Tonight I was lucky enough to see Sonic Youth perform their 1988 double LP masterpiece Daydream Nation at Berkeley Community Theater. I’ve been a huge fan of Sonic Youth ever since Bad Moon Rising was released in 1985. My favorite Sonic Youth album is Sister, but Daydream Nation is a very close second. I’m often… Read More »
I wrote this review nearly three years ago, but never pulled the trigger to publish it to my blog. Maybe because it seems half written. I don’t think I’m going to ever go back to it, so what the heck. Having skimmed part of the eponymous essay and having enjoyed other essays by Paul Graham,… Read More »
After bicycling about 35 miles through some of the hilliest parts of the East Bay hills, I had a massive craving for pizza. But not takeout. I wanted to maximize the flavor by eating pizza in a restaurant while it was still hot and crispy, preferably accompanied by tasty beer. A friend at work mentioned… Read More »
About a year or so ago, my brother very kindly set me up with a multi-year subscription to The Week magazine. The Week is a weekly (surprise) magazine that takes advantage of the Fair Use provision in 17 U.S.C. 107 that some misguided fools don’t believe exists. Each issue highlights the top issues of the… Read More »
Downtown Oakland is really turning into a vibrant area with great restaurants and bars. It’s always had a couple good restaurants and bars, as well as the Paramount Theater, but lately it seems like a new, great place has opened everytime I go down there. Last night, we discovered the Crown Wok Restaurant. It recently… Read More »
I finally got around to watching The Triplets of Belleville. Before the film started, all I knew was that it had been nominated for Oscars for best animated feature and original song, was French-made, and was kind of quirky. I had absolutely no idea what the plot was. If I had only known just how… Read More »
I suspect that many of you are oblivious to the Southern delicacy of fried chicken and waffles. The chicken isn’t actually served inside of the waffle, or even on top of it. And the waffles aren’t deep fried, either. Just the chicken, which rides side saddle on the plate with the waffle. And getting a… Read More »
When I bought my wife a Titanium PowerBook nearly two years ago, I knew in advance that WiFi range was a significant drawback. The Apple Airport card sits below the keyboard and the Titanium shell acts entirely too much like a Faraday cage. After suffering through some Linksys-induced misery, I bought a NetGear wireless router.… Read More »
Earlier this year, my 15-year old 26″ JVC TV started showing its age. About twenty scan lines into the image, about five scan lines would be skipped. The top of the image would shift down to fill the gap, showing the scan lines that normally aren’t visible due to the fact that all CRT-based televisions… Read More »
Neil Harrison and James Coplien’s book Organizational Patterns of Agile Software Development was released this summer and was reviewed today on Slashdot. I worked with Neil at Avaya, and I can attest that he was one of the many smart men and women with whom I worked during my tenure there. Neil was very knowledgeable… Read More »