December 2011
20 posts
5 tags
God. I am getting so fed up with Wolfram Alpha. This is this morning’s comparison. I experience this at least once a day now for a variety of things.
I may not be done with Wolfram Alpha yet, but I can see the day I will be on the horizon, and I am looking forward to it.
(re: this)
My grandmother was immutable →
“she persisted with her interrogation of the single line of code, buried inside the very first program she had ever seen: how could “X” be “X plus one”? It just didn’t make sense to her. If X is 0 then X is 0.”
Python Ecosystem - An Introduction →
This is pretty sweet. It outlines a standard, modern Python development environment, including how to get Python itself set up as well as a package manager and other such things you’d want if you were to start working with Python. There should be simple, canonical, well-organized, community-driven, periodically-updated guides like this for all modern languages.
Difficulty and the Neoclassical Era →
[difficulty as a shorthand for worth] is like arguing War and Peace is worth reading because it is long and boring, but once completed gives one a sense of both accomplishment and nostalgia. It’s true, but it’s not a reason to celebrate the book. We celebrate the form and function of art because it prompts us to discover new ideas and feelings in ourselves.
Cokemachineglow Review of Justice's _Audio, Video,... →
I offer that Audio, Video, Disco sounds essentially like the Trans-Siberian Orchestra callously interpreting the ELO library…
How To Get Me To Start Using Tumblr Again
Install dotjs
Add the following to my ~/.js/tumblr.com.js:
$('#post_state').val(1);
That’s it! Now both the Tumblr bookmarklet and the post page default to “save as draft”, which let me write what I want when it’s on my mind without worrying about how it’s formatted, then go back and fix it up later. dotjs is the best.
A Brief Rant on the Future of Interaction Design →
I think this article is a bit ablist— I get that the hand fetishising is part of the breezy tone of the article, but it could be offensive to some people. Still, some interesting thoughts and I like the format of the article with the illustrations mixed in.
Cokemachineglow Review of Drake's _Take Care_ →
Drake’s gifts as an executive producer guide the pace and structure of the album, and in the end not a track feels out of place. I believe it’s possible to be given too much of a good thing, but I can name a dozen shorter records which feel longer than Take Care by virtue of how they’re paced. Maybe it’s a simple consideration, but it makes the difference between an arbitrarily grouped...
Black Friday →
If you work in retail during this time of year, it’s difficult for you to place yourself in Normal America. You get this feeling similar to the feeling experienced perpetually by servers, bartenders, nurses: that you, for reasons literal and abstract, in moments great and small, are not them.
1 tag
Regarding TheNextWeb's Shit-Ass Website →
One article at TheNextWeb weighed in at over 6 MB and required 342 HTTP requests. 73 different JavaScript scripts alone. Absurd. I did a reload on the same page a few minutes later and it was up to 368 HTTP requests but weighed “only” 1.99 MB.
This is the most astounding thing I’ve read all week. A case of CMS Gone Mad.
Netflix: Fireplace for Your Home →
FINALLY ON INSTANT
Gilt Technologie: Gilt APIs →
gilt-tech:
Over the next few months, Gilt will be exposing its data model via a new suite of public APIs. We’re excited to make our data available to a broader audience of hackers, and we can’t wait to see what people do with it.
Our first API is a set of Atom Pub feeds, which let you see our active and upcoming sales, either en masse, or store by store.
For example,...
FLUXBLOG 2011 SURVEY MIX →
Every year Fluxblog makes a collection rounding up the most noteworthy music of the year. If there are artist names you’ve heard dancing around all year and are curious who they are/what they sound like, this can be a great source for that sort of information!