OddThinking

My recent entry condemning unresponsive applications took me a long time to write. I knew I was frustrated with unexpected software slowness, but I couldn’t put my finger on why.

I realise now that I was confounding three separate problems: Unresponsiveness, Unexpected CPU Hogs and Outstaying Their Welcome.

In which I continue to bitch about the Samsung D600 – but particularly about the PC calendar synching software that is bundled with it.

I once found myself performing a cold-reading. It was an interesting experience, but I was left feeling uncomfortable.

To: All of the airline passengers of the world.
Re: Baggage Collection, Process Clarification

Dear Fellow Passenger,

The following instruction is simple, and should be carried out with immediate effect.

I examine the causes of poor business presentations, and then evaluate Edward Tufte’s criticism of PowerPoint.

(Note to casual readers: This is a long (6000 word) essay!)

Last Thursday, the Australian Treasurer, Peter Costello, made a speech, titled “Worth Promoting, Worth Defending: Australian Citizenship, what it means and how to nurture it.” I found the speech to be disappointing and mildly terrifying.

The thesis of the speech is that immigrants who come to Australia and become citizens should be sure to adopt Australian beliefs and values. If they don’t (and they are still citizens of another nation) they should have their Australian citizenship revoked.

I think there were several flaws in his argument, and I am annoyed enough to want to address them here.

An anonymous war-story about the dangers of relying on GNU Privacy Guard to protect your anonymity as well as your privacy.

An Open Letter to the WordPress Architect about an issue that I have found.

I don’t mind the English language evolving; I just wish we could focus our attention…

I don’t have an author photo here for a several reasons.