Overall, I have OK with the changes to Slashdot. I like D2 except for a couple of issues, namely no chance to confirm or undo a moderation, and the silliness of the overlays for moderation history and some options. But these latest changes destroy the usability the user pages and even the front page. If I only wanted to see headlines and # of comments, I would go to Fark.

There are all kinds of useful changes that could be made to /., so why are only unhelpful changes being made?
I guess I should get serious about learning Perl and start submitting patches...

I am taking a beginning Database/SQL course, and while the teacher seem to be pretty good, the book (which he did not pick out) does not seem to be that good. I was wondering if anyone could recommend a good basic book (or books) for Databases and/or SQL. Thanks in advance.

Tomorrow should be all sorts of fun! First I am going to spend some time at OSCon. I am just going to the expo, because I don't have the $ for the main part. But it should be fun anyway, what with all that Open Source around :-)

After that, I am going to see Steely Dan and Michael McDonald at the Clark County Amphitheater! I only "discovered" SD last fall, but it has become my favorite band, as one glance at my last.fm profile will tell you (wow, last.fm changed the look of the website). When I discover new music, I always listen to almost nothing but that for several months and then it just becomes another band that I like. However, this seems different because I have been listening to lots of SD for 9 to 10 months, with several interruptions for other music. I keep coming back to SD, which is why it is officially my favorite band. Kind of like how my "default" reading material is Tolkien + the Valdemar series + Pern (no, PERN, not Pr0n) + Wheel of Time. If I don't have anything new to read, I re-read one of those.

I really need to get as much live music as I can, because most of my favorite bands/musicians are a fair bit older than me, and I am afraid they will retire before I have a chance to see them live. So far I have only seen the Doobie Brothers and a couple local Montana bands live. Actually, I saw the Doobies twice but the fist time I was in... Junior High, I think. Anyway, I was young and had a much stronger social phobia back then, so I didn't enjoy it properly. But this summer is great, I get to see this concert and in August Blue Oyster Cult is coming to the county fair.

Well, I see the new Slashdot look is now active. I like it, although I think it will be a while before I stop thinking "Hey, what happened to Slashdot?" every time I look at it.

No real point here, just looking at what the sections look like now and I said "What the heck, I'll write a quick JE". I have been meaning to write some real entries; hopefully that will happen soon, now that I have moved my ~/doc/ into Subversion. *kicks self into gear*

I just saved a bunch of money... oops wrong line. I meant to say: Futurama is back!
They will make 4 direct to DVD movies that will probably be out in early 2007.

I am amazed this does not seem to be on the front page or Fark yet.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds28371.html

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Also, since this is my first journal, I want to say Hello and thanks to everyone who friended me.

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I have only made a few comments (I'm a bit shy), but I follow the Circle with great interest. If I can find halfway interesting things to say, and if I can work up the courage, I will try to do more journals. Partly I want to become more at ease "talking" to people (and online is easier than in RL), partly I want to interact with a great and interesting group of people, and partly I want do my small part to combat the impression some people have that zoo.pl is dying. I have a feeling that arb is on the right track about the circle being healthy but different, although I have not been around long enough (about a year I think) to be sure. In any case it seems to me to be as healthy as when I found it.

That's enough for one entry. Good [night|morning|afternoon|evening] everyone.