Provided by NASA, found via Jeremy Zawodny's Linkblog.

With a little time last night, I decided to publish a new page in the Work-section. It’s called How to query database records by their relative distance to each other on Earth?.

I recently solved this problem for a customer and had to search the web a lot to find all the necessary information. So I thought writing it all down might save someone else some time in the future.

then maurus.net has successfully moved to a new, dedicated, server running Debian Etch. The theme has new ajax-based features (though strictly speaking the involvement of XML is minimal :-) ) and I can finally install a fully spam-protected mail server. Let's see where this goes.

For a long time now, I read the excellent thedailywtf.com WorseThanFailure and most of the entries are funny, some contain interesting lessons and some are horrifying. But this one’s really great, so I want to reproduce it here:

What, Me Layer?

In these days of Web 2.0, the line between outdated (and therefore obsolete) and retro (and therefore cool again) can get pretty blurred. Desktop Applications: outdated (unless they’re HTML-based or made by Google). Client/Server: retro (no green-screens please!). Tiered Design: retro (but only if at least two tiers are AJAX/JavaScript-based).

See what I mean? It’s hard to keep up. Greg Ward’s predecessors must have gotten pretty confused along the way as well. Following is a single line from their Web 2.0-based medical application.

    public class Patient extends JavascriptStringBuilder

And yes, “Patient” means exactly what you think it does. As does “Javascript.”

Original link: What, Me Layer?

Time sure flies. My last post seems like yesterday, but somehow I missed a month inbetween :-/. However, interesting stuff is happening everywhere:

Link time

• The BBC reports: FBI tries to fight zombie hordes. It finally happened, the Umbrella corporation messed up big time! (I should have known better, but I really thought of the walking dead, in a shopping mall preferably, first).

• Safari for Windows, now I don’t need to buy a MacBook to test our websites. Somehow that hurts a little bit inside :-(

• I don’t know about you, but somehow this site is disturbing: OMG!!1!

Maps

A couple of interesting maps came my way recently

• Here’s a map of the US with the states’ names replaced by countries with roughly the same GDP: US States Renamed For Countries With Similar GDPs (via the excellent Freakonomics blog)

• … and here’s one that shows the US’ GPA compared to China, Japan and Germany (scroll down a bit): GDP maps

Teh funnies

• blabbermouth / lesbians :-)

Teh funnies:

• An Open Letter to the Thunderbird Team It’d be nice, really fucking nice, if in the new app, Cmd-Shift-M did something other than DELETE MY FUCKING MESSAGE (via Jeremy Zawodny’s Linkblog)

• You are here.

• 1-Click (both via jwz)

Interesting:

• Des Traynor on Windows Usability

Did you ever wonder why Java apps aren’t popular on OSX? They just don’t fit in. They are horrendous to look at, unusable, and slow. The technical term for that is “shit software”, and it’s starting become clear to me that Mac users don’t tolerate shit.
Update - they do however pay for software such as “un-installers”, and ftp clients :-)

According to this article on the BBC, 2007 has a 60% chance of being warmer than the current record set by 1998, with an average surface temperature of 14.54°C.

2007! Hopefully it will last longer than 2006 did, which went by with a swooshing sound.

Anyway, Slate has a list of the 10 worst things that the Bush administration did to the United States… it feels like they got done a lot!

This year I’ll hopefully graduate and start my Ph.D. somewhere, until Bush manages to start World War IX or whatever he’s up to next. So this is to 2007 and everything we’ll accomplish! Let’s go! ;-)

Ben Metcalfe: Google can go shove their lexicographical ‘advice’ up their ass. My sentiment, exactly. Idiots!

bling h₂o. Bottled water. Frosted glass. Swarovski crystals. $35.00 per bottle. *cough*