I'm a veteran Perl hacker, but lately I've been looking at Python, and liking what I see.
Many people are attracted by the Python community, but I have to say that I was initially quite put off by it. I used to joke that I could never be a true Python programmer, because I don't hate Perl.
But the language design is compelling nonetheless, and I'm starting to think that Perl 6 -- which initially had me quite jazzed -- has gone into a permanent stall. (On the other hand, Parrot, the Perl 6 virtual machine, shows real promise; it may well have a life beyond the Perl 6 project, and become an important weapon in the Open Source arsenal quite apart from its original intended use.)
What won me over was that O'Reilly & Associates finally published a couple of really good Python books -- The Python Cookbook and Python in a Nutshell -- and I also discovered Mark Pilgrim's superb online text, Dive Into Python.
Well, DIP might no longer be online only: Apress has agreed to publish a hardcopy edition of DIP; as part of the deal, Pilgrim has committed to update his book (which he never really completed, and which had gone without updates for some time). It will remain available in downloadable form under the GNU Free Documentation License.
I highly recommend Mark's book, though with the qualification that it is meant for experienced programmers, not complete beginners. I plan on buying a paper copy as soon as it's available.
Larry Miller has written a remembrance of his friend, John Ritter, who passed away recently.
Larry Miller's column in the Weekly Standard is always worth reading; he surprised a lot of people with an article on the Israeli-Palenstinian conflict over a year ago, that was widely circulated on the Internet. It was also widely mis-attributed to Dennis Miller; DM said he agreed with the sentiments expressed, and graciously said he was flattered that people thought he might have written something that good. DM had LM on his show during its last season to discuss the article, among other things.
And Larry Miller has shown himself to be more than just a political opinionator; with articles like this remembrance of Ritter, and other equally hearfelt and evocative writings (see this column about his encounter with a Marine preparing for deployment to the Persian Gulf), Miller has shown himself to be a writer of both wit and emotional power.
Perhaps it's improper to link to an article about someone recently deceased (and apparently much-loved), and talk about its writer instead; but I was completely ignorant about Ritter until I read Miller's article, and have nothing at all to add on that score.
But I had always appreciated Miller's stand-up work -- his mix of sensible mannerism and loopy material always hit a sweet spot for me -- and I've come to appreciate his work, and the breadth of his talent, a lot more of late. He never seemed to get quite as much recognition and success as he deserved, at least relative to other, less-talented people in show biz. So keep an eye on him.
I recently watched DC 9/11: Time of Crisis on Showtime. It is a dramatization of the terrorist attack, and the days and events that immediately followed it, as seen from within the Administration.
Short review: I liked it.
Timothy Bottoms, who didn't exactly cover himself in glory with "That's My Bush!" reprises that comedic role as a dramatic one, and does a creditable George W. Bush. (Interestingly, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, creators of both "That's My Bush!" and "South Park", are Republicans and supporters of Bush. Their initial concept for the series lampooned a newly elected President Gore, who they fully expected would win in 2000.)
Amusingly, there are two Star Trek links in the casting: Condi Rice is played by Penny Johnson, who also played Kasidy Yates, Captain Sisko's love interest in the latter seasons of Deep Space Nine; and then, of course, there's Secretary of Transportation Sulu (George Takei as Norm Mineta). Cheney was played by Lawrence Pressman, who had a recurring role in "Dark Angel". (Just a sec ... mmm, Jessica Alba ... sigh ... okay, I'm back.) The rest of the cast, I don't recall ever seeing before.
A lot of people will be turned off by the fact that it shows President Bush in a flattering light; but I think that in a situation like that, even a President as unprincipled as Nixon or Clinton could have risen to the occasion, and have no problem believing that Bush displayed some reasonably strong mettle in that interval.
And given Bush's real-life verbal clumsiness, it's hard to believe that he was quite so eloquent in private conversation. I've heard that Bush is much better in private or before small groups than when talking to a camera or a big crowd, but even so, the transition between the behind-the-scenes scenes, where the dialog was scripted by the show's writers, and Bottoms' renditions of Bush's speeches, which he had to duplicate the real Bush's words stumble-for-stumble, was jarring.
But then, I doubt that even people as intelligent and educated as Cheney or Rice spoke with such eloquence and dramatic poise in real life. No one does; everyone speaks in incomplete sentences, grammatical gaffes, and false starts when conversing extemporaneously. (Except maybe George Will. I think he'd sooner eat a bug than split an infinitive.) This false eloquence is just an artifact of Hollywood scripting.
You can also tell which networks cooperated with the making of the movie, and which didn't. When they show news footage of the events, it's almost always FoxNews. (But then, it may simply be a matter of historical accuracy. Given that they show it as the coverage being watched by the President and his staffers, and it's likely that they really did watch FoxNews for their coverage.)
The narrative covers the period from just before the attack -- starting with a distrubingly prophetic discussion at a morning meeting between Rumsfeld and various Congressional leaders -- and ends with Bush's address to the joint session of Congress. Most of the way through the speech, the narrative shifts from Bottoms reciting Bush's speech, to footage of the real President Bush, finishing the speech, showing the Port Authority policeman's shield that he carried with him through that period (and that we see Bottoms receiving from the policeman's mother in an earlier scene).
Karl Rove comes off as jovial and a little too chummy. Rumsfeld comes off as overconfident and a little too intense. The portrayal of Ashcroft was surprisingly underplayed, and not unsympathetic. The conflict of worldviews between Bush and Powell isn't shown, but it might not have emerged until later. (Assuming that the conflict is real, and not just a matter of Powell playing "good cop" to Rumsfeld's "bad cop" -- something I'm still not sure about.) And one is left doubting the sanity -- though not the efficacy -- of some of the folks at CIA. (Sometimes a little lunacy can be useful, after all.)
All in all, a well-done effort. I recommend watching it if you have the chance.
There's More Than One Way To Try To Take Over The World!
BRAIN: I have procured a module so devious, so fiendish, so diabolically ghastly that it could have sprung only from the mind of Damian...
PINKY: The evil offspring of the Prince of Darkness?!?
BRAIN: [Fed-up frown to the camera] Probably....
BRAIN: Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?
PINKY: I think so, Brain, but then his name would be Larry Floor.
An excellent article on a group of Iraqi exiles, a group of supersmart medical students in Britain, on their recent trip back to Iraq.
There is a terrible fear among many Iraqis that they will not be able to match the Kurds' achievement if they are abandoned by the Americans once again. "The memories of 1991 are so vivid," says Sama. "People still fear that somehow the Americans will abandon us and Saddam will claw his way back from the grave. They say, `It happened in 1991, it could happen again.' That's one crucial reason why people are reluctant to cooperate with the coalition." She adds: "I find it absolutely incredible that the anti-war people are now calling for the coalition to leave straight away. Nobody in Iraq wants that. The opinion polls show it's just 13 per cent. Don't they care about the Iraqi people and what they want at all? This isn't a game. This isn't about poking a stick at George Bush. This is our lives."