My brain is going a mile a minute, which is frustrating because it's well after midnight. I'm thinking about: work, upcoming visits (from a cousin, and hopefully to Ithaca), and random this-and-that ( Read more... )

Working at a university is, I think, good for my sense of perspective and a good antidote for the occasional work-a-day ennui ( Read more... )

Hey! dan and I are on Street View in Mahone Bay, NS!

As I said at the time, a sweet birthday present from Google (the van drove past us on my birthday, May 20).

My day today included:

- a losing battle with pexpect on Solaris. Works from the cli! Fails from Apache! Needs a pseudo-terminal it cannot find for some reason! Whee ( Read more... )

I just attended a thought-provoking talk by Stewart Brand, on the topic of his latest book, Whole Earth Discipline: An Ecopragmatist Manifesto. In capsule form: the formerly back-to-the-land ecologist makes a strong argument for pro-city, pro-nuclear power, pro-genetically modified food, and pro-geoengineering strategies for mitigating the damage ( Read more... )

I just went to the going-away reception for a colleague of dan's, a man of many talents who is moving west to become a CTO at another University. There were hors d'oeuvre, wine, cheese. And there were many speeches; some entirely professional and largely boring, some more heartfelt messages with personal touches. But you could tell this man will ( Read more... )

Google Street View has been busy.

As identified by gmaps_sights, Florence, Italy (that link is to the Fake David in front of Palazzo Vecchio. Hey, that looks familiar.)

(Can you find the Mormon missionaries?)

...Maybe over Christmas break I'll take a few hours, curl up with my laptop and some nice Italian wine, and go on tour.