The author of this article mistakenly called MapReduce a file system, which isn’t entirely correct. Readers were quick to point out the mistake (myself included), with some responses being rather harsh. Why would readers react so strongly to a misuse of terminology that is entirely understandable if you have not had intimate experience with the technology in question?

The reason for such a reaction is simple. For a developer, using the correct terminology when describing and discussing his / her work is crucial. If the wrong terminology is used, then grave misunderstandings can result, which could easily lead to rather disastrous consequences. To use another example, I recently attended VoCamp Austin, which was a technology meetup to discuss Semantic Web technology. During the meetup it became exceedingly clear that a number of the attendees had a poor grasp of the terminology used to describe Semantic Web concepts. Terms such as triples, ontology, semantics, structured data, linked data, schemas, RDF, OWL, and XML were thrown around, often incorrectly.

The improper use of terminology when discussing something as involved as the Semantic Web introduces a large communication barrier when developers interact. My definition of linked data may differ from yours, and when I describe the role of linked data in my application, you will be utterly confused. In the worst case, the term will mean something utterly different to you, and if you are using my description as the foundation for developing your application, then your implementation will be fundamentally flawed. The cost of such miscommunication may be subtle, but the consequences can be disastrous, such as in the case of the Mars Climate Orbiter, where certain values were communicated incorrectly, and one team understood the values to be in metric, while others understood the values to be in the imperial system.

Lesson learned? When discussing something of significant complexity and substantial inherent terminology, be sure to make the definitions of the terminology used absolutely clear. This may sometimes require your audience to forget their existing definitions, and you should be extra cautious when introducing terminology that uses common words or is borrowed from other terminology.

Here’s a list of awesomely cheesy songs that have been running through my head lately. It should be of no surprise that most of them are 80s songs. I’ll link some neat covers where applicable. The links are youtube links so you can appreciate the horrible music videos that went along with these songs as well.

• Dio – Holy Diver
• Dead or Alive – You Spin me Round (Like A Record) (Cover)
• Genesis – Land of Confusion (Cover)
• Dire Straits – Money for Nothing
• Europe – The Final Countdown
• Kansas – Carry On Wayward Son
• Eddy Grant – Electric Avenue
• The Vapours – Turning Japanese
• Devo – Whip It
• A Flock Of Seagulls – I Ran
• Blue Oyster Cult – Godzilla
• Oingo Boingo – Wierd Science
• The Clash – Rock The Casbah

Anyways, the topic of this post is Jurassic Bark. It is an episode of the fantastic cartoon “Futurama” created by Matt Groening, creator of the Simpsons. If none of that means anything to you then you’ve been living under a rock.

The episode if viewable online in full here.

For those who don’t know what Futurama is about, it’s about an average guy named Fry who accidentally gets frozen in the year 2000 and is unfrozen in the year 3000, thus permanently trapping him in a bizarre future. This particular episode deals with him finding the fossilized remains of his former dog Seymour. Lots of hijinx ensue, but ultimately the episode ends on a sad note showing how the dog faithfully waited for Fry to come home for the rest of the dog’s life. The episode is by some critics considered one of the most sentimental things ever shown on TV.

So here’s some background on the episode. The idea of such loyalty on behalf of a pet is found in two instances: Greyfriars Bobby and Hachikō. I won’t comment on the former because I feel the latter is more closely fitting to the Futurama episode.

The story is as follows: Hachikō was owned by a Japanese professor who lived near Tokyo and taught at the University in the city. Every day, the professor would leave for work by train, and the dog would see him off. Every evening, when the professor returned, Hachikō would be waiting at the train station for his master to come home.

One day, the professor passed away. The dog came to the train station, but nobody came home. The next day, hopefully, Hachikō again went to the train station to welcome his master home. Again, to no avail. This continued for 10 years – every day, precisely when the evening train was scheduled to arrive, Hachikō would be at the station waiting for his master, until finally the loyal dog died of old age.

Nobody can exactly explain why an animal would do such a thing. I like to think that perhaps the creatures around us are more like us than we give them credit for.

Just testing the flickr integration with my blog. Oh and the handsome fellow above is my cat, Galileo. More pictures of him are here.

WARNING: Some of these videos aren’t exactly safe for work. Parental discretion is advised.

Those of you who watch south park have probably seen this:

It references a whole number of internet memes.

Let’s see what we have:

• Chocolate Rain
• Tron Guy
• Numa Numa
• Star Wars Kid
• Sneezing Panda
• Dramatic Prairie Dog
• Chris Crocker
• Chinese Backstreet Boys
• Laughing Baby
• Afro Ninja

And here’s for a few that weren’t included that I personally really like.

• Wedding Thriller
• Charlie the Unicorn
• Kung Fu Baby
• Bubb Rubb and Lil’ Sis
• Over 9000
• lolwut
• Longcat is Looooooooong
• Shoop Da Whoop
• Rejected
• What What (In the Butt)
• Pizazz
• Rick Roll
• Timecube
• Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny
• The End of the World
• Gonads and Strife
• Badger Badger Badger
• Leeroy Jenkins
• Tunak Tunak Tun