The Notional Defenseman

8 bit awesomeness. I particularly like “Harder Better...

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 23:52:34 -0500

8 bit awesomeness. I particularly like “Harder Better Faster” and Crescendolls in 8 bit. Not sure quite which game I see it in front of yet, but some version of Tetris comes to mind, or perhaps an 8 bit version of Portal.

Da Chip Volume 2 (2012)
www.dachip.com

(via Kottke)

Gumption Scarcity and the Engineering Mindset

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 20:26:26 -0500

“[Entities] often have problems that can be solved, and have been solved in many other [places]. But if they do not have the will to solve them, then all of our effort to address the issue is wasted. Our desire to solve the problem will simply come across as interference, meddling, or worse. So as I move from youthful enthusiasm to elderly wisdom, one of my development goals is to supress the desire to solve every problem and focus on the ones where I can make a difference”

Fred Wilson on how best to utilize the “Engineering Mindset” of problem solving and stay sane in this world. Only problem with the above is that many times “I need an environment where people will listen and want to solve a problem” can be readily used as an excuse for not trying again and making another effort. This is particularly true with extremely intractable problems in large organizations. Buying back in, however, is a risk - you may be wasting your breath so you should think hard about why and make sure that the payoff will be worth it.

noiselyta: Five Step, a mashup of 15 Step by Radiohead and Take...

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:41:37 -0500

noiselyta:

Five Step, a mashup of 15 Step by Radiohead and Take Five by Dave Brubeck.

This is a great use of 5/4 time.

gatm: The slippery slope of Downton Abbey. via Penny...

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:32:03 -0500

gatm:

The slippery slope of Downton Abbey. via Penny Arcade

Awesome.

"What is it to do one’s “fair share”? In small groups, it’s clear enough. If..."

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:54:53 -0500

“What is it to do one’s “fair share”? In small groups, it’s clear enough. If my friend and I are shoveling the front walk, my fair share of shoveling, and his, is about half. Often we adjust for differences in ability. If I am big and strong and my friend is small and frail, his fair share may be as much as he can manage. That won’t mean that the whole remainder is my fair share, though. If we’re going to get the walk shoveled, I may have to do a bit more than my fair share. These things get complicated quickly. That’s why the question of what it means for an American do his or her fair share, qua citizen, is completely baffling.”

- The Economist’s always awesome bloggers on “The Politics of Fairness” via T.E.S. The article does a great job of attacking what we really mean when we talk about fairness, and wades into equality territory as well. A good read at either end of the political spectrum. Fair assessment?

"Ryan: Machines don’t have a universal noun – that’s why they suck. Every programming language,..."

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:50:00 -0500

“

Ryan: Machines don’t have a universal noun – that’s why they suck. Every programming language, database, or other kind of system has a different way of talking about nouns. That’s why the URL is so important. It let’s all of these systems tell each other about each other’s nouns.

Wife: But when I’m looking at a web page, I don’t think of it like that.

Ryan: Nobody does. Except Fielding and handful of other people. That’s why machines still suck.

”

- How I Explained REST to My Wife via Stack Overflow

Tom Blomfield: Automate Everything

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 14:09:27 -0500

Tom Blomfield: Automate Everything:

tomblomfield:

Performing manual, repetitive tasks enrages me. I used to think this was a corollary of being a programmer, but I’ve come to suspect (or hope) that this behaviour is inherent in being human.

But being able to hack together scripts simply makes it much easier to go from a state of rage to a basic…

"But then one gray morning did Internet Explorer 6 no longer load The Google. Refresh was clicked,..."

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:08:01 -0500

“But then one gray morning did Internet Explorer 6 no longer load The Google. Refresh was clicked, again and again, but still did Internet Explorer 6 not load The Google. Perhaps The Google was broken, the people thought, but then The Yahoo too did not load. Nor did Hotmail. Nor USAToday.com. The land was thrown into panic. Internet Explorer 6 was minimized then maximized. The Compaq Presario was unplugged then plugged back in. The old mouse was brought out and plugged in beside the new mouse. Still, The Google did not load.”

- An epic tale of tech support and bravery that is a must read for any brave souls that have ever ventured into the dusty depths to ”fix” a router (via McSweeney, via Kottke)

Holy cow this is the new Tech Dinghy?!! I have to go back to...

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:23:05 -0500

Holy cow this is the new Tech Dinghy?!! I have to go back to school. While I am heavily endeared to the lumbering fiberglass beast from my college racing days, this thing looks almost (dare I say it)…sexy! Nice work to Fran and the crew - what a great way to celebrate 85 years. (http://sailing.mit.edu)

"9/11 could join the Trojan Horse and Pearl Harbor among stratagems so uniquely surprising that their..."

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:51:21 -0500

““9/11 could join the Trojan Horse and Pearl Harbor among stratagems so uniquely surprising that their very success precludes their repetition””

- (via Seitz via Schneier) Interesting sentiment. Lots to think of there when it comes to assessing one’s disposition to risk, our current security posture, and the importance of being first in order to succeed. (I shouldn’t have to say it but just in case, I’m measuring “success” as outcome / intended outcome, >=1 being exceptional, and I’m not saying that these attacks were good for the world.)

brycedotvc: Much has been said, written and posted about SOPA...

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 20:19:15 -0500

brycedotvc:

Much has been said, written and posted about SOPA over the last month or so. But what I found refreshing and enlightening about this talk from Cory Doctorow was the lengths to which he went to frame SOPA in it’s real historical context. The title of this talk says it all “The Coming War on General Purpose Computation”.

A few excerpts:

The proponents of SOPA, the Motion Picture Association of America, circulated a memo, citing research that SOPA would probably work, because it uses the same measures as are used in Syria, China, and Uzbekistan, and they argued that these measures are effective in those countries, and so they would work in America, too!

It may seem like SOPA is the end game in a long fight over copyright, and the Internet, and it may seem like if we defeat SOPA, we’ll be well on our way to securing the freedom of PCs and networks. But as I said at the beginning of this talk, this isn’t about copyright, because the copyright wars are just the 0.9 beta version of the long coming war on computation. The entertainment industry were just the first belligerents in this coming century-long conflict. We tend to think of them as particularly successful — after all, here is SOPA, trembling on the verge of passage, and breaking the internet on this fundamental level in the name of preserving Top 40 music, reality TV shows, and Ashton Kutcher movies!

It doesn’t take a science fiction writer to understand why regulators might be nervous about the user-modifiable firmware on self-driving cars, or limiting interoperability for aviation controllers, or the kind of thing you could do with bio-scale assemblers and sequencers. Imagine what will happen the day that Monsanto determines that it’s really… really… important to make sure that computers can’t execute programs that cause specialized peripherals to output organisms that eat their lunch… literally. Regardless of whether you think these are real problems or merely hysterical fears, they are nevertheless the province of lobbies and interest groups that are far more influential than Hollywood and big content are on their best days, and every one of them will arrive at the same place — “can’t you just make us a general purpose computer that runs all the programs, except the ones that scare and anger us? Can’t you just make us an Internet that transmits any message over any protocol between any two points, unless it upsets us?”

So we’re here, at logger heads, ostensibly arguing about piracy when the underlying fear of these disruptive, connective, enabling devices extends far beyond the gilded stars of Hollywood boulevard.

And it’s just the beginning.

Which is why Cory’s talk at 28C3 is required weekend viewing on BRYCE DOT VC.

It is important to recognize that SOPA opposition is not an anti-IP argument, but a protest against the consequences of limiting technology just because it may happen to have a secondary impact and make a specific activity easier. We must adapt to change instead of fighting it - that will be the only way to lead in the future.

boatporn: Is that can awesome or what? Really craving a...

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 20:17:48 -0500

boatporn:

Is that can awesome or what?

Really craving a ‘Gansett all of a sudden!

Ain’t no party like a Pyongyang party, ‘cause a...

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 21:59:06 -0500

Ain’t no party like a Pyongyang party, ‘cause a Pyongyang party is ABSOLUTELY MANDATORY. Note: If you don’t like gallows humor probably not best to watch this. (via some friends on Facebook)

theeconomist: Farewell, earthlings. North Korean state media...

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 19:31:09 -0500

June 17th, 2000

July 8th, 2006

May 30th, 2009

February 17th, 2007

October 14th, 2006

theeconomist:

Farewell, earthlings. North Korean state media has announced the death of leader Kim Jong Il. The Economist has featured him several times on our covers since 2000.

"Explore—go off into the craziest recesses of interaction models you’d like to see[…] Even if..."

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 13:41:27 -0500

“Explore—go off into the craziest recesses of interaction models you’d like to see[…]
Even if you end up back where you started, you’ll have lit up the entirety of the “Zelda map” of possibilities, as it were. You’ll understand the context of your choice in the greater whole, and your work will be decidedly more confident for doing so.”

- Craig Mod, Designer, Flipboard (via A List Apart)

Javascript Dev Model Differences / Advantages?

Sat, 17 Dec 2011 00:51:47 -0500

I’ve been digging in to some things to take my #JS chops to the next level, and have recently run into a number of frameworks that seem very powerful - Knockout, JavascriptMVC, and Backbone. I’ll need to invest time in them, but I’m curious about the differences between the MVC / MVVM models and which you think are better. Any thoughts?

All I know is that EVERY codebase should have a tutorial set as easy as Knockout - seen here in awesome browser glory.

SOPA Redux

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 23:24:00 -0500

I ██████ ████ ███████ to my ████ and all I got was ████ █████ ████████ ████ the ████.

I’ve censored the following, in opposition of a bill that gives any corporation and the US government the power to censor the internet—a bill that could pass out of committee this week. To see the uncensored text, and to stop internet censorship, visit:

http://americancensorship.org/posts/9446/uncensor

Rock on. Sail fast! pumasailing: Great to be back to back in...

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 18:15:02 -0500

Rock on. Sail fast!

pumasailing:

Great to be back to back in action.

"Let’s go back to music: It is meaningful if I tell you that I really like the avant-garde..."

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 13:43:07 -0500

“Let’s go back to music: It is meaningful if I tell you that I really like the avant-garde music by Olivier Messiaen. It’s also meaningful to confess that I sometimes relax by listening to Pink Floyd. But if this kind of communication is replaced by a constant pipeline of what’s queued up in Spotify, it all becomes meaningless. There’s no “sharing” at all. Frictionless sharing isn’t better sharing; it’s the absence of sharing”

- Mike Loukides, Via Nicholas Carr

Interesting Point - I would say that there is some value to seeing Spotify songs come across the wire on Facebook, and I’ve definitely listened to them myself, curious to see what others’ tastes were, but there will be more value to a comment about how music is used, how it makes you feel, or WHY you were listening to it than just the fact that it was played. I’ll have to think on this some more…

Celebrating Sinterklaas in true Dutch style… with a crazy...

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 22:47:08 -0500

Celebrating Sinterklaas in true Dutch style… with a crazy MEGA REMIX! (Doesn’t matter what it is, it must be remixed!) Happy Sinterklaas to all my Dutch bretheren. Hope you and yours are all well and prettige Kerstfeest.