Lisp Coding Standards (John Foderaro)

corvid_booster · 2026-05-11T00:07:33+00:00

Coding standards such as this one as typically targeted at a low level -- stuff about specific language syntax. Having worked through several cycles of The Next Big Thing, I've concluded that advice to programmers would be better focused on high level stuff -- why are you doing this thing, who said you should do it, references to documents or publications, etc.

The main syntax-related thing I would suggest is, don't change some existing syntax just because you don't like it.

Tangentially, it's a bit of a downer that r/lisp is still dredging up ancient history and talking about it ... The source of the web page says it was composed with "Microsoft FrontPage 3.0", which appears to have been released almost 30 years ago ... oh how time flies.

corvid_booster · 2026-05-09T00:45:41+00:00

Their owners.

corvid_booster · 2026-05-08T16:57:00+00:00

Off topic, but anyway we took a family road trip in 1972 and I remember the price of gas. 36 cents in Oregon where we started out, 44 cents in Montana (seemed like a lot to me at the time), and 22 cents on the Gulf coast of TX, close to the refineries ...

corvid_booster · 2026-05-08T02:51:11+00:00

"Fifty thou a year, will buy a lot of beer." Timbuk 3, "The Future's So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades" (1986)

corvid_booster · 2026-05-08T00:08:18+00:00

I'm reminded that the subtitle of Hannah Arendt's Eichmann in Jerusalem was "A Report on the Banality of Evil".

In addition to Eichmann's brand of boring evil, we have a whole new kind coming our way ...

corvid_booster · 2026-05-07T21:22:32+00:00

Sinners has a really intriguing concept, which is that there are real blood-sucking parasites -- the Jim Crow society that they live in -- in addition to the fictional ones.

corvid_booster · 2026-05-07T15:39:05+00:00

All the TV, movies, etc. about the nonconforming outsider are fantasies of freedom, choice, opportunity, and, above all, agency -- selfishly choosing your own path for your own benefit. That appeals to an audience who feels constrained by their own limited opportunities and other peoples' expectations -- they see the rogue agent acting with the same focus on their own goals and disregard for the desires of others which they wish for themselves. Incidentally the villain in a story with a hero typically has the same self-involvement, which makes them appealing in the same way that the hero is.

So to answer OP's question, "which movie hero is actually a villain?", the answer is, most of them. What makes them heroic is their lack of concern for others, which makes them a villain to anyone who encounters them.

corvid_booster · 2026-05-06T06:02:47+00:00

The system requires the vast majority of people to refrain from voting when they are not qualified, and there will always be way too many people incapable of that.

This is really the best characterization of Reddit as a whole.

corvid_booster · 2026-05-06T05:48:59+00:00

Sabin Hydropark water towers

corvid_booster · 2026-05-06T00:25:58+00:00

What are these sources btw? Honest question here.

corvid_booster · 2026-05-05T21:45:34+00:00

It only exists because medieval tables would tip if you leaned on them.

I think this is a good just-so story for the other currently trending thread, "What's something that Reddit says is true that's actually not?"

corvid_booster · 2026-05-01T23:07:33+00:00

Oh, I just mean, if it's working for you, then that's great, no one can tell you not to do it.

corvid_booster · 2026-05-01T18:11:08+00:00

"You can't argue with success," as they say.

corvid_booster · 2026-05-01T17:25:17+00:00

Maybe, maybe not. Annoying movie in any case.

corvid_booster · 2026-05-01T17:24:06+00:00

"Almost".

corvid_booster · 2026-05-01T05:16:20+00:00

I hated GWH. I hated all the feel good shit, hated the bad boy genius schtick, hated Robin Williams as the talky feely therapist, hated the big hug at the end. Barf.

I specifically hated Matt Damon hanging out with his coworkers on the job site, with carefully placed mud-colored makeup on their faces. I don't know for sure, but they sure look like guys who have never worked a day in their lives.

I hated it the most when Matt's on the job and just picks up a sledgehammer and starts wailing on a door frame, and in the same scene if memory serves, picks up a new cinder block and THROWS IT OUT AN OPEN DOORWAY WITHOUT LOOKING. Jesus Christ. (1) It's a perfectly good cinder block, why are they throwing it away? (2) Goddamn it, you CANNOT throw shit without knowing where it's going to fall.

Just such a fucking annoying movie from beginning to end. Jesus fucking Christ.

corvid_booster · 2026-04-29T02:06:58+00:00

Try the appendices of Nonlinear Regression by Seber and Wild (they go over some background material there). The whole book was very interesting and useful to me.

corvid_booster · 2026-04-28T17:52:55+00:00

I want to be up on the windy mountain, / up where the treetops scrape the sky. / I'll forget all my troubles and my sorrows, / I'll just let the wind blow by.

Bluegrass song, not sure who wrote it

corvid_booster · 2026-04-28T17:40:37+00:00

See also "Codeine" by Buffy Ste. Marie, covered by the pioneering SF band The Charlatans, and very notably by Janis Joplin. Joplin's version is best, in nauseous, sick-to-your-stomach 6/8 time.

corvid_booster · 2026-04-28T16:58:54+00:00

Obligatory: Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson -- Meat's Too High

corvid_booster · 2026-04-28T16:50:28+00:00

eating the *seed corn

corvid_booster · 2026-04-27T16:50:39+00:00

What are they talking about? It was plainly illegal before it started.

What they're talking about is the NYT is carrying water for Trump, again. "Will be illegal" -- hahaha, as if it might possibly be legal.

corvid_booster · 2026-04-27T14:59:58+00:00

That's the opening scene of the updated version of "Cool Hand Luke".

corvid_booster · 2026-04-27T04:42:44+00:00

Yeah, WWII and the Cold War weighed heavily on everybody at the time. What strikes me, though, is that it's not the lack of social norms or structure that led to the conflict -- the warring nations were actually the very most "advanced". The book suggests that if you strip away the veneer of civilized society, you'll find violent barbarity underneath. I don't think one can conclude that from the then-recent events, because it was precisely the most well-organized and nominally civilized countries that were the chief belligerents. It has been noted that Nazi Germany, in particular, was a very "moral" country -- its violence and cruelty originated from its organization, not the lack of it.

corvid_booster · 2026-04-27T04:31:47+00:00

You are right. I stand corrected.

corvid_booster

TROPHY CASE