The Don turns 70 today!

Don Knuth, the don of the world of computers, mathematics and logic, has turned 70 today.
He has been my hero ever since I read the first few pages of his outstanding work "The Art Of Computer Programming". That was when I was 21 years old, and although I understood only 20% of that book, I was very impressed by his writing style, depth and humor (the only other author whose technical books I love for the same qualities is Andrew Tanenbaum).

Nowadays Don seldom gives a public appearance, so I was pleasantly shocked when I saw him ask questions in a talk given by the creator of xkcd comics (see this strip to understand his question).

More about him on his birthday :
Coding Horror Blog
Recursed Blog

Bill Gates' last day at office : his video mocking himself !

Bill Gates won everybody's hearts at the CES show where he showed a video of his last day at Microsoft, which has ample references mocking himself and others involved.

It starts off with him trying for a new job. After his unsuccessful attempts at building muscles and singing, he tries his hand on guitar. He calls Bono and samples his tune, but Bono seems to be not interested.

He then tries to become an actor. Spielberg thinks that it acting is something "money cannot buy". George Clooney puts down the offer of playing Bill in a movie. He suggests approaching Russel Crowe or Tom Hanks.

Persevering Bill then calls Jon Stewart (from whose show Bill had walked out for humiliating him) for a post of co-anchor. After the host of the Daily Show politely declines by saying he is on a jet and is going to switch off his phone, Bill tries his hand in politics!

He tries to be a running mate for Hillary Clinton, who seems not to need one. Obama fails to recognize his voice, and Al Gore says that though its not an "inconvenient time to call me", he cannot partner with Bill.

On whole, an entertaining watch of how the richest man on earth takes himself so lightly.