I have to say that I am amazed Apple got away with it for so long. Not only is the keyboard fragile, it feels terrible. And yet, people bought them. When I shop for a notebook, keyboard feel and display quality are the two primary factors. There are many things I like about Apple’s designs, but this particular…

I am not what you’d call an “early adopter,” but I did buy my first computer in 1984.

I’ll agree.  I grew up in Minnesota and have lived in upstate New York, Wisconsin, and currently, Connecticut.  I’ve never seen it or heard of anyone who has experienced it.

I know there are far worse first jobs...

Nice. My red one was probably $1 (a lot for a pen in those days) c. 1966-7. Likely purchased at Kresge’s (similar to Woolworth, if you remember them) in the mall near my home.

Have you ever seen the old Sheaffer Peacock ink? Now that was a color!

Nice. My red one was probably $1 (a lot for a pen in those days) c. 1966-7. Likely purchased at Kresge’s (similar to…

I had one of the cone-top student pens (in red) in elementary school. Used the hell out of it, and always loved the point at which I had to replace the ink cartridge b/c of the smell of that blue ink. In grad school, I bought up a bunch of cheap inlaid-nib pens that the bookstore was remaindering, and then lost those…

I had one of the cone-top student pens (in red) in elementary school. Used the hell out of it, and always loved the…

Sheaffer’s fountain pens were among the best.  Their school pens were outstanding; their inlaid-nib pens were truly great.

Sheaffer’s fountain pens were among the best.  Their school pens were outstanding; their inlaid-nib pens were truly…

This is amusing.

A true story:

1. “What’s worse—a few minutes after she went after them, the woman’s phone was returned by an Uber driver.” — How is this worse? It’s certainly more embarrassing for the woman who accused the boy. It’s not worse.

*To the extent that guitar strings ever stay in tune. The joke among classical musicians is that guitarists spend half their performance tuning their guitars and the other half playing out of tune.

*To the extent that guitar strings ever stay in tune. The joke among classical musicians is that guitarists spend…

You’re most welcome. Ultimately, the choice is up to you. Go down to your local guitar store and play around with both right- and left-handed beasties. One of them should speak to you!

You’re most welcome. Ultimately, the choice is up to you. Go down to your local guitar store and play around with…

It’s really (as I understand it) a matter of taste. There are several approaches, because the selection of instruments is much narrower if you want to play a left-handed instrument. Virtually all makes provide some left-handed guitars, but there’s a lot less variety. If you can afford custom, that’s another matter,…

It’s really (as I understand it) a matter of taste. There are several approaches, because the selection of…

This is a nice guitar, and it’s very good for some things. I’ve owned one, and here are my thoughts, for what they’re worth.

This is a nice guitar, and it’s very good for some things. I’ve owned one, and here are my thoughts, for what…

When things got bad in March, I camped out at home I don’t think I drove my car for something over a month. Some time in May, I went to get take-out, and inadvertently left my lights on for a few minutes before remembering to turn them off while I waited with the engine off. Went to start the engine and—dead. There…

Buy a Lenovo Thinkpad. Mine (an X240) has VGA, 2xUSB3, mini displayport, audio (1/8" or 3.5mm, as you prefer) i/o, SD Card, and Ethernet ports. Oh, and of course Lenovo’s proprietary power jack.

Diabetic here. Diagnosed at age 13 in 1971, so you can imagine that I drank a lot of diet soda.  Tab stands out in my memory though.  It had the aftertaste of soap.  Furniture polish?  Maybe, but I’ve never tasted that.  Soap, though...

Yes. This is “more.” It’s not better.

All nonstick cookware is temporary—and the more you cook, the more temporary it is.

All nonstick cookware is temporary—and the more you cook, the more temporary it is.

The university where I teach is using Teams at the moment, and so is the court system where I practice. It’s not a bad system, but it feels a little heavy on the CPU compared to some other things. I do expect it’s more secure than Zoom. My main complaint is that it doesn’t seem to like the system defaults for…