Blog: 2003-12

Akamai, here in Cambridge, is looking for a Linux kernel hacker who can manage a team on the side (boston.craigslist #21521389).

Two views from Central Square not previously posted: a July shot of my favorite path and street party aftermath.

Due to a constant stream of spam getting through the filters, I've mostly disabled my acm.org address, my "permanent" address for the last decade. That was from back when the Internet was cooperative, and abusers were cut off.

Good films seen recently: Disco Pigs, although I could only make out about half the dialogue in thick Cork accents. Gus Van Sant's Elephant, set in my hometown, but based on the Columbine school shootings. Rented Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth with Bill Moyers but it didn't seem as compelling as when I heard the radio broadcasts in the '80s, and there were more pressing things to do than sit through 6 hours of light lectures. On Christmas morning, the AMC channel is showing Death Race 2000.

Was building a PII Linux box, but sold the case it was in.

Now's when you cough uneasily:

But the term "web writer" freaks people out. They think it's some guy in the basement, sending out screeds about Star Trek. You and I know that's ridiculous, but most people don't.

—Jill Singer, "Q&A: Will Leitch," MediaBistro.com, 12-Dec-2003

Clive Thompson, "PowerPoint Makes You Dumb," New York Times Magazine, 14-Dec-2003 issue

One Thing After Another Dept.: Household plumbing issues developed Friday, and will be resolved Monday at the earliest. Remarkably time-consuming and disruptive.

Snapshot of first snow around 3am of last Saturday morning. Between the street lights and the reflecting snow, was light enough to shoot digital without tripod or bracing.

First substantial snow in Cambridge last night.

Regarding 30-Nov's weblog entry, nice to see that nation-building is part of the curriculum.

But it's widely understood that English departments are well stocked with liberals, and I've often wished we leftists had less of a presence in literature departments and more of a presence in state legislatures. (Perhaps it's not too late to engineer a straight-up swap.)

—Michael Berube, "Should I Have Asked John to Cool It? Standards of Reason in the Classroom," Chronicle of Higher Education, 5-Dec-2003