headermask image

header image

category archive listing Category Archives: personal

Continental 1404, Pan Am 103, and thoughts on dodging bullets

This morning, before I’d even had my tea, I learned via e-mail that at my local airport last night a Continental flight 1404 veered off the runway and crashed, injuring 58. AP reported that local resident Mike Wilson tweeted his experience immediately after he escaped the burning plane.
Two tweets from Wilson especially caught my attention:
And [...]

The Stereogram Approach to Finding the Meaning of Life

Gary W. Priester (Click image to enlarge.)

Often, the first challenge in life is simply to see the target.

I really used to hate stereograms.
When they became popular in the early 1990s, they often reduced me to serious frustration and headaches. I would stare at them — glare at them, really — trying to will their embedded [...]

Why I keep talking about Nokia’s US Service

Some people have asked why I keep talking — on this blog and elsewhere — about Nokia’s US service problems. This video explains my motives. In a nutshell, it’s because I want to keep options open for journalists. Tools like the Nokia N95 represent a way for journalists to make their own opportunities, regardless of [...]

Breaking Out of the Echo Chamber

OpenDemocracy, via Flickr (CC license)

What might this Malian girl and I have in common, and what might we learn from each other? How could we know if we can’t really connect?

This morning I listened to an excellent Radio Open Source interview. Host Christopher Lydon was talking to Global Voices Online founder Ethan Zuckerman and GVO [...]

The psychology of my procrastination

GingerTammyCat, via Flickr (CC license)

Alice cautiously replied: “I know I have to beat time when I learn music.”
“Ah! that accounts for it,” said the Hatter. “He won’t stand beating. Now, if you only kept on good terms with him, he’d do almost anything you liked with the clock.”

Like many self-employed folks, I’ve got waaaaaay too [...]