If you want Unix, you know where to find it. But if you want ITS, these days, you just have to hack it together yourself. Wish me luck.
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04:05:57 PM,
Tuesday 31 July 2001
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Do The Simplest Thing That Could Possibly Work.
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(1)
03:45:22 PM,
Tuesday 31 July 2001
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"The White House Burned", by Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie, covers substantially the same material as "The Star Spangled Banner", but it's so, so much better.
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(2)
12:57:57 PM,
Tuesday 31 July 2001
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Godspeed You Cyan Emperor!
Godspeed You Magenta Emperor!
Godspeed You Yellow Emperor!
...
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12:49:17 AM,
Tuesday 31 July 2001
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Interesting thread on Slashdot, for once. There's been a post to Ask Slashdot looking for suggestions on what computer books to buy for a library. The nice thing about this is that it means people are offering suggestions of computer books with lasting value--things about general principles rather than narrow technical topics, or alternately, technical topics about programs that have shown their ability to endure. What impresses me is how much consistency there is among the recommandations: The Art of Computer Programming, Design Patterns, The Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, The Mythical Man-Month, and some others I don't know yet. The field of programming is starting to have a few classics.
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07:56:46 PM,
Monday 30 July 2001
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I am now busy every weekend from now through October 14th. Every weekend. Goodbye, huge block of free time. Hello, great big fun.
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05:27:15 PM,
Monday 30 July 2001
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Possible revision of stance on mp3-trading. The difference between Napster and Gnutella is not just that there's a steady target to attack with Napster, but that Napster is doing something wrong--piracy, that is, profiting from other people's copyrighted works--while gnutella users are doing nothing wrong, but merely sharing their files. More later. Am still working on what I'm thinking about.
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01:56:42 PM,
Monday 30 July 2001
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Propose that eros is the most important element in Plato's thought.
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05:59:24 AM,
Friday 27 July 2001
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Ah ha! The difference between wasabi hot and salsa hot (or even curry hot) is that wasabi hot is very very intense, but isn't oily enough to stick to your tongue, so it goes away very quickly, rather than lingering for a long long time.
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05:19:49 AM,
Friday 27 July 2001
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When you get to the point that, when you need to add new functionality to your program, you frequently find that you've already got a class that will do most of what you need, I think it's a good sign that your classes are at about the right level of generality.
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01:25:26 AM,
Friday 27 July 2001
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oh the boys
want to talk
would like to
talk about those problems
and the girls
say they're concerned
that they are
concerned with decisiveness
and it's a
hard logic
to follow and the
girls get lost
and the boys
say they're concerned
that they are
concerned with decisiveness
--Talking Heads, "Tentative Decisions"
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(1)
12:52:42 AM,
Friday 27 July 2001
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Elements in an XML document are ordered. This makes a certain amount of sense, inasmuch as an XML document is essentially a text document, and it can even be useful sometimes. Nonetheless, I find it very easy to forget, and even tend to assume the opposite.
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09:38:54 PM,
Thursday 26 July 2001
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Ween, Chocolate and Cheese.
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10:42:48 PM,
Wednesday 25 July 2001
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A system can only spend so many days "down for a routine maintenance"
before one begins to suspect that it has issues more severe and
long-lasting than the phrase "between 2 am and 4 am eastern standard time"
might at first lead the inattentive observer to believe.
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05:45:20 AM,
Wednesday 25 July 2001
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It's a good thing water doesn't stain, because if it did, it would stain things clear.
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11:23:29 PM,
Monday 23 July 2001
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Oh, this is bad. I was uttering a sentence that was supposed to include the name of the thing that I was short on right now... the correct answer was 'sleep'... but the first thing that came to mind was 'caffeine'. I'm feeling a bit tired. I must not have had enough caffeine today. After all, it's not as though there's some totally natural process my body could go through every night to replenish its energy and suchlike. Is it?
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(1)
08:44:36 PM,
Monday 23 July 2001
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Jim has Sea Monkeys. Sea Monkeys rule.
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07:02:49 PM,
Monday 23 July 2001
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Are there any non-addictive stimulants?
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(11)
03:57:32 PM,
Monday 23 July 2001
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"Then I think... wow... they have Nick Cave dolls now? I want one!"
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03:02:18 PM,
Monday 23 July 2001
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It's not that intellectual property is somehow more arbitrary and less natural than other property, it's just that it's easier to get away with ignoring intellectual property laws, so people notice sooner how arbitrary they are. And indeed, as far as that goes, I've probably been tresspassing just as long as I've been copying music. (Mind you, I do think that it's perfectly natural to recognize some kinds of property, and that recognizing some others does more good than harm; I just think that the kinds of property that are absurd and should be abolished are broader than just intellectual property.)
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(1)
07:17:45 PM,
Saturday 21 July 2001
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This makes me think of this. Is that disturbing?
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(1)
06:59:03 PM,
Saturday 21 July 2001
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I always thought the requirements for
homework at St. John's were fairly straightforward. Which is not to
say I always did everything I was assigned, but I didn't think judgment
entered into it except in trying to guess what I could get away with not
doing. Specifically:
Any paper assignment: at least the minimum required number of 250-word
pages, in clear, grammatical English, on the topic assigned.
Greek: have a written translation of--or demonstrate yourself to be able
to translate on sight--whatever reading has been assigned.
Math: be prepared to demonstrate, at the board, without reference to text
or notes, any proposition that may reasonably be expected to come up in
class (typically, all that have been assigned).
Lab: read once, with comprehension, everything that has been assigned for
class. By 'with comprehension' I mean approximately 'closely enough to
grasp the grammatical structure of each sentence', as distinguished from
just looking at all the words without understanding them. Any other tasks
assigned will be straightforward, like taking measurements of things.
Seminar: read once, with comprehension, the assigned seminar
reading.
The requirements for performance in class are considerably fuzzier, and
it's sometimes unclear how to judge the quality of work beyond what is
specifically required, but the basic content of the homework seems to me
to be reasonably clear. Am I misunderstanding something? (Experience
points to the assumption that I am.)
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(1)
12:54:43 AM,
Saturday 21 July 2001
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A hangover is caused by a combination of the toxic by-product of alcohol metabolism (acetaldehyde), dehydration, and Vitamin A, B (particularly B6) and C depletion caused by the chemical action of alcohol on your system.
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(1)
01:55:51 PM,
Friday 20 July 2001
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names of vi clones / names of ska bands
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12:51:20 PM,
Friday 20 July 2001
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And all I can think is: Synthesis rules.
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(1)
12:06:58 PM,
Thursday 19 July 2001
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Okay, I can see I need to amend that: The word 'troll' in the sense of "someone who posts absurd opinions to computer bulletin boards just to watch people react" has ceased to be useful, because people assume that anyone who claims to disagree with them on anything must be trolling. Someone should hold a funeral for it.
The behavior, of course, continues, and is as reprehensible as ever.
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(1)
12:02:23 PM,
Thursday 19 July 2001
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Possibly the best thing I have yet found in my access logs:
search: false interpretations of scripture
result: Thomas Hobbes's comparison of the Catholic Church and the Kingdom of Fairies, from Leviathan
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(1)
01:44:15 AM,
Wednesday 18 July 2001
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The word 'troll' has ceased to be useful. Somebody should hold a funeral for it.
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(1)
05:17:20 PM,
Tuesday 17 July 2001
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Evidently things are looking up. When I said "computers suck" just now, I meant not that they are evil and want me to die, but merely that they're not very well made, and that it's a hassle to have to work around stupid computer problems.
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03:15:53 PM,
Tuesday 17 July 2001
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I envision SPUDNet: a vast, world-wide computer network built of nothing but potatoes.
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02:47:50 PM,
Tuesday 17 July 2001
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I've updated the links to reflect Preston's move to Kerne's server.
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01:34:44 AM,
Tuesday 17 July 2001
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A pair o' Docs, a pair o' Docs, a most ingenious pair o' Docs.
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(2)
12:41:14 AM,
Tuesday 17 July 2001
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Of course! Igpe Atinle.
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02:24:15 PM,
Monday 16 July 2001
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Hmm... it appears someone's been googling for Mr. Derleth.
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02:16:11 AM,
Monday 16 July 2001
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Coming into Dover around 10 o'clock at night... spent the past day and a
half working my way there by train and ferry from Germany by way of Paris
(where I had two things to fail to do)... arrived in a fierce rainstorm...
eventually broke down and dug the poncho out of my backpack, which kept
off the rain somewhat... when I got to the hostel, it was full, but they
gave me directions to the YMCA, where I got a bed for the night. And then
up in the morning to buy a bus ticket for London. The bus wasn't leaving
till later in the day, so I walked around for a while... went down to the
ocean. I think I must have carried my backpack with me the whole
time--there wasn't really anywhere to leave it. It's all so shady now--I
can't remember buying the ticket, though it feels like I almost almost
could. But I remember the ocean had the right feel to it. And then
(perhaps after a night in London? I don't even know, now) another night
ride on a bus and a ferry, off to Dublin.
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(3)
01:41:47 AM,
Sunday 15 July 2001
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But
inferiors and superiors don't exist, so that aspect of the whole
distinction is bogus.
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(4)
10:52:32 PM,
Saturday 14 July 2001
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