A common conceit in fantasy and science fiction novels is that the characters are living “after the fall”. A great civilization came before, but it was destroyed and much of its learning was lost.

That’s how I feel about smalltalk. I picked it up on a whim a year or two ago, and it’s been a revelation.

I feel cheated. We had this thirty years ago, and I still had to spend all those years writing C, or – I shudder to remember – Java? With smalltalk, coding is fun again.

Ok, I admit that I’m a bit defensive about my love for
Smalltalk.
TheGoodDoctor gives me a sad, bittersweet smile when I bring it up. It’s the smile you’d give to a sick child who’s begging to see his puppy one last time — only you know that the puppy was run over by a truck this morning. “Sure, kid”, you say, “sure”.

This is important now because I’m thinking about doing a thing and I need to choose a language, and a look at the options makes me feel ill. PHP looks like work. Java looks like the tomb. Ruby looks like, well, like Smalltalk actually. Only they left out the best parts.

Oh – be wary of TheGoodDoctor, ladies. He can’t really write presciptions. He prints those little pads in his basement.

Morrissey says London bombings were no surprise

So here is a picture of a bunny with a pancake on its head.

The partying and groupies are just a cover. You get Freddie Mercury, David Bowie, Mick Jagger, and Ozzy Osbourne in one room and you know they’re going to be thinking about one thing.

Fighting crime. With Batman.

Ahh, the 70s.

Flipbook is another fun drawing app. You make little animations one frame at a time (it’s easier than it sounds). Lots of fun and great way to lift the burden of half an hour of your life.

There’s a gallery of top rated books. I like this one.

I’m an unabashed fan of “god sim” games, and nobody does them better than Will Wright. Check out the demo video from this year’s Game Developer Conference. It’s long, but worth it. You evolve a creature all the way from single cell to interstellar travel. I can’t wait.