2024-11-13

Favorite Links

I like pages that have some meat. Ideas. Facts. Data. Here are links to some useful, surprising, and interesting places on the Web.

Fun

KPIG: This fine radio station is the heir to "the format" established by SF Bay Area radio station KFAT in the 70s and early 80s. A truly eclectic mix of Hawaiian music, country music, rock, humor, and folk. It's wonderful fun. You can hear KPIG in the Santa Cruz area, another good reason to go there, or you can listen to it online (subscription required).
IHTFP Online Hack Archive: Hacks through the years at MIT.

"It's a dead language," we used to say.

American Society of Indexers: Bet you didn't know there was an American Society of Indexers. I am glad they're on the job.
The Slot: A spot for copy editors: The late Bill Walsh of the Washington Post has lively remarks on copy editing and proper English. Read and heed.
Lojban: A "logical language" invented by James Cooke Brown, the inventor of the game Careers. (ever play it?)

Most of all I like interesting people. It is a rare privilege to know each of these folks, and their homepages are cool.

Carl Ellison: Carl has been my friend for a long time. We went to high school together in the 50s. Carl introduced me to a group building computers in a suburban basement. Later, I taught him to program. Carl was always interested in cryptography, and is now a recognized expert.
Angus W. Macdonald: Architect, blues musician, and grade school neighbor. He has invented the Am-Cor ferrocement construction system. (Play the video, listen to the blues.)
Peter Neumann: Computer scientist, Multician, bassoonist, and incorrigible punster.
Paul McJones's Home Page: I met Paul when we worked together at Tandem. He's done a lot of great stuff.
Bob Blakley: I met Bob when we worked on the CORBA security spec. He has an interesting blog discussing photography, security, identity, and other things.

Ross Anderson: We have lost one of the best. There are not enough superlatives to describe Ross's intelligence. The third edition of his Security Engineering is available for download as of November 2024.
Jim Gray: Jim interviewed me when I applied to Tandem. It was a privilege to know him and work with him.
Bob Bemer: Fascinating computer history stories from the late "father of ASCII," a former colleague at Honeywell.

When I visited the old Computer Museum in Boston, I felt like I should be one of the exhibits. Maybe that's why I am interested in computer history.

Charles Babbage Institute: Great source for computer history information.
The Computer History Museum: This organization preserves old iron in Mountain View, CA. They even have a Multics machine.
The Autodesk File: John Walker's story of the growth and changes of Autodesk. Check out his free software too; I use his Earth screensaver.
System R: Paul McJones's pages describing one of the earliest relational database systems.

Some tools I use.

Mac OS X: I've been a Mac fan since the mid 80s. With OS X, I get a system that has the usability and consistency of the Mac, and the power of Unix. I reach for the Mac when I want to get something done. There are still weaknesses and missing facilities. I recommend it to family members so they won't worry (much) about viruses. Lately I am using a vintage MacBook Pro, and it has been a nice machine. See For My Friends With Macs.
The Spam Bouncer: I use this procmail script by Catherine Hampton to filter spam out of my mailbox. I installed it on my account at my ISP and set it up to silently discard junk mail. It looks at headers and message content to detect spam, and works great.
GNU Emacs: I have been an Emacs user since 1980. On OS X, I use Aquamacs Emacs. On Linux and FreeBSD, I use whatever Emacs is handy.
Perl: Larry Wall's great useful programming language. Works on Macs, PCs, and Unix.
AeroPress: Great morning coffee from a simple, elegant machine.
ScanCafe: These folks scanned a bunch of slides for me.

Web sites that I use every day.

Things you might like.

Death Wish Piano Movers, Cambridge, MA.: Their motto used to be "No Job Too Scary" but I don't see that there any more. (Wonder what the job was that changed their mind.)