I like how the Coastal Trail cuts through the steep, Pacific-facing hillsides of Mt Tam State Park. As of last weekend, the hills were still spring-green and dense with flora. In a short while they’ll return to their natually golden state—which I like to think is where California gets its nickname. It was on our last hike here that I started to feel at home after a year abroad. It was nice to return again.

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Someone just let me know that samples of Chile’s new national identity cards, known locally as cédula de identidad (or documento nacional de identidad, DNI), feature a QR Code linking to justinsomnia.org. This is not the first time that Chile has taken a liking to my QR Code. ¡Hola chilenos curiosos!

Infographic for Chile’s new national identity cards (Source: Emol.com)
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As I was getting perilously close to filling up my old 256GB hard drive, I decided to treat myself to a 512GB Samsung 840 Pro SSD, which created an opportunity to upgrade to the latest Ubuntu, a task I’d neglected for two years. I usually relish Ubuntu’s semiannual releases—that is, until the Unity user interface landed.

First look at Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail
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Occasionally people reach out and ask if they can purchase a print of my color-accented Golden Gate Bridge photo. But of course! Here’s a photo I just received from someone in Quebec who did. It coordinates nicely, don’t you think?

Photo of a print of my color-accented Golden Gate Bridge photo
From the get-go I was pretty sure I wanted a PUBLIC Bike (in British racing green, with matching fenders, front and rear racks, and a brown leather saddle). But after a test ride I was less sure. The angled handlebars felt wobbly, and I spent the whole time in the highest gear. Intellectually and aesthetically it resonated, but in practice, I had doubts.

The PUBLIC D8
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KC: Thanks for this blog. I am on support staff for a cloud-based software; we spent an hour w/ a user because this injection was interfering w/ the javascript on the login screen to our software.…