humor

programming

Somebody is to Blame for This

This is not a post about programming, or being a geek. In all likelihood, this is not a post you will enjoy reading. Consider yourselves warned. I don't remember how I found this Moth video of comedian Anthony Griffith. It is not a fun thing to watch, especially

By Jeff Atwood ·
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markov chains

Markov and You

In Finally, a Definition of Programming I Can Actually Understand I marvelled at particularly strange and wonderful comment left on this blog. Some commenters wondered if that comment was generated through Markov chains. I considered that, but I had a hard time imagining a text corpus input that could possibly

By Jeff Atwood ·
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comedy

Is Worse Really Better?

You may think of Steve Martin as a stereotypical family friendly comedian today-- the center of saccharine movies like Parenthood and Father of the Bride. But it wasn't always this way. Steve hit his stride in the early 80's. At that time, I don't

By Jeff Atwood ·
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humor

Just Try Again

It's funny because it's true: > A Software Engineer, a Hardware Engineer and a Departmental Manager were on their way to a meeting in Switzerland. They were driving down a steep mountain road when suddenly the brakes on their car failed. The car careened almost out

By Jeff Atwood ·
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retro

A Tribute to the Windows 3.1 "Hot Dog Stand" Color Scheme

Yesterday's post about code syntax color schemes got me thinking about what is perhaps the ultimate color scheme, Windows 3.1's "Hot Dog Stand": The truly funny thing about this color scheme is that all the other Windows 3.1 color schemes are surprisingly

By Jeff Atwood ·
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programming languages

On Software “Engineering”

An oldie but a goodie, courtesy of Jeroen van den Bos: A man is flying in a hot air balloon and realizes he is lost. He reduces height and spots a man down below. He lowers the balloon further and shouts: “Excuse me, can you tell me where I am?

By Jeff Atwood ·
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