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"If you, in your office, as an intellectual worker, were supplied with a computer display, backed up by a computer that was alive for you all day, and was instantly responsive to every action you had, how much value could you derive from that?"

This is a demonstration of the original Graphical User Interface, given in San Francisco, by Dough Engelbart, a researcher at Stanford.  What strikes me the most is that we haven't come very far.  In fact, when I first looked at this very simple interface, and the ease with which Engelbart was able to do things, I found myself wishing I had an interface that simple and streamlined.  Look how many mouse clicks it takes him to create a new file.  Now ask yourself how many mouse clicks it takes you to create a new file.  Computer interfaces have gotten bigger, but I'm not sure they've gotten better.

The other thing that struck me is how we're still trying to catch up to some of those original concepts.  Engelbart easily shows how he can create a collection of shopping lists for different stores, and then link each shopping list to a map that shows the location of each store.  Click on each store on the map, and the list shows up.   I dare you to do that with modern computers.  In 1968 Englebert was able to do it with a few clicks.

Welcome to a double post.  First I talk about how the largest scientific experiment in the world uses Linux, and then I talk about my own personal experiments with getting family members to run Linux.

I like anticipation.  If someone gives me a present early and tells me not to open it until my birthday, I have no trouble complying.  I'll put the wrapped present on display and look at it every day, savoring the feeling.

Maybe that's why I haven't blogged about the Governor of Alaska until now.  I've been savoring the anticipation.

Here we go.

Another under-the-hood improvement to my blog.  This time, integration with my gallery.  Why is this special?  Because now I can link directly to photos in my gallery, like so:

[cpg_imagenormal:2,2004_1010Snowbirds0025.JPG]

Being stuck at home with mono means I get to watch a lot of movies. Here are some notable ones.