Miscellaneous and Useless Information

A few years ago, I first learned of the Reason programming language, which is an alternate syntax to OCaml that more closely resembles JavaScript.

Here is an incredibly inspiring story about a homeless boy in Uganda who grew up to be a child advocate in the U.S., who has fostered 47 kids and adopted 3 more, and the man who changed his life.

I think my knowledge of computer history is decent, yet only now am I learning about Stephanie Shirley, a pioneer in the tech industry who started a software company in 1962 employing mostly women working part-time at home.

Marcin Wichary has done it again.

This holiday season, I learned that the melody of the Christmas carol “Carol of the Bells” is from a Ukrainian New Year’s song called “Shchedryk” (Щедрик), first arranged in the early 1900s, which in turn is based on a traditional Ukrainian folk melody.

I’ve joked with my friends that I want to get into building hand-crafted, artisan software.

I’m a bit too young to have watched (or certainly understood) the sitcom Taxi, but I remember the opening theme song vividly.

Last night, I watched Yang Liping’s interpretation of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring at Stanford.

I love this collection of free online creativity tools, from drawing and music to creative coding.

A salute to Thomas Kurtz, who created BASIC with John Kemeny in 1964.