The coolest programming dealie so like my own thoughts ever. Check out this guy’s site. It’s damn incredible … well, if you’re a total geek. Fine.

The Fishbowl
– frassle
Cargo Cult Programming

During World War Two, a number of Pacific islands that had previously been left undisturbed by civilisation found themselves home to military bases. These bases had airstrips on which landed planes full of clothing, food, and all the other things you need to run an outpost.

After the war, the bases were vacated and dismantled, leaving behind a lot of bemused islanders. When the strange people were around doing strange things, food fell from the sky. When they left, it stopped.

So some islanders began to mimic the activities of the soldiers who had left. They sat in towers, carved new equipment out of wood, lit signal fires, and waited for the food to fall again. Anthropologists dubbed these religious activities