A brief, incomplete and mostly wrong history of programming languages, 1842 - Ada Lovelace writes the first program. She is hampered in her efforts by the minor inconvenience that she doesn't have any actual computers to run her code. 1983 - In honor of Ada Lovelace's ability to create programs that never ran, Jean Ichbiah and the US Department of Defense create the Ada programming language.

Fake Science.

just breath read the text as you parse the audio... then make a loop of this to play when you go to sleep.

Operation Mincemeat: It was a dazzling feat of wartime espionage. But does it argue for or against spying? (Via)

Stock photos - maybe not such a great idea to use in an election.

Shanghai Is Trying to Untangle the Mangled English of Chinglish.

Sock Dreams . Who knew?

Medical Graphology: Symptoms in Script. (Via)

No one can spell fuchsia. And other fun things (people go a little crazy after spending time naming colours). I'm sorry I missed this when they were running it - but results from the XKCD colour survey are in.

The Domestic Transformer (SLYT) If space is a scarce resource, it makes sense to page programs out to disk when they're not running.

The Madness of Messerschmidt. (Via)

Gonna party like it's 1996 - add that special old-timey Geocities feel to any website.

Recycled beauty . More totos reciclados Jewels from the sea 10 recycled jewelry designs

No party for you! . Schadenfreude with a side of mayo oil

Only the worst scifi and fantasy covers. I think I have a few of these in my bookcase...

Two questions I am often asked:
1. How far in advance do you work?
2. How quickly can you publish a comic on a current event?
and... Don't get used to it, but here's another unfinished comic that would have gone stale if I waited to publish it in newspapers. more inside

This Is Alabama; We Speak English The Republican gubernatorial candidate [Tim James] is running a provocative ad arguing that Alabama's driver's license exam should be given only in English. more inside

Noah's Ark Found? (Fox news warning) They confirmed its age via carbon dating, but doesn't that method of age verification show that the earth is a lot older than the bible claims?

The highly endangered Amur Leopard (SLwebcam) in Tallinn Zoo, Estonia and her two cubs. more inside

Chimpanzees Mourn Their Dead.