clock — watching time, the only true currency

A journal from John B. Roberts

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Entries from February 2007

Nice to see an empty Tank now and again

February 26th, 2007 · 2 Comments

I just spent 20+ minutes voting on submissions at PhishTank, and I got to the end. Meaning, I voted on all the currently online, unverified submissions.
In case you’ve haven’t reached this (temporary) nirvana, feast your eyes. Click the thumbnail for a larger version.

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Tags: Everything · PhishTank

Intelligence gives way to wisdom

February 23rd, 2007 · No Comments

Paul Graham has another essay posted: “Is It Worth Being Wise?”
The path to wisdom is through discipline, and the path to intelligence through carefully selected self-indulgence.
When I was competing as an athlete over a decade ago, I was pursuing “intelligence,” in Graham’s definiton of being able to do very few things exceptionally well. Knowing that [...]

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Tags: Everything · Measurement

Explaining OpenDNS for television

February 22nd, 2007 · No Comments

On Tuesday afternoon, KPIX, the local San Francisco/Bay Area CBS affiliate ran a ConsumerWatch segment called “Faster Internet For Free?” They didn’t need the question mark, because this was about OpenDNS. (Yes, I’m biased.) It was a good description of DNS, which isn’t easy for a non-technical audience. Kudos to Allison for convincing the CBS [...]

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Tags: DNS · Everything · OpenDNS · San Francisco · Television

New printer is a Brother

February 22nd, 2007 · No Comments

I mentioned the previous printer’s untimely failure. It’s been replaced. Did some research online, but the real part of the process was seeing what Office Max had in stock, then coming home and doing some research, and then blitzing into the store to make the pick.
I wanted the Brother HL 2040, but the only one [...]

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Tags: Everything · Tech

Movie: Wordplay

February 22nd, 2007 · 4 Comments

Unlike several family members, I no longer do the New York Times crossword puzzle on a regular basis. But I’ve been an intermittent member of the cruciverbalist cult, so Wordplay was a must-see. (Albeit on DVD.) And it is a great movie.
Will Shortz is the focal point of the film, since his life-long focus on [...]

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Tags: Books · Everything · Movies · The Atlantic

Time for a new printer

February 15th, 2007 · 1 Comment

For some unknown reason, our HP LaserJet 1200 died last night. Frustrating, and unexpected. Any recommendations?
Specs needed are: black and white laser output, reasonable footprint, and possibly scanning/faxing. Would be great to free up the shelf which holds the rarely used fax machine.
I’ll do some research, starting at CNET, but I really don’t care enough [...]

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Tags: Everything

I want a Wii

February 15th, 2007 · 1 Comment

I’ve avoided video games for years now. I spend plenty of time (understatement) in front of computers, so amusing myself with more screen time hasn’t felt like the answer. Since a short dalliance with Marathon (early FPS on the Mac in the mid/late 1990s), I’ve been almost cold turkey. But the drumbeat of praise for [...]

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Tags: Everything

Being part of the experiment

February 15th, 2007 · No Comments

When I met Matt for lunch, I didn’t realize we’d wrap up with podcast #7. Apologies for the sound. Matt’s looking for a better device. Being outside the restaurant, on Mission Street, didn’t help. But this was fun all the same.

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Tags: DNS · Everything · Formats · OpenDNS · Podcast

Moving my exercise posts to WeEndure.com

February 11th, 2007 · 1 Comment

Since Dennis finds it useful, and assures me I can get my data out, I’m going to move my exercise notes to We Endure. That will clean out some of the “noise” here at clock. Until I put a badge on this blog, you can follow my “progress” on my user page. No more exercise [...]

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Tags: Blog management · Everything · Exercise

Book: Broken Angels

February 11th, 2007 · No Comments

Richard Morgan spins Takeshi Kovacs into another world, this time a world at war, in Broken Angels.
Where Altered Carbon felt more Philip K. Dick meets Raymond Chandler, Broken Angels feels more like the movie Alien meets a really violent Indiana Jones tale set thousands of years in the future. For Morgan, though, the menace is [...]

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Tags: Books · Everything · Science fiction