Lifehacker had a recent post on how to set your Ubuntu desktop background to a rendered picture of the earth, complete with accurate weather and sunlight. The lifehacker method involves downloading a new, fully-rendered image every four hours. This method is less than optimal. You can generate the same image yourself, using the same data, and update it continuously. Let me lay out how you should be automatically updating your Ubuntu background with an image of the earth, complete with accurate clouds.

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For the past couple of days, I've been pondering how companies go about hiring engineers. I then saw a criticism of the interview brainteaser. I've found a single brainteaser question to be incredibly valuable at getting inside someones head, and I needed to lay out my thoughts.

I understand the contention that the brainteaser problem as a test of intellect is poor. I'm sad to report that I tend to do well with brain teasers because I've heard most of the answers before. The ones I haven't heard tend to be variations on an already-familiar theme.

Still, in the hundreds of hiring interviews I've done, I've always found myself asking a riddle. I ask the person I'm interviewing to talk through their thinking out loud, and I will give them hints and guidance towards the solution. What's the point, then?

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