Hmm…
Thursday, March 6th, 2008That looks pretty good. I really hope that the inkblots move around dynamically after post-production, though.
Archive for the 'General' Category
The last birthday post
Monday, March 3rd, 2008You all saw the message the universe sent me today, right?
Your positive omens don’t get more explicit than that.
A Very Happy Thought
Monday, March 3rd, 2008There is some conventional wisdom that experience brings a certain necessary cynicism. That having seen it all before removes the shine from life. That there are always some disappointments, and they accrete over time into a dull patina between us and our experience of the world.
Me, I think that’s certainly understandable, but not necessary.
And today, [...]
Learning Google Gadgets
Sunday, February 24th, 2008I decided tonight to learn how to write a Google gadget.
I figured something simple, like a configurable RSS feed reader (with a little shiny chrome) would probably be enough to learn the skeleton of what I would need to know.
So I whipped up a gadget for the Shadow Unit feed, since I’m still chewing over [...]
Once more unto the breach
Thursday, February 21st, 2008…to close a bunch of tabs before Firefox memory issues eat my computer.
Let us begin with my praise of BibliOdyssey. They pulled me in earlier this month with the scans from an antique geomancy almanac, and I’ve been exploring their archives since then. Wow, is there a lot of stuff in there for a bibliophile [...]
Russell, Gaby, and the H-Bomb
Monday, February 11th, 2008That’s a portrait of Bertrand Russell, taken by the relatively famous quebecois photographer and portrait specialist, Gabriel Desmarais (who usually went by just “Gaby“). The portrait was taken at Russell’s place in Wales (”Plas Penrhyn”) in 1961, which would probably mean Russell is 89 in the photo.
It is one of a series of photomontages Gaby [...]
Head Colds Are Annoying
Wednesday, February 6th, 2008No poker last night. No work today.
Sudafed, Robitussin, Benylin, Drixoral, etc: No relief from symptoms.
Otrivin right up the nose: actually works. I can breathe. This may mean I can sleep. This may mean I can get rid of this minor annoyance.
It’s like a movie plot
Monday, January 21st, 2008Did you see this bit on BoingBoing?
Adrian says: According to the Swedish daily newspaper Expressen.se, police suspect that a team of thieves operating in Sweden are using little people hidden in hockey bags and placed in the cargo holds of buses to loot passengers luggage while in transit.
They link to the original story in [...]
Merry Christmas To All
Tuesday, December 25th, 2007Here’s wishing a hearty Merry Christmas to everyone who reads Homo Sum.
(The image above links to a wall-paper sized version. It’s from here originally.)
An ethical question
Wednesday, December 19th, 2007Who is more ethically advanced: a person who has a larger set of things for which they will kill, or for which they will die?
And do you put yourself in the more advanced bucket?
I know that the question can be rendered silly by what you put in the sets, but I’m talking in very general [...]
Am I Getting More Childish?
Sunday, November 25th, 2007One of two things is true: either my sense of humour is regressing, or the quality of the humour purveyed by Cracked in the Internet age is much improved from the last time I read the print magazine (approximately 21 years ago).
I remember Cracked magazine as an inferior reflection of Mad magazine–itself not known for [...]
On cross-border shopping and smuggling
Tuesday, November 13th, 2007So, during a particularly boring meeting today, I ran the numbers on the recent smuggling effort.
I ordered 32 items from Amazon.com and had them shipped to a friend in Boston. Of those, one item is one that for some reason isn’t available from Amazon.ca (and indeed, can’t be ordered from Amazon.com to a Canadian address!), [...]
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again…
Monday, October 29th, 2007…the computer industry is a scam.
Now, normally when I say this, I mean something about the broad “knowledge industry”, and how commercial software developers are amongst the most highly-paid people who only theoretically1 contribute to society.
However, it is also true on a much more retail level:
…and I would say NOT practically(back)
This one’s just for me
Friday, June 29th, 2007OK, maybe also for George.
I have a Pavlovian reaction to this music, in almost every variation. My wife has an equally strong, but entirely opposite, reaction.
Learning from porn.
Saturday, June 9th, 2007In certain applied sciences, and engineering disciplines, it’s a kind of basic truth that the money and push for research comes from military applications. Indeed, in many areas you can look at what the military is developing now and with a little creative foresight you can have a sense of what street level technology will [...]
Kira
Richard B.