My ICSE 2007 picks

Before letting the ICSE 2007 topic to rest, I wanted to write some notes about some papers that I found satisfying and relevant to my research interests. ICSE is a huge conference, and although it has something for everyone, it’s easy to get lost in its proceedings. Greg Wilson has already posted an initial list [...]

Ed Yourdon on the Peopleware panel

Ed Yourdon, one of the participants of the ICSE Peopleware panel I blogged about, has an extremely informative description of the panel’s discussion in his blog.
Here’s an insightful bit: During the panel, Tom DeMarco half-jokingly blamed Barry Boehm (another panelist) for the relatively slow adoption of agile development. Boehm, after all, had reported that the [...]

Artful Making

Some years ago, while I was an undergrad and for a couple of years after graduation, I participated heavily in two theatre groups, mainly as an actor, but also as a translator, backstage staff, and assistant director.
I loved it all along, absolutely, in great part because of the peculiar kind of teamwork that we had [...]

King’s College Circle

This new perspective of King’s College Circle at the University of Toronto is freaking cool:

(Click the picture to see it in full size.)
By Sam Javanrouh, at Daily Dose of Imagery.

Suggestions for a more woman-friendly community

Found via Greg Wilson: DevChixs’ GloriaJW has a great article on gender barriers in tech communities. And as Greg also points out, the article’s comments add interesting angles to the post.

Playing it as (you think) it is

I got an idea for a videogame-based study that can help bridge the gap between software developers and academics.
The video game itself would be a simulator of a software development company, similar to what SimCity does for cities, SimAnt for ant colonies, and SimSewageSystem for the less-than-pleasant aspects of urban planning. I am aware of [...]

CheatNeutral

A funny parody of Carbon Offsetting projects:
What is Cheat Offsetting?
When you cheat on your partner you add to the heartbreak, pain and jealousy in the atmosphere.
Cheatneutral offsets your cheating by funding someone else to be faithful and NOT cheat. This neutralises the pain and unhappy emotion and leaves you with a [...]

What the World Eats

Catspaw pointed me to this photo-essay from Time magazine. It has photos from sixteen families around the world, and the food they eat in a week. It’s very interesting. I couldn’t help but notice the Casales family of Cuernavaca, Mexico:

24 liters of Coca Cola. Yup, that’s Mexico alright.