Technologists Notes

Ledward Kaapana often reports “When I was young my uncle Fred [Punahoa] told me you can play slack key in Standard tuning. He said, ‘It’s easy, jus’ press the right strings.’ ‘Jus’ press’ was something he would always tell us when we’d ask him a question. One time when we were playing I asked him, ‘Uncle Fred, what key is this?’ He told me, ‘Boy, no worry what key, jus’ press.'” Led learned by watching and doing what Uncle Fred did.

As I’ve become increasingly enamored with WordPress, I’ve been waiting for this day, the day that WordPress 3 is (finally) ready. As I’ve waited, I’ve also thought of “jus’ press” as analogy appropriate to WordPress, beyond (just) the word “press”.

(more…)

a.k.a. (Google) Docs and other files live in the Sky(Drive)

a.k.a. “This looks great! But how do I use it?” (silence)

Back in the 90s, Larry Ellison and others were positing the feasibility of the “Internet Computer” a.k.a. “Network Computer”, based on “thin client” hardware and ubiquitous network access to servers and services. Though impractical then, computing along those lines is (becoming) practical today.

For those with sufficient  motivation, Google Documents (a.k.a. “Docs”) and (Microsoft) SkyDrive provide enticing capabilities.

(more…)

Today, Blog Action Day cites 10,000 blogs trying to raise awareness of poverty and initiate action amongst 10,000,000 projected readers. They suggest posts consistent with a site’s other topics that address poverty. It’s very late in the day, so probably best to wait to say much, but here’s a start and some seeds for future posts.

(more…)

The other day I discovered that Amazon would conveniently sell me an MP3 of the “Three Stripped Gears” 1931 rendition of “Black Bottom Strut” for $0.89. What a find! I’d been inspired by Mike Seeger’s version for nearly forty years but only knew of the T.S.G. version through Seeger’s liner notes. (I attempted my own recording for the soundtrack for Jack Moore‘s Sandscript in 1975.)

(more…)

In several senses.

In 1997, when  the concept of CSS was in its infancy (see Celebrating 10 Years with Style), I knew I should pay attention. I bought the first edition of Lie and Bos. But for my purposes, CSS wasn’t ready for prime time. Most web people didn’t understand it. Worse, most browsers didn’t implement CSS properly. (Unfortunately, most browsers are still in the “almost good enough” stage with regard to CSS.)

(more…)