The diamond invention—the creation of the idea that diamonds are rare and valuable, and are essential signs of esteem—is a relatively recent development in the history of the diamond trade.

The Open Virtualization Format Toolkit provides a set of Eclipse plug-ins, as well as a standard Java API to help you create virtual appliance packages in the new standards-based format, the Open Virtualization Format.

My favorite cranky person, The Angry Economist, weighs in on The Failout. His premise is

The problem here is simple: credit is scarce because nobody wants to lend and nobody wants to buy. Why not? Because the Federal Government is threatening to borrow and spend a TRILLION DOLLARS.

Not that the billions of losses are causing CEOs to lower the year-end bonuses they give out. They are giving out 20 billion dollars of bonuses this year, something Obama rightly calls shameful.

There's a lot of blame to go around. But, when we were shoveling out TARP money, wouldn't it have been nice to put in some provisions to something out of these knuckleheads? The folks with bad mortgages paid when their houses were foreclosed. I'm paying my part of the $700 billion, and I'm still waiting for my pound of flesh out of the bankers.

There is a Facebook thing going around, called 25 Things About me. It's supposed to work like this:

Once you've been tagged you are suppossed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you(-or they're just really nosy) (To do this, go to "notes" under the tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) Then click publish.

1. I met my wife playing flag football at Penn State. Our team mascot was a stuffed duck named Oscar.
2. Though Oscar the Duck was a major draw, what really got Elise and I started was the homemade Chocolate Revel Bars I brought to each game, given to me by my grandmother.
3. I drive the hypothetical bus for the Philadelphia chapter of the Donovan McNabb fan club. Rob Szewczyk is my copilot. The bus is usually otherwise empty. I locked the doors to the bus at the beginning of the season, and people begged to get on once the playoff run began.
4. I have run a marathon. I have finished last.
5. I am filling this list with links to my personal blog.
6. I enjoy writing enough to put two or three things into each of these items.
7. I have taught my dog Scout to do the following: walk on the treadmill, give me a High 10, shake with "left" or "right" paw on command.
8. I have, with Elise, invented voices and personalities for our three dogs. Scout is a well-meaning dope, Hank is a 4000 year old evil genius, Max is eternally grateful to be adopted.
9. I am an optimist in almost everything I do. Halo 3 is an obvious exception.
10. Google Reader is a two hour daily addiction for me. I could give up TV but never blogs. I usually have 40-50 blogs I read including 5-10 web comics.
11. My favorite blog is Marginal Revolution. I'm also partial to Deadspin, The Angry Economist, and xkcd.
12. My favorite author is Gregg Easterbrook. I got to know him through Tuesday Morning Quarterback (TMQ) articles at ESPN.com. His books are also great: The Progess Paradox, Beside Still Waters, and A Moment On The Earth rank among my favorites.
13. My favorite podcasts are Seven Second Delay and Real Time with Bill Maher. Podcasts are my preferred way to pass the time on long car rides.
14. I believe DVR is the greatest thing that has ever happened to TV. Though the consumption model is the same as Google Reader I am much better about ignoring things in the DVR queue.
15. I buy whatever I can from Amazon.com. I signed up for their affiliate program in an attempt to pay for my web hosting.
16. I do tech support for any family members who ask. My preferred rate is one hug. Tough jobs are sometimes worth two.
17. I understand why people play Guitar Hero. Guitar Hero is great.
18. I play for and manage two soccer teams at IBM. I play every one of the positions during the season. I write about most games.
19. I play for a softball team at IBM called Grandpas Gone Wild. I write about that too.
20. I believe in the power of Agile software development. I believe this power extends to other things, including Christmas lights.
21. I write up my favorite classic memories on my blog for posterity and for practicing storytelling. I need to write more of these.
22. I sing improvisational songs for Elise and friends, as seen on Whose Line Is It Anyway?
23. I don't do most Facebook things, like sending pokes or 'We Are!' waves, as some sort of personal principle.
24. I do allow the fine folks at Kongregate to post to my Facebook page, because their games site is both free and fantastic.
25. I wrote this post in Notepad, including the HTML 'ol' and 'li' tags for the list items and the 'blockquote' at the top. Using blog software I personally wrote, I copied and pasted the entire thing to my blog upload form. I have an handwritten automated process that builds the RSS feed for my blog. I set up another automated process at Facebook which imports that RSS feed from my website into Facebook Notes, and that is probably how you are reading this. I described that process partially to explain more about who I am and partially to impress you.