This morning's topic of discussion in the sysadmin chatroom led me to If programming languages were religions

C would be Judaism - it's old and restrictive, but most of the world is familiar with its laws and respects them. The catch is, you can't convert into it - you're either into it from the start, or you will think that it's insanity. Also, when things go wrong, many people are willing to blame the problems of the world on it.

This album is madness and I feel like inflicting it on as many people as possible.

New album: Girl Talk's "Feed the Animals." Adam described it as what happens when all of the music you've liked in the past 30 years gets in a room and has a giant mashup orgy. It's an accurate description.

Stephen has struck again. He presents LOLcards for Valentine's Day. My personal favorite? "I devour hearts"

You need this. So do your twisted friends. Spread the meme. :D

Two links, partly because they both interest me and partly because I need to test whether or not my changes have fixed the permissions problems I was seeing yesterday (HT to Geof for tipping me off) --

Sun acquires mySQL - cue standard O NOES from all involved geeks until we have some idea how this will actually shake out. I won't bother to pretend I know, but I'll be watching with avid interest ...

and

...an excerpt of Iain Banks' new novel is available on Orbit books -- and yes, it is a Culture novel. I've heard references that indicate his Culture novels are each intended to serve as a different perspective on the same civilization (from inside, from those they conquer, from those who run it, etc.). (Thanks, Patrick)

Why geeks like us shouldn't be allowed to manage holiday festivities:

(HT to Adam)

I've been watching this on a personal level as well as a professional level, and it's amazing and spiffy and reminds me that tech geeks like myself can use our skills for more than just everyday fluffy stuff.

Take a look at this google map of the San Diego fires. Zoom in and you'll see where the fires are, where the evacuation areas are, locations of human and animal shelters (both open and at capacity) and what areas are being evacuated.