Memoirs index

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
Other information:   Keyword list   Conventions   Definitions   Blog home   Help   FAQ

Quick jumps to sections of this index:

Intro  40's,50's  60's  70's  80's,90's  00's,10's  20's  essays

Introductory entries

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.
#0001   January 11, 2010   *INTRO

Who am I?   A quick once-over on my life story, broken down roughly by decade.
#0002   January 11, 2010   *INTRO

Why write using the HTML and JPG file formats?   Keeping things forever: the ability of digital technology to make exact copies.
#0003   January 11, 2010   *INTRO   *TECHNOLOGY

How I write   My writing style, and the technology that supports my writing (past and present).
#0004   January 11, 2010   *INTRO   *TECHNOLOGY

The 1940's and 1950's (my childhood), and earlier

Philip   Philip Krakauer and his descendents.
#0209   December 12, 2013  *FAMILY1

Abe   My paternal grandfather Abraham Krakauer.
#0077   April 21, 2011   *FAMILY1  *PEOPLE

Telephones   How telephones have changed since the forties.
#0070   March 3, 2011  *TECHNOLOGY

Telephones (bis)   More about the history of telephones.
#0071   March 10, 2011   *FAMILY2  *TECHNOLOGY

My brain on Ovaltine   Are our brains simpler than we think? Radio days.
#0038  July 8, 2010  *FAMILY1

The poison apple   A minor childhood trauma.
#0006   January 11, 2010   *CHILDHOOD

The poison apple (bis)   A rewrite.
#0143   August 9, 2012   *CHILDHOOD

The good old days   Were they really better?
#0147   September 6, 2012  *CHILDHOOD

Ask Larry   Do I know everything?
#0039  July 15, 2010  *FAMILY1

Miss Crouch   Adventures in babysitting, morphing into a discussion of the early technology leading to some of the keys on modern personal computer keyboards.
#0007   January 11, 2010   *CHILDHOOD  *PEOPLE   *TECHNOLOGY

Spatial relations   Visualizing, cutting, and folding.
#0149   September 20, 2012   *CHILDHOOD

Television   The television technology of my youth.
#0079   May 5, 2011  *FAMILY1  *TECHNOLOGY

Camp Robinson Crusoe   My summer camp.
#0216   February 6, 2014  *CAMP  *CHILDHOOD

Sturbridge fields forever   On the playing fields of Camp Robinson Crusoe.
#0133   May 31, 2012   *CAMP  *CHILDHOOD

Sex in the woods   A summer camp story that says a lot about what I was like as a kid.
#0015   February 18, 2010  *CAMP  *CHILDHOOD

Vocabulary   My vocabulary cards from the sixth grade.
#0102   October 27, 2011  *CHILDHOOD

Nils Frederiksen   Some stories about Nils and Nancy Frederiksen.
#0082   May 26, 2011   *CAMP  *MIT  *PEOPLE

Raccoons   Some stories about raccoons.
#0180   May 16, 2013  *CAMP  *FAMILY1

Lobster   My sister Phyllis discovers a magic word to shut me up. Want to know what it is?
#0016   February 26, 2010   *CAMP  *CHILDHOOD

Grandpa's first flight   My Grandpa Abe gets on an airplane.
#0080   May 12, 2011  *FAMILY1  *PEOPLE

Troubleshooting   Diagnosing problems.
#0142   August 2, 2012   *CAMP  *FAMILY1  *TECHNOLOGY

Mr. Canfield   Studying French with Mr. Canfield at Great Neck North High School.
#0025   April 22, 2010  *CHILDHOOD  *FRENCH  *LANGUAGE  *PEOPLE

Radio Workshop   An interesting High School course.
#0206   November 21, 2013  *CHILDHOOD  *TECHNOLOGY

Mr. Lusch   My high school physics course at Great Neck North High School.
#0024   April 15, 2010  *CHILDHOOD  *PEOPLE

Dan and the moon   Using the moon, my father teaches me how to think.
#0086   June 23, 2011   *CHILDHOOD  *FAMILY1  *PEOPLE

Bow ties   My father's bow ties.
#0131   May 17, 2012   *FAMILY1

The English sparrow   A few stories about birds.
#0088   July 7, 2011   *FAMILY1  *PEOPLE

Divisibility   Divisibility tricks, and my high school math team.
#0214   January 23, 2014  *CHILDHOOD  *MATHEMATICS

Cyrano composes a ballade   An English paper I submitted in my Senior year of high school.
#0148   September 13, 2012   *CHILDHOOD  *FRENCH

Being smart   What being of above average intelligence has meant to me.
#0090   July 21, 2011   *CHILDHOOD  *FAMILY1

The chipmunk   An incident when I was a summer camp counselor-in-training.
#0107   December 1, 2011   *CAMP

The 1960's (the Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

Sailing   A few sailing and windsurfing stories. In one, I get knocked over by a beam of light.
#0028   May 6, 2010  *MIT

Amateur radio   My history in amateur ("ham") radio.
#0054  November11, 2010  *MIT  *TECHNOLOGY

Physics   Physics: from childhood to MIT.
#0145   August 23, 2012   *CHILDHOOD  *MIT

MIT hacks   My MIT hacks, then and now.
#0230   May 15, 2014  *MIT

Sleep deprivation   Some sleep-related stories, mostly from my college years.
#0132   May 24, 2012  *MIT

Larry Black   How I came to be an electrical engineer.
#0124   March 29, 2012   *MIT  *PEOPLE  *TECHNOLOGY

Classrooms Abroad   My first trip to France.
#0154   November 15, 2012   *FRENCH  *LANGUAGE

Véronique   About my first trip to France, and learning to speak French.
#0012   January 28, 2010  *FRENCH  *LANGUAGE  *PEOPLE

Monsieur L'Oiseau   A story about French formality, on my first trip to France in 1961.
#0020   March 25, 2010  *FRENCH  *LANGUAGE  *PEOPLE

The Ayache formula   Getting to the Place Clemenceau in the shortest time, with mention of the "patisserie effect".
#0032  May 27, 2010  *LANGUAGE  *MATHEMATICS

Sehr gut   My first attempt at speaking German, plus my favorite tri-lingual joke.
#0009   January 15, 2010   *FRENCH  *GERMAN   *LANGUAGE

The Masons   How I came to join the Masons.
#0116   February 2, 2012  *FAMILY1  *PEOPLE

The Lecture Series Committee   Silkscreened posters advertising films shown at MIT in 1962.
#0155   November 21, 2012   *MIT

Wrestling for Baker House   My brief athletic career at MIT.
#0096   September 1, 2011  *MIT

Computer Camp   I created the very first computer programming course taught at a summer camp.
#0036   June 24, 2010  *CAMP  *MIT  *TECHNOLOGY

Le stage   A summer job in France.
#0081   May 19, 2011  *FRENCH  *LANGUAGE  *TECHNOLOGY

Voting   Technology for voting in a meeting, and how it's changed over the years.
#0122   March 15, 2012  *MIT  *TECHNOLOGY

Schematics   Diagrammatic representations: maps and circuit diagrams.
#0123   March 22, 2012   *TECHNOLOGY

Frau Pan   Studying German with Frau Pan: memorizing poetry, linguistic memory depth.
#0013   February 3, 2010   *GERMAN  *LANGUAGE   *MIT  *PEOPLE

Herr Bon   Some stories about Primus Benedict Bon, a German teacher at MIT in the sixties.
#0026   April 29, 2010  *GERMAN  *LANGUAGE  *MIT  *PEOPLE

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.
#0027   April 29, 2010  *GERMAN  *LANGUAGE

The gambler   My MIT course on Statistical Decision Theory
#0068   February 17, 2011  *MATHEMATICS  *MIT

In loco parentis   Dating in the sixties.
#0057   December 2, 2010  *MIT

Man v. Machine   The ongoing battle with our own creations.
#0044   August 19, 2010  *MIT  *TECHNOLOGY

Word processors   An interesting 1963 study on human factors in word processing.
#0111   December 29, 2011   *TECHNOLOGY

Hackers   The Artificial Intelligence Lab in the sixties.
#0085   June 16, 2011   *MIT  *TECHNOLOGY

Amateur subway riding   Competitive subway riding in New York City.
#0125   April 5, 2012  *MIT  *TECHNOLOGY

Night race   An overnight sailboat race in Cape Cod Bay.
#0176   April 18, 2013  *MIT  *TECHNOLOGY

Chess and nim   About chess, and other finite deterministic games.
#0066   February 3, 2011  *CHESS  *MATHEMATICS

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.
#0008   January 11, 2010   *CHESS   *MIT   *TECHNOLOGY

Mac Hack VI competes   Stories of Mac Hack VI, Richard Greenblatt's chess program, competing against human players in tournament play.
#0040  July 22, 2010  *CHESS  *MIT  *TECHNOLOGY

Chess stories   Tales of Richard Greenblatt's Mac Hack VI chess program, and some related stories.
#0055  November 18, 2010  *CHESS  *MIT  *TECHNOLOGY

Computer chess via ham radio   I was involved in what was probably the first chess game played between two computers via amateur ("ham"") radio.
#0037   July 1, 2010   *CHESS  *MIT  *TECHNOLOGY

MIT people   Some people I encountered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which I attended for 11 years.
#0069   February 24, 2011  *MIT  *TECHNOLOGY

The mathematics of coffee stirrers   A tale woven by Marvin Minsky and John McCarthy.
#0262   November 25, 2017  *MATHEMATICS   *MIT

Nerd pride   Early computer geeks.
#0083   June 2, 2011  *MIT  *TECHNOLOGY

Moby Memory   About a 256 Kiloword core memory.
#0084   June 9, 2011   *MIT  *TECHNOLOGY

Data-Mate   Meeting Margie via computer dating.
#0221   March 13, 2014  *FAMILY2  *TECHNOLOGY

Data-Mate (bis)   More about my first date with Margie.
#0222   March 20, 2014  *FAMILY2  *TECHNOLOGY

Mont-Tremblant   A camping vacation in Mont-Tremblant National Park (Québec, Canada). Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!
#0018  March 11, 2010  *FAMILY2

The 1970's (early career and starting a family)

Allons enfants de la patrie ...   Bastille Day at the Club Med
#0089   July 14, 2011   *FAMILY2  *FRENCH

Air Chance   The return flight from our honeymoon.
#0078   April 28, 2011   *FAMILY2

Chester   Our first family dog (part 1 of 3).
#0112   January 5, 2012  *FAMILY2  *PEOPLE

Chester (bis)   Our first family dog (part 2 of 3)
#0115   January 26, 2012  *FAMILY2  *PEOPLE

Chester (ter)   Our first family dog (part 3 of 3)
#0117   February 9, 2012  *FAMILY2  *PEOPLE

Harold   Introducing Harold, my sister Alice's blue and gold macaw.
#0011  January 21, 2010   *FAMILY1  *PEOPLE

The cat who came in from the cold   How Alice came by her pet cats.
#0062  January 6, 2011  *FAMILY1

The mushroom   An experience with a wild mushroom.
#0072   March 17, 2011   *FAMILY2

American Express   Replacing lost traveler's checks.
#0193   August 22, 2013  *FAMILY2

Madhu and the death ray   Two Ph.D.s at Micronetic Systems argue over the testing of a laser.
#0031  May 21, 2010  *CAREER  *TECHNOLOGY

Micronetic Systems   Some stories from my first start-up company
#0060   December 23, 2010  *CAREER  *TECHNOLOGY

Japanese   My adventures in Japanese.
#0178   May 2, 2013  *LANGUAGE

Zurich   Presenting a technical paper in Zurich, Switzerland.
#0179   May 9, 2013  *CAREER  *LANGUAGE

Troubleshooting (bis)   Fixing an intermittent problem.
#0190   July 25, 2013   *CAREER  *TECHNOLOGY

Badges   A few stories loosely related to corporate identification badges.
#0073   March 24, 2011   *CAREER  *KRONOS  *TECHNOLOGY

Horseradish   How many stories can I have about horseradish?
#0030   May 13, 2010  *FAMILY2

Marthe   About Marthe Mulvaney
#0093   August 11, 2011   *FAMILY2  *PEOPLE

Magic   Remember when your children still thought you were magical?
#0052  October 28, 2010  *FAMILY2

Busy, busy   Sara's always on the move.
#0053  November 4, 2010  *FAMILY2

Listening   Margie draws people out.
#0075   April 7, 2011   *FAMILY2

The 1980's and 1990's (growing family and Kronos)

Kids say the darndest things   Things my children said.
#0021  April 1, 2010  *FAMILY2

Coming to Kronos   The story of how I came to work at Kronos in April, 1979.
#0005   January 11, 2010   *CAREER   *KRONOS

Japanese knotweed   An invasive plant.
#0227   April 24, 2014  *KRONOS

Due diligence   A "Due Diligence" meeting held when I invested in Kronos in July of 1979.
#0014   February 3, 2010   *CAREER   *KRONOS

Personalities   The differing personalities a company needs, illustrated by a troubleshooting story.
#0051  October 21, 2010  *KRONOS  *TECHNOLOGY

Bus stop   Meeting the school bus at the end of our street.
#0141   July 26, 2012   *FAMILY2

Le Cercle Français   How I found Le Cercle Français, including an interesting event that occurred in Mme. Brynjolfsson's conversational French course.
#0049  October 7, 2010  *FRENCH  *LANGUAGE

Boston   Some stories about my adopted home.
#0059   December 16, 2010   *FAMILY2  *KRONOS

Connections   Electronic interconnections - soldering.
#0160   December 27, 2012  *TECHNOLOGY

Connections (bis)   Electronic interconnections - printed circuit boards.
#0161   January 3, 2013  *TECHNOLOGY

Heathkit   Building my first personal computer.
#0163   January 17, 2013  *TECHNOLOGY

Blue skies   Changing the color of the sky.
#0164   January 24, 2013  *TECHNOLOGY

Patents   Inventors in my family
#0110   December 22, 2011  *FAMILY1  *KRONOS  *PEOPLE  *TECHNOLOGY

Toothache   A Fourth of July toothache.
#0074   March 31, 2011   *FAMILY2

Remembrance of things breast   À la recherche des seins perdus.
#0022  April 8, 2010  *FAMILY2

The pond   Building a dam.
#0156   November 29, 2012   *MATHEMATICS

The switch that worked once   The mystery of a switch that failed on its second use.
#0168   February 21, 2013  *KRONOS  *TECHNOLOGY

Spanish   Learning Spanish.
#0146   August 30, 2012   *LANGUAGE  *SPANISH

Have it your way   My battle with Burger King over the Massachusetts meals tax.
#0019   March 18, 2010

Eleven   Weighing in.
#0136   June 21, 2012  *MATHEMATICS  *TECHNOLOGY

Things I worry about   A wonderful gift from Sara.
#0129   May 3, 2012   *FAMILY2

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.
#0041  July 29, 2010  *CAREER  *KRONOS

History of Kronos, part 2   An annotated humorous 1997 speech on the history of Kronos. Part 2 of 2.
#0042   August 5, 2010  *CAREER  *KRONOS   *TECHNOLOGY

house of turkey death, The   A couple of turkey-related stories for Thanksgiving
#0056   November 25, 2010   *CAREER  *FAMILY2  *KRONOS

Leon Cogan's story   A Russian Jewish émigré helps his daughter learn English.
#0043  August 12, 2010  *ENGLISH  *LANGUAGE  *PEOPLE  *SPANISH

El relato de Leon Cogan   The story of a 7-year-old Russian immigrant learning English (in Spanish)
#0261   June 14, 2017  *ENGLISH   *LANGUAGE   *PEOPLE   *SPANISH

What's eating us?   Parasites we have known.
#0064  January 20, 2011  *FAMILY2

Rats   Elissa's pet rats
#0061  December 29, 2010  *FAMILY2

Roots and wings   Tracking our children's flights.
#0046  September 2, 2010  *FAMILY2

Bob Pease   A tribute to Bob Pease
#0091   July 28, 2011   *MIT   *PEOPLE   *TECHNOLOGY

Frequent kickbacks   Frequent flyer programs and corporate ethics policies.
#0106   November 23, 2011   *CAREER  *KRONOS

Y2K   The year 2000, start of the new millennium.
#0118   February 16, 2012  *CAREER  *KRONOS  *TECHNOLOGY

Y2K (bis)   The year 2000, part 2.
#0119   February 23, 2012  *CAREER  *KRONOS  *TECHNOLOGY

Y2K speech, part 1   Part 1 of a 1999 speech about the upcoming year 2000.
#0120   March 1, 2012  *CAREER  *KRONOS  *TECHNOLOGY

Y2K speech, part 2   The conclusion of a 1999 speech about the upcoming year 2000.
#0121   March 8, 2012  *CAREER  *KRONOS  *TECHNOLOGY

The 2000's and 2010's (retirement)

La globista de Akumal   Balloon twisting in Mexico.
#0151   October 25, 2012   *FAMILY2

Inventions   About my ideas, with an example.
#0229   May 8, 2014  *TECHNOLOGY

Kristin Espinasse   A visit to my "blogging idol".
#0109   December 15, 2011  *PEOPLE&

Driving in France   Some tips for tourists on driving in France.
#0135   June 14, 2012  *FRENCH

Tracks   Tracks in the snow
#0108   December 8, 2011

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.
#0047   September 23, 2010

The French   A recent trip to France.
#0099   October 6, 2011  *FRENCH  *LANGUAGE

Recalculating!   Our Garmin GPS (and its use in Europe)
#0100   October 13, 2011  *TECHNOLOGY

Sara's birthday gift   A guest blog entry, written for my 70th birthday by my daughter Sara.
#0114   January 19, 2012  *FAMILY2

Google   How the Internet and search engines have changed our lives.
#0126   April 12, 2012  *MIT  *TECHNOLOGY

Old   An annual physical exam that made me feel old.
#0127   April 19, 2012

Gadgets   Various things I've built.
#0130   May 10, 2012   *TECHNOLOGY

Gadgets (bis)   More gadgets I've built.
#0223   March 27, 2014  *TECHNOLOGY

Forty-two years   On my forty-second anniversary.
#0137   June 28, 2012  *FAMILY2

Le jour de gloire   La Marseillaise.
#0139   July 12, 2012  *FRENCH  *LANGUAGE

Upgrade   I upgrade to my first "smart" cell phone.
#0144   August 16, 2012   *TECHNOLOGY

The Italians   Some observations from our travels in Italy.
#0150   October 18, 2012  *ITALIAN  *LANGUAGE

Hurricane   Thoughts in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.
#0152   November 1, 2012  *CHILDHOOD  *ENGLISH  *LANGUAGE

12/12/12   Thinking about numerical patterns on 12/12/12.
#0158   12/12/12   *MATHEMATICS

71   On turning 71, and the third anniversary of my blog.
#0162   January 10, 2013

Life in the 'burbs   A light dusting of snow.
#0165   January 31, 2013  *FAMILY2

The blizzard of 2013   A winter storm in New England.
#0167   February 14, 2013  *FAMILY2

Darwin   My first grandchild.
#0169   February 28, 2013   *FAMILY2

Blogging   Hosting a blog.
#0170   March 7, 2013  *TECHNOLOGY

Computers on the road   A computer to travel with.
#0172   March 21, 2013  *TECHNOLOGY

Changes   Dar's first month.
#0173   March 28, 2013  *FAMILY2

Photographed world   Our ubiquitous cameras
#0177   April 25, 2013  *TECHNOLOGY

Fifty years   My fiftieth college reunion
#0183   June 6, 2013  *MIT

Fifty years (bis)   More on my fiftieth college reunion.
#0184   June 13, 2013   *MIT

Fifty years (ter)   Still more on my reunion.
#0185   June 20, 2013   *MIT

Forty-three years   Dinner on our forty-third anniversary.
#0187   July 4, 2013  *FAMILY2

Ixodes scapularis   The deer tick.
#0188   July 11, 2013  *FAMILY2

Solid food   Darwin enlarges her diet.
#0194   August 29, 2013  *FAMILY2

Gas   Bringing natural gas to our house.
#0195   September 5, 2013  *FAMILY1  *FAMILY2

Funny stuff   Amusing things I've noticed.
#0196   September 12, 2013

Milestones   Baby Darwin changes.
#0197   September 19, 2013  *FAMILY2

Gas (bis)   Our old furnace and water heater.
#0198   September 26, 2013  *FAMILY2

Demo day   Removing our old furnace.
#0199   October 3, 2013  *FAMILY2

Gas (ter)   Installing our new heating system.
#0200   October 10, 2013  *FAMILY2

Backup   Installing our new generator.
#0201   October 17, 2013  *FAMILY2

Applause!   Darwin's development continues.
#0202   October 24, 2013  *FAMILY2

Having a website   Connections made through my site
#0203   October 31, 2013  *CAMP  *FAMILY1

WBZ   A visit to the WBZ studios.
#0204   November 7, 2013  *TECHNOLOGY

WBZ control room   A control room at WBZ-TV.
#0205   November 14, 2013  *TECHNOLOGY

Nine months   Darwin's nine-month birthday.
#0207   November 27, 2013  *FAMILY2

First Thanksgiving   Darwin celebrates her first family Thanksgiving
#0208   December 5, 2013  *FAMILY1  *FAMILY2

Christmas 2013   Road trip !!
#0211   January 2, 2014  *FAMILY1  *FAMILY2

72   On turning 72, and the fourth anniversary of my blog.
#0212   January 9, 2014

Hair   The many hairstyles of Darwin.
#0213   January 16, 2014  *FAMILY2

MIT scenes   Seen on the MIT campus.
#0215   January 30, 2014  *MIT

Fodor's Forums   Preparing for and reporting on our travel.
#0217   February 13, 2014

One year   Darwin's first birthday.
#0219   February 27, 2014  *FAMILY2

First year   Darwin's first year.
#0220   March 6, 2014  *FAMILY2

Ice mysteries   Some strange behaviors of snow and ice.
#0225   April 10, 2014

Nature   Found around town.
#0232   May 29, 2014

Power failure   Losing our electricity - NOT!
#0228   April 29, 2014:  *FAMILY2

The animals of Old Sudbury Road   Animals real and imagined.
#0231   May 22, 2014

Tree work   Removing three large pines.
#0233   June 5, 2014

Doctor's office   Seen in a doctor's office.
#0234   June 12, 2014  *FAMILY1  *FAMILY2

Wayland 375   The Town of Wayland's celebrates its 375th anniversary.
#0235   June 19, 2014

Forty-four years   Celebrating our 44th wedding anniversary.
#0237   July 3, 2014  *FAMILY2

Power failure (bis)   Our second power outage.
#0238   July 10, 2014  *FAMILY2

Blue, white, and red   Dressed for the 14th of July.
#0239   July 17, 2014  *FAMILY2

The world according to Darwin   Darwin builds vocabulary, and makes sense of the world.
#0240   July 24, 2014  *FAMILY2

Iceland   Thoughts on our recent trip to Iceland.
#0241   August 7, 2014  *FAMILY2

Elves   The hidden people of Iceland.
#0243   August 21, 2014  *FAMILY2

Harvard Yard   Our second time pushing Dar around the Yard.
#0244   August 28, 2014  *FAMILY2

Blogging on   Posting in the future.
#0245   September 11, 2014

Darwin grows up   Darwin becomes a little person.
#0246   September 27, 2014  *FAMILY2

Forty-five years   A gift from Margie on our 45th wedding anniversary
#0248   June 30, 2015  *FAMILY2

Harvard Yard (bis)   Elissa parks her Dar in Harvard Yard for the third year.
#0249  August 31, 2015  *FAMILY2

Weird hail   A storm produces odd hailstones.
#0250   September 15, 2015

Republicans Reject Jesus for the Supreme Court   No Obama nominee is acceptable.
#0252   February 26, 2016

Google (bis)   My 'thingy' is identified!
#0253   March 23, 2016  *TECHNOLOGY

The Man Card   It's all Donald Trump has got.
#0255   May 10, 2016

Great Britain to Little England?   My brexit version of When Britain Really Ruled the Waves.
#0256   June 26, 2016

Windows 10   My upgrade to Windows 10.
#0257   July 28, 2016   *TECHNOLOGY

O Christmas tree   Keeping your tree hydrated.
#0258   December 25, 2016

75   On reaching three quarters of a century.
#0259   January 11, 2017

One.MIT   The OneMIT art project at MIT.nano.
0263  May 9, 2019  *MIT   *TECHNOLOGY

The 2000's (still retired)

Fiftieth   Our fiftieth wedding anniversary.
#0265  June 28, 2020  *FAMILY2

Fiftieth (bis)   Our fiftieth wedding anniversary - the celebration.
#0266  July 5, 2020  *FAMILY2

Thanksgiving 2020   Thanksgiving dinner in the time of COVID-19.
#0267  December 3, 2020  *FAMILY2

A marriage tip   Advice upon reaching our 51st wedding anniversary.
#0268  June 28, 2021  *FAMILY2

Spelling Bee   An Excel spreadsheet to help you play the NY Times game "Spelling Bee".
#0269  December 12, 2021  *ENGLISH  *MATHEMATICS

Essays

L'Accent tonique   Thoughts about listening to and speaking French (probably only of interest to those who speak or are studying French).
#0010   January 15, 2010   *FRENCH  *LANGUAGE

Western Ass   Words in one language which are vulgar in another.
#0017  March 4, 2010  *FRENCH  *GERMAN  *LANGUAGE 

Why do women have two breasts?   The "One-half Rule" that applies, approximately, to all mammals, including homo sapiens.
#0023  April 8, 2010

Windsurfing for sailors   Hints for sailors learning to windsurf: the basic forces, and sailors' prejudices that could interfere with learning.
#0029   May 6, 2010

My moustache   About my moustache, including why and how I shaved it off.
#0033   June 3, 2010   *FAMILY2

Biscotti   Some word origins, and connections between languages.
#0034 June 10, 2010 *ENGLISH *FRENCH *GERMAN *ITALIAN *LANGUAGE *SPANISH

Biscotti (bis)   How Americans misuse and mispronounce Italian words.
#0035 June 17, 2010 *ENGLISH *ITALIAN *LANGUAGE

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.
#0045   August 26, 2010  *TECHNOLOGY

The giant fork   A collection of stories from various points in my life, loosely tied to sleep.
#0048  September 30, 2010  *CHILDHOOD  *FAMILY2

Disable interrupts   Interrupts, for both people and computers. Algorithms for taking pills.
#0050  October 14, 2010  *TECHNOLOGY

Linguistic lunacy   Some quirks of English and Spanish.
#0058   December 9, 2010   *ENGLISH  *LANGUAGE  *SPANISH

Time   Some musings on our various ways of measuring time, and on interesting numbers.
#0063  January 11, 2011  *MATHEMATICS

Naked and nude   Why does English have so many words?
#0065   January 27, 2011   *ENGLISH  *LANGUAGE

Eigenstories   How tales evolve over time.
#0067   February 10, 2011  *ENGLISH  *LANGUAGE

English noun phrases   Fun with English - reinterpreting noun phrases.
#0076   April 14, 2011   *ENGLISH  *LANGUAGE

Copies   Copies were once hard to make.
#0087   June 30, 2011   *TECHNOLOGY

Food   Some stories about how we relate to food
#0092   August 4, 2011   *FAMILY1  *FAMILY2

Gender   Some stories about gender, human and linguistic.
#0094   August 18, 2011   *ENGLISH  *LANGUAGE

Just do it   A bias for action?
#0095   August 25, 2011   *CAMP  *CAREER  *KRONOS

Live free and die   Thoughts about seatbelts.
#0097   September 8, 2011

The Costco effect   Buying more than you need.
#0098   September 29, 2011

Dan and Elissa   Interests shared by my father and a daughter.
#0101   October 20, 2011  *FAMILY1  *FAMILY2  *PEOPLE

Krakauer   The origin of my family name.
#0103   November 3, 2011  *FAMILY1  *GERMAN  *LANGUAGE

Yiddish   Some stories relating to the Yiddish language.
#0104   November 10, 2011   *GERMAN  *LANGUAGE

Algorithms   Mindlessly following automatic procedures.
#0105   November 17, 2011   *TECHNOLOGY

70   On turning 70, and the second anniversary of my blog.
#0113   January 11, 2012

Oldthink   Changes in our life and language as technology marches on.
#0128   April 26, 2012   *CHILDHOOD   *TECHNOLOGY

Piles   Too much stuff.
#0134   June 7, 2012

Poison ivy   Poison ivy comes a creeping.
#0138   July 5, 2012

Day of the week   Calculating the day of the week in your head.
#0140   July 19, 2012   *MATHEMATICS

Linguistic gender   Gender in foreign languages.
#0153   November 8, 2012   *FRENCH  *KRONOS  *LANGUAGE

Personal computers   From vacuum tube mainframes to your home office.
#0157   December 6, 2012  *TECHNOLOGY

Bad design   Designs that should be flushed.
#0159   December 20, 2012  *TECHNOLOGY

What's wrong with this picture?   Impossible images.
#0166   February 7, 2013

How many squares?   An Internet/Facebook puzzle.
#0171   March 14, 2013  *MATHEMATICS

Snow shovels   The variety of snow shovels needed for a New England winter.
#0174   April 4, 2013

Gaining weight overnight   Can you gain weight while sleeping?
#0175   April 11, 2013

Science   What is science?
#0181   May 23, 2013

Science (bis)   Sources of truth.
#0182   May 30, 2013

Helium   Some things I've worried about.
#0186   June 27, 2013

The moon   Why don't we see the moon at different angles as it moves across the sky?
#0189   July 18, 2013

Not so fast, Sherlock   A disagreement with Sherlock Holmes.
#0191   August 1, 2013  *MATHEMATICS

Accents   How to type accented characters.
#0192   August 8, 2013  *FRENCH  *GERMAN  *ITALIAN  *LANGUAGE  *SPANISH  *TECHNOLOGY

Christmas   Why we celebrate Christmas.
#0210   December 19, 2013  *FAMILY1  *FAMILY2

Margie   About Margie, on her 70th birthday.
#0218   February 20, 2014  *FAMILY2

Pastafarianism   Cosmic secrets in Italian pasta.
#0224   April 1, 2014  *ITALIAN  *LANGUAGE

Old rules   Assorted driving-related advice from my past.
#0226   April 17, 2014

Doctor's office (bis)   Seen in a doctor's office - part 2.
#0236   June 26, 2014

Recommended reading page   Recommended blog entries, by topic.
#0242   August 14, 2014

Openly secular   Coming out as an atheist.
#0247   April 23, 2015

Hablando inglés   Speaking English, for Spanish speakers
#0251   February 19, 2016  *SPANISH

Preferential voting   A better way of counting votes.
#0254   April 2, 2016

English, U.K. vs. U.S.   British slang.
#0260   May 2, 2017  *ENGLISH   *LANGUAGE

Locura lingüística   Curiosidades del español
0264  June 28, 2019  *LANGUAGE   *SPANISH


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© 2010 - 2020 Lawrence J. Krakauer   Click here to send me e-mail.
This page was originally posted January 11, 2010, and is updated with each new entry.