Curated
Frogged
My current foster-hussy-girlfriend. She’s kind of a spaz, but oh-so adorable. Doubly so when she’s “frogged out” as above.
More fu in your versions
Lazily Announcing version_fu - an update of Rick Olson’s acts_as_versioned that works with dirty attributes. Jordan McKible’s plugin is nascent, but since I have a soft spot in my heart for most things data versioning, I thought I’d point it out.
Info viz with JavaScript
Massive kudos to John Resig for his JavaScript Processing port. Take this plus the new-to-me JavaScript Information Visualization Toolkit, and it seems likely that data on the web is going to get a lot prettier (and less Flashy) in the next 6-12 months. Huzzah!
Halo Photography
Joshuadamon’s Halotography is utterly amazing:
I’m really impressed with what he’s done with some clever camera manipulation and probably some Photoshop loving. All Halo fans should check this out.
Some language twins teach each other
SNL Transcripts: Luke Perry: 02/06/93: Weekend Update with Kevin Nealon:
That wasn't English, Keith! I mean, you're talking in Esperanto, or some language twins teach each other! I mean, the King's English, man! I mean, throw us a bone man - alright!
I wanted to post a video of the Weekend Update skit where Mike Myers plays Mick Jagger and Mick Jagger plays Keith Richards, but it appears such video does not exist on the web. You’ll just have to read the transcript and make it happen in your head.
Reverse shoulder surfing
Rands In Repose: Saving Seconds:
This is the presentation I want to see at the next conference: in a room full of people, anyone is welcome to walk up to the mic and plug their laptop in to the projector. They’ll be asked to complete three simple tasks:
Send a mail to a friend
Find something on the Internet
Save a bookmark or an image.
I would be fixated.
I’ve been independently wanting to do this for a while now. Clearly, Rands was telepathically borrowing ideas from my brain when I met him at SXSW this year :). I’ve been wanting to do something like this at a BarCamp for a while now. Personally, one of my favorite past-times at conferences is to shoulder surf other people. The idea above takes shoulder surfing, turns it around and formalizes it. I’d have a blast watching it, especially if you get a good mix of Windows/Linux/OS X people and GUI/terminal folks.
Aye, ye are a scum!
ScummC: A Scumm Compiler - write your own SCUMM games! Man this takes me back to the first two Monkey Island games. I still think the best examples of the point and click adventure game genre were from LucasArts. (Via _why)
Designing with type
Techniques for designing with type characters ~ Authentic Boredom:
Typography and typefaces, without a doubt, are two of the most fascinating aspects of visual design. Great designers can execute great designs with typefaces and nothing else, if required, and certainly if preferred. Design legends Saul Bass and Paula Scher have proved this many times over, and they comprise only a fraction of a very long list of luminaries who can wield type brilliantly.
As I’ve tried to better grasp typography and designing with it, I’ve found its ideal for developers looking to improve their visual design skills. You don’t need drawing skills and you can work in monochromes until you’re ready to try fancy color palettes.
"Science Machine" from birth to completion
How Chad Pugh’s brilliant “Science Machine” came to life:
This illustration is the inspiration behind the Vimeo login page, which is itself a pretty outstanding example of the genre. If you’re quick, you can order a print of the illustration itself.
(Just for my own ego gratification, I’d like to note that I saw this before it appeared on Kottke. And thus, I am a wonderful and unique snowflake.)
Interviewed by RubyLearning
Ruby Interview: Adam Keys of FiveRuns - Satish’s ability to find an absurd picture of me from five years ago is impressive. The interview focuses on ideas for buddying Rubyists. So if you’re budding, check it out. Really, you should at least check it out for the picture.
Dean Allen on LOST
Dean Allen on LOST:
It’s crap. Utter, arbitrary crap. They make it up as they go along.
I’m not judging, but he could prove correct. Oddly enough I found this on his colophon page. Interesting information architecture there.
Rails Scenarios
Rails Scenarios - a sane way to specify really complex fixtures in Rails. Lets you write classes to specify data and helpers to operate on that data. There’s a sane way to compose data and create relationships, as well as support for test/unit and RSpec. Personally, I’m currently in a not-unhappy place with YAML fixtures, but if you aren’t, this is worth a look.
Ballmen for Half Life 2
Ballmen Mod - a Half Life 2 mod where you can walk on walls and do all sorts of insane jumping due to weird gravity. Please tell me someone is making a Möbius strip map for this mod. I'd always wanted to make one of those for Quake 2.
Corrupted by cosmic rays
ACID Databases: Fact and Fiction
"A final note: There are other things that can go wrong, such as the disk not writing the data properly, a bit in memory being flipped by a cosmic ray, etc which only redundancy can solve. "
There is something distinctly awesome about mentioning data loss by cosmic rays. I do it whenever I have the means.
Its a musical rollercoaster
If jazz is more your thing, then you should watch this animation based on “Giant Steps”.
Ryan Norbauer's got the right idea
Amy Hoy interviews Ryan Norbauer. This got my attention:
"Simplification, unification, and reduction: these are the values of a great craftsperson, whether she's a tradesperson in the guild of ideas, words, paintings, or software."
Tackling complexity in software:
Programming should be about making things that seem complicated easy to handle.
The world of the programmer:
In this way, programmers are really lucky. Unlike biologists or mechanical engineers, who have to deal with the world on its own terms, programmers deal in a world that is entirely of their own making. We have the luxury of being able to re-work and re-invent our world to make it easier to understand. Physicists don't have the option of re-writing the laws of relativity in order to make the cosmos easier to understand for everyone, but programmers do have an analogous power. If something like the exchange of data over the web, or the modeling of database records as programmatic objects is too complex, we have the power to invent a new world that makes everything easier to get our head around.
Its a long interview, but worth it if any of the above resonates with you.
Two Microsofts
I get the impression that there are really two Microsofts. There’s Ray Ozzie’s Microsoft. He’s a geek. He gets developers. He understands technology and users. Then there’s Steve Ballmer’s Microsoft. He’s an old-school businessman in the mold of Scrooge McDuck. If Ray Ozzie is calling the shots, then there is reason to be hopeful for the future. If the buck stops with Steve Ballmer however, Microsoft is f**ked.