Odd Lots
- 32 years ago today, Darkel’s Lucky Guess–known to more than a few of you as Mr. Byte–came into our world, and eight weeks later Carol and I took home our very first bichon puppy. Although not show quality, Mr. Byte was a spectacular dog, and even seventeen years after his passing we miss him terribly.
- A study at Michigan State shows a strong correlation between use of multiple forms of media at once–e.g, watching TV while surfing the Web–and depression. We don’t know if multitasking causes depression, or if depressed people multitask to distract themselves, but simply establishing the correlation is a good first step.
- Now this is nothing less than brilliant: an app that examines a design destined for 3D printing and lets you know whether it will print well, or at all. 3D typos cost money, and it’s not always obvious looking at a design where a typo lies, or how serious it might be.
- Oh, and there’s a browser-based CAD system that was created with 3D printing in mind: TinkerCAD. Have not used it and generally don’t like browser-based software (what if I develop skills with it and then it goes away?) but it’s a niche that had to be filled.
- Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper has just signed the state constitutional amendment legalizing marijuana. As long as you’re not in a public place, using it is now legal under state law–which is, pardon the expression, mind-blowing.
- Only slightly less mind-blowing was the savaging that Rolling Stone gave Obama for not jerking the leash on the DEA. Wow.
- If the elderly–who have nothing if not life experience–are peculiarly vulnerable to scammers, it may be due to the failing of a region of the brain that acts as a “crook detector.” I agree: smug, smirky mouths are not the signs of integrity. Nor is the desire to run for office.
- Pete Albrecht sent me a link to a search site for locally grown food and farmers’ markets. We buy local when it’s possible (though we don’t make a fetish of it) and things like this can only make it more possible.
- Line up the cover spines on Wired‘s 20th year, and read the secret code.
- Lazarus 1.0.4 is out. It’s a bug-fix release, but bug fixes are good to have. I’ve already been messing with it, and I’m starting to think the product has really quite sincerely arrived. Get it here. Many components and demos available here.
Posted in: Odd Lots.
Tagged: dogs · health · pascal · politics · programming · psychology · software
No dog could ever replace Mr. Byte. QBit, Aero, Jack, and Dash have, however, proven themselves worthy successors. (I say the same thing with regard to Penny as successor to Star.)
One of my (flaming liberal) Facebook friends has commented with regard to Amendment 64, “I was ignorant in thinking Colorado was an ultra-conservative state. Boy, was I wrong!!” I pointed out that it varies by area (Boulder and Colorado Springs being at roughly either end of the spectrum), and that there were justifiable conservative/libertarian grounds to support 64, which is why I voted for it. (I previously had the distinction of voting in favor of medical marijuana in two states, California, then Colorado.)
On Wired’s 3×3 font: It reminds me of the crude graphics on the RCA 1802/1861. And we thought 3×5 graphics were crude!
However, then I realized that Braille uses a 2×3 dot font for the entire alphabet, numbers, and various punctuation symbols. But if Wired used Braille, few readers would know it (and readers who were blind couldn’t feel it).
PS: That was a great obit you wrote for Mr. Byte. It is true that how we treat animals says a lot about our humanity.