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I upgraded WordPress, reorganized my server setup and installed a couple of plugins in an attempt to stem the tide of spam. We’ll see how it goes…

I downloaded and am trying Flock, the latest browsing craze(?) This post is from “inside” Flock! Clever. Right now, I’m just checking stuff out—we’ll see how it goes.

Update: well, I certainly found the cool feature in Flock: the Favorites manager. It’s very slick and integrates (both ways) with del.icio.us.

Ooh. I also like the Shelf, which is like a fancy clipboard. Though, you can’t drag a favicon from the address bar…

Update: OK. Five minute review: meh, I’m more interested in the latest Opera beta...

• Halloween decorations: check
• Soccer: check
• Falling leaves: check
• 90° temperatures: wtf?

Using SQL (and Oracle), is there an easier way to see if a string (VARCHAR) starts with an alpha?

<pre><code>
select id, value
from parameters
where lower(substr(value,0,1)) between 'a' and 'z'
</code>

I know that Oracle 10 supports regular expressions, but I’m using Oracle 9.

I’ll admit it: I’ve come late to the unit-testing party. I finally broke down and wrote a unit test because I had a section of code where the logic seemed fragile and liable to break with the more business logic I applied to it.

Once I realized how easy (and rewarding) unit testing was, I was immediately hooked. I refactored some code and setup unit tests (these things, by the way, go hand-in-hand) and never looked back.

However, it wasn’t until later that I had my revelation: unit testing isn’t about testing; it’s about development. Now I write a test before I write my code. I get two things from this: one, I really have to think about what I’m doing and what I mean. Two, I get immediate feedback: this code works. I don’t have to wait until runtime (or walk through the whole app) to find out if my code does what I want.

Like I said, I’m late to the party, but I’m oh-so-glad to be here.

I am totally in-love with ProFont. I’ve been using it on my Mac and now I have installed it on my Windows laptop. I also set up PuTTY as my Cygwin terminal using this patch.

ProFont + Putty + Cygwin = I almost don’t hate it! (Though, it’s still no Konsole)

Just wanted to give Mad Props to Font Finagler for doing one thing and doing it well; namely fixing my corrupted Font Cache. Plus also: the name is hilarious.

I knew it! I knew it! I knew it! I smelled fiction from a mile away! I just figured I was either the first or the last to notice…

Update: I won this morning’s inaugural contest!

Sometimes I think Jakarta Commons is Java’s only saving grace. Every time I do something, I check the myriad offerings of commons for an existing implementation… email (finally), file upload, command line options, etc.

It goes without saying, however, that Lang is #1. Not only does it obviate a bunch of your plumbing code, but it implements a consistent interface… and it’s NPE-tolerant!

Lang is Java done right. Everyday I find something new that I like! Use it now.

Whew. All of my plugins are up-to-date and compatible with Firefox 1.5 beta. This Window required a very small change, but it is ready for use with the new Firefox. Have at it!