Overloading

I could never understand the logic behind this post by Ted Dziuba, until I read Sun's excellent documentation regarding method declarations in Java. 


The haze is clearing a bit. :)

Lamplighter

Evenings. The perfect time for reflections and ruminations. Memories, some floating back to what seems like eons ago, but was probably just a series of ripples in the pool of your life. The pleasant cold of the spring evening brings a touch of the chill, and is perfectly countered by the life-giving warmth of the lamp. And you think, and you go over seasides, and mountains, and forests with dripping lichens, cities with magnificently lit skylines, and you marvel at the beauty and majesty in it all. And then you go back to the paper you are supposed to be have been writing two hours ago.

Happiness, according to Mark Pilgrim

1. Stop buying stuff you don’t need
2. Pay off all your credit cards
3. Get rid of all the stuff that doesn’t fit in your house/apartment (storage lockers, etc.)
4. Get rid of all the stuff that doesn’t fit on the first floor of your house (attic, garage, etc.)
5. Get rid of all the stuff that doesn’t fit in one room of your house
6. Get rid of all the stuff that doesn’t fit in a suitcase
7. Get rid of all the stuff that doesn’t fit in a backpack
8. Get rid of the backpack

Fantastic.

Eldritch Wanderings

Dug out an old poem from my email, and it is suddenly very profound.

A light goes out,
(Four long years have passed)
and all is still.
(I didn’t expect you here.)

A faint thump is heard;
(You catch up on old times)
another, and another.
(As if nothing has changed.)
“Thump, thump, thump.” (a heartbeat)
(But it has.)
A mask is removed
(I used to cry over you.)
And thrown to the floor.
(I wish I could cry still,)

Let all the world know
(But my tears for you)

Vivandi is no more.
(Are long since shed.) 

The dark returns with silent violence
(Nobody deserves a third chance.)
And we shall enjoy ourselves.
(I never wish to see you again.)
This I promise you;
(This I promise you;)
Welcome to the land of Shattered Dreams.
(Welcome to the land of Shattered Dreams.)

Earth and Water

You tell me we can stop the rain,
You tell me that we all can change,
You tell me we can find something to wash the tears away... 

And I know, of the pain, that you feel the same as me,
And I dream, of the rain, as it falls upon the leaves,
And the cracks, in the ground, like the cracks are in our lives,
They are sealed, and are now; far away...

Why is it that rain is only fun when it drums violently on a tin rooftop?

Also, I find, not for the first time, that rains are good times for contemplation, colds, soup, and (oddly) listening to heavy metal.

Content

A bunch of Cory Doctorow's essays on DRM, electronic texts, and piracy are extremely insightful. Obviously, like his other books, licensed under the Creative Commons license, and available freely online on his site here. This is one of the best texts I've read on this stuff for a while.

Thoughts in the Night

As you go upon the trail, the vistas become less and less familiar. You leave the cozy cottages and the inns behind, and go into the dark and bleak wilderness, and terrors await you, lurking and unknown. Some of your comrades fall, some prove treacherous, and others part ways, while you go along the road less travelled. A part of the heart longs to be back, on the rug, beside the fireplace, safe and warm, and another part says that the sword can never gain a true edge unless it endures the heat of the furnace.


Exhausted, you sleep as well as you can, on a bed as soft as you can make it, and wonder how far your journey will take you, and what you shall encounter further. You think in grief about all that has passed, and find a kind of catharsis in resolving to forget it all. The resolve does not hold long, however, and you drift off to sleep, looking long and hard at the shoulder and belt of the hunters in the sky. You wonder what beings could there be on those worlds, and what their joys and sorrows would be like. You ponder upon how little a speck in the immense world you represent, and how little it would mean if you suddenly vanished off the face of this world.

The oblivion, when it comes, is welcome, for thoughts can go on forever and always, and try to span the universe, which, unfortunately, cannot be spanned.

:)