Author Archives: Anton

QotD

Thomas Babington Macaulay, quoted in The Economist Oct.30 p.48 If men are to wait for liberty till they become good and wise in slavery, they may indeed wait forever.

Posted in history, politics | Leave a comment

context counts

headline of the week: Warriors lock up young veterans

Posted in language | Leave a comment

a good notation is a good start

In keying data from handwritten forms, I’m struck by how badly our digits are designed: there are few pairs for which I haven’t seen an ambiguous case. I do write somewhat defensively. I write ‘9’ with a single stroke, like … Continue reading

Posted in language | Leave a comment

of course it leaks

In the basement of the Alameda County courthouse, where I’ve been working, there’s a sign announcing that it’s a felony to bring in weapons including knives longer than four inches. Must be an old sign; nowadays I imagine they’d seize … Continue reading

Posted in security theater | 1 Comment

are they trying to be killfiled?

I’m the gatekeeper for two small mailing-lists. For months now, nearly all the spam submitted to those lists comes from addresses of the form word21word@hotmail.com — e.g. in the latest batch chance21sunbird, church21lorraine, cougars21molly1, pedro21bridge. Why?

Posted in spam | Leave a comment

movies rented recently

Witness for the Prosecution (1957), from a story by Agatha Christie, is of course clever; though the byplay of the convalescent barrister and his nurse is a bit tiresome. South Pacific (1958). I thought I’d enjoy it more. The plot … Continue reading

Posted in cinema | Leave a comment

a party for every taste

For my sins I’m doing data entry at, of all places, the Registrar of Voters for Alameda County — and missing Knuth’s talk on Friday! The software, by the way, is from a subsidiary of Diebold. I thought you might … Continue reading

Posted in politics | 2 Comments