu in the UK in the last week. Nasty. &quot;Noroviruses are a group of viruses that are the most common cause of gastroenteritis (stomach bugs) in England and Wales. In the...</summary>
<author>
<name>Michael</name>
<url>http://www.mckechnie.net</url>
<email>michael@mckechnie.net</email>
</author>
<dc:subject>Journalism</dc:subject>
<content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.mckechnie.net/">
<![CDATA[<p>I know 4 people who've fallen ill of sudden flu in the UK in the last week. Nasty.</p>

<p>"Noroviruses are a group of viruses that are the most common cause of gastroenteritis (stomach bugs) in England and Wales. In the past, noroviruses have also been called ‘winter vomiting viruses’, ‘small round structured viruses’ or ‘Norwalk-like viruses’."</p>

<p>from <a title="HPA | Norovirus | FAQs" href="http://www.hpa.org.uk/infections/topics_az/norovirus/faq.htm">HPA | Norovirus | FAQs</a></p>]]>

</content>
</entry>

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