Apr 21
During a recent security audit, a company discovered that a
blonde employee was using the following password:
“MickeyMinniePlutoHueyLouieDeweyDonaldGoofySacramento”
When the company asked the blonde why she had such a long password, she said the login screen required the password to be at least 8 characters long and include at least one capital.
From Politically Incorrect Humor
Apr 19
Silverlight is a powerful development platform for creating engaging, interactive user experiences for Web, desktop, and mobile applications when online or offline. Silverlight is a free plug-in, powered by the .NET framework and compatible with multiple browsers, devices and operating systems, bringing a new level of interactivity wherever the Web works. Silverlight is also one of the programming models for Windows Phone 7 devices.
Key new features in Silverlight 4 include:
- Set of forms controls with over 60 customizable, style-able components.
- Comprehensive printing support.
- The .NET Common Runtime (CLR) now enables the same compiled code to be run on the desktop and Silverlight without change.
- Enhanced data-binding support, data grouping/editing, and string formatting within bindings.
- Managed Extensibility Framework (MEF) supports building large composite applications.
- Silverlight design support in Visual Studio 2010 with drag & drop data-binding, and full IntelliSense.
- Localization enhancements with Bi-Directional text, Right-to-Left support and complex scripts such as Arabic.
Silverlight Homepage
What’s New in Silverlight 4
Developing for Windows Phone 7 with Silverlight
Apr 16
Yet another hilarious strip from xkcd: A webcomic of romance,
sarcasm, math, and language:

Apr 13
This is part 15 in a series of articles on obscure programming languages.
What is Oxygene?
Oxygene is a commercial programming language developed by RemObjects Software for the Microsoft .NET Framework. In 2008, RemObjects licensed its Oxygene compiler and IDE technology to Embarcadero to be used in its Delphi Prism product. You may recall that in 2008 Embarcadero purchased CodeGear, the software development tools division of Borland.
Continue reading »
Apr 12
Microsoft is releasing Visual Studio 2010, .NET Framework 4.0, and Silverlight 4 at the Visual Studio Developer Conference in Las Vegas. VS 2010 and .NET 4 are available today, and Silverlight 4 will be available to download later this week.
Continue reading »
Apr 07
This comic shows how hell is just like life on Earth, only worse.
From xkcd: A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math and language.
Mar 31
April Fool’s Day is tomorrow, April 1st. It’s an annual “holiday” when humor reigns, and pranks and practical jokes are expected and allowed.
Computers are a great medium for April Fool’s jokers because most users have no clue what goes on behind those blinking computer lights. So when a hapless user is hit with a computer prank, they immediately suspect a malfunction, virus or worse.
Here’s a fun article from last year. If you haven’t seen it, it’s new to you!
Best April Fool’s Day Computer Pranks
Mar 19
When you clicked an icon to launch your web browser to read this article, you can thank Charles Thacker (among others).
In 1973, Thacker and a group of scientists at the famed Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center) built the Alto, the world’s first desktop computer. The Alto featured many innovations that we take for granted today in our personal computers: a television-like screen, graphical user interface, windows, icons, and a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) text editor.
The Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) has awarded Charles Thacker with the Turing Award, which is considered to be the “Nobel Prize in Computing.” The award includes a $250,000 check, with financial support by Intel and Google. Since 1966 the Turing Award has honored computer scientists and engineers who “created the systems and underlying theoretical foundations that have propelled the information technology industry.”
Continue reading »
Mar 12
An old joke floating around the Internet lately…
If a man cuts his finger off while slicing salami at work, he blames the restaurant.
If your father smokes three packs of cigarettes a day for 40 years and dies of lung cancer, your family blames the tobacco company.
If your neighbor crashes into a tree while driving home drunk, he blames the bartender.
If your grandchildren are brats without manners, you blame television.
If your friend is shot by a deranged madman, you blame the gun manufacturer.
And if a crazed person breaks into a jet cockpit and tries to kill the pilot at 35,000 feet, but the passengers kill him instead, the mother of the crazed deceased blames the airline.
I must have lived too long to understand the world as it is anymore.
So, if I die while my old wrinkled ass is parked in front of this computer, I want all of you to blame Bill Gates!
Web Funny
Mar 04
Apple Inc. has filed a federal lawsuit against “the world” for violating its U.S. Patent 3,141,5926 “Removing a Booger by Performing Gestures with a Finger.” Apple is demanding licensing royalties from all world citizens who pick their nose, and a cease & desist order against Kleenex tissues for providing citizens with an alternate method to jailbreak boogers and avoid Apple’s patent.
This new legal action follows a similar lawsuit that Apple filed against rival phone maker HTC for allegedly violating 20 of Apple’s mobile phone patents. The Apple patents include “novel” inventions such as U.S. Patent 7,657,849 for unlocking a phone with a finger swipe.
Continue reading »