linda, did you throw a birthday party for john kerry? i think you forgot the purel.

The Windows XP/8.1 debacle calls to mind the Wordstar/Wordstar 2000 debacle of the mid-eighties.

Unfamiliar with Wordstar? Exactly my point.

Wordstar ruled the word processor market in the early personal computer market. They weren't just the leader, they were everywhere. The UI was stupid and clunky, but people got used to it. When people in a business setting got a new personal computer, the package they got was: IBM PC (or equivalent); DOS (from IBM, Microsoft or Digital Research), Lotus 1-2-3, a Herculese graphics card, an Epson printer, and Wordstar. Interesting list. How many of those companies are still relevant in the personal computer market?

Wordstar decided to dump their product and move on to new technology: Wordstar 2000. This was not an evolution. New UI. New, incompatible file formats. And get this -- it's really better if you just get a whole new, more powerful computer to run this software.

Microsoft, unlike Wordstar, will survive, but they have thoroughly fucked themselves. Windows 8.1 is the Wordstar 2000 of the twenty-teens.

Adding: "Well, if I got to switch to something unfamiliar and incompatible anyway, what are the other alternatives?" That's the essense of the self-destruction of this sort of move.

In the starting your day off with a bang department (could have been the safe driving thread, but…) Shortly after dawn yesterday, as I was entering Calvert Vaux Park along the Belt Parkway at Bay 44^th St, a car came skidding over a rise in the Parkway, smashed through the guardrail, rolled over a few times, and came to rest on the grass strip between the highway and the service road, no more than fifteen yards from me. There were flames coming from under the hood, and I immediately dialed 911. As I was calling, the driver popped out and ran clear as the fire spread. Before I could explain everything to the 911 operator, an emergency vehicle was on the scene, followed quickly by a couple of police cars; they questioned the driver, who indicated that no one was trapped in the car, which was now entirely engulfed in fire. I moved on, but judging by the duration of the column of smoke, the fire was quickly extinguished. When I passed the spot on the way home there was little evidence beyond the crumpled guardrail, a few pieces of debris, and a small charred spot on the grass. In protest of the cultural trend towards substituting documentation for experience, I did not take any photos. 

Great meal at Gramercy Tavern!!

kind of interesting. the etymology of the name "louis."

Clovis is important in the historiography of the French Republic as "the first king of what would become France".^[4] His name, a Germanic name composed of the elements hlod "fame" and wig "combat", is the origin of the later French given name Louis, borne by 18 kings of France.

rice balls

stevedo, i need your sardine breakfast of champions recipe, please. i need more iron.

NYC friends, BUOY will be playing at the Queens World Film Festival on March 6th, 3pm. Click the green button on this page to purchase tickets.
I will be doing a Q/A after the movie and hope to see you and hang out.

More tacky laurels for the poster -  just got word that Tina Holmes has been nominated for the festival's Best Female Actor award for her role in the movie.

season two of the americans starts tomorrow on fx.

personal libraries library in portland  ...recreates and reconsiders the personal libraries of artists, philosophers, scientists, writers and other thinkers & makers.

who ya gonna call? not harold ramis, hes dead. (if this is crass (and it is), he only has himself to blame!)

This sets a record for me, at my mom's BDParty last nite....14.2 degree alcohol!!

BigRep One 3D printer. Has a build volume of 45 x 39 x 47 inches (46 cubic feet.) At $39,000 it's not cheap, but kind of sort of in reach for something that can actually print usable stuff. Like furniture. I thought Bill might be interested (and/or alarmed at the final output.)