Best $0.99 I ever spent

This little baby slices right through even the most irritatingly resistive CD wrappers.

You push the CD edge into the little thing under the "tower.com," and it exposes a little knife that rips right through everything.

Push it hard, and ENJOY

A problem in Google-based historical tech etymology

Locate the first online use of the term distro, referring to a version of a software distribution.

I don't think I had ever heard the term, up to 1995 or so. But I'm no expert. The Google groups may be the place to start

Scared of Santa photo gallery

link

Symmetry 454

The Symmetry454 Calendar is a perpetual solar calendar that conserves the traditional 7-day week, has symmetrical equal quarters, and starts every month on Monday.

I thought—I wonder how much vacation you get? Seems like an important question.

Fifteen months of no TV

It's been about 15 months since I hauled our TV to the dump.

I can highly recommend not having a TV. Our kids don't miss it at all. And it's not like we never see TV, anyway—TV is everywhere. It's nice to not have the option to change a channel. And when you see a really nice TV, say a large screen plasma at someone else's house, it's a real treat, not a mesmerizing, ever-present distraction. Today's high definition televisions are beautiful to watch occasionally.

I wish TV's occurred in the environment about as frequently as a full moon. It's always nice to point out a nice full moon to someone—hey, look at that! Both people then enjoy the sight for a few moments, and move on, since a full moon is just a full moon, after all.

Having a TV in your house is like having a loud, unpleasant roommate. Or maybe taking care of someone else's yip-yap dog.