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3D Birds
My laptop’s disk crashed while I was away. I’ve reformatted the disk, reinstalled an old OS I had actual CDs for, restored my files from backup, and ordered a new laptop. What a pain. I was enjoying watching birds flying. I’m not a bird-watcher at all, and all I know about these is that they…
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Defense of Marriage
In November California will vote on whether to overturn the state court’s decision to permit homosexual marriage. I personally will vote to support the court, against the proposal. However, I think the whole issue is basically a mistake. The government should not be in the business of legitimizing marriage. Currently marriage comes with a set…
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Abolish Syntax
Although I can’t find it now, I think it was Dan Bernstein who said somewhere that programs should avoid syntax when possible. Using syntax means permitting syntax errors. Avoiding syntax means making syntax errors impossible. Even if it wasn’t Bernstein who said this, you can see the idea in action in things like his tinydns…
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Raising Meat
I’m a vegetarian for moral reasons. Animals raised for meat in this country are in general treated horribly (I think every meat eater should have some familiarity with factory farming of animals, since I think one should understand the consequences of a lifestyle one chooses). One question I’m occasionally asked is: is it OK to…
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Tae Kwon Do
My daughter, who is six years old, recently earned her yellow belt in tae kwon do. I practiced tae kwon do for eight years, stopping about fifteen years ago with a second degree black belt. I didn’t encourage my daughter to take it up, but she knew that I had done it in the past…