 If you're new to this blog, start by clicking on "Introduction: What are these pages?" below.
When you come back to these pages later, come to this index to pick up where you left off. This index links to all the entries in my "blog", in the order they were posted (and numbered). If you are following my writings as I am still adding to them, this is the best index to use, because new entries will appear at the bottom. By the way, this order is the opposite of those in a traditional "blog", which usually puts the latest entry at the top. The indexes: Blog index
Numeric index
Memoirs index
Alphabetic index
Introduction: What are these pages?
On immortality, and why this blog is being written. The main topics to be covered: memoirs and stories from my life, technology, and languages.
Who am I?
A quick once-over on my life story, broken down roughly by decade.
Why write using the HTML and JPG file formats? Keeping things forever: the ability of digital technology to make exact copies.
How I write My writing style, and the technology that supports my writing (past and present).
Coming to Kronos The story of how I came to work at Kronos in April, 1979.
The poison apple A minor childhood trauma.
Miss Crouch Adventures in babysitting, morphing into a discussion of the early technology leading to some of the keys on modern personal computer keyboards.
I resign
On a casual game played against Mac Hack VI, Richard Greenblatt's chess program, with a brief discussion of the anthropomorphization of computers.
Sehr gut
My first attempt at speaking German, plus my favorite tri-lingual joke.
L'Accent tonique
Thoughts about listening to and speaking French (probably only of interest to those who speak or are studying French).
Harold
Introducing Harold, my sister Alice's blue and gold macaw.
Véronique About my first trip to France, and learning to speak French.
Frau Pan Studying German with Frau Pan: memorizing poetry, linguistic memory depth.
Due diligence A "Due Diligence" meeting held when I invested in Kronos in July of 1979.
Sex in the woods A summer camp story that says a lot about what I was like as a kid.
Lobster My sister Phyllis discovers a magic word to shut me up. Want to know what it is?
Western Ass Words in one language which are vulgar in another.
Mont-Tremblant A camping vacation in Mont-Tremblant National Park (Québec, Canada). Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!
Have it your way My battle with Burger King over the Massachusetts meals tax.
Monsieur L'Oiseau A story about French formality, on my first trip to France in 1961.
Kids say the darndest things Things my children said.
Remembrance of things breast À la recherche des seins perdus.
Why do women have two breasts? The "One-half Rule" that applies, approximately, to all mammals, including homo sapiens.
Mr. Lusch My high school physics course at Great Neck North High School.
Mr. Canfield Studying French with Mr. Canfield at Great Neck North High School.
Herr Bon Some stories about Primus Benedict Bon, a German teacher at MIT in the sixties.
German article and adjectival inflections This is not a regular blog entry. It's a highly technical discussion of a particular aspect of German grammar. If you're not into that, skip it. Otherwise: it's my (hopefully) simplified chart of German article and adjectival inflections.
Sailing A few sailing and windsurfing stories. In one, I get knocked over by a beam of light.
Windsurfing for sailors Hints for sailors learning to windsurf: the basic forces, and sailors' prejudices that could interfere with learning.
Horseradish How many stories can I have about horseradish?
Madhu and the death ray Two Ph.D.s at Micronetic Systems argue over the testing of a laser.
The Ayache formula Getting to the Place Clemenceau in the shortest time, with mention of the "patisserie effect".
My moustache About my moustache, including why and how I shaved it off.
Biscotti Some word origins, and connections between languages.
Biscotti (bis) How Americans misuse and mispronounce Italian words.
Computer Camp I created the very first computer programming course taught at a summer camp.
Computer chess via ham radio I was involved in what was probably the first chess game played between two computers via amateur ("ham"") radio.
My brain on Ovaltine Are our brains simpler than we think? Radio days.
Ask Larry Do I know everything?
Mac Hack VI competes Stories of Mac Hack VI, Richard Greenblatt's chess program, competing against human players in tournament play.
History of Kronos, part 1 An annotated humorous 1997 speech on the history of Kronos, presented to an audience of about 800 people in Chicago. Part 1 of 2.
History of Kronos, part 2 An annotated humorous 1997 speech on the history of Kronos. Part 2 of 2.
Leon Cogan's story A Russian Jewish émigré helps his daughter learn English.
Man v. Machine The ongoing battle with our own creations.
Bits Just what is "one bit" of computer memory? An explanation for the non-technical reader, by way of the "Double-bed dual-control electric blanket effect". Includes pictures of some old "core" memories.
Roots and wings Tracking our children's flights.
Tyranny of the clock The pain in Spain is mainly in the brain. Eating in Spain, and how our modern dependence on the clock limits our thinking.
The giant fork A collection of stories from various points in my life, loosely tied to sleep.
Le Cercle Français How I found Le Cercle Français, including an interesting event that occurred in Mme. Brynjolfson's conversational French course.
Disable interrupts Interrupts, for both people and computers. Algorithms for taking pills.
Personalities The differing personalities a company needs, illustrated by a troubleshooting story.
Magic Remember when your children still thought you were magical?
Busy, busy Sara's always on the move.
Amateur radio My history in amateur ("ham") radio.
Chess stories Tales of Richard Greenblatt's Mac Hack VI chess program, and some related stories.
house of turkey death, The A couple of turkey-related stories for Thanksgiving
In loco parentis Dating in the sixties.
Linguistic lunacy Some quirks of English and Spanish.
Boston Some stories about my adopted home.
Micronetic Systems Some stories from my first start-up company
Rats Elissa's pet rats
The cat who came in from the cold How Alice came by her pet cats.
Time Some musings on our various ways of measuring time, and on interesting numbers.
What's eating us? Parasites we have known.
Naked and nude Why does English have so many words?
Chess and nim About chess, and other finite deterministic games.
Eigenstories How tales evolve over time.
The gambler My MIT course on Statistical Decision Theory.
MIT people Some people I encountered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which I attended for 11 years.
Telephones How telephones have changed since the forties.
Telephones (bis) More about the history of telephones.
The mushroom An experience with a wild mushroom.
Badges A few stories loosely related to corporate identification badges.
Toothache A Fourth of July toothache.
Listening Margie draws people out.
English noun phrases Fun with English - reinterpreting noun phrases.
Abe My paternal grandfather Abraham Krakauer.
Air Chance The return flight from our honeymoon.
Television The television technology of my youth.
Grandpa's first flight My Grandpa Abe gets on an airplane.
Le stage A summer job in France.
Nils Frederiksen Some stories about Nils and Nancy Frederiksen.
Nerd pride Early computer geeks.
Moby Memory About a 256 Kiloword core memory.
Hackers The Artificial Intelligence Lab in the sixties.
Dan and the moon Using the moon, my father teaches me how to think.
Copies Copies were once hard to make.
The English sparrow A few stories about birds.
Allons enfants de la patrie ... Bastille Day at the Club Med
Being smart What being of above average intelligence has meant to me.
Bob Pease A tribute to Bob Pease
Food Some stories about how we relate to food.
Marthe About Marthe Mulvaney.
Gender Some stories about gender, human and linguistic.
Just do it A bias for action?
Wrestling for Baker House My brief athletic career at MIT.
Live free and die Thoughts about seatbelts.
The Costco effect Buying more than you need.
The French A recent trip to France.
Recalculating! Our Garmin GPS (and its use in Europe)
Dan and Elissa Interests shared by my father and a daughter.
Vocabulary My vocabulary cards from the sixth grade.
Krakauer The origin of my family name.
Yiddish Some stories relating to the Yiddish language.
Algorithms Mindlessly following automatic procedures.
Frequent kickbacks Frequent flyer programs and corporate ethics policies.
The chipmunk An incident when I was a summer camp counselor-in-training.
Tracks Tracks in the snow.
Kristin Espinasse A visit to my "blogging idol".
Patents Inventors in my family
Word processors An interesting 1963 study on human factors in word processing.
Chester Our first family dog (part 1 of 3).
70 On turning 70, and the second anniversary of my blog.
Sara's birthday gift A guest blog entry, written for my 70th birthday by my daughter Sara.
Chester (bis) Our first family dog (part 2 of 3)
The Masons How I came to join the Masons.
Chester (ter) Our first family dog (part 3 of 3)
Y2K The year 2000, start of the new millennium.
Y2K (bis) The year 2000, part 2.
Y2K speech, part 1 Part 1 of a 1999 speech about the upcoming year 2000.
Y2K speech, part 2 The conclusion of a 1999 speech about the upcoming year 2000.
Voting Technology for voting in a meeting, and how it's changed over the years.
Schematics Diagrammatic representations: maps and circuit diagrams.
Larry Black How I came to be an electrical engineer.
Amateur subway riding Competitive subway riding in New York City.
Google How the Internet and search engines have changed our lives.
Old An annual physical exam that made me feel old.
Oldthink Changes in our life and language as technology marches on.
Things I worry about A wonderful gift from Sara.
Gadgets Various things I've built.
Bow ties My father's bow ties.
Sleep deprivation Some sleep-related stories, mostly from my college years.
Sturbridge fields forever On the playing fields of Camp Robinson Crusoe.
Piles Too much stuff.
Driving in France Some tips for tourists on driving in France.
Eleven Weighing in.
Forty-two years On my forty-second anniversary.
Poison ivy Poison ivy comes a creeping.
Le jour de gloire La Marseillaise.
Day of the week Calculating the day of the week in your head.
Bus stop Meeting the school bus at the end of our street.
Troubleshooting Diagnosing problems.
The poison apple (bis) A rewrite.
Upgrade I upgrade to my first "smart" cell phone.
Physics Physics: from childhood to MIT.
Spanish Learning Spanish.
The good old days Were they really better?
Cyrano composes a ballade An English paper I submitted in my Senior year of high school.
Spatial relations Visualizing, cutting, and folding.
The Italians Some observations from our travels in Italy.
La globista de Akumal Balloon twisting in Mexico.
Hurricane Thoughts in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.
Linguistic gender Gender in foreign languages.
Classrooms Abroad My first trip to France.
The Lecture Series Committee Silkscreened posters advertising films shown at MIT in 1962.
The pond Building a dam.
Personal computers From vacuum tube mainframes to your home office.
12/12/12 Thinking about numerical patterns on 12/12/12.
Bad design Designs that should be flushed.
Connections Electronic interconnections - soldering.
Connections (bis) Electronic interconnections - printed circuit boards.
71 On turning 71, and the third anniversary of my blog.
Heathkit Building my first personal computer.
Blue skies Changing the color of the sky.
Life in the 'burbs A light dusting of snow.
What's wrong with this picture? Impossible images.
The blizzard of 2013 A winter storm in New England.
The switch that worked once The mystery of a switch that failed on its second use.
Darwin My first grandchild.
Blogging Hosting a blog.
How many squares? An Internet/Facebook puzzle.
Computers on the road A computer to travel with.
Changes Dar's first month.
Snow shovels The variety of snow shovels needed for a New England winter.
Gaining weight overnight Can you gain weight while sleeping?
Night race An overnight sailboat race in Cape Cod Bay.
Photographed world Our ubiquitous cameras
Japanese My adventures in Japanese.
Zurich Presenting a technical paper in Zurich, Switzerland.
Raccoons Some stories about raccoons.
Science What is science?
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