Odd Lots
- Several people have asked me what I think of the Calibre ebook reading, management, sync, and conversion system, and that’s in fact what I’ve been fooling with in recent days. There’s a lot in the package, way more than in any other single ebook reader or manager that I’ve yet seen. A review will follow as time allows.
- I follow this site every day, and I may be a little jaded, but this image (from June 25) made me gasp. (Don’t forget to mouse over it for a guide to what you’re seeing.)
- And if you have any interest in the closest star to Earth, this site should be on your short list.
- From the Words-I-Didn’t-Know-Until-Yesterday Department: Revendication, an old word for “restoration.” Found in Letters from Rome on the Council by “Quirinus” (Acton, Dollinger, and Friedrich), 1870.
- From Jim Strickland comes a pointer to a skin-mag pinup…hold the skin. (C’est si bones…)
- Here’s an interesting list of apps built with FreePascal and Lazarus, an open-source Delphi workalike. I’m going to try some of this stuff, because if it breaks, I may have a fighting chance of fixing it.
- Here’s the best description I’ve yet seen of why broadband in this country is as weak as it is.
- A tie-in with the Shrek movie series has apparently made Vidalia onions this summer’s hot item…with kids. Kids are eating onions like never before, simply because (as they said in the first movie) “ogres are like onions–they have layers!” Dare ya to do the same thing with creamed corn.
- A whole new category of vuvuzela emulator apps is getting lots of online buzz.
Posted in: Odd Lots.
Tagged: astronomy · humor · language · pascal · software
"
Broadband internet connection speeds in the United States are indeed considerably behind the broadband speeds in countries such as Japan. However, Google is applying a lot of pressure in this area and I predict that we may catch up to Japan rather soon. Curiously, where I live (Chattanooga, TN) the electric utility provider (http://www.epb.net/) recently decided to take the situation in to its own hands. They now provide a pure fiber-to-the-home broadband connection (up to 150 Mbps download and 150 Mbps upload if that’s what you want) to any part of the city they provide electric power. Behold, the ultimate Smart Grid: http://www.epb.net/news/news-archive/chattanooga-announces-nations-only-150-mbps-residential-internet-offer/
150 Mbps symmetrical? Good grief! ISPs hate the uplink like they hate little else, and would throttle it back to dialup speeds if they could. (Some try.) That’s a pretty amazing system, and I hope it sets an example for the rest of the country.