Category Archives: Uncategorized

The annoyances of laptops

April 16, 2011 – 2:44 pm

On a mailing list I’m on, someone recently asked for a recommendation for a new laptop, based on some requirements. I didn’t have any good input to give, but it made me realize that there are a number of things about laptops that annoy me: Vents on the bottom. And getting hot on the bottom [...]

By Michael Magin | Comments (0)

Interesting reading

March 3, 2011 – 8:28 pm

As a substitute for acutal content, here are some links I enjoyed: Shaking Down Science: Why do IEEE and ACM act against the interests of scholars? Redis Manifesto The Dekopon arrives in California A literary appreciation of the Olson/Zoneinfo/tz database The Value Of Being Aloof: Or, How Not To Get Absorbed In Someone Else’s Abdomen [...]

By Michael Magin | Comments (0)

Kindle: ridiculous DRM

February 24, 2011 – 8:22 pm

I’ve really wanted to like the Kindle, I’ve bought twenty-three books in that format from Amazon, and I’ve read them on the Kindle, the Kindle app for iPhone and the Kindle app for Mac OS X. But, it has two horrible annoyances for me. There is a lending feature, but with the vast majority of [...]

By Michael Magin | Comments (0)

Facebook, the Borg, and Utopias

January 26, 2011 – 10:03 pm

I’m in the middle of rereading How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World and I just watched moot’s TED talk, and it puts in my mind some of the tradeoffs of the world we seem to be building with the Internet. Facebook and related social networking media have brought us closer to a Borg [...]

By Michael Magin | Comments (1)

Hello 2011

January 23, 2011 – 5:27 pm

Accomplishments of 2010: got married started doing some woodcarving got back into ham radio Got down to the lowest weight since I was 18 enjoyed my job Some goals for this year: Exercise more, both weightlifting to build some muscle, and some running so I’m a bit less stressed Eat more protein and fat Be [...]

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