The Old Blog
I used to run a Wordpress blog with random thoughts and other content; it fell by the wayside around the time I started working for UHN.
I’ve pulled some of that content over here for history purposes. This is all a decade or two old, so don’t take it too seriously.
3 Jun. 2010
I clean my computer fans and the temperature drops.
6 Jan. 2010
I’d already concluded that desktop Linux sucks, but I’m now giving up on my PVR too, because Linux hardware support sucks too. I guess the old guard device driver hackers have moved on…
I spent too much of a day (Sunday) trying to get a supported 802.11n adapter working; after much research on the various things that don’t actually fall into the definition of “supported”, I settled on a configuration that should have worked (and did work, if I turned security off). the last problem was, of all things, that the driver didn’t handle spaces in my WPA passphrase.
2 Jan. 2010
Network television is broken.
6 Nov. 2009
The internet is a dumpster fire.
25 Oct. 2009
Back in June I mentioned that I had a 4-month contract at UHN. Four months was up just over a week ago. My bosses decided to offer me a permanent position instead of extending my contract! So, I have a full-time job again! Woohoo!
22 Oct. 2009
The CRTC recently announced regulations around traffic shaping. The Canadian ISPs responded with propaganda.
21 Oct. 2009
I saw a story recently about a musician who took out an ad in a magazine to sell CDs, and ended up only receiving four orders. I don’t want to quote the whole thing, so the original is worth reading and if only one percent of those people….
In particular, the punch-line struck me as interesting in the context of SPAM and 419 scams and similar issues:
bq. He forgot there was a number lower than one percent.
21 Oct. 2009
I just received unsolicited email offering jobs on a cruise ship; all I have to do is send a bunch of personal data and $320 for processing. They say all unplaced applicants will have their money refunded… Do you believe them?
21 Oct. 2009
So it appears that during rush hour Google Traffic isn’t any better than the service that comes with my Garmin GPS, which is to say it’s usually out of date. However, Google reports traffic for more places than the GPS, and they report on weekends. I’ll have to keep checking both for now.
6 Oct. 2009
Google Maps has traffic data for Toronto! woohoo! It even appears in the map display on the iPhone!
Now I can see if it is any more accurate, or updates more often, than my (redacted) Garmin GPS unit…
5 Oct. 2009
I’ve suspected this was true all along:
Advertisers don’t believe it’s worth advertising to smart people, because smart people don’t pay attention to brand. Smart people make an actual choice, they can’t be tricked or convinced. They research. So we can’t sell ads to a network for smart people.
from Leo Laporte on Advertising to Smart People | Smarterware, via Twitter.
17 Sep. 2009
do we really need managers?
1 Sep. 2009
it simply costs too much to be thin.
1 Sep. 2009
people understand risk better than we think.
1 Sep. 2009
Are kilts history? - The Globe and Mail
I’ve been hearing anecdotes about the battle between students and educators over kilts (and in particular, kilt length and related ’tarty’ dress) since I was in private school, 20-mumble years ago. I don’t think the ’00s are that different from the ’80s, somehow…
