The Old Iron Dream
Noted radical activist for The Old Iron Dream, Jerry Pournelle, has died. He was a pioneer of word processing in fiction. Rather fittingly, his final blog entry from last Thursday suggested a “Service Guarantees...
meehawl all that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned
is You Takin’ Notes?
The NYT has a story that’s really something. An “earlier” copy of a memo Trump wrote firing FBI Director Comey is now in possession of the Mueller investigation. Some key takeaway points are that...
Heavily Weathered
Bruce Sterling has a way of being so right, he throws out asides in his books that for many writers would be centerpieces. In the spirit of the times, I’ve been re-reading “Heavy Weather”,...
Sonarr, Mono, and TLS, Oh My
So my Sonarr on CentOS 7.3 just stopped working. Error contacting all newsnab indexers over https. Among a bunch of traces to Mono, it was throwing this exception: Error: SecureChannelFailure (Object reference not set...
With No Paddle
Venn diagrams have had quite a surge of publicity recently, trying to simplify representations of the different supra-national European organisations. I like this one, because it shows how the UK is now currently occupying...
The Implausible Task of Neuroscience
Reverse engineering the mind from a functional decomposition of the brain.. What if you tried to use neuroscience’s current tools to reverse engineer one of the simplest microprocessors, the 1970s-era 6502, and attempt...
Celebrity Medicine
So Prince requests medical intervention from Calfornia-based addictions specialist Howard Kornfeld, not licensed to practice medicine in the State of Minnesota. Dr Kornfeld is many hours away, in California. Says can’t see patient immediately....
Virtual Reality, 1941 Style
During World War 2, the Waller Gunnery Trainer was an Oculus ancestor that used film and a lot of operators to create an immersive gunnery simulator experience.
Brand New They’re Retro
New Massive Attack video with Rosamund Pike weirdly channels classic Sam Neill/Isabelle Adjani ur-hentai schlock triumph, Żuławski‘s Possession Voodoo In My Blood: Possession:
Rain Rain Rain
This is the magical time of the year when #SFBay imitates #Ireland: Everything’s green, damp & smells like socks