A Geek Goes Flying

A Windows CE Palmtop I have an old NEC MobilePro 780. I got it to install Linux or a *BSD on, and achieved some success with that project (about 18 years ago?!), but the machine really didn’t have the horsepower to be a good UNIX portable (168 MHz NEC VR4121 processor, 32MB RAM, whatever storage you had in the CompactFlash spot), nor was/is the Linux desktop experience really optimized for the screen geometry (it has an 8.1" 640x240 DSTN display). But I hung on to it, because it’s got a great keyboard and it’s perfectly usable as a Windows CE machine, and why not? But over time I’ve misplaced the AC adapter, the battery is toast, and, well, yeah. I didn’t see the point in spending $50+ for a dubious quality replacement battery, so it sat. NEC MobilePro   But at  9.6" x 5.2" x 1.1" and 1.7 lbs., it will totally fit in even a LoungeFly, and a moment of distracted Googling led me to learning about the MC-BA10 adapter, which lets the MobilePro run off of (4) AA batterie...

Ganesh, Remover of Obstacles This is a post I’ve been trying to put together for a while, but I keep getting pulled off in different directions. But it’s early morning, I have a few moments, and I’m enjoying trying out my new 2K standing desk setup, so here goes. Flow State “[K]nowledge workers work best by getting into ‘flow,’ also known as being ‘in the zone,’ where they are fully concentrated on their work and fully tuned out of their environment.” Joel Spolsky, 12 Steps to Better Code , no. 8. (A more recent look: Developer Flow State and Its Impact on Productivity .) This is true for, among others, “[w]riters, programmers, scientists...” ( Id .) I’d put lawyers in that list, obviously; when I’m researching or drafting a complex memorandum, etc., I’m as much in a flow state as I am when I’m hacking code. The American Bar Association agrees: How can lawyers find flow? (citing the work of psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.) Others have written about it in this context, too: ...