This past weekend was a busy one for me because it was my 50th MIT reunion. I had a great time - attending some interesting lectures, going to Commencement, having some meals, and meeting up with people I hadn't seen for 50 years. At MIT I lived in Baker House, the one dorm that had a dining hall which helped develop a pretty good community. ( Read more... )

Part of the Segway tour involved seeing interesting Miami Beach Architecture and especially Art Deco buildings and some of their insides.

The Versace Mansion on Ocean Drive, which I read is the second most photographed house in the US (how is that measured? what is first? White House?)


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There's been lots of attention in the media on the Bishop case and the fact that the alleged killer of three professors had a serious gun incident 24 years ago that the police and DA bungled. Of course these days the emphasis is on who to blame. To me I wonder if this is the tip of an iceberg. How many other cases are there where the various law ( Read more... )

I just finished reading Grand Illusion - The Myth of Voter Choice in a Two-Party Tyranny by Theresa Amato. She was the campaign manager for Ralph Nader in 2000 and 2004 so it is written from the point of view of third party candidates. It was a bit tedious at times but she really nailed a huge bunch of things wrong with our political/voting ( Read more... )

When we came back from Philadelphia on Amtrak last Saturday I posted to misc.transport.rail.americas a question about why there many short-distance power outages on the train ride - often 15-30 seconds when the lights and HVAC were off. I know it has something to do with voltage, frequency, and phase differences on different segments and various ( Read more... )

Last night we went to another What Makes it Great performance by Rob Kapilow. This one was Mendelssohn's Octet. The way these programs work is in the first half Kapilow and the musicians are in stage with Kapilow talking and demonstrating on the piano and the musicians playing parts as he directs. He breaks down the piece illustrating themes and ( Read more... )

I ordered a new MacBook Pro to replace my 7 year old PowerBook. It wont come for a few days since it is being shipped UPS ground. The big dilemma is what to name it ( Read more... )

My first home computer wasn't a computer. In 1967 I got a Model 37 teletype connected to a 150 baud Modem (rented from MA Bell) attached to a private line extension to the PBX in our GE (later Honeywell) office in Cambridge. With this I could dial up to Multics (or at first to CTSS which is what we first used for Multics development) and send ( Read more... )

I've been helping a friend with his new Dell. He got a moderately lowcost desktop, a 20 in flatpanel, an inexpensive multi-function printer and a 2 speaker and subwoofer sound system as his purchase. I helped him on the purchase, too and was quite amazed at how good their support was - at one point I brought up a chat window to ask whether it had a ( Read more... )

Today I went to a luncheon at Upstairs on the Square courtesy of the US Postal Service. I am a member of the Cambridge Consumer Advisory Council and we received an award for being the best one in the US ( Read more... )