Topics on my particular interests.
OMG, mind control rays… from the SUN! 😉 Okay, not really. At worst, the solar storms only added some additional impetus, the basic reasons for both the riots and the market fluctuations were already there. But I find it very interesting that research has linked solar storms to pessimism and depression. Our local star may …
Continue reading ‘“Riots, wild markets: Did space storms drive us mad?”’ »
This, my friends, is what happens when you try to design something securely without talking to security experts. I’m surprised that the manufacturer of the radios involved hasn’t sued the security researchers to keep them silent, in the belief that if the researchers don’t tell anybody about the problems, they effectively don’t exist (known derisively …
Continue reading ‘“Security flaw found in feds’ digital radios”’ »
GoddessJ and I went to see Cowboys and Aliens a couple days ago. I have to say, it’s the best movie I’ve ever seen in the western-slash-science-fiction category. Of course, as GoddessJ puts it, that’s like being able to claim the title of best bullfighter in Alaska. 😉 Seriously though, it’s a pretty good SF …
Continue reading ‘From the You’ve-Gotta-Be-Kidding-Me Department…’ »
Because in fifty generations, our descendants will really be interested in our everlasting backup copies of Doom and Master of Orion II. 😉
GoddessJ and I enjoy watching Mystery Science Theater 3000, a series that shows old movies while three hecklers toss in humorous comments. We’ve got quite a few episodes on DVD. But the thing that got GoddessJ interested was when I convinced her to watch Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie, which mocked a classic 1950s …
Before I sold it, Project Badger was ugly. Almost painfully ugly. It wasn’t a deliberate decision — I’d have made it pretty if I’d had the time — but our customers wanted what it did, not how it looked. When BigCo bought it, the first thing they did was slap a new name on it …
Continue reading ‘“In Defense of Hard: When Easier Isn’t Better”’ »
One family I know (whose identity will not be mentioned to protect the guilty as well as myself) is well-known for their knock-down, drag-out, no-holds-barred battles. When they get into arguments, their opponents are called every name in the book and accused of the most heinous crimes against humanity, whether the names or accusations make …
Those of you who care about such things might have heard that Apple recently released a new version of it’s desktop OS, 10.7, code-named Lion. It was inevitable that I would upgrade my current system (a mid-2009 model MacBook Pro) eventually, but I wanted to put it off for a while. I’ve talked before about …
I’ve been reading e-books since about 2001, first on my several Palm machines, and more recently on my iPod Touch. I appreciate their compactness (GoddessJ and I already have to devote an entire spare bedroom to our library), the fact they don’t wear out, that I can read them in the dark, and that (depending …
Continue reading ‘“Amazon heralds unstoppable rise of the e-book”’ »
I was rather surprised at this assertion, at first. Then I thought about it… there are only about 95 printable characters in the basic seven-bit ASCII character set. A very conservative estimate puts the number of distinct English words at well over 65,000, most of which are many letters long. If you knew that someone’s …