12/18/00

I've always resisted listening to NPR -- "yuppie scum radio" I've always called it.

But I've succumbed. I'm listening to NPR now. The problem is, there's no good alternative.

So, here I sit, true to my demographic group.

Next thing you know I'll be fussy about beer, preferring cloudy black bitter dregs to the eminently drinkable Miller High Life.

Shoot me before I start praising Northwest cuisine and its habit of perverting every dish that's good and true with salmon, mushrooms, and wild greens.

You call this fettucine alfredo? I call this fish salad.

All I want for Christmas.

Jake likes fish salad. Jake's an extremely likable fellow, but we don't let him cook for us.

There are a couple links on Scripting News today regarding Web pads. (Web pad: a tablet, no keyboard, with a browser. Pen-based input. Wireless. Larger than a pda.)

As a fan of the small, lightweight, and portable, I've wanted a Web pad for a long time.

I bought an iBook and an Airport -- so I sort of have one. I can browse the Web in my living room. I can sit outside. It's cool.

But it's still too large for when all I'm doing is reading. (Which I do a lot of.)

My guess is that the first Web pad I buy will run a version of Linux and Mozilla (or perhaps Opera). Partly because I'm not a fan of the Windows GUI, but also because the economics are probably better. I suspect they'll be cheaper -- and for Web pads to do well, they'll have to be inexpensive.

Also, I expect a Linux pad to be hackable in ways that a Windows pad would not be. Reminder to Web pad developers: the set of early adopters overlaps the set of hackers.