Society

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?

Terah has an interesting post about defining moments -- usually some tragedy -- that shape the world view of a generation. She mentions Pearl Harber, Kennedy, and the Challenger explosion.

I can't really think of any such moments for myself. Some might think of mentioning 9/11, but that event and its aftermath have just served mostly to reinforce my own cynicism at the staggering stupidity of our politicians' reaction to it and failure to prevent it. I am also annoyed at the government's fear-mongering, but that's nothing new either (Cold War anyone?) The loss of life is tragic, of course, and it's good to see terrorists stopped, but this isn't even the first time they attacked the World Trade Centers.

So, am I missing something, or is this the first time in awhile that there is no defining moment for a whole group of people?