Category Archives: Uncategorized

Respect for suicide

Posted on March 30, 2021 by cpbl

Allowing people to take their own lives will be one of the most profound steps we can take towards a new, wellbeing-oriented approach to policy. 90% of people who kill themselves do not do so rationally. These are lives tragically … Continue reading →

Posted in policy, Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment

Using Email at McGill university: Ongoing suffering of an open-source user, year 9

Posted on October 29, 2020 by cpbl

It’s 2020, and the world has changed. Well, yes, there’s that, but I meant that the world of email has changed. For reasons I won’t speculate and rant about here, the problem of spam has not been solved, and email … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Alpine, Alpine, GNU/linux, McGill University, Microsoft, software, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

National Carbon Price in Canada: give private industry entrepreneurs the clarity they crave [Sep 2016]

Posted on January 20, 2018 by cpbl

With the Trudeau government already struggling to keep up with its numerous promises, many environmentalists will follow the Green Party’s Elizabeth May and decry the Liberal government’s embrace of Harper’s weak and cynical carbon emissions targets. Quite incompatible with the … Continue reading →

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Keeping your fingers and toes warm in cold weather: a guide for endurance skiers with poor circulation

Posted on January 20, 2018 by cpbl

In recent years I have had severe trouble keeping my finger tips and toes warm while outside in winter. I blame it on too much cold-weather camping and letting my extremities get numb in my younger days, but it may … Continue reading →

Posted in Alpine, outdoors, Product review, skiing, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 27 Comments

Ubuntu on Lenovo Thinkpad T450s

Posted on June 23, 2016 by cpbl

Lenovo’s T450s is another piece of high-production-volume hardware from a vendor with a fairly good reputation for Linux support … but a host of serious problems under Ubuntu’s flagship “Long-term-support” operating system.  I’d love to be in touch with others … Continue reading →

Posted in GNU/linux, hardware, Product review, Ubuntu, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

GNU/Linux at McGill: Calling all users! Please join a support discussion board

Posted on September 29, 2015 by cpbl

A theme among my posts since 2011 has been the challenges of being a GNU/Linux desktop user at McGill University  but outside the departments (Math, Physics, Computer Science?) which support the OS.  I believe those departments have eschewed the central … Continue reading →

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