so i bought a new netbook .. which means that it runs windows. [1] so for the next few hours i'm running the usual updates and installations:

• firefox / chrome, for web browsers,
• miktex & tecniqcenter, for LaTeXing,
• zonealarm & ad-aware, for firewalls and security
• *new* -- wubi, in order to avoid the headache of re-partitioning my laptop memory and ( Read more... )

i like the little things about linux the most;

for instance, i'd rather keep my hands on the keyboard, rather than switch my hand to the mouse and repeatedly move-the-cursor-&-click [1]. there's less dexterity needed.

if only for that reason, i like opening up a terminal.

if i want to know what's in a directory [2] then i type "lsif i want ( Read more... )

apparently the notion of the :singularity: is become mainstream enough so that time magazine ran a story about it, in february.

according to wikipedia's entry,

Many of the most recognized writers on the singularity, such as Vernor Vinge and Ray Kurzweil, define the concept in terms of the technological creation of superintelligence, and allege ( Read more... )

last week i set up gmail accounts for my mom and my dad. to me it wasn't such a big deal, but they really seemed to appreciate it. at any rate, this ameliorates some latent guilt: i didn't get them anything for christmas. \-:yesterday my mom emailed me, which is quite cool ( Read more... )

wow. this sounds like a cool mod:
How to Convert a Netbook Into a Touchscreen PC (from Popular Mechanics magazine)


( Read more... )

sometimes computers just confuse me .. or maybe, just maybe, i confuse them.

at two different instances today, i tried to print out a PDF file, and only blank pages spilled out from the printer.

i don't know why i thought of this,
and i don't know why it works, either:

i took the PDF ( Read more... )

i don't think i will ever understand the free public wifi network around shadyside [1]. for linux-based machines (such as desdemona), firefox will only load webpages under SSL. as it happens, gmail has an https:// option, and so does pitt email. however, i cannot seem to run a google search, as there is an automatic conversion from https:// URLs ( Read more... )

˙ʇɔǝɟɟǝ uʍop ǝpısdn ǝɯɐs ǝɥʇ ʇǝƃ ı puɐ ɹoʇıpǝ ʇxǝʇ uıɐןd ɐ oʇuı sıɥʇ pǝʇsɐd puɐ pǝıdoɔ ı ؛sʞɔıɹʇ ןɯʇɥ ʇsnɾ uɐɥʇ ǝɹoɯ sɯǝǝs sıɥʇ ˙ƃuıʇsǝɹǝʇuı.

˙ǝɹǝɥ ʞɔıןɔ 'ʞuıן ǝɥʇ ɹoɟ

i currently own two working laptops. arielle runs ubuntu linux, and desdemona runs xandros, a linux distro based on debian (i think). i don't own a laptop now, but i want to.

so the question is: Mac or Windows? I like linux, but i'd rather not deal with it all the time.

today was unproductive and tonight i don't feel like doing anything.

it was unproductive in the sense that i made no progress in proving one of my own conjectures. i posed it a month or two ago. i still feel like i'm close to something, but today i've nothing new to add.

instead, i spent most of today oscillating between confusion and ( Read more... )