Random Hacks Site Design

Posted by Eric Fri, 12 Apr 2002 00:00:00 GMT

Random Hacks is my personal news and diary website. The design of Random Hacks is heavily inspired by Dave Winer's Scripting News website, and by his Radio UserLand weblogging product. But although I'm heavily inspired by Dave's work, I've chosen to write my own software. My reasons: long-term compatibility and ease of updating.

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Unix is a zombie

Posted by Eric Fri, 12 Apr 2002 00:00:00 GMT

I have this theory: Unix actually died of chronic obsolescence in the late 70's, but was raised from the dead in a vile demonic pact. Sure, you can throw hand grenades at Unix, but when the smoke clears, all the little parts will still be twitching. In an hour or two, Unix will reassemble itself, and start shuffling towards you again with that blank zombie stare. (And in today's cutthroat operating system market, being undead is probably a survival trait.)

Brunching: Skating thoughts

Posted by Eric Fri, 12 Apr 2002 00:00:00 GMT

Brunching Shuttlecocks: Thoughts from the 2002 U.S. Pairs Figure Skating Championship. I have much the same problem when I try to watch sports.

Brunching: Dark side

Posted by Eric Fri, 12 Apr 2002 00:00:00 GMT

More humor from Brunching Shuttlecocks: Many say that DOS is the dark side, but actually UNIX is more like the dark side: It's less likely to find the one way to destroy your incredibly powerful machine, and more likely to make upper management choke.

Faint Sympathy for the RIAA

Posted by Eric Fri, 12 Apr 2002 00:00:00 GMT

The other day, I was expounding the virtues of Debian GNU/Linux to an acquaintance. "Debain includes thousands of programs, and they're very nicely packaged. You just type in the name of a program, and Debian will download and install it for you."

"Oh," he said, "I used to use the Macintosh, but now I use Windows because I can get all my software for free. I just use Kazaa."