Year: 2007
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Monday grabbag
After fighting allergies during the last two beautiful days in San Francisco, it’s time to clean out the inbox from the last few weeks. The Daily Mail reminds us all of Worldmapper, which tries to use maps to tell different truths. All maps distort reality. These maps do it deliberately, which makes them more honest…
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Movie: Zodiac
We went to see Zodiac earlier in the week, and I’m mildly glad we did. Though the saga went on for years, all the killing and concern was before our time here in San Francisco. So, if nothing else, we got to see a digitally-re-created Embarcadero Freeway, the time-lapse construction of the Transamerica Building, and…
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Book: Market Forces
Richard K. Morgan‘s third book, Market Forces, steps away from the world of Takeshi Kovacs (Altered Carbon and Broken Angels). Like much notable fiction, Morgan spun a good story here out of a single exploratory thread: what happens to corporate politics in a world which is a state of managed disintegration? Morgan’s answer? Sanctioned violence,…
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Book: Artful Making
I forget where I came across Artful Making: What Managers Need to Know About How Artists Work, by Rob Austin and Lee Devin. But something about the description led me to put it on my wish list, which led to getting the book for Christmas. (Thanks, Alexis.) The book uses analogies to how theater companies…
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Nice to see an empty Tank now and again
I just spent 20+ minutes voting on submissions at PhishTank, and I got to the end. Meaning, I voted on all the currently online, unverified submissions. In case you’ve haven’t reached this (temporary) nirvana, feast your eyes. Click the thumbnail for a larger version.
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Intelligence gives way to wisdom
Paul Graham has another essay posted: “Is It Worth Being Wise?” The path to wisdom is through discipline, and the path to intelligence through carefully selected self-indulgence. When I was competing as an athlete over a decade ago, I was pursuing “intelligence,” in Graham’s definiton of being able to do very few things exceptionally well.…
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Explaining OpenDNS for television
On Tuesday afternoon, KPIX, the local San Francisco/Bay Area CBS affiliate ran a ConsumerWatch segment called “Faster Internet For Free?” They didn’t need the question mark, because this was about OpenDNS. (Yes, I’m biased.) It was a good description of DNS, which isn’t easy for a non-technical audience. Kudos to Allison for convincing the CBS…
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New printer is a Brother
I mentioned the previous printer’s untimely failure. It’s been replaced. Did some research online, but the real part of the process was seeing what Office Max had in stock, then coming home and doing some research, and then blitzing into the store to make the pick. I wanted the Brother HL 2040, but the only…
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Movie: Wordplay
Unlike several family members, I no longer do the New York Times crossword puzzle on a regular basis. But I’ve been an intermittent member of the cruciverbalist cult, so Wordplay was a must-see. (Albeit on DVD.) And it is a great movie. Will Shortz is the focal point of the film, since his life-long focus…
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Time for a new printer
For some unknown reason, our HP LaserJet 1200 died last night. Frustrating, and unexpected. Any recommendations? Specs needed are: black and white laser output, reasonable footprint, and possibly scanning/faxing. Would be great to free up the shelf which holds the rarely used fax machine. I’ll do some research, starting at CNET, but I really don’t…