The Nested Float Quotes

Tehran is that, plus Twitter.

2009-06-19T14:44:22+00:00

Calling Iranian politics “byzantine” doesn’t quite do the trick, because all Byzantium really had going on was palace intrigue. Tehran is that, plus Twitter.

Gabriel Winant, from a piece detailing the ins-and-outs of Iran's current political scene. I love Twitter and all, but ascribing this kind of importance to the service is just way over the top.

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The end of fail.

2009-06-18T14:52:44+00:00

When someone says “FAIL”, what they’re really saying is, “I’m failing to understand a creative person’s constraints.”

Anil Dash, on the death of FAIL.

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The First Version

2009-06-03T02:17:57+00:00

If you review your first site version and don’t feel embarrassment, you spent too much time on it.

Reid Hoffman. (via 37signals.)

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Recursion

2009-05-01T15:32:56+00:00

In order to understand recursion, one must first understand recursion.

Kai Diefenbach, quoting an unnamed source.

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Rubber Duck Debugging

2009-03-10T12:12:26+00:00

We called it the Rubber Duck method of debugging. It goes like this:

Beg, borrow, steal, buy, fabricate or otherwise obtain a rubber duck (bathtub variety).

Place rubber duck on desk and inform it you are just going to go over some code with it, if that's all right.

Explain to the duck what you code is supposed to do, and then go into detail and explain things line by line.

At some point you will tell the duck what you are doing next and then realise that that is not in fact what you are actually doing. The duck will sit there serenely, happy in the knowledge that it has helped you on your way.

Works every time. Actually, if you don't have a rubber duck you could at a pinch ask a fellow programmer or engineer to sit in.

Andrew Errington, from an awk list-serv discussion on debugging.

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Font vs. Typeface

2009-03-08T13:45:22+00:00

When you talk about how much you like a tune, you don’t say: “That’s a great MP3”. You say: “That’s a great song”. The MP3 is the delivery mechanism, not the creative work; just as in type a font is the delivery mechanism and a typeface is the creative work.

Stephen Coles, typography enthusiast and contributor to Font Feed, on the distinction between the terms "font" and "typeface." (via Jeff Croft.)

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Causing Rain Storms

2009-03-05T14:59:00+00:00

We’re just a million little gods causing rain storms, turning every good thing to rust.

I guess we’ll just have to adjust.

Arcade Fire, from the song "Wake Up."

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War in the World of Programming

2009-02-28T23:09:37+00:00

There is an unacknowledged war that goes on every day in the world of programming. It is a war between the humans and the computer scientists. It is a war between those who want simple, sloppy, flexible, human ways to write code and those who want clean, crisp, clear, correct ways to write code. It is the war between PHP and C++/Java. It used to be the war between C and dBase. Programmers at the level of those who attend Columbia University, programmers at the level of those who have made it through the gauntlet that is Google recruiting, programmers at the level of this audience are all people who love precise tools, abstraction, serried ranks of orderly propositions, and deduction. But most people writing code are more like my son. Code is just a hammer they use to do the job.

Adam Bosworth, from a 2004 speech on the primacy of simple, sloppy systems over rigid, perfect ones.

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What happened to our economy?

2009-02-05T04:08:17+00:00

The bursting of the housing bubble caused the current crisis, but the underlying problem began much earlier—in the late 1970s, when median U.S. incomes began to stall. Because wages got hit then by the double-whammy of global competition and new technologies, the typical American family was able to maintain its living standard only if women went into the workforce in larger numbers, and later, only if everyone worked longer hours.

When even these coping mechanisms were exhausted, families went into debt—a strategy that was viable as long as home values continued to rise. But when the housing bubble burst, families were no longer able to easily refinance and take out home-equity loans. The result: Americans no longer have the money to keep consuming. When you consider that consumers make up 70 percent of the economy, the magnitude of the problem becomes apparent.

What happened to the money? According to researchers Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez, since the late 1970s, a greater and greater share of national income has gone to people at the top of the earnings ladder. As late as 1976, the richest 1 percent of the country took home about 9 percent of the total national income. By 2006, they were pocketing more than 20 percent. But the rich don’t spend as much of their income as the middle class and the poor do—after all, being rich means that you already have most of what you need. That’s why the concentration of income at the top can lead to a big shortfall in overall demand and send the economy into a tailspin. (It’s not coincidental that 1928 was the last time that the top 1 percent took home more than 20 percent of the nation’s income.)

Robert Reich, on the root cause of current economic woes in the US.

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Bishop Gene Robinson’s Prayer for Obama

2009-01-19T22:31:21+00:00

O God of our many understandings, we pray that you will bless us with tears—tears for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women in many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from malnutrition, malaria, and AIDS.

Bless this nation with anger—anger at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people.

Bless us with discomfort at the easy, simplistic answers we’ve preferred to hear from our politicians, instead of the truth about ourselves and our world, which we need to face if we are going to rise to the challenges of the future.

Bless us with patience and the knowledge that none of what ails us will be fixed anytime soon, and the understanding that our new president is a human being, not a messiah.

Bless us with humility, open to understanding that our own needs as a nation must always be balanced with those of the world.

Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance, replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences.

Bless us with compassion and generosity, remembering that every religion’s God judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable.

And God, we give you thanks for your child, Barack, as he assumes the office of President of the United States.

Give him wisdom beyond his years, inspire him with President Lincoln’s reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy’s ability to enlist our best efforts, and Dr. King’s dream of a nation for all people.

Give him a quiet heart, for our ship of state needs a steady, calm captain.

Give him stirring words; We will need to be inspired and motivated to make the personal and common sacrifices necessary to facing the challenges ahead.

Make him color-blind, reminding him of his own words that under his leadership, there will be neither red nor blue states, but the United States.

Help him remember his own oppression as a minority, drawing on that experience of discrimination, that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims.

Give him strength to find family time and privacy, and help him remember that even though he is president, a father only gets one shot at his daughters’ childhoods.

And please, God, keep him safe. We know we ask too much of our presidents, and we’re asking far too much of this one. We implore you, O good and great God, to keep him safe. Hold him in the palm of your hand, that he might do the work we have called him to do, that he might find joy in this impossible calling, and that in the end, he might lead us as a nation to a place of integrity, prosperity, and peace. Amen.

Episcopal Bishop Gene Robison's prayer opening the "We Are One" concert that kicked off the festivities for President Obama's inauguration.

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Stress Comes From Dissonance

2008-12-19T15:38:22+00:00

Stress comes from dissonance. When two things in your mind can’t be resolved and you start thinking you’re going to be stuck with the incongruity forever, you stress.

But, as much as our minds and our hearts encourage us to believe the fault goes to our will or our lack of industry – rather than our thinking and cognition – the true cure for stress is to cut the Gordian Knot. To change your mind about at least one thing you think you’re not allowed to change your mind about.

Merlin Mann, on relieving stress through the practice of total honesty.

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Bugs vs. Feature Requests

2008-11-21T17:26:35+00:00

There’s no difference between a bug and a feature request from the user’s perspective.

Jeff Atwood, on the sometimes arbitrary distinction between software bugs and feature requests.

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Effort Is Available All The Time

2008-11-01T20:06:00+00:00

While luck may be more appealing than effort, you don’t get to choose luck. Effort, on the other hand, is totally available, all the time.

Seth Godin. It's self-help Saturday, everyone!

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A Unified Identity

2008-10-23T18:05:33+00:00

He’s working now to represent more people, to be more broadly inclusive in his representation. He can’t really afford to think, “Who am I?” Now, it’s more like, “Who are we as a nation? Or who do we want to be? And how can I help facilitate a stronger, broader, unified identity?”

Maya Soetoro-Ng, on the evolution of her brother Barack's political focus.

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The MacBook’s Uni-body Enclosure

2008-10-14T21:53:22+00:00

Of course, building only one part creates its own set of challenges. When you have multiple parts that are fastened together, tolerances don’t need to be perfect. You have wiggle room, both literally and figuratively. But when one part is responsible for many functions, it’s critical to manufacture that part with absolute precision, down to the micron. Every time. Millions of times over. There was only one way to achieve this level of precision: mill the unibody from a solid block of aluminum using computer numerical control, or CNC, machines – the kind used by the aerospace industry to build mission-critical spacecraft components.

Apple's design page for the new MacBook. DO WANT.

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Total Economic Collapse

2008-10-10T20:27:07+00:00

Describing a world in which wholesale money markets were now refusing to lend to banks, even overnight, the UK authorities warned that the world was on the edge of a collapse of the financial system.

Chris Giles, Financial Times editor, clearly trying to scare me outta my britches.

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Perfectionists and Purists

2008-10-10T18:31:12+00:00

A “perfectionist” and a “purist” are not the same person. The perfectionist seeks to do everything to the best of their ability against standards that are often set higher than average. The purist, on the other hand, seeks to adhere to some set of rules that are written for conditions in a world wherein Tom Cruise is taller and a lot less creepy, and every morning the box of Trix is full and fresh without all those lame crumb particles at the bottom of the box … Clients, supervisors, vice presidents, and so forth—they don’t want the purist. Purists freak them out. While they might make for interesting subjects on the Discovery Channel, purists aren’t the best fit in the business world. Purity costs money and dedication to a path that often leads to even more unwanted or unnecessary expenditures.

Greg Storey, on lessons learned from a recent run-in he and Cederholm had with an asshat xhtml fundamentalist.

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Socialism for the Rich

2008-09-30T13:18:24+00:00

Thus, the Treasury plan is a disgrace: a bailout of reckless bankers, lenders and investors that provides little direct debt relief to borrowers and financially stressed households and that will come at a very high cost to the US taxpayer. And the plan does nothing to resolve the severe stress in money markets and interbank markets that are now close to a systemic meltdown … This is again a case of privatizing the gains and socializing the losses; a bailout and socialism for the rich, the well-connected and Wall Street. And it is a scandal that even Congressional Democrats have fallen for this Treasury scam that does little to resolve the debt burden of millions of distressed home owners.

Professor Nouriel Roubini, on the still imminent Wall Street bailout. (Via Glen Greenwald.)

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Silly Old People

2008-09-29T04:17:21+00:00

Older people are definitely sillier and more open to admitting things they like that they may not have admitted before. We are so much more bored than young people, and I think we yearn for high-school-style communication.

Linda Keenan, offering up one explanation for the online exhibitionism of so many post-30-year-olds.

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Record Labels Understand Their Business

2008-09-26T15:45:53+00:00

In May I had my first meeting with a major label, Universal Music Group. I went alone and prepared myself for the worst, having spent the last decade toeing the indie party line that the big labels were hopelessly obstinate luddites with no idea what was good for them. I’m here to tell you now that the labels understand their business a lot better than most people suspect, although they each have their own surprisingly distinct personality when it comes to how they approach the future.

Justin Ouellette, from a lengthy exposition on the death and rebirth of Muxtape. The RIAA is, indeed, a big stinking bully.

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Writing Into Your Arc

2008-09-25T19:22:20+00:00

I doubt that I’ll ever make anything one-tenth as intelligent, thoughtful, and engaging as The Wire, and, in all likelihood, neither will you. But, again, that’s not the point.

The inspiration you need to take away from this is the idea that every scene matters to some arc. Even the one minute with the drunk furniture assembly. Whether your given “scene” is in a screenplay, or an Excel spreadsheet, or the Tweet that you’re about to type about your flight delay: it matters. It all matters.

Merlin Mann, calling on all of us to write into our arc.

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Watering Down Our Collective Cultural Imagination

2008-09-20T04:05:57+00:00

[Modern film] spoon-feeds us, which has the effect of watering down our collective cultural imagination. It is as if we are freshly hatched birds looking up with our mouths open waiting for Hollywood to feed us more regurgitated worms. The ‘Watchmen’ film sounds like more regurgitated worms. I for one am sick of worms. Can’t we get something else? Perhaps some takeout? Even Chinese worms would be a nice change.

Alan Moore, from an interview on Hollywood and its adaptation of his most celebrated work, Watchmen. (Via Jason.)

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Routine Fosters Creativity

2008-09-17T18:51:41+00:00

[S]ome people actively search for routine and repetition as a means to cope with stress or anxiety – which in turn provides the stability to focus (and be creative). Why is instability and disruption so often cited as a means to creativity or innovation?

Sam Martin, from the Design Mind blog, responding to a video installation by Berlin-based artist Jan Koepper

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Let’s Discuss The Elites

2008-09-17T02:20:06+00:00

Now, let us discuss the Élites. There are two kinds of folks: Élites and Regulars. Why people love Sarah Palin is, she is a Regular. That is also why they love me. She did not go to some Élite Ivy League college, which I also did not. Her and me, actually, did not go to the very same Ivy League school. Although she is younger than me, so therefore she didn’t go there slightly earlier than I didn’t go there. But, had I been younger, we possibly could have not graduated in the exact same class. That would have been fun. Sarah Palin is hot. Hot for a politician. Or someone you just see in a store. But, happily, I did not go to college at all, having not finished high school, due to I killed a man. But had I gone to college, trust me, it would not have been some Ivy League Élite-breeding factory but, rather, a community college in danger of losing its accreditation, built right on a fault zone, riddled with asbestos, and also, the crack-addicted professors are all dyslexic.

George Saunders, ripping apart that obnoxious "regular Joe" schtick Republicans seem so fond of. Sometimes I love The New Yorker.

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Doing Creative Work

2008-09-13T04:16:07+00:00

If the work that really matters to you involves understanding a relationship between a handful of seemingly unrelated things and then figuring out the best way to portray, magnify, or resolve those relationships, then you’re already doing creative work. Any time you make a connection between two or more axes that hadn’t occurred to you 10 minutes ago, yes, you’ve done something creative.

Merlin Mann, a dude who's web famous for his writing on 43 folders but creates brilliant material all over the place, writing about his renewed focus on creativity and quality in a world full of cruft.

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Make Things Less Internet-y

2008-09-11T14:37:15+00:00

Just as everyone in development is enamored with scaling, it seems that far too many designers ask the question, “how much content can we dump in here, and still have things make sense?” rather than “how can we nix this nonsense, and just say what we mean?”. In many projects, it’s taken a priori that all the content that exists going into a project must remain intact. Of course, this leads to the new site simply shuffling a rotten core, putting a new face on old problems. Really, what’s diluting the web are piles of meaningless words, not a lack of style.

Matt Brown, suggesting some ways designers could help simplify the web.

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Temporal Horizons

2008-09-06T15:39:51+00:00

When we think of events in the distant past or distant future we tend to think abstractly about why they happened or will happen, but when we think of events in the near past or near future we tend to think concretely about how they happened or will happen.

Seeing in time is like seeing in space. But there is one important difference between spatial and temporal horizons. When we perceive a distant buffalo, our brains are aware of the fact that the buffalo looks smooth, vague, and lacking in detail because it is far away, and they do not mistakenly conclude that the buffalo itself is smooth and vague. But when we remember or imagine a temporally distant event, our brains seem to overlook the fact that details vanish with temporal distance, and they conclude instead that the distant events actually are as smooth and vague as we are imagining and remembering them.

Daniel Gilbert, on the difficulty of predicting future happiness.

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The Browser Caught Up

2008-09-03T00:43:40+00:00

Start poking around the names in the Google Chrome comic book and the names are there. Scott McCloud’s drawings aren’t just a useful pictorial explanation of what to expect in Chrome; it’s practically a declaration of independence from the yesteryear traditions of browser design of the past 10 years, going all the way back to Netscape’s heyday when the notion of the web was a vast collection of interlinked documents. With Chrome, the web starts to look more like a nodal grid of documents, with cloud applications running on momentary instances, being run directly and indirectly by people and their agents. This is the browser caught up.

Chris Messina, on the historic significance of Google's announcement – and beta release – of the Chrome browser.

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Rubbernecking at Bristol Palin

2008-09-01T21:28:40+00:00

Yes, we need to have a rational conversation in this country about striking the balance between providing students with age-appropriate sex education and a rational discussion about moral values and their role in making sexual choices. I am a full and complete supporter of comprehensive sex ed – which includes information like “there is no such thing as blue balls” and “no means no” and “saying no to sex can be a sign of respect for both of you.” But clapping our hands in joyous rubbernecking over Bristol Palin’s being in the family way is not going to be the start of any discussion. It makes us look as judge-y as we accuse Them of being, it makes us look like abortion-promoters instead of choice-respecters (it does mean both choices, after all) and it makes us look like we think a 17-year-old target is easier to hit than a 44-year-old target. Sex education will be a great topic for discussion and reform in an Obama Administration, and it wouldn’t – and shouldn’t – involve the now rather-public embarrassment or shaming of a 17-year-old girl.

Megan Carpentier of Jezebel, urging all the lefties to back the eff off the whole Bristol Palin pregnancy annoncement. Since when did Jezebel become the voice of reason?

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Memo to McCain: You Might Drop Dead

2008-08-30T03:39:16+00:00

Is he kidding? How can John McCain make the argument that Barack Obama isn’t ready to be president when he picks a running mate with even less experience than Obama to be his vice president? Is he actually retarded? When you are seventy two years old and attempting to undertake one of the most strenuous jobs in the world for at least four years, don’t you want to at least consider the notion that you might drop dead?

Memo to John McCain: you might drop dead.

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has been a governor for two years, and before that a mayor for ten, the mayor of Wasilia (population 5,000). My brother-in-law was the Republican mayor of Waseca, Minnesota, which has about the same size population, and I can tell you with absolute certainty after playing foosball with him in his basement that my brother-in-law is not ready to be president of the United States of America. I’m not even sure that he’s ready to be president of his rotisserie football league.

Michael Ian Black, on John McCain's misguided VP pick.

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