Out of the Blue

Author: theazureshadow

  • e-Books and the Future

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    theazureshadow
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    Much as the concept of e-readers appeals to me, I haven\’t bought one. One of my biggest complaints about them is that they lack the crispness of the printed page. Fonts that look reasonable on a backlit screen because we expect it seem harsh and ragged on a Kindle. Perhaps by the time e-ink can…

  • Living with an iPhone

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    theazureshadow
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    I was really excited when Mark, the CEO of our startup, asked me to get an iPhone and start delving into the mindset of a smartphone user — the company would pay for it. I have often wondered what it would be like, and now I get to experiment without having to commit myself to…

  • Google Docs Monster

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    theazureshadow
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    I made my first drawing in Google Docs. It\’s nothing much, but I had fun making it….

  • Never Say Never

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    theazureshadow
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    I\’ve got a bet on with Andrew that a particular piece of our code will never get into an infinite loop. The code is intended to generate a unique random string of characters. The only way the loop can happen is if it randomly chooses a preexisting value every time. This seems relatively unlikely, since…

  • Afterglow

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    theazureshadow
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    Seattle is still shining, the towers lit up by sunlight across the Sound. It\’s dusk here at the apartment, but Seattle has a straight shot to the West, past the Olympics. Our view of the Sound is blocked by the hill. We got engagement photos shot in a park there on Queen Anne Hill as…

  • Award Winners

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    theazureshadow
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    I finally finished the last of the novels that have won both the Hugo award and the Nebula award. I have considered someday collecting all of them and putting them on a bookshelf together, but that\’s not generally how I organize my books. Also, it would be problematic since some of the award winning books…

  • Mountainous Thoughts

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    theazureshadow
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    One of the great things about our apartment is that we have an excellent view of Mt. Rainier. On clear days it provides a nice backdrop to the skyscrapers. Even on cloudy days we can often see the snowy lower slopes beneath the overcast. I was wondering to myself why this was possible in Seattle,…

  • Faith in Humanity —

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    theazureshadow
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    Okay, this just pisses me off. At the Arboretum in Seattle, a large park filled with rare trees from around the world, some imbecile came in the night and chopped down a rare south Asian conifer. The tree is worth $10,000 simply because of its rarity: the region it comes from is under significant ecological…

  • Want Google Wave?

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    theazureshadow
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    I have some Google Wave invites left. I\’m happy to present the opportunity for 7 of them to be given out to friends via this blog. The first 7 comments left by people I know will receive them.

  • Engaged!

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    theazureshadow
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    As of October 25th, 2009, Sarah and I are engaged to be married. We proposed to each other early in the morning on a beach on Puget Sound, and exchanged simple hammered bands of sterling silver. This was the culmination of a camping trip to Deception Pass State Park, a beautiful landscape of rugged cliffs…