Tag Archives: Furious Ben

Furious Ben TCBing It

Despite having written the worst blog post in the blogosphere, Furious Ben has been on fire with some outstandingly interesting posts and series.

I liked this personal tale of slugging, something that is fairly well known around here but I don’t know anyone who has actually done it–probably because I don’t know anyone that lives in the middle of nowhere.

My favorite, though, is the evolution in his workspace. Ben has moved from the standard sitting type work environment to one where he is walking on a treadmill while working. The posts are short and interesting so make your way through; I think I missed some but you get the idea:

  1. Standing: the plan
  2. Standing while working: first impressions
  3. Standing not getting tiring
  4. Standing is working out
  5. Minor rearrangement of furniture
  6. Ben takes his first steps
  7. Being productive with work and walk

Rock ‘n’ Roll And Property

Ben pointed out this Marketplace clip by Ian Svenonious, who DC hipsters will know as the lead singer in the bands The Make-Up and Weird War.

In it, Svenonious explores property’s relationship to music, particularly contrasting rock ‘n’ roll with electroclash and what he calls the “semi-acoustic psychedelic folk revival.” He begins by arguing that Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan’s policy of low, low interest rates caused property prices to dramatically appreciate and, therefore, push low-income people into cramped quarters. To deal with constraints imposed by space and neighbors, the noisiness and size of bands (compared to rock ‘n’ roll) declined significantly. Musicians turned to electronic drums to replace drum kits, which are too big for apartments, and bands evolved into groups of one or two only. This downsizing of the rock ‘n’ roll sound can be found, Svenonious argues, in electroclash and the folk revival.
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Making The Switch, Kinda: The Story And Useful Software

In early November I bought my first Apple, a 12 inch PowerBook. The inclusion of a Mac into my computing family is less of a switch and more of a diversity situation, as I am still running machines with Microsoft Windows XP (Pro and Home) and Red Hat Fedora Core 4.

I wanted a laptop so I could work while on the road (a frequent but not usual occurrence), at a coffeeshop, or my backyard. I’m glad I did, but I’m also glad that I have a desktop to compliment the laptop lifestyle.

There are a couple of reasons why I went Apple. One is that I was growing tired of Windows. The desire to spice up my OS life may be a result of the fact that I have primarily used DOS/Windows machines my entire computing life (since mid-1990s), but it was also because I was becoming frustrated with Windows Updates and virus issues. I gave Linux in the forms FC3, FC4, and Ubuntu (The Breezy Badger) a go, but found the hardware problems and update utilities to be both problematic and a hassle.

A second reason why I made the switch was because I wanted to become familiar with OS X. I was promised by several people that interoperability issues were largely solved, although I experienced some basic problems within the last couple of years (on OS 9 machines, however). In particular, ZS’ success and happiness with his switch gave me the extra push to take the plunge (Note: He e-mailed 20051128 to say that he’s having some odd problems).

So far, I am happy. I have had no problems integrating it into my networks (home and work, both of which are Windows dominated) and interoperability issues have been zero, although I have mainly used it for only Web and word processing tasks.
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