Then a Miracle Occurs - Public Beta - Blog - Stack Overflow:

stackoverflow.com is now live and open to the public, as a public beta.

I am very encouraged, what they've put together appears very well thought out and I hope will crush the "experts exchange" issue where you google a problem only to find out your answer may (or may not) be behind their curtain. Let's all make SO the new first source for those hard to answer questions. (And it wouldn't hurt, if you have an expertise, to subscribe to questions in your field of excellence and answer a few).

Driving Tour: Northwest Washington @ nationalgeographic.com:

National Geographic Society (17th and M Sts. N.W. +1 202 857 7588). Brainchild of respected Washington lawyer and financier Gardiner Greene Hubbard, the Society was founded in 1888. Its 33 original members included prominent explorers and scientists, many affiliated with Washington’s distinguished Cosmos Club. In the 1890s Alexander Graham Bell, Hubbard’s son-in-law, took the helm of the organization and opened membership to anyone interested in “a society for the increase and diffusion of geographical knowledge.” Bell, too, passed the reins to his son-in-law, Gilbert Grosvenor, under whose editorship National Geographic magazine became a unique part of the American journalistic landscape.

Odd that I've belonged multiple times, and enjoyed their magazines, documentaries, TV channel, and more and had no idea that Alexander Graham Bell was involved, even though I had read a thorough biography of his when I was younger.

How do you find your music? Apple iTunes has added a new "genius" system to help you find stuff you like, based on the stuff you got. I kinda thought iTunes already had that with recommendations it made, but apparently something is more "genius" in the new system than the old. What's the real genius? Checking out what this new system is supposed to do informed me of the "new" Beastie Boys album which has been out for over a year. Seriously, how am I supposed to find the music I like, especially since I can't stand what they pump out over the radio...

So, how is it? Well, it's not rap, it's not really even hip-hop. Did you like the "b-side" of Check Your Head? Do you like instrumental funky-groovy mood music? I like it, but I answered yes to both of those questions... More importantly, how does one find out about the new music when they've grown so old that all the popular music seems quite unpopular to their ears? Oh, and their taste is so eclectic that they want the new "old skool east coast hip hop" as well as great nasheed, mbalax, cool jazz, blues rock, and who knows what else?

Better have this fixed before Robert gets back, or he won't let you sub for him when he's gone again...

I hope I've done this dish justice. Inspired by Salt & Turmeric I decided to have Beans on Toast for my sahoor (the greatly encouraged pre-fasting (so pre-dawn) meal). I've never made this one before, and actually I think I've only eaten it once before at the Folk Life Festival, but how hard could it be? Turns out, not hard. I roughly followed S&T's recipe, but this is how I ended up putting mine together:

3 eggs
1 can beans
1/2 onion
2 slices bread
olive oil, salt & pepper

1. get out 2 pans - one for the eggs, one for the beans
2. rough chop onion
3. heat both pans
4. add a bit of oil (not much in my case, I'm using non-stick pans, your millage will vary)
5. pan fry eggs to taste (I did mine over hard)
6. at the same time saute the onion in the other pan
7. add beans after onion is translucent
8. toast bread
9. salt & pepper everything that you feel like
10. plate and serve
11. (optional) douse with a bit of hot sauce, I used Tabasco Green

I can't seem to find the definitive guide to beans on toast, so I'm not sure if this is a legitimate British, Scottish, or Welsh dish though I am sure it is enjoyed in all three. I commented on S&T that it seemed Welsh, but I think I was thinking Scottish anyway. If you are going to try this out yourself, keep in mind the proper beans to use. Wikipedia has a good guide to the differences between US and UK beans, but you'll be fine if you just find a can like the one above.

Update: as my father points out, it's Beans ON Toast...

Update: If you don't like mine, try a more English version. Though the onion is nice, and it does need pepper. Yaty also suggested nutmeg. And yet another guide to making beans on toast.

XSLT <xsl:variable> Element:

Once you have set a variable's value, you cannot change or modify that value!

So XSLT variables are not variable? Wack.

Umbraco - The Friendly CMS:

Who would believe that there would be an open source CMS based on Microsoft's ASP.NET? A CMS that can support any modern browser and that even allows editing with Microsoft Word. One where designers can create accessible and valid xhtml with their markup left intact. Where developers can integrate any .net based control right out of the box. If someone tells you "wont' happen", then they have never used umbraco..

Well I haven't done 1/2 of that yet, but I'm only a day in and already seeing progress on implementing a design given to me without knowing the platform ahead of time, and I can say I like what I see so far. I'm going to have to learn a few new skills (XSLT, XPath, etc.) but this is CMS done right, and you can't beat the price.

Props to Fire Pig Partners.

Fanswag: USA Today Crossword Challenge goes to ... - DS Fanboy:

Our latest giveaway has come to a close. We've selected 5 different winners, all of whom should be solving crosswords in record time now. Our winners are:

• Lord Humongous
• Kearns
• ethan42404
• Gid
• Kelvis

Congrats to the winners and better luck next time to the rest of you. Thanks for reading DS Fanboy!

Tipping Etiquette Guide at FindaLink.net:

Not knowing the proper tip or gratuity for a service can be very unsettling. The rest of your party might not know it, but inside you may feel highly stressed as you walk up to the coat check or curbside check-in. The challenge is not everyday situations, but when you are taken out of your normal environment. For example, if you travel only occasionally, hotel tipping etiquette can be a real mystery.

Let FindaLink.net help take the mystery out of tipping etiquette. This brief guide covers most tipping opportunities.

I don't know "FindaLink" from a hole-in-the-wall, but this guide is very thorough and I have no disagreements (at least with the few I checked). Thanks Internet, bawk bawk.

Around 1927 it was discovered that if you injected the urine of a pregnant woman into a rabbit, there would be corpora hemorrhagica in the ovaries of the rabbit. These bulging masses on the ovaries could not be seen with out killing the rabbit to inspect the ovaries, so invariably, every rabbit died, even if the woman wasn't pregnant. The phrase, "The rabbit died," came to be a euphemism for a positive pregnancy test after the late 1920 and early 1930s

[ The Rabbit Died - The Origins of the Pregnancy Test ]

In other words my wife is:

• up the duff
• in the pudding club
• working on her baby bump
• or just plain pregcellent

[ Babble.com ]

The next installment of our branch of Clan Kearns is due April 19th, 2009, God willing.

Update: apparently it wasn't meant to be, today the doctor confirmed that we have lost the baby.

Apparently, since we've switch from "you have to have sighted the moon" to "it's ok to use big fancy math" systems for determining the Islamic calendar, we can now plan well in advance for Ramadan and Eid-al-Fitr (Lebaran to my Indonesian wife and friends):

Facebook | Islamic Society of North America (ISNA)'s Notes:

Ramadan 1429: September 1, 2008

The Astronomical New Moon for Ramadan is on Saturday, August 30, 2008 at 19:58 Universal Time (i.e., 3:58 pm EDT, and 12:58 pm PDT). According to the criteria adopted by the Fiqh Council of North America, and European Council for Fatwa and Research, [the conjunction before sunset and moon setting after sunset in Makkah] first day of Ramadan is on Monday, September 1, 2008.

Eid al-Fitr 1429: October 1, 2008

The Astronomical New Moon for Shawwal is on Monday, September 29, 2008 at 8:12 GMT, 4:12 am EDT, 1:12 am PDT). According to the criteria adopted by the Fiqh Council of North America, and European Council for Fatwa and Research, the first day of Shawwal is on Wednesday, October 1, 2008.

Also posted to the Fiqh Council's website.

Update: IMAAM agrees, as does ADAMS.