By now you’ve seen the shuttle picture showing an iPod in the window:

I’m no Photoshop guru, but this had to be done:

Go read the real news here.

Here is what I’ve been working on for the past few weeks. My Google Android custom PC:

I posted additional pictures on this photo album.

This is a fully functional computer, including a JetWay Mini ITX motherboard with a Via C7 CPU, 1GB RAM, Ubuntu 7.10, and a 10,000 RPM 74 GB Raptor.

Here’s the back with the cover on:

The cover is a 12″ steel hemisphere (yes, you can order ANYTHING online). I had to cut out the holes, sand, and paint; painting was the hardest part of this project. All of the wires come out through the holes in the bottom, which is a circular piece of MDF.

I’ll follow up later this week with additional photos showing the construction and assembly process. I plan to sell this, so let me know if you are interested. I’ll probably put it up on EBay in a week or so.

Here are some of the more popular comics from my blog…or maybe not so popular, but some of my favorites:

• James Brings Closure to the Debate
• Java is the New COBOL
• Scala Will Do (this one pissed off a lot of people, beware…)
• Java Upgrade Hammer
• In the Zone
• Comic Tribute to Java Versus Ruby
• Wide Stanced Programming (my favorite)

All of my comics are tagged, also. You’ll have to keep clicking the Previous Entries link to see everything.

Least Successful Shirt Design

I would like to draw your attention to this comment from Matt. Well done!

I’ll do my best to bring the fun back.

*** UPDATE: that’s weird…Firefox isn’t scrolling to his comment when I click that link. Probably a mistake in my theme. Oh well, just scroll down and look for Matt’s comment.

*** UPDATE 2: It is fixed. See my explanation here.

Motivator lets you create your own motivational posters:

You can make fun of yourself, too:

I’m an equal opportunity mocker:

The Internet is a wonderful thing.

With the release of Google Stalker Buddy, they no longer even pretend to respect our privacy. Damn these guys are good: GPS, mapping, cellular triangulation…it’s so perfect.

2007 year in review…

• 2007 was not The Year of the Linux Desktop.
• 2007 was the year of Google. They released app upgrades at at astonishing rate, and the pace is accelerating.
• Phrase of the year: wide stanced.
• Actually, 2007 was the year of the taser. Don’t tase me, bro.
• 2007 brought us the most disgusting video in the history of the internet. That’s saying something. Recording people’s reactions to the video is a popular YouTube meme.
• Vista is about a year old. We have far more device drivers and stability is just fine. It is still a resource hog compared to XP, the bundled apps (Paint, Notepad, etc) still suck, and usability is hampered by constant popups (affectionately known as barkware, a term I learned from Brad Shuler). Overall impression? Meh.
• Apple didn’t tell us how they feel about Java.
• An astronaut wore a diaper and drove 900 miles to confront a romantic rival.
• Celebrities in the news: OJ Simpson, Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, Dog the Bounty Hunter, Lindsey Lohan.
• In 2007, the Zune finally caught up to iPod. The 2005 iPod.
• A never-ending list of Java 7 features are on everyone’s mind. Meanwhile, thousands of corporate IT departments still use 1.4.

That’s all I can think of right now.

I just received the best spam email of 2007:

Subject: “Drop up to 20 pounds in a day”
Sender: “colon cure”
Content: “America’s Favorite Colon Cleanse!”

America has a favorite colon cleanse? Uh…

I hear a similar ad on the radio all the time, describing the backup as “like spackle” on the walls of your intestines. Reminds me of the colon blow skit on SNL.

This is funny because somewhere out there, someone actually believes there is 20 POUNDS of shit backed up in their system. Better get your plunger ready.

Too bad the Google Chart API does not let me control foreground colors for pie charts…

UPDATE: Dang! Stupid me, I read (and apparently am confused by) the docs:

Only background fill is available for bar charts, pie charts, and Venn diagrams.

Jesse set me straight: