links for 2008-12-14

"Suppose that two players come to the majors at the same time, one of them a .280 hitter and the other a .270 hitter. . .supposing for the purpose of illustration that all baseball skills may be expressed in batting average. The .270 hitter may start out 14-for-40 (.350), earning him an extended opportunity to play. The .280 hitter may start out 5-for-35 (.143), and may never get another clean shot at a job.

Do you suppose that all of the best singers in the world have top dollar recording contracts, or do you suppose that some of them were just never in the right place at the right time? Do you suppose that all of the best actors in the world are in the movies? Same thing. Being in the right place at the right time, having a few things break your way at a crucial moment. . .it's huge."

"You know Minority Report? The part where Tom Cruise is moving all that stuff around on the computer with little lights on his fingers? Yeah, well, the guy who designed all that stuff for the movie decided to actually implement it."

more on this shortly

some thoughts on what happens when everybody knows everything. quickly.

really interesting look at the current ySQL landscape by one who knows it well, and has a lot of history in it

a critique of Eclipse from the perspective of a new user: i know they're working on this

thoughts on the JavaFX license

she's smart too? that's just unfair

anyone surprised by this doesn't understand Maine