Joshua Lehrer's Homepage

My homepage was lost in a server crash, until I get things restored, things will be very bare here.

I went to Brown University class of 1996. While there, I was a member of Zeta Delta Xi

I work for FactSet Research Systems, NYSE:FDS.

You can read my blog here.

Click here to obtain my email address

Programming

I am a C++ expert with 10+ years doing C++ development.
I am a frequent contributor to the usenet groups comp.std.c++ and comp.lang.c++.moderated.
My latest project was improvements to Andrei Alexandrescu's ScopeGuard.

My brother is a Mohs surgeon in the Philadelphia suburbs, on the Main Line. If you've got something funky on your face, it may be skin cancer. If you live near Wynnewood, Exton, or Plymouth Meeting Pennsylvania, you should contact him. Oh, and if you are buying suntan lotion, look for products with Helioplex in them (Neutrogena only). Otherwise, make sure it contains either 3% avobenzone (Parsol), zinc, or titanium.

My uncle owns Max Formal Company, "America's No.1 Name for Linens" My grandparents started the store in 1953. Based in Providence, RI, the store sells wholesale brand name linens to department stores, hotels, motels, nursing homes, clubs, and more. If you need Fieldcrest, Cannon, Wamsutta, Springs, Martex, or Dan River linens for your institution, contact them for the best prices around.

My best friend Shari sells a collection of creative children's apparel and gifts. Please visit her website nearlynaptime.com

Photos

Family

My Niece, Talia Lauren Lehrer on her second birthday.
A movie showing the evolution of The Beach House

SCUBA Diving

Thanksgiving, 2005, my brother, father and I went Scuba Diving in Bonaire, in the Netherland Antilles. We stayed at Captain Don's Habitat, which I highly recommend. Bonaire is famous for its shore diving - there is a very healthy reef ~50 yards from the shore line. While some boat trips to Klein Bonaire are nice, most diving is done by simply wading out from the shore. In fact, thanks to Captain Don's unlimited shore diving, and the ease of entry at the resort, we rarely left the house reef.

Some of our photos from this trip are fantastic. We had a SeaLife DC500, a 5 megapixel underwater autofocus digital camera with external flash. Of the 800 or so pictures we took, about 100 were keepers. I have posted the "best" 15 here.

Racing

For my belated-30th birthday my brother brought me to The Bertil Roos Racing School for a half day course in driving a race car. We drove Formula 2000 racecars (150bhp, 0-60 in 4.2, 130mph top) around the North Circuit at Pocono Raceway. Here are a few photos from that day, courtesy of Mark Adler.

Fish Tank

My brother just built a huge fish tank in his new house. It's a 300+ gallon, 9 foot long custom tank upstairs. All of the filtration is handled downstairs. In the photos you can see the 100+ gallon sump, a pair of 150 gallon storage drums, a UV sterilizer, protein skimmer, chiller(s), reverse-osmosis water cleaner, and bio-ball tower.

Phillies

The Phillies won The World Series! While the parade was a full block away from my condo, check out the overflow crowd outside my window!

Work

The company I have worked for since 1996, FactSet Research Systems, hosted an engineering conference in May of 2006. At this conference I had the chance to again meet Dan Bricklin. Dan is a pioneer in the computer world, having written VisiCalc, the first PC Spreadsheet (think Excel, 1979). Dan's mother was my science teacher in high-school at Akiba Hebrew Academy. Here is a picture of Dan Bricklin (middle), myself (right), and my coworker Mike Weiner at that conference.

Family/Friends

My cousins own a chain of sunglass stores called Sunglass Menagerie. The stores are located around the Southern Jersey beach communities. Thank you, Peter and Bruce, for all of the sunglasses you have given me over the years.

These same cousins also own a rental resort home on Tortola, in the British Virgin Islands. Their two bedroom, three bath, six shower house, called Tortoladventure, easily sleeps 6. It is on Little Zion Hill overlooking Apple/Cappoons Bay and the Bomba Shack! You get there by either flying directly to Tortola, Beef Island Airport, or flying into St. Thomas, U.S.V.I., and taking the ferry over. Here are photos of this beautiful rental home. Call Bruce at (609) 709-7714 or email sgmsun@aol.com for more information.

Another family member is a safety certified professional chauffeur on The Main Line in the suburbs of Phildelphia. Contact IWillDriveU.com if you want someone to drive you from Merion, Ardmore, Bryn Mawr, Gladwyne, Haverford, or anywhere in or around the Philadelphia / Lehigh Valley area. IWillDriveU.com will drive you, in the comfort and convenience of your own car, to all area airports (PHL, LGA, JFK, ...), NYC night clubs, on shopping trips, or just site seeing. Long distance travel (e.g. Florida, Las Vegas) is also available.

Books

Made a Difference for That One: A Surgeon's Letters Home from Iraq by Meredith and Chris Coppola. Chris's compilation of letters home about being a doctor in the midst of the Iraq war. Chris is a fraternity brother of mine.
Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences by John Allen Paulos. If you liked Freakonomics you'll love this book. How much gold is in the world? How accurate are weathermen? Another book along these lines is Never Shower in a Thunderstorm. This book looks at old wives tales and investigates their accuracy. This book is significantly less scientific than Myth Busters and gives the same answer for almost every question, "maybe yes, maybe no, the research is ongoing but it can't hurt to try, here's a joke.
Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions by Ben Mezrich. The now well known true story of card counters beating the Vegas casinos at blackjack. This same author wrote Ugly Amerians: The True Story of the Ivy League Cowboys Who Raided the Asian Markets for Millions. BDTH was much better. Nothing really happens in Ugly Americans.
Liar's Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street is similar to Ugly Americans, above. I really don't like Michael Lewis's writing style at all. However, the story of a new trainee at Salomon Brothers in the 80's is interesting enough to overcome the bad writing.
The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage by Clifford Stoll. One of the earliest books on the subject, this is the true story of a scientist whose investigation of a $0.75 accounting error netted a major foreign computer crime syndicate. This book is pre-internet boom, taking place back when nobody knew what the internet was. Fascinating, especially when you keep in mind the time period and the lack of sophisticated hardware.

Here is a map of all of the countries I have visited:

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