Many web applications are implemented in a way that makes developing them painful and repetitive. Catalyst is an open-source Perl-based Model-View-Controller framework that aims to solve this problem by reorganizing your web application to design and implement it in a natural, maintainable, and testable manner, making web development fun, fast, and rewarding.

Everything that your web application needs to do is only written once; you connect to the database in one place, have configuration in one place, etc. Then, you just write actions for each URL that your application needs, without worrying about the database connections or HTML to produce. Catalyst will handle the details so you can worry about writing your application.

Catalyst is designed to be reliable. There are hundreds of production applications and thousands of users. The code is well-tested, and new releases almost always maintain compatibility with applications written for older versions. You don't have to worry about Catalyst breaking your application and slowing down your development. It just works.

Most importantly, Catalyst has a thriving community. You can ask a question on the IRC channel and get a response at almost any time of the day.

This book embodies Catalyst's philosophies of Do It Yourself and Don't Repeat Yourself.

If you use perl, or know perl, and you're not using Catalyst for your web development... you should be. Probably. Its great.

Catalyst - Accelerating Perl Web Application Development

It’s now December 13, and the news this morning is that Citigroup has decided to face the music and take $49B in SIV exposure onto its balance sheet. Thankfully the “conduit” is dead, and other banks around the world will soon enough be forced to face the music too. So I think we’re almost to the bottom of the credit crash; note that Blackstone has raised a new $1.3B fund to bottom-feed on debt-related assets. Maybe the small-investor play is to shift money into a broad financial-sector fund around year-end.

Meanwhile, what about the ratings agencies (Moody’s, S&P, Fitch) that gave these SIVs and their constituent debt slices inordinately high credit ratings? And what about the fact that the ratings agencies get paid by the very entities they rate? Does anybody see the parallels with Enron here (off-balance sheet shenanigans, compliant accounting firms (now ratings firms), public-company shareholders losing billions)? Get ready for more execs trading pinstripe suits for prison garb, and more government meddling (a la Sarbanes-Oxley) in the free market after the cow is already out of the barn.

Great. And maybe we can get another SOX law to fuck over small and medium sized businesses who want to go public.

Big Thinkr » Blog Archive » When the other shoe drops

Read the following with a British accent for full effect:

Today is the fourth day of ownership of my pen, and I have to say I'm starting to treat it like an old friend. I walk around the office with it clipped in to my shirt pocket and someone in the accounts department actually asked to borrow it while we were both standing at the photocopier. Would you believe it, they actually tried to walk away with my pen! They were very embarrassed when I called after them as they walked down the corridor and asked for it back. You will be happy to know that it is now back, safe and sound in my top pocket, ready and waiting to start writing again.

I highly recommend you read the first two reviews at least. Who knew a simple bic pen could open a gateway to hell!

Amazon.co.uk: Bic Crystal ballpoint pen, medium point, black, EACH: Electronics & Photo

Where: Florianopolis is in the southern part of Brazil, nearly five hundred miles south of Rio de Janeiro. For the geographically challenged, Brazil is in the southern hemisphere, which means when you flush a toilet, the water flows down clockwise.

What: With the exception of Campeche, a rock-bottom pointbreak, most of the breaks are sand-bottom and forgiving. The beaches are long and wide, providing ample opportunity to find yourself a nice little peak with few other surfers around.

When: With south swells marching up from Antarctica, May and June offer your best chance for overhead surf in the region. The water temperature at this time of year averages 68 degrees. During the months of January and February, the waves are smaller, but the water hovers around a toasty 77 degrees. Generally speaking, the surf is best from April through October.

Destinations - Florianopolis, Brazil - SURF Magazine

Start: 2007-12-15 18:00
End: 2007-12-15 23:59
Timezone: Etc/GMT-5
Location: Vortex, Atlanta

That's right kids, it's that time again. SantaCon is coming!!! I've seen the pics from the last few years and have to say, Yall do it right!!!! Just to remind everyone, I have listed the rules for SantaCon again. There is no Santa in charge to call. If you can't show up for the start, get the phone number of someone who can help you catch up later.

You peeps should go to this. I'll be in da D.F. :(

Atlanta SantaCon | Dirty Southern Burners

"I'd see lightning. Boy, do I remember that lightning. I never exactly heard the thunder; I felt it. I remember falling through hail, and that worried me; I was afraid the hail would tear the chute. Sometimes I was falling through heavy water—I'd take a breath and breathe in a mouthful of water. Sometimes I had the sensation I was looping the chute. I was blown up and down as much as 6,000 feet at a time. It went on for a long time, like being on a very fast elevator, with strong blasts of compressed air hitting you."

Man parachutes from 47,000 feet through cumulonimbus.

The Nightmare Fall - TIME

What are you guys using to edit Javascript? I am tired of not having a decent IDE for this.

Javascript Editor

function show_props(obj, obj_name) { var result = "" for (var i in obj) result = obj_name "." i " = " obj[i] "\n" return result; }

Super convenient when peeps don't document their objects.

List all properties of a JS obejct

My, Apache sure can be a little tricky to configure. Following a few tips from Ben Laurie I've just built myself a minimalist Apache / Catalyst / FastCGI configuration:

Listen 8081
ErrorLog manatee_error.log
PidFile manatee_httpd.pid
LockFile manatee_accept.lock

LoadModule alias_module /usr/lib/apache2/modules/mod_alias.so
LoadModule fastcgi_module /usr/lib/apache2/modules/mod_fastcgi.so
LoadModule mime_module /usr/lib/apache2/modules/mod_mime.so

TypesConfig /etc/mime.types

DocumentRoot /mnt/app/manatee/root
Alias /static /mnt/app/manatee/root/static

FastCgiIpcDir /mnt/app/manatee/tmp
FastCgiServer /mnt/app/manatee/script/manatee_fastcgi.pl -processes 3
Alias / /mnt/app/manatee/script/manatee_fastcgi.pl/

Journal of acme (189) Apache/Catalyst/FastCGI base config

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- New Yorker Alison Wilson was walking down Prince Street in SoHo last week when she heard a woman's voice right in her ear asking, "Who's there? Who's there?" She looked around to find no one in her immediate surroundings. Then the voice said, "It's not your imagination."
No, he's not crazy: Our intrepid reporter Andrew Hampp ventures to SoHo to hear for himself the technology that has New Yorkers 'freaked out' and A&E buzzing.
No, he's not crazy: Our intrepid reporter Andrew Hampp ventures to SoHo to hear for himself the technology that has New Yorkers 'freaked out' and A&E buzzing.
Photo Credit: Yoray Liberman

Indeed it isn't. It's an ad for "Paranormal State," a ghost-themed series premiering on A&E this week. The billboard uses technology manufactured by Holosonic that transmits an "audio spotlight" from a rooftop speaker so that the sound is contained within your cranium. The technology, ideal for museums and libraries or environments that require a quiet atmosphere for isolated audio slideshows, has rarely been used on such a scale before. For random passersby and residents who have to walk unwittingly through the area where the voice will penetrate their inner peace, it's another story.

This is going to make people psychotically angry.

Hear Voices? It May Be an Ad - Advertising Age - News