Thinking about the origins of Unix makes me want to point out the terrific Art of Unix Programming, by Eric Raymond, who has grown a cottage industry of explaining hacker culture and the open source movement to both the cultures themselves and to the outside world. Particularly noteworthy in The Art of Unix Programming are the Basics of Unix Philosophy, such as the Rule of Parsimony (”Write a big program only when it is clear by demonstration that nothing else will do”) and the Rule of Silence (”When a program has nothing surprising to say, it should say nothing”). My perennial favorites in the Jargon File, which have applications in the civilian world, are Hanlon’s Razor (”Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.”) and “wave a dead chicken“.

From The Economist: “It is that interplay between the technical and the social that gives both C and Unix their legendary status. Programmers love them because they are powerful, and they are powerful because programmers love them.” (Which reminds me of Socrates in Euthyphro: “The point which I should first wish to understand is whether the pious or holy is beloved by the gods because it is holy, or holy because it is beloved of the gods.”)

Just like the waffling, liberal weenie John Kerry, John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants can’t seem to make up his mind. Here, he says

“Tippecanoe and Tyler Too” is the “Rock Around the Clock” of campaign songs. It was the first one that really was a hit. And it was a huge nationwide hit. It’s just a great song—it’s really bitchy and mean-spirited in a way that’s kind of exciting.

But here, he says

It was the campaign song that invented the campaign song… I was interested in it because it’s a great song, but historically, [through] the little bit of research I’ve done, I got the impression that it was the ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ of campaign songs.

Make up your mind, Johan. And next time, leave R.E.M. off your album, and I might buy it.

Dartmouth proejct to statistically detect photoshopping. If it works, it’s a step toward being able to trust what you see again. [via Roland Piquepaille's Technology Trends]

Exactly what it sounds like…

Exhibition at the American Museum of the Moving Image showing old presidential campaign ads.