A new version of Eclipse, an open source Java IDE, has just been released. Try it out. It is sooo much faster than most programs written in Java, because it uses IBM's Standard Widget Toolkit, which uses the Win32 API directly (and on Linux, Gtk). I guess IBM's ultimate goal is to compete directly with Visual Studio .NET, pitting Java vs. C# and .NET. So far, I'd say they have a good chance. (Note: Java still sucks as a language, but if I ever had to develop anything in it, I'd use Eclipse. They're also working on a C/C++ component for Eclipse as well. If they added Haskell too... yum.) Speaking of Haskell, I spent a day learning it this week. Very cool. I still have yet to use it for anything nontrivial, but the syntax was nice and I like how they designed the type system. Read a tutorial or something. It'll open your eyes. For those of you using the stock version of AOL Instant Messenger, I highly recommend DeadAIM. It gets rid of the ads, disables the today window and the stock ticker, allows tabbed IM windows, and lets you sign on with multiple screen names at a time. Basically, it makes AIM not suck! I had a weird thought last night. (This is what I was talking about, Laura.) The human brain is sort of like FreeNet. You have all of these thoughts (nodes in a directed graph) and a whole bunch of edges connecting them. Over time, unused edges disappears. When a node is no longer referenced by any edges, it disappears. FreeNet works in sorta the same way... unused data disappears. The reason you forget dreams soon after waking up is because very few edges point to them, and you only use those edges to specifically remember the dream. Contrastingly, most normal memories can be reached through several paths through your brain. So they don't disappear as easily. Anyway, thought it was interesting. Maybe they even designed FreeNet in that way on purpose. And maybe I'm completely smoking it up. There was a large party downstairs last night... Our apartment smelled like so much alcohol and smoke afterwards. It was rather disgusting. I learned a little tiny bit of piano yesterday. It was so cool, playing triads and various scales. :D I was thinking "WOW!!! I CAN DO THIS!!! IT MAKES SENSE!" Perhaps I'll dabble with composing songs over the summer. And here's a quote from Understanding the Psychology of Programming. In his research, Csikszentmihalyi cites the case of a famous computer researcher who made a lot of discoveries in the computer field who said that all his best ideas came to him in the shower. He said that he believed his firm lost several million dollars during his employment because it did not install a $14,000 shower in his office. "When he moved to a new firm that had a shower," wrote Csikszentmihalyi, "his ideas kept coming out." I have my best ideas in the shower too! People always think I'm insane when I say that, but there it is! Ha!