, 3 min read
(Disclaimer: I rarely write about politics. One reason for this is is that I’ve become an anarchist over the years. I especially oppose most forms of top-down social programs aiming to forbid individual initiatives.) Stéphane Dion won the Canadian Liberals leadership race. This means he might be…
, 1 min read
Getting KDE running (and running well) under Mac OS X is easy
, 1 min read
Why do people think a noisy user interface is better
, 1 min read
To get KDE running under Mac OS X, the secret is simple fink install bundle-kde-ssl and follow the corresponding instructions on the fink web site. Mostly, you have to just have to type starkde assuming that you have appropriately edited your .xinitrc file. The main problem is that it takes a…
, 1 min read
This is very annoying. Each and every time I install a new machine, the command shell has the beep enabled so that, for every ten keys I press, there is an audible “beep!” Ok, who thinks this is a good default? Why do I want my machine beeping each time I use autocompletion? How is that helping…
, 1 min read
Cool free H323 videoconference software for Macs: xMeeting
, 1 min read
Contrary to what the name suggests, XMeeting is Mac software (and not X Windows software) for videoconferencing. I just tried it tonight to call my friend Martin Brooks at NRC and it worked very well. It even gets around my firewall (NAT) without any problem. Oh? Did I mention it was open source?…
, 2 min read
Using only knowledge gathered based on my previous posts, I’m happy to report that I was able to get XFig running under Mac OS X in less than an hour thanks to the magic of Fink. So far, my most difficult task has been to get used to yet-another-crazy-keyboard-layout and to get my HP Laserjet…
, 1 min read
On video-on-the-web a.k.a. youtube, is going to change teaching!
, 1 min read
My teachers in high school would use lots of short movies. But this was bad as it took up precious time in class, you couldn’t watch it over on your own, the sound was sometimes terrible if you were at the far end of the class, and so on. These days, the technology has improved by leaps and…
, 1 min read
In my we-do-not-have-strong-AI-yet category, I found this juicy quote on slashdot: Investment firms fall over themselves advertising their latest, most esoteric systems,’ said Mr. Lo of M.I.T., who was asked by a $20 billion pension fund to design a neural network. He declined after discovering…
, 1 min read
XFig running on Mac OS X thanks to Fink
, 1 min read
After all the bad mouthing I did over Fink and X11, I got to my office and did this: cp /private/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc ~/.xinitrc chmod +w ~/.xinitrc vim ~/.xinitrc (add . /sw/bin/init.sh as the first line) Then, a bit later, I got this (click to enlarge):
, 10 min read
Update. Since I wrote what follows, I’ve managed to find ways to install X11 and KDE and all my favorite software with minimal pain. So Fink is not broken, but it could be friendlier. Same holds for Apple’s X11. In fact, Fink is an incredibly powerful tool when combined with something like…
, 1 min read
Do not think you have to go to college
, 2 min read
There was a day when books were expensive. Then they became cheaper during the last century. Getting in touch with peers was still expensive for a time, but now, you can call, message and email people very efficiently for next to no money. But lectures were still expensive for a time too. Except…
, 1 min read
As a newcomer to the Apple world, and an avid Linux user, I thought I would share my impressions after a few days. As a disclaimer, I have spent too much time in meetings this week to actually get to know MacOS X in details, but still… Apple has done a good job at capturing the best of Unix and…
, 4 min read
Today I finally received an Apple MacPro I ordered several months (!!!) ago. I thought I would quickly review my first impressions. The machine is sexy. There is no other word for it. My Linux box looks like a russian car (not insult intended toward the russian folks) in comparison. The machine is…
, 2 min read
Scott asks whether Smart People Dumb? He tells the tale of when he joined Mensa and found out that, while these people have high IQ, they may not be the winners you expect them to be: It turns out that the people who join Mensa and attend meetings are, on average, not successful titans of…
, 1 min read
In vitro kids are smarter