C/C++ as a tool to distinguish great and mediocre programmers

... when you struggle with pointers, your program produces the line Segmentation Fault and you have no idea what's going on, until you stop and take a deep breath and really try to force your mind to work at two different levels of abstraction simultaneously.

The Perils of JavaSchools from Joel on Software

I still remember my first programming assignment in C++ to build a linked-list, damn, that spent me a lot of hours and I was only able to accomplish 90% of the requirement. May be it was a good training, and I agreed with the article that people who understand pointers can pick up Java in a short period of time (I used to complete a Java Programming assignment in 2nd year, however, I had zero knowledge in Java at that time).

Breaking a hard drive

broken drive
Originally uploaded by gaplo.

The drive was bought in 2001.

Hard disk failure and Warranty expired.

Gentoo Linux founder quits Microsoft

Gentoo Linux founder quits Microsoft at CNET News.com

I have been using Gentoo Linux when it was in 1.0 release candidate. I was impressed by its package management system - Portage (comparing to RPM used by Redhat, it resolves dependency automatically. when comparing to Debian, it provides much more cutting-edge packages).

It is a lovely Linux distribution, however, the installation procedure is quite complicate.

Using Struts ... without taglib

I do think taglib has been greatly improved when comparing with years before.
I would rather say it is a typical example of Not-Invented-Here (NIH) syndrome then performance concern.

iTunes Music Server

iTunes Music Server
Originally uploaded by gaplo.

Modified my Synology NAS. Now it can work as an iTunes Music Server.

Make your iTunes Music Server in Linux with mt-daapd.