The first time I found myself onboard an airplane was when I was 9-10 years old or so. At the time, travelling by myself to visit my aunt who lived on a remote island was a big experience. In particular, I think, the sensation that the environment was managed in the extreme made a big […]
A characteristic of a naive approach to the digital world is the tendency to record and store everything. JustBecauseWeCan. Every photo, every e-mail, every song, every web site ever visited, every acquaintance who ever added you as a friend on some social network, every message you ever received. Somebody, probably an author, termed this the […]
Here’s a general method for synthesising solutions to complex problems, intended for use by people. 1. Enumerate the constraints 2. Find an initial solution that feels right but doesn’t quite work, based on previous knowledge of the domain 3. Use the information contained in the constraints to adjust the solution, so that it works 4. […]
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Posted 25 May 2010
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I thought I’d write a more personal note for a change. It’s been just over a year since I started studying for my Ph.D. — formally, I entered the program in April 2009. With at least two years to go, how do things look with some hindsight? What do I think it means to obtain […]
I just got a new laptop, courtesy of the lab. Naturally, it’s of the fruity kind. One of the first steps: install essential software. I thought I’d make a list of software I consider absolutely essential on any new computer, and it became longer than I thought. General use: NetNewsWire for news reading DropBox for […]