The OS Wars Continue
As described previously, this topic is dedicated to the trials and tribulations of a long-time Windows geek who, under threat of Windows Vista, is slowly defecting to Linux.
Archive of posts filed under the Interests category.
Topics on my particular interests.
Despatches from the Great OS Wars…
…or: How I learned to stop Microsofting and love the Linux. You may have noticed that I haven’t been making as many entries recently as I did originally. Part of the reason is that I decided to do the geeky thing and try out Linux. I’ve used everything from DOS 2.11 (!) to Windows XP, …
The Bible May Be Classified An X-Rated Book
According to this humorous article, Hong Kong is considering doing just that. Interesting turnabout for Christian anti-porn agitators.
Technology-Induced Synaesthesia
Boing Boing has a fascinating entry on technology-induced synaesthesia today. Human vision, and visual interpretation of non-visual data, has always fascinated me. This goes one step further, because it mentions using this sort of thing to overcome physical sensory defects (such as inner-ear problems affecting balance).
“Will the feds phase out traditional lightbulbs?”
In a bid to save money on electrical bills, we’ve been switching all of the commonly-used lights in our house to compact florescent (CF) bulbs. We started about a year ago, and just finished yesterday, after I discovered a kind of 60W-equivalent CF bulb I hadn’t seen before that is no taller than a standard …
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Metric vs. Imperial
Great Britain has apparently decided not to switch over to the metric system, or at least not just yet, saying that it would be harder to sell things to the US if they did. As my friend Don tells it, there’s only one reason why the US isn’t solely using the metric system like almost …
“Manganese electrode could double lithium ion battery capacity”
I love laptop computers. My first x86-compatible system, way back in the dim recesses of time, was a 4.77MHz portable from Radio Shack with two 720K 3.5″ floppy drives and a sixteen-grayscale CGA LCD monitor that flickered very visibly. The battery, a huge nickel-cadmium brick that made up a good portion of both the size …
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Can Humans Live Without Fighting?
I saw an interesting article on Boing Boing a little while back, about human violence today and across history. “A deep look at the history of violence seems to reveal that modern culture may be making us less violent over time, not more.” That matches the impression that I’ve gotten from my history readings too, …
“Hot rice, just add cold water”
One of those little technologies (mentioned in SF novels in passing) that has always fascinated me is self-cooking foods, or food packaging that automatically cooks the food it contains when it’s opened. That’s why I was delighted to see this story on Boing Boing just now. Geek heaven! Now, if they can just do the …
Help the Poor Please, Sir?
We had a pair of unusual visitors this morning. Older men, dressed in three-piece summer-weight suits, one gray, one brown. I can usually classify unexpected visitors within a second of opening the door, but these fellows didn’t match any group I’d seen before. One of them remained silent the entire time, standing a little ways …