Author Archives: Donncha

Urban Legends Reference Pages: Music (Happy Birthday, We’ll Sue)

“Happy Birthday to You” is by far the most well-known song in the English-speaking world, and perhaps the whole world, too. For nearly a century, this simple ditty has been the traditional piece of music sung to millions of birthday celebrants every year — everyone from uncomprehending infants to U.S. presidents; it has been performed in space; and it has been incorporated into untold millions of music boxes, watches, musical greeting cards, and other tuneful products. It therefore surprises many to discover that this ubiquitous song, a six-note melody composed in the 19th century and accompanied by a six-word set of repetitive lyrics, is still protected by copyright — and will be for decades to come.

Slashdot | Disney Wins, Eldred (and everyone else) Loses

The upshot is that no works produced in the United States after the 1920’s will ever go out of copyright.

Slashdot | Linux 2.4 VM Documentation by fellow ILUG member Mel Gorman.

Games * Design * Art * Culture – must look at later.

Nokia Courts Linux Developers – woo hoo! Now to learn a new language, API, and environment.. hmm.

Linux: Using goto In Kernel Code – KernelTrap – worth reading!

> However, I have always been taught, and have always believed that
> “goto”s are inherently evil. They are the creators of spaghetti code

No, you’ve been brainwashed by CS people who thought that Niklaus Wirth actually knew what he was talking about. He didn’t. He doesn’t have a frigging clue.

Ed Yourdon’s article on “How to be a Superprogrammer”

Surprise: Apple’s New Browser Is a Sister to Konqueror – good read about the background of the new Apple browser.

I just priced flights from Shannon to Chicago. BA is 64 Euro cheaper than Aer Lingus even though they have to fly to Heathrow first. So, if Shannon is so expensive to fly out of (for intercontinental flights anyway) why are all the American soldiers landing there.. (stir it up!)

Here’s the scoop on the Irish browser story.

…that instead of simply tinkering with existing code he went down to the socket layer and reworked it at the protocol level… I will note that the MIT researcher had a big grin on his face and it was clear he found the whole project a pleasure to talk about.

There’s also a bit in the paragraph above it.