Aaron Schwartz at Stanford

Aaron Schwartz at Stanford

Aaron Schwartz is one of my favourite Bloggers. He’s just gone to Stanford as an undergraduate, and he’s blogging the experience. His account makes a riveting read, not least because it demonstrates vividly how stupid the customs and rituals of soi disant great universities can be — and how idiotic their attempts to build student solidarity are. Stuff that kids raw from school accept with a kind of timid acquiescence looks totally bizarre when viewed through the lens of a mature intelligence. This is brave and interesting material, not least because the administration at Stanford will be as mad as hell when it discovers what their sainted institution looks like when viewed with a detached and sceptical eye.

Gadget wars, contd.

Gadget wars, contd.

It has taken Quentin quite a while to recover from my acquisition of a Toyota Prius, but he doesn’t give up easily. Now he’s got a Gmail account. Bah! I know it’s not, strictly speaking, a gadget, but still…

Update:This posting went up at 09:37. A compassionate soul read it, and by 11:10 I had an invitation to set up a Gmail account. No wonder I love the Net. I’ve been using Gmail this afternoon, and it’s extremely slick and nicely designed. Up to now, using webmail has always been like wading through treacle. No longer.