MIT Academic Calendar

I created a google calendar for the MIT Academic Calendar. The calendar ID is gtfme9paltu2dfdac81f0p73us@group.calendar.google.com.

If you would like to volunteer to help maintain this calendar, please contact bradley@mit.edu. Originally I was using obpoblff7vffces4ot4g73b02g@group.calendar.google.com, but it's not being maintained, and I don't know how to contact the maintainers.

planetsupertech

I've created planet supertech to aggregate supertech-related blogs.

Fedora 10 on x61s

Recent Fedora 10 updates destabilized my Thinkpad x61s. (Mouse movement would start getting sluggish and eventually the system would freeze.) It's probably something to do with dri in the xserver (and I don't even know what that means :-) I put this into my ~/.drirc, and my machine has been fine. I think the key is vblank_mode.

<driconf>
    <device screen="0" driver="i965">
        <application name="Default">
            <option name="force_s3tc_enable" value="false" />
            <option name="no_rast" value="false" />
            <option name="fthrottle_mode" value="2" />
            <option name="bo_reuse" value="1" />
            <option name="vblank_mode" value="0" />
            <option name="allow_large_textures" value="2" />
        </application>
    </device>
</driconf>

tabook resurfaces

Lenovo moved the thinkpad tabook.pdf to
http://www.lenovo.com/psref/pdf/tabook.pdf
and google has a hard time finding it. The old ftp site run by IBM isn't working anymore.

pc5750 just works under fedora core 10

I installed FC10 on a new disk drive for my Thinkpad x61s, plugged in my pc5750 revA evdo card, clicked "Auto Mobile Broadband (CDMA) connection" in NetworkManager, and it just worked.

No more editing chat scripts or /etc/ppp/peers/ or fiddling around with modprobe or invoking pppd or hacking /etc/resolv.conf (all of which I had to do in FC6 and then in FC8).

Beautiful!

Spot the dangling participle:

PepsiCo, a manufacturer of soda, salty snacks and cereal based in Purchase, N.Y., is among a growing number of companies that hope to get ahead of potential government mandates and curb their energy use as prices and long-term supply grow less certain.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/business/22pepsi.html

tortillas

Later, Steve asked "What's the difference between enchiladas, tacos, burritos, and fajitas?"

I was on a roll by now. I said "Well, an enchilada is a tortilla with stuff in it, whereas a taco is a tortilla with stuff in it..." Alan interrupted "Aren't taco shells hard?" I said "they can be soft tortillas. A Burrito, on the other hand are tortillas with stuff in it." I was starting to giggle uncontrollably. "You must be really tired" quipped Steve. I managed to get out "Fajitas are different. A fajita is a torilla with stuff in it", and almost fell off my chair.