Cap'n Arbyte's BlogProcapitalist blogging with a swashbuckling sense of humor.Surprise, Mom!- April 29, 2008 I'm currently on vacation in Arizona. This is the first time off I've had all year so I'm trying to be as lazy as humanly possible, but I thought a little bit of blogging was warranted in this case. I'm staying at my sister's place. An old friend of mine is moving in with her, temporarily, but this involved moving from Iowa to Arizona. My mother came along on the road trip to visit my sister. Having my friend, mom, and sister all together like this was great timing, because I've been...http://arbyte.us/blog_archive/2008/04/Surprise_Mom.html Nerd Nightmare- April 22, 2008 I woke up a little after 3am Monday morning from a nightmare. In this case I knew that I was dreaming and woke myself up. It was a very nerdy sort of dream — it was about robots. Robots who kill people in their sleep! They were after me because I knew I was dreaming. :) © Kyle Markley — Posted 2008-04-22 00:37:54 UTC — permalink …http://arbyte.us/blog_archive/2008/04/Nerd_Nightmare.html Citizen Tickets Cop- April 19, 2008 Awesome: Now, using ORS 153.058, Bryant — as a private citizen — has initiated violation proceedings against Officer Stensgaard. Bryant alleges Stensgaard was in violation of state statutes on illegal parking, illegal stopping, obeying parking restrictions on state highways, and illegal operation of an emergency vehicle or ambulance — the violations carry fines totaling $540. Officer Stensgaard has received a Multnomah County summons to appear in traffic court on May 23....http://arbyte.us/blog_archive/2008/04/Citizen_Tickets_Cop.html TV Bleg- April 13, 2008 Are there any videophiles among my readership The combination of being lazy and having an abnormally low time preference mean that despite all expectations, I don't own an HDTV even though it's 2008. I currently have one TV — a 27" CRT purchased over 8 years ago. It's long past time for an upgrade. In fact I had been talking with my co-workers about doing this around the time of the Superbowl… in 2007! Even I have to roll my eyes at such delay. So, I'm in the market for a new...http://arbyte.us/blog_archive/2008/04/TV_Bleg.html Collective Punishment- April 6, 2008 When I was in elementary school, I got my first taste of collective punishment. Some disruptive student would ignore the teacher, and the teacher would respond by punishing the entire class. It turns out that this dynamic doesn't change, even in college: Some professors threaten to confiscate students' cell phones if they go off during class. Laurence Thomas has his own approach to classroom distractions. If the philosopher at Syracuse University catches a student sending text messages or...http://arbyte.us/blog_archive/2008/04/Collective_Punishment.html |