Category: Blog
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New site design
I recently transferred my blog to WordPress managed hosting, which is the reason for the change in design. It offers a similar set of features at a much lower price than my previous self-hosted arrangement. You might see some things move around in the next few days. Bear with me as I get everything set…
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Using the Rollei Prego 90 for the first and last time
A few months ago, after catching the film bug, I happened across a 90s-era point and shoot at a local second hand shop. It looked average but had a good name, it was a Rollei, a German brand famous for cameras like the Rolleiflex. The camera was a Rollei Prego 90, and given how hard…
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Rediscovering film cameras in Princeton
A few months ago, Paola and I took some friends to Princeton, New Jersey. We were just looking to get out of the city and enjoy a sunny Saturday. While we were there we happened across a store named, interestingly and somewhat incongruously, New York Camera. Struck by nostalgia, we decided to buy a disposable…
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Cheems, the most famous Shiba Inu in Mexico
This is a post about a Shiba Inu from Hong Kong named Balltze who is a superstar in Mexico, where he is known as Cheems. KnowYourMeme traces the birth of “Cheems” to r/dogelore, an American Reddit group focusing on dog memes, in June 2019. In his original incarnation, Cheems was a floating dog head that…
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Making hot cocoa from scratch
This past week we were out of hot cocoa mix and Chocolate Abuelita so I looked up how to make hot cocoa out of baker’s chocolate powder. Believe it or not I’d never done this before. Turns out it’s quicker than melting Chocolate Abuelita and tastes better. It’s one of those rare “from scratch” recipes…
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Scoring internet points: Open source espionage in Russia and Ukraine
The internet has been scoring points against the Russian military lately. “Hacktivists” disrupted the Belorussian Railways (Wired). Viral TikTok has been tracking Russian vehicle movements (ABC News). The drama of political negotiations over the standoff between Russia and Ukraine is happening in the public eye, but what is happening in the background is really interesting,…
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The many versions of Scott Pilgrim: The Game from Limited Run
Paola got me into the classic movie Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) a few years back. It’s a superhero epic centered around an average 20-something from Toronto in a rock band. It has themes pulled from video games and Japanese manga and anime. Around the same the movie was released they came out with…
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Biking in New York is better since CitiBike
For the last few years, Paola and I have been proud annual members of CitiBike, New York’s bike share program. It’s completely transformed the way we get around the city. It’s the quickest way to get crosstown, period, and it’s less per month than the cost of a single tax ($169/year or $14/mo+tax, as of…
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John Muir was right about Yosemite
Back in grad school, I was teaching assistant for a course called History of the American Environmental Movement. Each semester, I would grade perhaps 70 to 80 essays, including a section on John Muir, an advocate of preserving nature for nature’s sake, and Gifford Pinchot, who advocated responsible conservation of resources for human use. While…
Hops Trains and Backpacks 