Category Archives: Net stories

Small grumpy whinge

Posted on June 14, 2008 by acb

I was trying to post a comment on Rupert’s blog but stopped when I was threatened with registration. “Threatened”, you say? HOw else to interpret these “Benefits”: “Your ZDNet membership gives you many more benefits including entry to our community … Continue reading →

Posted in Blather, Net stories | 2 Comments

In the long run, even the dead don’t stay grateful

Posted on June 10, 2008 by acb

via John Naughton, I see that Paul Krugman has resuscitated the argument that the Dead were pioneers of the new economy by allowing taping of their concerts and making their money as much from merchandising and touring as from record/CD … Continue reading →

Posted in Blather, Net stories, nördig | Comments Off on In the long run, even the dead don’t stay grateful

As you value your sanity

Posted on June 8, 2008 by acb

Don’t click here. Really. Don’t. And don’t send me the therapist’s bill if you do. Found via Making Light, which has more, and worse in the same vein.

Posted in Blather, Net stories | Comments Off on As you value your sanity

More Weizenbaum

Posted on May 21, 2008 by acb

The prescience of Joe Weizenbaum continues. After long detours, I have returned to the end of his book, where he is asking whether the world has any understanding of what computers will do. He saw very clearly how a “system” … Continue reading →

Posted in Net stories, nördig | 2 Comments

How computers improve life

Posted on May 19, 2008 by acb

or not: an occasional series. This entry comes from lifehacker: Calendar: Track Time Between Haircuts with Google Calendar and Spreadsheet Googler Matt Cutts uses Google Calendar and Google Spreadsheets to keep track of how long he’s gone between haircuts—a good … Continue reading →

Posted in Blather, Net stories | 3 Comments

This is just silly

Posted on May 18, 2008 by acb

It is now possible to measure distances on Google Maps. The trick is fairly well hidden, under “Dig a Hole through the Earth” on the featured content sidebar, but if you find it a bewildering collection of geeky measurements become … Continue reading →

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Random notes

Posted on May 15, 2008 by acb

Everything seems to be running fine to judge from the error logs: a few robots complaining that they find themselves hors texte, a place that structuralists believed could not exist; I have meanwhile been running around when not writing nonsense … Continue reading →

Posted in Blather, Net stories, Software | 2 Comments

Your data is safer than you think

Posted on May 9, 2008 by acb

In a story at once grotesque and astonishing, it turns out that one of the hard drives on the Columbia shuttle which blew up with the loss of the whole crew in 2003 has been treated by a data recovery … Continue reading →

Posted in Net stories, nördig | 2 Comments

Which is ruder?

Posted on April 18, 2008 by acb

Some people send me emails that start “Dear Andrew” and have elegant signoffs, but no subjects. These madden me. I reply with emails that have subject lines, but no salutation or signoff — after all, their email program shows who … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Blather, Net stories | 1 Comment

Timewasting notes

Posted on April 10, 2008 by acb

A new hazard of technology: Roz Kaveney complains that every time she asks in a department store for a black beret, she is sent to the electronics department. A nice touch from Gideon Rachman’s FT blog: As we were assembling, … Continue reading →

Posted in Blather, God, Net stories, Science without worms, Trouty things | 3 Comments