So I've not been very diligent about maintaining a practice here. Luckily, I was pissed off enough yesterday to post something. That's "luckily" for me, not sure about my audience. Not sure I have an audience either, when you come down to it. Oh, I know there are a few of you out there reading this. I'll try to be more cheerful.
Had a technical glitch in the presentation here yesterday, so let me say just a few words about the wonderful people at Eastgate Systems, makers of Tinderbox, one of the most interesting pieces of software I've ever used. And in terms of third-party applications, I think I've been using Tinderbox longer than any other program on my Mac(s). It's now an annual subscription, but I pay every year, and I paid for every upgrade before then. And it's kind of a love-hate relationship, because I struggle with it sometimes. But it's worth it, because nothing else does what it does they way I want to do it. Anyway, I'm digressing again. I couldn't get an acute accent to display properly in Safari yesterday. I posted a question at the Tinderbox Forum and received the proper answer within a very short time. So my thanks to them, the support has always been excellent, and there's an engaged and energetic community around Tinderbox, so you can find help, inspiration or sympathy at almost any time with very little effort.
In other news, spent over a week in Ireland last month. It was wonderful. Weather cooperated, mostly. We got there before the summer throngs, so the touristy things we saw and did had short lines, and traffic was a non-issue. I drove 1,351 kilometers on the wrong side of the road and didn't manage to kill anyone. Suspect there may be one or two wounded side-view mirrors, but not sure. Highways are no big deal. Major roads, not a problem. Cities, a bit challenging.
The scary parts are the narrow country roads with no shoulders and usually up against a stone wall, with a blind curve up ahead. Re-learned something I'd been taught by my dad when I was first learning to drive, just keep your eyes up ahead on your lane. Don't look at the oncoming traffic, don't look at the shoulder of the road. Your eyes start to wander, the car does too. But it was a white-knuckle affair much of the time. End of the day I was exhausted. When I got home, I dreamed about driving in Ireland almost every night for two weeks, which is longer than I spent driving in Ireland. Yes, I'd do it again.
Loved the whole thing. Took 2500 images, but it wasn't a photo trip, so the shots were tourist shots mostly, and we were never out during the "golden hour" so light was never the best. Sturgeon's Law: 90% of everything is crap. So there are 250 shots that may be notionally "not crap," and of those, probably 25 worth sharing. Haven't made that effort yet, because it's kind of intimidating. But I'll get to it.
Beer was cold, contrary to rumor. The Titanic exhibit in Belfast was well worth visiting, I thought. Yes, it is touristy, but it's a compelling story and I thought it was well done. History of Ireland is fascinating. Did a walking tour in Kinsale and learned about Lusitania. Needed some Euros so we hit an ATM, needed some smaller denominations so I stepped into a bookshop and bought the book Dead Wake by Erik Larson, recommended by our tour guide. Read it in the evenings, winding down from the day's drive, finished it as we landed in Jacksonville. Just an amazing story. Recommended. Also dreamed about submarines for the first two weeks home.
People were wonderful. Food was great. Important pro tip: Diesel pump nozzles are black in Ireland, not green. Word to the wise. Not covered by insurance. We dodged that bullet. Barely. Visa doesn't extend car rental insurance to Ireland or Israel. Found that out when we arrived. Thanks, USAA. Not. Had a gig of data from AT&T on their Passport program thing. Used probably 650MB, mostly mapping and some web and mail stuff, probably 9 days in the country. Seemed about the right amount.
The cap to my Apple Pencil Lightning connector is probably stuck to the leg of a metal table in the Dublin airport. You go through security twice. Ireland's first, TSA second. Ireland relies on icons to tell you what must come out of your bag. Laptops look like laptops, not tablets, but tablets must come out too. All this investment in universal literacy and we can't use words. I'm really not impressed with the 21st Century. So, hurriedly pulling out my 12" iPad Pro from my backpack, I knocked the pencil out of its little holder. Hit the deck, and so there's Dave on his hands and knees holding up the line. I hate being "that guy." Found the pencil, abandoned the cap and renewed my disdain for security theater.
Anyway, that was Ireland. You should go.
I'd brought along Bootstrapping, the book about Doug Englebart and the history of personal computing, but Lusitania swept me away. I'm back reading it now. More on that in a later post.
That's probably enough for now. I'm playing with old computers, reading about the early vision of computing by some of the major players back then.
Sad to see how it all worked out, I think. Maybe I'm wrong. History will judge.
Until next time...
