Category Archives: Musings

…A Distance There Is…

I found Theatre of Tragedy through their older stuff, around the time Musique came out. It’s common for fans of the band to disown their newer stuff, but I’ve found I enjoy each album for what it is. Still, it’s their older albums that interest me the most. They’re pretty interesting and distinct, particularly the vocal parts…

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Dead drops

I was in Seattle today and, on a lark, decided to go check out the local dead drops. I thought it was an interesting thing, and was curious if people were actually doing anything with it. I was honestly a little concerned about what I might run into, but it turns  out I needn’t have been…

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How to Help Newbies the Smart Way

Many years ago, I stumbled into and read a document entitled How To Ask Questions The Smart Way. It’s an excellent document that should be required reading for people to get their Internet license. I’ve been in those channels, helped those newbies, had the same frustrations and seen the same patterns as the people who wrote that.

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Why Open Source Software Sucks

When it comes to using a piece of software, there are two kinds of people. One kind just wants to accomplish some task. The other kind doesn’t mind taking time to expand their skill set, learn something new, or maybe just fool around. I count myself among the latter most times, but there is a threshold. After a certain amount of time spent, I don’t care about learning anymore. When it comes down to it, I would rather get something done than figure out how to get something done.

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On Blogging

Some time ago, I was talking to a fellow on IRC. It was a good conversation, though I can’t remember what it was about. In the course of the conversation, he asked me if I had a blog. A what? It’s short for weblog, he told me. A kind of online journal written for everyone to read. I remember thinking, why would anyone want to do that? Well, the internet sure showed me.

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