Lance Good

I just wanted to post this in case it helps anyone diagnose this problem. I was getting this helpful error message in Flex:

"An internal build error has occurred. Right-click for more information."

Googling did not help. I found a bunch of things that could cause the problem: empty switch statements, missing semicolons, double imports, etc. However, none of those seemed to apply to me. The most common suggestion I found was to look in the log file. I checked the logged file and found this exception:

java.lang.NullPointerException
at macromedia.asc.semantics.InterfaceWalker.(InterfaceWalker.java:35)

Still not helpful. I finally started commenting code and eventually narrowed it down to this statement:

var aCursor:IViewCursor = anArray_.createCursor();

The variable "anArray" is type ArrayCollection. The IViewCursor that I was trying to create is kind of like a Java iterator. The "I" in...

Check out these pictures from where I used to work. They were posted by Guy Kawasaki. He's some guy who worked at Apple, wrote some books, and did some stuff. The one thing that's a little confusing from this blog post is that it's not Xerox PARC anymore. It's just PARC.


Above is the view from my old office at PARC. I have this image backed up somewhere but it would take forever to find it. So I resorted to good old archive.org for a backup copy. For some reason they didn't store a lot of the pictures, but they did keep this one.

If you read this post or the one before it then you're probably pretty well acquainted with my lunacy. In any case, I have been keeping an eye out for pictures of balls in books. I have definitely noticed a higher than random probability of finding red stars on balls. So maybe there really is a strong prototype for balls with stars. That could definitely explain the particular event that I wrote about.

That's really the interesting thing about it though. It's hard to prove that this is the explanation. I know there has been much ink spilled on both sides of issues like this (luckily, no ink was shed in the writing of this blog). Many have said outright that research into topics like this is a waste of time. The thing I like about it though is the unresolved ambiguity. It leaves open the possibility for unknown phenomena. Is it all the usual science that we're comfor...

I am just on the verge of submitting this to Science and Nature so you're really getting a sneak peek here. This is huge. If you've got an infant in your life (or anyone else in diapers, for that matter) then you'll want to listen closely. I have discovered the secret to optimal wiping. Feel free to just refer to it as "the secret".

Why might you be interested in optimal wiping, you ask? It could just save the world as we know it, by reducing deforestation and global warming and the real estate bubble and who knows what else. OK smart guy, I hear you saying you don't care about any of those things. So let's just say you're stranded on a deserted island with one baby wipe left and your kid is covered in a gigantic turd. Got your attention now, don't I? I thought so.

OK, so here it is. Instructions on optimal wiping. First, make one good pass with the wipe. You want to use up all of one side. Now, carefully fold it in half so that the two, erm, soiled sides fold toggether.