The IP laws here have created a situation where I routinely find free versions of works on foreign Project Gutenberg sites that won’t be posted on the U.S. version for decades, if ever. (Enjoy that factoid while it lasts...)

My uncle, who lived in Abilene, mailed us (outside Boston) two horned toads when we were kids. This was back when a long-distance call was a special occasion, but figuring out what to do with them was special enough. Uncle Henry told us they ate ants, which our yard certainly had. We pretty much let them go, where we…

There’s a very nice Android app called Fing that maps out your network very nicely. It has a database that recognizes a hugely whole lot of devices. You can also edit each entry to add your own names (“Living room Tivo” or whatever). I run it once a month or so, and somehow, I’m always surprised by just how many…

Murdered out is the photographer default, but think twice, because the “ash” colorway is gorgeous, while still not drawing too much attention.

Murdered out is the photographer default, but think twice, because the “ash” colorway is gorgeous, while still not…

My flight to Nashville on the 21st touches down about noon. I’ll grab a sandwich and bottle of water and take any shuttle to any parking or rental lot — if Google Earth is accurate, they all have unobstructed southern views, though long-term parking looks best — and watch until about 2, 2:15 or so, when I’ll grab the…

You need to do a post about mayo. Partly because we need to find the haters and re-educate them. (I have to admit, I did finally find a mustard I like in very specific uses, but I spread it on sooooo thin you’d pretty much need the Fermilab particle collider to detect it’s even there.)

What condiments do you always have on hand, no matter what? I’m old, and my dad came back from someplace in Europe after WWII, and met mom and had us, and taught us all that chefs in Europe 1) are always men and 2) don’t let you add anything to food after it’s served. I have no idea how he came back with those, but I…

That’s encouraging. Thanks, Claire!

Is mozzarella feasible? My sister gave me a make-your-own-mozz kit for Christmas, forgetting that I’m lazy. But I’d try it sous vide, which is pretty much laziness for lazy people like me.

In fact, while all y’all argue, I’ll have a slice and then some breakfasty dessert.

What’s that country that’s always neutral in wars because fuck it, everyone has a point? That’s me.

Shift-option-hyphen for em dashes, option-hyphen for en dashes.

If you’re arguing that --- is “better” than the simple shift-option-hyphen and -- is “better” than the simple option-hyphen, you’re blathering because you’re either bored or a troll or both. Have a nice life.

I even gave up on Netflix. Too many “original” series, and movies I actually wanted to see kept getting harder and harder to find. I watch local Chicago tv stations and I watch PBS for the music series. I may tune into the World Series if a team I care about is in it. My antenna reception isn’t great and I’d pay for a…

The roots of the internet date back to the late ’60s. You may want to ditch that too.

What’s wrong with using option hyphen for – and shift-option hyphen for —, which have been built into the Mac keyboard since the 1984 Mac 128K and System 1.1g?

Hash House a Go Go, listed in Chicago, is a national chain. When I moved here in ’97, there were lots of good diners, especially 24-hour ones, but not so much these days.

Well, after mentioning boot time, I went right into the need to move video around my network, so one could fairly and reasonably realize that it wasn’t “about boot time” but rather that there are use cases where SSDs offer little if any advantage. The only app in your list that I use is Finder.

And I launch four apps every time I reboot, after those power failures every few years. Again, if VLC can get 30 frames a second from my Mac Mini’s HDMI port to my TV’s, a drive’s speed is far less important than its capacity.

I’m happy to trade the speed of an SSD for the capacity of a real hard drive. I boot up every time the power in my neighborhood goes out. I don’t remember what year the last one was. And it’s connected directly to my router with Ethernet, and transfer speed is often the real choke point anyway. When the connection is…