A noteworthy discussion of the "real database" question. I remember working a product that was doing nicely with Paradox being delayed for years by the GUI guy's disparaging it as a "toy."

Bee Season

oob recommendation

Red Bull specializes in Jacobean classics and contemporary plays in the Jacobean "heightened language" style. I went to the final preview of their current ripper "The Revenger's Tragedy" on Sunday night and recommend it to all those who savor articulate immoderation. Today through the 18th.

Commonwealth Bar

We celebrated at Commonwealth after the Park Slope scavenger hunt last month. It had a good jukebox, a pleasant garden, and a congenial crowd.

28 Hour Day

168 = (6 * 4) * 7 = 6 * (4 * 7) so why not six 28 hour days per week instead of seven 24 hour ones? There would be an immediate 20% saving on commuting costs since we would be working one less day.

Alas, the link to discussions by serious proponents is a dead link.

Flock

I am a big believer in the ordinary superiority of collaborative solutions, so Flock has my interest.

I saw one of these five, and I'm so glad.

Gmail workaround: Two clunky ways to view unlabelled messages

Suppose you have filters automatically labelling your incoming mailing-list mail with the name of the list, e.g. Goldfish, Politics, Gizmos, etc. You want to be able to see all the messages that are unlabled, but Gmail does not offer a "View unlabeled" user interface, and it might be a while until Gmail does, because "inbox" is simply a lable and when users invoke "Select unlabeled" they probably do not expect the results to exclude the inbox.

Here are two alternatives:

• The direct approach: start a search with -label:Goldfish and look at your results. If you see "Gizmos" there, extend your search with -label:Gizmos and search again. Repeat until there are no more labeled messages amongst your search results, then copy the search string and paste it somewhere handy. Looking for someplace handy? Add a contact named "Workarounds" and paste it into that contact's Notes section.


• For each filter you make that adds a label, make a copy that adds the label "autolabeled." Now Gmail will take an incoming message about goldfish and apply both Goldfish and autolabeled. Then you can search for -label:autolabled and get all the escapees.

OpenOffice Calc LOOKUP gotcha:
In the version 2.0 beta 2, if the search field is not sorted, the result can be #NA.

It never occurred to me

In my heart I learned that I would do anything for you; it never occurred to me that what you would want me to do is leave.

Stretch

Stretch the goodness by refilling the pitcher with plain water. There will be enough juice in the lemon slices to flavor another two quarts.

Hybrid Lemonade

1 packet of unsweetened lemonade-flavored Kool-Aid

1/2 cup sugar

1 lemon

Put Kool-Aid and sugar into a 2.5-quart pitcher.

Add 2 quarts of cold water and stir.

Wash the lemon, then gently cut it in eighth-inch slices. Try to keep the juice in the lemon and not on the carving board.

Add the slices to the pitcher. Stir gently.

Serve over ice.

Costs:

Kool-Aid 20 cents
Lemon 34 cents
Sugar 15 cents

drat

Drat. Siegel did not get enough primary votes to win. New York independents will lack their strongest candidate.

This did a good job of taking my mind of the inauguration:

The Clown Quartet

OK, I've done the diet, I'm doing the exercise. Now I need to do the sleep.

The box to edit stuff in Opera is about four inches wide and one and a half inches tall. I wonder what that guy was talking about.

I met with John Sarapata tonight and gave him his Christmas presents, the catalog from the William Blake show at the Tate and Sex and Rockets.