Category: family fun

the new book club

Book Club: Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace:

Freedom to Tinker is hosting an online book club discussion of Lawrence Lessig’s book Code, and Other Laws of Cyberspace. Lessig has created a wiki (an online collaborative space) with the text of the book, and he is encouraging everyone to edit the wiki to help create a new edition of the book.

You can buy a paper version of the book from Amazon or read it online for free.

We’ll read one or two chapters each week, and we’ll discuss what we read on the main Freedom to Tinker blog.

A discussion worth following.
Now Playing: Back On The Street from the album “Beckology (Disc 3)” by Jeff Beck | Get it

[composed and posted with ecto]

innovation?

Microsoft Notebook: The end of ‘my’ is nigh:

Those folders on your Windows desktop will still be yours — but in the future you’ll need to figure that out on your own.

Ending a longstanding tradition, Microsoft Corp. plans to stop using the word “my” as the default prefix for such folders as “My Documents,” “My Music,” “My Pictures” and others along those lines. Starting in the next Windows version, due out next year, folders will be known simply as “Documents,” “Music,” and so on.

Like this?
Imitation

What’s the old saw about the sincerest form of flattery?

[composed and posted with ecto]

another MovableType refugee

On a New Server:

This site is on the new server now, using WordPress. Please let me know, in the comments, if you see any problems.

I get the sense that the last people using MT will be people developing for it, as if that was the point of a publishing platform.

Do I have an axe to grind with MovableType/6Apart? No, I don’t: I would never have played with this whole weblogging thing if it hadn’t been for MT. It was easy to set up and use: what else can a beginner ask for? But over time, it became obvious that it wasn’t going to work over the long term. I won’t rehash the problems I ran into (they’re all archived here) but WordPress made them all go away. When I see sites like Crooked Timber and now Ed Felten moving to WP, I realize it wasn’t just me.

It really makes me wonder what happens when someone has the First Mover position and doesn’t move with the times. They neither want nor need my advice, I suppose: to take a spare-room coding project and sell a stake in it for $11 million (I don’t know where I saw this?), all the while building a business with a monthly revenue stream (TypePad), suggests they know a few things I don’t. But even now, with MT 3.1.x out — one assumes the dust from 3.0 has settled — more and more thought leaders are moving away from MT.

As I say, they know something(s) I don’t but I still don’t get the wisdom of ceding marketshare when it would be so easy not to.

is there an Intel-based mini?

The shop where I perform something like gainful employment needed a Mac for usability testing so they got a mini. The tech guy there is a big fan of white box PCs, and considers Apple hardware too expensive — first thing out of his mouth. Oh, like many, he’ll say good things about the user experience, the quiet fans, and well-designed components, but doesn’t consider that worth paying for.

So I wondered if there was a similar system to a mini, all the same ports and accessories, same form factor, and same or better price. Intel floated a concept system that got a lot of press, but I don’t see a mass-produced system that matches those specs.

Is there such a thing? And if not, how is “product A” too expensive if there is no “product B” to compare to it?

And this was an interesting comment:
Intel shows off concept for Mac mini knock-off – Engadget – www.engadget.com.:

If it wasn’t for companies like Apple, there would be NO innovation in the computing world. 
There’s a world of original ideas in the universe, but the PC world repeatedly chooses to steal Apple’s designs. 

The only reason there’s PC cases in colors other than beige is because Apple created the iMac. The only reason there’s a Windows “XP” is because there was a Mac OS “X”. The only reason you can import and organize music with Windows Media Player is because Apple created iTunes. The only reason there’s a Windows Movie Maker is because Apple created iMovie. The only reason there’s slim lightweight Pentium M class laptops is because Apple created the PowerBook. And now, the only reason Intel is floating this mini PC is because Apple created the Mac mini. 

Apple takes all the creative risks. Thank goodness for the innovations of companies like Apple, Google, and those Linux rebels. Or we’d all be using big beige boxes and Windows 95. (Heck! There wouldn’t even be a Windows 95 if it wasn’t for OS/2 and Geoworks!)

slicing the pie

File sharing benefits record companies.:

The CBC provides this interesting breakdown:Where does the money go when I buy a CD?

Oldway-1

Larry takes the position that with filesharing obviates the need for the costs associated with manufacturing, retailing, promotion, and marketing. I’m not sure that would hold up in reality, but it does point out how little the artists are “losing” with their share of the take at less than 1/8th.
Continue reading “slicing the pie”

best pancakes you’ve ever had

Herewith follows the culmination of much experimentation into how to make reliably excellent pancakes. With this recipe, you can achieve the same fluffy texture as any mix or restaurant can offer, in the comfort of your own kitchen.
1 1/2 cups milk, warmed to between room and blood temp (30 secs to a minute in the microwave will do it): add a tablespoon of vinegar. Let stand.
Combine:

  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 3 tbsp sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda

Add to the milk:

  • 2 beaten eggs
  • 2 tbsp melted butter

Add the wet ingredients to the dry, stirring until mixed but not smooth.Cook on a prepared[*] griddle in 1/2 cup increments.

* Prepared means heated to where a drop of water skips across the surface, rather than sitting to boil away or vaporizing on contact.

no substitute for horsepower

So my rendering on my ancient hardware has failed twice in iDVD: I am punting on it and just saving it all as a large CD-ROM quality QuickTime. Apparently the process was failing on encoding some audio I added, but I know at the same time the system had run out of swap: I suspect more than coincidence at work there.

Oh, well. The QuickTime is projected to take a mere 120 minutes: we’ll see if that proves to be the case.

Now playing: 5_1. Tempo molto moderato – Largamento – Allegro moderato by Sir Colin Davis & the Boston Symphony Orchestra from the album “Complete Sibelius Symphonies No 2, 5” | Get it (1)

infoglut

so we’re embroiled in this battle to convince the school board that they don’t understand our community and how closing the building will do more damage to the local business community, the neighbors, etc. than they understand.

We’re using all the tools at our disposal to make this happen: we’re using mailing lists, we have a Drupal community server, you name it.

Does 16 emails over a mailing list in 2 days seem like a lot? How about 139 in a month (granted 135 of those came in a 10 day span)?

For some reason, that’s considered just a helluvalot of email. People are already checking out and not reading it all. And this doesn’t count people with overly aggressive spam filters (I’m looking in your direction, MSN.com) who don’t see any of it and then wonder why they’re out of the loop.

For my part, I have been posting stuff on the drupal server, so people can go there when they have time or inclination, rather than bombard people with email. I will try to limit emails to once a day (or less), if possible.

Sadly, if I mention filters as a way of managing info glut, I get the blank stare. I wish filter syntax was portable, so that when someone joined a community or mailing list, they could install a filter automagically. I can see wanting to put stuff aside for later, but if it just sits in the inbox, it just sinks lower and lower and eventually falls off the bottom of the list.

<sigh>