Randal's Life Memories

13 Years of Dragon Con and the EFF Green Room

For 13 consecutive years, I was an invited guest speaker at Dragon Con in Atlanta, primarily anchoring the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and...

1999 Pickett-Schwartz-Samuel-Brainard Family Reunion

In July of 1999, our extended maternal family gathered in Oregon for a landmark Pickett / Schwartz / Samuel / Brainard Family Reunion.

23-and-me

23-and-me is a company in my life graph.

9-11 Victim Count Clarification

Clarifying the distinction between victims and hijackers in 9/11 commemorations.

Aarhus

Aarhus is a place in my life graph.

Abandoned at Bananarama in Roatan

A high-stakes personal Travel anecdote about being abandoned at a beach club during a cruise excursion.

Acquisition of First Canon DSLR

In September 2004, I took my very first digital snapshots with my brand-new Canon EOS 20D Digital SLR during a trip to Boston for Software Developm...

ActiveState

ActiveState is a software company known for providing high-quality runtime environments and developer tools, most famously ActivePerl, which brough...

Adam West

Adam West (born William West Anderson, 1928–2017) was an iconic American actor, widely celebrated for his portrayal of Batman in the 1960s ABC seri...

Adelaide

Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and was the location of the SAGE-AU 2001 conference, during which I created miniCPAN.

Aero Air

Aero Air is a long-standing aviation services company, Fixed-Base Operator (FBO), and air charter provider founded in 1956 at Hillsboro Airport (KH...

AI-Assisted Coding

AI-Assisted Coding refers to the use of artificial intelligence tools (such as GitHub Copilot, Gemini, or ChatGPT) to assist developers in writing,...

AI-Assisted Coding Leverage and Productivity

Reflecting on the productivity gains and workflow changes brought by AI coding assistants.

AI-Generated Obituary Grins

A humorous look at a highly flattering obituary written for me by Google's Bard (now Gemini) AI assistant.

Airplane Balance Upgrade

A short Travel anecdote about receiving a first-class upgrade for weight and balance reasons.

Airport Gate Change Exhaustion

While recovering from my recent major medical incident (my 2016 ICU stay and subsequent rehabilitation), I traveled through the airport without req...

Alan Boss

Alan Boss is an astrophysicist and astronomer at the Carnegie Institution's Department of Terrestrial Magnetism (DTM).

Alan Dyer

Alan Dyer is a Canadian astrophotographer, author, and leading authority on astronomy gear.

Alaska

Alaska is a place in my life graph.

Alaska Inside Passage

Alaska Inside Passage is a place in my life graph.

Albany Municipal Airport

Albany Municipal Airport (FAA LID: S12) is a public-use city-owned general aviation airport in Albany, Oregon.

Albany, Oregon

Albany is the county seat of Linn County in the Willamette Valley of Oregon.

Alice Cooper

Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier) is an American rock singer who legally adopted the name of his former band to perform as a solo artist.

Alice Cooper Band

The Alice Cooper Band was the original rock band formed in 1968, which released seven albums before disbanding in 1974.

Alice Cooper Band and Name Change Reunion Question

Reflecting on the history of the band Alice Cooper and its lead singer.

Allan Purdy

Allan Purdy is a pioneer of object-oriented databases and Smalltalk virtual machines, co-founding Servio Logic Development Corporation (later GemSt...

Allen Wirfs-Brock

Allen Wirfs-Brock is an American computer scientist and software engineer, recognized for his extensive work on Smalltalk environments and object-o...

Allison Smith

Allison Smith is a professional voice-over artist, widely known as the voice of the Asterisk open source PBX system.

Allison Smith Voice of Asterisk

Anecdote about Allison Smith, the voice of Asterisk, deterring callers with her voice.

Alpaca book

The "Alpaca Book," originally titled "Learning Perl Objects, References & Modules" and later updated/renamed to "Intermediate Perl," is a follow-up...

Alpaca Book Release Party with a Live Alpaca

During OSCON 2003 in Portland (the release year of the Alpaca book), we threw a legendary book release party that featured a live, real-life alpaca...

Amazon

Amazon.com, Inc. is an American multinational technology company founded by Jeff Bezos.

Amber Samuel

Amber Samuel is a daughter of Chris Samuel and Teri Samuel.

American Heart Association Dietary Advice Critique

Critique of the AHA and ADA dietary guidelines in favor of ketogenic diets.

Ami Dolenz

Ami Bluebell Dolenz is an American television and film actress, daughter of Monkees frontman Micky Dolenz, known for roles in Can't Buy Me Love, Sh...

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, famous for its canal system and historic architecture.

Anaheim, California

Anaheim is a city in Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, and home to the Disneyland Resort.

Anchorage

Anchorage is the largest city in the state of Alaska, USA.

Android

Android is a mobile operating system based on a modified version of the Linux kernel, developed by Google.

Android Honeycomb and MySQL Open Core Licensing Debate

Reflecting on open source license compliance and developer community perceptions.

Andy Ihnatko

Andy Ihnatko is an American technology journalist, writer, and blogger. He was a longtime technology columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times and is a f...

Andy Lopez

Andy Lopez is the friend who introduced I to the low-carb, moderate-protein, high-fat (LCHF) ketogenic diet, which catalyzed his health journey.

Anime

Anime is hand-drawn and computer-animated originating from Japan, characterized by colorful graphics, vibrant characters, and fantastical themes.

Anime Engaging Trope Search

Searching for anime series that balance humorous tropes with engaging narratives.

Ankara

Ankara is the capital city of Turkey, which I visited during the Bright Horizons 20 land tour in April 2014.

Antarctica

Antarctica is a place in my life graph.

Antarctica Excursion Cancellation

During one of the tech-themed Geek Cruises, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak signed up for a highly anticipated excursion to step foot on the frozen ...

Aphantasia

Aphantasia is the inability to voluntarily create mental images in one's mind.

Aphantasia Discovery

Finding out at age 18 that other people can literally visualize images in their minds.

Aphantasia, Auditory Architecture, and Books Without Pictures

For over four decades of systems programming, architecture, and technical authorship, I have operated with total mental blindness (Aphantasia)—the ...

API Security Rant on SSLv3 Handshake Failures

Expressing frustration with a vendor API that lacked modern TLS security.

Apple

Apple Inc. is a multinational Technology company known for consumer electronics, software, and services.

AppleScript

AppleScript is a scripting language created by Apple that facilitates control over scriptable macOS applications.

AppleScript Automation Struggle and Sal Soghoian

Spending 45 minutes on a simple AppleScript UI task.

Arctic Exposure II Cruise

Arctic Exposure II Cruise (June 12 – June 19, 2004) was a digital photography-focused educational voyage organized by Geek Cruises (Insight Cruises...

Arctic Exposure Photo Cruise and Chris Campbell

The Arctic Exposure Geek Cruise (June 2003) to the Alaska Inside Passage on the MS Ryndam was one of the first dedicated digital photography cruises.

Arecibo Observatory

Arecibo Observatory is a place in my life graph.

Argentina

Argentina is a country located mostly in the southern half of South America.

Arizona

Arizona is a state in the United States.

Aruba

Aruba is a Caribbean island nation and a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, situated in the southern Caribbean Sea.

Ashdod

Ashdod is a port city in Israel, serving as the gateway to Jerusalem during the Bright Horizons 15 cruise in October 2012.

ASR-33 Teletype

The Teletype Model 33 (including the ASR-33, Automatic Send-Receive) was an electromechanical teleprinter introduced by Teletype Corporation in 1963.

Astro Gas

Astro Gas is an Oregon-based independent petroleum distribution and service station chain, owned and operated by the Dyk family (led by Mr. Dyk).

At Sea

At Sea is a place in my life graph.

Atari

Atari is an American video game and consumer electronics company founded in 1972, known for pioneering arcade games, home video game consoles, and ...

Athens

Athens is the capital and largest city of Greece, and one of the world's oldest cities, famous for its ancient archaeological sites like the Acropo...

Atlanta

Atlanta is a place in my life graph.

Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta, Georgia is a place in my life graph.

Atlantis Submarine Deep Dive

Excursion in Georgetown, Grand Cayman, embarking on the Atlantis submarine for a deep dive exploring the vibrant coral reefs and abundant marine life.

Atrial Ablation Surgery

A major personal Health milestone where I underwent cardiac ablation surgery to treat atrial flutter.

Aurora State Airport

Aurora State Airport (FAA LID: UAO, ICAO: KUAO) is a state-owned public-use airport located one mile northwest of Aurora in Marion County, Oregon.

Australia

Australia is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands.

Authorized to Visit Intel DuPont as a Convicted Felon

A number of years after the conclusion of my 1995 trial (State of Oregon v. I), my former iWarp manager Seth Bradley transferred to Intel's campus ...

Avi Bryant

Avi Bryant is a Canadian software engineer and entrepreneur, co-creator of the Seaside web application framework for Smalltalk, and founder of Dabb...

Aviation

Aviation is a concept in my life graph.

Aviation Scan Technique for Bartenders

Drawing a parallel between pilot instrument training and bar service.

Baby-Proofing Medicine Bottles and Getting Old

A humorous realization about aging and medicine packaging.

Backwards Hotel Shower Knob

A humorous and relatable Travel anecdote about a confusing hotel bathroom fixture.

Bahamas

Bahamas is a place in my life graph.

Baltic Sea Geek Cruise

In July 2005, I embarked on Geek Cruise #28 (aptly named the Baltic Blast) aboard the m.s. Westerdam for a 10-day voyage across the Baltic Sea. Thi...

Bamboo Polo and Travel Wardrobe Setup

Setting up shirts and optimizing travel gear for a three-week trip.

Bananarama Abandonment Forum Censorship Dispute

Calling out forum moderators for censoring a post describing being left behind in Roatan.

Barbara Schulz

Barbara Schulz (née Pickett) is my maternal cousin.

Barcelona

Barcelona is a place in my life graph.

Bartender Theft Moral Dilemma

Facing a moral dilemma after witnessing a bartender pocket a customer's payment.

Basel

Basel is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine, located where the Swiss, French, and German borders meet.

Beaverton

Beaverton Skate World

A roller skating rink in Beaverton that operated as a sister facility to Hillsboro Skate World.

Bebo White

Bebo White is a distinguished computer scientist and physicist who worked at the SLAC (Stanford Linear Accelerator Center) and is widely recognized...

Becoming a Dart and Flutter Google Developer Expert

After actively promoting Dart as a replacement for JavaScript and working with Polymer Dart and AngularDart, I wanted to pitch an AngularDart book ...

Becoming Debt Free After the 2009 Financial Storm

A major personal milestone of achieving debt-free status.

Before He Cheats Audience Observation

Observing the audience's intense reaction to Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats."

Belize

Belize is a place in my life graph.

Bell Labs

Bell Labs (formerly Bell Telephone Laboratories and AT&T Bell Laboratories) is an American industrial research and scientific development company, ...

Ben Long

Ben Long is a photographer, author, and teacher who instructed on digital photography during MacMania educational cruises.

Bermuda

Bermuda is a British Overseas Territory in the North Atlantic Ocean, known for its pink-sand beaches and historic towns.

Bert Monroy

Bert Monroy is an internationally acclaimed digital artist, illustrator, author, and teacher. Widely considered one of the "founding fathers" of di...

BiiN

BiiN (pronounced "bine", standing for Business Information Interactive Network) was a joint venture between Intel and Siemens formed in 1988 in Hil...

BiiN, the i960 XA, and the Hillsboro Airport Flying Spark

In 1988–1989, I took a major technical writing contract at BiiN (pronounced "bine"), a high-profile joint venture between Intel and Siemens based i...

Bill Durrence

Bill Durrence is a person in my life graph.

Bill Harp

Met at Hillsboro Skate World in the 1980s during the roller disco era.

Bill Harp and the Stonehenge Parties

A personal recollection of my buddy Bill Harp and the legendary Stonehenge parties.

Bill Harps Passing and Funeral Message

On February 22, 2013, my dear friend and business partner Bill Harp passed away prematurely at the age of 45.

Bill Lamb

Bill Lamb was a security engineer in the Security Department at Tandem Computers in Cupertino, California.

Billy Joel

William Martin Joel (known as Billy Joel) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. I performs his hit song "Piano Man" as an interactive, thea...

Billy Squier

Billy Squier is an American rock musician and singer, best known for his 1981 hit song "The Stroke".

Biological Eye Fixation Observation

A personal observation about lower-level visual processing and eye-coordination.

Birth of Perl

Larry Wall released Perl 1.0 on December 18, 1987.

Birth of Randal Schwartz

I was born on November 22, 1961.

Birthday Shouts Celebrity List

Wishing happy birthday to a list of celebrities born on February 11.

Birthday Statistics Paradox

Observing an unusual statistical anomaly in my large network of social media friends.

Birthday Statistics Zero Day Coincidence

Experiencing a day with zero birthdays among 3,000 online friends.

Blue Pixel

Blue Pixel was an elite digital photography consulting, training, and workflow design firm composed of a premier team of professional photojournali...

Blue Yeti Side-Address Microphone Mistake

Humorous correction regarding using a Blue Yeti microphone as side-address instead of top-address.

Bob Marley

Robert Nesta Marley was a Jamaican singer, songwriter, and musician, widely considered one of the pioneers of reggae.

Boneless Wings Pricing Blunder

A humorous observation about a bar menu listing boneless wings for ".25 cents each".

Boston

Boston is a place in my life graph.

Brazil

Brazil is a place in my life graph.

Breisach

Breisach is a town in the Upper Rhine region in Germany, located on the French border across the river from Colmar.

Brendan Eich

Creator of JavaScript and co-founder of the Mozilla project.

Brendan Eich Semicolon Apology

A tech history anecdote featuring the creator of JavaScript.

Brick House

Brick House is a venue and workspace frequented by I for remote work and high-speed Wi-Fi access.

Bright Horizons 10 Cruise

The Bright Horizons 10 (Bright Horizons X) cruise sailed from October 1 to October 13, 2011, traveling from Rome (Civitavecchia) to Athens and tour...

Bright Horizons 11 Cruise

The Bright Horizons 11 (Bright Horizons XI) cruise sailed from January 14 to January 21, 2012, traveling round-trip from Fort Lauderdale, Florida t...

Bright Horizons 12 Cruise

The Bright Horizons 12 (Bright Horizons XII) cruise sailed from April 12 to April 20, 2012, traveling along the Rhine River from Amsterdam to Basel...

Bright Horizons 15 Cruise

The Bright Horizons 15 (Bright Horizons XV) cruise was organized by Insight Cruises in partnership with Scientific American and sailed from October...

Bright Horizons 15 Science Cruise

I going off-grid to attend the Scientific American Bright Horizons 15 cruise to Greece, Israel, Turkey, and Italy.

Bright Horizons 16 Cruise

The Bright Horizons 16 (Bright Horizons XVI) cruise was organized by Insight Cruises in partnership with Scientific American in early 2013.

Bright Horizons 17 Cruise

The Bright Horizons 17 (Bright Horizons XVII) cruise sailed from July 5 to July 15, 2013, traveling through the Norwegian Fjords aboard the Celebri...

Bright Horizons 18 Cruise

The Bright Horizons 18 (Bright Horizons XVIII) cruise sailed along the Rhône River in France from November 29 to December 6, 2013, aboard the ms Am...

Bright Horizons 2 Cruise

Bright Horizons 2 Cruise (December 7–17, 2008) was a science-focused InSight Cruise organized in partnership with Scientific American, sailing the ...

Bright Horizons 20 Cruise

The Bright Horizons 20 (Bright Horizons XX) tour (also referenced as SA20) was an educational land-based tour of Eastern Turkey organized by Insigh...

Bright Horizons 22 Cruise

The Bright Horizons 22 (Bright Horizons XXII) cruise (also referenced as SA22) sailed from August 24 to September 7, 2014, through the Alaska Insid...

Bright Horizons 23 Cruise

The Bright Horizons 23 (Bright Horizons XXIII) cruise (also referenced as SA23) sailed from November 30 to December 12, 2014, through the Canary Is...

Bright Horizons 24 Cruise

The Bright Horizons 24 (Bright Horizons XXIV) cruise (also referenced as SA24) sailed in March 2015 through the Eastern Caribbean aboard a Holland ...

Bright Horizons 3 Cruise

Bright Horizons 3 Cruise (also known as the Evolution Emanation cruise, February 27 – March 9, 2009) was an evolutionary science-themed InSight Cru...

Bright Horizons 9 Cruise

The Bright Horizons 9 (Bright Horizons IX) cruise sailed from May 8 to May 15, 2011, traveling round-trip from New York to Bermuda aboard Holland A...

Brisbane

Brisbane is the capital city of Queensland, Australia, which I visited following the SAGE-AU 2007 conference in Sydney.

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost province of Canada, located between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains.

British Virgin Islands

British Virgin Islands is a place in my life graph.

Bruce Greer

Bruce Greer is a member of the extended Brainard/Greer family.

Bruce Perens

Bruce Perens is a person in my life graph.

Bruce Schneier

Bruce Schneier is an internationally renowned cryptographer, security specialist, and bestselling author of Applied Cryptography, Secrets and Lies,...

Buffalo

Buffalo is a place in my life graph.

Buffalo, New York

Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York, located at the eastern end of Lake Erie.

Burning Man

Burning Man is an annual event focused on community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance, held in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada.

Business Hours Listing Typo Discovery

Discovering a major typo in the online operating hours of a frequently tagged local venue.

Buying My Boss's House on 178th from Seth Bradley

While contracting as system administrator on Intel's iWarp supercomputer project, my main engineering manager was Seth Bradley.

C Programming Language

The C programming language is a general-purpose, procedural programming language developed between 1972 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at Bell Labs for...

Cabo San Lucas

Cabo San Lucas is a beautiful coastal resort city located at the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico.

Cadbury Factory Tour in Hobart

In August 2003, during my third trip to Australia to attend and speak at the SAGE-AU conference, I visited Hobart, Tasmania, and took a public tour...

Caesar Salad Year End Tijuana Comparison

Enjoying a year-end salad and contrasting it with Caesar's Restaurant in Tijuana.

Cake Wrecks July 4th Fireworks Cake

Sharing a humorous reaction to a real, overly decadent cake from the Cake Wrecks blog.

California

California is a state in the Western United States.

Calling Office from Police Parking Lot

A short, ironic anecdote from the "random Irony department" regarding safe driving.

Camaro Z28

The Chevrolet Camaro Z28 is a sports car owned and driven by I, specifically his 2002 Camaro Z-28 model.

Cambridge

Cambridge is a historic university city in England, United Kingdom, and the location where I presented a keynote for the Genome Conference at Hinxt...

Camel book

The "Camel Book," officially titled "Programming Perl," is the definitive guide to the Perl programming language, co-authored by Larry Wall and me.

Camel Book troff Macros

The backstory of how my early typesetting macros were adopted by O'Reilly Media and how I rediscovered them when writing the Camel Book.

Canada

Canada is a country in North America.

Cane Garden Bay

Cane Garden Bay is a beautiful beach and bay located on the northern coast of Tortola in the British Virgin Islands.

Caracas

Caracas is the capital and largest city of Venezuela. I visited it in October 2006 to deliver a keynote and Perl course. See Venezuela Open Source ...

Caribbean

Caribbean is a place in my life graph.

Caribbean Click 2 Cruise

In January 2005, the 26th Geek Cruises voyage sailed through the Caribbean on the magnificent, newly launched Queen Mary 2, co-branded as "Caribbea...

Carl Sagan

Carl Edward Sagan was an American astronomer, planetary scientist, cosmologist, astrophysicist, author, and science communicator.

Carmen Gilligan and Hamlet Association

Noting how television pop culture permanently altered the appreciation of opera music.

Carnegie Mellon University

Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a leading global research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, world-renowned for its computer scien...

Cary Millsap

Cary Millsap is an Oracle Database performance specialist, founder of Method R Corporation, and author.

Catching Up with David Pogue on Land

I caught up with Technology author and columnist David Pogue at a book signing in Portland (featuring his Apple book/history).

Cathy Schwartz

Cathy Schwartz is my sister-in-law.

Cayman Islands

The Cayman Islands is an autonomous British Overseas Territory in the western Caribbean Sea.

CERN

CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) is a world-renowned physics research organization that operates the largest particle physics labo...

Cessna 172

The Cessna 172 Skyhawk is an American four-seat, single-engine, high-wing aircraft produced by the Cessna Aircraft Company.

Cessna 182

The Cessna 182 Skylane is an American four-seat, single-engine, high-performance light airplane produced by Cessna.

Charlie Datin

Son of Richard Datin and friend of Randal Schwartz.

Charlotte, North Carolina

Charlotte is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina.

Chase Masterson

Chase Masterson is an American actress, singer, and activist best known for playing Leeta on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1995–1999) and founding th...

Checkbook Reconciliation Evolution

A nostalgic observation about the death of manual checkbook reconciliation in the era of smartphone banking.

Chess Moves 1 Cruise

Chess Moves 1 Cruise (January 14 – January 21, 2006) was the maiden dedicated chess-themed educational voyage organized by Geek Cruises (Insight Cr...

Chess Moves 2 Cruise

Chess Moves 2 Cruise (August 19 – August 26, 2006) was the second dedicated chess-themed educational voyage organized by Geek Cruises (Insight Crui...

Chichen Itza

The historic Mayan archaeological ruins located in Yucatan, Mexico.

Childhood Friendship with Kevin Hornych and Playing Hooky in the Woods

When I was accelerated two grades ahead in elementary school, my third year of schooling was 5th grade in Gladstone, Oregon.

Chile

Chile is a country located in western South America, occupying a long, narrow strip of land between the Andes and the Pacific Ocean.

Chippewa Falls

Leinekeugals

Choosing DragonCon over Burning Man

Comparing the logistical differences between two major events.

Chris Campbell

Chris Campbell was an accomplished digital photographer and digital photography workshop instructor on multiple Geek Cruises and Insight Cruises vo...

Chris Samuel

Chris Samuel is my maternal cousin.

Chrissy Schulz

Chrissy Schulz is a daughter of Jim Schulz and Barbara Schulz.

Christopher Breen

Christopher Breen is a person in my life graph.

Christopher Walker

Christopher Walker is a son in the extended Walker family.

Chuck Norris

Chuck Norris is an American martial artist, actor, film producer, and screenwriter, famous for his action movies and internet meme facts.

Chuck Samuel

Chuck Samuel is my maternal uncle by marriage.

Clackamas County

Clackamas County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oregon, encompassing suburban and rural communities south of Portland, including Gladstone.

Class Prototyped Javascript Inheritance Connection

Wishing a happy birthday to the author of the Class Prototyped Perl module.

Clemson University

Clemson University is a public research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Its athletic teams are known as the Clemson Tigers.

Climate Change

Climate Change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns, largely driven by human activities.

Climate Disruption Terminology Preference

Arguing for the term "Global Man-Made Climate Disruption" to clarify weather confusion.

Cloud Computing 43rd Floor Pun

Making a pun about cloud computing while inside a high-rise building.

Cobh

Cobh (formerly Queenstown) is a seaport town on the south coast of County Cork, Ireland, which I visited during the MacMania 17 cruise in June 2014.

Code and Commit Self-Documentation Philosophy

Explaining the difference between documenting the "what" and the "why" in programming.

Cologne

Cologne is the largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the fourth-most populous city in Germany, famous for its Gothic Cathedral.

Colombia

Colombia is a place in my life graph.

Colton

Colton is an unincorporated rural community in Clackamas County, Oregon, situated roughly 26 miles southeast of Gladstone and Portland.

Columbia River Gorge

The Columbia River Gorge is a canyon of the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, forming the boundary between Oregon and W...

Commuting Without Headlights

An observation about drivers commuting in the dark without headlights on, ten minutes before official sunrise.

Complex Airplane Endorsement

An FAA flight endorsement required to act as Pilot in Command (PIC) of a "complex airplane"—defined as an aircraft with retractable landing gear, f...

Conrad Janis

Conrad Janis was an American actor and jazz trombonist, best known for his role as Mindy's father, Otto Callek, on the sitcom Mork & Mindy.

CONSOL 2005 in Mexico City

In February 2005, I traveled to Mexico City to participate as a featured speaker at the CONSOL 2005 (Congreso Nacional de Software Libre) conference.

Constantza

Constantza (also spelled Constanța) is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Romania, located on the Black Sea coast.

contents

## How to Use This

Contracting for Astro Gas and Learning the Petroleum Business

Following my layoff from Sequent Computer Systems in the summer of 1986 and deciding to go independent, I partnered with a contracting staffing age...

Coos Bay, Oregon

Coos Bay is the largest city on the Oregon Coast, located in Coos County, Oregon, bordering North Bend, Oregon.

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is a place in my life graph.

Cosmic Trails 2 Cruise

The Cosmic Trails 2 (Sky & Telescope #2) cruise sailed from March 6 to March 13, 2011, touring the Eastern Caribbean aboard Holland America Line's ...

Costa Maya

Costa Maya is a tourist region in the municipality of Othón P. Blanco in the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico.

Cozumel

Cozumel is a place in my life graph.

CPAN

CPAN (Comprehensive Perl Archive Network) is a vast repository of software modules and their documentation for the Perl Programming language.

Cray

Cray Research (now part of Hewlett Packard Enterprise) was a legendary supercomputer manufacturer founded by Seymour Cray, with a major research an...

Creation of Emacs Pretty-Printer pp.el

The history of how the standard GNU Emacs pretty-printing library, pp.el, was created and integrated into the core editor.

Credit Card Holding Wallet Location Reminder Trick

A simple life hack to prevent leaving my credit card or wallet behind at restaurants.

Credit Card Restaurant Hold Wallet Trick

Describing a mental trick to ensure a credit card is returned after dining out.

Cruising with Woz and Hacking on Git Day Two with Linus

Hosting Geek Cruises gave me front-row seats to foundational moments in modern computing history.

Cuba

Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean.

Cuba Travel Program

The Cuba Travel Program was an educational land-based tour of Cuba organized by Insight Cruises in January 2015.

Culture

Culture is a concept in my life graph.

Culver City Client Gitolite Migration

Managing concurrent work tasks involving podcasting, photography, and gitolite hosting.

Cumulo-Granite

Cumulo-granite is a humorous, dark aviation slang term used by pilots to describe clouds that conceal solid terrain or mountains inside them.

Curacao

Curaçao is a Caribbean island nation and a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea.

Cuzco

Cuzco is a city in southeastern Peru, near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountain range.

D Programming Language

D Programming Language (D) is a high-level system programming language created by Walter Bright, known for combining efficiency with expressive power.

Dad Napkin Designs

A fond personal memory of my father's habit of sketching mechanical designs at the dinner table.

Damian Conway

Damian Conway is an internationally renowned Perl programmer, author, and public speaker, famous for writing Perl Best Practices and creating numer...

Dan Carlin

Dan Carlin is an American political commentator, public speaker, and legendary podcaster, renowned for hosting the critically acclaimed podcasts Ha...

Dan Frakes

Dan Frakes is an editor, author, and technology journalist specializing in Apple and Macintosh products who spoke on several MacMania cruises.

Dan Margulis

Dan Margulis is an author and trainer, widely considered one of the world's leading experts on digital color correction. He is best known for his f...

Dancing Barefoot

Dancing Barefoot is a 2003 book written by actor and author Wil Wheaton. It is a collection of five autobiographical short stories chronicling his ...

Danny Walker

Danny Walker is a son in the extended Walker family.

Darcy Carlson

Darcy is my daughter.

Darcy Carlson Meets Her Cousins

A milestone family event where my newly discovered daughter met her cousins for the first time.

Darin Jones

Darin Jones is a son of David Jones and Shari Jones.

Dart

## Personal Notes

Database Discovery 2001

Database Discovery 2001 (June 17 – June 24, 2001) was a database-focused Geek Cruise, sailing the Alaska Inside Passage aboard the Holland America ...

Dating

Dating is a stage of romantic relationships in humans whereby two people meet socially with the aim of each assessing the other's suitability as a ...

Daughter

Daughter is a topic in my life graph.

David Jones

David Jones is a member of the Samuel/Jones family.

David Pogue

David Pogue is a prominent Technology writer, author, television presenter, and columnist. He was a frequent high-profile speaker and entertainer o...

David Rees

David Rees is an American cartoonist, humorist, and writer, known for his clip-art comic strip Get Your War On and the television show Going Deep w...

Daylight Saving Time

Daylight Saving Time is the practice of advancing clocks during warmer months so that darkness falls at a later clock time.

Daylight Saving Time and Civil Time Adjustment Rant

Arguing against Daylight Saving Time in favor of adjusting event schedules to align with the sun.

Dead iPhone 8 Plus and the Cut-Short Tijuana Trip

A travel disruption caused by a sudden hardware failure of my iPhone 8 Plus.

Decimal Point Pricing Pet Peeve

A humorous critique of a retail sign displaying incorrect units for a decimal price.

DECUS

DECUS (Digital Equipment Computer Users Society) was an independent user group for users of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) computers, famous f...

Deke McClelland

Deke McClelland is an award-winning author, technical trainer, Photoshop Hall of Fame inductee, and one of the most prolific educators in the histo...

Deleted Sendmail Configuration Recovery

Recovering from an accidental sendmail.cf deletion on Ubuntu.

Delta Air Lines

A major American airline with which I reached the 2 million mile mark.

Delta Two Million Miler

A major Travel milestone representing decades of flight Travel.

Denmark

Denmark is a place in my life graph.

Dennis Ritchie

Dennis MacAlistair Ritchie (often referred to by his Unix login dmr) was an American computer scientist who created the C programming language and ...

Der Untergang Movie Viewing

Loading the German historical film Der Untergang on an iPhone.

Derrick Story

Derrick Story is a professional photographer, writer, and speaker who taught digital photography courses on MacMania voyages.

Developer Forum Joke Response Coincidence

A humorous coincidence from replying with a mock line number on a help forum.

Dietary Advice from Nonagenarians

Sharing a physician's quote on longevity and healthy nonagenarian diets.

Dimensional Analysis Book Recall

I searching for a book on dimensional analysis he read during his youth that explained the physical logic of E=mc².

Dining with Starfleet Senior Staff and Fixing Qs Mac

One of the great perks of hosting Geek Cruises was having iconic sci-fi luminaries join us as featured guest speakers aboard the ship.

Directing Videos and the Batman Camera Angle

A professional anecdote from my video directing days involving a visual shorthand.

Discovering Dart and Transitioning to Flutter

Shortly after Google announced the Dart Programming language in October 2011, I started using it because of my strong dislike for JavaScript, recog...

Disneyland Fireworks from the Condo Window

A nostalgic view of nightly firework displays.

Doc Searls

Doc Searls is a journalist, author, and editor best known as a Senior Editor for Linux Journal and co-author of The Cluetrain Manifesto.

Don McAllister

Don McAllister is a prominent technology trainer, podcaster, and founder of ScreencastsOnline, which provides video tutorials for macOS, iOS, and o...

Don S Davis

Don Sinclair Davis (1942–2008) was an American character actor, visual artist, and United States Army captain best known for playing General George...

Donna Pickett

Donna Pickett (Donna Samuel) is my maternal aunt.

Dot-Net Nirvana

Dot-Net Nirvana (April 2002) was a Microsoft .NET-themed Geek Cruise, sailing the Caribbean aboard the Holland America Line's M.S. Volendam.

Dot-Net Nirvana 3 Cruise

Dot-Net Nirvana 3 Cruise (December 5 – December 12, 2004) was the 25th technology-themed voyage organized by Geek Cruises, co-hosted and co-produce...

Double Tiger Mascot Championship

A humorous observation about the college football championship game where both competing teams shared the same mascot.

Dr. Hook

Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show (shortened to Dr. Hook) was an American rock band famous for hit singles like "The Cover of 'Rolling Stone'."

DragonCon

DragonCon (or Dragon Con) is a massive multi-genre pop culture and sci-fi/fantasy convention held annually in Atlanta, Georgia over Labor Day weekend.

DragonCon 2011

The 2011 iteration of DragonCon pop culture convention, attended by Randal Schwartz.

DragonCon Departure Storm in Atlanta

Observing the recurring severe weather that strikes Atlanta whenever leaving DragonCon.

DragonCon Guest Streak

In September 2004, I attended DragonCon in Atlanta, Georgia as an official guest.

DragonCon vs Burning Man Showers Comparison

Explaining the preference for DragonCon over Burning Man based on shower availability.

Dublin, Ireland

Dublin is the capital and largest city of Ireland, situated on a bay on the east coast.

DuPont, Washington

DuPont is a city located in Pierce County, Washington.

Eagle Creek Fire and Columbia River Gorge

my reflection on the devastating 2017 wildfire in the Columbia River Gorge.

Eagle Flight Center

Eagle Flight Center (EFC) was a premier Fixed-Base Operator (FBO) and flight training school located at Hillsboro Airport (HIO) in Hillsboro, Oregon.

Earl Pickett Jr

Earl Pickett Jr. was my maternal uncle, who passed away in late 2008.

Earl Pickett Sr

Earl Pickett Sr. was my maternal grandfather, married to Lorene Pickett.

Early Facebook Navigation and UI Frustrations

Criticking the navigational layout and design choices of early Facebook.

Early Programming and Step Expression

Reflections on starting programming early at age 9 and the joy of breaking down steps.

Earning My Private Pilot License in 39 Hours at Eagle Flight Center

In early summer 1989, while working across the street from Hillsboro Airport at BiiN (and later Jones Farm), my office window faced east directly t...

Easter Island

Easter Island (Rapa Nui) is a volcanic island in Polynesia, governed by Chile, known for its monumental moai statues. I visited it as part of a pre...

Ecuador

Ecuador is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia, Peru, and the Pacific Ocean.

Ed Tuthill

Ed Tuthill is a close friend of mine who shared a unique living arrangement with me at my apartment in Tijuana.

El Pollo Loco

El Pollo Loco is an American restaurant chain specializing in Mexican-style grilled chicken.

Electronic Frontier Foundation

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, dedicated to defending civil l...

Elon Musk

Elon Reeve Musk is a businessman and investor, founder and CEO of SpaceX and Tesla.

Elonka Dunin

Elonka Dunin is an American video game developer, author, and cryptographer renowned for her expertise on the CIA Kryptos sculpture and historical ...

Employee 64 at Sequent and Turning Self-Employed

In March 1984, I joined Sequent Computer Systems in Beaverton, Oregon.

Ephesus

Ephesus is an ancient Greek city located in present-day Turkey, near Selçuk. I visited it during excursions on the Bright Horizons 10 (October 2011...

Equator Museum Real Position

Discovering the actual geographic equator lies 50 meters north of the equatorial museum.

Eric S Raymond

Eric Steven Raymond (known as ESR) is an American software developer, author of The Cathedral and the Bazaar, and co-founder of the Open Source Ini...

Estonia

Estonia is a place in my life graph.

Eugene Airport

Eugene Airport (FAA LID: EUG, ICAO: KEUG), also known as Mahlon Sweet Field, is a public airport located seven miles northwest of Eugene, Oregon.

Eugene, Oregon

Eugene is a major city in the Pacific Northwest and the county seat of Lane County, Oregon, located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley.

EV Charging Drive-In Restaurant Concept

Proposing a modern revival of drive-in restaurants paired with electric vehicle chargers.

Every Other Night High School Fight Song

my humorous critique of the literal wording of his high school's fight song.

Everyday Photo and ScottEVest Size Drop

A personal Health milestone during my weight loss journey.

eWorld and the Clear Newton

A quick vintage tech anecdote regarding Apple's short-lived online service and a rare piece of hardware.

Ex Machina Movie Review and Ending Disappointment

Reviewing the sci-fi film Ex Machina and expressing frustration with its ending.

Exchange Rate on Kids

A humorous observation about the LoungeBuddy access price terms for an airline lounge.

FAA Pilot Certificate ID Paradox

A humorous observation about the security paradox of the FAA-issued pilot certificate.

Fafnir

Fafnir is a historic American bearing manufacturer known for high-precision ball bearings.

Fake Facebook Friendship Requests

Calling out a typical social media bot pattern on Facebook.

Falkland Islands

The Falkland Islands is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf.

Falmouth

Falmouth is the chief town and capital of the parish of Trelawny in Jamaica.

Faultline Brewing Company

Faultline Brewing Company is a microbrewery and restaurant in Silicon Valley that served as a popular gathering spot for engineers from Tandem, App...

Ferrara

Ferrara is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. I visited it in October 2004 to speak at the Italian Code Jam. See Italian Code J...

Finding the UUX Vulnerability and Emailing Dennis Ritchie

During my early career at Tektronix in Beaverton, Oregon, Tektronix operated one of the first ~30 nodes globally on Usenet and served as a vital re...

Finland

Finland is a place in my life graph.

First Big Arena Concert Emerson Lake and Palmer

Remembering my first big arena rock concert: Emerson, Lake & Palmer at the Portland Memorial Coliseum in 1977.

First Free Software Foundation Award

Larry Wall received the first Free Software Foundation Award for the Advancement of Free Software in 1998.

First Phone Call with Darcy Carlson

I spoke to my daughter Darcy for the first time by phone on her 40th birthday.

First Trip to Australia and Creation of miniCPAN

In July 2001, I made my first trip to Australia to attend and speak at the SAGE-AU 2001 conference in Adelaide, followed by a brief stop in Sydney.

First Unix Experience in 1977

In the summer of 1977, I was still attending Colton High School (ahead of my early graduation in January 1978).

FISL

FISL (Fórum Internacional Software Livre) is an international free software conference held annually in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

Florence

Florence is a place in my life graph.

FLOSS Weekly

FLOSS Weekly is a show in my life graph.

Flutter

## Personal Notes

Flying My Family IFR to Tacoma Narrows and the Full-Moon Night ILS

When my brother Ron Schwartz was living up in Tacoma, Washington and celebrating his wedding reception, I had recently earned my Instrument Rating ...

FOCAL

FOCAL (FOrmula CALculator) is an interactive, interpreted programming language developed by Richard Merrill at Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) ...

Fort Lauderdale

Fort Lauderdale is a place in my life graph.

Founding of New York Perl Mongers

The first Perl Monger group, NY.pm, was founded in October 1997. This led to the creation of the global Perl Mongers organization.

Founding of Stonehenge Consulting Services

Since 1985, I have been the owner and operator of Stonehenge Consulting Services, Inc..

Foursquare

Foursquare is a technology company known for its location-based social networking platform and check-in services.

Foursquare 21-Week Bar Streak and the Cuba Interruption

A humorous achievement on Foursquare/Swarm that was interrupted by international travel.

Fr. Robert Ballecer

Catholic priest (Jesuit) and Technology podcaster.

France

France is a country in Western Europe, famous for its historic cities, gastronomy, and culture.

Frank Sinatra

Francis Albert Sinatra (known as Frank Sinatra) was an American singer and actor. I performs his signature song "My Way" as his definitive show clo...

Free Software Festival 2005 in Puerto Vallarta

In September 2005, I was a featured speaker at the Festival de GNU/Linux y Software Libre ("Desarrollo e investigación… libera tu creatividad"), or...

FreeBSD Upgrades and Linux Fund Board Call

Balancing server administration, podcast recording, and board meetings.

Frequent Traveler Blessing Paradox

Explaining the frequent traveler's preference for boring, uneventful journeys.

FriendFeed

FriendFeed was a real-time feed aggregator that consolidated updates from social media networks, blogs, and RSS feeds, founded by former Google emp...

From Aztec Ruins to Buffalo Snowstorms

In late February 2005, I experienced one of the most extreme weather, cultural, and environmental swings of my entire life—traveling directly from ...

Front-Facing Camera 51st Birthday Portrait

Sharing a self-portrait on my 51st birthday celebrating weight loss.

Gear-Up Belly Landing in a Piper Arrow at Hillsboro Airport

After earning my Private Pilot License and Instrument Rating, I expanded my aviation certifications by logging five hours of training in a retracta...

Gear-Up Landing

A Gear-Up Landing (also called a belly landing) occurs when an aircraft equipped with retractable landing gear touches down with the landing gear i...

Geek Cruises

Geek Cruises was a pioneering travel company founded by Neil Bauman that organized educational, Technology-themed cruise vacations (such as MacMani...

Geek Cruises and Insight Cruises I Attended

Over my career as a technical speaker and instructor, I sailed on dozens of educational voyages organized by Geek Cruises and Insight Cruises, accu...

Gemini Video Analysis of Friends Intro Scene Cuts

Utilizing Gemini Pro 2.5 to automatically segment and analyze video cuts from the Friends opening credits.

GemStone

GemStone Systems (originally ServioLogic) is an American software company known for its pioneering object-oriented database management system, GemS...

Geneva

Geneva is a global city and financial center in Switzerland, situated at the southern tip of Lake Geneva (Lac Léman).

Genoa

Genoa is a historic port city and the capital of the Liguria region in northwest Italy, serving as the embarkation port for the Bright Horizons 15 ...

George Takei

George Takei is a legendary American actor, author, and activist, internationally renowned for his iconic portrayal of Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the...

Georgia-Pacific Building

The Georgia-Pacific Building is a prominent high-rise office tower in downtown Portland, Oregon.

Germany

Germany is a place in my life graph.

Gilad Bracha

Gilad Bracha is a computer scientist and language designer renowned for his work on Strongtalk, Newspeak, the Java Language and Virtual Machine Spe...

Git

Git is a distributed version control system designed by Linus Torvalds in 2005 for tracking changes in source code during software development.

Gladstone

Gladstone is a city in Clackamas County, Oregon, located just south of Portland at the confluence of the Clackamas and Willamette rivers.

Gladstone and Colton School Days

Personal childhood memories of attending grade school in Gladstone and completing high school in Colton, Oregon.

Gladstone Childhood, FOCAL on Lined Paper, and the Early Career Arc

I spent the first thirteen years of my life growing up in Gladstone, Oregon.

Gladstone Christian Church

Gladstone Christian Church is a Christian congregation located in Gladstone, Oregon.

Gladstone Sunday Church Routine and Social Life

While growing up in Gladstone, Oregon, Sundays followed a familiar family routine: my mother, Retha Schwartz, would take me and my two brothers, Ro...

Glee Stole Baby Got Back Arrangement

The story behind my performance of "Baby Got Back" at Karaoke and the TV show Glee's unauthorized use of the arrangement.

Gloria Wall

Gloria Wall is the wife of Larry Wall, the creator of Perl.

Google

Google is a company in my life graph.

Google I_O 2024

Google I/O 2024 was Google's annual developer conference held in Mountain View, California (May 14–15, 2024), attended following my hip replacement...

Google Tech Talk on Git

Six months after Linus Torvalds gave his famous May 2007 Google Tech Talk on the origins of Git (which focused heavily on what Git is not and roast...

Gotland

Gotland is a place in my life graph.

Grand Cayman

Grand Cayman is the largest of the three Cayman Islands and the location of the territory's capital, George Town.

Grand Turk

Great Courses Travel Program 1

The Great Courses Travel Program 1 (also referred to as GreatCourses 01) was an educational cruise organized by Insight Cruises in partnership with...

Great Step Grandpa Milestone

A personal milestone marking the rapid expansion of my family generations.

Guatemala

Guatemala is a place in my life graph.

Guesting on Coding 101 Episode 10

Guested on Episode 10 of Coding 101, titled "my 'Perls of Wisdom'".

Guido van Rossum

Guido van Rossum is a Dutch programmer best known as the creator of the Python Programming language. He served as the "Benevolent Dictator for Life...

Guinness in Dublin Exception to LCHF

Making a single craft beer exception on a low-carb diet to drink Guinness in Dublin.

Hacking the PDP-11 Advent Data File

Reverse engineering the FORTRAN advent data files on a PDP-11 at Tektronix to inject unique room serial numbers into description texts, making maze...

Hal McAlister

Hal McAlister is a Regents' Professor of Astronomy at Georgia State University and served as the director of the Center for High Angular Resolution...

Half Moon Cay

Half Moon Cay (known officially as Little San Salvador Island in the Bahamas) is Holland America Line's private island resort, famous for its two-m...

Handicap Parking Aisle Violation Rant

Pointing out the illegality of parking in the striped aisles next to handicap spaces.

Haptic Feedback and Pinball Knockers

A nostalgic comparison between modern haptic feedback and the physical sensation of classic pinball matching.

Harrison Ford

Harrison Ford is an American actor known for his iconic roles in film franchises including Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Blade Runner, as well as b...

Harrison Ford Golf Course Plane Crash

Sharing a joke about the coincidental timing of Harrison Ford's plane crash.

Havana

Havana is the capital city of Cuba, which I visited during the Cuba Travel Program in January 2015.

Hawaii

Hawaii is a place in my life graph.

Hawthorn Farm

Hawthorn Farm (HF) is one of Intel's major corporate and technology development campuses in Hillsboro, Oregon.

Health

Health is a concept in my life graph.

Heather Samuel

Heather Samuel is a daughter of Chris Samuel and Teri Samuel.

Helicopter Seating Layout Correction on IMDb

Submitting a correction regarding helicopter pilot layout to the Internet Movie Database.

Helping a Blind Man to the Bus Stop

A small, positive gesture of helping a visually impaired pedestrian in October 2015.

Helsinki

Helsinki is a place in my life graph.

Hertha Brainard

Hertha Brainard is a member of the extended Brainard family.

High-Performance Airplane Endorsement

An FAA flight endorsement required for a pilot to act as Pilot in Command (PIC) of a "high-performance airplane"—defined under 14 CFR § 61.31(f) as...

Hillsboro Airport

Hillsboro Airport (FAA LID: HIO) is a public-use general aviation airport located in Hillsboro, Oregon.

Hillsboro Skate World

A roller skating rink in Hillsboro, Oregon, where I spent double-sessions nearly every Friday and Saturday night for many years, spanning the entir...

Hip Replacement and Chronic Pain Relief

A personal medical story about my hip replacement surgery and its unexpected positive effect on my blood pressure.

History of Owned Vehicles

A chronological list of the motorcycles and cars I have owned throughout my life.

Hobart

Hobart is the capital city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. It was the host city for the SAGE-AU 2003 conference and the linux.conf.au 2...

Hosting FLOSS Weekly

During the MacMania cruise in 2004, I met Leo Laporte. At first, he didn't recognize me and assumed I was just a dude helping Neil Bauman out with ...

Hot Tub Weight Metric Conversion Discrepancy OCD

Noticing an incorrect metric unit conversion in an educational YouTube video.

Hotel Minibar Challenge

An account of I accepting a minibar challenge where the room rate included daily replenishment of various alcohols and soft drinks.

Hotmail

HP 2000 BASIC

HP 2000 BASIC (HP Time-Shared BASIC) was a multi-user, time-shared computing operating system and BASIC implementation developed by Hewlett-Packard...

HSV colorspace

A color model that represents colors in terms of Hue, Saturation, and Value.

Hubbard Glacier

Hubbard Glacier is a place in my life graph.

Hubbard Glacier Excursion

In June 2004, during the Arctic Exposure Geek Cruise inside-passage voyage through Alaska, we traveled to the majestic Hubbard Glacier to photograp...

Humor

Humor is a concept in my life graph.

Ian Darwin

Ian Darwin is a software developer, consultant, and author, known for his work in the Java and UNIX/BSD communities.

IDES

IDES (Interactive Data Exchange System) was a custom multi-user real-time chat and store-and-forward electronic mail system authored by Randal Schw...

IDES Viral Spread and the TOTO Text Editor Gig

After I wrote IDES (Interactive Data Exchange System) to connect Colton and Gladstone across our shared HP 2000 BASIC host, the system went viral a...

Iditarod and Shuttle Launch Travel Near-Misses

A Travel anecdote about missing major events by just hours due to tight scheduling.

Iguazu Falls

Iguazu Falls is a place in my life graph.

Illiads Oddysea and Caribbean Click Cruise

In October 2003, the 19th Geek Cruises voyage sailed through the Caribbean, co-branded as "Illiad's Oddysea" and "Caribbean Click".

IMDb

IMDb (Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television programs, home videos, video games, and streaming ...

Improv Comedy at the Clinic

A short anecdote showing my improv comedy skills during a medical appointment.

Incremental Git Commits

A developer workflow tip on the power of frequent commits and squashing before pushing.

Inside Job Plane Viewing Reflection

Watching the financial crisis documentary Inside Job and reflecting on its injustice.

Insight Cruises

Insight Cruises (formerly known as Geek Cruises) is an educational travel company founded by Neil Bauman and Charlie Datin.

Insight Cruises FreeBSD Patches Song Association

Upgrading operating systems and experiencing humorous musical associations.

Instinctive Pilot Phonetic Alphabet

A humorous personal anecdote about using the Aviation phonetic alphabet at a drive-through.

Instrument Landing System

An Instrument Landing System (ILS) is a precision radio navigation system that provides short-range guidance to aircraft on final approach to a run...

Instrument Rating

An Instrument Rating (IFR) is an aviation certification that qualifies a pilot to fly purely by reference to cockpit instruments under Instrument F...

Intel

Intel Corporation is a global semiconductor and technology company with major research, engineering, and manufacturing campuses in Hillsboro, Orego...

Intel Job Recommendation Irony

I received an automated job recommendation email from ZipRecruiter for a system assembly and configuration role at Intel in Oregon.

Interesting Dashboard Odometer Number

Capturing an interesting numerical odometer reading while parking.

Interesting Day of Travel Encounters

Meeting fascinating strangers during a day of travel.

Interesting Travel Conversations and the Travel Part

Diverse conversations during a day of travel.

Inventing Chat and Email Across a Leased Line in High School

Between my ninth and tenth grade years, my parents moved our family 26 miles away from Gladstone to rural Colton, Oregon, where I would spend my fi...

iPhone Fling Game Concept

Proposing a humorous and risky game concept to increase iPhone sales.

Ireland

Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic, containing the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. I visited it during the MacMania 17 cruise (Co...

Iridium Flare Sighting

Catching a sighting of a rare Iridium satellite flare.

Irony

Irony is a concept in my life graph.

Istanbul

Istanbul is a major city in Turkey, straddling the Bosporus Strait between Europe and Asia, rich with Byzantine and Ottoman history.

Italian Code Jam 2004 in Ferrara

On October 9, 2004, I participated as a featured guest speaker at the Italian Code Jam 2004, held at the University of Ferrara, Italy.

Italy

Italy is a sovereign country in Southern Europe.

Ivan Semeniuk

Ivan Semeniuk is a science writer, journalist, and broadcaster who has spent much of his career covering new developments in the exploration of the...

iWarp

iWarp was a high-performance microprocessor architecture and systolic array supercomputer system developed jointly by Intel (under the Supercompute...

Jack Davis

Jack Davis is a digital photographer, Photoshop Hall of Fame inductee, and co-author of the bestselling book The Photoshop Wow! Book.

Jack Falk

Jack Falk was a technical writing manager and mentor to Randal Schwartz at Tektronix in Beaverton, Oregon.

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea.

James Deibele

James Deibele was an early technology and bulletin board system (BBS) pioneer in Portland, Oregon. He ran the technical bookstore TECHbooks and lat...

James Schulz

James Schulz is a son of Jim Schulz and Barbara Schulz.

Jamie Slaven

Jamie Slaven is a child in the extended Slaven/Walker family.

Janet Hill

Janet Hill is an Apple executive and spouse of Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

Janina Lamb

Janina Lamb worked with Randal Schwartz through a business assistance and production services firm that provided contracted support staff for small...

Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia, located in the northwest Pacific Ocean.

Japanese Camel Book Translation Puns

How English puns in the Camel Book were translated into Japanese humor.

JAPH

JAPH is an acronym for "Just another Perl hacker," a phrase I created and popularized. It originated as a signature in Usenet posts and evolved int...

Jason Penney

Jason Penney is an American software engineer who worked at ServioLogic / GemStone on early object-oriented database architectures.

Jason Snell

Jason Snell is a technology writer, editor, and podcaster, best known as the former lead editor of Macworld and founder of The Incomparable podcast...

Java Jam 2

Java Jam 2 (November 2001) was the second Java-themed Geek Cruise, sailing the Western Caribbean aboard the Holland America Line's M.S. Volendam.

Java Jam 2000

Java Jam 2000 (October 29 – November 5, 2000) was the inaugural Java-themed Geek Cruise, sailing the Western Caribbean aboard the Holland America L...

Java Jam 3

Java Jam 3 (September 7 – September 14, 2002) was the third Java-themed Geek Cruise, sailing the Alaska Inside Passage aboard the Holland America L...

JD Frazer

JD Frazer, widely known by his pen name Illiad, is a Canadian cartoonist and writer best known as the creator of the webcomic User Friendly.

Jeff Bezos

Jeffrey Preston Bezos is an American entrepreneur, media proprietor, and investor, founder and executive chairman of Amazon.

Jeff Prosise

Jeff Prosise is a software author, trainer, and co-founder of Wintellect, specializing in .NET programming and Windows architecture.

Jerald T. Milanich

Jerald T. Milanich is an eminent American archaeologist, anthropologist, and author. He is a specialist in Florida archaeology and southeastern Nat...

Jeremy Bailenson

Jeremy Bailenson is an American professor of communication at Stanford University. He is the founding director of Stanford's Virtual Human Interact...

Jerry Coyne

Jerry Coyne is an American evolutionary biologist and professor emeritus at the University of Chicago. He is widely known for his research on speci...

Jessica Brainard

Jessica Brainard is a daughter in the extended Brainard family.

Jim Croce

James Joseph Croce was an American folk and rock singer-songwriter who released five studio albums and numerous hit singles before his untimely dea...

Jim Croce Operator Karaoke Performance

Singing Jim Croce's classic song Operator during a live-streamed karaoke session.

Jim Schulz

Jim Schulz is a member of the Pickett/Schulz family.

Jim Walker

Jim Walker is a member of the extended Brainard/Walker family.

JoCo Cruise

JoCo Cruise (originally called JoCo Cruise Crazy) is an annual cruise vacation and music festival chartered by independent musician Jonathan Coulto...

JoCo Cruise Crazy 2 Cruise

The JoCo Cruise Crazy 2 (JCCC2) cruise sailed from February 19 to February 26, 2012, touring the Southern Caribbean aboard Holland America Line's m...

JoCo Cruise Crazy Cruise

JoCo Cruise Crazy Cruise (January 2–8, 2011) was the inaugural music and comedy cruise chartered by independent singer-songwriter Jonathan Coulton....

Jodi Pickett

Jodi Pickett is a member of the Pickett family.

Joe Pruett

Joe Pruett is a systems administrator and Unix expert who worked with I in the early Unix era.

Joe Schorr

Joe Schorr is a software product executive and presenter, best known for serving as Apple's Product Manager for Aperture (Apple's professional phot...

Joel Benjamin

Joel Benjamin is an American chess Grandmaster and author who served as an instructor on Chess Moves cruises.

John Brainard

John Brainard is a cousin in the extended Brainard family.

John de Lancie

John de Lancie is an American actor best known for portraying the omnipotent character Q across Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Vo...

John Hodgman

John Hodgman is an American author, actor, and comedian.

John Rennie

John Rennie is an American science writer, editor, and lecturer. He served as the Editor-in-Chief of Scientific American from 1994 to 2009.

John Roderick

John Roderick is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and podcaster.

John Scalzi

John Scalzi is a highly popular American science fiction author, best known for his Old Man's War series and as a former president of the Science F...

John Stevenson

John Stevenson is a person in my life graph.

Jon Hall

Jon "maddog" Hall is the Executive Director of Linux International and a foundational open-source community leader.

Jon Irwin

Jon Irwin is a person in my life graph.

Jon Orwant

Jon Orwant is an American computer scientist, author, and technologist. He founded and edited The Perl Journal (TPJ) in 1996, co-authored Programmi...

Jonathan Coulton

Jonathan Coulton (widely known as JoCo) is a highly popular American independent singer-songwriter and internet celebrity, famous for his clever, h...

Jonathan Kirwan

Jonathan Kirwan (Jon Kirwan) is an engineer and software developer based in Oregon.

Jonathan Lewis

Jonathan Lewis is an Oracle Database consultant, author, and speaker specializing in Oracle Database troubleshooting and performance tuning.

Jonathan Pickett

Jonathan Pickett is a son of Tom Pickett and Jodi Pickett.

Jones Farm

Jones Farm (JF) is a prominent Intel campus located in Hillsboro, Oregon.

Joseph Hall

Joseph Hall is a programming instructor, consultant, and author in the Perl community.

Joyce Pickett

Joyce Pickett is my maternal aunt by marriage.

Judy Walker

Judy Walker (née Brainard) is a cousin in the extended Brainard family.

Julian Fitzell

Julian Fitzell is a software architect and longtime Smalltalk core contributor, co-creator of the Seaside web framework alongside Avi Bryant.

Juneau

Juneau is the capital city of Alaska, situated on the Gastineau Channel in the Alaskan panhandle.

Just a Geek

Just a Geek is a 2004 memoir written by actor and author Wil Wheaton.

Kaitlynne Brainard

Kaitlynne Brainard is a daughter in the extended Brainard family.

Karaoke

Karaoke has been a major social and performative outlet throughout my life.

Karaoke Stagecraft and Professional Performance

The history, philosophy, and strategic stagecraft behind my karaoke performances, which evolved from a method to combat stage fright into a foundat...

Karaoke with Jonathan Coulton on JoCo Cruise 2

On the second JoCo Cruise in February 2012 (which was produced by my good friend Neil Bauman), I managed to pull off a legendary coup: I tricked Jo...

Karen Slaven

Karen Slaven (née Walker) is a member of the extended Walker/Brainard family.

Katie Greer

Katie Greer (née Brainard) is a member of the extended Brainard family.

Keith Lofstrom

Keith Lofstrom is an integrated circuit designer, space systems theorist, and longtime friend of Randal Schwartz in the Oregon technology and open-...

Keith Packard

Keith Packard is a legendary software developer best known for his foundational work on the X Window System (X11), including fontconfig, Xft, cairo...

Kelli Slaven

Kelli Slaven is a daughter in the extended Slaven/Walker family.

Ken Brainard

Ken Brainard is a cousin in the extended Brainard family.

Kendall Greer

Kendall Greer is a child in the extended Brainard/Greer family.

Kennedy Space Center

Kennedy Space Center is a major NASA spaceport located in Cape Canaveral, Florida. I visited it as part of excursions for Cosmic Trails 1 (December...

Ketchikan

Ketchikan is a city in Alaska known as the "Salmon Capital of the World" and for its large collection of Native American totem poles.

Keto Health Journey

The story of my life-saving transition to a low-carb, high-fat (LCHF) ketogenic lifestyle in 2012.

Ketogenic Weight Loss Retrospective and Andy Lopez

Reflecting on my successful weight loss journey and the friend who started it.

Kevin Gilbert

Kevin Gilbert is an award-winning photojournalist, television still photographer, and pioneer of the professional digital photography transition. H...

Kevin Hornych

Kevin Hornych was Randal Schwartz's closest childhood best friend in Gladstone, Oregon, beginning in 5th grade after Randal skipped two grades.

Key West

Key West is a place in my life graph.

Koblenz

Koblenz is an ancient city in Germany, situated at the confluence of the Rhine and Moselle rivers (known as the Deutsches Eck).

Konya

Konya is a major city in south-central Turkey, which I visited during the Bright Horizons 20 land tour in April 2014.

Kurt Schmucker

Kurt Schmucker is a Macintosh software pioneer, design expert, and veteran systems evangelist, best known for serving as a Senior Evangelist for th...

La Grande, Oregon

La Grande is a city in Union County, Oregon, located in the Grande Ronde Valley east of the Blue Mountains.

Landing at Tektronix at Age 16 Through Uncle's Introduction

After graduating early from Colton High School in January 1978 at barely 16 years old, I moved into the basement of my uncle Earl Pickett Jr's home...

Language Preferences Perl Smalltalk Dart

A reflection on my professional, recreational, and future programming languages.

Larry Christiansen

Larry Christiansen is a person in my life graph.

Larry Wall

Larry Wall is a computer programmer, linguist, and author, best known as the creator of the Perl Programming language.

Lars Bak

Lars Bak is a Danish virtual machine architect renowned for developing groundbreaking, high-performance runtime systems, including the Strongtalk V...

Lasik Longevity and Driving Glasses

Resolving a gradual decay in night vision after fourteen years of glasses-free life post-Lasik.

LASIK Vision Sharpness Retrospective

Retrospective on sharp vision 19 years after undergoing LASIK surgery.

Lauren Adams

Lauren Adams (née Schwartz) is my niece, daughter of my brother Ron Schwartz and Cathy Schwartz.

Lawrence Krauss

Lawrence Krauss is an American-Canadian theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author. He is best known for his research on dark energy, general r...

Learner Permit to Kill James Bond Joke

Sharing a humorous riddle about James Bond's license to kill during a Christmas party.

Learning Perl Anchors Away Joke

A favorite classroom teaching joke I used to tell during regular expressions training.

Legacy Fax Requirement Frustration

Chuckling at an old-school client's requirement to use a fax machine.

Leinekeugals

Represents the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company (commonly known as "Leine's"), a historic brewery based in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin.

Leo Laporte

Leo Laporte is a Technology broadcaster, author, and founder of the TWiT (This Week in Tech) podcast network.

Lera Boroditsky

Lera Boroditsky is a cognitive scientist and professor of cognitive science at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). She is a leading exp...

Level 42 Lost Song Mystery

Struggling to locate an obscure 1980s pop song on modern streaming services.

License Plate Database Keys

A funny technical anecdote about how vanity license plates caused database errors at a car maintenance shop, linking to my history of vehicle owner...

Life Timeline

Lincoln Stein

Lincoln Stein is a physician, computer programmer, and bioinformatics researcher, well known in the Perl and web development communities.

Linda Brainard

Linda Brainard is a member of the extended Brainard family.

Linksys

Linksys is an American brand of data networking hardware products mainly targeted at home users and small businesses.

Linksys as the Travel ISP of the Early Wifi Era

Nostalgia for the early, unsecured days of wireless internet travel.

Linus Torvalds

Linus Torvalds is a Finnish-American software engineer who is the creator and principal developer of the Linux kernel and the creator of the distri...

Linux

Linux is a topic in my life graph.

Linux Fund

Linux Fund is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides financial support and services to open source software projects and the developer co...

Linux Lunacy 2

Linux Lunacy 2 (October 20 – October 27, 2002) was the second Linux-themed Geek Cruise, sailing the Western Caribbean from Fort Lauderdale, Florida...

Linux Lunacy 2001

Linux Lunacy 2001 (October 21 – October 28, 2001) was the inaugural Linux-themed Geek Cruise, sailing the Eastern Caribbean aboard the Holland Amer...

Linux Lunacy III Cruise

In September 2003, I participated as a featured Perl speaker on Linux Lunacy III, the 18th Technology-themed voyage organized by Geek Cruises.

Linux Magazine

Linux Magazine is an international print and digital publication covering Linux, open-source software, and system administration.

linux.conf.au 2009 in Hobart

In January 2009, I made my fifth trip to Australia to speak at the prestigious linux.conf.au 2009 (LCA 2009) conference in Hobart, Tasmania.

LISA 2001 and the Hot Wings Promotion

In December 2001, I attended the Large Installation System Administration (LISA) conference in San Diego, California.

Llama book

The "Llama Book," officially titled "Learning Perl," is the classic introductory tutorial for the Perl Programming language, co-authored by me, Tom...

Llama Release and My Conviction Day

November 1st, 1993, is a date I will remember for the rest of my life. It was the official release day of my book Llama book (Learning Perl).

Locohost Hostname Typo

The origin story behind my long-standing tradition of naming his computer hostnames and mobile devices "locohost" and "loco" variants.

London

London is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom, and has been a frequent destination for my travels and developer meetups.

London and Stonehenge Visit 2013

In July 2013, I returned to the United Kingdom, staying at the Crowne Plaza London St. James.

London Heathrow Airport

London Heathrow Airport is the main international airport serving London, England.

London Heathrow Clothing Clear Sign Pun

Making a play on words regarding an escalator warning sign at Heathrow.

Lorene Pickett

Lorene Pickett was my maternal grandmother, married to Earl Pickett Sr.

Loreto Dockside Translation

During the Geek Cruises Oracle Odyssey 2002 Voyage, I visited Loreto, Mexico, located along the east coast of the Baja California Peninsula inside ...

Loreto, Mexico

Loreto, Mexico is a place in my life graph.

Lori Harriger

Lori Harriger (formerly Lori Eshelman) was a technical writer contractor in Oregon (contracting for Dave Schuck at Gould/Pyramid) and a good friend...

Los Angeles

Los Angeles is the largest city in the state of California, known as the center of the nation's film and television industry.

LoungeBuddy

LoungeBuddy is a digital platform and mobile app that allows travelers to discover, book, and access airport lounges around the world.

LSU

Louisiana State University (LSU) is a public research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Its athletic teams are known as the LSU Tigers.

Lyle Settle

Lyle Settle is a veteran software engineering and technical writing manager who played a pivotal role in Randal Schwartz's early career.

Lyon

Lyon is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France, serving as the embarkation point for the Bright Horizons 18 Rhône Ri...

MacBook Pro USB-C Port Discovery

After upgrading to my 2021 Apple MacBook Pro, I spent three months juggling cables (for my media hub, backup disk, and iPhone) between only two USB...

Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu is a place in my life graph.

Machu Picchu Adventure with Woz

One of the most unforgettable highlights of my global travels was exploring the breathtaking 15th-century Inca citadel of Machu Picchu alongside Ap...

MacMania 10 Cruise

MacMania 10 Cruise (May 2–9, 2010) was a technology-focused Geek Cruise sailing to Bermuda aboard Holland America Line's M.S. Veendam, departing fr...

MacMania 11 Cruise

MacMania 11 Cruise (February 4–16, 2011) was a technology-themed ocean Geek Cruise exploring Patagonia and South America aboard Holland America Lin...

MacMania 12 Cruise

The MacMania 12 (MacMania XII) cruise sailed in September 2011 (departing September 11, 2011), traveling round-trip from Seattle, Washington up the...

MacMania 14 Cruise

The MacMania 14 (MacMania XIV) cruise sailed from April 12 to April 20, 2012, traveling along the Rhine River from Amsterdam to Basel aboard the ri...

MacMania 17 Cruise

The MacMania 17 (MacMania XVII) cruise (also referenced as MM17) sailed in June 2014 through the British Isles, with port visits to Cobh, Ireland a...

MacMania 2 and PerlWhirl 2003

MacMania 2 and PerlWhirl 2003 (June 1 – June 8, 2003) was one of the first joint cruises organized by Geek Cruises, combining MacMania II (co-produ...

MacMania 2002

MacMania 2002 (May 27 – June 3, 2002) was the inaugural MacMania Geek Cruise, sailing the Alaska Inside Passage aboard the Holland America Line's M...

MacMania 3

MacMania 3 (November 7 – November 14, 2004) was the third Mac-themed Geek Cruise, sailing the Eastern Caribbean aboard the Holland America Line's M...

MacMania 4 Cruise

MacMania 4 Cruise (February 4 – February 11, 2006), also co-branded as "Photoshop Fling 3", was a combined technology and digital design educationa...

MacMania 4.5 Cruise

In June of 2006, the Geek Cruises voyage "MacMania 4.5" set sail through the beautiful Western Mediterranean.

MacMania 5 Cruise

MacMania 5 Cruise (October 28 – November 4, 2006) was the fifth dedicated Macintosh-themed educational voyage organized by Geek Cruises (Insight Cr...

MacMania 6 Cruise

MacMania 6 Cruise (also known as Aperture Aura, May 26 – June 2, 2007) was a combined technology-focused Geek Cruise sailing the Alaska Inside Pass...

MacMania 7 Cruise

MacMania 7 Cruise (also known as Shakespeare at Sea 2, November 3–13, 2007) was a combined technology and humanities Geek Cruise sailing the Southe...

MacMania 8 Cruise

MacMania 8 Cruise (November 5–15, 2008) was a technology-focused Geek Cruise sailing the Eastern Mediterranean aboard the Costa Atlantica, departin...

macOS Sierra Upgrade and Vendor Pricing Frustrations

Upgrading macOS and facing paid software upgrade costs for legacy apps.

Magic Act Stooge on a Cruise

A humorous cruise story involving stage magic and a misunderstanding that occurred during the Java Jam 2000 Geek Cruise.

Marc Brainard

Marc Brainard is a member of the extended Brainard family.

Marian Call

Marian Call is an Alaska-based independent singer-songwriter known for her geeky, character-driven songs and extensive touring.

Marianne Samuel

Marianne Samuel is my maternal cousin.

Mariel Hemingway

Mariel Hemingway is an American actress, author, and mental Health advocate. She is known for her roles in films such as Manhattan, Lipstick, and S...

Mark (Flight Instructor)

Mark was a certified flight instructor at Eagle Flight Center at Hillsboro Airport in 1989.

Mark Bailey

Mark Bailey is a British astronomer and former director of the Armagh Observatory in Northern Ireland. He is an expert in comets, meteors, and sola...

Mark Meyer

Mark Meyer is a member of the Pickett/Meyer family.

Marrissa Brainard

Marrissa Brainard is a daughter in the extended Brainard family.

Marta Kirsten

Marta Kirsten is a person in my life graph.

Massachusetts

Massachusetts is a place in my life graph.

Matthew Schulz

Matthew Schulz is a son of Jim Schulz and Barbara Schulz.

Maturín

Maturín is the capital city of the Venezuelan state of Monagas, which I visited in October 2006 to speak at an open-source conference hosted by PDV...

Max Tegmark

Max Tegmark is a Swedish-American physicist, cosmologist, and machine learning researcher. He is a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Tech...

Mazatlan

Mazatlan is a Mexican city on the Pacific coast, in the state of Sinaloa.

MC Frontalot

MC Frontalot (born Damian Hess) is an American rapper and pioneer of the "nerdcore hip hop" genre.

Meeting a Costa Concordia Survivor

In 2012, on a cruise shortly after the infamous Costa Concordia grounding off Isola del Giglio (which occurred in January 2012), I had an unforgett...

Meeting George Takei on a Geek Cruise

The story of meeting legendary actor George Takei on a cruise.

Meeting Leo Laporte at the InGenius Bar

During the MacMania cruises, Neil Bauman had a great idea: he established a designated, unstructured hour each sea day for attendees to hang out an...

Meeting Mariel Hemingway

A heartwarming personal milestone where I met actress Mariel Hemingway, whom I jokingly refer to as my celebrity "twin" sister.

Meeting Marta Kirsten at DragonCon

During one of my guest years at DragonCon in Atlanta, Georgia, I heard that Marta Kirsten (who played Judy Robinson in the original Lost in Space s...

Meeting Powell's Employee at Karaoke

A fun local anecdote highlighting Portland's small-world tech connections.

Meeting Steve and Jon

Accidentally picked up HP2000 IO Processor manual at Byte Shop

Meeting Thomas Dolby

A brief record of the time I met musician and composer Thomas Dolby.

Meeting Wil Wheaton on PerlWhirl Cruise

During the June 2003 PerlWhirl / MacMania cruise on the Norwegian Star through the Hawaiian Islands, I met actor and writer Wil Wheaton.

MemPalace

MemPalace is a high-fidelity semantic memory-vault and graph-traversal personal knowledge base.

Mexican Riviera

Mexican Riviera is a collective term for twenty cities and lagoons along the western coast of Mexico, popular as a cruise destination.

Mexico

Mexico is a country in North America, sharing its northern border with the United States. It has been a frequent destination for my technology conf...

Mexico City

Mexico City is the capital and largest city of Mexico.

Michael Benton

Michael Benton is a British paleontologist and professor of vertebrate paleontology at the University of Bristol. He is renowned for his research o...

Michael Shermer

Michael Shermer is an American science writer, historian of science, and founder of The Skeptics Society. He is the Editor-in-Chief of its magazine...

Michael Widenius

Michael "Monty" Widenius is the main creator of the open-source MySQL and MariaDB databases.

Micky Dolenz

George Michael "Micky" Dolenz Jr. is an American musician, actor, and television director, best known as the lead singer and drummer for the 1960s ...

Mike Smith

Mike Smith is a systems and network administrator, former cab driver, and avid pool player who worked with Randal Schwartz on the iWarp supercomput...

Mill Valley, California

Mill Valley is a city in Marin County, California, located about 14 miles north of San Francisco.

Milla Jovovich

Milla Jovovich (born 1975) is a world-renowned Ukrainian-born American actress, model, and musician, famous for starring roles in The Fifth Element...

Milton Red Stapler for Tom Pickett

A lighthearted and generous gesture involving an iconic office prop for my housemate and cousin.

Mitchell Schulz

Mitchell Schulz is a son of Jim Schulz and Barbara Schulz.

Mixed Drink Mixer Fee Happy Hour Rant

Ranting about a local establishment charging extra fees for mixers on well drinks.

Mobile App Password Complexity and Correct Horse Battery Staple

Advising mobile app developers on password requirements using the correct horse battery staple concept.

MOG

MOG was an online music service and blog network founded in 2005, which launched a subscription music streaming service in 2009 and was later acqui...

MOG Streaming and Pat Benatar Reflection

Listening to classic Pat Benatar tracks and reflecting on popular song rotation changes.

Mogens Norgaard

Mogens Nørgaard is an Oracle Database performance specialist and founder of the OakTable Network, a group of database experts focused on scientific...

Mohamed Noor

Mohamed Noor is an American evolutionary biologist and geneticist. He is a professor of biology and has served as a dean at Duke University. In add...

Monaco

Monaco is a place in my life graph.

Montevideo

Montevideo is the capital and largest city of Uruguay.

Monty Williams

Monty Williams is a software engineer and co-founder of Servio Logic Development Corporation (later GemStone), spinning out of Tek Labs in Beaverto...

Moon Bloodgood

Moon Bloodgood is an American actress and model, known for her roles in films such as Terminator Salvation and the TV series Falling Skies.

Moon Bloodgood Name Pronunciation and Phonetics

Analyzing the phonetic complexity of the actress Moon Bloodgood's name.

Morning flight

A humorous personal Travel anecdote involving me on an Alaska Airlines morning flight flying out of Portland (PDX) bound for Silicon Valley or Los ...

Mount Rainier

Mount Rainier is a massive active stratovolcano in the Cascade Range of Washington, the highest mountain in the state and the Cascade Range (14,411...

Mount St Helens Ash Jar

A nostalgic recollection of the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption and a tangible piece of ash kept as a souvenir.

Mount St. Helens

Mount St. Helens is an active stratovolcano located in Skamania County, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States.

Mountain View

Mountain View is a place in my life graph.

Mr. Dyk

Mr. Dyk (often spelled Dyk or Dyke) was the founder, owner, and president of Astro Gas, an independent gasoline distribution and service station ch...

Muscat and Oman Flag Art Project

A childhood story demonstrating my practical "work smarter, not harder" philosophy.

Music Man Ya Got Trouble Performance Goal

Setting a fun personal performance goal to memorize and perform a complex musical number.

Mutant Karaoke Comfortably Numb Outro

Singing a bizarrely short version of a classic song at karaoke.

My Brazil Adventures and Christ the Redeemer

Across multiple years, I made several unforgettable journeys to Brazil to speak at major open-source conferences (specifically FISL and YAPC::Brasi...

My Childhood Computing and the IMSAI 8080

At age 9 in Gladstone, I made the conscious decision to choose computer Programming as my lifelong career, realizing the intersection of my love fo...

My Mesoamerican Archaeological Adventures

Over my years of cruising through the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, I took full advantage of the shore excursions to fulfill a deep personal passio...

My Pilot Training and Aviation Days

One of the most challenging and deeply rewarding chapters of my life was taking to the skies as a licensed pilot.

My Summer Temp Job at Tektronix and Learning to Write

At age 15 (1976/1977), I was already doing professional contract coding for Superior Software Services and Washington County IED, making $30 an hour.

MySQL

MySQL is a concept in my life graph.

MySQL CLI Grant Command Frustration

Expressing frustration with the lack of database administration shortcuts in MySQL.

Name Pronunciation Tautology on Social Sites

Sharing a humorous hack for name pronunciation fields on social media.

Nancy C. Andreasen

Nancy C. Andreasen is an American neuroscientist, psychiatrist, and author. She is a pioneer of neuroimaging studies of schizophrenia and creativit...

Naples

Naples is a place in my life graph.

Neil Bauman

Neil Bauman is the founder of Geek Cruises (later rebranded as Insight Cruises), an innovative Travel education company that pioneered tech-themed ...

Nessebur

Nessebur (also spelled Nessebar) is an ancient city and a major seaside resort on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria.

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a country in northwestern Europe, known for its flat landscape of canals, tulip fields, windmills, and cycling routes.

New Mexico

New Mexico is a state in the United States.

New Orleans

New Orleans is a major United States port-city and the largest city in the state of Louisiana, known for its unique music, Creole cuisine, and annu...

New Orleans Bourbon Street Musician

A classic personal anecdote illustrating my "Forrest Gump of Tech" encounters.

New York

New York is a place in my life graph.

Nicholas Hellmuth

Nicholas Hellmuth is an American archaeologist and director of the Foundation for Latin American Anthropological Research (FLAAR). He specializes i...

Nina Teicholz

Nina Teicholz is an American investigative journalist and author of The Big Fat Surprise, which challenges established dietary guidelines on satura...

No Bun Italian Sandwich Ingredients Confusion

A humorous restaurant misunderstanding when ordering a sandwich without a bun.

Noah Isakov

Noah Isakov is an Israeli immunologist and professor of immunology at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, specializing in molecular immunology ...

North Bend, Oregon

North Bend is a city in Coos County, Oregon, located on the Oregon Coast adjacent to Coos Bay, Oregon.

O'Reilly Media

A major technical publisher founded by Tim O'Reilly.

Oaks Park Rink

A roller skating rink located at Oaks Amusement Park in Portland, Oregon.

Object-Oriented Programming

Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm based on the concept of "objects", which can contain data and code.

Odessa

Odessa is a major port city on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea in Ukraine, famous for its grand architecture and Potemkin Stairs.

OLCC

The Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission (formerly the Oregon Liquor Control Commission) is the state government agency responsible for regulating...

Old Havana

Old Havana (Habana Vieja) is the city center and one of the 15 municipalities forming Havana, Cuba. I visited it during the Cuba Travel Program in ...

Old Man Park Bench Yelling Realization

Humorous self-reflection about getting older and yelling at kids from a park bench.

Olympia, Washington

Olympia is the capital city of the U.S. state of Washington.

Omega Male Attraction and Dating Paradox

Reflecting on a recurring dating paradox where women praise my qualities but decline to date me.

OMSI

The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) is a science and technology museum in Portland, Oregon.

OMSI Pascal Classes and the Birth of Oregon Software

During my high school years in the late 1970s, I attended weekend computing classes at OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) in Portland, Or...

One Wilshire Dark Fiber Speedtest

Fast fiber bandwidth setup at One Wilshire in Los Angeles.

Online Shopping During Yankees Game

Shopping online for pants, socks, shoes, and a Fitbit band during a Yankees baseball game.

OOCL

Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) is a major container shipping and logistics service company, famous in the database world for using GemStone ...

Oracle Odyssey

Oracle Odyssey (May 2002) was a database-focused Geek Cruise, sailing to Mexico and the Caribbean (including ports like Roatan, Honduras) aboard th...

Oracle Odyssey 2002 Voyage

Oracle Odyssey 2002 Voyage is a event in my life graph.

Oranjestad

Oranjestad is the capital and largest city of Aruba, located on the southern coast of the island.

Oregon

Born in Oregon City

Oregon City

Oregon City, Oregon

Oregon City is the county seat of Clackamas County, Oregon, located immediately adjacent to Gladstone along the Willamette Falls.

Oregon Coast

The Oregon Coast is a geographical region of the U.S. state of Oregon, stretching along the Pacific Ocean.

Oregon Coast Range

The Oregon Coast Range is a mountain range running north-south along the Pacific coast of Oregon, separating the Willamette Valley from the Pacific...

Oregon Flag State Form Blunder

A humorous anecdote about a poorly designed web form that split Oregon into two separate states.

Oregon Software

Oregon Software (originally founded as Oregon Minicomputer Software, Inc., retaining the OMSI acronym) was an early Oregon software firm founded in...

Oregon State Fair

Oregon State Fair is a place in my life graph.

Origin of Geek Cruises and Karaoke with Neil

The entire global phenomenon of Geek Cruises—which eventually brought thousands of developers and open-source pioneers together on luxury voyages—g...

OSCON

OSCON (O'Reilly Open Source Convention) was a significant event in the open-source community that ran from 1999 to 2019. It grew out of The Perl Co...

OSCON 2013

OSCON 2013 is a event in my life graph.

OSCON Laptop Battery Scare

A funny personal anecdote about a laptop battery panic during a major tech conference.

Oslo

Oslo is the capital city of Norway, which I visited during the Bright Horizons 17 Norwegian Fjords cruise in July 2013.

Outdoor Cheeseburger Hornet Encounter

Having a happy hour cheeseburger outdoor meal cut short by a hornet.

Owning the Tropidera Bar with Bill Harp

A nostalgic look back at the period when I co-owned the Tropidera Bar with my close friend.

Pal Brekke

Pål Brekke is a Norwegian solar physicist and author. He serves as a senior advisor at the Norwegian Space Centre and is an expert on solar weather...

Palermo

Palermo is a place in my life graph.

Panama

Panama is a place in my life graph.

Panama Canal

The Panama Canal is a historic and world-renowned 82 km artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean.

Parallel Parking 4-Runner SUV vs Camaro Z28

Comparing parallel parking techniques between my former SUV and my Z28 sports car.

Parents 64th Anniversary and Sixty Four at Karaoke

A personal milestone connecting my parents' wedding anniversary on Valentine's Day to a classic Beatles song performance.

Pascal

Pascal is an imperative and procedural programming language designed by Niklaus Wirth in 1970 to encourage structured programming practices and dat...

Passing of Ray Schwartz on Christmas Day

Mourning the loss of my father during the holidays in 2008.

Passing of Russ Schwartz

The passing of my brother, Russ Schwartz (Russell "Shady Fox" Schwartz), at age 53.

Patagonia

Patagonia is a geographical region located at the southern end of South America, shared by Argentina and Chile.

Patrick Hunt

Patrick Hunt is an American archaeologist, writer, and historian. He has taught at Stanford University for many years and is best known for his fie...

Patti Meyer

Patti Meyer (née Pickett) is my maternal cousin.

Patti Walker

Patti Walker is a member of the extended Walker family.

Paul F. Tompkins

Paul F. Tompkins is an American comedian, actor, and writer.

Paul Truong

Paul Truong is an American chess FIDE Master, coach, and organizer who instructed on the Chess Moves voyages organized by Geek Cruises.

Paul Vixie

Paul Vixie is an American Internet pioneer, author of several RFCs, and creator of the Vixie cron daemon and BIND (Berkeley Internet Name Domain).

Paul Walker

Paul Walker is a member of the extended Walker/Brainard family.

PDP-11

PDP-11 is a series of 16-bit minicomputers sold by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) from 1970 into the 1990s.

Peak Life Expectancy Delta Speculation

Speculating on the peak gain in life expectancy for each day survived.

Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor is a place in my life graph.

Pearl Harbor Tour

In June 2003, as part of the Perl Whirl / MacMania Geek Cruise, we went on a comprehensive tour of the USS Arizona Memorial, the USS Bowfin submari...

Pennywhistle 103 Modem

The Pennywhistle 103 was an acoustic coupler modem designed by Lee Felsenstein in 1976 and marketed by M&R Enterprises. It allowed microcomputers t...

People

Bill Harp

Performance Computing

Performance Computing was the title given to Unix Review during a temporary rebranding period between 1998 and 2000 by publisher Miller Freeman, be...

Perl

## Personal Notes

Perl Mongers

Perl Mongers is a global, grassroots organization of user groups for people who use the Perl Programming language. The groups provide a space for P...

Perl Whirl 2000

Perl Whirl 2000 (May 29 – June 5, 2000) was the inaugural voyage of Geek Cruises, sailing through the Alaska Inside Passage aboard the Holland Amer...

Perl Whirl 2002

Perl Whirl 2002 (February 2 – February 9, 2002) was a Perl-focused Geek Cruise, sailing the Caribbean aboard the Holland America Line.

Perplexity AI

Perplexity AI is an AI-powered conversational search engine.

Perplexity Oregon Bar Food Confusion

I tested the AI search assistant Perplexity AI by asking: "Does a bar in Oregon need to serve food?"

Personal Homepage

My long-standing personal homepage and professional archive (known online as merlyn), hosted at http://www.stonehenge.com/merlyn/ since the mid-1990s.

Peru

Peru is a place in my life graph.

Peter Brainard

Peter Brainard is a member of the extended Brainard family.

Peter Sagal

Peter Sagal is an American playwright, screenwriter, actor, and host of the National Public Radio (NPR) weekly news quiz show Wait Wait... Don't Te...

PGE Power Disconnection Threat After Move

Threat of power shut-off on a terminated address service.

Philipsburg

Photoshop Fling

Photoshop Fling (February 8 – February 15, 2004) was the 20th technology-themed voyage organized by Geek Cruises, sailing through the Eastern Carib...

Photoshop Fling 3 Cruise

In February 2005, the 27th Geek Cruises voyage sailed the Caribbean on the m/s Veendam, co-branded as "Photoshop Fling 3".

Photoshop Fling 5 Cruise

Photoshop Fling 5 Cruise (February 16–23, 2008) was a specialized digital photography and imaging Geek Cruise sailing the Eastern Caribbean aboard ...

Physical Therapy Progress and Cane Height Adjustment

Tracking recovery and posture adjustments during physical therapy.

Pilot Certificate Expiration Paradox

I pointed out a common media misconception regarding pilot licenses, responding to a headline about John David Duggar allowing his pilot license to...

Pinball

Pinball is an arcade game where players use flippers to score points by directing one or more steel balls inside a glass-covered cabinet.

Pioneer Courthouse Square Statue Umbrella Irony

Highlighting the irony of an umbrella-holding statue in a city of hooded coat wearers.

Piper Arrow

The Piper PA-28R Arrow is a four-seat, single-engine aircraft featuring retractable landing gear and a constant-speed propeller, manufactured by Pi...

Pisa

Pisa is a place in my life graph.

Pool and Go-Karts with Linus

During one of my famous Stonehenge Consulting Services, Inc. parties at OSCON, I invited Linus Torvalds to attend.

Pool Hustler Minimal Energy Rule

A lesson in pool strategy learned from an expert table hustler about the importance of minimal energy and control.

Portland

Portland General Electric

Portland General Electric is a Fortune 1000 electric utility company based in Portland, Oregon.

Portland International Airport

Portland International Airport is a joint civil-military airport and the largest airport in the U.S. state of Oregon.

Portland Well Drink Pricing

I shared observations on the cultural differences in how bars charge for well drinks:

Porto Alegre

Porto Alegre is a place in my life graph.

PostgreSQL

PostgreSQL is a concept in my life graph.

PostgreSQL and MySQL Pronunciation Guide

Correcting the pronunciations of PostgreSQL and MySQL.

Powell's Books

Powell's Books is a legendary bookstore in Portland, Oregon, known as the largest independent new and used bookstore in the world.

Private Pilot License

A Private Pilot License (PPL) is a pilot license that permits the holder to act as Pilot in Command (PIC) of an aircraft non-commercially.

Programming

Programming is a concept in my life graph.

Promptlish LLM Dialect

Coining a name for the emerging dialect used to communicate with large language models.

Public Bathrooms and the Pocket Paper Towel Strategy

A practical life hack and pet peeve regarding public restrooms during pandemic times.

Publication of the Camel Book

"Programming Perl" (the Camel book) was first published in 1990, co-authored by Larry Wall and me.

Puerto Montt

Puerto Montt is a port city in southern Chile, located at the northern end of the Reloncaví Sound.

Puerto Rico

Puerto Vallarta

Puerto Vallarta is a resort town on Mexico's Pacific coast in the state of Jalisco. I visited it for a GNU/Linux and Free Software festival in Sept...

Punctuation Pet Peeves and Kids Matter Physics Joke

Making a physics-themed joke about a grammatical typo on a car window.

Punta Arenas

Punta Arenas is the capital city of Chile's southernmost region, Magallanes and Antarctica Chilena.

Pyzano's Hot Summer Karaoke Livestream

Braving extreme heat to perform and livestream karaoke at Pyzano's.

Raked Classic Pinball Machines Rant

A critique of venues that alter the physical leveling of pinball tables.

Randal Schwartz

I, widely known as "merlyn", am a pioneering software developer, prolific author, system administrator, and prominent member of the open-source com...

Randal Schwartz Wikipedia Page

My official public profile on Wikipedia, documenting my career, contributions to Perl, books, and legal history.

Ray Sawyer

Ray Sawyer was the eye-patch wearing lead singer of the 1970s rock band Dr. Hook.

Ray Sawyer and Rolling Stone Magazine for His Mom

Verifying the story of a rock musician buying magazines for his mother.

Ray Schwartz

Father of me, Ron Schwartz, and Russ Schwartz

Reconciling Checkbooks and the Shift to Online Banking

Reflecting on how modern technology eliminated the chore of checkbook reconciliation.

Reed College

Reed College is a private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon, founded in 1908.

Reflections on Dating History and the Omega-Male Perspective

Introspective thoughts on my approach to dating and personal relationships.

Retha Schwartz

Daughter of Earl Pickett Sr and Lorene Pickett

Retiring from Git Testing

On July 14, 2026, I officially ended my era as an active Git tester, a role I held since within a month of the project's creation by Linus Torvalds...

Returning to Beaverton

My return to my home base in Beaverton, Oregon, ending a period of temporary displacement.

Reverse Engineering

Reverse Engineering is the process of analyzing a subject system to identify its components and interrelationships, or to create representations of...

Rich Siegel

Rich Siegel is an American software developer, best known as the founder and CEO of Bare Bones Software and the original author of BBEdit, the lege...

Richard Datin

Model maker and builder of the original 11-foot filming model of the Star Trek Starship Enterprise.

Richard Dreyfuss

Richard Dreyfuss is an American actor, best known for starring in classic films including Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, American Graffi...

Richard Hatch

Richard Lawrence Hatch (1945–2017) was an American actor, writer, and producer best known for playing Captain Apollo in the original 1978 Battlesta...

Richard Hipp

Dwayne Richard Hipp is an American software developer, best known as the primary author and creator of the SQLite database engine.

Richard Stallman

Richard Matthew Stallman (known as RMS) is a software freedom activist and programmer who founded the GNU Project and the Free Software Foundation ...

Riedell

Riedell (Riedell Shoes) is an American manufacturer of ice skates, roller skates, and specialty athletic footwear, founded in 1945.

Right Hip Replacement Three-Month Followup

Celebrating perfect x-rays at my three-month hip replacement checkup.

Ringo's Bar & Grill

Ringo's Bar & Grill (often simply referred to as Ringo's) is a classic sports bar and tavern located in downtown Beaverton.

Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro is a place in my life graph.

Roatan

Roatan is an island in the Caribbean, off the coast of Honduras, known for its coral reefs, diving, and cruise ship ports.

Rob Galbraith

Rob Galbraith is a legendary Canadian photojournalist, writer, educator, and digital photography workflow pioneer. He is widely celebrated as one o...

Rob Griffiths

Rob Griffiths is a prominent Mac technologist, founder of the famous Mac OS X Hints website, and senior editor/writer for Macworld.

Robert Picardo

Robert Picardo is an American actor best known for playing the Emergency Medical Hologram (The Doctor) on Star Trek: Voyager and Richard Woolsey in...

Robin Williams

Robin Williams (not to be confused with the actor) is a prominent author, designer, and community educator who has written dozens of influential bo...

Roller Disco Era

A summary of my peak roller skating days in the 1980s, his precision gear rig, developing his signature moves, and the rinks where he skated.

Roller Skating

Roller skating (particularly roller disco) was one of my first major performative physical activities and a key social outlet during the 1980s.

Roller Skating Recovery Thoughts and Legacy Skates

Contemplating a return to roller skating as a milestone in hip replacement surgery recovery.

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture.

Rome

Rome is the capital and largest city of Italy.

Ron Schwartz

Ron Schwartz is my brother.

Rooftop Bar Laptop Bag Ban

Facing a bag check restriction preventing laptops at a hotel's rooftop lounge.

Roommate Shadyfox Moves Out

Reflecting on changes in living arrangements as brother Russ moves out.

Rosetta Code

Rosetta Code is a programming chrestomathy wiki-based website that presents solutions to the same programming tasks in many different programming l...

Rosetta Code Rosetta Stone Identification

Seeking the name of the wiki showing code examples in different programming languages.

Rostock

Rostock is a place in my life graph.

Rube Goldberg iCal Reminders Sync

Inspired by a feature on FLOSS Weekly episode 199 about the Remind utility, I wanted to use it with my Mac laptop to import my reminders into macOS...

Rudesheim

Rüdesheim is a wine-growing town in the Rhine Gorge, Germany, known for its historic town center and Riesling wines.

Russ Schwartz

Russ Schwartz was my brother, known online and in virtual communities as Shady Fox.

Russell Brown

Russell Preston Brown is the legendary Senior Creative Director at Adobe Systems and one of the original, foundational pioneers who launched Adobe ...

Russia

Russia is a place in my life graph.

Ryan Pickett

Ryan Pickett is a son of Tom Pickett and Jodi Pickett.

SAGE-AU 2007 and Brisbane Travel

In July 2007, I returned to Australia for the national SAGE-AU 2007 conference held at the Carlton Crest Parramatta Hotel in Sydney, followed by a ...

SAGE-AU Hobart Talks and the Tazzy Accent

In August 2003, during my technical presentations at the SAGE-AU conference held in Hobart, Tasmania, I experienced a hilarious language barrier.

Sal Soghoian

Sal Soghoian was Apple's Product Manager of Automation Technologies (including AppleScript, Automator, Services, and Dictation Commands) from 1997 ...

Salem, Oregon

Salem is the capital city of the U.S. state of Oregon and the county seat of Marion County.

Salt Lake City Sky Club Upgrade

Enjoying airport lounge amenities and receiving a complimentary first-class upgrade.

Salt Lake City, Utah

Salt Lake City is the capital and most populous municipality of the U.S. state of Utah.

Same Day Family Birthdays

A short personal anecdote about a unique family chronological coincidence.

San Diego

San Diego is a place in my life graph.

San Francisco

San Francisco is a major city in northern California, known for its steep hills, the Golden Gate Bridge, and its proximity to Silicon Valley.

San Jose

San Juan

Santa Monica

Santa Monica is a place in my life graph.

Santa Monica Sales Tax Quirk

An observation about a restaurant in Santa Monica applying sales tax to drinks only if food was also ordered.

Santiago

Santiago is the capital and largest city of Chile, located in the country's central valley.

Satirical Journalism and The Onion Reflection

Reflecting on how reality has caught up with satirical headlines.

Saturated Fats and Cardiovascular Health Research

Highlight research finding no link between saturated fat intake and cardiovascular mortality.

Schwartzian Transform

An efficient algorithm and Programming idiom used in Perl and other languages to optimize sorting a list of elements based on an expensive key-calc...

Scientific American

Scientific American is an American popular science magazine founded in 1845. They also operate "Bright Horizons" science-themed cruises.

Scott Walker

Scott Walker is a member of the extended Walker/Brainard family.

SCOTTeVEST

SCOTTeVEST is an American clothing company that designs and sells apparel featuring specialized, high-capacity utility pockets and wire-routing con...

ScottEVest Plaid Shirt Fashion Inquiry

Querying friends for fashion advice regarding SCOTTeVEST plaid shirts.

Scottevest Transformer Jacket Test Run

Acquiring and testing out a new multi-pocket tech jacket.

ScriptScape 2001

ScriptScape 2001 (August 19 – August 26, 2001) was the fifth Geek Cruise ("ScriptScape"), sailing through the Alaska Inside Passage aboard the Holl...

Scrooged Movie Review and Streaming Services Abundance

Reviewing holiday movies and reflecting on the number of active streaming subscriptions.

SEA Skyclub Lacey Coincidence

A short Travel anecdote about a bizarre and friendly coincidence at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA).

Sean McGrath

Sean McGrath is a software engineer, author, and speaker known for his work with XML, SGML, and Python.

Seaside

Seaside is an open-source, component-based web application framework written in Smalltalk, created by Avi Bryant and Julian Fitzell.

Seaside, Smalltalk Images, and the DNA of Flutter Hot Reload

In the 2000s, I served on the Board of Directors for Squeak Smalltalk for five years, working to bring Smalltalk's live-object programming model in...

Seattle

Seattle is a place in my life graph.

Seattle No Parking North of Here Sign Rant

Complaining about the unique parking signs in Seattle that require knowing cardinal directions.

Second Life

Second Life is an online multimedia platform and virtual world launched in 2003 by Linden Lab. It allows users to create an avatar and interact in ...

Second Life Shady Fox Happy Fun Place

my reflection on curating and raising funds for the "Shady Fox Happy Fun Place" land in Second Life to honor his late brother Russ.

Self Censoring Radio Edit Song

I singing Jonathan Coulton's "Chiron Beta Prime" at karaoke, reminding him of a song from the 80s/90s that explicitly sings the words "radio edit" ...

Sequent Computer Systems

Sequent Computer Systems was a pioneering computer hardware and software company founded in Beaverton, Oregon in 1983 by former Intel engineers.

Servio-Logic

Servio-Logic Corporation (later renamed GemStone Systems) was a pioneering database software company based in Portland and Beaverton, Oregon.

Servio-Logic and Running Fiber in the Georgia-Pacific Building

After five years at Tektronix, I joined Servio-Logic (which later became GemStone Systems) in June 1983 as system administrator and internal toolsm...

ServioLogic

ServioLogic (later Servio Corp, and eventually GemStone Systems) was a software company founded in Oregon, known for developing the GemStone object...

Seth Bradley

Seth Bradley was an engineering manager at Intel who served as Randal Schwartz's manager on the iWarp systolic array supercomputer project in Hills...

Setting Up First HDTV and Squeak News

Recording podcast segments, setting up a new TV, and singing karaoke.

Sevastopol

Sevastopol is a major port city on the Black Sea, located on the southwestern tip of the Crimean Peninsula.

Shannon Morse

Online media host, producer, and cybersecurity educator.

Shari Jones

Shari Jones (née Samuel) is my maternal cousin.

Sharron Brainard

Sharron Brainard is a member of the extended Brainard family.

Shattered Cockpit Window Flight Diversion

A Travel anecdote about an emergency flight diversion caused by a shattered cockpit window.

Shooting Pool with Mike Smith and You Call the Shot at Ringo's

While working on the iWarp systolic array supercomputer project at Intel in the late 1980s and early 1990s, I worked closely with Mike Smith, a sys...

Shutterstock

Shutterstock is an American provider of stock photography, stock footage, stock music, and editing tools.

Simon St. Laurent

Simon St. Laurent is an author, editor, and software developer who wrote extensively about XML and web technologies.

Singing Mexican Radio in Tijuana

A travel and karaoke anecdote about I singing Wall of Voodoo's "Mexican Radio" after crossing the border into Tijuana with my laptop.

Singular Parenthesis Grammar and Paren Abbreviation

Explaining the correct singular form of parentheses and classroom abbreviations.

Sitka

Sitka is a unified city-borough in Alaska, located on Baranof Island and the southern half of Chichagof Island in the Alexander Archipelago.

Sitting Next to Adam West in First Class

During a first-class flight from Newark (EWR) to Salt Lake City (SLC) on my way home to Portland from working in Manhattan, I sat directly next to ...

Sky Club Stairs Credentials Hack

A travel anecdote about walking up the stairs to bypass credentials check at an airport Delta Sky Club.

Skylab Reentry

The orbital decay and reentry of the Skylab space station in July 1979.

Skylab Reentry Parody Song

A humorous songwriting memory from the 1979 Skylab reentry, written to the tune of Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road".

Skynet Conspiracy Board Image Prompt

Drafting an image prompt visualizing the connection between current AI progress and Skynet.

SLAC

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (originally Stanford Linear Accelerator Center) is a United States Department of Energy National Laboratory op...

Smalltalk

Smalltalk is an object-oriented, dynamically typed reflective programming language, originally developed in the 1970s at Xerox PARC. It has been a ...

Snyder

Snyder is an American manufacturer of high-performance roller skate plates.

Social Media Feed Import Loop and FriendFeed

Troubleshooting a feed import loop between Facebook and FriendFeed.

Software Design Rant on Numbered Variables

A technical design guideline and warning about numbered fields in schemas.

Sol-20

The Sol-20 (manufactured by Processor Technology Corporation and designed by Lee Felsenstein and Bob Marsh) was one of the earliest complete pre-as...

Solo Cross-Country Flight

An essential FAA milestone requirement under 14 CFR § 61.109 for earning a Private Pilot License.

Solving a WiFi Password Puzzle

Deciphering a confusing handwriting notation to connect to wireless internet.

Sony

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, and a major player in consumer electronics and cameras.

Sony NEX-7 Camera Delivery

Celebrating the delivery of a new Sony NEX-7 camera with a line from The Music Man.

South America

South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, bordered by the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, ...

South Miami Beach, Florida

South Miami Beach, Florida is a place in my life graph.

Southwest Oregon Regional Airport

Southwest Oregon Regional Airport (FAA LID: OTH, ICAO: KOTH), historically known as North Bend Municipal Airport, is a public airport in North Bend...

Space Debris Concerns and LEO Satellite Constellations

Expressing concern over space debris and low Earth orbit satellite networks.

Spaceship Operator

The Spaceship Operator (<=>) is a three-way numeric comparison operator introduced into modern programming language design by Larry Wall in Perl (a...

SpaceX

SpaceX is an American aerospace manufacturer, space transportation services, and communications corporation founded by Elon Musk in 2002.

SpaceX Tour with Neil Bauman

A memorable tour of the SpaceX rocket manufacturing facilities.

Spanish Pronunciation Karaoke Amarillo and Pollo Loco

Humorous observation about phonetic incongruities at karaoke and in fast food.

Spaten Lager Foreign Beer Appreciation

Contrasting German lagers with mass-produced American beers.

Speyer

Speyer is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, dominated by the Speyer Cathedral, a massive Romanesque church.

SQL Pronunciation Rant

I expressed frustration over how technical screencasters and developers mispronounce database names:

SQLite

SQLite is a widely used software library that provides a lightweight, serverless, self-contained, SQL database engine.

SQLite and Richard Hipp Appreciation

Highlighting SQLite's status as the world's most widely installed database.

St. Kitts

St. Kitts is a place in my life graph.

St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis is a major city in Missouri, USA, located near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers.

St. Maarten

St. Petersburg

St. Petersburg is a place in my life graph.

St. Thomas

St. Thomas is an island in the Caribbean Sea, forming a county and district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI).

Standing Up and Bob Marley Soundtrack in Head

Getting Bob Marley's "Get Up, Stand Up" stuck in my head when rising from a chair.

Star Trek Cruise and Insight Cruises Origin

The family connection behind the Smithsonian's Star Trek Enterprise model and the origin of thematic Geek Cruises.

Star Wars

Star Wars is an American epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the eponymous 1977 film.

Star Wars Opening Day Boycott

Deciding to skip a Star Wars theatrical release for the first time in over three decades.

StarShipSofa

StarShipSofa is a Hugo Award-winning science fiction podcast.

State of Oregon v. Randal Schwartz

Overview: In late July 1995, I was convicted of three felony counts under Oregon's Computer Crime Law. The charges stemmed from security auditing a...

Steering GemStone Toward Sanity

An account of my early career at Servio Logic Development Corporation (later GemStone), where a crucial architecture meeting question pivoted the d...

Stefani Pickett

Stefani Pickett is a daughter of Tom Pickett and Jodi Pickett.

Steve Miller

Steve Miller is a Celestial Navigation Instructor at the Chapman School of Seamanship in Florida, holding a USCG 100-ton Masters License.

Steve Mirsky

Steve Mirsky is a writer, columnist, and editor for Scientific American. He is best known for his long-running humorous column "Antigravity" and fo...

Steve Roberts

Steve Roberts is an author, designer, and pioneer of "nomadic computing" who built custom computer-integrated human-powered vehicles and vessels (l...

Steve Salta

Steve Salta was a software developer and entrepreneur in Oregon who co-founded Superior Software Services with Jonathan Kirwan in Beaverton.

Steve Wozniak

Steve Wozniak is a legendary computer engineer, co-founder of Apple, and tech philanthropist.

Steve Wozniak Cruise Ship Steering

Giving Steve Wozniak a tour of the bridge on a cruise around Cape Horn.

Steve Wozniak Meets Janet Hill

During one of the tech-themed Geek Cruises (specifically a MacMania voyage), Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak met his future wife, Janet Hill.

Stockholm

Stockholm is a place in my life graph.

Stolen iPhone in a Restaurant

A travel inconvenience caused by the theft of my iPhone in June 2012.

Stonehenge

Stonehenge is a place in my life graph.

Stonehenge Booth LISA 2004 Cash Swag

During the Large Installation System Administration (LISA) conference in Atlanta in November 2004, my company Stonehenge Consulting Services, Inc. ...

Stonehenge Consulting Services, Inc.

## History and Operations

Stonehenge courses

Stonehenge Consulting Services, Inc. offered a range of expert-led Perl training courses, developed and taught by the authors of the corresponding ...

Stonehenge Visit and Forrest Gump Moments

In August of 2001, I made my first trip to the United Kingdom to be the keynote speaker at the Genome Conference at The Wellcome Trust Genome Cente...

Stonehenge Wednesday Blowout Parties

Starting in 2000 at TPC4/OSCON2 in Monterey, Bill Harp and I launched a long-standing tradition of throwing massive Stonehenge parties during confe...

Strange Conversation Starters and Owning a Bar

Reflecting on unusual life events that serve as unique conversation starters.

Strasbourg

Strasbourg is the capital and largest city of the Grand Est region of France, located on the border with Germany, and the official seat of the Euro...

Sunnyvale

Superior Software Services

Superior Software Services was a software consulting and engineering firm based in Beaverton, Oregon, founded by Jonathan Kirwan and Steve Salta du...

Supernova

A supernova is a powerful and luminous stellar explosion that occurs during the last evolutionary stages of a massive star, dispersing heavy elemen...

Susan Polgar

Susan Polgar is a Hungarian-American chess Grandmaster, author, and coach who served as a prominent instructor on Geek Cruises' Chess Moves voyages.

Sweden

Sweden is a place in my life graph.

Switzerland

Switzerland is a mountainous Central European country, home to numerous lakes, villages, and the high peaks of the Alps.

Sydney

Sydney is the state capital of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia. Famous for its iconic harbor, the Sydney Opera House, and t...

Sys Admin Magazine

Sys Admin Magazine was a premier monthly trade publication for Unix and Linux system administrators, published by CMP Media from 1992 to 2007.

Sysadmin on the iWarp Supercomputer Project and Bringing the Internet to Intel Oregon

Following the hallway recruitment by Keith Lofstrom in late 1989, I started contracting as system administrator for Intel's iWarp project under eng...

Tacoma Narrows Airport

Tacoma Narrows Airport (FAA LID: TIW, ICAO: KTIW) is a county-owned public-use airport located 5 miles west of Tacoma, Washington.

Tacoma, Washington

Tacoma is a major port city in Washington, situated along Puget Sound southwest of Seattle.

Tad McClellan

Tad McClellan was an accomplished software and electrical engineer, a trainer for Stonehenge Consulting Services, Inc., and a highly respected figu...

Tallinn

Tallinn is a place in my life graph.

Tandem Computers

Tandem Computers was a dominant computer manufacturer known for pioneering fault-tolerant computer systems, which were widely adopted by banks, ATM...

Tandem Computers and the Safeguard C2 Prank

An April Fools' Day prank at Tandem Computers in 1985 that exploited a Safeguard security leak and ultimately led to a stronger operating system.

Teaching Richard Dreyfuss His Mac and Brainstorming a Civics Podcast

In November 2007, Academy Award-winning actor Richard Dreyfuss joined our Geek Cruises voyage aboard the M.S. Zuiderdam for MacMania 7 Cruise (co-b...

TECHbooks

TECHbooks was a technical bookstore and BBS operated by James Deibele in Portland, Oregon during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

TECHbooks and the First Camel Book Distribution

James Deibele (James Dieble) operated TECHbooks, a technical computer bookstore in Portland, Oregon. In 1990, when the first edition of the Camel b...

Technology

Technology is a concept in my life graph.

Ted Landau

Ted Landau is an author and founder of MacFixIt who lectured on Macintosh troubleshooting and operations during MacMania cruises.

Tek Labs

Tek Labs (Tektronix Laboratories) was the research and development division of Tektronix in Beaverton, Oregon, which was a hotbed for early Smallta...

Tektronix

Tektronix (historically known as Tek) is an American company best known for manufacturing test and measurement devices such as oscilloscopes and lo...

Teleport

Teleport was one of the earliest and largest internet service providers (ISPs) in Portland, Oregon, founded by James Deibele.

Teri Samuel

Teri Samuel is a member of the Samuel family.

Testing If the Computer Could Do Math and My First Bug-Free Program

Before I ever touched a physical terminal, I had devoured the HP 2000 BASIC time-shared manual from cover to cover—reading it front to back multipl...

Thanksgiving Travel and Olympia Brother Meetup

Meeting up with my brothers before flying to Europe for Thanksgiving.

The 2012 Health Resolution

The turning point and commitment to a healthier lifestyle that sparked my weight loss journey.

The 50-Dollar Hamburger

The $50 Hamburger (now often called the "$100 hamburger" due to inflation and aviation fuel prices) is classic pilot folklore and slang.

The 52-Mile Fifty-Dollar Hamburger Run to Albany Airport

In western Oregon, rain and low cloud ceilings are a constant reality of life.

The Am I Hoot-er-not Parody and the Forget-me-not Column

The humorous history behind Web Techniques Column 59, featuring deep-linking legalities, reverse-engineered calendars, Bill Harp's franchise dreams...

The Broken Blender Bartending Rule

A short anecdote about my time operating a bar and the classic rule of bartending.

The C Programming Language

The C Programming Language (widely known as K&R or the "White Bible" of C) is a computer programming book written by Brian Kernighan and Dennis Rit...

The Dalles, Oregon

The Dalles is the largest city in and the county seat of Wasco County, Oregon, located along the Columbia River Gorge.

The Day I Decided Never to Learn Python

During the ScriptScape 2001 Alaska Geek Cruise, I attended a private, small-group one-hour OO spreadsheet design session led by Python creator Guid...

The End of the Oregon Trail Museum Error

Spotting a historical geography error at a museum in St. Louis.

The Forrest Gump of Tech

People often ask me how I got into computers. My answer is simple: "I wrote my first commercial code for hire in 1977 at age 15."

The Gecko Book and Compuserve Chat

In August 1997, O'Reilly published Learning Perl on Win32 Systems, commonly referred to as the "Gecko" book.

The GNU Linux Headlock

During a party on one of the Geek Cruises with Linus Torvalds (likely during a Linux Lunacy Cruise in the early 2000s), I walked up to Linus and pl...

The Great Shouting Match

During the Linux Lunacy 2001 Geek Cruise, a spontaneous, high-decibel yelling match erupted between Richard Stallman (RMS) and Eric S Raymond (ESR)...

The Legendary Juneau Pub Crawls

Over the course of many Alaskan Geek Cruises (such as the Linux Lunacy and Arctic Exposure series), the annual Juneau Pub Crawl became a legendary ...

The Microphone Moment at Google IO 2024

During O 2024, the presenters in both the main opening keynote and the Developer keynote mentioned absolutely nothing about Flutter. Not a single w...

The Mint Karaoke Club Meetup

A fun Karaoke meetup with FLOSS Weekly listeners at The Mint in San Francisco.

The Onion

The Onion is an American digital media company and newspaper organization that publishes satirical articles on international, national, and local n...

The Perl Foundation

The Perl Journal

The Perl Journal (TPJ) was a quarterly magazine devoted entirely to the Perl programming language, founded and edited by Jon Orwant in 1996.

The Power of the Y Adaptor

A practical travel tip about how carrying a simple electrical Y-adaptor makes people happy by sharing outlets.

The Rise and Fall of The Perl Institute

Following the runaway success and royalties of my books, I wanted to take some of my "runaway money" and find a way to give back to the Perl commun...

The Speck KFC in Portland

The regional history of "The Speck," Portland's local name for Kentucky Fried Chicken.

The Standard Hotel

The Standard Hotels is a brand of boutique hotels founded in 1999 by André Balazs, featuring properties in Los Angeles, New York, and Miami.

The Star Trek BASIC Game and the Spaceship Operator

During my marathon 9th-grade programming sessions on the ASR-33 Teletype in Gladstone, one of the most memorable programs I typed in and played was...

The Student Solo Cross-Country and Five Miles West over the Pacific

Before earning my Private Pilot License, FAA regulations required completing a long Solo Cross-Country Flight—a multi-leg solo navigation exercise ...

The Veggie Omelette of Three Meats

A humorous breakfast order exchange with a bartender during the Christmas holidays.

Thomas Abel

Thomas Abel is an astrophysicist and professor of physics at Stanford University and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. He is an expert in compu...

Thomas Dolby

Thomas Dolby (born Thomas Morgan Robertson) is an English musician, producer, composer, and teacher, known for his hit single "She Blinded Me with ...

Tied House

Tied House is a microbrewery and pub located on San Pedro Square in San Jose, popular with the South Bay tech community during the 1980s silicon boom.

Tijuana

Tijuana is a major city in Baja California, Mexico, located directly on the border with San Diego, California.

Tim Bray

Tim Bray is a software developer, writer, and co-founder of Open Text Corporation. He is best known as one of the co-authors of the XML 1.0 specifi...

Tim Bunce

Tim Bunce is a software developer best known as the creator and primary maintainer of the Perl database interface module, DBI.

Tim O'Reilly

Tim O'Reilly is the founder of O'Reilly Media and a key promoter of the open-source and Web 2.0 movements.

Times Journeys 3 Cruise

The Times Journeys 3 (Times Journeys III) cruise was an educational Caribbean cruise program produced by Insight Cruises in partnership with The Ne...

TinTin Movie Outing with Mom and Russ

A Christmas Eve cinema outing with family to watch The Adventures of Tintin.

Tom Bihn

Tom Bihn is an American luggage and bag design/manufacturing company founded in 1972, known for its high-quality, durable backpacks, duffels, and T...

Tom Bihn Bag Travel Companion

A testament to the luggage system that enabled my lifestyle of traveling 45 weeks out of the year.

Tom Christiansen

A major figure in the Perl community, known for co-authoring foundational books like "Programming Perl" (the Camel book) and the "Perl Cookbook."

Tom Kyte

Tom Kyte is a prominent Oracle Database expert, author, and former Vice President of the Core Technologies Group at Oracle Corporation, famous for ...

Tom Pickett

Tom Pickett is a cousin, friend, and former housemate of Randal Schwartz.

Tony Slaven

Tony Slaven is a member of the extended Slaven/Walker family.

Tortola

Tortola is the largest and most populated of the British Virgin Islands.

TOTO

TOTO (Terminal Oriented Text Organizer) was an interactive text editor authored by Randal Schwartz in HP 2000 BASIC for Superior Software Services ...

TOTO Text Editor Floating-Point Line Numbers

In the mid-1970s, Steve Salta and Jonathan Kirwan of Superior Software Services in Beaverton hired me for my very first paid commercial programming...

Touching the Hotmail Master Server

Touching the master server at one of the first Silicon Valley data centers while teaching a Perl class for Hotmail.

Toyota 4Runner

The Toyota 4Runner is a mid-size sport utility vehicle (SUV) formerly owned and driven by I.

Travel

Travel is a concept in my life graph.

Travel Packing Temperature Mismatch Blunder

Realizing an over-packing mistake involving heavy shirts for a warm-weather business trip.

Travel Restrictions to Canada and Australia

A personal reflection on the long-term Travel impacts of my historical felony conviction, despite its official expungement.

TriMet

TriMet (Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon) is the public agency that operates mass transit bus, light rail, and commuter ra...

Trip to Seattle to see Damian Conway

In July 2002, I took a trip to Seattle to attend an event featuring Perl legend Damian Conway. Before the event, I enjoyed a scenic ferry ride acro...

TripAdvisor

TripAdvisor is an online Travel company and platform offering user-generated reviews, comparisons, and bookings.

TripAdvisor Travel Stats

On September 16, 2023, I exported my travel history records from TripAdvisor using Bing Chat AI, obtaining a breakdown of distinct countries and U....

Triple Almost Twin Birthday Coincidence

Sharing a statistical birthday coincidence with a brother and a famous friend.

Trolling the Salzenberg

Chip Salzenberg was the release "pumpking" for Perl 5.004, and he was remarkably adept at fixing bugs. There was a running joke in the community ab...

Trolling Usenet to Spread Perl

During the late 1980s, I spent a lot of time "trolling" Usenet groups like comp.unix.questions and comp.unix.shell to spread the word about the bra...

Tropidera Bar

The Tropidera Bar was a major establishment located in La Grande, Oregon. It was purchased and operated by me and my close friend and business part...

TSA Pat-Down and Fertilizer

A funny Travel anecdote about getting flagged by airport security at PDX.

Tucson, Arizona

Tucson is a city in Arizona.

Tunisia

Tunisia is a place in my life graph.

Turks and Caicos

Turning 50 and the Grey Beard Decision

My milestone decision to stop shaving and grow a beard for the first time in my life as I turned 50.

TV Remote Control Overengineering

A humorous story about overengineering a solution for remote control interference at a bar.

Twenty Five Years of Free Conferences

I reflecting on a 25-year milestone of attending major tech and fandom conferences as a speaker or press member without paying retail admission.

Twitter

Twitter (subsequently rebranded to X) is a microblogging and social networking service.

Two-Hour Lunch Flights Around Mount St. Helens in a Cessna 172

One of my favorite ways to accumulate flight hours—and share the joy of flying—was taking colleagues from Intel on scenic midday flights.

Tyler Slaven

Tyler Slaven is a son in the extended Slaven/Walker family.

UCLA Medical Center Seizure and Head Trauma

A serious medical scare that landed me in emergency care in September 2014.

UN Bank

A prominent banking institution associated with the United Nations or international development (such as the World Bank Group) headquartered in Was...

Under the Hood of IDES and the 5-Level Security System

When I moved from Gladstone to Colton between 9th and 10th grade, I left behind close friends like Kevin Hornych, who was instrumental in championi...

Unexpected Karaoke Venue Closure Pretzels

Adapting to an unexpected karaoke venue closure with pretzels and cheese.

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom is a sovereign country in northwest Europe, which contains Wiltshire (where the historical Stonehenge monument is located) and m...

United States

United States is a place in my life graph.

Unix Review

Unix Review was a premier print and online trade publication devoted to the Unix operating system family, systems administration, and enterprise so...

Unix V6

Research Unix Version 6 (Unix V6), released by Bell Labs in May 1975, was the first widely distributed version of Unix outside of Bell Labs, runnin...

Upgrading to the High-Performance Cessna 182 Skylane

After mastering the Cessna 172 and earning my Instrument Rating and Complex Airplane Endorsement in the Piper Arrow, I continued expanding my pilot...

Uruguay

Uruguay is a country in South America, which I visited during the MacMania 11 (February 2011) and Great Courses Travel Program 1 (November 2013) Pa...

USB-C and RS-232C Cabling Frustrations

Comparing USB-C to classic RS-232C cabling frustrations and diagnostic breakout boxes.

Usenet

A worldwide distributed discussion system established in 1979.

Usenet Already Seen Crosspost Sadness

A comparison between the elegant crosspost handling in Usenet and the annoying multiposting common in modern chat systems.

Usenet and the No Perl Please Challenge

Back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, I spent hours every day on Usenet in technical newsgroups like comp.unix.shell and comp.unix.questions.

Ushuaia

Ushuaia is the capital of Tierra del Fuego, Antártida e Islas del Atlántico Sur Province, Argentina, commonly regarded as the southernmost city in ...

UUCP

UUCP (Unix-to-Unix Copy) is a suite of computer programs and protocols that allowed computers to transmit files and execute remote commands over di...

Vallco Fashion Mall

Vallco Fashion Mall (later known as Cupertino Square) was a major shopping mall located in Cupertino, California.

Vasquez Rocks

Vasquez Rocks is a 932-acre park located in Agua Dulce, California, famous for its spectacular, slanted sandstone rock formations formed by rapid e...

Vatican Observatory

The Vatican Observatory (Specola Vaticana) is an astronomical research and educational institution supported by the Holy See, located in Castel Gan...

VAX VMS Emulation Job Posting

I received a job posting from a headhunter looking for a "Virtual Memory System – Senior Server Specialist" to support a legacy VMS environment.

VAX___VMS

VAX/VMS is a concept in my life graph.

Venezuela

Venezuela is a country on the northern coast of South America.

Venezuela Open Source and Perl Conference 2006

In October 2006, I traveled to Venezuela to present at a national open-source and Perl conference. I was invited as a special guest of the state-ow...

Veracruz

Veracruz is a major port city on the Gulf of Mexico in the Mexican state of Veracruz, which I visited for a tech conference in November 2004.

Veracruz Conference and Richard Stallman

In late November 2004, I traveled to Veracruz, Mexico, to present at a Technology conference. It was my first time flying into Mexico, and my first...

Veracruz Tech Conference 2004

In November 2004, I traveled to Veracruz, Mexico, to speak at a technology and free software conference.

Vi Hart

Vi Hart is a well-known "mathemusician" and YouTube personality who creates video essays about mathematics, music, and art.

Victoria

Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada, located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island.

Victoria Slaven

Victoria Slaven is a daughter in the extended Slaven/Walker family.

Video Editing Evolution

A look back at my history with video editing Technology, comparing late-1980s analog setups to modern digital suites.

Video Editing Experience LinkedIn Response

Responding to a LinkedIn solicitation by highlighting decades of video editing experience.

Virgin Islands

The Virgin Islands are an archipelago in the Caribbean, divided politically into the British Virgin Islands and the United States Virgin Islands.

Virtual Friendships and Legacy Contemplations

Reflecting on virtual connections and personal legacy after the passing of online friends.

Visby

Visby is a place in my life graph.

Visit to Arecibo Observatory

Over my years coordinating and speaking on Geek Cruises, I had the rare privilege of visiting the historic and world-renowned Arecibo Observatory i...

Wagon App and HSV Colorspace

Building a personal sobriety tracking app and the engineering challenge of creating a smooth rainbow background.

Walking Across the Hallway to Intel with Keith Lofstrom

In late 1989, when the BiiN joint venture collapsed, management immediately let go of all outside contractors.

Walking Record at LAX

I hitting a new daily walking step record by pacing the south side of LAX twice before Delta's terminal move.

Walking the Sydney Harbour Bridge

During my second trip to Australia in August 2002 to attend and speak at the annual SAGE-AU conference, I walked across the iconic Sydney Harbour B...

Wallet Recovery at the Rehab Facility

A bureaucratic scare and fortunate recovery of my wallet during post-surgery rehabilitation.

Washington

Washington is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States, neighboring Oregon.

Washington County IED

The Washington County IED (Intermediate Education District, later reorganized into the Northwest Regional Education Service District / ESD) provide...

Washington County, Oregon

Washington County is a county in northwestern Oregon, encompassing the Silicon Forest tech hub including Beaverton, Hillsboro, and Tigard.

Watching Fourth of July Fireworks Across Oregon from 3,000 Feet

One of my most memorable flights was taking to the air on the night of the Fourth of July with my mother, Retha Schwartz, in the cockpit.

Watermarked Presentation Image Critique

Criticizing a fellow author for using watermarked stock images in a presentation.

Waymo SF Ride

A personal Travel anecdote about my first experience riding in a Waymo driverless car.

We Are Star Stuff Supernova Reflection

Discussing the cosmic origin of heavy elements in the human body.

Wearing Genes on Formal Night

A memorable pun delivered during a genetics workshop on the Bright Horizons 3 cruise.

Web Services Cruise of May 2004

In May 2004, the 21st Geek Cruises voyage sailed from New York City on the Carnival Legend, representing our first Geek Cruise on a Carnival ship. ...

Web Techniques

Web Techniques was a seminal monthly print magazine dedicated to web development, design, and architecture, published from 1996 to 2002 by Miller F...

Web2000 International and Bill Harps Clown Costume Party

In October 2000, Bill Harp and I attended the Web2000 International (Web2K) conference at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

Weight Management Post Travel and Buffalo Trip

Regaining weight targets by strict keto eating after a business trip.

Weird Al Yankovic Concert

In August 1999, my family and I went to see "Weird Al" Yankovic perform at the Oregon State Fair. It was a spectacular show featuring 20 costume ch...

Welcome to Portland Lunch and the Non-Linux Portability of Git

Shortly after creating Git in April 2005 to replace BitKeeper for Linux kernel development, Linus Torvalds arrived in Portland, Oregon.

Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo is an American multinational financial services company.

Western Mediterranean

Western Mediterranean is a place in my life graph.

Western Oregon Road Trip with Mom

A detailed 1,125-mile personal road trip taken with my mom, Retha Schwartz, to celebrate her 75th birthday.

Wi-Fi Camping and High-Speed Internet at Brick House

Finding a friendly environment for remote work on the road.

Widmer Hefeweizen in Anchorage

A humorous Travel anecdote from the 1990s involving Portland's famous craft beer.

WikiLinks

This page is a placeholder for the concept of "WikiLinks" in Logseq.

Wikipedia Notability Debate

Defending my historical role in Perl's growth and Wikipedia notability.

Wil Wheaton

Wil Wheaton is an American actor, author, and prominent tech/gaming blogger best known for portraying Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generat...

Wil Wheaton Dancing Barefoot Booksigning

In August 2003, during O'Reilly's Open Source Convention (OSCON) in Portland, Oregon, Wil Wheaton held a milestone book signing for his self-publis...

Willemstad

Willemstad is the capital city of Curacao, famous for its historic town center and distinctive colorful Dutch colonial architecture.

Wilma Brainard

Wilma Brainard is my great-aunt (sister of my maternal grandmother Lorene Pickett).

Wisdom Tree Video and the Atari Store

A memory of my late brother, Russ Schwartz, working at the Wisdom Tree / Club Video store and later at the Atari Store in Beaverton.

Witnessing Parents Remarriage

A unique family milestone where I signed as the legal witness for my own parents' remarriage.

Wm Leler

Wm Leler is a computer scientist and software engineer, known for his work in computer graphics, constraint languages, and developer advocacy.

Worms

Worms is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, and one of the oldest cities in the country, famous for the Diet of Worms in 1521.

Writing 254 Magazine Columns Across Four Landmark Publications

Between March 1995 and October 2007, I wrote and published 254 print magazine columns spanning over twelve uninterrupted years of tech publishing.

Wuala

Wuala was a secure cloud storage service developed by LaCie that utilized client-side encryption and a decentralized peer-to-peer storage network.

Wuala Cloud Storage and Client-Side Encryption Recommendation

Sharing recommendation for Wuala cloud storage due to zero-knowledge encryption and storage donation features.

WWW Midyear 2002

WWW Midyear 2002 (November 9 – November 16, 2002) was a Geek Cruise event titled "WWW2002 Midyear: A Tech Update," co-hosted with the International...

Wyatt Schwartz

Wyatt Schwartz is my nephew, son of my brother Ron Schwartz and Cathy Schwartz.

XML Xcursion

XML Xcursion (January 22 – January 29, 2001) was a technology-focused Geek Cruise held aboard the Holland America Line's M.S. Volendam, sailing the...

Xochicalco

Xochicalco is a pre-Columbian archaeological site in the western part of Morelos, Mexico, famous for its fortified ruins and the Temple of the Feat...

Yalta

Yalta is a resort city on the southern coast of the Crimean Peninsula, famous for hosting the Yalta Conference in 1945.

YAPC

YAPC (Yet Another Perl Conference) is a series of regional conferences dedicated to the discussion of the Perl programming language.

YAPC::Brasil

YAPC::Brasil (Yet Another Perl Conference Brasil) is a regional open-source conference focused on the Perl programming language, held in various ci...

Yvonne Craig Batgirl Birthday Reflection

Wondering about Batgirl's constant distress in the classic Batman TV series.