hardware
Debian GNU/Linux on Toshiba Portege R500

This week I got my hands on a Toshiba Portege R500 for work. It's brilliant to have a laptop with a decent battery once again. Here are some thoughts on the hardware, and installing Linux. The first thing I did was cut through the label on the box that makes it clear that no refund […]

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random musings
Leaked EU code

/** * attempt to ratify treaty * @param input the treaty to put before the "people" * @return boolean true on success, false otherwise */ boolean ratify_treaty(treaty input) { treaty treaty_to_present = hash(input); while(!popular_vote(treaty_to_present)) { sleep(BIG_NUMBER); treaty_to_present = cosmetic_rehash(treaty_to_present); } // Treaty accepted! Never ask again! return(true); } I am neither particularly strongly "pro" or […]

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Catching up with old friends

Speaking of catching up with old friends, I went to see Mark Kerr in Belfast last Saturday night. Mark and I know each other well from the old fidonet days, and I guess we haven't had much contact since I moved to Banbridge, but it was great to see him and his family again. Part […]

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STEM
Email Latency

Like lots of people who are too hooked into technology for their own good, I tend to receive loads of emails a day, even after the huge quantity of spam is removed. Sometimes it's easy, and fast to respond to a given email. Once in a while I get an email from someone that I […]

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