Software, Simplicity, Sustainability, Stuff
Almost a year ago, I decided to give blogging a try. I thoroughly enjoyed researching and writing my posts (I put a lot of effort into them), but seeing how little traction my writings got was usually disappointing. My best-appreciated blog post was very short; I suspect that was part of its appeal. What I consider to be my best post was very niche, so I understand why it didn't get many upvotes.…
Introduction Our back garden ends at a fence that is covered in Hedera (commonly referred to as ivy ). If you know anything about gardening, you already know this plant grows quickly and relentlessly. It wraps itself around anything it can reach, and it practically glues itself to any surface. Behind our garden, on public property, are some beautiful, tall trees, some of which are completely…
A while ago, a video showing the ("deadly stunning," as the video calls them) partners of Formula 1 drivers showed up in my YouTube Shorts feed. As I often do, I watched the video and checked out the comment section sorted by "Newest". I don't mean to brag 😉, but before I started reading, I already expected the following types of comments: Now, I can't look into the minds of the commenters (who…
Introduction When I was a computer science student, I read the first edition of the book " Parsing Techniques - A Practical Guide " by Dick Grune [1] et al. In the ~30 years since, it may be the book I’ve been reminded of most often. The primary reason for this is that the book goes off on tangents that are sometimes only vaguely related to the book's topic, or even to the immediate context. If…
When I talk to my cats, I do this in a cute voice (don't judge me; I know many people do this!) but even after all these years, my "I'm talking to a cat" voice does not elicit any special response from them. It's as if they are unable to hear the difference between my regular voice and my cat voice. Now, imagine you're on the planet Arion-7. An ugly bugger of an alien slowly and ominously moves…
Introduction In my early teens, I read a book by I think it was Dale Carnegie and one idea from it has stayed with me for over 40 years. The book suggested that one should walk a mile in another person's shoes before judging (for being untruthful, immoral, wearing Crocs, or whatever). As a young, non-native English speaker, I of course recognized it as a metaphor but not as a common English…
A Reddit meme sparks a serious question: if you could go back to your childhood with your current knowledge, could you use that head start to change the course of Climate Change?
Closing the “unknown unknowns” in JavaScript with a lightweight learning system built around Obsidian and AI
Those of you who have read my About page know I'm an old geezer. I probably don’t have any of the credentials you might look for in a source of life advice -- other than that my path through life has likely been longer, and definitely different, than yours. Along the way, I may have stumbled upon nuggets of wisdom you haven't yet. Friends s10e06 - The One With Ross's Grant Joey Tribbiani…
In 1965, Swedish engineer Sten Gustaf Thulin invented the modern plastic bag. He'd noticed how many trees were cut down to make the then-standard paper bags. He figured a strong, thin polyethylene bag could fit in a pocket, be taken to the supermarket, and reused hundreds of times before wearing out. We all know how that went. I sometimes wonder: if he had foreseen the pollution these bags now…