Category Archives: technology

FB Recap: Social Media and the Body Politic

Posted on 2020 March 25 by mongreldogs

originally posted on Facebook on 2018 March 25 Here’s the thing. This week we’ve learned about massive breaches of trust and the evils that the superconnected Internet can bring. But we’ve also seen truly inspiring and uplifting photos that speak … Continue reading →

Posted in Health of the Republic, politics, technology | Leave a comment

Facetious blueprint

Posted on 2017 July 14 by mongreldogs

An AI researcher (Kai-Fu Lee) has written an article (“A Blueprint for Coexistence with Artificial Intelligence“) that fails at its own goal, spectacularly.  He assures us we need not end up in the dystopias so common in movies and literature. … Continue reading →

Posted in personal, philosophy, technology | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Looking for hive mind help on a course

Posted on 2017 July 11 by mongreldogs

Actually, on two courses.  The school I’m at (Newark Academy) ends the year with a nine-day “June Term”, wherein students take one class for six hours a day.  June Term classes are supposed to be experiential and rigorous, and maybe a … Continue reading →

Posted in science, science fiction, teaching, technology | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Review: Agents of SHIELD season finale

Posted on 2015 July 16 by mongreldogs

I caught up on the end of the season for Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD.  (Yes, it’s that time of summer when I get to catch up on the shows I missed.)  The first season ended with the fallout from Captain America: The … Continue reading →

Posted in review, science fiction, technology | Leave a comment

Miracles and Wonder

Posted on 2013 August 15 by mongreldogs

I just received the Kingston 64 GB USB flash drive shown above.  It holds (duh) 64 gigabytes of data.  I’ve included a US quarter for size comparisons. My first computer was a Commodore-64, for which I had the venerable C1541 … Continue reading →

Posted in personal, ramblings, technology | Tagged | Leave a comment

The buzz about the loop

Posted on 2013 August 14 by mongreldogs

So Elon Musk has revealed his great new intercity transit idea, the HyperLoop.    It would seem the emphasis should be on the first syllable — to wit, HYPE — but I’ll leave engineering analyses to those far more qualified … Continue reading →

Posted in politics, ramblings, science fiction, technology | Leave a comment

Tron: Legacy — soundtrack

Posted on 2011 January 30 by mongreldogs

Being a geek of a certain age, I of course went out to see Tron: Legacy as soon as it opened in the theaters. And being a geek of a certain type, and having listened to Wendy Carlos‘ ethereal soundtrack … Continue reading →

Posted in movie, music, personal, review, technology | Leave a comment

I like programmers with a sense of humor…

Posted on 2010 August 23 by mongreldogs

dropbox is one of my favorite “cloud” utilities.  It keeps a directory synchronized across many computers, allowing remote access and automatic backup.  Whenever you set up dropbox on a new computer, all of the files need to be copied across.  … Continue reading →

Posted in humor, technology | Leave a comment

Review: Metatropolis

Posted on 2010 July 23 by mongreldogs

Metatropolis Edited by Jack Scalzi Rating on an arbitrary 5-point scale: 4 out of 5 Metatropolis is a science fiction anthology exploring, as it claims, the “future of cities”.  That’s not strictly accurate. It’s really a collection of stories that … Continue reading →

Posted in books, review, science fiction, technology | Leave a comment

Why I have no respect for design behaviors at Microsoft

Posted on 2010 June 30 by mongreldogs

I’ve received my new laptop and am working on getting it outfitted and up to speed.  (This process, by the way, is distressingly like moving to a new home and is equally as frustrating and potentially as traumatizing.)  After logging … Continue reading →

Posted in personal, technology | Tagged , , | Leave a comment