Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Jamming applications into bad templates

I've had a lot of conversations with business people and developers who want "templates" that will work for any application they develop. This is usually in the context of their wanting to cut out all "unnecessary" analysis and design work so a project can jump right into coding. I've tried to explain that jamming your application into an inappropriate template is harmful at worst, silly at best. I'd never found a really good example that I think makes the point, until I found this:

http://www.handerpants.com/

I may put these on my X-mas list.

Monday, December 21, 2009

Happy Winter Solstice

I don't observe a lot of the history-book holidays, like Presidents Day, Columbus Day, etc., but I do take note of the solstices and equinoxes. I guess it's my pagan heritage. Anyway, Happy Winter Solstice, and enjoy the shortest day. And an early Merry Christmas.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Happy Christmas 2008

Happy Christmas (War is Over) from 1971 is one of my favorite videos of all time. It's appropriate for the season.

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Digression: Christmas Truce of 1914

The song Snoopy's Christmas by the Royal Guardsmen gets a lot of play in the U.S. during the Christmas season. It's a perfect little late-1960's pop song with great hooks and a singable chorus and a nice message. More than just a hit novelty song for a short-lived band, however, it's based on an incident that occurred during World War I.

In what became known as The Christmas Truce of 1914, German and British soldiers fighting in France defied their commanding officers and celebrated Christmas with each other in no-man's-land between the barbed wire and trenches. As in the song, the Germans initiated the truce. The soldiers exchanged presents and sang carols. They played football (soccer) with each other. The truce lasted only a day in some places, in others it lasted into the new year. After the truce ended the massacre began again.

The truce is one of many stories that demonstrate that the people in the trenches often have a good deal more sense than their supposed superiors. A lesson for people who would aspire to be leaders.