It seems likely that unlike most conferences since the bubble burst, the PDC will sell out. If you want to go, register soon.

I'm guessing that the American Teleservices Association doesn't even realize how two-faced it's being when they get upset at unwelcome calls. Oh well. : )

I can hear mothers around the world saying to their children, "See? I *told* you not to play with tigers!"

"The fruits of your success will be in direct ration to the honesty and sincerity of your own effort in keeping your own records, doing your own thinking and reaching your own conclusions." Jesse Livermore wrote these words in "How to Trade in Stocks," but they apply widely, I think.

Earlier this week, some low-life stole the source code for the soon to be released Half-Life 2 and then posted it. Now, I'm a huge Half-Life fan (I've played all the installments of Half-Life twice) and so I've been anxiously looking forward to HF2. But even if I hated HF, I'd still feel the same. If folks steal and redistribute IP of any kind, whether it's words, code, art, music, videos, etc, nobody will be able to afford to produce it anymore! And it's not like music or video, where the RIAA and theaters have done their level best to shear us at ever opportunity; s/w is affordable and convenient to consume! I'm all for "try before you buy," but "steal and redistribute" just means that we won't get new media to consume in the future. There's no excuse for this kind of behavior. DISCLAIMER: I'm an employee of Microsoft, Corp. but the opinions expressed on this web site are my own and in no way reflect the opinions of my employer.

The 2003 Ig Nobel Prize Winners

Rory Blyth, potentially the most entertaining writer in the bloggesphere, has offered to be your own personal PDC reporter, attending the topics that you can't and writing them up for you. I'm not sure if he's willing to do this, but maybe you could talk him into wearing your clothers while he does it. I'm XXL, Rory, and like neon colors. I'll send my session schedule later today and you just hit all the ones I can't, OK? Great. Thanks!

Doh! There was a geek dinner in Portland and I missed it! What? I make my address and email secret from you people?!? Let me know these things! I hope they have another one soon...