Saturday, January 3, 2009

Higher resolution.

One of my resolutions for this year is more frequent posts to the blog; specifically, I'd like to publish something every Saturday this year. Later this week I am going to be sorting our photo collection1 so the next update will be chock-a-block with pictures, but this entry will be mostly text. So, just some quick thoughts:


The Chinese government just released an official version of the Linux operating system, called "Red Flag." I kind of understand the name, as China has a (mostly) red flag and the national flag is being raised over computing. That said, I have to wonder if they know that a red flag is colloquially an indication of a problem, as in "The fact that Helen couldn't explain where she was the previous evening raised a red flag with her husband." It is sort of like naming your software "Unaccountable Credit Card Charges."


I think I am going to buy a Netbook. Anyone have any suggestions for which one? I want max battery life and the ability to run Skype.


January is going to be a monster. I have a new post-doc coming, my first, as well as teaching a 16 person section of physical chemistry and doing a two week class for high school students thinking about going to college for a technical education. The two week class is sort of a supplemental contract, i.e. I get paid extra for doing two hours of lecture per day for 10 days. This will be a lot of work and a lot of fun.


My buddy Mike got my son the following toy, which is so awesome: The arms and legs are the perfect size for Henry to chew, and he loves him. The toy is technically a wee ninja, although I like to tell people it is Middle-East Barbie.


(1) I tried to use Picasa to do this originally. It is the single dumbest gosh-dang piece of software ever constructed, as there is no way to tell it to not index EVERY PICTURE on the hard drive upon installation. I want it to index "My Pictures" and not (for example) the figures from every saved version of every paper I've ever written.