Author Archives: skierpage

About skierpage

As you might guess, my site is mine. My Schema.org info is at .

cars: genuine excellence vs. milking the ultra-rich

Posted on 2021-06-15 by skierpage

zOMG, the 25th McLaren F1 built with only 242 miles on the clock, including the luggage, the watch, the magnesium toolkit, … Moooo… Back in 1995 McLaren built a jaw-dropping advance on any production car and most race cars for … Continue reading →

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software: I can’t share what I see

Posted on 2021-05-26 by skierpage

I’ve now found two visuals that utterly defeat Google’s Android Camera AI: dim saturated orange sky at midday due to particulates high in the atmosphere from distant fires, and a lunar eclipse. Right now the Super Blood Flower Lunar Eclipse … Continue reading →

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books: good non-fiction

Posted on 2021-05-17 by skierpage

Some non-fiction books that I read on paper. I sometimes wish this stuff was more interactive, even beyond a Kindle. I want to read words (15-minute YouTube videos entertain more than instruct!) and have easier access to the particular things … Continue reading →

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design: buttons barred, suit yourself

Posted on 2021-05-13 by skierpage

When I had Perry’s of Bangkok tailor a suit for me (in a very different time and place!), I knew I didn’t want that anachronistic row of buttons on the jacket sleeves. They used to work: I had a science … Continue reading →

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computers: bye to desktop

Posted on 2021-04-30 by skierpage

I realized I hadn’t powered on my old desktop PC for years. It’s an HP Pavilion I bought second-hand for $100 a decade ago, which had more features than my custom-built $3000 Falcon Northwest aluminum behemoth from 2004. I upgraded … Continue reading →

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music: digitization and the Internet changed music, the Web didn’t

Posted on 2021-04-13 by skierpage

Videos-about-music maker Rick Beato made a stimulating video of “TOP 20 Inventions that CHANGED Music.” It’s entertaining and a pretty good list. Digitization! He left out the underlying technique of digitization. Without it, inventions he mentioned like CDs, PC music, … Continue reading →

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playing Pong with your mind vs. William Gibson

Posted on 2021-04-12 by skierpage

Ars Technica has an appropriately level-headed article about Elon Musk’s Neuralink company getting a monkey to play Pong with its mind, which reminds people of William Gibson: the old Cyberpunk fan in me dreams of cyberdecks: devices without screens or … Continue reading →

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books: William Gibson flashes of excellence

Posted on 2021-02-27 by skierpage

Early William Gibson is so white-hot, not just the fantastic Sprawl series (Neuromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive) but also his short stories, adaptations, and explorations. My 30-year-old web page captures all his output back then, including the rarities. It’s … Continue reading →

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Would aliens understand human music?

Posted on 2021-02-21 by skierpage

Listening to YouTube videos in which people get OpenAI Jukebox to continue songs, one is struck by how weird some of its flights of fancy are. Someone wondered what aliens would make of its attempts to make human music: imagine … Continue reading →

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eco: energy storage is hard, gravity storage as a game

Posted on 2021-02-18 by skierpage

How much energy does it take to raise 1 tonne 100 meters into the air (the height of a 23 story building)
⟶ 1 tonne * gravity * 100 meters = 0.27240694 kWh… 1/4 of a kWh doesn’t look like the path to riches! Continue reading →

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