On StackOverflow, there is a question asking for the greatest programmer quotes you know. In the top 3 quotes are the following two quotes which I think hold much truth: _**"Always code as if the guy who ends up maintaining your code will be a violent psychopath who knows where you live."**_ - Rick Osborne …

For people wanting to have an interactive whiteboard but don't have the money, Johnny Chung Lee has found the solution. Using a Wiimote, he can track an infrared lightsource (like an LED) and use that to control the mousecursor. I tried some software on the Mac and the PC, and I actually got both to work without too …

The last few weeks I was frustrated about not being able to write any code for the project I am on at work. My days are filled with email, spreadsheets, documents, discussions and distractions. All important stuff, I'm sure, but none of it has got to do with actual coding. I tried to write code during the evenings for …

People who know me know that I'm not a big fan of commercial TV. It hasn't got any depth, it usually underproduced, overmarketed and makes an insulting assumption on the viewer's intelligence. (Wow, all in one sentence :-) ) So I usually get my information elsewhere. Most of the stuff I find interesting is provided …

I recently got an email with a brilliant little fairytale about how to trick people into happily giving you all their money. I wanted to share with you, but it was in Dutch, and the origin was cleary not the original author. Today I was rummaging around the internet to see if I could find the original author, and I …

We've probably all had it. Just when you thought you found the right number of Palindromic Square Sums, you receive a mail from somewhere up the chain of command with a cry for help. The rather lengthy mail contains 3 paragraphs on why this mail was so important, why it was sent to you and why you need to reply …

Last wednesday I was at J-Fall 2008, a fairly large event for Java programmers in the Netherlands. This event is organized by NLJUG. You can read some of my notes on the different sessions in my public evernote. Here's a one-minute impression of what J-Fall looked like this year: …

Last sunday, I was at the Zoom Experience 2008 in Utrecht. The organization has learned a lot since last year's debute of the Zoom Experience. There was plenty of room to walk, lots of places to sit down and talk, and the talks were in seperate areas with less noise. This is what the Zoom Experience looked like on …

At work, we've got two Oracle databases and a Java web application. One of the tasks of the web application is to copy tables over from one database to the other. Last week we ran into a funny problem which turns out to be an Oracle bug. I've posted a question about this last week on stackoverflow.com but it seems that …

I recently tried to purchase a Logitech LS1 mouse from Logitech. After not hearing from them for 3 weeks, I ordered the same mouse at Dynabyte and got it within 5 days. Suddenly Logitech woke up and sent me another LS1 mouse. Because they don't react to mails or calls, I had a spare LS1 to play around with. I decided …