 This index links to all entries arranged by the period of my life they address. It is not a suitable index to use to follow my "blog" while I am still adding to it, because entries will appear in a scattered fashion (both before and after entries you've already read). It will become a useful index primarily after my writing is done, at which point this will no longer be a blog, but rather a set of memoirs. As described in the entry "Who am I?", I can very roughly organize my life story by calendar decades, although this division is not exact. There may also be entries that can be thought of as "essays", not connected to any particular period of time. The indexes: Blog index
Numeric index
Memoirs index
Alphabetic index
Quick jumps to sections of this 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).
Philip Philip Krakauer and his descendents.
Abe My paternal grandfather Abraham Krakauer.
Telephones How telephones have changed since the forties.
Telephones (bis) More about the history of telephones.
My brain on Ovaltine Are our brains simpler than we think? Radio days.
The poison apple A minor childhood trauma.
The poison apple (bis) A rewrite.
The good old days Were they really better?
Ask Larry Do I know everything?
Miss Crouch Adventures in babysitting, morphing into a discussion of the early technology leading to some of the keys on modern personal computer keyboards.
Spatial relations Visualizing, cutting, and folding.
Television The television technology of my youth.
Camp Robinson Crusoe My summer camp.
Sturbridge fields forever On the playing fields of Camp Robinson Crusoe.
Sex in the woods A summer camp story that says a lot about what I was like as a kid.
Vocabulary My vocabulary cards from the sixth grade.
Nils Frederiksen Some stories about Nils and Nancy Frederiksen.
Raccoons Some stories about raccoons.
Lobster My sister Phyllis discovers a magic word to shut me up. Want to know what it is?
Grandpa's first flight My Grandpa Abe gets on an airplane.
Troubleshooting Diagnosing problems.
Mr. Canfield Studying French with Mr. Canfield at Great Neck North High School.
Radio Workshop An interesting High School course.
Mr. Lusch My high school physics course at Great Neck North High School.
Dan and the moon Using the moon, my father teaches me how to think.
Bow ties My father's bow ties.
The English sparrow A few stories about birds.
Divisibility Divisibility tricks, and my high school math team.
Cyrano composes a ballade An English paper I submitted in my Senior year of high school.
Being smart What being of above average intelligence has meant to me.
The chipmunk An incident when I was a summer camp counselor-in-training.
Sailing A few sailing and windsurfing stories. In one, I get knocked over by a beam of light.
Amateur radio My history in amateur ("ham") radio.
Physics Physics: from childhood to MIT.
MIT hacks My MIT hacks, then and now.
Sleep deprivation Some sleep-related stories, mostly from my college years.
Larry Black How I came to be an electrical engineer.
Classrooms Abroad My first trip to France.
Véronique About my first trip to France, and learning to speak French.
Monsieur L'Oiseau A story about French formality, on my first trip to France in 1961.
The Ayache formula Getting to the Place Clemenceau in the shortest time, with mention of the "patisserie effect".
Sehr gut
My first attempt at speaking German, plus my favorite tri-lingual joke.
The Masons How I came to join the Masons.
The Lecture Series Committee Silkscreened posters advertising films shown at MIT in 1962.
Wrestling for Baker House My brief athletic career at MIT.
Computer Camp I created the very first computer programming course taught at a summer camp.
Le stage A summer job in France.
Voting Technology for voting in a meeting, and how it's changed over the years.
Schematics Diagrammatic representations: maps and circuit diagrams.
Frau Pan Studying German with Frau Pan: memorizing poetry, linguistic memory depth.
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.
The gambler My MIT course on Statistical Decision Theory
In loco parentis Dating in the sixties.
Man v. Machine The ongoing battle with our own creations.
Word processors An interesting 1963 study on human factors in word processing.
Hackers The Artificial Intelligence Lab in the sixties.
Amateur subway riding Competitive subway riding in New York City.
Night race An overnight sailboat race in Cape Cod Bay.
Chess and nim About chess, and other finite deterministic games.
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.
Mac Hack VI competes Stories of Mac Hack VI, Richard Greenblatt's chess program, competing against human players in tournament play.
Chess stories Tales of Richard Greenblatt's Mac Hack VI chess program, and some related stories.
Computer chess via ham radio I was involved in what was probably the first chess game played between two computers via amateur ("ham"") radio.
MIT people Some people I encountered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which I attended for 11 years.
The mathematics of coffee stirrers A tale woven by Marvin Minsky and John McCarthy.
Nerd pride Early computer geeks.
Moby Memory About a 256 Kiloword core memory.
Data-Mate Meeting Margie via computer dating.
Data-Mate (bis) More about my first date with Margie.
Mont-Tremblant A camping vacation in Mont-Tremblant National Park (Québec, Canada). Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!
Allons enfants de la patrie ... Bastille Day at the Club Med
Air Chance The return flight from our honeymoon.
Chester Our first family dog (part 1 of 3).
Chester (bis) Our first family dog (part 2 of 3)
Chester (ter) Our first family dog (part 3 of 3)
Harold
Introducing Harold, my sister Alice's blue and gold macaw.
The cat who came in from the cold How Alice came by her pet cats.
The mushroom An experience with a wild mushroom.
American Express Replacing lost traveler's checks.
Madhu and the death ray Two Ph.D.s at Micronetic Systems argue over the testing of a laser.
Micronetic Systems Some stories from my first start-up company
Japanese My adventures in Japanese.
Zurich Presenting a technical paper in Zurich, Switzerland.
Troubleshooting (bis) Fixing an intermittent problem.
Badges A few stories loosely related to corporate identification badges.
Horseradish How many stories can I have about horseradish?
Marthe About Marthe Mulvaney
Magic Remember when your children still thought you were magical?
Busy, busy Sara's always on the move.
Listening Margie draws people out.
Kids say the darndest things Things my children said.
Coming to Kronos The story of how I came to work at Kronos in April, 1979.
Japanese knotweed An invasive plant.
Due diligence A "Due Diligence" meeting held when I invested in Kronos in July of 1979.
Personalities The differing personalities a company needs, illustrated by a troubleshooting story.
Bus stop Meeting the school bus at the end of our street.
Le Cercle Français How I found Le Cercle Français, including an interesting event that occurred in Mme. Brynjolfsson's conversational French course.
Boston Some stories about my adopted home.
Connections Electronic interconnections - soldering.
Connections (bis) Electronic interconnections - printed circuit boards.
Heathkit Building my first personal computer.
Blue skies Changing the color of the sky.
Patents Inventors in my family
Toothache A Fourth of July toothache.
Remembrance of things breast À la recherche des seins perdus.
The pond Building a dam.
The switch that worked once The mystery of a switch that failed on its second use.
Spanish Learning Spanish.
Have it your way My battle with Burger King over the Massachusetts meals tax.
Eleven Weighing in.
Things I worry about A wonderful gift from Sara.
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.
house of turkey death, The A couple of turkey-related stories for Thanksgiving
Leon Cogan's story A Russian Jewish émigré helps his daughter learn English.
El relato de Leon Cogan The story of a 7-year-old Russian immigrant learning English (in Spanish)
What's eating us? Parasites we have known.
Rats Elissa's pet rats
Roots and wings Tracking our children's flights.
Bob Pease A tribute to Bob Pease
Frequent kickbacks Frequent flyer programs and corporate ethics policies.
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.
La globista de Akumal Balloon twisting in Mexico.
Inventions About my ideas, with an example.
Kristin Espinasse A visit to my "blogging idol".
Driving in France Some tips for tourists on driving in France.
Tracks Tracks in the snow
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 French A recent trip to France.
Recalculating! Our Garmin GPS (and its use in Europe)
Sara's birthday gift A guest blog entry, written for my 70th birthday by my daughter Sara.
Google How the Internet and search engines have changed our lives.
Old An annual physical exam that made me feel old.
Gadgets Various things I've built.
Gadgets (bis) More gadgets I've built.
Forty-two years On my forty-second anniversary.
Le jour de gloire La Marseillaise.
Upgrade I upgrade to my first "smart" cell phone.
The Italians Some observations from our travels in Italy.
Hurricane Thoughts in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.
12/12/12 Thinking about numerical patterns on 12/12/12.
71 On turning 71, and the third anniversary of my blog.
Life in the 'burbs A light dusting of snow.
The blizzard of 2013 A winter storm in New England.
Darwin My first grandchild.
Blogging Hosting a blog.
Computers on the road A computer to travel with.
Changes Dar's first month.
Photographed world Our ubiquitous cameras
Fifty years My fiftieth college reunion
Fifty years (bis) More on my fiftieth college reunion.
Fifty years (ter) Still more on my reunion.
Forty-three years Dinner on our forty-third anniversary.
Ixodes scapularis The deer tick.
Solid food Darwin enlarges her diet.
Gas Bringing natural gas to our house.
Funny stuff Amusing things I've noticed.
Milestones Baby Darwin changes.
Gas (bis) Our old furnace and water heater.
Demo day Removing our old furnace.
Gas (ter) Installing our new heating system.
Backup Installing our new generator.
Applause! Darwin's development continues.
Having a website Connections made through my site
WBZ A visit to the WBZ studios.
WBZ control room A control room at WBZ-TV.
Nine months Darwin's nine-month birthday.
First Thanksgiving Darwin celebrates her first family Thanksgiving
Christmas 2013 Road trip !!
72 On turning 72, and the fourth anniversary of my blog.
Hair The many hairstyles of Darwin.
MIT scenes Seen on the MIT campus.
Fodor's Forums Preparing for and reporting on our travel.
One year Darwin's first birthday.
First year Darwin's first year.
Ice mysteries Some strange behaviors of snow and ice.
Nature Found around town.
Power failure Losing our electricity - NOT!
The animals of Old Sudbury Road Animals real and imagined.
Tree work Removing three large pines.
Doctor's office Seen in a doctor's office.
Wayland 375 The Town of Wayland's celebrates its 375th anniversary. Forty-four years Celebrating our 44th wedding anniversary.
Power failure (bis) Our second power outage.
Blue, white, and red Dressed for the 14th of July.
The world according to Darwin Darwin builds vocabulary, and makes sense of the world.
Iceland Thoughts on our recent trip to Iceland.
Elves The hidden people of Iceland.
Harvard Yard Our second time pushing Dar around the Yard.
Blogging on Posting in the future.
Darwin grows up Darwin becomes a little person.
Forty-five years A gift from Margie on our 45th wedding anniversary
Harvard Yard (bis) Elissa parks her Dar in Harvard Yard for the third year.
Weird hail A storm produces odd hailstones.
Republicans Reject Jesus for the Supreme Court No Obama nominee is acceptable.
Google (bis) My 'thingy' is identified!
The Man Card It's all Donald Trump has got.
Great Britain to Little England? My brexit version of When Britain Really Ruled the Waves.
Windows 10 My upgrade to Windows 10.
O Christmas tree Keeping your tree hydrated.
75 On reaching three quarters of a century.
One.MIT The OneMIT art project at MIT.nano.
Fiftieth Our fiftieth wedding anniversary.
Fiftieth (bis) Our fiftieth wedding anniversary - the celebration.
Thanksgiving 2020 Thanksgiving dinner in the time of COVID-19.
A marriage tip Advice upon reaching our 51st wedding anniversary.
Spelling Bee An Excel spreadsheet to help you play the NY Times game "Spelling Bee".
L'Accent tonique
Thoughts about listening to and speaking French (probably only of interest to those who speak or are studying French).
Western Ass Words in one language which are vulgar in another.
Why do women have two breasts? The "One-half Rule" that applies, approximately, to all mammals, including homo sapiens.
Windsurfing for sailors Hints for sailors learning to windsurf: the basic forces, and sailors' prejudices that could interfere with learning.
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.
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.
The giant fork A collection of stories from various points in my life, loosely tied to sleep.
Disable interrupts Interrupts, for both people and computers. Algorithms for taking pills.
Linguistic lunacy Some quirks of English and Spanish.
Time Some musings on our various ways of measuring time, and on interesting numbers.
Naked and nude Why does English have so many words?
Eigenstories How tales evolve over time.
English noun phrases Fun with English - reinterpreting noun phrases.
Copies Copies were once hard to make.
Food Some stories about how we relate to food
Gender Some stories about gender, human and linguistic.
Just do it A bias for action?
Live free and die Thoughts about seatbelts.
The Costco effect Buying more than you need.
Dan and Elissa Interests shared by my father and a daughter.
Krakauer The origin of my family name.
Yiddish Some stories relating to the Yiddish language.
Algorithms Mindlessly following automatic procedures.
70 On turning 70, and the second anniversary of my blog.
Oldthink Changes in our life and language as technology marches on.
Piles Too much stuff.
Poison ivy Poison ivy comes a creeping.
Day of the week Calculating the day of the week in your head.
Linguistic gender Gender in foreign languages.
Personal computers From vacuum tube mainframes to your home office.
Bad design Designs that should be flushed.
What's wrong with this picture? Impossible images.
How many squares? An Internet/Facebook puzzle.
Snow shovels The variety of snow shovels needed for a New England winter.
Gaining weight overnight Can you gain weight while sleeping?
Science What is science?
Science (bis) Sources of truth.
Helium Some things I've worried about.
The moon Why don't we see the moon at different angles as it moves across the sky?
Not so fast, Sherlock A disagreement with Sherlock Holmes.
Accents How to type accented characters.
Christmas Why we celebrate Christmas.
Margie About Margie, on her 70th birthday.
Pastafarianism Cosmic secrets in Italian pasta.
Old rules Assorted driving-related advice from my past.
Doctor's office (bis) Seen in a doctor's office - part 2.
Recommended reading page Recommended blog entries, by topic.
Openly secular Coming out as an atheist.
Hablando inglés Speaking English, for Spanish speakers
Preferential voting A better way of counting votes.
English, U.K. vs. U.S. British slang.
Locura lingüística Curiosidades del español
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