Nov
29
2008

URLs du Jour

2008-11-29

  • I have mixed feelings about this story describing efforts to make a movie based on Isaac Asimov's Foundation. I blogged about re-reading the book here: while I loved Asimov, the talk/action ratio in his books is very, very high. (At Granite Geek, David Brooks has a similar reaction.)

    Apparently a movie based on The End of Eternity is also a possiblity; that might work better.

    But the same old questions come to mind whenever they talk about making movies out of classic science fiction works: where is the movie version of The Moon is a Harsh Mistress? Stranger in a Strange Land? The Door Into Summer? And why couldn't they have played Starship Troopers straight?

  • This isn't much of a URL; you can only read the first 100 words of a front page WSJ story about Robert Rubin, but the lead paragraph is probably enough:
    Under fire for his role in the near-collapse of Citigroup Inc., Robert Rubin said its problems were due to the buckling financial system, not its own mistakes, and that his role was peripheral to the bank's main operations even though he was one of its highest-paid officials.
    Hey, Citibank? One of your card-carrying customers here. Although I lack even a diploma-mill MBA, I have an suggestion: stop paying huge salaries to people who are peripheral to your main operations.

    Just a thought.

  • Many, many programmer jokes. I'd heard this one, but I still get a chuckle:
    Q: How do you tell an introverted computer scientist from an extroverted computer scientist?

    A: An extroverted computer scientist looks at your shoes when he talks to you.

    (Via BBSpot)

  • And a belated link to the latest Rochester (NH) Police Log. I appreciated this note of resignation:
    Monday, Nov. 10

    8:38 p.m. — Someone drives "like a maniac" on Rochester Hill Road. There are hundreds of suspects.