Sung to “Shaft” by Isaac Hayes <http://www.shaft-themovie.com/soundtrack/track01.mp3>

Who’s the man with tongue-in-cheek
that’s a code machine to all the geeks?

(Box!)

You’re damn right.
Who is the man
that would replace COM for its brother runtime?

(Box!)

Can ya dig it?
Who’s the cat that won’t cop out
when there’s IDispatch all about

(Box!)

Right on
You see this cat Box is a bad mother–

(Shut your mouth)

But I’m talkin’ about Box

(Then we can dig it)

He’s a complicated man
but no one understands him but his pointers

(Don Box)

John Bristowe
Wed 12/19/2001 2:02 PM
dotnet discussion [DOTNET@DISCUSS.DEVELOP.COM]

A friend of mine stumbled over this in the Microsoft source code:

//  Function:   RunCommandEx
//  Synopsis:   runs the given command in the current session, more robust
//				than RunCommand
//  Arguments:  none
//  Returns:    S_OK if success
//  History:    October 3, 2000 - created [name withheld to protect the guilty]
HRESULT RunCommandEx(LPCWSTR szCmdLine) {
	DWORD dwTry = 0;
	HRESULT hResult = S_OK;

	// try run command 3 times at most
	while (dwTry<4) {
		hResult = RunCommand(szCmdLine);
		if (hResult!=E_FAIL) {
			// we succeeded
			break;
		}
		dwTry++;
	}
	if (dwTry==4) {
		ATLTRACE(L"COuld start the command even we tried 4 times\n");
		ASSERT(FALSE);
	}
	return hResult;
}

That’s not quite my definition of robust, but oh well…

Tue 11/27/2001 3:52 PM

“Steal this song right off my page.” You can find it at http://www.ferncrk.com/jittin.html. Use only in well ventilated area. Do not expose to open flame.

Stuart Celarier
Tue 11/27/2001 3:41 PM

Made you look!

(if you don’t know what I’m talking about, check here)

In a recent interview with Barbara Walters, Bill Gates was asked how he felt about Ted Turner’s one billion dollar donation to the United Nation. This is what he had to say:

“Certainly, my giving will be in the same league as Ted’s, and beyond. … During my lifetime, you know, the money will be given away.”

He further went on to say:

“I don’t believe in passing on major wealth to (one’s) children, and therefore everything that I’m earning is going toward the causes that I think can help out.”

So far, Bill has given several hundred million dollars to libraries to provide lower income children with access to PCs and the Internet. Do you have an idea for a charity worthy of Bill’s Money? Post your comments here and I’ll keep track of them for Bill. When he’s ready, he’ll know where to come.

P.S. Just so you know, Bill has never once supported anything from this page and as far as I know, he has no idea this page even exists. Don’t get your hopes up.

WARNING: Do not follow this link if you don’t want to see me naked!

TechEd Barcellona, Spain 8/15/2001

Chris riding The Incredible Hulk roller coaster in FLA in 2000. Notice the “COM is Love” t-shirt. I really wanted to say something funny or ironic in the title of this picture, but words failed me. Got one?