m. c. de marco

This isn’t really writing related; it’s another adventure with my new Mac. I use a very old genealogy program called LifeLines, and last week I finally got around to updating it with MacPorts for Snow Leopard. But when I went to open my ancestor database, it complained: “keyfile is wrong alignment.”

What you will get if you google that phrase is translations of it into all the languages LifeLines has been translated into, and nothing else. Apparently no one has experienced the error before.

Via John Gruber: screenwriter John August compares running your own blogging software to baking your own bread.

Over the weekend, there was a lot of uproar about a worm attack on WordPress installations that wrecked some notable blogs. Amid the sometimes-smug observations by the unaffected, I found one point that needs to be elevated to basic principle:

Most people shouldn’t be running their own blogging software.

Due to the unfortunate demise of my old hard drive, I have upgraded to a MacBook Pro and Leopard. I’m still not fully moved into the new mac, so I haven’t been blogging much. I may post the full hard- and software saga at some point, but for now I’ll just say the multitouch trackpad is the best part.

You can always follow me on Twitter for more timely (if more lightweight) updates.

At Technovelgy: the Guardian reports on solving the Hamiltonian path problem with E. coli.

Programming such a computer is no easy task, however. The researchers coded a simplified version of the problem, using just three cities, by modifying the DNA of Escherichia coli bacteria.

Via Daring Fireball: the future comes to an iPhone near you with a virtual reality-style app for finding subway stations. Watch the movie.

Via Angel Station: One Giant Leap to Nowhere, a depressing New York Times editorial by Tom Wolfe about the unexpected premature end of the space age forty years ago.

SFScope has links about the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11, along with a mock-interview with Michael Collins.

Usually, you find yourself either too young or too old to do what you really want, but consider: Neil Armstrong was born in 1930, Buzz Aldrin 1930, and Mike Collins 1930. We came along at exactly the right time. We survived hazardous careers and we were successful in them. But in my own case at least, it was 10 percent shrewd planning and 90 percent blind luck.