Raymond Chen writes about a bug report someone made at Microsoft. The new single serving milk containers are hard to open.#

This is a particularly software-oriented joke, because it highlights how hard it is to make bugfixes in software - by applying the software testing regimen to something that isn't software. You can't assume that a simple, local change like adjusting the amount of glue applied to the carton will result in a simple, local change in the final product (a more acceptable seal strength). Software is nonlinear. A simple change can have effects (some catastrophic, some subtle) far, far away from the point of change.

Richard, at Just A Gwai Lo, writes aobut how Voters outnumber Taxpayers.#

There are problems with taxing the rich more than the poor, but just as democracy is the least worst political system we've invented, progressive taxation is the least worst tax system there is. We Western democracies tax the rich more is for the very simple reason that voters outnumber taxpayers. All you need to vote is simple citizenship, age and residency requirements, and in some jurisdictions, not being in a prison. (Canadian prisoners are allowed to vote, and laws vary from state-to-state in the U.S.) No property requirements, no income-level requirements. So, taking the number of students, retired, unemployed or those between jobs, and those whose income is not high enough to pay taxes, and add that to the people who pay taxes, by definition, that number is larger than taxpayers. Also the number of "poor" taxpayers outnumber "rich" ones.

Dienekes continues talking about hair colour...#

If we can prove that it is more difficult for a blonde to maintain dark hair than for a brunette to maintain light hair, then we will have essentially shown that women prefer lightening their hair, rather than darkening it, not because there is some biological urge to do so, but because it takes less effort.

When a women lightens her hair, then it will eventually look "bad", due to the fact that it's roots will become darker and the result will eventually look unnatural. This is also why women don't dye their hair a single color, but rather use various shades, to ensure that the result won't be spoiled very quickly as it grows.

The same is true when a women darkens her hair: it will eventually look bad. But, it will look bad in an even worse way, since its roots will become light and its edges will become dark. This is a combination that looks unnatural immediately, since it is not found in nature -unlike the dark roots/light edges combination.

Matt Moore reviews "Once Upon A Time in Mexico"...#

I went into this movie with high hopes. Sure, it's gotten decidedly mixed reviews, but lots of great movies do. Johnny Depp really raised the bar earlier this summer with his amazing performance in The Pirates of the Caribbean, and Antonio Banderas is always a crack action film star, and Salma Hayek, well, Salma Hayek is proof of a benevolent God, as James Lileks said.