11th October 2008

Bewildering commerce

Those who take care of their pennies have already cared for their dollars. Or something like that; bits of trivial text from the dusty books of an old library. The kind of text that reminds me I am not among the wealthiest 2% of the nation, because my pennies still matter.

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posted in economy | Comments Off on Bewildering commerce | 321 words

29th August 2008

The horses are in the starting gates

Here in North America, we eat our politicians raw, with a bit of sauce on the side. Doesn’t matter what level of government, or what the stripe, we know far too much about them before, during and after the electoral process. Pity it doesn’t stop my neighbours from electing idiots to powerful positions, but that’s for another time.

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posted in politics | Comments Off on The horses are in the starting gates | 269 words

22nd August 2008

When the circus came to town

I wonder if other fairy tales leave as much collateral damage in their wakes. Today is C-Day, and the C may stand for Cinderella, or Caligula, or Celine, according to your interpretation. The whole city has been “stood on its ear”, which might be a tribute to the quality of the musical talent, or a tongue in cheek reference to the way that this oversized village handles fame and fortune (as reflected in the flow of traffic).

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posted in media, music | Comments Off on When the circus came to town | 374 words

5th July 2008

Tents, music and Linux in the same day

More and more often, I find myself booting up in Linux instead of Windows, and each time I come away a little more impressed with the efforts of the Mint team. After years of riding on the bicycle known as Slackware (biking is fun, but not always stable), I’ve found that the four-wheel comfort of the Mint distro works. This afternoon, I watched a bit from the DVD version of American Graffiti that I’d purchased from an eBay supplier. None of the problems with Linux not playing a movie I’d heard about. I just put in the disk and it worked. Like other things I’ve done recently. Wireless and printing and webcams and multiple language profiles. No kernel recompile, but some things aren’t necessary.

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posted in computing, music, travel | Comments Off on Tents, music and Linux in the same day | 267 words

22nd June 2008

Full-screen TV on a low budget

Gadgets make the world go round. I have no empirical evidence, but it does make sense. Otherwise, why would acquiring some new toy bring that rush of pleasure; there’s probably genetic coding. Anyhow, this weekend I made the impulsive purchase of a TV tuner for a laptop. The USB stick kind, as recently reviewed in Linux Journal. There were a couple in stock at our local “Store For Tomorrow”, and the price (a ferry wharf, aka the Borden) didn’t elicit a gasp across the table, so we were customers.

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posted in technology | Comments Off on Full-screen TV on a low budget | 498 words

17th May 2008

Concert capture

Another year had passed, and another closing concert for the school bands arrived. Last time around, I’d tried to “tape” the show for posterity, using my MP3 player that can take voice memos. This procedure is not one that bears much musical fruit; the quality of the recording was about equal to the early efforts of Edison. I’m one that follows the advice of others, so when a little extra cash came along, the family invested in a proper digital tape recorder. After all, it could be useful some day.

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posted in music, technology | Comments Off on Concert capture | 422 words

23rd March 2008

Where did the fever to learn get off to?

This afternoon I received an email from a friend’s progeny, looking for information on where to take a particular training course on the Island, and it struck me that time is doing some sort of surreal warpspeed thing. The last time I’d had a personal interest in that course was thirty years ago. My own children weren’t even “on the radar”.

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posted in education | Comments Off on Where did the fever to learn get off to? | 291 words

4th March 2008

Order in my lists

I spent more of today thinking about family and friends than I had expected. No special reason related to the calendar, nor were there any communications with me from any of them. Instead, I was trying to probe the deep, mysterious depths of the contact list.

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posted in computing | Comments Off on Order in my lists | 428 words

7th February 2008

Remembering the five cent bar

I’m trying to reconcile my desire to “own” stuff with an allergy to the “fair market value” model. It’s easy to explain with an example; I can remember the five cent chocolate bar.

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posted in economy | Comments Off on Remembering the five cent bar | 386 words

8th January 2008

No reason to travel

No thanks, I’m fine right where I am. I’ve finished another great book by Paul Theroux, and it comes at the moment where the closest I’m likely to approach to the border of my country is, well, irrelevant. I’m not intending to travel any time soon.

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posted in politics | Comments Off on No reason to travel | 370 words

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