Apps I Really Appreciate

This is a start, I’m not promising this list is complete!

Networking

Text Editors

  • vim – Calling it a “text editor” is an understatement (in case you are interested, check out my vimrc file)

Graphics

  • Gimp – GNU Image Manipulation Program

Database Development

Languages / Platforms

Android Apps

  • DoggCatcher – excellent audio/podcast manager
  • Google Reader/Places/Maps/Talk
  • Dropbox
  • Amazon Kindle
  • SL4A / Python for Android (Python on the android!)
  • gh4a (Git Hub for the Android)
  • Droidstack (for the stack sites, like stackoverflow)
  • Urban Spoon
  • GasBuddy
  • Olivetree Bible Reader
  • ESV Bible App
  • The Weather Channel
  • iBirdLite
  • Traffic Jam (game)

Web Services/Apps

Seeing Reds in Canada

I’ve been reading “Seeing Reds: The Red Scare of 1918-1919, Canada’s First War on Terror” by Daniel Francis and am finding it fascinating.

While I’m generally aware of the history around the Red Scare in the U.S., I had been largely unaware of its dimensions in Canada.

Here are a few facts that I had not previously known (and I venture most Canadians under 40 don’t know them either):

  • There was a riot called “Bloody Saturday”, with people dying, in Winnipeg in 1919.
  • Ribbentrop lived in Canada. Before World War I, Joachim von Ribbentrop (who ended up becoming Hitler’s foreign minister) lived in Ottawa doing business as a wine merchant. During World War I, he fled by train to New York and from there made his way to Germany and joined the German side.
  • The Toronto city council voted to fire any employee of German, Austrian, or Turkish background who were not naturalized citizens
  • Trotsky stayed in Canada for a while. Leon Trotsky, on his way from exile in New York back to his homeland Russia, was detained in Halifax, Canada by Great Britian and was eventually interned in a prisoner-of-war camp near the New Brunswick border.  And this happened even though Trotsky was traveling on a legal permit/visa and was a citizen of a country allied with Britian.

The Canadian Version of “Five Guys” (Short a Guy)

(also known as the Canadian electoral debates)

These debates never cease to amaze me.

Best moments from the debate.

  1. When Gilles Duceppe accidentally said “duck registry” instead of “gun registry“.
  2. “This isn’t bickering, Mr. Harper. This is democracy.“  – Michael Ignatieff
  3. “Mr. Harper, we’re having an election because you couldn’t tell the truth to the parliament of Canada” – Michael Ignatieff
  4. “You’re the first prime minister found in contempt of parliament” – Michael Ignatieff to Stephen Harper
  5. “The question to ask is how much costs a plane.” – Gilles Duceppe
  6. “How can people trust what you’re saying today when your actions are so contrary to what your offering to Canadians?” – Jack Layton to Michael Ignatieff
  7. “You’re Mr. Harper’s best friend and now here you are offering yourself as an alternative” – Jack Layton to Michael Ignatieff
  8. “Mr. Harper walked away from Africa, I want Canada back in Africa” – Michael Ignatieff
  9. “Why are you afraid of the Canadian people?” – Michael Ignatieff to Stephen Harper
  10. “Quite frankly your party is dedicated to the break up of this country” – Stephen Harper to Gilles Duceppe
  11. “That’s the sort of arrogant self aggrandizement we’re so used to from the liberals, and really its the least attractive aspect of your party” – Jack Layton to Michael Ignatieff
  12. “In fact, Mr. Harper, if it hadn’t been [Ignatieff] supporting you all this time I’d have to be lending [you] my crutch so that [your] government could have stayed in power.” – Jack Layton
  13. “This is a debate, Mr. Harper, this is democracy.” – Michael Ignatieff

I got a good laugh out of this, but it doesn’t inspire any hope in the current political scene.

Where’s Murray Rothbard when one needs him?

Or perhaps the Rhinoceros Party?

God’s Awesome Economy of Expression

“Turning briefly to the field of zoology, we note that multicellular animals exhibit a hierarchical structure…We cannot help but again notice God’s awesome economy of expression: the fundamental building block of all animal matter is the cell”

– Grady Booch, pioneering computer scientist in Object-Oriented Analysis and Design