January 2008
41 posts
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MAKE: Blog: LED art all over Boston today →
At some point, the Boston / Aqua Teen disaster last year became a new, yearly event. via 9neighbors
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I'm a number nerd
My birthday is “quadratic, cubic, and quartic”
That is, I was born on 2^2/2^3/3^4 => 4/8/81
Maybe I’m looking too deep. Maybe not.
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“Domains will continue to go up in value faster than any other commodity ever...”
– Rick Schwartz, via smh.com.au
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Free Idea #1: iCal desktop background
I have a lot of ideas. Some good, some bad, some big, some small, some I’m willing to share, and some I keep for myself.
This is the first edition of “Free Idea”, where I will post ideas I’m willing to share. I share them because I believe there is value, but I know I won’t get around to implementing it. Kudo’s to you if you do!
Idea 1: [good, small]
I love...
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Cloneburger - at a supermarket near you
Have you heard? The FDA recently approved meat and milk from cloned cattle, swine, goats, and their offspring as safe for food. And what’s more, the FDA isn’t requiring that cloned products be labeled differently.
— dihard
Color me naive, what’s the issue here? Why the implicit prejudice against cloned meat? I’m sure it tastes fine, and still suffers from all the same...
Tetris for iPhone and iPod Touch
Tetrablocks! Here it is! Only took me a few hours and I spent some of that time optimizing it for speed […] It’s obviously not very sexy but it works and is playable. Enjoy! — missingmuse My friend Adam whipped up a Javascript Tetris game that you can play on your iPhone of iPod Touch. Very cool! (If you want to dry run on your computer, keyboard arrows work for it)
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Restriction is Expression
Restriction is Expression.
The act of overcoming constraint, in any context, is triumph over adversity. It is the resolution of conflict, it is a story, and the story is the most fundamental of human communications.
Just a thought.
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Dreamr →
I was known in college for having long, bizarre, and highly detailed dreams.
Academically, I wasted my first semester at Carnegie Mellon. I would sleep from 9AM until 5PM everyday (I started as a physics major, and hated it). Whichever friend was lucky enough to wake me up for dinner, would be privy to an epic retelling of that day’s dream. It was a great source of entertainment.
...
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My Sharona!
My favorite song to sing in Rockband is My Sharona (93% on expert!). Today I learned something about the wonderfully pervy lyrics:
“Such a dirty mind, I always get it up for the touch of the younger kind”
Sharona was only 17 when she was immortalized in the Knack’s 1979 hit single My Sharona
Writer/singer Doug Fieger was 27 at the time.
As a 26 year old, I’m a...
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Our Web is Fertile
The web went “Social” last year, and in a big way. This means that the next round of influencers won’t be technologists, but instead social organizers.
With the new social fabric & norms now in place, we can amplify any social behavior to involve millions.
Know someone who is great at rallying people into a game, a night out, or some other activity? That person’s...
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The Internet is a disembodied, hyper-intelligent psychic toddler.
It knows everything you need before you’re even curious, but asking this omniscient tyrant for anything deep is an exercise in frustration.
Unless we become better at asking of the Internet, or the Internet gets better at interpreting us, I believe the Oracles of ancient Greece will make a return as holy...
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Macbook Air
Fine, I’ll weigh in: I think the Air is great, and it’s not for me (now)
I believe in the wireless world, and can’t be bothered with complaints about lack of connections. The Air is for quick & light traveling, are you really bringing a keyboard with you if thats your concern? When you are home, if you can afford the Air, you can afford bluetooth keyboard and mouse.
Limited...
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A Humble Proposal: Correlation is Causation
We know that correlation is not causation. We remind each other, time and time again to avoid conflating data coincidence with causality.
My friends, we are losing this battle.
Apparently, this kind of critical thinking is beyond most people. (TV news covering the results of a scientific study is fertile ground for proving my point)
A proposal: we admit a new “Correlation is...
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Last night's dream
While wandering through my high school’s gymnasium, I stumbled upon Steve Jobs setting up for Macworld ‘08. I politely said hello, and he nodded back. I started to walk away, but he offered me a seat next to him since he had time to kill before his presentation.
He had long dreadlocks, and a braided-Moses beard. His dreads and braids were alternatively dyed deep black and florescent...
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Insecurity key ingredient for success?
I’ve often wondered if this is the case. I think early Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, etc, are good examples of people have harnessed insecurity to fuel their business obsession.
You need to have a burning desire to prove something to get you through rough spots and keep you going. You may be trying to prove that a particular technology works or that you yourself are a worthwhile individual.
...
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Watchhulu: SNL Digital Short: Lazy Sunday: Saturday Night Live
The video that launched YouTube, and sparked the race to figure out the future of media.
Hulu has my support as one of the important players. The library is big, the quality is great. Compare this to my horribly choppy experience last night watching The Wire via Comcast’s HBO On Demand. I’ll never try it again, and why would...
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Tumblr & Twitter: Pick your Peers
Tumblr and Twitter allow you to pick your own peer group.
You follow whomever you find interesting, and it adds them virtually to your peer group; you get to be a part of their take on the world. You may not ever be in theirs, but does it really matter?
Loneliness is being replaced with One-way Intimacy (tm).
The Internet & Life can only go up from there.
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You pay for what you get
Dunkin Donuts vs. Starbucks?
I’m a die-hard ‘dunkie’ myself. Setting personal flavor preference aside for a second: you pay for what you get.
Do you drink your coffee in the restaurant, or take it to go?
If you take it to go and you buy from Starbucks, you are subsidizing the people who lounge around the costly interior, eating up the seat real-estate.
I don’t pay for...
Greatish dialogue - Wire Season 5
Carver: You look well, Herc
Herc: I'm doing good
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One man's take on Laughter
Pretend you’re a caveman traveling with your hunting party. Your friend, Ugg, trips on the only banana peel, rock, or twig for miles, falling flat on his face. He’s then abruptly eaten by a tiger. His DNA line grinds to a halt, and worse still, he has endangered the hunting party which now has less man-power, and an angry tiger to contend with. You and your other hunting mates are now...
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Avoid post-college regret
Would have been great if I had: Stayed in better touch with artistic folk (more generally, complementary talents) Registered myfullname.com Began blogging long ago at myfullname.com (think PageRank) This is my PSA for the week. If you are in college, and looking to do the startup thing afterwards, I would advise tackling the list above. It’s not fatal if you haven’t (clearly) though it...
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Down with Joel
Since I’m already ranting, let me request something of my readership:
Who actually uses Fog Creek software ? For all the authority Joel claims, he is like Second Life: far better at marketing than providing real-world value.
Please, delete him from your RSS feeds. Let’s make room for more relevance in our lives.
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Joel on Software: Undergraduate programming -... →
I think the solution would be to create a programming-intensive BFA in Software Development—a Julliard for programmers. […] It would be a huge magnet to the talented high school kids who love programming, but can’t get excited about proving theorums. […] You might be able to major in Game Development and work on a significant game title, for example, and that’s how you spend most of your time,...
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Honest talk on coding
Me: Would a transparency look good there?
Dick: You know, at some point I'm going to get bored of working on this feature.
Dick: When that happens, I'm going to move on to something else.
Dick: It'd be nice for this to still be usable when that happens.
Me: True.
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“Big Companies do not provide job security. Your value in the market provides...”
– A Big Company can offer Job Stability? « Genotrope’s JobHacks
passiveaggressivenotes.com — passive-aggressive... →
One of my neighbors leaves a baby carriage in the middle of the hallway as a space-saving measure for his more than ample apartment. I haven’t left a note yet, but I’m finding inspiration here… via Tobin
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Culture Bending
Which of your friends has bizarre taste in progressive music? The one who is so passionate about something you never find enjoyment in. How did he up that way? Are his ears broken?
It’s a matter of context & progression. If you want someone to appreciate something new, don’t start by exposing them to the cutting edge and complex. Ease them into it, perhaps along the same...
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Me: http://tinyurl.com/27unkq
Colin: duh i saw it
Me: NATURE FIGHT
Colin: and the irony of you sending that to me over the internet has already been recycled into more funny.
The Endless Summer: How to “Winter” Like Old Money →
I really enjoy Tim Ferriss. (So much so his blog is grouped in the “Self Betterment” section of my RSS feeds) I think one of my New Years resolutions will to be to actually act on some of his advice. Here’s another post of his relating to the idea of a ‘mini-retirement’ - a quick getaway to Buenos Aires.
