-
DW
The same username I have in the rest of the world, except for here, and my gmail, and my Flickr ( Read more... ) -
Mr. Reindeer wants to feel superior
https://github.com/hiddenlotus/inferior-spim - An emacs inferior mode for spim
(Also, apparently spim is still around and in use, to the point where people are writing new Emacs modes for it?) -
Cameras and transit
The past decade in Boston transit has seen a massive increase in the number of CCTV cameras deployed around the MBTA system. Several are seen in most rapid transit stations, newer buses have several apiece (and a video monitor showing you what's being recorded), and the monitoring stations are consciously placed in places like the South Station ( Read more... ) -
What happens if wages change fundamentally?
Let's say, hypothetically, that Bernie Sanders wins the election, and even more hypothetically, pushes through national single-payer health insurance and a corresponding IRC change that employer-provided health insurance is no longer a deduction. This of course causes massive upheaval in the health insurance industry; but what effect does it have ( Read more... ) -
Useless observations on Fitchburg line (Porter Square) resignaling
(0) They removed the signal behind the Market Basket, and changed the area between Sherman St. and Alewife Brook Parkway to no longer be a signaled junction, which affects what the signal at Porter can show ( Read more... ) -
Modular model railroad benchwork
I've been thinking about starting the model railroad thing over again (having given away the previous half-finished layout in the renovation move). One of the things I want to do differently this time around is build it in modules that I can take apart and put away somewhere, or rearrange to really take over the basement, or whatever else, and ( Read more... ) -
Second impressions of Go
Go is the new trendy programming language. In style it's kind of a backwards C, with an interesting amount of object-oriented features baked in. You can definitely get things done in Go, especially if you're not trying to interface to legacy systems ( Read more... ) -
Balanced budgets and demagoguery
My father and I self-identify on opposite ends of the political spectrum. This doesn't preclude reasonable political conversations: "here's how the recent T review was a debacle"; "you clearly aren't a Sanders supporter and Trump is a nut job, so which of the 732 Republican candidates do you support?" It seems like we agree on the fundamentals of ( Read more... ) -
Musing on museums
Last month's Asia trip included a couple of museums: the Shanghai railway museum, the Mint Museum of Toys in Singapore, and the Singapore World War II museum Reflections at Bukit Chandu. This leaves me with a much better sense of what I appreciate in museums: they should be able to tell me some consistent story that I can appreciate and put in ( Read more... ) -
Getting around in China
As noted elsewhere, I've just gotten back from a week in Shanghai and a week in Singapore. Both of these trips were very urban; the Zhujiajiao expedition involved a guide and a driver and two and a half hours (with traffic, both ways) in a car but otherwise we were on our own two feet and the rails.
( The Shanghai subway )