Putting software "Softlets" online

I'm sure most programmers (either professionals or hobbyists) have this problem. I write tons of "one off" programs that eventually just get lost. These range from attempts-at-products down to one-liner scripts with everything in between. A favorite example is a very small java program that downloads streaming music into individual MP3 files. (shhh Don't tell the suits that "streaming audio" is just a text file of MP3 URL's ) Sometimes I use these programs, or I'll call them "Softlets" and sometimes I abandon them. I suspect they might have value to others even if they are not complete. When I have a coding problem the first thing I do is google the net and I get a lot of value from very simple snips of code. But how can I contribute to this Shared Mind of information ? Unless I'm going to publish a full blown product (such as xmlsh) I dont bother putting it on the net. Its too much pain. I would have to actually *document* it then make it into a buildable format (often I just run from a GUI). And let alone actually name the thing, find a web page for it, write the descriptions etc. That might take longer then it took me to write the Softlet in the first place, and the reason I write these things is I dont want to bother writing a full-blown program in the first place (or they become part of one later).

So what to do ? I'd love to point a Mini-Google at my hard drive and say "go get em", (excluding of course those directories where I do work for my employeers).

It would be nice to post these things in a wiki or blogish format, self archived and indexed with documentation AI'd out of the code. Ok maybe just a directory structure.

Any thoughts on this ? Are there any such tools to easily publish "My Codelets" web site?

What is your investing strategy ?

Curious minds want to know ! Feel free to reply as comment or to me personally.
Presuming, of course, that you have a monthly or periodic amount of "investment capital" say like I do pulled out of my paycheck before I can spend it on beer, horse feed or saddles, where are you putting it ?

Inquiring minds want to know !!!

Depending on who you listen to or ignore these options are recommended

* "Stay to the course"
Keep dollar-cost-avaraging a monthly amount into long term diversified mutual funds.

* "Invest like wild"
The market is at a long time low, NOW is the time to invest in risky high gain stocks ! Ya baby!

* "Gold"
Gold is at a long term high. So of course you should invest in it ! Who ever heard of "buy low sell high" , its "Buy High!" because your terrified of the future !

* "Hold Cash"
Play it safe and put money in money market, or under the bed.
There's scary dragons out there that want to eat your money. Better times ahead.

* "T-Bills / CDS's"
Atleast you can get what, 1.5% ? Thats good nowadays right ?


* "Invest? Whats that !"
The economy is crashing around us, money is worthless, spend while you got em and then try to go into debt before the system collapses. Who ever dies with the most debt wins !

Star Trek Movie == Great

I saw the new Star Trek movie last night.  Summary: Great !

As an admitted avid star trek fan I *have* to see these movies, no questions asked.  But I admit that many of them have left me disappointed.  Nay, almost ALL of them have left me disappointed.  

This one, no.  Its great.  Not "mind shattering" great, but "good movie" great.  

No spoilers here, but JJ Abrams did a great job.  I was worried because on the Steven Colbert show he admitted he was not originally a Star Trek fan .. *gasp* ... how can you make  a star trek movie without being a fan ? That's like making Life of Jesus movie without being Christian!

But I was happy.  Good action, decent (although not mind blowing) plot.  Overall good characters.  A strange mix of Nostalgia, which surprised me because these were NOT the same actors (except *spoiler alert* one ...) as in any previous star trek movie or show, but they captured the essence of the characters extremely well, even perhaps better then the originals.  How can that be ? I dont know !  But every one of the main characters, including Spock , Kirk, Uhura , Chekhov, Sulo, Scotty and Bones were all just a bit *more real* and *more essential* then the originals.  Really quite amazing and almost brought a tear.

And on the other hand, my 9 year old son who has never seen a star trek show or movie, and who didn't want to go because it was going to be boring and stupid, loved it.   So somehow the show, while it had huge nostalgia points, and lots of subtle hints of the old stuff , didn't rely on them. It worked as a movie on its own.

Great job.  I hope they keep them coming ... it certainly was setup as a start of a "Next Next Generation" of movies.

MiFi Personal Wifi Hotspot - "Kewl" or "Lame"

Saw this on the David Pogue Show on tivo
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/07/technology/personaltech/07pogue.html?_r=1

I think its pretty cool, although in some ways no different then a cell modem card for your laptop. The ability to share it is nice, say to local laptops or iphones.
But then my iphone can already get network service via cell at a flat rate I'm already paying. Having to imagine how this is better.
Avoid those stupid $15/day fees at airports ? (and hope your next hub has the same plan ...) ... Avoid the hotels "wifi" service which runs at 28.8k on a good night ?
Be the life of the party at the next geek-night at the restaurant ?

I think this is cooler the lame but not 100% convinced yet ...

Google Chrome TV ad - WTF

I now use Google Chrome for about 90% of my web browsing.
Its just clean, fast, and works. And FAST. Did I say FAST ?
Typically about 2x faster then IE or Firefox. On some pages 100x faster. yes!
On some sites it just doesn't work ( webex anyone ? wheres Google Toolbar !)
So I have to keep IE along for the ride.

I just saw this
http://techfragments.com/news/745/Software/Google_Chrome_TV_Ads_Running_This_Weekend.html

Google is making an ad for google chrome.
Check it out.
WTF
????

Am I the only one who's stumped ?
What the hell is this add ? Its a bunch of kids blocks knocking around then at the end "install Google chrome". Huh ?

Man. This is worse then those Microsoft ads with Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld.
The article mentions that "The non-technical audience may find it hard to understand what Chrome actually is"
Thats the understatement of the world. This ad says NOTHING !!! Whats going on here ?
Am I that stupid or is a megabillion company actually going to show this and think someone is going to understand it. Well maybe thats the point ... to make you wonder WTF google is talking about.

New Music !

I just finished "Black Peter" and a few weeks ago ManSmart.

See http://docs.calldei.com/MusicMyStuff2009

I've also reorganized my music wiki pages becomes *gasp* I was getting too many songs !

The universe is magical

I know everyone has had feelings of magic and wonderment ... but this last week I had yet another installment of the inexplicable.

I got into bed and looked up at my dresser on which the TV we rarely watch sits. I noticed something which I swear was the first time I saw it. It was a small ornament made up of hummingbirds. A small porcelin thing I swear I had never seen before. I'm so sure because the day before I remember moving my watch from next to the TV to on top of my wooden watch box and there simply wouldn't have been room. So I figure Janet had gotten a new gizmo and mentioned it to her. She swears its been there for years, was inherited from her grandma. Oh well, I'm just going brain-dead, I must have simply forgotten about it ... though ... I still feel a bit unnerved because I *KNOW* it wasnt there before ... Not the first time I've totally lost memory of something thats been in front of me for years.

So I open up my Amazon Kindle. The kindle is interesting in that it has a cool "screen saver". It takes no power to keep an image on the display so when it goes to sleep it pops up a random image from its ROM. Usually pictures of famous authors or book related themes. I've had it a month and seen it cycle through dozens of images. So there I go , open up the kindle and what is its screen saver ? its BIRDS !!! Yes a full screen of hummingbirds. If I wasn't laying down I'd have fallen over. I had NEVER seen this image before on the kindle. And I know it wasn't just a subconscious thing because it has a cover, there's no way I could have seen the kindle image before noticing the birds by the TV. Its just flipping weired.

What a long strange trip its been ...