blargh

Nov 17

“Eventually, unable to sell the ring in-person to anyone, the canary yellow diamond found its way to eBay, sent away in a priority mail, insurance stamped box. Distancing myself from the process made it easier. The funds in my PayPal warmed my heart for the most part, but lurked there, reminding me of what I lost and where that money came from.
I had to get rid of it.
And not just some of it, but every last penny. On something I always wanted, but could never afford. Something that would make me feel a little less empty inside.
So I immediately spent the money on a suit of Master Chief armor.” Master Grief « The Bygone Bureau

“I’m going to tell my kids if you can do something you love every day, that’s success”

Harbottle: an internet start-up whiz

Quote from an interview with my boss. He’s right.

Nov 10

“The data model for 4chan is three fields long - image, timestamp, text. Now tell me one bit of original culture that’s ever come out of Facebook.” The Social Graph is Neither (Pinboard Blog)

Nov 3

The Bobcats on Thursday - The Oatmeal

Their theory on Howler Monkeys is entirely accurate

Oct 25

“I was having a conversation with a friend who had recently become a parent, and she reminded me of something I had forgotten about since my daughter was born. She was describing this what-have-I-done feeling – I just got everything perfect in my life, and then I went and messed it all up by having a baby. I don’t feel that way anymore, but the thought certainly crossed my mind a few times at the beginning. Eventually you just fall in love and forget about everything else, but it’s not a very comfortable transition. I compare the process to becoming a vampire, your old self dies in a sad and painful way, but then you come out the other side with immortality, super strength and a taste for human blood.” Jonathan Coulton

Oct 13

“It is impossible — absolutely impossible — to overstate the debt my profession owes to Dennis Ritchie. I’ve been living in a world he helped invent for over thirty years” DMR, 1941—2011

“Ruby has nothing on Perl”

The second coming of Java - Cringely on technology

Dude’s high as a kite.

“

Facts from the 30-year study Organic yields match conventional yields.

- Organic outperforms conventional in years of drought.
- Organic farming systems build rather than deplete soil organic matter, making it a more sustainable system.
- Organic farming uses 45% less energy and is more efficient.
- Conventional systems produce 40% more greenhouse gases.
- Organic farming systems are more profitable than conventional.

” The Rodale Institute’s 30-Year Farming Systems Trial Report

“Google+ is a prime example of our complete failure to understand platforms from the very highest levels of executive leadership (hi Larry, Sergey, Eric, Vic, howdy howdy) down to the very lowest leaf workers (hey yo). We all don’t get it. The Golden Rule of platforms is that you Eat Your Own Dogfood. The Google+ platform is a pathetic afterthought. We had no API at all at launch, and last I checked, we had one measly API call. One of the team members marched in and told me about it when they launched, and I asked: “So is it the Stalker API?” She got all glum and said “Yeah.” I mean, I was joking, but no… the only API call we offer is to get someone’s stream. So I guess the joke was on me.” Google - Stevey’s Google Platforms Rant

“I’m not really sure how Bezos came to this realization — the insight that he can’t build one product and have it be right for everyone. But it doesn’t matter, because he gets it. There’s actually a formal name for this phenomenon. It’s called Accessibility, and it’s the most important thing in the computing world. The. Most. Important. Thing. If you’re sorta thinking, “huh? You mean like, blind and deaf people Accessibility?” then you’re not alone, because I’ve come to understand that there are lots and LOTS of people just like you: people for whom this idea does not have the right Accessibility, so it hasn’t been able to get through to you yet. It’s not your fault for not understanding, any more than it would be your fault for being blind or deaf or motion-restricted or living with any other disability. When software — or idea-ware for that matter — fails to be accessible to anyone for any reason, it is the fault of the software or of the messaging of the idea. It is an Accessibility failure.” Stevey’s Google Platforms Rant

blargh

"The same open door that gives you a world of knowledge and communication is also a piping hot shit-gun of horror."

The Bobcats on Thursday - The Oatmeal