The Null Device
2002/9/15
I went to the Empress tonight, to see a few bands. I only saw The Steinbecks' last two or so songs, but they seemed quite good, in a Sarah Records-esque jangle-pop sort of way. Lacto-Ovo played mostly new material, and sounded rather early-80s (as they do); in one of their songs, the guitar was somewhat reminiscent of The Cure circa A Forest. With any luck they'll have a new EP out sometime soon.
Psyco, a just-in-time compiler for Python. Unlike most JIT compilers, it's a specializing compiler, meaning that it makes several versions of each function, optimised for different data sets. The author claims it can accelerate Python algorithmic code to C-like levels of speed, obviating the need to write C modules. (via NtK)
A look at Burma's burgeoning rock scene, where bands with metal-sounding names like Iron Cross and Emperor perform Beatles covers and country & western numbers. Isolated totalitarian states sure are weird places.