In 1990, Bob Pease of National Semiconductor published a “design idea” in the June 14, 1990 issue of Electronic Design for the use of a FET for reverse-polarity protection, with the advantage that it will typically have much lower forward voltage drop than a diode.   Pease mentions this on page 164 of his book Troubleshooting [...]

AMD announced last year that they would publish the programming specs for their graphics chips.  Last September they started that, with register-level documentation on several chips.  While that was a good start, today they have made many of their customers who use Linux (and BSD) very happy by publishing the 3D programming specs for the [...]

The DNC ruled that because Florida and Michigan held their primaries earlier than party rules allow, Florida and Michigan delegates will not be allowed to vote at the convention. Apparently the party feels that the voters of those states should be disenfranchised because their representatives broke party rules. Now there’s a big controversy [...]

I’m eating my oatmeal with a fork today.  As was said in The Matrix, “there is no spoon.” At least, not in the break room at work. I was too lazy to go to another floor in search of one.
Reminds me of an outdated joke, that used to be told before 1998:
Why does [...]

I work at a fairly large company, and the cafeterias will let employee put money on their badges to be used for later purchases. I don’t usually do that, but I suppose it’s convenient for people that don’t want to carry cash, since the cafeteria doesn’t accept debit cards. (I think accepting debit [...]

A friend tells me that at his son’s school, it would be a violation of school policy for a student to give valentines only to other students of his or her choice. If any are given, they must be given to the entire class.
So much for the First Amendment right to peaceably assemble. [...]

The people of Bluefields, Nicaraguan have improved their standard of living thanks to bales of cocaine washing ashore. I wonder if they’ve heard the Reverend Horton Heat’s song Bales of Cocaine?

Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. explains that Ron Paul Has Already Won.
Ron Paul is the only “mainstream” candidate I would prefer over Barack Obama, but it seems unlikely that he’ll be able to win the Republican nomination.

Larry’s blog entry links to both a video and a transcript.

Every year I get sick of hearing Valentine’s Day radio ads for jewelry stores. I’m sick of being told that if I don’t buy my sweetheart a diamond, I’m a despicable lowlife schmuck.
A few days ago I heard an ad explaining how a particular jeweler had come up with a way to give your [...]