OkCupid begins e… https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/12/okcupid-begins-enforcing-real-name-rules-insists-its-a-good-idea/
Evil Coding Incantations - Posts http://9tabs.com/random/2017/12/23/evil-coding-incantations.html
A Priesthood of Programmers – Jacobite https://jacobitemag.com/2017/12/05/a-priesthood-of-programmers/
The story of early tape music, microsound, … http://cdm.link/2017/12/the-story-of-early-tape-music-microsound-and-a-eurorack-resurrection/
Storming the Ivory Tower: The Next Homestuck Wil… http://www.stormingtheivorytower.com/2017/12/the-next-homestuck-will-not-be-made-in.html
Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programmers : … http://www.sicpers.info/2017/12/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-programming/
UFO IPO-182 – Take me to your dealer: the Pentagon UFO story, crowdfund… https://boingboing.net/2017/12/18/ufo-ipo-182-take-me-to-you.html
Unlocking the commons: or, the psychoeconomics of patr… https://kottke.org/17/12/unlocking-the-commons-or-the-psychoeconomics-of-patronage
The Weaponization of Awkwardness - The… https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/12/the-weaponization-of-awkwardness/548291/
Glowing Auras and ‘Black Money’: The Pentagon’s Myste… https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/16/us/politics/pentagon-program-ufo-harry-reid.html
Unalloyed irony
Soon to be ex-Senator Al Franken announced, on an emotional speech, his resignation yesterday. He is leaving the Senate after been accused of sexual misconduct.
“I, of all people, am aware that there is some irony in the fact that I am leaving while a man who has bragged on tape about his history of sexual assault sits in the Oval Office, and a man who has repeatedly preyed on young girls campaigns for the Senate with the [full support of his party] … ⌘ Read more
Old Book Illustrations: Free Archive Lets You Download Beautiful Images From the Golden Age of Book Illustration | Open Culture http://www.openculture.com/2015/12/old-book-illustrations.html
Second Life Still Has 600,000 Regular Users - The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/12/second-life-leslie-jamison/544149/?
BBC - Adam Curtis Blog: THE GHOSTS IN THE LIVING ROOM http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/2011/12/the_ghosts_in_the_living_room.html
The Computer Scientist Who Prefers Paper - The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/12/guardian-of-the-vote/544155/
Jamming the Signal: Better Living Through Subliminal Messages - Mondo 2000 http://www.mondo2000.com/2017/10/12/jamming-signal-better-living-subliminal-messages/
Toward A Predictive Theory Of Depression | Slate Star Codex https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/09/12/toward-a-predictive-theory-of-depression/
The Hyperbolic Geometry of DMT Experiences: Symmetries, Sheets, and Saddled Scenes | Qualia Computing https://qualiacomputing.com/2016/12/12/the-hyperbolic-geometry-of-dmt-experiences/
Kitchen Soap – Multiple Perspectives On Technical Problems and Solutions https://www.kitchensoap.com/2017/08/12/multiple-perspectives-on-technical-problems-and-solutions/
A Violent 15th-Century Freshman Hazing Ritual Involving Boar Tusks and Razors - Atlas Obscura http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/deposition-hazing-ritual?utm_source=Atlas+Obscura+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=149faf3a75-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_07_12&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f36db9c480-149faf3a75-63252673&ct=t(Newsletter_7_12_2017)&mc_cid=149faf3a75&mc_eid=fb147c2f0d
The Best Demon Illustrations of All Time - Atlas Obscura http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/demons-illustrations-dictionnaire-infernal?utm_source=Atlas+Obscura+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=149faf3a75-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_07_12&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f36db9c480-149faf3a75-63252673&ct=t(Newsletter_7_12_2017)&mc_cid=149faf3a75&mc_eid=fb147c2f0d
http://networkcultures.org/longform/2016/12/19/communication-control-communism-on-socialist-cybernetics-accelerationist-dreams-and-tiqquns-nightmares/ http://networkcultures.org/longform/2016/12/19/communication-control-communism-on-socialist-cybernetics-accelerationist-dreams-and-tiqquns-nightmares/
The Birth of the Algorithmic Author - Cyborgology https://thesocietypages.org/cyborgology/2016/01/12/the-birth-of-the-algorithmic-author/
THINK TANK; The Penis as Text for Serious Thinkers: Be Careful What You Wish For - The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/22/books/think-tank-the-penis-as-text-for-serious-thinkers-be-careful-what-you-wish-for.html
And while i’m talking about Isa, my favourite recipes is still her Thai-Chili http://www.isachandra.com/2010/12/red-lentil-thai-chili/
Cleaning the plate
My wife has always told me, “don’t eat everything in your plate, leave something!” It is her believe, and her culture’s, that only poor people eats everything, and that if I do so, it will show I am dying of hunger, and thus, poor. If it were so, what’s wrong with being poor? Why will I leave food on the plate, food that I really like, to pretend what I am not? I am poor, poor, poor!
That custom, though, would be an easy one to follow if the food was bad. That’s something … ⌘ Read more
Unpresidential
Not presidential at all.
“President-elect Donald J. Trump’s aides often cite his appearances at professional wrestling matches as an inspiration for his outsize political speaking style, and his buoyantly belligerent news conference in New York on Wednesday proved he has no plans to betray his brawler’s roots in the service of seeming more presidential.”
Babbage/Lovelace had their mechanical notation but their work looks to be digital, not analog. (diagrams here: http://blog.stephenwolfram.com/2015/12/untangling-the-tale-of-ada-lovelace/)
Home alone
Just like I did on 18 July, 2014, this one is mostly for keeping a record of a first time activity or occasion. This time it was Kent’s first home alone day. He is almost 15 years old, and for the first time he spent eight hours home alone, while Kim and I were at work.
Happy “graduation” step, Kent! ⌘ Read more
Amazon Cloud Drive feedback
This is not merely a technical problem, but I did not have the choice for multiple selections. Anytime I use the word “you” down below, I mean Amazon.
First the good. I love you, I have used AWS S3 for a long time, no complains. I do much of my online purchases on you, although I am not a fervent shopper. I rent my movies on Amazon Video. I am signed up for Flex. I want you to succeed even more. I love you!
Now the bad. Amazon Cloud Drive is bad. The OS X client i … ⌘ Read more
NixOS 14.12 released
NixOS 14.12 “Caterpillar” has been released, the third stable
release branch. It brings Linux 3.14, systemd 217, Glibc 2.20,
KDE 4.14.1, and much more. See the release\
notes
for details. You can get NixOS 14.12 ISOs and VirtualBox
appliances from the download\
page. For information on how to upgrade from older release
branches to 14.12, check out the [manual section\
on\
upgrading](/manual/nixos/stable/ind … ⌘ Read more
Happy 2015!
Here we go again. Not complaining, as there is nothing to complain about. Just another year. It seems 2014 flew by quite fast, will you agree? Nevertheless, happy 2015 everyone! ⌘ Read more
NixOS 14.04 released
NixOS 14.04 “Baboon” has been released, the second stable
release branch. It brings Linux 3.12, systemd 212, GCC 4.8,
Glibc 2.19, KDE 4.12, light-weight NixOS containers, and much
more. See the release\
notes for details. You can get NixOS 14.04 ISOs and
VirtualBox appliances from the download page. For information on
how to upgrade a 13.10 system to 14.04, check out the [manual\
section on upgrading](/manual/nixos/stable/#sec … ⌘ Read more
The 12 principles of animation, animated http://t.co/ooNnZlwjJs
It is all around us
Love. It really is.
“Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion’s starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don’t see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it’s not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it’s always there — fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Tow … ⌘ Read more
The joy of reading Hemingway
Recently, Kent had the misfortune of picking “ A Moveable Feast”, by Ernest Hemingway, for a school assignment. I know I am not the right person1 to judge anyone’s writing style, I am simply recollecting the comments Kent has made while reading the book.
So far, other than finding the book boring — mind it, he is barely 13 — he is puzzled at the use of French terms that he … ⌘ Read more
It is Christmas day
One of the many things to look forward to each year is, of course, the end of year holidays. Christmas, Festivus, or whatever you call it, the end of December is always a special time. My only complain, and that might be yours too, is that it comes and goes so fast! Kent has finished opening his presents, and somehow it feels “it is all over.” But we waited the whole year for this! We stayed up late wrapping gifts, gifts that are now open, and the “magic” gone. It should not be.
I … ⌘ Read more
Films to watch during Christmas
Christmas is not the same without watching certain films. The ones that are always a must for me are “ National Lampoon’s European Vacation” and “ National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation”. As I type this I am getting ready to watch them both. Those are the ones to laugh to tears and have fun. The other favourite one – … ⌘ Read more
T-Mobile and the iPad
I am not sure about the other mobile telephony providers, but this morning I went to T-Mobile with the intention of buying an iPad mini. They had only the dark colour in stock, and on 32GB capacity—I was wanting a 16GB. The transaction was almost finished, when I was asked for a telephone number. After stating that I just wanted the iPad, no connection, I was told they could only sell it, if it was with a mobile data plan. Bus … ⌘ Read more
A Christmas tree small story
Last year we had a plastic Christmas tree. Wife was not happy. This year she wanted a real one, so this morning the child and I went on the quest of getting it. Most families in the States will get a Christmas tree right after Thanksgiving, but I am used to get it the day before Christmas. Of course, if I wait for that day there will be none left. So it is today, or never1.
We purchased one, which is already soaking … ⌘ Read more
Chuck Lorre Productions, 373
At the end of each episode of “ The Big Bang Theory” there is always something witty printed, that passes by so fast you can not read it. Today I saw, and remembered, “ … the prophet did not answer right away ….” I looked it up, and this came up.
A young woman stepped forward from the throng and asked, “0’ great prophet, tell us how we might find love that is unconditional, unwavering and unending.” The prophet d … ⌘ Read more
Hello world, or hello again!
This is the first post. It seems I have started writing occasionally again. I still conserve the old posts, from the previous weblog. Not sure many of them were worth of keeping, but I might browse through them and pick one or two to bring back here.
This time I will keep this simple. Well, as simple as a person with slight OCD can keep it. I promise, I think. This little site is generated by [Jekyll](http://jekyllrb.c … ⌘ Read more
Create files on GitHub
There is a new feautre on GitHub, and this one allows you to create files directly from the web interface. This is very handy, for those of us running Jekyll.
This is my first test of the feature, I had to try it right away. Only wishing now to have a friendlier Markdown/kramdown editor. But it’s a start. I like it! ⌘ Read more
Mi vieja
She created me, all my flaws and gifts unintended. She nurtured and guided me through life the best she could, suffering for my mistakes—but always hopeful—and rejoicing on my victories. Always supportive she gave herself to me (and my siblings), selflessly.
After a lifetime mission, her time around here has expired. We knew it would come, but never fully prepared for it. And so we wept, sadness seeping throu … ⌘ Read more
What I thought when my plane crashed
From CNN Opinion, this\
article, written by Ric Elias I liked. I liked it
so much, I decided to keep it here, for when it is not longer available
at CNN. As I did with a previous\
article I kept from the WSJ, if CNN
does not likes what I have done, let me know and I will remove it, or
adapt it to a compromise. Please do not sue … ⌘ Read more
St. Augustine
Yesterday I went with Kent and classmates to St. Augustine, the oldest continuously occupied European established city and port in the continental United States.
It was a great trip, we learned a lot, we saw a lot, it was cold, we came home tired. We will return… one day. The end. ⌘ Read more
Ricky Gervais - Why I’m an atheist
This is an article
written by Ricky Gervais, for The Wall Street Journal back in 2010.
Reproduced entirely here, as SpeakEasy seems not to be keep articles
around long enough. If WSJ does not like what I have done, let me know
and I will remove it, or adapt it to a co … ⌘ Read more