Nathan attended his second reenactment this weekend and he did great.  Part of it is that he's an easy-going guy who likes people (and they like him).  Part of it is I think the open spaces and fresh air are good for him (especially since he's growing up in a large city - something I never had to do).  Part of it is that reenacting is fun.  And part of it is our wonderful Camp Mom Judy and her daughter Rebecca, both of whom spent a lot of time watching Nathan so Daddy could go lead troops in drill and battle.  Big thanks to both Adams girls.

I was cleaning out my smartphone and came across these old videos of Nathan:

I just posted a couple new photos of Nathan.

I've been slowly making my way through Ulysses, a process that has already taken several years.  As I go, I've been writing down my favorite quotes, of which there are many.  Here's an updated list:

–Oh, my name for you is the best: Kinch, the knifeblade.

–Lend us a loan of your noserag to wipe my razor.

–The snotgreen sea.  The scrotumtightening sea.

–It is a symbol of Irish art.  The cracked lookingglass of a servant.

–The Sassenach wants his morning rashers.

–Dedalus, come down, like a good mosey.

As President Obama announces the end of combat operations in Iraq, let's look at how much Bush's war cost us, compared with the destruction of 9/11. How many Americans did Bush send to their deaths, and how much money did Bush cost us, when compared with Osama Bin Laden?

Cost to America:

Author's note: This article was originally published on the website for the 69th NYSV, Co. B.  Reprinted by permission.

I was raised believing that Irish immigration to the New World was due to the Irish potato famine in the 1840's.  This was a lie.  There was no famine; the starvation of the Irish people was caused by the British as a form of genocide.  Does that sound harsh?  Read on.

I remember the early "dot-com" days in 1999 and 2000.  It was an exciting time, and as a college student I had front row seats: a new computer, high speed internet access, plenty of free time, and surrounded by fellow students with a loose set of morals, especially when it came to things like pirating mp3's.  No one really knew what the internet would turn into.  One very popular technology was Voice Over Internet Protocol, or VOIP.  Back then, it meant a website with a telephone keypad that let us make free long distance calls.  (Back when that was also a big deal.)

I just played one of the most fun games I've experienced in a long time.  It's only half finished, it's open source, and they want you to subscribe to a subversion repository.
My relationship with SVN is similar to the Republicans' relationship with public health care.  Not friendly.  So, I found someone who maintains their own Ubuntu-compatible repo for the game.  It took about five minutes to download and install.  The interface isn't terribly intuitive and there's no tutorial, but I managed to start a new single-player game.

A new Op-Ed from today's NY Times attacks the "locovore" movement--people who want to eat locally so that their food has a smaller "carbon footprint" because it hasn't been trucked across the country.

Off the bat, here are several problems I see with his argument:

Sadly, there is no incentive any more to write clean code.  So it was with a special, old-school thrill that I had a "hacker moment" earlier today.