Here is a list of the items I’ve found on Amazon, that are either ridiculous, or just unexpected.

1. Live Ladybugs, Approximately 1,500 Count – Yes- real-life lady bugs.
2. Heinz Spotted Dick Sponge Pudding, 9.4-Ounce Cans (Pack of 6) – Pretty sure this isn’t what it says, but still was a shocker for me.
3. Vaginal Specula Disposable, Pack/10 – Who needs these but doctors?
4. Male Testicular Exam Model Anatomy – Strange, do people actually buy these?
5. Uranium Ore – Unfortunately for me, I will not be able to order this for my flight to Portland next week, as they are out of stock.
6. Wenger 16999 Giant Swiss Army Knife – This has to be the most insane Swiss army knife I’ve seen.
7. Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 Gallon, 128 fl oz – Ok, think this would arrive sour?
8. Wolf Urine Lure-32 oz – This is likely for hunting, but really?
9. Ninja Folding Grappling Hook w/ Black Finish & Rope, Functional – Not too surprising, but interesting at that!
10. Borat Mankini – Been wondering where I could find one of these…
11. Westminster Butt Face Soap – Why didn’t I think of this?

amazon · funny · unexpected · weird

I’ve interviewed for several high-level engineering positions over the last 18 years, from Facebook to Google, to Microsoft.  I have learned two very important things during the process…

1. My wife will simply not move to California – her fear is that it will fall into the Pacific Ocean.  Regardless of what I think about this, it simply means no Hot Start-ups in Silicon Valley for me.
2. I’ve found that the more expertise and knowledge you have, the higher the chances that offer come through – with that signing bonus!

Looking for a job or not, I feel it’s important not only to to stay on top of the latest technology, but also understand the underlying sciences that allow such things to exist.  In order for this to happen, you either need to have someone teach you the foundations or learn them yourself.  I’ve managed to accomplish this with a balance of both.

There are two things I do everyday.   I trawl iTunes University for Computer Engineering courses I have missed, if I am lucky enough to find one that I’ve missed, or haven’t watched in a while, I’ll download and watch it on my iPhone during my commuting hours.  The second, is search Amazon for books that I’ve not read, but that are recommended to me based on my previous purchases.

Here is my ultimate list of books for every “Rock Star” programmer.  The list is unsorted, and in no particular order.  I’ve only chosen five from the ten I was going to list, reading and understanding these will have the other five books find you in your quest to become the best you can be.

Here are five books you should read, and understand:

1) “Introduction to Algorithms” by Cormen, Leiserson, Rivest, and Stein.  This book covers the basis every engineer should know.  A lot of the algorithms covered in this book, are possible interview questions.  If you don’t have them come up in an interview, they certainly make for a nice toolset of knowledge.

2) “Art of Computer Programming” by Donald E. Knuth. I’ve not read this from cover-to-cover, and in most cases have used it as a reference.  This series of books is the most valuable you could have in your book collection.  If you reference these, and absorb the information, you will be an asset to anyone whom you work with.  Going back and reading over this every few years helps me solve some longer standing problems I’ve faced.

3) “The Pragmatic Programmer” by Hunt and Thomas.  This book is one that will surprise you.  It’s not the standard rule-set for software engineering books.  Contains knowledge, humor, and mass educational goodness!

4) “Concrete Mathematics, a Foundation for Computer Science” by Graham, Knuth and Patashnik.  This is the most beautifully written book I’ve read in Computer Science to date.  You need to read chapters 1,2,3,5,7 and 9 minimum, not sure what I’d have done in certain situations of my career without the knowledge of this book.

5) “Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software” by Gamma, Helm, Johnson and Vlissides.  This book is literally two-pounds valuable knowledge that every Software Engineer needs to grasp, understand and use.

Feel free to leave your comments, book recommendations and thoughts!

Bettering your self. · Computer Software · Interview · RockStar Programmer · Software Engineering

Well, it’s been an entire year now that I’ve been with Rackspace, and I am happy to say that my site has been up 99.99% of the time.  The only outage I’ve had has been self inflicted!

I’d like to once more thank Rackspace for the awesome support (which I’ve not needed thus far), outstanding customer service (outstanding, as I’ve never needed to use it).

This is a new experience for me, as I came from 1and1; where support and customer service were a weekly thing.  My Virtual servers have clearly not been oversold, and I am glad to be a Rackspace user.

Check them out, you will not be disappointed.

No tags

We’ve just put our new website online, if you’re looking to join a fast growing game, now is the time!

Sign-up now, we close public sign-ups forever March 31st, 2011.  After which, you will have to be invited by a member.

No tags

UNCLASSIFIED

I’ve went through all of the numbers, and we’ve signed-up over 500 global members our first day. We’re happy to say that we have an evenly distributed membership base across the Globe.

Although the game is global, we were surprised to see sign-ups from the following countries: China (35), Iraq (11), and North Korea (2). Not sure how legitimate the North Korean sign-ups were, but they’ve paid to play – so, game on.

I’d like to welcome all of our new agents! I’ve had many emails about if this game is global, and if UK can participate – of course you can!

Our first official, and only “unclassified” mission will be underway using a trex450, we will be acquiring aerial images of our data center. Aerial images are being acquired for our North American Data center, for reference, and to test our communication capabilities. This is scheduled early next week. Here is a demo of a trex450 in flight: (This is not our vehicle) Aerial R/C UAV. Our IT agents will be contacted soon after.

Would you like to sign-up?

We’ll be in touch.
WhiteRAVEN

UD-1300075200

iia · spy game

UNCLASSIFIED

The IIA (International Intelligence Agency) is a real life multi-player game that gives players a real life, real feel, “off computer” role playing game. Players will not know about the actual game play, until they are engaged in the actual game (all missions outline any dangers prior to acceptance, and are always optional). At most the physical danger levels are about the same as hiking on a forest trail, no more.

Membership is the first part of the game, and to become a member of the IIA, you’ll do a bit of leg work, and research – this will give you an idea of what the game is about. Obtaining membership will be your first mission. To get our members involved, we try to integrate your hobbies and interests. If you don’t have a hobby, chances are, you will find a new one through this game. You may need to purchase (or find) cheap electronic parts, envelopes, printer paper, or even small containers. Most missions will cost you nothing, or could cost you up to $10.00 (it all depends on how involved you want to be). Some members may assemble electronic parts, deliver packages, or photograph mission targets. One of our members frequently uses his R/C airplane for UAV aerial photographs… R/C UAV anyone?

Membership cost is very minimal, it will cost you $5.00 US to get you started (there are currently no membership fees), this will cover basic postal costs, and any membership material you’d receive. That’s it. Because of the nature of this game, this is all of the information we will provide up front. This is also the only UNCLASSIFIED document available for IIA, the rest is CLASSIFIED, and for MEMBERS OF IIA ONLY.

Are you ready to join a real-life game, that will challenge and excite you? Perhaps even get you some of that exercise you need?

To get your membership information, follow the sign-up link below:

Sign-up Now

$5.00 US – Covers postage and any additional materials

Your information will never be shared with any other members, other than your call-name. Members may cross paths, but would be aware of such information prior to mission acceptance.

This page will be deleted March 31st, 2011 – after which membership will be available only through exclusive invitation.

- WhiteRaven [01.25.2011]

agency · intelligence agency · massive multi player real life game · spy

Got an Arduino UNO for Christmas from my wife this year! Here is my first project… Nothing too spectacular, just rotating through a few pins to make the LED’s come on and off in cycle.

Arduino Stop Lights

arduino · led

This article about Predicting the Stock market, using twitter written by wired caught my attention today. I had this idea quite a while ago, and was pretty sure it was somewhat accurate, but had no idea that Twitters’ data was “Right” on in it’s predictions.

I’ve had my site Stock Prediction site up for nearly 8 months now, that does exactly what these guys just figured out! I believe what I have is a lot better though, as I am taking in to account peoples ‘Moods’ based on their twitter postings as well as weather in each posters area, and factoring in the Company in questions weather for its offices, and locations. It also has built in triggers to detect bull and bear markets.

Just wanted to share my site with everyone, and also let other developers know, that I am making the source code available at a reasonable cost. If you’re interested, send an email to me at mikecurry74@gmail.com.

Check out some of my earlier posts about this project:

http://www.blue74.com/2010/06/algxchange-com/new-stock-prediction-virtual-trading-platform-api/
http://www.blue74.com/2010/06/scatter/automated-trading-platform/
http://www.blue74.com/2010/08/start-up-advice/start-ups-for-the-rest-of-us-thanks-guys/

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So, I watched the live broadcast about the new service. Not very impressed for now, it doesn’t seem like anything new, except you can get mail from non facebook users.

It’s basically no different than the facebook messaging system splitting your inbound messages to two folders “important people” and “Not so important people”. They do this by how you previously interacted with people.

I am not very impressed, and wonder why there was so much hype around it.

facebook · gmail killer · titan

Well, it’s been over 6 months since I switched over from 1and1.com to Rackspace Cloud. 1and1 still seem to oversell their VPS servers (from what I am reading), and had such a bad experience with them. I have not had any bad experiences as of yet with Rackspace, other than the occasional slow control panel – which is being fixed over the next week or so.

Rackspace, is my favorite Provider – at least for now.

cloud · hosting · Rackspace