You know what the funniest thing about Europe is? If you ask for a gin and tonic, you get a little bit of gin poured over a lot of crushed ice, and a small bottle of tonic water. You get the right proportion of gin-to-tonic exactly one moment; from then on, you’re drinking gin-flavored watered […]
I learned to program on a CDC-1604, then a CDC-6400 (but those were punched cards), then a TI-990 (no memories of that editor). Then at my first real job, there was a PDP-11/34 which later turned into a VAX-11/780. So I learned to hack in EDT, followed by TPU, and they are deep in my […]
It’s called under-the-gun in THE. When you’re first bet after the dealer, and you have to act first. Ginsburg should retire tomorrow. She’s 83 and has had two different cancers. The GOP might be able to stall for a year on replacing Scalia. But they couldn’t stall if two justices need to be replaced. Do […]
You can either complain about Error 53 if someone-not-Apple replaces part of the Secure Enclave of your iPhone, or you can complain about the FBI having a backdoor into your iPhone (and by extension, the Russian Mafia – because if the FBI can do it, so can anyone else of moderate technical skills. The FBI […]
Daily software update reminders. Both iOS and OS X. OS X: I like iPhoto and Aperture and I don’t want to update and lose them. iOS: I am often traveling and I’m not going to update the software with any chance of bricking my phone and/or iPad until I get home. Just. Not. Gonna. Happen. […]
I would love to be a more involved voter. I live in one of the biggest cities in the world, in one of the richest, most populous, and educated regions on earth – one of the most influential has ever existed on earth in the history of homo sapiens sapiens. And it will all be […]
How is it that a rock stock bog-standard Toyota Tundra has been smart enough to shut the headlights off automatically when you turn the engine off since 1999, but the Ford Focus Hertz rented me in 2015 still isn’t quite that bright? Nice enough car, but still it’s a reminder of how crappy American cars […]
I don’t really have healthcare, not outside the US. Not for anything short of life-threatening. My employer has been steadily decreasing options, and increasing prices for several years, so after paying the $$$ in order to stay out of an HMO, in the end that’s the choice I’m left with [1]. I’m back in the […]
Symantec taking up 219.7% of my work computer (octocore MBP) to examine a backup disk. Yay, ***IT! Also testing to make sure the fans still work, I suppose. They do.
Yep, that’s right. 1.10 GB available, 8 MB required. 1.1 GB is more than 100 times as much as 8 MB. The status bar tells me that there is 4.4 GB free. Sigh…
Tagged appleParis. Either time. Nor any of the others. Too busy monitoring everyone’s GPS and email in the US, I suppose. Including the senators who are supposed to have oversight. Shut down the NSA. Salt the earth in Langley. Nothing good will ever grow from that ground.
I’m remarkably tolerant of the usual behavior in the gym that bugs other people. I don’t care if you grunt, scream, holler, breathe loud, drip sweat, or drop your weights. I like to see people try hard. It’s inspiring. I’ll do another set if I see someone gettin’ after it. I get motivated. I don’t […]
Warning: spoiler. Matt Damon doesn’t die. My small contribution to the scientific errors of The Martian that took me out of the movie: duct tape just doesn’t work in those temps. Unless there’s some special NASA-grade low temperature duct tape that isn’t available in the 171 stockroom [1]. There is tape that’s good to -4 […]
The cops found two people [1] to say that it was okay to kill a 12 year old boy carrying a toy gun at a park in a state with legal open carry, two seconds after arriving on the scene. If you think that’s okay, maybe you shouldn’t be a cop. It’s not okay. It […]
Yet more proof that the slow-rolling Internet breakage caused by the NSA’s illegal activities continues. Was it worth it? Total up the damage to the hardware companies, from organizations that will no longer by Cisco routers or American airliners, or use Google or Amazon web services, to cloud companies that are going to have to […]