gPhotoShow - Slide Show Maker and Screen Saver
I spent some time looking for a screen saver to display my photos. There are a lot of them out there. Being cheap, I decided to first check out the freeware and that's where I found a gem. I'm sure that there are many good shareware screen savers out there, but I didn't evaluate any of them.

gPhotoShow is great. It comes in both freeware and shareware versions. I'm using the freeware version and I am very happy with it. I simply told it what directory to look in for my pictures and it did the rest. If I want to add or remove pictures, I simply add or remove them from the chosen directory. No other action is required. It also has the option to search an entire directory tree or subtree for pictures. There are many transition effects, it can play music, it has an adjustable delay, it can automatically resize images, etc.

Girder
Girder is awesome! As its web site claims, it really is "the ultimate windows automation tool." It is 100% flexible. You can configure it to do pretty much anything. It can take any type of input (keyboard, mouse, IR remote control, internet, other programs, etc.) and then, based on your configuration, it can generate any type of output. I have it set up so that my X10 remote can control a lamp in the room, control Winamp, activate my computer's screen saver, and make the computer verbally announce the current time.

It takes a little while to figure this program out, but it's well worth it.

Utah Legislature HB0203
I thought this was a bit interesting. As far as legislative bills go, this is the shortest one I've ever seen that's been passed. It's content not very exciting, but I do like the fact that it's short.

The First Time is Free: Microsoft's Peculiar Profit Obsession, .NET, and What It All Really Means
This is an interesting analysis of the direction in which Microsoft is headed. Is it really accurate? Probably. Only time will tell. If nothing else, it is very, very interesting. The presented theory is absolutely consistent with Microsoft's past behavior.

The Perl Directory - perl.org
I had to learn Perl in a hurry for a homework assignment. This page was a great resource.

My assignment was to write a compiler. It had to translate a high-level language that the teacher invented to a low-level assembly-like language that he also invented. In other words, this program will never be useful in real life, but it was a good excercise.

Perl is an acronym, by the way. It stands for Practical Extraction and Report Language. Although, after comparing it to other languages that I've worked with, I can see why some people claim that it actually stands for Pathologically Eclectic Rubbish Lister. What other language accepts "s{[;\-\+/\*,\[\]=\(\)]}{ $& }g;" as a valid command?

Still, it's a really cool and useful language. I can see why The Jargon File calls it "the Swiss-Army chainsaw of Unix programming."

The Jargon File
Never leave home without it.

This is a great place to learn computer jargon. It goes beyond the purely technical terms and also describes the slang terms in detail. To me, the most interesting parts are the descriptions of the histories of the terms and the stories behind them. It makes great bedtime reading.