Filed under: Developer, Fun, Troubleshooting, Humor
Troubleshooting with your Teddy Bear
"Proper troubleshooting requires a Teddy Bear."
As it was told to me -- long ago in a university computer lab not so far away -- there was a sysadmin who became frustrated with the number of questions he was asked by student developers. It wasn't that the questions were invalid, or that the students weren't thinking them through. Rather, his frustration was with questions which found their own answers.
Students seeking his help would begin to explain the problem they were working on. More often than not, they wouldn't finish explaining before having an "Aha!" moments; That tiny moment of clarity every developer, admin or desktop analyst seeks as a part of their job.
Being forced to explain the problem had some effect which thinking about the problem alone didn't. How can you achieve the same mind-altered state without bugging the sysadmin, or taking a handful of Adderol and Xanaax*?
The weary sysadmin found a brilliant solution. He attached a teddy bear to his desk, and forced anyone who wanted to ask him a question to address the bear and explain the problem.
So, the next time you're halfway through asking a collegue a question and find yourself saying, "Wait, I think I just got it, never mind!", remember to thank them for being your teddy bear.
* Download Squad does not condone the abuse of Adderol, Xanaax or any other prescription drugs. Just sayin'.
The iPhone has become one of best loved geek toys of the decade, and it's not hard to see why: the slim phone that Steve built packs a powerful processor, 3d graphics, and the power of Mac OS X. In the past, we have seen various 3rd party apps available for the device, but nothing quite so nerdy of as this:
Have you ever wanted to let your geek freak flag fly for just a little while? Say you're at a tradeshow, or some other gathering of the ubergeeky, and you want just a little special edge to rise above the rest. Look no further, geek temporary tattoos are here. 
So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do.
Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game.
The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...
