“A judge on Tuesday ordered Microsoft to stop selling Word, one of its premier products, in its current form due to patent infringement.Judge Leonard Davis of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued a permanent injunction that “prohibits Microsoft from selling or importing to the United States any Microsoft Word products that have the capability of opening .XML, .DOCX or DOCM files XML files containing custom XML,” according to a statement released by attorneys for the plantiff, i4i.”

via Judge orders Microsoft to stop selling Word | Microsoft – CNET News.

“Richard Feynman and The Connection Machine
by W. Daniel Hillis
Nobel prize winner physicist Richard Feynman played a critical role in developing the first parallel-processing computer and finding innovative uses for it in numerical computing and building neural networks as well as physical simulation with cellular-automata such as turbulent fluid flow, working with Stephen Wolfram.”

via Richard Feynman and The Connection Machine.

“30 Most Influential People In ProgrammingPosted on 29. Jul, 2009 by Andy in ProgrammingEarlier in the month we released a post called 30 Most Influential People In Web Design which showcased our favorite 30 web designers. Today we want to show off our favorite 30 programmers who have inspired and influenced so many people to become better programmers. Let us know who has inspired you to start and become a better programmer!”

via 30 Most Influential People In Programming | Web Design Tutorials | Creating a Website | Learn Adobe Flash, Photoshop and Dreamweaver.

Elaine Morgan is a tenacious proponent of the aquatic ape hypothesis: the idea that humans evolved from primate ancestors who dwelt in watery habitats. Hear her spirited defense of the idea — and her theory on why mainstream science doesn’t take it seriously.

via Elaine Morgan says we evolved from aquatic apes | Video on TED.com.

“Microsoft’s Empty Promise
Last week, Microsoft extended the terms of their Community Promise to implementations of the ECMA 334 and 335 standards. You might think this means it’s safe to write your software in C#. However, this promise is full of loopholes, and it’s nowhere near enough to make C# safe.”

via Microsoft’s Empty Promise – Free Software Foundation.

“We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people.”

via We Choose the Moon.

Computerworld
“Forty years ago this summer, a programmer sat down and knocked out in one month what would become one of the most important pieces of software ever created.

In August 1969, Ken Thompson, a programmer at AT&T subsidiary Bell Laboratories, saw the month-long departure of his wife and young son as an opportunity to put his ideas for a new operating system into practice. He wrote the first version of Unix in assembly language for a wimpy Digital Equipment Corp. DEC PDP-7 minicomputer, spending one week each on the operating system, a shell, an editor and an assembler.”

via Unix turns 40: The past, present and future of a revolutionary OS.

My apologies for referencing the shorter version of the video in my last posting.

The Long Version

Susan Boyle

on Britain’s Got Talent (picture only, click her name above to see the performance.)

Les Miserables
As sung by Susan Boyle

The lyrics as performed with omissions noted:

“[Omitted]
There was a time when men were kind
When their voices were soft
And their words inviting
There was a time when love was blind
And the world was a song
And the song was exciting
There was a time
Then it all went wrong
[/Omitted]

I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high
And life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving
Then I was young and unafraid
And dreams were made and used and wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung, no wine untasted

But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hope apart
And they turn your dream to shame

[Omitted]
He slept a summer by my side
He filled my days with endless wonder
He took my childhood in his stride
But he was gone when autumn came
[/Omitted]

And still I dream he’ll come to me
That we will live the years together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms we cannot weather

I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I’m living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed.”

My comments:

Reports are that this performance is setting records for numbers of viewers, and understandably so. Not only is her singing voice exceptionable, but her story as presented in the clip is to say the least “a real tear jerker”. Call me an old sentimental fool, just like so many other people, but this performance brings tears to one’s eyes every time it is viewed. You can’t have a heart beating in your chest and not do so.

The whole package; the televised forum, the stage decorations, her off-stage duo of chearleaders, the awed judges and their comments, the audience reactions, the background story, the terrific musical score, herunexpected yet amazing performance and her emotional backstage reaction altogether create a magical series of moments that should live on as a high point of the year 2009.

Modern.Marvels.Creation.of.the.Computer

This is a good historical documentary of the steps along the way of creating modern day computers.  Particularly interesting is the archival video of actual early computers and the people who invented them, used them, and their impacts on history.