if I had a dollar for every time I had forgotten to escape something properly (regex, html, sql, strings, you name it) I'd buy a new car.

Yahoo Answers: "I would say that you are more likely to get valid information by breaking open a magic eight ball and drinking the juice."

What ain't no country I ever heard of! http://is.gd/5uvxk

how @superdalgas decked out our servers with Xmas cheer :) http://is.gd/5utke

the only Christmas gift that even MAKES SENSE http://is.gd/5urqp

even dumber than buying a Mac Pro. And that's saying a LOT. http://is.gd/5upTj

*  ❄     * ❄      *       *      ❄ .     *  ❄    * .  ❄    ❄        *        ❄ _______________________☃_____

"Watch what people actually do. Do not believe what people say they do, or will do."

Metal Slug for iPhone? NOBODY TOLD ME!! http://toucharcade.com/2009/12/17/metal-slug-touch-appears-on-the-app-store/

beginning Stack Overflow / Super User / Server Fault maintenance, expect a tad of downtime

ok, this will only be funny if you've played Left 4 Dead 2, but it *is* funny http://is.gd/5ubiz

I can't believe this scene was actually broadcast on television. (nothing bad) http://is.gd/5ub4W

my continuing hate affair with /winsxs. I really wish there was an "I'll take the risks, disable this" option for VMs. http://is.gd/5u86o

Internet Archaeologists Find Ruins of 'Friendster' Civilization http://is.gd/5tZxq

very happy to finally go public with FREE vote-based advertising for open source projects on Stack Overflow: http://is.gd/5tjY1

welcome Google as Stack Overflow sponsor! http://is.gd/5tfsI

Jack Bauer interrogates Santa Claus http://is.gd/5t0Wb

Let's Enhance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vxq9yj2pVWk

cats and dogs living together, via @jzy http://9gag.com/gag/15495/

I find that AdBlock is unnecessary when FlashBlock is installed anyway. 98% of the most annoying ads, are Flash.

PSA: if you do *anything* with advertising as a part of your job, disable AdBlock. Otherwise you will burn hours. Trust me on this..

"Remember: A domain only needs to make 2 cents a day to be profitable." ugh, kill me now

paint.net is everything that is right with desktop .net apps. Seriously, it should be studied in college curriculums. http://is.gd/5sVLf

r @portman_wills I already explained it here; they're *both* right, you just need to switch strategies per DPI http://is.gd/5sSUV

r @nathanbowers at low DPI, it's either blurry text (Apple) or misaligned sharp text (Microsoft). Pick your poison.

comment on a Stack Overflow accepted answer: "My friend you are genius!" That sums up our goals perfectly..

you know what totally doesn't scale? paying people money to like you. or your product.

I couldn't believe some of those xmas albums were real. But they are: "Waffle House Christmas Album" http://is.gd/5sMCQ

worst Christmas album covers http://listoftheday.blogspot.com/2008/12/best-of-worst-christmas-albums-vol-1.html

it is apparently impossible to make jokes on Twitter any more. I give up. Joke over. Wild*CATS* mappings, people. CATS. CATS. CATS.

@caseyf I blame myself for not having time to moderate the comments properly. There is a plan for the new year...

currently demanding that @superdalgas upgrade our server rack power cords, ethernet cables, and switch with ZERO DOWNTIME!!1!

look, I'm all for paying for software, but I'm pretty sure I could LEGALLY BUY A PERSON for what SQL Server Enterprise costs. Or Oracle.

r @kevindente yeah, that's no problem, as long as we set aside $50k+ for SQL Server licenses. Note: not an exaggeration.

The Known Universe http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17jymDn0W6U

rt @deadprogrammer if there's 1 thing that I miss from MS, it's SQL Server. MySQL is a bag of horrors by comparison.

SQL Server 2008 is IMHO good stuff. Only thing wrong with it, is the stratospheric price.

Runaways movie. WANT! http://bit.ly/5bnEUL (via @HMXkfan)

use SQL Server? Why haven't you pre-ordered @brento 's book yet? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? http://is.gd/5rJQz

just got a package from ThinkGeek with baby stuff (awesome) also contains these packing airbacks, lol http://is.gd/5rJsg

rt @donpark Fast symmetric cryptography in Javascript from Dan Boneh's team at Stanford http://crypto.stanford.edu/sjcl/

no, we can't evony parody.. not enough people would get it, and it'd look cheesy to everyone else. Though: http://is.gd/5rGIh

I never understood the idea of tracking ad clicks, then "improving" the ad to get more clicks. Isn't the end state of that.. Evony?

our http://careers.stackoverflow.com house ads: http://is.gd/5rFap too much? not enough? soliciting input

your Brokencyde Xmas card has arrived!! http://is.gd/5rxGV ... this one goes out to @HMXkfan

rt @nberardi Wow, I now get more traffic from #stackoverflow than I do from Google for my blog.

Is there anything more empty and meaningless than Xmas e-cards from a *company*?

sometimes, when I'm feeling a bit down, I visit http://www.zombo.com/ and then I am rejuvenated

OMG @betsyphd had a genius idea: Brokencyde Xmas cards! "Gettin' F**kin' Freaky Now 2009. Best, Smith Family"

rt @jarrod_dixon All the Rocky movies in 5 seconds http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDCxv3PH-hQ

Brokencyde has been universally panned by critics. Metal Edge magazine has called Brokencyde "f**king horrendous" http://is.gd/5qMiQ

boat number 419 http://superpoop.com/020209/boat-number-419.jpg

introducing @betsyphd to the manifold joys of the band Brokencyde: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TH5ibABP4U

r @jzy that's *almost* true of programming / computer science as well -- field is still young enough that very few dead "legends" exist

Fake Steve Jobs is now more of a leader than Real Steve Jobs. http://bit.ly/5OZj6x

Every time we're going over a list, this item somehow gets added to it. Because we're professionals, damn it. http://is.gd/5qqwC

still waiting for my promised Rock Band: Nickelback. They're the band of the f$!@ing decade, people! http://is.gd/5qoke

@HMXkfan may I recommend some Brokencyde for your listening pleasure? http://is.gd/5qobv Also, Nickelback is the band of the decade.

Stack Exchange site of the day: http://auto-gurus.com/ for automobile enthusiasts! Vroom!

As I type my penchant for hyperbole increases ... by a TRILLION

r @jongalloway pointless, since almost all other platforms have ultra-web-safe-fonts Trebuchet MS or Arial and will use those first.

removing "Helvetica" from our css stylesheet due to conflicts -- in favor of "Arial". Somewhere, a small part of @gruber dies.

setting up fakeplasticrock.com with Laughing Squid hosting @ls_hosting

default Linux browser font widths making me crazy: http://is.gd/5pohH

"125 comments. Latest by penis enlargement"

sorry, I meant "spruik" http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_561508115/spruik.html

@kathysierra have you read Krug's new book? I just found out about it! http://is.gd/5pbGy

r @kevindente community will occasionally spruke old unanswered questions to churn the sediment and put them on the front page

"It’s wondering exactly how far you’ll go to get the Legendary badge on Stack Overflow." http://is.gd/5pb5o

rt @loydcase "Don’t ask me why I need six cores and 24GB. To paraphrase a Zen master, if you have to ask, you do not know."

@kevidente really? the thing highlighted in a different color is "less prominent"? the "asked" and "edited" wasn't clear? I blame the user:)

excellent @deadprogrammer article; all geeks should know about the capacitor plague http://is.gd/5p5vk

@HMXkfan http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/8950/youropinion.jpg

@HMXkfan I just watched the trailer for California Dreams and I am not sure my life has been embiggened by this cromulent experience

completed donation of $100 to archive.org. I have a completely new respect for what these guys/gals do, and how rare it is on the 'net

"Join us for the XIIIth European Poultry Conference 23-27 August 2010, Tours, France" uh.. no thanks? lol

@darrellcdow agree, but the *real* birthday is the one with blood and screaming. The cake and party hat ones are fake.. it's strange.

no, no, it's not my birthday. Yet. You know what's weird? Being at a baby's birth and realizing, "this is his birthday". I don't know why.

"You say it's your birthday? It's my birthday too, yeah!" http://img.moronail.net/img/2/3/323.jpg

rt @betsyphd Oh, Bazooka Joe....you're an imbecile! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJDUchUzURE

thanks @darmine for the backup of codinghorror.com ; I've donated $100 to Gentoo per your request as thanks! :)

ever wonder where the term "bazooka" came from? check the Encyclopedia of Arkansas.. http://is.gd/5oKGY

r @jmarkhus the mechanical bits on a server are the most likely to fail by far: #1 hard drives, #2 power supplies

when sweets are involved, the language and culture is universal: NOM NOM NOM

I know it's not actually Romanian.. I can pass (most of) the McDonald's Language Test! http://is.gd/5ogfT

the first spam mail, ever, that I've actually wanted to click on: Romanian Sweets! mmmmmm. http://is.gd/5ofMo

the only Knock Knock joke you'll ever need. http://is.gd/5o8he

rt @garry_stewart was the @codinghorror 'fan' with full backup Catto? "Hey now Jeff, here is full backup and pictures of you in the shower"

wow, *that* was fast. Full archive of codinghorror.com provided by a fan. Step 1 of digital music distribution success: Be Radiohead.

"What IS your fascination with my forbidden closet of mysteries?" http://is.gd/5nWvz

lol @rexm "Did anyone seriously ever think facebook was not evil? Facebook will stab your grandma in the eye for a quarter"

rt @anildash You know, it's a shame The KLF never did a holiday album. (indeed http://is.gd/5nVj5)

You only need one privacy setting: public by default. That wins, and will always win, because it's so simple.

I realized a long time ago that highly granular permissions schemes *always* fail due to excessive complexity. Facebook hasn't.. yet.

I just wrote a blog post by editing text files. And.. and.. I kinda liked it. I think I am sick in the head.

International Backup Awareness Day http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001315.html

Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue http://is.gd/5nBiC

praise the lord and pass the ammo! Google finally offers a URL shortener! http://goo.gl/l6MS

rt @betsyphd F**k you, Popular Mechanics. http://twitpic.com/tj060

Listen up, interwebs: *nobody* makes fun of Jeff Atwood more than Jeff Atwood! Consider yourselves warned. Epic post incoming