Tag Archives: Tech

Duck Duck Go Becomes Google

Posted on 2022-03-11 by jcs

Most Irreal readers know I’m not—more precisely, no longer—a fan of Google. The usual reason that I give for that is the fact that Google gobbles up as much of our private information as it can. But there’s another reason … Continue reading →

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Derek Sivers on Plain Text

Posted on 2022-03-03 by jcs

A recurring theme at Irreal is the virtue of using plain text wherever you can. To my mind, using a proprietary format makes you complicit in the data loss that will inevitably occur sooner or later. Derek Sivers agrees and … Continue reading →

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An Example of RSS Use

Posted on 2022-02-21 by jcs

Chris Hardie is, like me, a believer in RSS and considers it an important protocol that can be used for more than just following blogs. He considers the example of a municipal website that posts information of concern to its … Continue reading →

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The Year 2038 Problem

Posted on 2022-02-20 by jcs

All of you Unix heads know about the coming Unix apocalypse. On January 19, 2038, the 32-bit Unix time variable will overflow and Unix will suddenly think it’s December 13, 1901. Except, of course, virtually all extant Unix systems now … Continue reading →

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The Bash Bible

Posted on 2022-02-19 by jcs

Years ago I remember reading in Kernighan and Pike’s The Unix Programming Environment a quote about how the shell was very often their preferred programming language: When you’re faced with writing a new program, there’s a natural tendency to start … Continue reading →

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Delivery Robot Traffic Jam

Posted on 2022-02-18 by jcs

One of the reasons I love being in New York City is that you can get virtually any type of food delivered at any time. Tampa is hardly a backwater but pre-covid we didn’t have a robust food delivery infrastructure … Continue reading →

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More on Google’s Poor Search Results

Posted on 2022-02-16 by jcs

Back in January, I wrote about a Twitter thread concerning poor Google search results. The complaint was almost all the results were ads. DKB has a new post that covers the same ground. He says that Google is dying and … Continue reading →

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Kernighan Podcast on Unix and C History

Posted on 2022-02-08 by jcs

Here’s a pointer to another interesting talk by Brian Kernighan. This time, it’s a podcast on Unix and C history. The podcast is with CppCast a series specializing on Cpp matters (of course) but that isn’t afraid to venture into … Continue reading →

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Early Unix at Bell Labs

Posted on 2022-02-01 by jcs

At the 2022 Linux Conference Australia, Brian Kernighan gave a delightful talk on the early days of Unix at Bell Labs. It’s not so much that Kernighan tells us stories that we haven’t heard before but that he puts everything … Continue reading →

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Switching to Android

Posted on 2022-01-31 by jcs

You all know that I’m primarily an Apple person and that I like their hardware and the way their various devices work together more or less seamlessly. Even so, I’m not a Fan Boy and as in most things I’m … Continue reading →

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