Author Archives: skierpage

About skierpage

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

How to”sign” documents so you can junk your Fax machine

Posted on 2011-09-12 by skierpage

Fax machines use a terrible scanner to send a grainy image of a page down a phone line, it’s last century’s technology that needs to die. And what is on that page? 99.7% of the time, it is something that … Continue reading →

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movies: recent Woody Allen

Posted on 2011-08-19 by skierpage

Woody Allen’s recent Midnight in Paris is a fun trifle, stroking the audience’s ego with its 1920s Paris fantasy imagined by an intellectually lightweight author. Literally nothing’s at stake in this well-fed easygoing fantasy. It’s an echo of the far … Continue reading →

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music: Little Feat’s Waiting for Columbus

Posted on 2011-08-06 by skierpage

I had this live double album and sold it because I wasn’t that big a fan. But I heard a friend’s copy and had to buy it again. “All That You Dream” has one of the greatest intros ever (video … Continue reading →

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music: Led Zeppelin, conscious bloat versus generosity

Posted on 2011-07-11 by skierpage

This funny moment-by-moment review of a single Led Zeppelin song in concert nails the problem people have with them: “conscious bloat”. But one man’s bloat is another’s inspired riffing. You could just as well label all dance music = mindless repetition, … Continue reading →

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design: the classic Braun watch and similar

Posted on 2011-07-11 by skierpage

The Guardian had a special offer on a handsome Mondaine watch, which reminded me of the watch I wear, which led me to a design article about it and some weird new Braun watches. The AW was designed by Dietrich … Continue reading →

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design: irrational fear of handles

Posted on 2011-06-23 by skierpage

Our kitchen is full of drawers, thus a handsome grid of handles.  Even as we installed it, the trend in modern kitchen design moved on to eliminate the handles altogether, as if you open drawers in your alien autopsy lab … Continue reading →

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software: how Live CDs can close the deal

Posted on 2011-06-09 by skierpage

I tried out the some new operating systems by booting them off a USB flash drive, including Fedora 15. Fedora 15 seemed to work fine on my hardware and looked promising, but it wasn’t dramatically better in a few fumbling … Continue reading →

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art: Deborah Butterfield K.O.s AbEx at ART MRKT

Posted on 2011-05-23 by skierpage

It was interesting to go to ART MRKT and see the work that high-end galleries and organizations pay to present. I couldn’t discern any theme to it all. One gallery was hawking Damien Hirst prints, such as a 2-D diamond-dusted … Continue reading →

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books: sex and science-fiction

Posted on 2011-05-20 by skierpage

Three S.F. books, all going way beyond impersonal characterless scientists in lab coats. Sprawling, very good! 2011-02-20skierpageproduct River of Gods by Ian McDonald ★★★★☆ This does a fantastic job of presenting the foreign culture of Indian nation-states on the brink … Continue reading →

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skiing: an advanced lesson with the master

Posted on 2011-05-02 by skierpage

It’s hard to get better by skiing on your own. Teaching less talented skiers hones your technique, but doesn’t stretch you. So I paid for a private lesson. I’ve wanted a lesson from Elianne “El” Furtney for a decade, but … Continue reading →

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