SlickEdit for Linux (Ubuntu) has incomplete support for Perforce out of the box. The Manager command is missing. The Get command is broken.

Even after I set the Manager command (to p4v), the option is grayed out on the popup menu within the project.

I do not understand what it is about Al Gore that gets up the nostrils of the Cafe Hayek bloggers. Both Russ Roberts and Don Boudreaux are bright guys, but if Al Gore is involved, the quality of their arguments plummet.

In this particular story, we see Russ Roberts, a professor of economics, praising this line of reasoning:

1. Al Gore proposes a national goal of generating all U.S. energy from renewable sources.
2. The Pickens Plan is to generate one-fifth of U.S. energy from wind, natural gas, and biofuels, for an investment of one teradollar.
3. Therefore, the Al Gore proposal will cost at least five teradollars.
4. Bonus point: The Al Gore proposal is as fanciful as a lunar casino.

The conclusions are not supported by the premises. There is no evidence showing a necessary relationship between the Al Gore proposal and the Pickens Plan that would permit the cost of one to be used to compute the cost of the other. Russ Roberts would never let such logic-chopping go by in a student paper - would he?

I don't know Enrico Zoni, but I like the polite way he comments on Python's idiosyncratic commands module.

The text search tool in SlickEdit 2008 has been renamed from grep to sgrep. Allegedly this was done to avoid conflicts with cygwin grep.

A defense of the Clintons as politicians.

Another YouTube that is best without title

Useful, perhaps, within bureaucracies, when responsibilities have been incremented, but not compensation.

The Mortgage Bust

Excellent essay about the impact of the Mortgage Bust of 2007

"Safe as houses" is an English proverb. What happens when houses are feared?

The camels march.

“The history is that lenders move in great caravans between two extreme points, which we can call stringency and accommodation,” said Mr. Grant, recalling how hard it was for companies to get loans as recently as 2002.

Instapundit.com -

Glenn Reynolds complains that a CNN reporter is not a lickspittle.

Update:

Looks like Drudge got burned, as, to a lesser degree, did those of us who relied on him.

Will Glenn Reynolds will rely less on Drudge? To ask the question is to answer it.

 

Three Worlds LIRR

The sunset sky from the window of the Long Island Railroad on a Sunday in October, 2006.

British Calendar Act of 1751 For The Year 1752

For years I have wondered what happened to rents, interest payments, etc. that fell due during September 1752 in England. That was the month when England converted to the Gregorian calendar, at a loss of eleven days.

Did tenants see the landlord come around eleven days early? Did someone who lent overnight on the 14th collect eleven days' interest? Did youths attain majority eleven days early?

Here is the text of the Act of Parliament. The members legislated that all such rents, annuities, sums of money, leases, etc., on the same Natural Day "in case this Act had not been made."

That was sensible.

Tuba Repair Index

Tuba Repair

Jeffrey Funderburk demonstrates how to keep a tuba in good working order. I like low notes.

Oh Drama

20061005147.jpg,
originally uploaded by Unbathed.

I like the darks and the lights, I do.

I wonder how to get Flickr pictures into this blog.

Still later

After an hour recharge, the green light came on again. I set it loose for ten minutes and egad, the bin is full again.

Later

The Roomba ended its maiden voyage somewhere to the right of my bed, standing still with its power light solid red. I remember reading somewhere in the manual that this means "bin full," so I opened it up and discovered, yes, a full bin. Also, an ATM receipt stuck between the brush and the basket.

I returned it to its charging station, and then after a few minutes pressed its Clean button. It backed up, made a few passes around the bookcase, and then returned to its charging station for more energy. Well, okay.

The mess in the bin was so dense and grey that I asked my wife's mother whether she wanted to see, and to my delight, she assented. I have thusfar been describing the Roomba to her as a "carpet sweeper," lest here suspicion of gadgets close her mind.

A new vacuum

I got to the part of settling my room where the next step was vacuuming. I went to the closet and discovered that the vacuum was broken, and apparently has been broken for quite some time. The carpet sweeping attachment shows no signs of life. The hose was clogged. Apparently our cleaning person has been hard on the vacuum.

Although I have deep problems with clutter, I do like my clutter clean. For me there are three choices for carpet cleaning: Dyson, Roomba, and Hoky. I have personal experience only with the Hoky.

The Roomba seems to me to be a Hoky that is well matched to my attention span and perfectionism. The negative reviews I found from searching the net centered around its tendency to die before the year is up, not with its ability to clean. Rather, the reports are that it finds dirt in "clean" carpets. That's what I like. I can cope with its life expectancy issues.

Brookstone had the Roomba Scheduler in stock and offers a sixty day return policy. The device is now an hour into its preliminary charge, which will be either three hours or sixteen hours depending on unknown factors. The sixteen hour charge, according to the documentation, will prolong the battery life. Bravo.

But hark, the light is green. Perhaps it is ready to go.

BigHead's peanut sauce recipe

"I'm a big fan of homemade peanut sauces: Toss in 1 part water, 1.5ish parts peanut butter, .5 parts soy sauce, a dash of lemon juice, and some garlic, and you're all set. Mmmm delish and cheap as hell."

Cleaning the Nokia 770

Egad, while browsing the internet with one hand and eating with the other, a glob of cream cheese from a Starbucks pumpkin-spice muffin dropped onto my Nokia 770's screen.

I removed most of the mass with a napkin without touching the screen. How should I deal with the residual smear? Nokia's website warns (perhaps unnecessarily) against using harsh chemicals, but omits a positive recommendation; so, I asked via email. The response:

We understand your inquiry in regards to what Nokia considers harsh chemicals to clean the display of your Nokia 770 Internet Tablet.

When cleaning the display of your Nokia 770 Internet Tablet, you may use a damp cloth with a small amount of mild soap.

I can do that. Ivory is mild, right?

Test du Nokia N93

Ahh, Paris, summer, a sidewalk cafe, a videophone ...

Veerle shows how to make the Flickr badge validate

Why doesn't Flickr's wizard generate valid HTML? It is a mystery. Veerle shows how to fix it.

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