Amsterdam, July 20, 1979
Saturday, June 13, 2015
Sunday, February 1, 2015
Uber and the Ongoing Eutrophication of the Middle Class
There were three of us in the early 90s, all fathers of toddlers, hanging out one summer evening in an Ottawa backyard. Mike was on his way to becoming a world-renowned neurophysiologist. Dave was explaining how you could never be bored as an ER doctor, never knowing what the next shift would bring you. I was working with a startup that was helping figure out how HTML and the web could be something more than the next Gopher.
And as happened almost every time, talk turned back ten years to the one things all three of us had in common: our cab-driving days in Vancouver. That sushi restaurant on Powell no one knew about, the ride-and-runs, the big-money nights. Given that undergrad degrees led to scholarships and grad school TA jobs, you could say those three cab-driving jobs helped finance seven university degrees. If you didn't mind the hours, knew the city, and could deal with the occasional belligerent drunk customer, it was a great, low-risk job. At the end of an 11-hour shift you kept half the gross on the meter and all the tips. The owner of the cab got the other half, minus the cost of gas, and of course was responsible for the other costs, like insurance, repairs and maintenance, and even that cab license. If you knew what you were doing and didn't have elaborate tastes, you could make one month's rent on a Friday night, put away the Saturday evening earnings for that month's groceries, and the next few shifts during the less lucrative week would cover everything else.
I haven't ridden in an Uber car. I haven't even seen one, as Vancouver is one of the last jurisdictions to stand up to the company. But I hear reports that the Uber cars are nicer than licensed cabs in most cities, that the drivers are more courteous, the service is better, etc. Could be very true - Uber destroys the decent lower-rung jobs that cab-driving offered and replaces it with a business opportunity. You buy a relatively new car. You're responsible for the maintenance and insurance. You pay the gas. Maybe after Uber pays out your cut of the fares, you're ahead. But this is not an opportunity for a budding scientist. It's more like the kind of business someone with a recent undergrad degree resigns himself to when he can't afford a post-graduate degree, nor find something better to do.
And as happened almost every time, talk turned back ten years to the one things all three of us had in common: our cab-driving days in Vancouver. That sushi restaurant on Powell no one knew about, the ride-and-runs, the big-money nights. Given that undergrad degrees led to scholarships and grad school TA jobs, you could say those three cab-driving jobs helped finance seven university degrees. If you didn't mind the hours, knew the city, and could deal with the occasional belligerent drunk customer, it was a great, low-risk job. At the end of an 11-hour shift you kept half the gross on the meter and all the tips. The owner of the cab got the other half, minus the cost of gas, and of course was responsible for the other costs, like insurance, repairs and maintenance, and even that cab license. If you knew what you were doing and didn't have elaborate tastes, you could make one month's rent on a Friday night, put away the Saturday evening earnings for that month's groceries, and the next few shifts during the less lucrative week would cover everything else.
I haven't ridden in an Uber car. I haven't even seen one, as Vancouver is one of the last jurisdictions to stand up to the company. But I hear reports that the Uber cars are nicer than licensed cabs in most cities, that the drivers are more courteous, the service is better, etc. Could be very true - Uber destroys the decent lower-rung jobs that cab-driving offered and replaces it with a business opportunity. You buy a relatively new car. You're responsible for the maintenance and insurance. You pay the gas. Maybe after Uber pays out your cut of the fares, you're ahead. But this is not an opportunity for a budding scientist. It's more like the kind of business someone with a recent undergrad degree resigns himself to when he can't afford a post-graduate degree, nor find something better to do.
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
You can't make up dialog like this
Overheard at the school uniform store:
50sish woman: I'm looking for khaki pants in size 48.
Clerk (bending down to the lowest shelf): only one pair?
Woman: Yes, and I'll need two polo shirts, size 4X.
Clerk: We only have size 3X, will that do?
Woman: No, we got 4X last year. Could you put two on order?
Clerk: What's the name?
Woman: Herman Finster [name hopefully changed to protect the innocent]
Clerk (looking up something): You bought size 3X last year, will that do?
50sish woman: I'm looking for khaki pants in size 48.
Clerk (bending down to the lowest shelf): only one pair?
Woman: Yes, and I'll need two polo shirts, size 4X.
Clerk: We only have size 3X, will that do?
Woman: No, we got 4X last year. Could you put two on order?
Clerk: What's the name?
Woman: Herman Finster [name hopefully changed to protect the innocent]
Clerk (looking up something): You bought size 3X last year, will that do?
Monday, January 20, 2014
Fixing Ubuntu 2014
A new year, a new machine, and some new fixes needed to make a stock Ubuntu/Unity machine usable. Unfortunately, the steps I worked out in http://all-underscore-one-underscore-word.blogspot.ca/2012/09/fixing-ubuntu.html aren't sufficient. For one thing, when you turn the machine on there's no button to bring up a terminal window. On a Linux box. Because we all know that Ubuntu Linux is going to replace Windows and OSX, right on the desktop, so there's no point catering to the developers.
Thanks, guys.
Here's how I spent an afternoon this year making the system usable again.
1. There's no top-level Application menu, no Terminal icon, no way to start work. So you need to click on the vortex-ilke icon on the top, type "Terminal" in the search bar, and at least get something that will let you interact with the system more deeply than the average subway commuter Canonical seems to think is their typical customer.
Right-click on the launcher icon for the Terminal, and choose "Lock to Launcher"
2. There's now a Mac-like global menu, because separating the menu from the app is so much cooler than doing it the way Windows and all the *ix systems have been doing it since their GUIs came on board some time in the '80s. Apple got it wrong. According to http://lifehacker.com/5887462/how-to-disable-ubuntus-annoying-global-menu-bar this works:
2.1.
3. - 6. I'm just running gnome-panel on login now, and that brings back the top-level menu when I log in with the ubuntu theme. No more fussing around.
7. sudo apt-get install openssh-server
8. sudo apt-get install nfs-common
9. sudo apt-get install gconf-editor
10. Nothing here, just getting back in sync with the previous post.
11. There is no metacity in the new gconf-editor. Our first big loss.
12. It's "81overlayscrollbars" now.
Just as an aside, this process really sucks. It's like everything the industry figured out about UIs in the '70s and '80s has been totally tossed overboard. It's like the designers today look at how their grandparents and pre-kindergarten kids use tech, and they think that's good.
In other words, if you accidentally wipe away your top menu bar, here's how to restore it:
And once again, copy everything over and enjoy the progress.
Thanks, guys.
Here's how I spent an afternoon this year making the system usable again.
1. There's no top-level Application menu, no Terminal icon, no way to start work. So you need to click on the vortex-ilke icon on the top, type "Terminal" in the search bar, and at least get something that will let you interact with the system more deeply than the average subway commuter Canonical seems to think is their typical customer.
Right-click on the launcher icon for the Terminal, and choose "Lock to Launcher"
2. There's now a Mac-like global menu, because separating the menu from the app is so much cooler than doing it the way Windows and all the *ix systems have been doing it since their GUIs came on board some time in the '80s. Apple got it wrong. According to http://lifehacker.com/5887462/how-to-disable-ubuntus-annoying-global-menu-bar this works:
sudo apt-get autoremove appmenu-gtk appmenu-gtk3 appmenu-qt
sudo apt-get autoremove appmenu-{gtk{,3},qt} # if you hate typing
But I didn't see any change. This will need work.2.1.
sudo apt-get remove indicator-appmenu
and reboot.
3. - 6. I'm just running gnome-panel on login now, and that brings back the top-level menu when I log in with the ubuntu theme. No more fussing around.
7. sudo apt-get install openssh-server
8. sudo apt-get install nfs-common
9. sudo apt-get install gconf-editor
10. Nothing here, just getting back in sync with the previous post.
11. There is no metacity in the new gconf-editor. Our first big loss.
12. It's "81overlayscrollbars" now.
Just as an aside, this process really sucks. It's like everything the industry figured out about UIs in the '70s and '80s has been totally tossed overboard. It's like the designers today look at how their grandparents and pre-kindergarten kids use tech, and they think that's good.
In other words, if you accidentally wipe away your top menu bar, here's how to restore it:
dconf reset -f /org/gnome/gnome-panel/
killall gnome-panel 13. sudo apt-get install subversion git mercurial 14. If you can, copy /etc/fstab to your new machine to get the mount points.And once again, copy everything over and enjoy the progress.
Monday, July 1, 2013
Telegraph Avenue: Hear the Music
So I didn't enjoy this book as much as Chabon's two previous novels. I never really bought into his characters, and while I certainly appreciate how the book is a nostalgic view of the 70s from an early 21st-century vantage, it didn't work for me. Maybe because I grew up in a corner of North America basically untouched by blaxpoitation films (Shaft played here, and that could be about it). But his characters' reminiscences about T'challah and Luke Cage were less believable than Jonathan Lethem's take on them in Fortress of Solitude (both authors ignoring the fact that if you were collecting comics in the 70s, the Luke Cages always ended up in the dime piles along with the "horror" comics, Red Sonya, the DC Kirby stuff, and the Atlas "instant collectors' items").
But Telegraph Avenue is much more about the music of those times than the films or comics. It's been a long time since I've taken notes while reading a work of fiction, but I decided to compile the list of the jazz/soul/funk works mentioned in the book (often with the label and publication year), and track as many as possible on YouTube. I skipped the obvious garage sale junk that got a few mentions (like Andy Gibb) as well as the prog rock I realize many brothers were listening to back then, but then, so was I, so no point to point to "Close to the Edge" or "Brain Salad Surgery". Maybe those aren't getting played on your local classic rock station, but they were back when that station was playing those tunes the first time around. With the exception of a few obvious well known jazz albums, most of this music was new to me, and worth discovering. As for the book, I'd easily recommend starting with the Kavalier and Klay, and Yiddish Policemen books. But for fiction looking back at the 70s (and early 80s), I enjoyed Lethem's Chronic City and Fortress of Solitude more than Chabon's. I might as well mention that an acquaintance recently recommended Tom Perrotta's "Little Children". Chabon's prose, even if I wasn't enthralled by the subject material, was a sufficient antidote for Perrotta's ready-for-USA-Today style.
So here's the list in a big honking table. Enjoy. If anyone finds that American Pie by Groove Holmes, please drop a link.
But Telegraph Avenue is much more about the music of those times than the films or comics. It's been a long time since I've taken notes while reading a work of fiction, but I decided to compile the list of the jazz/soul/funk works mentioned in the book (often with the label and publication year), and track as many as possible on YouTube. I skipped the obvious garage sale junk that got a few mentions (like Andy Gibb) as well as the prog rock I realize many brothers were listening to back then, but then, so was I, so no point to point to "Close to the Edge" or "Brain Salad Surgery". Maybe those aren't getting played on your local classic rock station, but they were back when that station was playing those tunes the first time around. With the exception of a few obvious well known jazz albums, most of this music was new to me, and worth discovering. As for the book, I'd easily recommend starting with the Kavalier and Klay, and Yiddish Policemen books. But for fiction looking back at the 70s (and early 80s), I enjoyed Lethem's Chronic City and Fortress of Solitude more than Chabon's. I might as well mention that an acquaintance recently recommended Tom Perrotta's "Little Children". Chabon's prose, even if I wasn't enthralled by the subject material, was a sufficient antidote for Perrotta's ready-for-USA-Today style.
So here's the list in a big honking table. Enjoy. If anyone finds that American Pie by Groove Holmes, please drop a link.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Fixing Ubuntu
Finally moving from Fedora to Ubuntu, I'm baffled at this "Unity" interface. Does all new software assume we're all using tablets and phones? Here's how to get the system back to a developer-friendly desktop system.
- sudo apt-get install gnome-classic-fallback
- sudo apt-get install emacs
- log out
- at the login screen click on the selection knob and choose "Gnome Classic"
- log in
- Applications/System Tools/Preferences/Main Menu
- Remove Emacs from Accessories
- Clear everything from Games
- Alt-Windows-right-click on the top menubar
- Add to Panel...
- Application Launcher...
- Select whatever items you want to have in the menubar
- sudo apt-get install openssh-server
- sudo apt-get install nfs-common
- sudo apt-get install gconf-editor
- gconf-editor
- open apps/metacity/general
- click on "button layout"
- change to "menu:minimize,maximize,close" (same as Windows)
- press OK
- Still in the editor, open apps/metacity/global_keybindings
- right=click on "run_command_terminal", select "Unset key". This lets you use the default binding for Tabhunter in Firefox.
- Now fix those annoying popup scrollbars:
- sudo vim /etc/X11/Xsession.d/80overlayscrollbars
- export LIBOVERLAY_SCROLLBAR=0
- log out and back in
- sudo apt-get install subversion
- cd /mnt && sudo mkdir <nas-endpoint1> <nas-endpoint2> ...
- sudo vim /etc/fstab
- Add entries like this:
- nas:/data/endpoint1 /mnt/endpoint1 nfs rw,hard,intr 0 0
- Restore all your backed up files and get back to work
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Is Firefox causing the sleeping MacBook problem?
There are some things in the tech world I seize on right away, and others I refuse to upgrade on. Firefox 3.6 was one of those I stuck with. I had tried the FF beta, but found its tab handling overbearing, and refused all updates. And then a couple of months ago, Mozilla made Firefox v. 11 a "minor update" for 3.6, and I went through a quiet upgrade. I put up with the tabs, got used to the new interface.
And that was, coincidentally, when the problems started. I'd take out my laptop to write a blog post (or maybe something else), but it wouldn't start. I'd press the start button to wake it out of hibernate mode. Although with a 90% charge, it had no business going there. But then half the time the Mac would go through a full restart. It's a three-year-old MacBook Pro. Not brand new, but shouldn't be entering senility yet.
Yesterday I saw a post on this on a now-forgotten feed. The conclusion was the "check for updates" feature of all programs. The only one I always run that I can think of that does this is Firefox. So I went into Preferences/Updates, chose "Never check for updates", and we'll see if that fixes the problem.
And that was, coincidentally, when the problems started. I'd take out my laptop to write a blog post (or maybe something else), but it wouldn't start. I'd press the start button to wake it out of hibernate mode. Although with a 90% charge, it had no business going there. But then half the time the Mac would go through a full restart. It's a three-year-old MacBook Pro. Not brand new, but shouldn't be entering senility yet.
Yesterday I saw a post on this on a now-forgotten feed. The conclusion was the "check for updates" feature of all programs. The only one I always run that I can think of that does this is Firefox. So I went into Preferences/Updates, chose "Never check for updates", and we'll see if that fixes the problem.
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