shawnbaden

Wallace Stegner, 1983:

"National parks are the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst."

Source: https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/hisnps/npsthinking/famousquo...

If you are interested in an IBM Model M I recommend the Unicomp UB4044A (http://www.pckeyboard.com/page/product/UB4044A). It's a IBM Model M with USB. I bought one over a decade ago (build date 4/20/2007).

Also, Ars Technica updated the URL date in this story. The original URL is http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/11/why-i-use-a-20-year-o... and it redirects to the 2018 link here.

I’m surprised no one has mentioned Hal Lasko (The Pixel Painter). Hal started using Microsoft Paint when he got a computer on his 85th birthday until his death at 99 in 2014. He made some great looking art bit by bit.

https://vimeo.com/70748579 - The Pixel Painter

https://hallasko.com/

This reminded me of a passage on pilot checklists from The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande:

> Commercial pilots have been using checklists for decades. Gawande traces this back to a fly-off at Wright Field, Ohio, in 1935, when the Army Air Force was choosing its new bomber. Boeing's entry, the B-17, would later be built by the thousands, but on that first flight it took off, stalled, crashed and burned. The new airplane was complicated, and the pilot, who was highly experienced, had forgotten a routine step. > > From http://old.seattletimes.com/html/books/2010737113_br08checkl...

I can’t help but think having such autonomy is tied to profitability. I’m sure there are plenty of examples where an employee at a profitable company doesn’t have autonomy. But how many have autonomy where there's not profitability?

This applies to any job: work where what you do is the core discipline. At a law firm, be a lawyer. At a medical practice, be a doctor. As a software engineer, work at a company where software is the product. Don’t write software at an insurance company and expect job satisfaction. At such companies software engineers are seen as replaceable.

Another option: work where what you do is largely represented by upper management. They make the decisions and if they worked in your discipline they will empathize with you, defend you, and promote you.

I was reminded of this (http://techland.time.com/2012/04/02/25-years-of-ibms-os2-the...) when OS/2 turned 25 in 2012. So this year marks its 30th anniversary.

From page 3:

> In New York City’s subway system, for instance, the travelers who gain entrance by swiping their MetroCards over 5 million times each weekday do so with the assistance of IBM’s theoretically defunct software.

Great work. Followed your Instagram.

It appears as early as 1923 but is not cited.

http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/he_w...

Not unprecedented. They skipped Office 13.

I believe Tim Ferriss said he wrote his first book entirely in Evernote but now raves (with others) about Scrivener.

Keep up the good work.

Have the trip details (like route) been released yet? Is he only stopping at Supercharger location? I'd like to meet him and follow along a while. I'm not a stalker. Really. :)

Most 'normal' people already give electric vehicles a cynical eye. The people who already believe in them don't need more convincing. The cynics need convincing. A breakdown will only make them think "I knew it" while a successful trip will at least add one more argument against their cynicism. Not much of a gamble in my opinion.

I've been using a UNICOMP UB4044A (http://pckeyboard.com/page/UKBD/UB4044A) since mid 2007 and it. is. fantastic. I love the tactile feedback from the keys. My co-workers even find the noise from the buckling springs comforting when I'm typing fast and furious knowing that work is getting done. I highly recommend it at $80.

Gull-wing doors are a smart move, sales wise. They give you the exotic feel. But I'm concerned with them in practice. Since no height specification is given, I used this image as a reference to determine the height of the Model X with the doors fully open.

http://www.teslamotors.com/sites/default/files/bg_03_falconw...

The Model S is 56.5" tall. So assuming the above image is to scale and my math is correct, the Model X is 85.65" tall with doors fully open.

85" tall... For reference, a Ford F-150 is 75" tall (http://www.ford.com/trucks/f150/specifications/exterior/) and a Ford F-250 is 79.8" (http://www.ford.com/trucks/superduty/specifications/exterior...) in the worst case.

Granted, most Tesla buyers are not average people with average-sized garages. But still, that's tall.

There's a reason more cars don't have gull-wing doors. They aren't practical for a lot of spaces.

And yes, I did see the in-garage-with-doors-open image.

http://www.teslamotors.com/sites/default/files/bg_04_garage_...

From what I've read the one exception to this rule is stretching the hip flexors will actually improve your vertical jump.

I think Telltale Games is the current version of the old LucasArts we all feel nostalgic for.

I'm in agreement with you on this. OUYA has proven to be very receptive to community feedback so it's good to voice concerns. It has a good chance of being reassessed.

Admittedly not a MB expert but I was referring to the W203 2000 - 2006 C230 hatchback, aka Sports Coupe. Generally not well-loved for legitimate reasons.

EV needs to 1) deliver the same features, performance, and convenience as current vehicles at a comparable price or 2) deliver considerable more than current vehicles to just an increased price.

It's good to see a luxury car maker introduce an EV and the Mercedes-Benz name will certainly lend itself to sales but the B-class is a weak offering for the U.S. market. Luxury hatches have never been a good seller here and any measure of success has been with performance-related models, which this isn't. I suspect the thinking at Mercedes-Benz was the U.S. has no frame of reference in the B-Class so introducing an EV model is safe bet. I don't see this selling well because it will likely be down on luxury relative to other MB cars (see previous C230 hatchback failure) and also down on performance (again, compared to other MB cars). Vague numbers like zero to 60 MPH in "considerably less than 10 seconds" is never a good sign.

Already mentioned and it's a minor point, but regarding putting files into the database... When I worked at MS on SharePoint, we actually transitioned from storing files on the file system (Windows) in V1 to storing files in the database (SQL) in V2 for performance reasons. For a system that works with lots of files, the file system isn't the place. If it's static content, send 'em to a CDN. If it's active content, put 'em in a database for the reasons Dave mentioned (concurrency, write speed).

+1 on first Google service shutdown that impacts me. I use Reader daily.

I feel the same way. I left when I saw pricing wasn't available until I signed in via Twitter.

I'm ignoring the core issue here but I just want to say:

SEALAND IS AWESOME

The location and structure itself I mean. What a sweet pad that'd be. Sure, it makes no sense from an economical standpoint. Or if you value safety. Or any logical reason really. But it's awesome.

That is all.

Nokia should go all in on Windows Phone.

Breaking into the automotive industry is tough. Tesla (or any new manufacturer) should expect to slog along for 10+ years before seeing any significant sales and impact.

Too bad they didn't roll out a funeral procession like they did for the iPhone when Windows Phone launched...

Looks like a great way to make it ON the list.

Nice interface.

One suggestion: make the instructions stand out more. I was drawn to the hourly rate selector and then immediately began scrolling down the page. You might repeat the instructions in the footer and even move the hourly rate selector there.

Good work.