Nerd, gardener, and writer on Wellington's Kapiti Coast
The last question was asked for the first time, half in jest, on May 21, 2061, at a time when humanity first stepped into the light. The question came about as a result of a five-dollar bet over highballs, and it happened this way: Alexander Adell and Bertram Lupov were two of the faithful attendants of Multivac. As well as any human beings could, they knew what lay behind the cold, clicking,…
Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray's case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward—reversing cause and effect. I…
The man who is sitting on top of the popular music world is shown above, cooling his ascetic frame in the California canyon he calls home. He is Eden Ahbez, a bearded, barefoot student of yoga who has performed the most unlikely of all musical feats-writing America's No. 1 hit tune on his first attempt. In the four weeks since it was first broadcast, his Nature Boy has become inescapable on…
Now let me give you the benefit of my experience in facing 400 pages of blank stock—the appalling stuff that must be filled. I know that no one really wants the benefit of anyone's experience which is probably why it is so freely offered. But the following are some of the things I have had to do to keep from going nuts. Abandon the idea that you are ever going to finish. Lose track of the…
Here's what I generally recommend: Get a Linux box setup on your homelab (I like Debian ). You don't need a fancy computer any old thing will work fine. Learn the basics of the command line, adding/removing packages, starting/stopping services, accessing via ssh, reading and understanding log files etc. Install Docker . Learn the basics of running containers. Install PiHole or AdGuardHome (I like…
First month of green wood, spoon carving in order from left to right (missing one which I gave to my Dad as a birthday present). The first two are from pine boards. The third one (and perhaps the eight, with the T on the handle) are pōhutukawa. The last three measuring spoons (half teaspoon, teaspoon and tablespoon) are apple wood. The rest are brush wattle. Some are oiled and some are baked. Both…
We used to have a small jumping spider that lived on the bannister at the top of the stairs. We learned that she liked to say "hello" to us by waving her front legs. If we put our finger out she'd come and do a fist bump. Sadly we haven't seen her for a year or so. This morning as I was setting up to make coffee, I looked down at my empty coffee cup and saw a small black fly on the rim. Something…
JWZ posts that Mosaic Netscape just turned 30. In October 1994, Earthlight (our family's Dunedin ISP) had just come out of beta phase and was offering dial up internet for $1 per hour. Customers could dial in via four 14.4k Dynalink modems which connected to our Sun SPARC SLC workstation for either shell or PPP access. Our connection to the internet was provided by Otago University (at that time…
They're heeeere … Friday, our Japanese participants discover that a computer on their company network has been cracked into, one very secure Linux box running only SSH and Apache 1.3.4. Now this would definitely send a chill up your spine if you knew just how fanatic our friends are when it comes to network security. Furthermore, they only detected the intrusion three days after the fact,…
See also: Thinkpad 390 Specifications Model: IBM Thinkpad T20 [2647-92u] Screen: 14.1" TFT [1024x768] CPU: Mobile Pentium-III SE 750 MHz RAM: 128 MB Disk: 20 GB Hard Drive Peripherals: Swappable floppy and DVD-ROM Drive IrDA: Supported (untested) Sound: Crystal Audio Sound Fusion PCI Video: S3 Savage IX8 8MB RAM PCMCIA: Two Type 2 Cardbus Slots Modem: Winmodem Parts list:…
Your life is your life don't let it be clubbed into dank submission. Be on the watch. There are ways out. There is a light somewhere. It may not be much light but it beats the darkness. Be on the watch. The gods will offer you chances. Know them. Take them. You can't beat death but you can beat death in life, sometimes. And the more often you learn to do it, the more light there will be. Your life…