Hey Norton

Me. And the boys. Berkeley. 2012.

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 17:46:08 -0800

Me. And the boys. Berkeley. 2012.

fuckyeahcycling: (via Pan American Games - Did You See That? -...

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 15:19:37 -0800

fuckyeahcycling:

(via Pan American Games - Did You See That? - Photos - SI.com)

Oh yes.

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2011-11-6)

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 05:04:16 -0800

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2011-11-6):

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

Dennis Ritchie

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 10:03:00 -0700

The only way to learn a new programming language is by writing programs in it. The first program to write is the same for all languages: Print the words: hello, world

So begins one of the most important programming books ever written, The C Programming Language by Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie. Ritchie, known by his login dmr wasn’t a household name like Steve Jobs* yet his influence on the world is immeasurable. He was the father of C, a co-creator of UNIX and the coauthor of a book so influential in the world of software engineering that it’s simply known as the “K&R.”

I haven’t coded in C in some 15 years (gulp) yet that book has never been far from my keyboard. Kernighan and Ritchie packed more information into those 272 pages than the 700+ page “Learn a Language” books that seem to be in vogue today.

I like to think that Steve Jobs made me want to program, but Dennis Ritchie taught me how. Ritchie died yesterday at the age of 70.

* Not quite a household name, surprisingly. When I learned of Steve Jobs’s death I was dining at New Hampshire’s Mount Washington Inn. Distraught, our waitress asked us what was wrong. “Steve Jobs just died,” we said. “Who’s that?” she responded.

San Francisco's offense is criminal

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 17:20:00 -0700

Jayson Stark invented the Criminally Unsupported Start (CUS) metric a few years back: a game where the starting pitcher goes 6 or more innings and his team supports him with only 1 or fewer runs.

I cross-referenced CUS with Quality Starts (QS) for the 2011 Giants into a new metric—Criminally Unsupported Quality Starts (CUQS). These are games where the pitcher went 6+ innings, gave up 3 or fewer runs and got jack squat from his offense.

Here now, your 2011 San Francisco Giants starting rotation. Their current W-L records, followed by their imaginary records* if they’d won each of their CUQS.

Tim Lincecum; 13-12 (21-7)
Ryan Vogelsong: 10-7 (15-2)
Matt Cain: 11-10 (18-4)
Madison Bumgarner: 11-12 (18-5)

UPDATE: I realized the Giants actually won a CUQS on May 10th. Lincecum was the starting pitcher, and got no decision. I’ve counted that as a win also.

* I assumed all CUQS were wins and took away any loss decisions they’d received from a CUQS. As expected Madison Bumgarner had the worst luck: 7 CUQS losses and in each one he took the loss.

Rk              Player       Date  Tm Opp   Rslt  AppDec  IP H R ER BB SO
2         Tim Lincecum 2011-03-31 SFG LAD L  1-2 GS-7  L 7.0 5 1  0  3  5
3    Madison Bumgarner 2011-04-27 SFG PIT L  0-2 GS-6  L 6.0 5 1  1  1  7
4         Tim Lincecum 2011-04-29 SFG WSN L  0-3 GS-7  L 7.0 7 3  3  0  7
5    Madison Bumgarner 2011-05-02 SFG WSN L  0-2 GS-7  L 7.0 4 2  0  1  7
6       Ryan Vogelsong 2011-05-26 SFG FLA L  0-1 GS-8  L 8.0 8 1  1  1  3
7    Madison Bumgarner 2011-06-04 SFG COL L  1-2 GS-7  L 7.0 7 2  1  1  6
8    Madison Bumgarner 2011-06-09 SFG CIN L  0-3 GS-7  L 7.0 8 1  1  0  7
9            Matt Cain 2011-06-19 SFG OAK L  1-2    GS-7 7.0 3 1  1  0  5
10        Tim Lincecum 2011-06-29 SFG CHC L  1-2    GS-7 7.0 5 1  1  2  9
11        Tim Lincecum 2011-07-20 SFG LAD L  0-1 GS-7  L 7.0 5 1  1  4  7
12        Tim Lincecum 2011-08-02 SFG ARI L  1-6 GS-7  L 7.0 3 2  2  3  8
13   Madison Bumgarner 2011-08-04 SFG PHI L  0-3 GS-8  L 8.0 6 2  2  2  9
14           Matt Cain 2011-08-06 SFG PHI L  1-2 GS-8  L 8.0 3 2  1  2  8
15           Matt Cain 2011-08-12 SFG FLA L  1-2 GS-6  L 6.0 6 2  2  2  4
16        Tim Lincecum 2011-08-18 SFG ATL L  0-1 GS-7  L 7.0 5 1  1  2  7
17      Ryan Vogelsong 2011-08-19 SFG HOU L  0-6 GS-7  L 7.0 4 5  2  4  3
18      Ryan Vogelsong 2011-08-25 SFG HOU L  1-3 GS-8  L 7.1 6 3  3  4  4
19      Ryan Vogelsong 2011-09-04 SFG ARI L  1-4 GS-8  L 7.1 5 2  2  1  6
20           Matt Cain 2011-09-07 SFG SDP L  1-3 GS-7  L 7.0 4 2  2  3  7
21        Tim Lincecum 2011-09-09 SFG LAD L  1-2    GS-8 8.0 6 1  1  2  6
22      Ryan Vogelsong 2011-09-10 SFG LAD L  0-3 GS-8  L 8.0 9 3  3  1  6

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com
Generated 9/14/2011.

Here’s the full chart on Baseball Reference.

End software patents

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 12:08:52 -0700

End software patents:

I wrote up some of my thoughts about software patents.

midwaymilly: aaalso I’ll just leave this here in case there are...

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 19:09:08 -0700

midwaymilly:

aaalso I’ll just leave this here in case there are any fellow Jens Voigt fans around~ |D

(via Cats: Where can I find this hoodie for my cat? - Quora)

Sat, 18 Jun 2011 17:27:10 -0700

(via Cats: Where can I find this hoodie for my cat? - Quora)

Twenty-five years of The Queen is Dead

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 11:28:31 -0700

The Queen is Dead by The Smiths was released 25 years ago today. It is my favorite album of all time and has not been challenged over the intervening two-and-a-half decades. No other record has come close.

I didn’t get the tape on its first day of release. It was difficult to find out-of-the-mainstream music in Buffalo unless you made a special trip to Home of the Hits on Elmwood. Being 15 years old, cash-poor, and without a driver license, I didn’t get albums when they were first released.

I certainly knew of its existence well before I found it. It seemed like a long wait, but it was probably no more than a few months. My quest for Hatful of Hollow—released in the U.K. in 1984—would continue for two more years until I finally located a copy in Toronto.

I’m prone to hyperbole when it comes to wonderful music, but I would not be alone in proclaiming The Queen is Dead one of the most perfect records of all time. It is infinitely listenable, each track stands alone but is somehow greater because of what it follows or precedes. “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out” is independently gorgeous, but becomes otherworldly when slotted in between “Vicar in a Tutu’s” jokey vocal reverb conclusion and Johnny Marr’s chimey false-start ”Some Girls are Bigger Than Others” fade-in.

The 15 year-old teenager who bought that album liked to fiddle with computers, ride his bike, listen to music, and play role-playing games. Twenty-five years later that boy still likes all of those things, and the soundtrack hasn’t changed.

“The Queen Is Dead” – 6:24
“Frankly, Mr Shankly” – 2:17
“I Know It’s Over” – 5:48
“Never Had No One Ever” – 3:36
“Cemetry Gates” – 2:39
“Bigmouth Strikes Again” – 3:12
“The Boy with the Thorn in His Side” – 3:15
“Vicar in a Tutu” – 2:21
“There Is a Light That Never Goes Out” – 4:02
“Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others” – 3:14

Observations: I’m astonished at the high quality of this...

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 20:52:34 -0700

Observations:

I’m astonished at the high quality of this video.
Peter Hook!
Stephen Morris!

New Order: Ceremony @ NYC 1981 (by VanishInFright)

Jeff Bezos on innovation: Amazon ‘willing to be misunderstood for long periods of time’

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 08:47:05 -0700

Jeff Bezos on innovation: Amazon ‘willing to be misunderstood for long periods of time’:

Jeff Bezos was asked at Amazon’s shareholder meeting if the company is taking enough risks. Bezos gave a passionate clinic on innovation:

I believe if you don’t have that set of things in your corporate culture, then you can’t do large-scale invention. You can do incremental invention, which is critically important for any company. But it is very difficult — if you are not willing to be misunderstood. People will misunderstand you.

Any time you do something big, that’s disruptive — Kindle, AWS — there will be critics. And there will be at least two kinds of critics. There will be well-meaning critics who genuinely misunderstand what you are doing or genuinely have a different opinion. And there will be the self-interested critics that have a vested interest in not liking what you are doing and they will have reason to misunderstand. And you have to be willing to ignore both types of critics.

Everything about this makes me happy. Read the entire article.

In early 1971, Hart wrote to dozens of actors, authors,...

Thu, 26 May 2011 08:32:56 -0700

In early 1971, Hart wrote to dozens of actors, authors, artists, musicians, playwrights, librarians, and politicians of the day. She asked them to write a letter to the children of Troy about the importance of libraries, and their memories of reading and of books.

(via Our History: Letters to the Children of Troy, May 1971 | Troy Public Library)

Unhappy 52nd Birthday Morrissey. Morrissey - Interesting Drug...

Sun, 22 May 2011 20:52:29 -0700

Unhappy 52nd Birthday Morrissey.

Morrissey - Interesting Drug (Hammersmith Odeon, London, UK, 10/4/91) (by lapislazuli42)

"According to Steve Jobs, “People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on...."

Sun, 22 May 2011 07:01:39 -0700

“According to Steve Jobs, “People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying ‘no’ to 1,000 things.””

- Steve Jobs: Get Rid of the Crappy Stuff - Carmine Gallo - Your Communications Coach - Forbes

"Imagine if the trusted real-estate agent you hired to sell your house persuaded you to sell it to..."

Thu, 19 May 2011 12:07:03 -0700

“

Imagine if the trusted real-estate agent you hired to sell your house persuaded you to sell it to her best client for $1,000,000 by telling you this was the best price she could get. And then, the next morning, the person who bought your house immediately turned around and sold it for $2,000,000 (using the agent to sell it, naturally).

How would you feel if your agent did that?

Shafted.

And that’s EXACTLY what BOFA and Morgan Stanley just did to LinkedIn and LinkedIn’s shareholders.

”

- LINKEDIN IPO: Stock Priced Too Low

"The correction you are seeking, and which I now solemnly herewith deliver under the implied threat..."

Tue, 17 May 2011 12:11:42 -0700

“

The correction you are seeking, and which I now solemnly herewith deliver under the implied threat of a trademark-infringement lawsuit, is that “Stetson” is the name of your company and not a generic term for a hat. You further demand that all future references to “Stetson” contain a little R in a circle, like this: Stetson®. Okay. Done, and done.

Stetson® hats suck.

”

- Gene Weingarten: Restraint of trademark - The Washington Post

HOWTO make an X-Wing Fighter from Office Supplies

Tue, 17 May 2011 07:56:19 -0700

HOWTO make an X-Wing Fighter from Office Supplies

ilovecharts: Infographic by the legendary Megan Jaegerman via...

Fri, 13 May 2011 12:10:30 -0700

ilovecharts:

Infographic by the legendary Megan Jaegerman

via fryn

summersumz: It’s strange how something as seemingly innocuous...

Fri, 13 May 2011 11:18:10 -0700

summersumz:

It’s strange how something as seemingly innocuous as an image of an “anatomically correct heart” will startle me. There I’ll be, skipping through Etsy looking for pottery espresso cups and BOOM there’s a heart with its four chambers, its piping all miraculously connected in the standard arrangement, perfectly evolved to hydraulically cycle and oxygenate blood. A couple of years ago I wouldn’t have thought twice about it, would’ve moseyed on in my quest for preferred pottery, but now it makes my thoughts stutter. My impulse was to quickly scroll past it - a “look away” reaction - but it was too late, the thought had already crossed my mind: “there is a perfect heart, and perfect hearts aren’t always standard issue, and darn! this picture making me think about this!”

I tell the story ok enough verbally, sitting beside someone, but it’s hard for me to write it. Facts are easier to write than emotions, especially when emotions are a scrambled up mess of dismay, fear, and anger at the random misfires of the universe, soothed only slightly by hope, utter hope, in the advancements of medical science. So, here’s the medical facts about Ken’s son Riley, from “Riley’s blog”.

Riley was born with congenital heart defects that were detected shortly after birth. He has a condition called heterotaxy which means his internal organs are reversed. His heart is on the right side of his chest. He is also missing a spleen, a cardiac-related condition called asplenia syndrome. Riley’s heart only has a single ventricle and a common valve. Before treatment, oxygen poor blood mixed with oxygenated blood causing severe cyanosis (“blueness”).

There is no cure for Riley’s disease but a three-stage palliative treatment is commonly performed. A few days after birth in April 2003 surgeons at UCSF performed the first stage, a BT Shunt. In May 2004 surgeons performed the Glenn Procedure. In March 2006 Riley underwent the Fontan Procedure, the third stage. Riley developed protein losing enteropathy and in March 2007 received a Fontan fenestration which failed, followed by the Fontan takedown in April 2007.

Riley’s 8 now. He’s super smart and he’s funny. He loves playing baseball and legos, riding his bike, hanging out with his little brother, and asking wise questions. His condition is stable and he goes in for a checkup in the next month or so. In the meantime, it’s “enjoy each day as it comes” and “hurry up, science”.

File under stuff that would have blown my 16 year-old mind

Thu, 12 May 2011 14:14:00 -0700

I read a digital message from boyhood guitar hero Johnny Marr moments after it was sent (from England) about a public school chorus in Staten Island covering a classic song from The Smiths. I was able to instantly view a streaming video of the performance. I was then able to forward the message to my friends and acquaintances all over the world. Feeling nostalgic, I accessed a digital locker of my entire music collection over a network connection and played the original song on my portable computer. Needing to leave my desk, I switched the playback to my telephone and was able to continue listening while I walked. From my wireless telephone. That is in my pocket.

Sometimes it’s satisfying to recognize how far we’ve come.