Archive Journal Entry 20030130

Most people have seen the ads for Apple’s switch campaign. Where here’s one for Canada.

I’ve also found some really fabulous Java style guides: “A Programming Style Guide for Java” by Paul Haahr and “Java Programming Style Guidelines” by Geotechnical Software Services. Here’s a good web usability guide.

Here’s a little guide to my name. Depending on if you ask my father or my mother, my first name comes from a different place. Mishkin – as a Farsi (Persian) word, it means “Jet Black” or “Musk Scented”. My first name comes from Mishkin Qalam a 19th century calligrapher who became a follower of Baha’u’llah. My father dreamed that I should be named after Mishkin Qalam while he was on pilgrimage at the Baha’i World Center. Mishkin also refers to “Prince Mishkin” in “The Idiot” by Dostoyevsky. My mother loves the book and the character. Ben-Garry can be thought of two ways as well: “ben” is like “ibn” or “son-of” so that I am the son of Garry, or, “Ben” is the name of my dad’s dad so that “Ben-Garry” describes my lineage. Vyordan is the name of one of my ancestors on my mom’s side, but I don’t remember who exactly. Berteig is Norwegian and means “bear-mother”.

I have always loved my name. I like that it is long. I like that it has meaning but isn’t pretentious. I like that it ties me to my family. I like that it has a bit of a story to it.

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