The Reader

They hand you a novel and a highlighter. “Mark every sentence that starts with ‘The’.” So you skim.Eyes half-open.Page after page.Mechanical. Mindless.It doesn’t matter what the story’s about—you’re not here for meaning, just patterns. It’s easy. You feel fast. Efficient.Certain. Then they say: “Now mark every line spoken by the main character—but only in Chapter …

Switching Wireless, a Soap Opera

Now that I’ve gotten my Wireless Perceptions guide out of the way, I can mention one of my favorite misconceptions. Myth: “Switch to MUSTANG, it’s faster than MORNINGSIDE.” The observant reader will note that this myth is contradictory to my previous assertions. No right-thinking person would possibly believe that something is slower when it is faster. One wrinkle …

FreeBSD on the Desktop: How much are we giving up?

I’ve been running FreeBSD for awhile now. Looking back at my posts, it appears that I hammed up my Slackware installation right around the turn of the new year so near abouts three-and-a-half months. FreeBSD on the desktop, if you’ve experienced it, is a learning experience. So much that at times I feel like I’m …