Lisp people! Give it up already!

We already took all your good ideas. Now get back in the closet! I admit a slight fascination with the language though, perhaps more so because the people who use it tend to love it but have problems relating why to outsiders. What is so good about it?!? This all comes up because of an article posted on slashdot today about a new book called Practical Common Lisp. This book, like everybody that you run into under the Lisp flag, wants so badly to convey that Lisp isn't "dead" and that it can be used for "real world" applications, not just academia. It's structure is fascinating, it's simplicity a thing of beauty, and it's certainly a primary source for many modern language features but please show me TWO mainstream applications (be it on the web, standalone, or otherwise) that are built in Lisp alone? I say two because if you're a Lisper, the first thing out of your mouth is going to be "the Yahoo stores". What common user app is written user app is written *in* Lisp? And Emacs is NOT a common user app. Microsoft Word is. I'm not trying to say that all languages must be mainstream app builders but maybe Lisps place really is in academic and scientific circles. So why try and convince us otherwise?

My first experience with it in college was smothered in "...but you can use it to make real world apps too!", then we'd iterate over a couple of lists to match up cities with their latitudes and longitudes or something of a similar nature.
The syntax was obtuse and the organization seemed to run orthogonal to all the object-oriented techniques that were shoved in our heads. The promise of the "real world" app never came to fruition. In fact, we only skimmed the surface of file I/O. Kind of important for real world apps! But I'm gonna keep reading. Want to see how that LISP mp3 database/browser app works out. At least this book is up to date and the author isn't totally off the deep end. Hopefully it will change my mind.

Samples from the El Greco Est Grand! Collection at the Musee D'Orsay, Paris. This lesser known work from 1601 is entitled El Contable Y El Líder Del Anillo. It is unusual in that, while it is considered one piece of art, the images were painted on two separate canvases.

In an effort to promote a safe and responsible digital world...

Be sure to light a candle for World Intellectual Property Day. This sounds like something from a very creepy corporate future.

Stomach Says,

"What is this? A burrito?! Perhaps I did not make myself clear. Bow to your sensei. Bow to your sensei!"

There is a battle being waged in my stomach. A gastrointestinal civil war that can have no victor.

A tiny version of a global threat.

Ghost Town

In a city that hibernates every Sunday and Monday, it's hard to find a good restuarant with reasonable hours so I usually end up at an oasis called The Boll Weevil. Shortly before I arrived, the motor in the grill hood went out, thus disabling preparation of all non-sandwich or dessert meals. So people had to be turned away. Most of these people were either not locals (and by that I mean foreigners from Columbia county or farther) and so had no idea where else to go. Sadly, there is nowhere else to go. This place is abandoned until Tuesday.

Two women from Indiana struck up a conversation with the lady that runs the Weevil. As with all the others, aspects of the city came up with the caption "What IS there to do here?!?". Well, Lance Armstrong announced his retirement here just a few days ago. That's an "historical event". Right. That's a Trivial Pursuit question people 30 years from now won't know the answer to. More precisely, Lance Armstrong is the question, not the answer:

"In what city did Lance Armstrong formally announce his retirement from cycling?"
"Oh geez, I know I know this one... give me a second."

The other two recent events worth note concerned the two criminals who travelled here from elsewhere and were caught. Not the type of business you want to attract and not the type of story that will bring people here!

It's a chicken and egg problem. The businesses almost conspire to not be open on Sunday and Monday. The clear majority of them aren't. People who would come down here to eat or go to the galleries don't because they know this. The waitress and I discussed it for awhile. She said it's very German, having spent a week in Germany once, where all shops close early and stay closed, I guess, until Tuesday. "Except in the Americano section". So not only is the city second-rate, we're also third world. My apologies to Europe but you're completely outclassed by American culture, and yes, I know that sounds French, but in our case it's true. So when are businesses around here going to stop being chicken and start being egg? Starbucks, we need you now more than ever!