» Saturday, 31 July A.D. 2010
long time no see
So, I haven't blogged in a while. I experienced my first ever hard drive crash several weeks ago; that was a fun experience. But that's not why I haven't been blogging. I've mostly been busy in the evenings doing things with GCC, like writing huge, machine-generated patches. Anyway, here's some of the things I've been reading in the time since my last blog post.
Ask a Korean! Just what it sounds like. I hope the few Koreans in my life will be able to appreciate the humor--definitely read around. I came to the site through Best way to learn a foreign language, but being a geek, I also appreciated Why is Starcraft popular in Korea?.
“Nothing like this will ever be built again”, Charlie Stross's writeup of a tour through a nuclear reactor. I did a report on nuclear reactors in fourth grade. I wrote the entire thing (with poster!) the night before. I got an A+. Mr. Stross's explanation is way better than my little report.
Notes from the No-Lone Zone, Matt Blaze's trip through a nuclear missile launch facility. To wit:
It's worth asking whether displaying a terrible artifact of 40 years on the edge of oblivion for all to see really makes good sense. The author Barbara Kingsolver visited the site after it first opened for public tours and concluded that it doesn't. “If a missile museum,” she wrote in her essay In the Belly of the Beast, “can do no more than stop up our mouths with either patriotic silence or desperation, it's a monument the living can't afford. I say slam its doors for good. Tip a cement truck to the silo's gullet and seal in the evil pharaoh...”
I disagree strongly, and not just because I was grateful for the chance to see this horrible and beautiful place for myself and to meet the people who served there. We owe it to them to listen to their stories and to ourselves to learn from them.
Catalog Living, “A look into the exciting people who live in your catalogs.” Writing up captions for Pottery Barn advertisements was never so funny. My favorites include Light up the sky, Staying warm, We are family, and Reading is fundamental.
Vacuum pockets. You really just have to read this one for yourself.
You were doing it wrong: a humorous collection of things people have learned throughout their lives. I think my favorite is this one, about learning to ask for help and about Atlas Shrugged.
This writeup succinctly explains why I will not be starting a small business anytime soon. I simply don't have the market sense to recognize opportunities for things like bingo card generators. Sounds like a nice little niche.
Mother Earth Mother Board is Neal Stephenson's travel log of tracking the longest wire on earth (“the hacker tourist ventures forth”). I can totally see where Douglas Shaftoe came from. It is, as you might expect, somewhat long, but a worthwhile read--and I've only read a third of it or so at this point. Really wish somebody would do a followup piece.
posted by Nate @ 11:11PM