“Don’t it always seem to go, you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone…” Three days ago freecode.com abruptly shut down, claiming “low traffic”, but there has been enough public mourning since to make me pretty sure it fills a need that’s still there. There was nowhere else you could go that was quite… Continue reading Replacing freecode: a proposal
Category: General
Why VA bought Slashdot
Jeff Covey has responded to the demise of freshmeat/freecode by reminiscing about his past at Freshmeat. He reports a rumor that VA bought Andover just because the CEO thought it would be cool to own Slashdot. I set the record straight in a comment on the post. No, that’s not why it happened; Larry Augustin… Continue reading Why VA bought Slashdot
freecode-submit is dead – because freecode.com is
Well, that’s annoying. The freecode.com release-announcement site stopped accepting updates yesterday. The site says it shut down due to low traffic. Accordingly, I’ve issued a final archival version of freecode-submit and shipped a version of shipper that no longer tries to do freecode notifications, issuing a complaint instead. Had to revise the How to Become… Continue reading freecode-submit is dead – because freecode.com is
First day of Zola
Zola, successor to our late and sorely missed cat Sugar, arrived here today. Here’s how it went…
New cat soon to arrive here
Cathy and I signed papers to adopt a cat from a rescue network last night. It would be here already, but it’s being treated for a mild ear infection picked up at the pet store. “It” is actually a he, a golden-eyed ginger-and-cream Maine Coon about two years old. The name is “Gorgonzola”, which we’ll… Continue reading New cat soon to arrive here
Penguicon A&D party heads up!
I, and a largish crew of the usual suspects, are at Penguicon. Friends of Armed & Dangerous party will be 9PM tomorrow in 403 at the Westin Southfield Detroit. Bloodmouth Carnist T-shirts will be on sale.
Time preference and latitude
A few days ago I was thinking about one of the most provocative Damned Facts from population genetics, and came up with a prediction that as far as I know nobody has uttered or tested before. I throw it out here because someone with access to the right kind of primary data might be able… Continue reading Time preference and latitude
Sugar has passed on
Sugar’s NYT appearance last week was her last hurrah. We had to have her euthanized today. She died peacefully about an hour ago. Her decline had been extremely rapid. Three weeks ago, even, Sugar barely looked aged and it was still possible to believe she might live another year. But the chronic nephritis, and possibly… Continue reading Sugar has passed on
Sugar’s health may finally be failing
This is an update for friends of Sugar only; you know who you are. Sugar may not have much time left. She’s been losing weight rapidly the last couple weeks, her appetite is intermittent, and she’s been having nausea episodes. She seems remarkably cheerful under the circumstances and still likes human company as much as… Continue reading Sugar’s health may finally be failing
Does the Heartbleed bug refute Linus’s Law?
The Heartbleed bug made the Washington Post. And that means it’s time for the reminder about things seen versus things unseen that I have to re-issue every couple of years. Actually, this time around I answered it in advance, in an Ask Me Anything on Slashdot just about exactly a month ago. The following is… Continue reading Does the Heartbleed bug refute Linus’s Law?
Pushing back against the bullies
When I heard that Brendan Eich had been forced to resign his new job as CEO at Mozilla, my first thought was “Congratulations, gay activists. You have become the bullies you hate.” On reflection, I think the appalling display of political thuggery we’ve just witnessed demands a more muscular response. Eich was forced out for… Continue reading Pushing back against the bullies
All the Tropes That Are My Life
Sometimes art imitates life. Sometimes life imitates art. So, for your dubious biographical pleasure, here is my life in tropes. Warning: the TV Tropes site is addictive; beware of chasing links lest it eat the rest of your day. Or several days. First, a trope disclaimer: I am not the Eric Raymond from Jem. As… Continue reading All the Tropes That Are My Life
Storm Nika crisis is over
I’m back home with the power on. Normal hacking and blogging will resume. There’s four days I don’t want to have to do over again. Cold, stress, constant fatigue, consequent inability to concentrate…being a disaster-displaced person, it turns out, is psychologically difficult even if you have money and a good support network and a hotel… Continue reading Storm Nika crisis is over
From an undisclosed location…
The title was a joke. The rest of this is not. Cathy Raymond and I evacuated from our home this morning. We’ve never had to do that before. Storm Nika has totally messed over the five-county area around Philadelphia. I’ve seen more downed power lines today than in my entire life until yesterday. Many roads… Continue reading From an undisclosed location…
FOAD 2014 Party Pre-Announcemrnt
This is a pre-announcement of the second third Friends of Armed & Dangerous party. FOAD 2014 will be held at Penguicon 2014, in Southfield, MI, almost certainly on the evening of Saturday May 3rd (but we don’t have a confirmed party-floor booking yet). I believe John Bell is planning to run a Geeks with Guns… Continue reading FOAD 2014 Party Pre-Announcemrnt
Dragging Emacs forward
This is a brief heads-up that the reason I’ve been blog silent lately is that I’m concentrating hard on a sprint with what I consider a large payoff: getting the Emacs project fully converted to git. In retrospect, choosing Bazaar as DVCS was a mistake that has presented unnecessary friction costs to a lot of… Continue reading Dragging Emacs forward
Dell UltraSharp 2713 monitor – bait and switch warning
I bought a Dell-branded product this afternoon. That was a mistake I will not repeat. Summary: the 2713UM only reaches its rated 2560×1440 resolution when connected via DVI-D. On HDMI it is limited to 1920×1080; on VGA to 2048×1152. This $700 and supposedly professional-grade monitor is thus functionally inferior to the $300 Auria I still… Continue reading Dell UltraSharp 2713 monitor – bait and switch warning
Can micropatronage save the net?
How can we fund common Internet infrastructure without risking that it will be captured by corporations or governments? He who pays the piper tends to call the tune, which is a bad thing when you don’t actually want the content of your network to be controlled. This is a problem I’ve been worrying about a… Continue reading Can micropatronage save the net?
Linus’s secret revealed!
Yeah, that whole Finland thing? It’s just a cover story.
More tales from the tip jar
People do occasionally put money in my blog’s tip jar. To encourage this behavior, I like to explain what I’m spending it on – always, so far, test equipment or hacking tools.