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Category Archives: Blog
Python and Leopard
How to fix a messed up $PYTHONPATH environment variable in Mac OSX Leopard.
Tagged osx, python 4 Comments
Plugin-based photography section
I finally got to designing a unified photo gallery which exists independently of the posts. Some photographs are taken from the posts, while others can only be found in the gallery.
Tagged gallery, plugin Leave a comment
u3 and OS X
I never thought that getting a brand-new USB key to work could turn into a configuration nightmare, requiring trips to four separate utilities and two operating systems. This is what happened last week with the SanDisk Cruzer Micro 2GB USB Flash Drive. This USB key uses a SanDisk-developed technology called U3 (obnoxiously marketed with the slogan "It's what's next. It's what's smart.")
Tagged hardware, osx 32 Comments
A exterminatory state of mind
For multiple reasons, I've always been opposed to people attaching historically-charged terms such as "Nazi" to Israeli policy. However, this little gem published on the very popular Israeli news portal ynet (which also maintains an English version) is so dramatic that it made me question the validity of my traditional arguments.
Tagged israel, politics Leave a comment
Guitar Tabs attacked
The assault of corporate copyright on the free circulation of information continues with the recent demand by the National Music Publisher's Association to basically shut down Guitar Tabs, a site which offers free guitar tablatures of popular music. These tablatures are transcribed by passionate lovers and players of music, who listen time and time again to favorite licks and riffs in the hope of figuring out the magic performed by an inspiring guitarist. Peter Allen, the publisher of Guitar Tabs, has posted the letter sent to him by the NMPA which essentially treats as a criminal any ... [Read on]
Tagged drm, politics Leave a comment
Beijing : Weiqi
This is a short clip I shot of two people sitting in a street of Beijing and playing a game of Go (in China, the game is called Weiqi [pronounced, more or less, "way-chee"]). Although originally a Chinese game, Weiqi isn't played very often by Chinese people (it has evolved into its current form after being introduced into Japan). The Chinese seem to prefer Mah-Jong or Chinese Chess and, whenever asked about Weiqi, they dismiss the game as being "much too complicated". I had stopped hoping to see anyone play it until, a few days before leaving China, ... [Read on]
Tagged china, game of go Leave a comment
Cryptome shut down
Information is still sketchy, but it seems that intelligence-related website cryptome.org has been shut down by its Internet Service Provider, Verio (a company owned by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation). The website, which has been given two weeks to find another ISP, has posted a copy of Verio's termination letter.
An article published today on Macworld has been given the inadequate headline "Verio to shut off controversial Web site" (the controversy only concerns the right of individuals to publish material which their governments would prefer keeping secret). Macworld quotes Steve Bellovin, a Columbia University professor, as ... [Read on]
Tagged politics, security Leave a comment
Over the cliff
Probably the most important geopolitical analysis I've read this month: Thelma and Louise Imperialism by Tom Engelhardt.
Tagged politics Leave a comment
A good monster is a dead monster
Most people in the world don't know anything about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Really, anything. It's a fact. For many, the lives and deaths of several million people are nothing more than a daily dose of fragmented TV reports and unintelligible newspaper headlines. The conflict is over a hundred years old; it's persistent, passionate, omnipresent in the public debate and yet unfamiliar and incomprehensible for many. The most disquieting aspect of it is that most of those involved – ... [Read on]
Using timecode in Excel