My MacBook hard drive appears to have bit the dust, and Damon has graciously allowed me to use his old Powerbook until the snow goes away and I can safely trek to the Apple Store for a replacement.

Clearly his Powerbook is infused with Python voodoo, because I had every intention of working on my PHP skillz over the holidays, yet I somehow found my way to the MIT OpenCourseware’s “Intro to Computer Science” course and its corresponding Python tutorials.

So, here is my first working script - The Socratic Methodizer!

Sample output:

Now all I need to do is … figure out how to error-check (my else is a lame cop-out) and then figure out how to make it work outside of the command line (ha!).

Yea, it’s another meme. But I love lists of things to accomplish in life. I feel compelled to complete all 100 items on almost any 100-item list. Yes, you could probably do bad things with this knowledge (though nothing and nobody could make me do #41 or #94).

Per usual, items in bold are completed. Hat-tip to The Real Gun Guys.

This list seems to disproportionately favor climbing activities.

1. Started your own blog.
2. Slept under the stars.
3. Played in a band.
4. Visited Hawaii.
5. Watched a meteor shower.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity.
7. Been to Disneyland.
8. Climbed a mountain.
9. Held a praying mantis.
10. Sang a solo.
11. Bungee jumped.
12. Visited Paris.
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch.
15. Adopted a child.
16. Had food poisoning.
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty.
18. Grown your own vegetables.
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France.
20. Slept on a train.
21. Had a pillow fight.
22. Hitch hiked.
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill.
24. Built a snow fort.
25. Held a lamb.
26. Gone skinny dipping.
27. Run a Marathon.
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice.
29. Seen a total eclipse.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.
31. Hit a home run.
32. Been on a cruise.
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person.
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors.
35. Seen an Amish community.
36. Taught yourself a new language.
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied.
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person.
39. Gone rock climbing.
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David.
41. Sung karaoke. (AND I NEVER WILL)
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt.
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant.
44. Visited Africa.
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight.
46. Been transported in an ambulance.
47. Had your portrait painted / drawn.
48. Gone deep sea fishing.
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person.
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling.
52. Kissed in the rain.
53. Played in the mud.
54. Gone to a drive-in theater.
55. Been in a movie.
56. Visited the Great Wall of China.
57. Started a business.
58. Taken a martial arts class.
59. Visited Russia.
60. Served at a soup kitchen.
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies.
62. Gone whale watching.
63. Got flowers for no reason.
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma.
65. Gone sky diving.
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp. (This is something of an epic fail given the time I’ve spent in Germany.)
67. Bounced a check.
68. Flown in a helicopter.
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy.
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial.
71. Eaten Caviar.
72. Pieced a quilt.
73. Stood in Times Square.
74. Toured the Everglades.
75. Been fired from a job.
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London.
77. Broken a bone.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle.
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person.
80. Published a book.
81. Visited the Vatican.
82. Bought a brand new car.
83. Walked in Jerusalem.
84. Had your picture in the newspaper.
85. Read the entire Bible.
86. Visited the White House.
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.
88. Had chickenpox.
89. Saved someone’s life.
90. Sat on a jury.
91. Met someone famous.
92. Joined a book club.
93. Lost a loved one.
94. Had a baby. (AND I NEVER WILL)
95. Seen the Alamo in person.
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake. (I’ve sailed in it. That should count.)
97. Been involved in a law suit.
98. Owned a cell phone.
99. Been stung by a bee.
100. Read an entire book in one day. (many, many times!)

I know, I say I don’t like memes, then I fill my RSS feed with memes.

This brought up some interesting (and some expected) results. To play along, just type each letter of the alphabet into your Firefox address bar, and note which URL it suggests first.

(There is some code that allegedly does this for you, but it didn’t work for me, possibly because I’m running the Deutsch build.)

A: Amazon.com
B: BetterWhois.com
C: Make Marina Culturally Literate
D: Damon’s Twitter Page
E: Ethiopian Eats
F: Freedom from Organization
G: GrandCentral
H: Damon’s Twitter Page (again)
I: Identi.ca
J: Jivox
K: Kayak
L: Google Local
M: (I can’t tell you M)
N: Netflix
O: Oh, Identi.ca!
P: Project Dog Food
Q: Amazon.com ListMania: People, Power, and Political Economy in Literature
R: Rain Japanese Cuisine
S: StumbleUpon
T: TinyURL
U: TinyURL (again)
V: VH1 (that’s embarrassing)
W: Wells Fargo
X: Running for Office XKCD Style
Y: Yelp
Z: A bunch of random Gmail emails

Hat-tip to Sameer for pointing this out to me.