…and not in a good way.
Not only does the C standard, ISO/IEC 9899:1999 (E), not specify (or allow the programmer to specify) the direction in which bit fields are allocated in a word, it doesn’t specify (or allow the programmer to specify) what size the complete structure should be. The implementation is allowed to [...]

As I was listening to a story on BBC World Service about Venezuela nationalizing oil production (seizing the private facilities by force if necessary), I couldn’t help but think of Wyatt’s Torch in the novel Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.  Ellis Wyatt developed a new process for shale oil production, which revitalized the Colorado economy, [...]

(updated May 2) WorldNetDaily reported on prefessional cleanup of a broken CFL costing Brandy Bridges of Ellsworth, Maine over $2000 (h/t Slashdot). Thanks to Hans Pufal for posting a comment referencing an article with a link to the EPA fact sheet on mercury in CFLs. It turns out that CFLs contain less [...]

I bought my mother a Canon PowerShot A460 camera, and she really likes it.  It’s a fairly compact 5 megapixel camera, and quite inexpensive.
I’ve had a PowerShot G2 for about five years now, and it’s about time to replace it.  I’d like to get a digital SLR like the Canon Digital Rebel XTi for digital [...]

Yet another 419 scam.  No, there isn’t a lottery for Linux users.  And there aren’t any lotteries that pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to people who have not purchased lottery tickets.  The scammes count on their victims being so dazzled by the idea of winning money as to completely forget common sense.
The reason these [...]

nerdgasm /nûrd-gasm/, noun, a feeling of euphoria brought on by exposure to a new piece of tech gear or software.
Seen in Boing Boing post by Cory Doctorow, referring to student reactions to the Neuros OSD set-top box:
I’ve had a couple of these circulating in my class at USC this semester and some of the students [...]

I mostly use Linux, but on rare ocassions I do have to use Windows. When I bought a new laptop last year, I was annoyed at how much worthless junk (e.g., limited trial versions of software I don’t want) came preinstalled. Apparently I’m not the only person annoyed by how much hassle it [...]

In an email discussion with two friends, criticism was levelled at an organization which has an image of Margaret Sanger on their web site, and it was said that one should “be careful about your ‘heroes’ — Margaret Sanger was a strong proponent of eugenics.” I responded that my list of heros [...]

In Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347 (1967), Justice Douglas gives a concurring opinion in which he expresses serious concern over warrantless wiretaps:
While I join the opinion of the Court, I feel compelled to reply to the separate concurring opinion of my Brother WHITE, which I view as a wholly unwarranted green light [...]

This morning I woke from a nightmare in which I was unable to find my Yukon after shopping at Fry’s Electronics.  At first I thought I just misremembered where I’d parked, but after a friend and I searched the entire parking lot and the surrounding area, I concluded that it was stolen.  Somehow I managed [...]