Why do people support the second amendment? I’m going to try to avoid straw man arguments here. And the first straw man argument to avoid, I think, is: “because it protects us from tyranny: if the government becomes corrupt, we can rise up and overthrow it.” Perhaps I’m being naive,…
Author: elbeno
A musical interlude
I had piano lessons at around age 5, and again around age 10. I never practised enough or liked my teacher much. As a teenager at university, I went back to the piano to play tunes that I wanted to, and taught myself enough to get by on those. After…
Merry Xmas
This year it was a fairly quiet affair, seeing as we’d already visited family in late summer and at Thanksgiving. The kids did well as usual. Mini-Elbeno got a Kindle Fire from the grandparents (and has been bound not to buy anything on it without the express permission and help…
Our UK Trip
We’ve been in the UK about a week now. Here’s what happened so far: The flight was good because it wasn’t full. There was a spare seat next to us which meant the kids could both stretch out a bit and get some sleep. American Airlines has a new policy…
RIP drm
This week, Dennis M. Ritchie, co-creator of C and Unix, died. His death has not made the front page like Steve Jobs’ did. But although the non-tech world had never heard of him, he was more important than Jobs. I can still remember buying my copy of K&R, that slim…
It’s October
And that means the 17th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition is underway. This year there are many entries playable on the web! What will they think of next, eh? Also, Blizzcon approaches (a little more than 2 weeks away), another Humble Bundle is out (and as good as usual), and today…
Diablo III Beta goes public
After a few weeks of being friends and family only (and sorry to my games industry friends, but you weren’t allowed in either) it’s now open season for the Diablo III Beta test.
Explaining Maths
Recently, I was talking to my Dad about fiddling about programming the iPad (which I haven’t got around to yet) but I did mention that I might have a go at something simple just to get my feet wet. Beyond Hello, World there are many simple small-to-medium-size projects of course,…
Birthday
Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes. I got a few cool gifts: A set of 3 Airflite juggling clubs Unseen Academicals Moonwalking with Einstein Nature’s Most Amazing Events Fry’s English Delight iOS 4 Progamming Cookbook A cat flashlight And a lovely dinner of chicken parmigiana and penne, made by Mrs…
Blizzard Haz Talent
This afternoon was the Blizzard annual talent show (expanded from the old “Battle of the Bands” of the past three years). It turns out Blizzard does have some talent! We got to hear some cool music: electronica/rock/bluegrass/pop/etc, see a spicy salsa dance routine, a karate routine including breaking bricks (with…