The Changelog

I clicked on a headline for an article titled Firefox news readers run the gamut. Sounded interesting; I'm not particularly happy with slrn, but I use it because there's nothing better.

I thought it would be odd that there would be more than one newsreader, and one integrated into Firefox no less. So I was curious and clicked the link.

Surprise -- it wasn't talking about news readers at all, but rather RSS aggregators.

GRRR.

A news reader should be for *Usenet*.

Speaking of which, RSS is superflous. One could use NNTP to publish headlines and summaries anyway, and not require the development of a whole slew of software for yet another annoying protocol.

I'm writing this as I'm preparing my laptop for our trip.

My first two questions for a trip are: do I take the laptop and do I take the camera?

Both are rather bulky compared to the other items I would take with me, and both are by far the most valuable item I'd have.

For many trips, I leave them behind so I don't have to worry about them. It can be easier to just enjoy things that way, and sometimes it's nice to not have e-mail and Haskell available as distractions. I find myself doing things I wouldn't otherwise be doing sometimes.

On the other hand, sometimes it's nice to be able to have a secure way to check my e-mail on the road. (I never trust public machines/terminals, way too easy for them to become infected with spyware.) Sometimes it's nice to have things to do, too. So here's what I'm loading my laptop up with for this trip:

• A full sid mirror, binary-only, for its architecture. I already have a copy elsewhere on the LAN, and I have enough spare disk space, so it makes sense. I always hate being stuck somewhere without a 'net connection and really needing some package.


• Several books, mostly from Project Gutenberg.


• Updated recent checkouts of stuff from my darcs repository.


• Maps, lists of free hotspots, and information about the cities I'll be in


• Current copies of my e-mail (via OfflineIMAP) and Usenet news (via newsx) to read/work with


• Docs and references for GHC and any other programming tools that I might wish to use


• Some MP3s


• One CD-RW, in the drive, in case I need to exchange data with anyone

What does everyone else load up on their laptops?

We enjoyed our trip to New Orleans. Thanks, hexmode and Alexis, for the tips. The RedHat page on New Orleans was particularly good. We also got some excellent suggestions from a New Orleans native on the train.

Our hotel was in the downtown area (on Lee Circle), an easy 4 blocks from the train station, but we spent most of our time in the French Quarter. We started our day Sunday walking through town, and ate lunch at the Gumbo Shop. This was a great place to eat and was suggested to us by a passenger on the train. I had Crawfish Etouffe and Terah had the Jambalaya. New things for both of us.

We stopped by the St. Louis Cathedral, the oldest cathedral in the United States. The history of the church dates back to 1721, and the present structure was finished in 1851. We had to return later to tour the interior, since there was mass going on during our first visit.

The French Market was also interesting, but since we didn't really feel a need for beads, we didn't buy anything :-)

We then walked along the river for awhile, then caught the Canal St. Streetcar up to St. Charles, and then rode the St. Charles Streetcar through the Garden District. Lots of beautiful architecture there. Before dinner, we checked out some museums in the warehouse district, but most of them were closed or closing soon. Next visit maybe.

Dinner was at Huey's, then over to Cafe Du Monde for dessert. Their Beinets were a new treat for us. Terah had no problem eating 2 1/2 of them! Like many restaurants in the area, this one had been around for over 100 years. Open 364 days a year "except for hurricanes".

For breakfast this morning, we made a special trek to the Croissant D'Or. Very nice place, and the raspberry tarts were excellent.

The atmosphere Sunday in parts of the French Quarter reminded me of some street scenes in Blues Brothers. Some of the narrow streets were closed off to traffic and musicians came out and started playing.

We passed through Jackson Square several times. A beautiful area, with a higher density of psychics per square foot than anywhere else I've ever been.

I'd like to take another trip to visit the things we missed out on: some buildings associated with the St. Louis Cathedral and various museums. We'll see how soon we make it back.