rchase

I was hoping someone would point out slayradio. Incredible community of people, and I've been listening and chatting with those guys for decades.

    Gauloises
    Smoke
    Algorithms

    a different type of thinking

    Tonight mechanics of language ring
    like bells or machinery

    Or lust 
    after longing

    Circuits cut on paper
    Writ on paper
    Walls of paper
    carefully positioned

    Nights and nights
    Missing it missing you missing.

    Time to close to end it
    and/or just hit Enter

    Smoke
    Algorithms
    Cigarettes

    Return

Lady Astor: "If you were my husband, I'd poison your drink."

Churchill: "If you were my wife, I'd drink it."

-Apocryphal

I did not buy it. I traded Night Driver for it (and the paddles). 1980? And yeah, not to put too fine a point on it, just... no.

But, given the replay-ability of Night Driver, still a fair trade.

Quite challenging.

That game is impossible to solve without spoilers, so far as I'm concerned. And lord knows I tried. As far as Infocom goes, the only ones I managed to solve unassisted were Zork I and II and Planetfall, all of which are considered on the easy end of the spectrum. The later games were much more complex. Along with HHG2TG, Lurking Horror was really difficult too.

Tons of fun all of them, though.

Gosh I miss my C64.

Google is getting some serious flack.

From NPR this morning... https://www.npr.org/2020/12/18/947918291/google-researcher-d...

Maybe the 8th is an implied nested recursion. It's the story of Mr. Vonnegut telling the story of the other 7 shapes.

I learned spreadsheeting in Lotus 1-2-3 on DOS in the early '90s. It is so fast and super powerful. I still use the 1-2-3 keystrokes in Excel to this day (an option that I'm both infinitely pleased and super shocked still exists, Microsoft actually did something right!)

If anyone out there knows how to obtain Lotus and get it running in Linux, please please let me know!

Because, not to put too fine a point on it, sc, sc-im and oleo are completely useless without months of self-training, and even then... meh.

Yep. I had a C64 and my step-brother had an Atari 800. It was a cool machine as well. Same processor, but radically different graphics and sound chip, if I remember correctly.

Great book. Little dated, but still worth a read.

Love the HOLE HAWG analogy about tools that do what you tell them to, immediately and sometimes dangerously, regardless of whether what you told them to do was right.

I was happy to see the C64 called out near the end of this. I love that machine, and the Amiga so much. And reading about this Pi 400 the other day truly struck me in the same vein. I honestly don't care much about the couple obvious shortcomings, for $100, this is a purely nostalgia purchase for me.

I could do with some case color options, but that's a small niggle given what this thing can do. And I appreciate the focus on price point. Old school design constraints.

good god, man. well said.

Cool story. Here's a real one, if anyone's interested...

A Tiny Mistake https://pastebin.com/gZa36S0K

Nice catch. No judgment yet, but feels like bowdlerization to me.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bowdlerize

“The Secret Life of Machines”

My god how I loved that show. Tim Hunkin is such a weird and wonderful person. And though the show sorta predates the modern internet, as soon as the tech was available/undertandable to him, he put the whole damn series online for download (initially on an FTP server) for free.

The episode where he and Garrod make a an audio recording with some rust filings and Scotch tape (sticky tape ;) was simply amazing.

Years ago I took a tip from (the admittedly fictional) Mr. Sherlock Holmes: I never go anywhere without my small notebook and a pen. Back pocket for notebook (and yeah, the current one is 3/4 full and beat to hell) and pen in front pocket(preferably a black Pilot Precise V5, which is both cheap and high quality).

It's really impossible to express how many times a day this comes in handy. The most mundane information usually, for me, is also the most forgettable, and a quick jot fixes that.

And finally, when the thing is cashed, though most of the notations within are completely useless after a couple days, the object itself has, through wear and abuse, become a compelling and aesthetically pleasing artifact.

Very cool article. Having grown up on msoft BASIC and assembly on the C64, I really appreciate the low-level insights.

Holy crap that was a comprehensive article. Much more of this stuff, please.

I haven't power-read anything so dense in a long while. And I'm not even a Star Wars fan (other than having been 9 years old when A New Hope (as it's apparently called now) came out in theatres, and therefore having absorbed it all by cultural osmosis ever since.)

Doesn't matter if one is a Star Wars fan... the Millenium Falcon evokes instant nostalgia and smiles in most anyone over 40. And yes, it was fast enough for this old man, anyway.

various 8bit '80s BASIC implementations:

REM

Yes, it's the comment marker, standing for REMARK.

But it's also, metaphorically, a line that is "asleep."

Genius.

I would argue that we, humans, as mathematicians, carpenters and apiarists have worked together with the bees resulting in a net gain in honey over time.

I'm 51 years old. Think I was about ~40 when I realized the dipshits I went to high school with (and thousands more like them) are running the world now. That was an absolutely terrifying realization. The author's point about tech content is true in my opinion and experience, but the larger point also applies to most every aspect of our society. 'Appeal to authority' indeed.

Fuck everything about that.

My friend from middle school, Mike 'the douche' W. is now the MAYOR OF A FUCKING CITY. Just no.

BECOME an authority on a given subject (takes a little longer, is much more valuable long term.) This also means you have to pick your battles... life is only so long, pick your shit and get good at it.

All that being said, community knowledge is a GOOD thing. We don't exist in an isolated state, the tech. community in particular. There's no one person who knows how all this shit works anymore, so thoroughly documenting what we do know, and sharing it globally is also incredibly valuable in a communal sense. None of us makes this stuff happen, whether you like it or not, we're all working as a team.

Oh, and also, passing on some wisdom here... never trust a contractor with clean boots.

Daughter is an architect. She's been doing origami since early kidhood, and I marvel at the intricacy of the models she now handcrafts. Point being, like anything, the art of patience takes... practice. Tons of practice.

Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra

James Kunstler (despite being a bit of a kook), has been making this argument compellingly and entertainingly for like, 20 years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gz7oJjWg8_Y

I listened to audio book at age 47, and really had several... moments. Yes. I think there's a lot to be gained from a re-read with some road years on you.

This is exactly the sort of nightmare Glass gives me when I dream of it.

Here's a source (german): http://events.ccc.de/2009/05/06/sigint-2009-fravia/

Somewhat skinny on details, but it's a start and mentions several other potential sources.

Google translation: http://bit.ly/qNv0K

I have neither the time nor inclination to aid in creating the Wikipedia page, but am very interested in seeing it done well.

-R