randomwalks/dj

I spent a large part of today “under the hood” working on this blog’s WordPress-based engine. My head hurts from all the PHP, but I am pretty happy with the results. What was I doing? Optimizations for CPU and bandwidth efficiency.

I have been pumping up DreamHost since I moved over to them a couple weeks ago. They’re still awesome, but the honeymoon did end a little bit when I got an email from them notifying me that I was exceeding my daily CPU usage allotment. Hmm? I had never even considered this before. I guess I just took for granted that servers were good and fast and they made it all work. I didn’t consider that with a virtually unlimited bandwidth quota, I would have to watch my step with how hard the server was working to fill that pipe.

I’ve been oblivious to web performance considerations, for the most part. This wake-up call from DreamHost inspired me to finally take the problems by the horns. When your site only gets a half-dozen hits per day, who cares how well it performs?. But as my traffic continues to increase, I’m starting to look at things more and more like a webmaster.

Some time ago I was chatting with John Gruber about the merits of WordPress vs. Moveable Type. He pointed out that WordPress, with its dynamic content generation, was a lot less likely to stand up to a major traffic burst than Moveable Type with its static generation. Frankly, it was the first time I’d even considered the issue - and it scared me so much it almost made me want to jump ship from WordPress. How could it be so inefficient? Basically every WordPress blog comes standard with a complete and utter inability to stand up to being slashdotted? Given the amount of traffic Daring Fireball must receive, it’s no surprise that John’s thought about this problem a lot.

But what was I going to do? Switch from WordPress? Please, no! Thankfully, the amazing WP-Cache WordPress plugin basically fixes all that. By saving a static copy of every dynamically generated request response, it achieves the best of both worlds by allowing content to be dynamically generated, but letting it stick around for a while on disk for future servings. Today I installed and activated the plugin. When the cache is on, every request that is answered gets appended with an HTML comment describing whether the request was cached or dynamically created, and how long the original dynamic creation took. I was curious to know how much time I was saving on the cached copies, so I hacked the plugin to also print a timestamp when the cached version is served. The results are pretty impressive. For example, on one entry I just looked at from my browser:

<!-- Dynamic Page Served (once) in 0.453 seconds -->
<!-- Cached page served by WP-Cache in 0.002999 seconds -->

In other words, it went from almost a half-second to almost no time at all. A huge reduction, most of which I assume would be spent as CPU time in the dynamic case. Curious about whether the cache saved you any time just now? Just look at the source for this web page or RSS feed, at the very bottom you’ll see a comment about the dynamic generation time. If it was cached, you’ll see a second comment about that. I haven’t exactly figured out everything that stimulates a cache flush for a particular URL, and it’s possible that the flushing is a little overly-cautious, but at least it’s not serving stale data.

Being so pleased with the caching success, I was in the mood to keep improving things. A reader pointed out a problem a couple months ago, which I’ve been meaning to look into. They had installed the latest beta of NetNewsWire and noticed in that application’s “Bandwidth Statistics” window, my blog was at the top of the heap for bandwidth used. The problem? A combination of my notoriously long posts, a fairly large “item count” for the feed, and a flaw in WordPress 2.0.2 that causes it to not properly return 304 (Not Modified) responses to clients who ask politely whether there have been any changes. So every time NetNewsWire refreshed, it would grab the full text of my last 10 posts!

Today I searched the web and found out that the 304 issue was in fact addressed, and the change is so simple I could type it in to the sources myself. Yee haw! I made the change and rushed over to NetNewsWire to try it out for myself. Alas, it still wasn’t working. The problem now? WP-Cache doesn’t seem to have any mechanism for supporting such a response, and since it essentially “takes over” when serving a cached copy, WordPress never gets a chance to respond. I’m not 100% sure I did this right, but I managed to hack up the WP-Cache plugin so it looks for the “If-Modified-Since:” header and, if it the specified date is not earlier than the cached copy, returns a 304 response. Seems pretty straightforward, but I’m nervous enough about it that I’ll postpone sharing the code until it’s had a chance to simmer.

These changes should have a positive effect on both my bandwidth (for whatever it’s worth) and CPU usage. But more importantly to you, they mean faster page loads in your browser, and faster subscription refreshes in your aggregator. And hopefully I’ll fall out of first place in your NetNewsWire bandwidth abusers list!

Update: My changes to WP-Cache seem pretty stable in that they’ve been running on my blog for a week or so. If anybody is interested you can download the modified file here. The only change is to the phase1 script. The mods add support for 304 responses even on cached items, and for printing the elapsed time of page load even when cached.

Let me know if you have any feedback!

Originally from Red Sweater Blog by Daniel Jalkut reBlogged on Apr 29, 2006, 5:53PM

Originally posted by Daniel Jalkut from Red Sweater Blog, on April 29, 2006 8:00 PM

Over at Geertjan’s blog, The Best Feature Of The Upcoming NetBeans IDE 5.5 is the strongest evidence I’ve seen that the mainstream Java universe is really paying attention to that lesson. Sure, over at the excellent Aquarium, you can read about how they’re slaving away in the engine room trying to make Java EE.next simpler and simpler and yet simpler. But I haven’t been convinced that they’ve got to a place yet where they’re going to win lots of converts from PHP and Rails. But this GlassFish+IDE combo is really coming along: in Geertjan’s example, he makes what looks like a basic CRUD app with no coding and no file editing. In particular, it looks like they’re getting close to Rails levels of DRY (“Don’t Repeat Yourself”). Geertjan skips lightly over the database-selection wizard; I wonder how much more than “use these tables” it needs? [Update: He follows up with the details.] And the Rails people will be asking “What is this ‘Deploy’ of which you speak?” But still, we’re in interesting territory. [Update: Not ten minutes after writing this, I ran across Java web frameworks - the Rails influence, which in turn led me to the (excellent, albeit in PDF) Java Web Frameworks Sweet Spots. Did I say “interesting territory”? Interesting times, too.] [Update: It turns out that the infrastructure Geertjan showed off was by Pavel Buzek, who writes about the process and seems like a Major Force for Good. It’s guys like him who are going to cost Berlind the price of a nice dinner.]

Originally from ongoing reBlogged on Apr 29, 2006, 5:09PM

Originally from ongoing, on April 29, 2006 5:53 PM

Bring it on!

Originally from FatBits: John Siracusa's Journal by siracusa@arstechnica.com (John Siracusa) reBlogged on Apr 27, 2006, 4:34PM

Originally posted by siracusa@arstechnica.com (John Siracusa) from FatBits: John Siracusa's Journal, on April 29, 2006 5:53 PM

OmniWeb sneaky peeks are back!

Originally from Hack the Planet reBlogged

Originally from Hack the Planet, on April 29, 2006 5:53 PM

In what will surely repulse Pennsylvanians, a Domino's delivery man used a car to transport corpses to funeral parlors when he wasn't using the vehicle to bring pies and Cheesy Bread to pizza enthusiasts.

Last Friday, a Lower Southampton Township Police Department officer pulled over a 1993 Buick after noticing the vehicle did not have an inspection sticker. (THE SMOKING GUN)

Originally from Agenda Inc. Live Feed reBlogged on Apr 27, 2006, 9:00PM

Originally from Agenda Inc. Live Feed, on April 29, 2006 5:40 PM

There's a strange trend in Tom Cruise movies: he insists on running, over and over again, preferably with a painful look on his face. Whether you're a fan of the Cruiser or not, no matter how wierd he gets, he always runs. The Nike commercial that Bruckheimer and Spielberg could have made, but for no good reason - curiousfury.com made it instead. Run on Tom - can't wait for the runs in MI III. (YOUTUBE.COM)

WATCH THE 'JUST CRUISE' VIDEO

Originally from Agenda Inc. Live Feed reBlogged on Apr 27, 2006, 2:41PM

Originally from Agenda Inc. Live Feed, on April 29, 2006 5:40 PM

Chris Majors is an artist with an unusual mission: He produces digital artworks that contain such high resolution and such a large number of colors that normal printers -- which can handle 16 million possible colors -- cannot print them. Apparently he's written his own program to generate the images, and if you order at the largest possible print size -- 8 feet by 4 feet -- it'll take him 10 days to render the image, using a 2.2 GHz computer. As he notes: The resolution of the images: With a minimum of 2,8 billion calculated points (at 34x34 in.) the finest details can be fully appreciated, even with a magnifying glass. Because these drawings exist only in very large sizes with extremely detailed subjects, a profusion of views appears as one approaches them. Extremely cool! But unfortunately, also extremely ugly. Man, why is neato conceptual art always so totally hideous? This stuff looks like the side of a van. (Thanks to Ted Rainer for this one!)

Originally from collision detection reBlogged on Apr 27, 2006, 11:31PM

Originally from collision detection, on April 29, 2006 5:39 PM

The awesome Teastick is my new favorite beverage accessory, followed closely by in-door fridge ice makers and the twisty straw.

Instead of one of those stupid tea balls, the Teastick scoops loose leaf tea and holds it securely for steeping while hooked to your glass. Brilliant! What's more, there's plenty of room for the tea to float around uninhibited while brewing the perfect cup of Earl Gray.

Originally from Awesome! by S H reBlogged

Originally posted by S H from Awesome! , on April 29, 2006 5:39 PM

BBC: "The arrival of the railway will bring tremendous change. China's communist rulers say it will open up Tibet, bringing greater prosperity for its entire people. Detractors say the opening of the railway is the death knell of an independent Tibetan culture." (Background).

Originally from Archinect.com Feed reBlogged

Originally from Archinect.com Feed, on April 29, 2006 5:39 PM

multiplayer game (?) where you control a deer in a forest of other players, but with only non-verbal communication [via] 

Originally from Waxy.org Links reBlogged on Apr 27, 2006, 4:17PM

Originally from Waxy.org Links, on April 29, 2006 5:39 PM

(Not that I give a shit about Sun -- I actually wouldn't be that surprised to learn that they went out of business in 1998 and I just didn't notice -- but that pie chart is teh funny.)

Also: Ha ha, that program sucked.

Originally from jwz by jwz@jwz.org reBlogged on Apr 27, 2006, 3:01PM

Originally posted by jwz@jwz.org from jwz, on April 29, 2006 5:38 PM

The new plan for an expansion is the most modest to date, but it may prove to be the one that can actually get built.

Originally from NYT > Home Page by DAVID W. DUNLAP reBlogged on Apr 27, 2006, 12:00AM

Originally posted by DAVID W. DUNLAP from NYT > Home Page, on April 29, 2006 5:37 PM

All hail the conquering heroes LeBron James and Kobe Bryant. It feels to me like something big is happening--like these two guys might have the chance to be the Bird and Johnson of a new era of the NBA. 

Seeing that the two best players in the league are starting to win some games that matter must be thrilling David Stern with their performances right now. The longer those two are alive, the better the TV ratings are going to be.

But the player I'm happiest for today is Kevin Martin. I have been hearing for months about what a good teammate he is, how great his attitude is, and how hard he works. He's someone I was rooting for already.

Then, he gets to be the star of arguably the two best moments of the Kings' season so far--the two free throws that damn near won game two against mighty San Antonio. Then the driving layup that won game three. If you haven't seen it watch here. Here's a nice photo of the winning shot.

Martin says he was pretty positive he drew a foul. He didn't even look to see if the shot fell--he was headed to the free throw line. But the referees didn't blow a thing. What a fantastic welcome to the playoffs moment for Martin. They aren't calling that on Tim Duncan in playoff crunch time. And, from Martin's point of view,  thank God they didn't.

There had been another no-call seconds earlier, when it appeared Bibby might have fouled Manu Ginobili when he poked the ball free to earn Sacramento the final possession of the game.

For more, here's a podcast from Martin McNeal of the Sacramento Bee.

Originally from True Hoop by Henry Abbott reBlogged on Apr 29, 2006, 10:43AM

Originally posted by Henry Abbott from True Hoop, on April 29, 2006 5:36 PM

passin' by, every day." -- kool keith

last week:
small child: miss serena, i wish my parents were robots.
larogers: [thought balloon] kid, i wish your parents were robots too.

the illinois state jingle -- television marketing tourism campaign, from the 80s -- went "illinois, you put me in a happy state." my brother and i used to sing, "illinois, you put me in a state."

can't decide which point to make, about the robots, or about the state, getting put into a state, so i'll just say this: if our parents were robots, about what would we write books?

aw shit. robot parents, of course.

illinois... you put me in a state. (sorry no photo. didn't bring my camera.)

Originally from serenalarogers by serenalarogers reBlogged on Apr 29, 2006, 10:40AM

Originally posted by serenalarogers from serenalarogers, on April 29, 2006 5:36 PM

I've been an idiot over AppleCare these last few weeks; sick to my stomach with computer withdrawl. I wrote a letter this morning explaining:

29 April 2006

Today I bring my Powerbook G4 in for its third repair in under three weeks. Currently, the poor beast thinks a second monitor is attached at all times. Even when there’s not.

This was the reason I brought the computer to the Apple Store, last Tuesday April 25th.

This was not the reason I brought my computer to the Apple Store on Tuesday, April 11th.

In early April, I noticed that one of my two gigabytes of memory wasn’t showing up. Also, my DVD drive began to eject discs without being able to read them. Jon from the Genius Bar suggested I had to send the laptop to AppleCare to resolve these problems.

Repairs usually take 5-7 days; sometimes as few as three days! But sometimes more, I found out. I received my computer back thirteen days after I dropped it off for the first repair, on Monday April 24th.

I am about an 8 hour a day computer user. Some days more, some days less. But it averages out. So I really noticed not having my computer.

That wouldn’t be so bad, it might even be relaxing not to work. But I enjoy my work! I love editing video. I love corresponding! I’ve been making these high-dynamic range, software merged multi-exposure photos. I’m building my grad school thesis as a web-based multiplayer game. On my Macintosh!

But at least I got my laptop back, last Monday. With a new logic board, and a new problem. Now, the computer believed there was a second monitor attached at all times. Martin at Apple phone support suggested I do an Archive and Reinstall of my system. When I went to insert my OSX install disk, the machine wouldn’t accept my DVD.

One of the old problems, one of the new problems. Back to the Apple Store! On Tuesday, April 25th, Mindy from the Genius Bar saw the DVD problem, and the monitor problem. We returned the laptop to Apple as a “looper” – a item returned for service twice.

And on Friday, April 28th, I got the laptop back again. I found the DVD drive had been replaced, and my hard drive had been erased. Fortunately, I had a back up. So I eagerly restored all my data; discovering two things after about six hours:

1) I didn’t use very good backup software.

2) Erasing the hard drive did not fix the phantom second monitor problem.

Eighteen days and two repairs later, my laptop still had a problem it never had before. I re-erased my hard drive just to be sure I wasn’t hallucinating – even with the factory installation of Mac OSX, the computer still thought there was a second monitor attached.

This wouldn’t be the biggest deal either, except that I run two monitors at home. When I go on the road, my windows are scattered all over the dual desktops: out of reach if you can’t see them on the second screen! I can see all my windows if I lower my resolution to 800x600 and mirror my displays. But then I can’t see all my icons in my application menu bars. Besides, it makes my computer look like something from the 1990s.

I bought this computer in mid-2004 when I started grad school. I bought the best 15” laptop I could – most RAM, most HD. I got the Dot Mac service. I bought AppleCare. Everything! Of course – because I wanted to have a powerful computer that I could kick ass and count on.

Now, I feel like an idiot. Because I brought my computer in for repairs two weeks before finals were due at school. Because I care so much about wanting to use my computer. Because I nearly broke my foot running to the door when I thought my laptop had come back. Because I hit reload on the “repair status” page on Apple.com about once every 40 minutes for the last 18 days. Because I care so much.

Thanks for reading this,

Justin Hall

April 11th Repair: R7804254
April 25th Repair: R7940353
April 29th Repair:

Originally from just in teractive by jhall reBlogged on Apr 29, 2006, 10:30AM

Originally posted by jhall from just in teractive, on April 29, 2006 5:36 PM

Now I guess that wall will be used to keep junkies like Rush Limbaugh in the U.S. instead of Mexicans out.

MEXICO CITY - Mexicans would be allowed to possess small amounts of cocaine, heroin, even ecstasy for their personal use under a bill approved by lawmakers that some worry could prove to be a lure to young Americans.

The bill now only needs President Vicente Fox's signature to become law and that does not appear to be an obstacle. His office said that decriminalizing drugs will free up police to focus on major dealers.

"This law gives police and prosecutors better legal tools to combat drug crimes that do so much damage to our youth and children," said Fox's spokesman, Ruben Aguilar.

Originally from Cynical-C Blog by Chris reBlogged on Apr 29, 2006, 9:58AM

Originally posted by Chris from Cynical-C Blog, on April 29, 2006 5:36 PM

I have this theory about a radical improvement in user experience that could be made for any website that allows comments to be submitted by readers. Especially if any of those readers are male. I'd like to share this idea with you.

You see, I know a lot of people that make community applications or blogging tools; I even get to work with some of the best in the business. I'm sure they do fancy things like eye-tracking and usability tests and armies of robots analyzing comment forms. But there's still one behavior that's eluded them, even after years of experience.

Based on extensive observation in the nearly 7 years that I've been blogging, here is how men actually submit comments to a site:

1. Skim just enough of the first few sentences so you can get a fair idea what the topic of a post or news item is.
2. Scroll quickly, as fast as you can! Be careful not to accidentally read any of the other comments on the page on the way down. (Some of them may contain the information you're about to post.)
3. Type out whatever opinion you've had on this topic your entire life. Don't waste time with spelling or punctuation, and be careful not to let any new information on the page influence your thoughts.
4. Now that you've completed your task, submit your comment and then, at your leisure, review the other content on the page. If you find that the original post or any of the comments that preceded yours were written by people who share your opinion, bask in the confirmation that you were right.

Now the time has clearly come for modern Web 2.0 applications to reflect this reality. Where is all the innovation around accommodating this unquenchable need? We men need to inflict our comments on the web with wanton disregard for the context, content, and community in which we're participating. Let's get some Ajax on this motherfucker, stat!

Originally from Anil Dash by anil@dashes.com (Anil Dash) reBlogged on Apr 28, 2006, 2:00AM

Originally posted by anil@dashes.com (Anil Dash) from Anil Dash, on April 29, 2006 5:36 PM

on the heels of my previous link, here's another group of kids, doing a live re-enactment of MIKE TYSON'S PUNCH-OUT!!!

Originally from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs by michaelallroy reBlogged on Apr 29, 2006, 2:42PM

Originally posted by michaelallroy from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs, on April 29, 2006 5:30 PM

BET tries to answer Mos Def's question Sunday afternoon. Here's the word from Selwyn Hinds' new show The Chop Up:

Produced for BET and THE CHOP UP by Emmy Award-winning journalist, producer and author P. Frank Williams, the segment entitled “Long Kiss Goodnight” peels back the layers on the nine years since Biggie Smalls was gunned down in Los Angeles. In her first television interview since winning a multi-million dollar wrongful death suit against the city of Los Angeles, Biggie’s mother Voletta Wallace shares striking details about the FBI investigation of her son’s murder. Also for the first time on television, Lil’ Cease, a member of Biggie’s Junior Mafia crew, shares a chilling eye-witness account of what happened inside the car where Biggie was riding when the fatal shots were fired. Hosted by Jeff Johnson and Jina Jinay.

Originally from zentronix: dubwise & hiphopcentric by Jeff reBlogged on Apr 29, 2006, 1:22PM

Originally posted by Jeff from zentronix: dubwise & hiphopcentric, on April 29, 2006 5:30 PM

Filed under: Rumors, Products and services, Consumer experience, Competitive strategy, Google (GOOG)

Is Google trying to fulfill the prophecy of pundits from years back by finally trying to either cheaply sell or give away free or extremely cheap wireless internet (WiFi) in larger metro areas? With the recent announcement in San Francisco of a citywide wireless internet network (partnering with Earthlink), one has to wonder what Google's ambitions are in this space.

For one, if Google continues to enter markets to provide low cost or no cost options for whatever they are providing -- be it internet access, online calendaring or email or even satellite-mapping programs -- you can be sure they are going to monetize those efforts somehow. In my opinion, Google's ambition is to be the world's largest advertising company, by providing equal and cheap/free access to almost any kind of information from any device, anywhere. Watch out McDonalds and Coca-Cola.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Originally from Blogging Stocks by Brian White reBlogged on Apr 28, 2006, 7:03AM

Originally posted by Brian White from Blogging Stocks, on April 29, 2006 5:30 PM

Here’s an observation: if there’s something you as a programmer want to do (connect to a website, read some XML, walk a filesystem, listen on a socket, whatever) there’ll be a library in whatever language you’re using to do that. I’ve observed that, on average, the quality of the libraries is better in Java than in the competition: Perl, Python, Ruby, whatever. Don’t get upset, those other languages have lots of other advantages and are The Right Tool for lots of jobs. And the delta isn’t universal—there are stinky Java libraries and lovely Ruby ones—but still, I’d say this is true way, way more often than not. This suggests a hypothesis: Having been a Java programmer will make you a better Ruby or Python or whatever programmer. Ooh, are people ever gonna get mad at me.

Originally from ongoing reBlogged on Apr 28, 2006, 8:26PM

Originally from ongoing, on April 29, 2006 8:14 AM

iScratch by Shosei Oishi (a student of IAMAS Japan) is software which enables you to scratch audio files like analog record using iPod’s touch wheel. Shosei re-wrote the pre-installed open source audio play program of Pozilla to be able to scratch audio files, and works using Linux.

I got to try this at the Takeaway festival and is great fun to use, an obvious metaphor that works without explanation. iScratch will be on display in the up coming Cybersonica exhibition.

Shosei is also a member of the Breadboard Band:

The Breadboard Band is a performing band that uses breadboards made of freely constructed electronic circuits to play music. We produce audio and visual expression through the most minimal, fundamental elements in the form of showing the electronic components of an instrument while directly touching and forming the electronic circuit by hand. The electric signals released from hand-made electronic circuits releases extremely rough and ferocious wave patterns. This performance is based on improvisational interplay, and we pull powerful music into shape through each member’s operation, while discovering new sounds by hand.

Originally from Pixelsumo by chris reBlogged on Apr 28, 2006, 7:57PM

Originally posted by chris from Pixelsumo, on April 29, 2006 8:14 AM

Regarding Think Secret’s report on the break-up of the Aperture development team.

Originally from Daring Fireball by John Gruber reBlogged on Apr 28, 2006, 6:37PM

Originally posted by John Gruber from Daring Fireball, on April 29, 2006 8:14 AM

200 terabytes per day of mostly illegal goodness  

Originally from Waxy.org Links reBlogged on Apr 29, 2006, 5:59AM

Originally from Waxy.org Links, on April 29, 2006 8:11 AM

On the US leg of Shakira's world tour this summer, Verizon Wireless subscribers will be able to use their cell phones to receive video clips and vote for their favorite songs. "It's gonna be really exciting to see my fans interact," she said. "They'll get videos, messages from me, it's interesting." [via Associated Press]

Originally from ringtonia.com by emily reBlogged on Apr 29, 2006, 2:48AM

Originally posted by emily from ringtonia.com, on April 29, 2006 8:11 AM

iScratch by Shosei Oishi (a student of IAMAS Japan) is software which enables you to scratch audio files like analog record using iPod’s touch wheel. Shosei re-wrote the pre-installed open source audio play program of Pozilla to be able to scratch audio

Originally from unmediated by exiledsurfer reBlogged on Apr 28, 2006, 9:38PM

Originally posted by exiledsurfer from unmediated, on April 29, 2006 8:11 AM

Alice from Wonderland loves the Wii: "You know what, I think it's a fantastic name. It's girly, metro, slinky, inoffensive, funny, cute, KAWAIIII, and it's got people really talking." Over at hello, nintendo we lack that vision. Wii?

Originally from hello, typepad by David Jacobs reBlogged on Apr 28, 2006, 6:14PM

Originally posted by David Jacobs from hello, typepad, on April 28, 2006 6:30 PM

Photographer Tim Dahlin was hired by the Minnesota Timberwolves and asked to do something a little bit different. He came up with some incredible infrared actions shots that make everyone look dramatic (while really making clear the tattoos that are often hidden in dark skin). There's a wide-angle action shot that looks to me like "if Norman Rockwell painted modern black and white basketball scenes."

Big if, I know.

Here are some more.

Thanks Seth for the heads up.

Originally from True Hoop by Henry Abbott reBlogged on Apr 28, 2006, 11:27AM

Originally posted by Henry Abbott from True Hoop, on April 28, 2006 6:09 PM

After pooling the features from 100 different writing systems, including alphabets, abjads, abugidas, and syllabaries, scientists have concluded that all of them are based on shapes derived from the natural world, chosen because we are hard-wired to recognize them.

Originally from Rebecca's Pocket reBlogged on Apr 28, 2006, 8:30AM

Originally from Rebecca's Pocket, on April 28, 2006 6:09 PM

story links: amanda to ze frank (via waxy) [related archive: first contact]

Originally from Rocketboom by Rocketboom reBlogged on Apr 28, 2006, 6:13AM

Originally posted by Rocketboom from Rocketboom, on April 28, 2006 6:09 PM

From among the six steps to meet your perfect partner (heteros only), comes Music:

US psychologists at North Adams state college in Massachusetts discovered that women found pictures of men more attractive when they were listening to soft rock.

I immediately envisioned the woman, gazing at a picture of A Man Who Is Listening To Soft Rock, preferably Whitesnake or Marillion. How would one photograph the act of listening to soft rock?

Originally from the lady upgrade project by mr tibbles reBlogged on Apr 28, 2006, 6:04AM

Originally posted by mr tibbles from the lady upgrade project, on April 28, 2006 6:09 PM

You know what, I think it's a fantastic name. It's girly, metro, slinky, inoffensive, funny, cute, KAWAIIII, and it's got people really talking. Ninty'll hoover up all those folk who have been previously offended, bored or turned off by videogames' sometime sweaty machismo, anyone who owns an iPod, and anyone who thinks Skype is a perfectly viable brand name.

Genius.

I'm desperate for a wii.

Originally from Wonderland by Alice reBlogged on Apr 28, 2006, 5:34AM

Originally posted by Alice from Wonderland, on April 28, 2006 6:09 PM

Also, I am horrified to learn that A) there is a Wookieepedia, B) there is a Wikipedia entry for it, and C) there is a Wookieepedia entry for that.

Originally from jwz by jwz@jwz.org reBlogged on Apr 28, 2006, 5:24AM

Originally posted by jwz@jwz.org from jwz, on April 28, 2006 6:09 PM

Following up on why HAL sings "Daisy, Daisy" in 2001: A Space Odyssey", Lee Hartsfeld found a 1961 record with the Bell Labs recording on it at a junk shop for $10.

Originally from kottke.org remaindered links by jkottke reBlogged on Apr 28, 2006, 12:26PM

Originally posted by jkottke from kottke.org remaindered links, on April 28, 2006 6:06 PM

Meg's been following the growing movement against Foie Gras and yesterday noted PETA's heavy handed tactics in getting the legislation passed. I'm a strong advocate of animal rights, but I'm definitely no fan of PETA. Often people hate PETA so much they lose the ability to think critically about animal rights. PETA is the far right of the left. I love Meg's idea about creating laws to encourgae the humane treatment of animals modeled after organic certification.

I'm suspicious of Foie Gras' current status as a cause celebré. It reminds me of recycling's role in the environmental movement - it makes people feel active and progressive, but only in rare cases does the act of recycling encourage conservation and smart reuse. We're just doing free labor for waste management companies.

updates:

• Certified humane, via megnut.


• The Gurgling Cod: "No one mentions that much more suffering could be eliminated by banning the McNugget." Via finn. Bonus points for name checking The Power Broker.

Originally from hello, typepad by David Jacobs reBlogged on Apr 28, 2006, 11:18AM

Originally posted by David Jacobs from hello, typepad, on April 28, 2006 6:06 PM

I mentioned making cinnamon ice cream the other day and a reader emailed asking for the recipe, so here it is! I started with Ben & Jerry's French Vanilla as a template but reduced the quantity of vanilla by 50% (they call for 2 teaspoons) and added ground cinnamon.

INGREDIENTS
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon**

Whisk eggs until light and fluffy, then whisk in sugar a little at a time. Add milk, cream, vanilla, and cinnamon and whisk to blend. Then use ice cream maker according to its directions. Makes 1 quart.

** I used 2 teaspoons of cinnamon but Jason and I both found that it was too much, it affected the texture more than I wanted (though flavor was fine, not too cinnamony). So I think maybe 1 teaspoon, or 1 1/2 would be better. Next time I'll try it with less. Also, if you're a fan of a cooked ice cream base, it might be nice to try and simmer cinnamon sticks with the dairy rather than use ground cinnamon. Or make a combination. But I haven't gotten that far yet!

Another idea: basil ice cream. Reader Sam wrote in to say he made this recently and that it was fantastic, and a lovely color.

Originally from megnut.com blog reBlogged on Apr 28, 2006, 11:16AM

Originally from megnut.com blog, on April 28, 2006 6:06 PM

hack isight into a webpage via quartz composer

Originally from unmediated by yatta reBlogged on Apr 28, 2006, 11:05AM

Originally posted by yatta from unmediated, on April 28, 2006 6:06 PM

From today's New York Times:

Thomas Dolby entered pop eternity in the guise of a bespectacled, wild-haired mad scientist, with the 1983 novelty hit "She Blinded Me With Science." He returns after a long absence — in his other life he has been an innovative creator of ring tones — with a tour that finds him largely in the same gearhead persona (sans the hair), surrounded by bizarre-looking doohickeys with colorful gauges and oversize knobs. Wednesday at 10 p.m., Thursday at 7 (with the singer-songwriter Carey Ott) and 10 p.m., Joe's Pub at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village, (212) 539-8778; $20. (Sisario)

TEDsters will be in the house Wed/10PM show, showing love for our Music Director. Tickets available online for what promises to be an utterly original evening.

Originally posted by June Cohen from TED Blog, on April 28, 2006 6:06 PM

Now this is pretty cool. Google Calendar has put up an online form that'll create a button for your event. party or whatever. You can then place this button on your blog, MySpace page or online-whatever so that people can click it to add your event to their Google Calendar.

This is a great way to get your event out there.

Google Calendar Button

 
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Related: Add common events to your calendar with Mark This Date
Related: Download of the Day: Google Calendar Notifier
Related: Download of the Day, part II: Google Calendar Quick Add Firefox extension

Originally from Lifehacker reBlogged on Apr 28, 2006, 6:00PM

Originally from Lifehacker, on April 28, 2006 6:02 PM

Have you heard of the Certified Humane Raised & Handled movement? I hadn't until LaVonne sent me an email this afternoon alerting me to it and to this ABC News article on the Certified Humane movement, Where Was Your Chicken Before It Hatched? Sounds like an interesting step in the right direction.

Originally from megnut.com blog reBlogged on Apr 28, 2006, 5:19PM

Originally from megnut.com blog, on April 28, 2006 6:02 PM

Posted by Jon McAlister, Software Engineer

I've always been a big fan of both Google News and Google Suggest. So in my 20% time, I've worked on a way to bring them together, and I'm now happy to report the launch of Google Suggest on Google News, which provides you with search suggestions specific to news in your country, in real time, while you type. If you're already a Suggest user, you'll see this right away, but it's not on by default. Although Suggest + News is currently English-only, the suggestions will reflect the English-language regional edition you're viewing.

I find that this helps me save time while doing frequent searches (e.g. [google]. And seeing the Suggest list gives me a sense of the most common news queries. Enjoy!

Originally from Official Google Blog by A Googler reBlogged on Apr 28, 2006, 5:17PM

Originally posted by A Googler from Official Google Blog, on April 28, 2006 6:02 PM

Living in New York City is all about embracing constraints and making them work for you. For better or for worse, New Yorkers surround themselves with rules.

For instance, at the Shake Shack today I noticed that they've instituded a 6 burger per person limit. In the loading dock one block down, they ask that you please "go" outside and advise that you avoid "stickley" garbage.

Originally from hello, typepad by David Jacobs reBlogged on Apr 28, 2006, 5:05PM

Originally posted by David Jacobs from hello, typepad, on April 28, 2006 6:02 PM

The Smithy Code revealed.

Originally from Rebecca's Pocket reBlogged on Apr 28, 2006, 4:46PM

Originally from Rebecca's Pocket, on April 28, 2006 6:02 PM

david posted a photo:

- Taken at 4:22 PM on April 28, 2006; cameraphone upload by ShoZu

Originally from david's Photos by david reBlogged on Apr 28, 2006, 4:24PM

Originally posted by david from david's Photos, on April 28, 2006 6:02 PM

Jane Jacobs on cities

Originally from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs by mathowie reBlogged on Apr 27, 2006, 1:28PM

Originally posted by mathowie from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs, on April 28, 2006 5:50 PM

Originally from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs by dhostetler reBlogged on Apr 28, 2006, 4:47PM

Originally posted by dhostetler from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs, on April 28, 2006 5:47 PM

Speculates that the name "Wii" is a hoax, links to some more "proof".

Originally from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs by Nintendo_Wii reBlogged on Apr 28, 2006, 1:14PM

Originally posted by Nintendo_Wii from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs, on April 28, 2006 5:47 PM

Distributed solutions are more robust, but also more complex, and will only succeed when centralized solutions cannot.

Originally from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs by revgeorge reBlogged on Apr 28, 2006, 10:14AM

Originally posted by revgeorge from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs, on April 28, 2006 5:47 PM

Originally from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs by j1o1h1n reBlogged on Apr 28, 2006, 5:35AM

Originally posted by j1o1h1n from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs, on April 28, 2006 5:47 PM

hack isight into a webpage via quartz composer

Originally from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs by exiledsurfer reBlogged on Apr 28, 2006, 5:22AM

Originally posted by exiledsurfer from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs, on April 28, 2006 5:47 PM

Oh, Nintendo. (shakes head)

http://revolution.nintendo.com/

From their goofy marketing mission statement on the new name:

People will be more in touch with their games.... and each other"

Each other's wiis you mean? Eww

Originally from hello, nintendo by Wiley Wiggins reBlogged on Apr 27, 2006, 3:41PM

Originally posted by Wiley Wiggins from hello, nintendo, on April 27, 2006 9:38 PM

Yes, databases are useful. But there are a lot of good reasons not to use them: they’re a lot of work to administer and it’s very easy to make them run slow. Particularly when the alternative, ordinary flat files in an ordinary directory tree, is so incredibly useful. For more evidence, see Tim O’Reilly’s reportage on the subject, with inputs from Mark Fletcher (Bloglines) and Gabe Rivera (Memeorandum). Note that both of them are supplementing their flat files with memory-resident data stores; it’s a powerful combination. Now if Mark would only put some of that powerful machinery to fixing Bloglines’ broken Atom 1.0 handling...

Originally from ongoing reBlogged on Apr 27, 2006, 11:56AM

Originally from ongoing, on April 27, 2006 2:21 PM

What the huh? Apple has disbanded the development team for Aperture? Gruber, tell me what I think about this.

Originally from kottke.org remaindered links by jkottke reBlogged on Apr 27, 2006, 12:28PM

Originally posted by jkottke from kottke.org remaindered links, on April 27, 2006 12:10 PM

Google has unleashed SketchUp, a tool for creating, viewing, and modifying 3D images. We mentioned Google's acquisition of SketchUp a few months ago. It is now available at http://sketchup.google.com, as an application that you download to your desktop. It also lets you display the images in Google Earth, which you've also downloaded. Yet another move by Google to your desktop. Google is offering 3D Warehouse, a repository of the Web's available 3D content for "searching, sharing and storing." It is part of Sketchup, and lets people collaborate on developing images for Google Earth. More here. There are fans of this product....

Originally from VentureBeat by Matt Marshall reBlogged on Apr 27, 2006, 12:10PM

Originally posted by Matt Marshall from VentureBeat, on April 27, 2006 12:10 PM

Google can be used for finding scientific papers that are more popular (and influential?) than their number of citations would otherwise indicate. "The technique might also emerge as a more useful measure of scientific impact than merely the number of citations alone."

Originally from kottke.org remaindered links by jkottke reBlogged on Apr 27, 2006, 11:35AM

Originally posted by jkottke from kottke.org remaindered links, on April 27, 2006 12:10 PM

Nokia and iPass are developing client software for Nokia dual-mode phones that will let users connect to public Wi-Fi hot spots worldwide , reports PC World.

"Through partnerships with hot spot operators, iPass offers access to about 50,000 hotspots around the world through a single account, according to the Redwood Shores, California, company.

... They expect to deliver software for the Nokia 9300i and 9500 by summer".

Originally from textually.org by emily reBlogged on Apr 27, 2006, 11:14AM

Originally posted by emily from textually.org, on April 27, 2006 11:04 AM

People will often ask us “how do you find time to do PR or marketing when you are building your products?” Or “When do you find time to do customer support?” Or “How does such a small team accomplish so much? What is your time management secret?”

Here’s the secret: it’s all the same thing.

Product development, marketing, PR, support, design, programming, etc — it’s all the same thing. We don’t put time aside for PR or time aside for design or time aside for tech support. We’re always doing all of these things. They are all part of the same thing: building products we love to build.

Building and improving Rails is PR. Designing great interfaces is marketing. Providing quick customer support is advertising.

We don’t spend 2 hours every day on marketing, we spend all day on marketing. We don’t spend 1 hour every day figuring out the best way to communicate what our products do, we spend all day figuring out the best way to communicate what our products do. We don’t spend 3 hours on interface design, we spend all day on interface design.

When the edges are blurred, and one thing is many things, you can achieve so much more with less time, effort, and people.

Originally from Signal vs. Noise reBlogged on Apr 27, 2006, 11:16AM

Originally from Signal vs. Noise, on April 27, 2006 11:04 AM

After word leaked that Steve Nash had won the MVP, Dime Mag went a little postal.

...we here at Dime think it's absurd. The fact that Steve Nash won the award isn't the problem. The problem is that Kobe Bryant didn't win it. Honestly, what more could Kobe have done this season to win the MVP? It's a joke. And what makes the whole thing even more outrageous is that his losing out is clearly personal. To be blunt, he didn't win it because the people with the votes just don't like him. And that's a shame.

I totally understand where there coming from. By the measure of "ideal basketball player" we all have in our heads, Kobe Bryant is it.

And, yes, Kobe Bryant has got himself a whopper of a bad reputation.

But I don't think Nash won--assuming he really did--just because the voters don't like Kobe. Maybe that accounts for a vote here or there, we'll never know.

But there are some other factors. For one thing, the Lakers are a so-so team, and a lot of people just won't select an MVP from a so-so team. That makes some sense. The ultimate job of all players is to win, and if they're not doing that, how can they be the most valuable? Maybe what they're bringing--no matter how spectacular--isn't what the team needed.

Plenty of voters start their selection process by first asking "OK, who are the championship contenders?" Those are the valuable teams. Those are the players who are doing everything right. And sometimes doing everything right means something you can't see on a highlight reel. Sometimes it means calling a teammate late at night, learning better where someone likes to catch a pass, building confidence in the coach, or mentoring a teammate. That list could be a thousand items long, and you won't see any of it on SportsCenter. But over the long haul, I believe that  teams  doing that stuff tend to win.

Look at the other MVP candidates: they're from a who's who of the good teams. Detroit, Dallas, San Antonio, Phoenix. Chauncey Billups and Tony Parker on losing teams don't even get mentioned. But they're making their teams good, so they both got votes. I see the point of that. That makes sense to me.

For an MVP candidate to come from a middle-of-the-road team is just hard. Kobe Bryant has a knock against him before the assessment even begins, because the Lakers are not contenders.

Then there is the fact that, my personal feelings aside, Kobe Bryant has personality flaws that inhibit his team's success. He's incredibly--no maniacally--self-centered. None of us are perfect. But that counts against him. That inhibits his ability to do what he's supposed to do, which is win games. You can say all you want about if Bryant had Nash's supporting cast he'd do x, y, and z. The fact is Bryant used to have a way better supporting cast than Nash has ever had, but for some reason that team couldn't get along, and everyone was sent packing.

If Nash and Bryant switched places, Bryant would no doubt to spectacular things in Phoenix. But Nash would still be winning titles with Shaquille O'Neal, because he knows how to be a good teammate.

You tell me who's more valuable

Originally from True Hoop by Henry Abbott reBlogged on Apr 27, 2006, 11:25AM

Originally posted by Henry Abbott from True Hoop, on April 27, 2006 10:44 AM

If you thought that knife tutorial was detailed, take a look at The Potato Primer over at eGullet. You could cook a different style potato from this article for a year and not have a repeat. Amazing!

Originally from megnut.com blog reBlogged on Apr 27, 2006, 11:27AM

Originally from megnut.com blog, on April 27, 2006 10:44 AM

Among the many things New York is famous for is the tiny apartments of its inhabitants. Our first apartment here was about 400 square feet and somehow the people who lived downstairs from us in an apartment with the same footprint fit two people and two pitbull-type dogs into that space. In a recently released book, Apartment Therapy's Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan reveals that he and his wife live in a 250 square foot apartment in the West Village.

Having such small apartments, city residents want to make the most of the space that they have. In designing a loft apartment for his son, architect Kyu Sung Woo came up with an interesting solution to the space problem...he fit two stories into a one-story apartment. The result is The Interlocking Puzzle Loft, a surprisingly spacious two-bedroom palace crammed into 700 square feet.

As shown and described in this article from Dwell, the key element in the loft is the half-height bedroom above the kitchen and the bedroom's walkway positioned above the short downstairs hall closet and back kitchen counter, which allows the apartment's inhabitants to stand up in the bedroom. Pretty genius idea.

Originally from kottke.org reBlogged on Apr 27, 2006, 11:26AM

Originally from kottke.org, on April 27, 2006 10:44 AM

Intriguing clues may lead to breaking the Smithy Code.

Originally from NYT > Home Page by SARAH LYALL reBlogged on Apr 27, 2006, 12:00AM

Originally posted by SARAH LYALL from NYT > Home Page, on April 27, 2006 10:44 AM

Seven young artists on Tuesday sued New York City over its strict anti-graffiti law, saying it violated their constitutional right to free speech.

The group, backed by fashion designer Marc Ecko, argued in federal court that the city went too far by banning people under 21 from possessing spray paint or broad-tipped markers.

Gabriel Taussig, a lawyer for New York City, said the law "strikes a proper constitutional balance between the First Amendment rights (to free speech) and the need to control the long-standing plague of graffiti." The law took effect at the start of the year. (REUTERS)

Originally from Agenda Inc. Live Feed reBlogged on Apr 26, 2006, 8:51PM

Originally from Agenda Inc. Live Feed, on April 27, 2006 10:23 AM

david posted a photo:

Adriana and I made a touristy excursion to Jane Jacobs' favorite NYC bar.

Originally from david's Photos by david reBlogged on Apr 26, 2006, 7:51PM

Originally posted by david from david's Photos, on April 27, 2006 10:23 AM

Meta
Originally uploaded by bckspcr.

Perhaps more embarassing is that I didn't know I was being flickrd.

Originally from hello, typepad by David Jacobs reBlogged on Apr 26, 2006, 4:27PM

Originally posted by David Jacobs from hello, typepad, on April 27, 2006 10:23 AM

This Saturday, April 29, we take to the streets to end the war in Iraq, support immigrant rights and women’s rights, and to oppose war against Iran. I designed a broadsheet that the organizing coalition will distribute. It’s a two-color, tabloid-sized, eight-page booklet in English and Spanish with statements by the organizers, emergency contact info, and maps of the affinity group assembly areas, march route, and peace festival.

It was a challenge giving the different messages equal weight without flattening out the design. Because of the politics of the coalition, this was a big requirement. It was also my first chance to play with the City’s official NYCMAP data, which was fun. The cover image extends the Statue of Liberty image used in the existing flyers, but pushes it back to make it a little more ambient and less iconographic. It was a rush job and stepping back, some of the type treatment feels a little heavy-handed. But I’m otherwise pleased with it. We’ll see how it works on newsprint. Maybe the heaviness is appropriate.

Originally from Social Design Notes reBlogged on Apr 27, 2006, 9:23AM

Originally from Social Design Notes, on April 27, 2006 10:18 AM

Posted by Brad Schell, Product Management Director, Google SketchUp

Last month we told you that @Last Software had joined the Google fold. Today we’re releasing Google SketchUp, a free version of our 3D modeling software, which makes our long-time vision of making 3D accessible to everyone a reality.

We’re still offering SketchUp Pro 5 for design professionals like architects, designers, builders, art directors and game developers. Both Google SketchUp and SketchUp Pro 5 enable you to place models in Google Earth; Pro users get some additional features.

The new Google SketchUp is for the do-it-yourselfer, the hobbyist — really anyone who wants to build 3D models for use in Google Earth. Go ahead and model that new kitchen, or deck, landscape your virtual garden, or impress your teacher with a roller coaster or medieval castle. When you’re finished, place your model in Google Earth. There! The beginning of a virtual world. Warning: don’t start messing with this stuff after dinner because your first experience could be an all-nighter… making an idea come to life in 3D can be very addicting.

And what could be better than that? Well, sharing your work with everyone else through the 3D Warehouse. Accessible through both versions of SketchUp, 3D Warehouse enables you to upload, search, browse, view, and download SketchUp models. Just as you do with Google search, enter some keywords and the 3D Warehouse shows you all your options. Grab the one you want and import it into your model. (Note that the Warehouse is not stocked up yet — so model something yourself and upload it for all the world to see.)

Visionaries, utopians, virtual world builders: your time has come.

Originally from Official Google Blog by A Googler reBlogged on Apr 27, 2006, 9:09AM

Originally posted by A Googler from Official Google Blog, on April 27, 2006 10:18 AM

"So, what kinds of posts are found on science blogs?"

Originally from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs by sudama reBlogged on Apr 27, 2006, 8:05AM

Originally posted by sudama from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs, on April 27, 2006 10:18 AM

As part of a research collaboration with MIT computer scientists, the Nokia Research Center Cambridge, is developing cell phones that can understand and respond to written commands typed in English. Tech Review reports.

"To power Nokia's natural language technology, MIT's Katz is using a software system he developed in 1993 called Start, which interprets human questions and finds answers using websites such as the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) and Mapquest. Using the Web version of Start as a base, Katz is currently working with the Nokia center to develop a mobile version of the software for cell phones, called MobileStart.

Originally from textually.org by emily reBlogged on Apr 27, 2006, 2:47AM

Originally posted by emily from textually.org, on April 27, 2006 10:18 AM

A wonderful Sesame Street song and video about The Subway on YouTube/ (via Kottke.org)

Curbed is having a contest for the most Jane Jacobs like neighborhood and there is a flickr pool for it. A site called Polis is co-sponsoring the contest (there are no prizes) and writes this:

"What are Jacobsian street characteristics, you ask? She had four: 1. mixed primary uses, 2. short blocks, 3. old buildings (i.e. cheap space, although nowdays, that is hardly the same thing), 4. high density. To this I would add, 5. infill redevelopment."

Read an excerpt (from Chapter 2, The uses of sidewalks: safety) from The Death and Life of Great American Cities.

Originally from DefinitiveInk by joshua mack for definitiveink reBlogged on Apr 26, 2006, 3:55PM

Originally posted by joshua mack for definitiveink from DefinitiveInk, on April 26, 2006 5:01 PM

The Leonard Lopate show on WNYC remembers Jane Jacobs, who died April 25th, with past interviews from their archives. WNYC-Lopate l previous l Originally from Archinect.com Feed reBlogged

Originally from Archinect.com Feed, on April 26, 2006 5:01 PM

Sorry for commercial interruption but I'm a big Wes Anderson fan, or "Stan" as the kids like to say now. Kids are so judgmental these days.

I'm not gonna pretend I caught the Truffaut reference, but it's still a cool ad as ads go:

Originally from Tuberaider Video by Jay Smooth reBlogged

Originally posted by Jay Smooth from Tuberaider Video, on April 26, 2006 5:01 PM

Now this is that real old school New York flavor. Clearly from some time in the 70s. I keep waiting for one of the gangs from Warriors to jump out. (via kottke)

Originally from Tuberaider Video by Jay Smooth reBlogged

Originally posted by Jay Smooth from Tuberaider Video, on April 26, 2006 5:01 PM

The Death and Life of a Great American Woman

Jane Jacobs, whose 1961 book, ''The Death and Life of Great American Cities," transformed the practice as well as theory of urban renewal in this country, helping to provide the rationale for Quincy Market and other urban restoration projects, died yesterday morning at Toronto Western Hospital, according to her publisher, Random House. She was 89.

Mrs. Jacobs had entered the hospital Saturday, after suffering an apparent stroke.

''She inspired a kind of quiet revolution," her longtime editor, Jacob Epstein, told the Associated Press. ''Every time you see people rise up and oppose a developer, you think of Jane Jacobs."

Mrs. Jacobs' vision of the livable city, with its emphasis on diversity, activity, and human scale, soon became commonplace. Yet at the time ''Death and Life" was published, it seemed both radical and anachronistic.

Where Mrs. Jacobs celebrated sidewalks and pedestrians, city planners in the first two decades after World War II focused on high-rises and expressways. Her love of varied urban textures and human density was anathema to a renewal process dedicated to tearing down old neighborhoods and replacing them with tower blocks uniformly sprouting out of depopulated greenery..." Jane Jacobs, 89; author's vision inspired 'livable city' movement by Mark Feeney, Boston Globe, April 26, 2006.

Originally from networked_performance by jo reBlogged on Apr 26, 2006, 11:05AM

Originally posted by jo from networked_performance, on April 26, 2006 4:33 PM

I love Keiichi Suzuki's ambient den laboratory equiment. Keiichi-San did the music for Kitano's Zatoichi, Nintendo games, tons of stuff.

Chez Freud, also featuring That Couch, dahlings! Freud did the music for a whole continent of neurasthenics.

How I work, on the other hand, is a mystery to me. I find many things strewn across my path to Productivity and Success. I find gems, too. Such as this photo set of Blurt playing the Stubnitz. I think the first and last ones are my favourites.

Originally from the lady upgrade project by mr tibbles reBlogged on Apr 26, 2006, 10:20AM

Originally posted by mr tibbles from the lady upgrade project, on April 26, 2006 4:33 PM

This is going to sound like an Onion article but isn't. David Copperfield got held up at gunpoint after a show last weekend and when the robbers asked him for his valuables, "he pulled out all of his pockets for Riley to see he had nothing, even though he had a cellphone, passport and wallet stuffed in them". Copperfield's got a gun pointed at his head and he's doing an impromptu magic show for the theives! What's better than that? Nothing. (via the superficial)

Originally from kottke.org remaindered links by jkottke reBlogged on Apr 26, 2006, 10:33AM

Originally posted by jkottke from kottke.org remaindered links, on April 26, 2006 4:33 PM

Long obit for Jane Jacobs. She honed her thinking by having imaginary conversations with Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, and a Saxon chieftain. Here's another obit from the Toronto Star.

Originally from kottke.org remaindered links by jkottke reBlogged on Apr 26, 2006, 11:28AM

Originally posted by jkottke from kottke.org remaindered links, on April 26, 2006 4:33 PM

Lifehacker reader Josh needed a new battery for his iPod mini, and instead of sending it off to Apple, he opted to do it himself and photo-documented the steps.

He used a $29 battery from Laptops for less (saving himself 70 bucks for an Apple repair), and a couple of screwdrivers to get it done. This 20-minute job looks totally doable - even for those of us not used to dissecting electronics. Thanks, Josh!

Replace Your iPod Mini Battery [The F-Stop Blues]

 
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Related: Prolong your iPod's battery life

Originally from Lifehacker reBlogged on Apr 26, 2006, 10:30AM

Originally from Lifehacker, on April 26, 2006 4:33 PM

Old 70s song about the subway from Sesame Street. This went totally over my head as a kid, but as a NYC resident, it's awesome. On the subway. Subway!

Originally from kottke.org remaindered links by jkottke reBlogged on Apr 26, 2006, 3:08PM

Originally posted by jkottke from kottke.org remaindered links, on April 26, 2006 4:07 PM

Apple Computer 1984 Newsweek Advertising Insert :: a complete scan of Apple's 16-page advertising insert in Newsweek magazine, introducing the new and revolutionary Macintosh computer.

Originally from MetaFilter posts tagged with apple by anastasiav reBlogged on Apr 26, 2006, 12:49PM

Originally posted by anastasiav from MetaFilter posts tagged with apple, on April 26, 2006 4:07 PM

Great set of publicity photos taken by French Ministry for Tourism of celebrities flying Air France in the 30s, 40s, and 50s. They were found at a flea market for a euro each. Includes Ursula Andress, Louis Armstrong, Henry Miller, Marlene Dietrich, Cary Grant, a great one of Alfred Hitchcock, and one of a pre-WWII John F. Kennedy. (thx, dov)

Originally from kottke.org remaindered links by jkottke

reBlogged by Matthew Haughey on Apr 26, 2006, 5:32PM

Originally from mathowie reBlog feed by jkottke reBlogged on Apr 26, 2006, 12:45PM

Originally posted by jkottke from mathowie reBlog feed , on April 26, 2006 4:07 PM

Some transformative books change your life by opening up new vistas, or giving you new tools to make sense of the world, or simply by moving you emotionally. But some books change your life by building bridges between regions of your intellectual life that you'd imagined to be separate. About ten years ago, when I first started sketching out the ideas that would ultimately become my second book, Emergence, I started following a hunch about a potential connection between complexity theory and the organization of cities. I'd seen a few allusions to the idea in some of the complexity books I'd read, but had encountered almost nothing directly relevant in any of the urbanist readings I'd been pursuing. And then I got around to reading Jane Jacobs' Death and Life of Great American Cities. From page one, I felt like all the ideas I'd been shuffling around in the dark were suddenly illuminated by Jacobs' account of how dense urban neighborhoods worked. And when I got to the conclusion, where she explicitly invokes Warren Weaver's visionary essay on "organized complexity" from 1958, I remember feeling this amazing shock of recognition and connectedness. So my little trail of bread crumbs was actually leading somewhere after all, and it was Jacobs who ultimately persuaded me to keep following them.

As many of you probably know, Jacobs died yesterday at 89. The best thing I can think of to say about her is to quote the words I wrote at the end of the acknowledgments for Emergence, a book that I would never have written had I not been exposed to her ideas:

Nearly four years ago, days after Alexa and I moved into our apartment in the West Village, I finally got around to reading Jane Jacobs's Death and Life of the Great American Cities. I knew Jacobs had lived in the Village while writing the book, but I didn't know the exact whereabouts. From the very first chapter it was clear that she must have lived somewhere nearby. About a hundred pages in, with the help of the web, I tracked down her actual residence: no more than three blocks from our apartment. All through the writing of this book, I could see the roof of Jacobs's old building from the study I was working in. I could see the rooftops and the sidewalks of the whole West Village sprawled out below me, the urban ballet that Jacobs had written about so powerfully forty years before. If books like this one require acknowledgements, they have to start -- or end -- with that great, shifting energy, and its connective powers. This is a city book, both in subject matter and in inspiration. If you're reading these words in a comparably thriving city, put the book down, step outside into the roaring streets, and make your own connections.

Originally from stevenberlinjohnson.com by stevenberlinjohnson reBlogged on Apr 26, 2006, 10:04AM

Originally posted by stevenberlinjohnson from stevenberlinjohnson.com, on April 26, 2006 4:07 PM

The board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority refused today to consider a ratification vote that the city's transit workers' union took last week on a long-stalled contract.

Originally from NYT > Home Page by THOMAS J. LUECK reBlogged on Apr 26, 2006, 12:00AM

Originally posted by THOMAS J. LUECK from NYT > Home Page, on April 26, 2006 4:07 PM

Bore Me, why don't ya

Running for just a week from next Monday 1 May 2006 at London's Institute of Contemporary Arts is, they claim, the World's first exhibition of viral emails. Outrageous and Contagious will showcase the cream of what appears in your inbox, split into various, sometimes topical, categories like New Orleans and Kate Moss. This image of the supermodel and sometime boyfriend Pete Doherty, doctored to look like reviled British murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley is one of the more controversial examples. The show will also set-up the second viral Oscars, called Germ, which take place later in the year. If you would like a taste of what's on offer, viral site Bore Me is one of the co-sponsors, and features a selection of movies and pictures that will be exhibited. [blogged by SummerSeventySix on Cool Hunting]

Originally from networked_performance by jo reBlogged on Apr 26, 2006, 4:29PM

Originally posted by jo from networked_performance, on April 26, 2006 4:03 PM

Jane Jacobs, the writer and thinker who brought penetrating eyes and ingenious insight to the sidewalk ballet of her own Greenwich Village street and came up with a book that challenged and changed the way people view cities, died yesterday in Toronto, wh

Originally from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs by yatta reBlogged on Apr 26, 2006, 8:30AM

Originally posted by yatta from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs, on April 26, 2006 9:54 AM

flying in today bringing **the microcheep** with three books to revise, two of which are set very near this photograph taken by larry kanfer, immortalizer of prairies; this photo is titled "the corner of kirby and mattis," which is pretty much relatively exactly right where i was born.

Originally from serenalarogers by serenalarogers reBlogged on Apr 26, 2006, 8:38AM

Originally posted by serenalarogers from serenalarogers, on April 26, 2006 8:44 AM

From time to time I get emails from readers asking some variant of the question, “What did you use to make your blog?” The answer is Movable Type, a very capable publishing tool to which I owe a great debt; without it, I’m not sure I would have written the hundreds of posts I have, probably remaining instead just a frustrated design and technology writer of dubious talent, wrestling with the limitations of Blogger. For publishing power relative to what was available even just five years ago for much, much more money, Movable Type offers a tremendous and compelling value.

Those questions are often followed up with, “Do you recommend that I use Movable Type, too?” That’s a little trickier, but honestly, I think I’ve come to the point now where I’d have to answer, no, I wouldn’t recommend Movable Type to new bloggers. Instead, I would recommend WordPress, very similar software that’s marked by a few key differences: it’s open source, which means it’s free; it’s PHP-based (versus CGI and PERL-based, like Movable Type), which means it’s technologically easy to modify; and it’s clearly the publishing tool of the moment.

Winners and Not Winners

It’s sad to say this, but Movable Type and its publisher Six Apart have lost that moment in the spotlight that they possessed just three or four short years ago. I won’t speculate on what happened, other than it’s a sign of how little the blogging industry has grown in spite of how phenomenally it’s grown, too. There’s been a proliferation of new blogs, of course, but they’ve been brought to bear based on a wide variety of competing systems like Blogger, Six Apart’s own Typepad, and a dozen or so others, many of them hosted solutions. There still isn᾿t a clear winner in the marketplace, a runaway hit that’s categorically left the others in the dust.

In 2003, I would have bet that winner would have been Movable Type, and if you aggregate its users with those of Typepad and its other sister products, I bet you could make a convincing case that they are in fact the market leader. But the blogosphere is a funny place, and in spite of numerical metrics, it’s so clear that WordPress has caught the popular imagination of the most interesting bloggers out there — and that of the many of the new, ill-conceived but unrelenting wave of new bloggers publishing for the first time every day, too. I can᾿t tell you how many times I’ve seen barely altered variants on Kubrick, WordPress᾿s wildly popular out-of-the-box template, in the past six months, and how few times I recall coming across one of Movable Type’s many stock templates.

Developer Developments

What᾿s more, the WordPress user community seems robust and enthusiastic in a way that Movable Type used to, but does no longer. When I went hunting for Movable Type plug-ins to remedy my comment spam problem, I was shocked how many of them had mothballed their Movable Type projects, declaring instead that they᾿d become WordPress developers. That’s a quietly damning turn of events.

For myself, I like Movable Type a lot, still, but mostly because I know it so well. I may eventually trade it in for a new publishing system — I’d be more than happy to use something much faster, more responsive and modern-feeling — but for now, I’m not convinced that a move to WordPress will yield enough benefits to make the learning curve worthwhile for me. Besides, this is just a hunch, but it feels nearly as if WordPress has begun to crest as well. The time feels right for a new kind of blog publishing tool, one that takes a quantum leap ahead of these two basically comparable software packages. If there’s one truism about the blogosphere, it’s that the definition of what a blog is remains under constant, turbulent change, and its tools will inevitably reflect that.

Originally from Subtraction by Khoi Vinh reBlogged on Apr 26, 2006, 12:12AM

Originally posted by Khoi Vinh from Subtraction, on April 26, 2006 8:42 AM

The hero of Philip Roth's new novel is a lonely old geezer, filled with anger and regrets and frightened by the approaching fact of death.

Originally from NYT > Arts by MICHIKO KAKUTANI reBlogged on Apr 26, 2006, 12:00AM

Originally posted by MICHIKO KAKUTANI from NYT > Arts, on April 26, 2006 8:42 AM

Mmmmm, Smarty goodness in Textmate......

Originally from JayAllen - The Daily Journey by Jay Allen reBlogged on Apr 25, 2006, 11:59PM

Originally posted by Jay Allen from JayAllen - The Daily Journey, on April 26, 2006 8:42 AM

Wes Anderson’s American Express commercial.  Much better than M. Night Shyamalan’s.

Originally from Turbanhead.com by Administrator reBlogged on Apr 25, 2006, 7:44PM

Originally posted by Administrator from Turbanhead.com, on April 26, 2006 8:42 AM

"Great cities are not like towns, only larger.  They are not like suburbs, only denser.  They differ from towns and suburbs in basic ways, and one of these is that cities are, by definition, full of strangers."
-- Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities

Originally from this is sippey.typepad.com by Michael Sippey reBlogged on Apr 25, 2006, 6:50PM

Originally posted by Michael Sippey from this is sippey.typepad.com, on April 26, 2006 8:42 AM

Jane Jacobs's book "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" changed the way people view urban development.

Originally from NYT > Home Page by DOUGLAS MARTIN reBlogged on Apr 25, 2006, 12:00AM

Originally posted by DOUGLAS MARTIN from NYT > Home Page, on April 26, 2006 8:42 AM

Iconic urban activist Jane Jacobs is dead.

Originally from Rebecca's Pocket reBlogged on Apr 26, 2006, 8:30AM

Originally from Rebecca's Pocket, on April 26, 2006 8:37 AM

Jane Jacobs has died, just before her 90th birthday. It’s very sad news, and inspires a rather odd feeling: I don’t tend to think that the authors of books like “The Death and Life of Great American Cities” could actually still have been around. The sheer brilliance of it makes it timeless, somehow, and not connected to someone who until this week I could have called on the phone. It’s perhaps the book that has had the most influence on my thinking: I wish I’d thought to say hello.

Cory said it best, I think: “Reading that book rendered visible whole rafts of secrets about how the world around me functioned. It was like taking off a blindfold.”

Originally from Ben Hammersley reBlogged on Apr 26, 2006, 3:21AM

Originally from Ben Hammersley, on April 26, 2006 8:37 AM

So on my father's side of the family there are mostly lawyers. And among them, arguing isn't seen as something that should be avoided; in fact, it is seen as good fun. I like a good argument. I like to think, from growing up in my family, I am pretty good at it.

I was thinking of this as I read the online argument between Jason Calacanis, CEO of Weblogs, Inc (bought by AOL), and Alan Meckler, CEO of Jupitermedia. Jason very clearly won this one, and as such, it wasn't such a good argument. Meckler had only one arrow in his quiver, and kept shooting it. But it is fun to see someone trounced so soundly. Jason also likes to argue, and was a gracious winner.

I noticed, however, that I don't like arguing online, in blog comments or online forums. Mostly because people don't argue well -- often they don't know much about the things they hold opinions about, or don't take the time to support their arguments. They tend to react to things not mentioned in the blog posts or other people's comments, but veer off into other topics; when they can't come up with a good argument they resort to sour grapes or ad hominem attacks; and they rarely give credit when their opponent makes a good point. When your opponent makes a good point, you've both won, in my opinion.

So I am here to solicit an argument. Unfortunately, time being what it is, I can only engage in one argument. The rules are these:

1. Suggest something in the comments that you'd like to argue about
2. Present your arguing credentials
3. Nothing too political, religious or inflammatory please
4. After a fair number of proposed arguments have been posted, I'll choose one that I'd enjoy arguing
5. The argument will consist of 3 exchanges one from each of us, via email, 6 emails total, and to prevent them from getting out of control, probably 250-500 words each
6. How long this takes is up to us. A week?
7. We will publish our argument on our respective blogs, when done.
8. People should feel free to take up other people on their offers to argue too, and, I hope, publish their arguments as well.

Happy arguing!

Originally from Caterina.net by noemail@noemail.org (caterina) reBlogged on Apr 26, 2006, 2:05AM

Originally posted by noemail@noemail.org (caterina) from Caterina.net, on April 26, 2006 8:37 AM

For those who believe that streets are for people as well as cars, here is the ultimate hybrid: a tent that looks like a car.

Originally from Protein Feed reBlogged on Dec 31, 1969, 6:59PM

Originally from Protein Feed, on April 26, 2006 8:37 AM

stamen's data visualization page

Originally from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs by stamen reBlogged on Apr 25, 2006, 6:32PM

Originally posted by stamen from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs, on April 26, 2006 8:34 AM

Very nice gallery in Paris :)

Originally from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs by kick_out_the_internet_jams reBlogged on Apr 26, 2006, 3:52AM

Originally posted by kick_out_the_internet_jams from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs, on April 26, 2006 8:34 AM

Originally from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs by lauren_cornell reBlogged on Apr 25, 2006, 8:56PM

Originally posted by lauren_cornell from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs, on April 26, 2006 8:34 AM

screenshot of Fox roundtable

Originally from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs by lauren_cornell reBlogged on Apr 25, 2006, 8:34PM

Originally posted by lauren_cornell from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs, on April 26, 2006 8:34 AM

Not that I am enamored with phone launches (you get kinda jaded after many years of changing phones every 6 months), but today Nokia launched 3 new Nseries phones.

The funny thing, which is why I am mentioning it, is that I had no idea when or which phones would be launched. Darla and others let me know. Also, I don't think I've ever seen the N72 or N73, but rumors were that one of them was coming out.

I do think the N72 will be the next big seller for Nokia. The N70, which I had the good fortune to use for many months (and recommend highly to many), apparently was the best selling 3G phone last quarter.

As for the N93, I've been using it for a while now. The funny thing there is that up to now, I have been using a cover to hide the phone prior to launch. Because of Darla's tip-off yesterday, I left the cover at home, expecting the N93 to be launched today.

And it was.

Now I can use it and show it off.

How is it like?

Yes, there are some unexpected changes, but for the most part, it's a damn good device. I think most people will do more than fine using it. And, for those who know the Series 60 UI well, like me :-), there are a ton of really useful changes that were pleasant surprises.

Yes, the device is larger than your average RAZR, but it seems the same size, if not slightly smaller, than my niece's camcorder. So, I think this is the one that is giving camcorders a run for their money.* And I think that's the intent.

Another plus is the WiFi. Oh, it's so nice to be home and surfing, downloading, or uploading stuff over WiFi. You then realize how slow GPRS or even 3G really is. Can't wait for the Skype client to come out.

A few other things:**
- I haven't tried the integration with Window Media Player - I use iTunes.
- I have played a bit with the flickr uploader. Pretty nifty, especially if you know how to point it to other services, like TypePad.
- For you geek browser types, the OSS browser is really nice, though I am not sure if it identifies itself properly to sites as a mobile browser (yo, Dave, now we can work out the user agents!).
- The 3-D Snakes game is really cool.
- And, of course, Lifeblog 2.0 rocks.

*Heck, digital cameras are so 2005, so no need to say anything more there.
** Of course, this is not a real review. Others will have more in-depth reviews, so go read them. This is just a 'hey, check this out' kinda review. :-D

Originally from Lifeblog by charlie reBlogged

Originally posted by charlie from Lifeblog, on April 25, 2006 5:33 PM

Long but interesting.

He invited 500 friends but made 15,000 enemies. When the author Truman Capote threw a lavish masked ball to celebrate the phenomenal success of 'In Cold Blood', everyone who was anyone vied for an invitation. Deborah Davis tells the story of the party that united - and divided - the élites of politics, showbusiness and money

(via Robot Wisdom)

Originally from Cynical-C Blog by Chris reBlogged on Apr 25, 2006, 10:52AM

Originally posted by Chris from Cynical-C Blog, on April 25, 2006 5:30 PM

According to Local TechWIre, Sprint is adding the capability of sending text messages to landline phones as part of its wireless product offerings. "Text messages are transformed to a voice message when delivered to a conventional phone. Text to landline messages are sent in regular fashion. When the recipient�s phone is answered, the message will be read aloud. Recipients can reply with a preset text message or a voice message. Regular text-messaging rates apply, Sprint said."

Originally from textually.org by emily reBlogged on Apr 25, 2006, 10:26AM

Originally posted by emily from textually.org, on April 25, 2006 5:30 PM

That’s it, alas. I’ve closed The Lazyweb.org site. Launched in 2002. the Lazyweb fulfilled Matt Jones’ idea that “if you wait long enough, someone will implement that wacky idea you had... (or already has!) Alternatively, that if your blog or other publishing outlet has enough readers, a reader will know and provide the answer to a question you are too lazy to research yourself.”

The site was great success to start with - over 1000 ideas were shared over the automated system. But recently it’s been inundated with porn and spam of a less pleasant nature. Having had enough of cleaning it out, I’m closing the site in a few minutes.

Late last year, I released the source code. And there’s an RDF dump of the first 800 ideas.

Originally from Ben Hammersley reBlogged on Apr 25, 2006, 8:03AM

Originally from Ben Hammersley, on April 25, 2006 5:30 PM

jacobs passes away at 86; read her new book which explores connection between north america now and europe before the dark ages..

Originally from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs by lauren_cornell reBlogged on Apr 25, 2006, 8:31PM

Originally posted by lauren_cornell from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs, on April 25, 2006 5:24 PM

Mark Simonson notes the decline in license plate design. They've become increasingly bad at their primary use...quick and easy identification of the car.

Originally from kottke.org remaindered links by jkottke reBlogged on Apr 25, 2006, 2:07PM

Originally posted by jkottke from kottke.org remaindered links, on April 25, 2006 5:24 PM

Ten answers from scientists to the question "What is one science question every high school graduate should be able to answer?" (thx, mark)
Update: Mark Dominus takes issue with this list. (thx, greg)

Originally from kottke.org remaindered links by jkottke reBlogged on Apr 25, 2006, 1:24PM

Originally posted by jkottke from kottke.org remaindered links, on April 25, 2006 5:24 PM

MSN Money has an informative article on reducing your taxes by turning your personal expenses into allowable business deductions.

Here's the best part: Your business doesn't have to make a profit for your expenses to be deductible. All you have to do is establish a "profit motive." Under the Internal Revenue Code, a "profit motive" is presumed if you earn any net income in any three out of five business years.

We discussed this sort of thing briefly when we went over why you should start a side business, but this article gets down to the nitty gritty of how to get your hobby-cum-business to really save you money next tax season.

The ultimate tax shelter: Owning your own business [MSN Money]

 
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Originally from Lifehacker reBlogged on Apr 25, 2006, 1:00PM

Originally from Lifehacker, on April 25, 2006 5:24 PM

Plant a tree in memory of Jane Jacobs, author of The Death and Life of Great American Cities in 1961, which started an uban planning and urban design revolution that rages still. She fought Robert Moses in New York in the Sixties, fought the Viet Nam war and moved to Canada in protest, and continued fighting bad planning and bad architecture to the end. Everything we preach about the value of a vibrant, dense and living city was learned from her. ::Spacing Wire

read James Howard Kunstler's interview of Jane Jacobs here

(This post continues on the site)

Originally from Treehugger by lloyd

reBlogged by Matthew Haughey on Apr 25, 2006, 5:39PM

Originally from mathowie reBlog feed by lloyd reBlogged on Apr 25, 2006, 12:54PM

Originally posted by lloyd from mathowie reBlog feed , on April 25, 2006 5:24 PM

Larry A. Silverstein announced today that he has accepted the economic terms of a new deal at ground zero.

Originally from NYT > Home Page by CHARLES V. BAGLI reBlogged on Apr 25, 2006, 12:00AM

Originally posted by CHARLES V. BAGLI from NYT > Home Page, on April 25, 2006 5:24 PM

Paint can be removed, but vandals are now using acid to irreparably damage the windows of New York City subway cars.

Originally from NYT > Home Page by THOMAS J. LUECK reBlogged on Apr 25, 2006, 12:00AM

Originally posted by THOMAS J. LUECK from NYT > Home Page, on April 25, 2006 5:24 PM

Jane Jacobs, American-born Canadian writer/activist and author of The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961), passed away this morning in Toronto. Read +...

Originally from Archinect.com Feed reBlogged

Originally from Archinect.com Feed, on April 25, 2006 5:24 PM

We're all a little poorer today for the passing of my hero Jane Jacobs - a fearless, startlingly original, and largely self-taught thinker, and the deepest sort of patriot. They won't be making too many more like her.

Thanks, Jane. I think of you each and every time I walk through the leafy West Village - which so easily could have been a congeries of onramps to the Crosstown Expressway - and I always will.

Originally from v-2 Organisation | Adam Greenfield reBlogged on Dec 31, 1969, 6:59PM

Originally from v-2 Organisation | Adam Greenfield, on April 25, 2006 5:24 PM

Rest in peace

Originally from Abstract Dynamics by Abe reBlogged on Apr 25, 2006, 5:27PM

Originally posted by Abe from Abstract Dynamics, on April 25, 2006 5:22 PM

highly concentrated daily video goodness, like Rocketboom but awesome-r. not awesomr ?

Originally from Waxy.org Links reBlogged on Apr 25, 2006, 5:17PM

Originally from Waxy.org Links, on April 25, 2006 5:22 PM

Announcing the Signal vs. Noise Job Board. Our answer to the dozens of requests we’ve been getting every week for a while now: “Do you know where I can find a good designer?”, “Who’s available to do Ruby on Rails work?”, “Have you heard about any project managers being available?”.

It’s $250 to post a job. You get 500 characters to make your pitch and it stays up for 30 days.

We will be promoting the job board in various ways over the next few months including a permanent position in the SvN sidebar which is seen by tens of thousands of people every day.

Originally from Signal vs. Noise reBlogged on Apr 25, 2006, 4:56PM

Originally from Signal vs. Noise, on April 25, 2006 5:22 PM

The NY-based TED team spent much of last week in San Francisco, remembering just how much we love that gorgeous city. It seems a fine moment, then, to share another of our favorite ads, which screened at TED2006.

Many of you have no doubt seen this spot (a testament to its wide appeal, since it hasn't actually aired in the U.S.). But in case its escaped your attention ... Imagine 250,000 colored Superballs, bouncing down the hills of San Francisco. Now watch ... No CGI here. These are real balls, real hills, real color. Even a real frog.

Created by Fallon London for Sony Bravia.

[Other Ads We Love: Boardroom | noitulovE (Evolution)]

Originally posted by June Cohen from TED Blog, on April 25, 2006 5:22 PM

Dining for Darfur. “A fundraiser... at restaurants around New York City (and beyond) on Sunday April 30th, coinciding with the Save Darfur rally in Washington DC. Participating restaurants have agreed to donate 5% of their gross sales for the evening of Sunday April 30th to the International Rescue Committee’s humanitarian relief efforts in Darfur and in the refugee camps in Chad.” Or why not a potluck teach-in?

Originally from Social Design Notes reBlogged on Apr 25, 2006, 2:31PM

Originally from Social Design Notes, on April 25, 2006 5:22 PM

Originally from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs by miyagawa reBlogged on Apr 25, 2006, 2:16PM

Originally posted by miyagawa from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs, on April 25, 2006 5:22 PM

Originally from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs by miyagawa reBlogged on Apr 25, 2006, 2:15PM

Originally posted by miyagawa from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs, on April 25, 2006 5:22 PM

(I was going to try to make a "Death and Life of Great American Urban Theorists" joke, but she lived in Toronto for years.) A giant of her field -- if she had lived twenty years earlier than she actually did, America's great cities might be even greater.

Originally from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs by snarkout reBlogged on Apr 25, 2006, 2:09PM

Originally posted by snarkout from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs, on April 25, 2006 5:22 PM

Remembering Jane Jacobs (from the 1969 CBC Archives)

Jane Jacobs Profile at Project for Public Spaces

Today's obituaries:
Toronto Star: Jane Jacobs, 89: Urban legend
CBC News: Urban thinker Jane Jacobs dies
Globe and Mail: Jane Jacobs dies

Originally from Space and Culture by Anne reBlogged on Apr 25, 2006, 1:39PM

Originally posted by Anne from Space and Culture, on April 25, 2006 5:22 PM

Jane Jacobs bio

Originally from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs by mathowie reBlogged on Apr 25, 2006, 1:20PM

Originally posted by mathowie from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs, on April 25, 2006 5:22 PM

Oh!

Originally from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs by blackbeltjones reBlogged on Apr 25, 2006, 12:40PM

Originally posted by blackbeltjones from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs, on April 25, 2006 5:22 PM

Google Calendar user Telegramsam uncovers Google's undocumented SMS capabilities,which include getting a list of today's events to your phone and scheduling an event on your calendar via text message.

I sent the message 'help' to 48368, and received the following messages:

• Google Calendar alerts you of upcoming/new/changed events on your calendar. For info: www.google.com/calendar. To cancel text stop to 48368.
• Standard msg charges apply. Text the following commands for more info: next (next event), day (todays events), nday (tomorrows events), or text a new event to add it via quick add.

I'm sorry to say that this totally didn't work for me - in fact, my Google Calendar SMS reminders don't come from that number at all - but maybe y'all will have better luck.

Google Calendar SMS Tricks [via MicroPersuasion]

 
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Related: Sync Google Calendar with your iPod

Originally from Lifehacker reBlogged on Apr 24, 2006, 4:00PM

Originally from Lifehacker, on April 25, 2006 1:26 AM

Short remembrance by Rob Janoff about designing the logo for Apple Computer. The logo was to be black & white to save on printing costs, but "Jobs was resolute, arguing that color was the key to humanizing the company".

Originally from kottke.org remaindered links by jkottke reBlogged on Apr 24, 2006, 3:59PM

Originally posted by jkottke from kottke.org remaindered links, on April 25, 2006 1:26 AM

Reader Emily writes in with some interesting information regarding brown eggs and diversity.

The argument I've heard (from the environmentalists) is that you should choose brown eggs to preserve genetic diversity. The brown chickens are in the minority. The white chickens are mass produced for meat and for eggs. The argument is that if you buy brown eggs you keep up demand for these more rare chickens, and hence the diversity.

She also included a link to The ICYouSee Handy-Dandy Chicken Chart: An Alphabetical List of More than 60 Chicken Breeds With Comparative Information. Handy is right! It makes me wish I could have my own chickens here in Manhattan, but I don't think they'd do well inside an apartment. Especially not with our cat. But if I could, I'd totally get chickens that lay blue and blue-green eggs.

Originally from megnut.com blog reBlogged on Apr 24, 2006, 3:06PM

Originally from megnut.com blog, on April 25, 2006 1:26 AM

True, if they emit steam and you’re selling coffee. [via Phoebe]

And of course, there’s always the tried-and-true free ice cream giveaway. (Tomorrow, April 25th) [via Joanne]

Originally from Amit Gupta's Blog by Amit Gupta reBlogged on Apr 24, 2006, 2:22PM

Originally posted by Amit Gupta from Amit Gupta's Blog, on April 25, 2006 1:26 AM

david posted a photo:

Originally from david's Photos by david reBlogged on Apr 24, 2006, 1:46PM

Originally posted by david from david's Photos, on April 25, 2006 1:26 AM

The prosecution argued for a death sentence for the 9/11 conspirator because "there is no place on this good Earth" for him.

Originally from NYT > Home Page by NEIL A. LEWIS and DAVID STOUT reBlogged on Apr 24, 2006, 12:00AM

Originally posted by NEIL A. LEWIS and DAVID STOUT from NYT > Home Page, on April 25, 2006 1:26 AM

A failed project to repair a pipeline has a wider significance as a metaphor for the entire $45 billion rebuilding effort in Iraq.

Originally from NYT > Home Page by JAMES GLANZ reBlogged on Apr 25, 2006, 12:00AM

Originally posted by JAMES GLANZ from NYT > Home Page, on April 25, 2006 1:20 AM

Awesome American Express commercial by Wes Anderson. (via gf)

Originally from kottke.org remaindered links by jkottke reBlogged on Apr 24, 2006, 11:55PM

Originally posted by jkottke from kottke.org remaindered links, on April 25, 2006 1:20 AM

As part of their "simplicity" ad campaign, Philips is paying Time Inc to put the table of contents in some of their magazines on page 1 (the TOC is typically further into the magazine in a more irritating position). It's funny that there was concern about this type of advertising affecting the layout of the magazine (in the editorial/sales wall sort of way) when the whole idea of pushing the TOC to page 10 or 20 is to accomodate advertising in the first place.

Originally from kottke.org remaindered links by jkottke reBlogged on Apr 24, 2006, 5:00PM

Originally posted by jkottke from kottke.org remaindered links, on April 25, 2006 1:20 AM

Ira Glass and This American Life have moved to NYC...and they're making a TV version of the show for Showtime.

Originally from kottke.org remaindered links by jkottke reBlogged on Apr 24, 2006, 4:39PM

Originally posted by jkottke from kottke.org remaindered links, on April 25, 2006 1:20 AM

Originally from hello, typepad by David Jacobs reBlogged on Apr 24, 2006, 4:22PM

Originally posted by David Jacobs from hello, typepad, on April 25, 2006 1:20 AM

So, some Austrian guy Alex has implemented an OGLE GUI application that supposedly makes it much easier to configure and use OGLE. He has posted the executable, and some of his OGLE results, at http://members.chello.at/alexan/.

Use it, test it, and give him feedback on the SourceForge forum.

Originally from OGLE: OpenGLExtractor by Eyebeam R&D blogs reBlogged on Apr 24, 2006, 4:12PM

Originally from OGLE: OpenGLExtractor by Eyebeam R&D blogs, on April 25, 2006 1:20 AM

Sun founder Scott McNealy has stepped down after 22 years as CEO. Some say that McNealy was too focused on his personal crusade against Bill Gates and Microsoft to take Sun to the next level.

Originally from kottke.org remaindered links by jkottke reBlogged on Apr 24, 2006, 11:30PM

Originally posted by jkottke from kottke.org remaindered links, on April 24, 2006 10:37 PM

Updated This comes after years of speculation, which has mounted since the fabled Silicon Valley server company seemed to run out of gas. We had to pinch ourselves, but there it is right on the Internet: Sun changes its management bio web page to put Jonathan schwartz in number one position as pres & ceo, with Scott Mcnealy demoted to second place as chairman. Update: The Merc's story Wednesday about Schwartz, and how he does not plan to cut jobs as deeply as some on Wall Street are calling for. Update II: The Merc's original story Tuesday about the stepping down. Update III: Our colleague Langberg on how McNealy lost credibility. Update IV: Here's a video of a noteworthy retrospective event, held in Mountain View in January by the four founders of Sun....

Originally from VentureBeat by Matt Marshall reBlogged on Apr 24, 2006, 7:05PM

Originally posted by Matt Marshall from VentureBeat, on April 24, 2006 10:37 PM

It’s not that complicated, really. Bloggers are taking over the world. Resistance is futile; you will be assimilated.

Originally from ongoing reBlogged on Apr 24, 2006, 7:04PM

Originally from ongoing, on April 24, 2006 10:37 PM

I’m done. I’ve had it with all of the “Web 2.0″ hype and bullshit. It’s all so very tired. If your article’s got Web 2.0 in the title, you’re pretty much guaranteeing yourself one less reader. Sorry, but enough is enough.

Originally from Justin Blanton reBlogged on Apr 24, 2006, 1:14PM

Originally from Justin Blanton, on April 24, 2006 10:37 PM

Roger Toussaint began a 10-day jail sentence after walking across the Brooklyn Bridge with union members.

Originally from NYT > Home Page by COLIN MOYNIHAN and MARIA NEWMAN reBlogged on Apr 24, 2006, 12:00AM

Originally posted by COLIN MOYNIHAN and MARIA NEWMAN from NYT > Home Page, on April 24, 2006 10:37 PM

You might want to do that Shawangunk Wine Trail in the near future, as Luxist has some information on Global Warming And The Future of Wine. Sounds like some wine-making regions will be threatened by changing weather and possibly unable to grow their current varietals of grapes.

Originally from megnut.com blog reBlogged on Apr 24, 2006, 1:52PM

Originally from megnut.com blog, on April 24, 2006 2:27 PM

Greg Saunders has a suggestion for a simple Democratic ad campaign for the midterm elections consisting of three graphs: gas prices, oil company stock prices, and oil company campaign contributions.

Originally from kottke.org remaindered links by jkottke reBlogged on Apr 24, 2006, 1:49PM

Originally posted by jkottke from kottke.org remaindered links, on April 24, 2006 2:27 PM

A real place, a real road. Pronounced "ZEye-zix."

Originally from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs by axt reBlogged on Apr 24, 2006, 1:00PM

Originally posted by axt from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs, on April 24, 2006 2:27 PM

Whoa - Google maps "mashup" (ptui!) produces UCL Bartlett / Space Syntax type analysis???

Originally from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs by blackbeltjones reBlogged on Apr 24, 2006, 12:44PM

Originally posted by blackbeltjones from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs, on April 24, 2006 2:27 PM

Wine-tasting at vineyards near New York City? I didn't even know that was possible! But the Shawangunk Wine Trail, "is nestled between the famous Shawangunk Mountains and the majestic Hudson River in Ulster County, just 85 miles north of New York City." It's an organization of eight wineries and you can visit and sample their wines. There are plenty of other attractions in the area, from nature trails to farmer's markets. I guess it makes sense, but really, I had no idea this was just upstate. I'm going to go check it out for sure.

Originally from megnut.com blog reBlogged on Apr 24, 2006, 11:03AM

Originally from megnut.com blog, on April 24, 2006 12:46 PM

Will has news on a scary Todd Helton injury, plus updates on Kerry Wood, Carlos Beltran and David Wright, Ray Durham, Scott Kazmir, and others.

Originally from Baseball Prospectus reBlogged on Apr 24, 2006, 12:00AM

Originally from Baseball Prospectus, on April 24, 2006 12:46 PM

New coinage by Simon Willison: pokemonetise, v., "to make money by appealing to the stupid human instinct to collect dumb things".

Originally from kottke.org remaindered links by jkottke reBlogged on Apr 24, 2006, 1:32PM

Originally posted by jkottke from kottke.org remaindered links, on April 24, 2006 12:46 PM

Mac OS X only: The Cuppa tea timer tells you when your cup of tea is done steeping. Select the beverage you are brewing, and:

Cuppa will begin timing the brew, and you'll see a teabag appear in the cup and gradually darken as the tea steeps. When the tea is done Cuppa will attempt to get your attention by various configurable means. You can also enable a countdown timer that's displayed in the dock icon.

Cuppa's a free download, Mac only.

Cuppa [Nathanatos Software via Cult of Mac]

 
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Related: Download of the Day: CustomizeGoogle

Originally from Lifehacker reBlogged on Apr 24, 2006, 11:00AM

Originally from Lifehacker, on April 24, 2006 12:45 PM

From Coloribus Blog, comes another example above of ways in which brands are leveraging street art and culture jammijng to sell products. We thought it was pretty clever.

Originally from Wooster Collective reBlogged on Apr 24, 2006, 10:01AM

Originally from Wooster Collective, on April 24, 2006 12:45 PM

This gets it exactly right:.

As annoying as this announcement will be to those who live there, Brooklyn has become an adjective, a shorthand for a certain style of living. It’s mostly Manhattan’s fault, of course; real-estate ridiculousness over the past ten years has forced the young, the creative, and people who want separate bedrooms for their kids to embrace 718. But what was once a reluctant move has become an enthusiastic, don’t-look-back migration to a place with more space—and thus, literally, more open to change, risk, experimentation. Real communities (the kind where neighbors invite each other over for dinner) have coalesced, and so has the style we’re calling Brooklynism: looser and more playful than its Manhattan counterpart, homey and ironic, comfortable but always conscious of its looks, and often of its politics (green and recycled are key). It’s not just limited to home design: In the following pages, you’ll see Brooklynism in all its manifestations, from the growing new-cuisine movement to the close-knit fashion-design community to the increasingly potent product-and-furniture-design gang, who’ve become an international force in just a few years.

Originally from stevenberlinjohnson.com by stevenberlinjohnson reBlogged on Apr 24, 2006, 10:00AM

Originally posted by stevenberlinjohnson from stevenberlinjohnson.com, on April 24, 2006 12:45 PM

Augieland's eating Otto's Ramps Pizza, and he's got a photo and it looks yummy! I've been meaning to make some dough and get back into using my pizza stone here at home. Perhaps tonight we'll try a homemade ramps pizza. His just sounds so yummy!

Originally from megnut.com blog reBlogged on Apr 24, 2006, 9:32AM

Originally from megnut.com blog, on April 24, 2006 12:45 PM

A big thanks to TEDster Jim Young, who spotted this cup in a Dallas Starbucks. We're curious how far Chris's idea might spread... let us know if it turns up near you!

Originally posted by June Cohen from TED Blog, on April 24, 2006 12:45 PM

Eric Byrnes and Bill Lee are strange birds, Jeffrey Maier (remember him?) is in the news again, and MLB has quickly renounced Forbes' most recent financial figures.

Originally from Baseball Prospectus reBlogged on Apr 24, 2006, 12:00AM

Originally from Baseball Prospectus, on April 24, 2006 12:45 PM

Originally from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs by blackbeltjones reBlogged on Apr 24, 2006, 11:54AM

Originally posted by blackbeltjones from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs, on April 24, 2006 12:39 PM

Visual Scratch by Jesse Kriss is a realtime visualization of scratch DJ performance. Ms Pinky is used to get the velocity of the turntable into Max/MSP using a control record.

Originally from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs by exiledsurfer reBlogged on Apr 24, 2006, 9:07AM

Originally posted by exiledsurfer from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs, on April 24, 2006 12:39 PM

Originally from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs by inkdroid reBlogged on Apr 24, 2006, 8:52AM

Originally posted by inkdroid from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs, on April 24, 2006 12:39 PM

Posted by JimH on #mobitopia (irc.freenode.net)

Originally from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs by mobibot reBlogged on Apr 24, 2006, 8:23AM

Originally posted by mobibot from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs, on April 24, 2006 12:39 PM

The Library of Congress has found 50 records worth of preservation, including Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation, my favorite album. Other rock classics being inducted include Jerry Lee Lewis' "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" and Buddy Holly's "That'll Be the Day," both from 1957; the Jimi Hendrix Experience's "Are You Experienced?"

Originally from chaotic intransient prose bursts reBlogged on Apr 24, 2006, 7:53AM

Originally from chaotic intransient prose bursts, on April 24, 2006 8:16 AM

Smoking dope with Thomas Pynchon.

and

"Words, processed, become images; images, processed, become words. A neat, essential balance, whose fulcrum is the versatile eye."

- Yann Martel

and The urban imagery of George Orwell:

"On one hand, the city can be thought of as a map (heir of many historic overlays) with its streets, buildings, squares, bridges, churches, parks, stations, neighbourhoods, etc.; on the other hand, the city can be thought of as its inhabitants, with their movements, with their social stratification, with their various social relationships, with all forms of gathering, their local customs, habits, role models and consumptions. Thus, a 'city of stone' (urbs) and a 'city of men' (civitas) (or, as some say, 'the living city'). Two concepts that refer to realities that are inevitably inter-related and that imply reciprocal influences: by distinguishing them, we reveal a useful research tool to study the vast quantity of narrative on the city..."

Both from wood s lot.

Originally from Caterina.net by noemail@noemail.org (caterina) reBlogged on Apr 24, 2006, 3:49AM

Originally posted by noemail@noemail.org (caterina) from Caterina.net, on April 24, 2006 8:16 AM

First of all, implementors of anything Atom-related need to spend some time chez Jacques Distler; in particular, the conversation that plays out in the comments. Second, there’s this piece of software called Planet Planet that allows you to make an aggregate web page by reading lots of feeds; for example, see Planet Apache or Planet Sun. Sam Ruby decided that its Atom support needed some work, so he did it. Now, here’s the exciting part: he pinged me over the weekend and said “Hey, look at this” wanting to show me his cleverly-Atomized Planet Intertwingly feed. I looked at it in NetNewsWire and was puzzled for a moment; some but not all of the things in the feed were highlighted as unread, even though this was the first time I’d seen it. Then the light went on. This is Atom doing exactly what we went to all that trouble to make it do. NetNewsWire has good Atom support and, because Atom entries all have unique IDs and timestamps, it can tell that it’s seen lots of those entries before in other feeds that I subscribe to. That’s how I found Jacques’ piece. This is huge; anyone who uses synthetic or aggregated feeds knows that dupes are a big problem, showing up all over the place. No longer, Atom makes that problem go away.

Originally from ongoing reBlogged on Apr 24, 2006, 3:44AM

Originally from ongoing, on April 24, 2006 8:16 AM

Game on Google Maps offers a very good overview of the existing games that take advantage of google map.

It ranges from very simple concept (finding a landmark) to more elaborate. With also ideas for possible implementations (Warcraft-like games or Risk or a revival of Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?).

An interesting existing project is Brewster Jennings Protects America: The global spy hunt game.:

Remember playing “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego” as a kid? Well now the new game Brewster Jennings Protects America brings this classic adventure into the 21st century by merging the game play with Google maps technology*. In the web-based Brewster Jennings Protects America game you race around the globe as a government agent trying to stop a deadly terror attack from taking place….

The story so far: You are an undercover CIA agent claiming to work for the fictitious “Brewster Jennings & Associates” company. You were just awoken at three in the morning by a phone call from The Chief telling you to report to your office immediately. From what he told you it looks like a terrorist is set to attack today and you are the country’s last and only hope.

The “control your airplane” is almost an old-school shoot’em up with a google map.

My favorite is maybe Tripods in which you have to battle invading Google Maps tripod markers that are invading Manhattan!

Why do I blog this? with open platforms such as google map, there might be an opportunity to have creative location-based games/applications (with of course still some user interface issues).

Originally from pasta and vinegar by Nicolas reBlogged on Apr 24, 2006, 3:43AM

Originally posted by Nicolas from pasta and vinegar, on April 24, 2006 8:16 AM

We've been covering the American Institute for Architectures efforts to promote green building

for some time now, but their latest list of the top ten green buildings of 2006 is no disappointment. It even includes my favorite new public building here in Seattle, the Ballard library:

The Ballard Library and Neighborhood Service Center draws on this Seattle neighborhood's Scandinavian and maritime roots while focusing on the future of the community, composed of a young, diverse population.

The gently curving green roof absorbs water, reducing stormwater runoff. The periscope and observation deck invite visitors to engage in the roof's ecology above the street. Daylighting studies allowed the team to maximize the use of varying intensities of natural light, and metered, photovoltaic glass panels shade the Neighborhood Service Center lobby, demonstrating the effectiveness of photovoltaic technology in the Pacific Northwest. The design team hoped to create a facility that would be a dynamic teaching tool for green design and environmental awareness. The project illustrates that green building is feasible within a modest budget and presents an ideal example of some of the benefits that can be realized when green design combines with extraordinary architecture.

The summary doesn't go into all the library's green features, which are detailed here. It really is an extraordinary building, one which points the way to bright green architecture and fits wonderfully into the neighborhood. (Sarah tells more about the other award winners over here on Inhabitat.)

(Posted by Alex Steffen in A Newly Electric Green – Sustainable Energy, Resources and Design at 01:01 PM)

Originally from WorldChanging: Tools, Models and Ideas for Building a Bright Green Future by Alex Steffen reBlogged on Apr 23, 2006, 5:01PM

Originally posted by Alex Steffen from WorldChanging: Tools, Models and Ideas for Building a Bright Green Future, on April 24, 2006 12:29 AM

"Charney's deft ability with signs and signifiers has brought him to the point where professional purveyors of purely sexual imagery are taking their cues from him."

Originally from tecznotes links by Michal Migurski reBlogged on Apr 23, 2006, 9:50PM

Originally posted by Michal Migurski from tecznotes links, on April 23, 2006 10:48 PM

Here are a few maps of classic video games

Originally from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs by augustocastelli reBlogged on Apr 23, 2006, 3:31PM

Originally posted by augustocastelli from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs, on April 23, 2006 10:47 PM

bjork stories:

from a friend, a couple years ago: during the blizzard i saw this dark haired woman wearing nothing but two silk slips pushing a baby carriage thru the east village and then i realized: that's bjork!

another friend: recently i was walking through the east village and i saw this woman wearing impossibly high metallic silver heels pushing a baby carriage and then i realized: that's bjork!

me: walking down 11th street last year a dark haired woman wearing the Most Gorgeous asymmetrical white coat i have ever noticed walking towards me, and then i realized... bjoo-ooork

yesterday i said to dr: can a grown up chick, like shallwesay i, pull off a slip dress made out of this heart-balloon print?
him: nope.
me: hmm... but i must!
him: okay.

(it's cotton and kind of sheer, bought proper lining for it, tonight... fun!)

Originally from serenalarogers by serenalarogers reBlogged on Apr 23, 2006, 9:02PM

Originally posted by serenalarogers from serenalarogers, on April 23, 2006 10:46 PM

a javascript demo of how to properly handle tab key presses within a textarea (I wish all blog software supported this)

Originally from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs by mathowie reBlogged on Apr 23, 2006, 9:48PM

Originally posted by mathowie from del.icio.us/inbox/djacobs, on April 23, 2006 10:46 PM

Has anyone previously published a JavaScript methodology for using the Tab key to indent while within HTML textarea controls? I'd like to use light markup (Markdown) inside a Web form for composing blog entries/essays/etc. However, many elements require whitespace indentation, e.g. blockquotes, nested lists, etc, for which I'd prefer to use the Tab key instead of raping the spacebar (Markdown works best with 4-space indents, otherwise I might just get by with 2 spaces).

One can use JavaScript to implement a "normal" usage of the Tab key, and I have already started on such an implementation. However, I don't want to re-invent the wheel, and find it hard to believe nobody else has done something like this prior. Google has not helped much (tough thing to search for--far too much noise in the results).

Does anyone know of any pre-existing scripts/techniques that accomplish this, or should I forge ahead and continue writing my own?

Please note that I am familiar with the "tabs vs spaces" debate and do not wish for it to repeat here; in addition, I realize that for publicly facing websites, overriding default keyboard behavior can be an accessibility no-no--this is for the admin interface for a personal website.

Originally from Ask MetaFilter by cyrusdogstar

reBlogged by Matthew Haughey on Apr 23, 2006, 11:58PM

Originally from mathowie reBlog feed by cyrusdogstar reBlogged on Apr 23, 2006, 9:36PM

Originally posted by cyrusdogstar from mathowie reBlog feed , on April 23, 2006 10:46 PM

"After all others had been silenced, his lonely act of defiance against the Chinese regime amazed the world. What became of him? And 17 years later, has China succeeded in erasing this event from its history?"

Originally from tecznotes links by Michal Migurski reBlogged on Apr 23, 2006, 1:57PM

Originally posted by Michal Migurski from tecznotes links, on April 23, 2006 4:12 PM

---

Not a big fan of Joseph Cornell's boxes--too much about the romance of old stuff scrounged in swap meets, too in love with their own delicacy, too frequently visually inert--but he deserves his place in history as the Father of the Remix. From Senses of Cinema:

Rose Hobart (1936) consists almost entirely of footage taken from East of Borneo, a 1931 jungle B-film starring the nearly forgotten actress Rose Hobart. Cornell condensed the 77-minute feature into a 20-minute short, removing virtually every shot that didn't feature Hobart, as well as all of the action sequences. In so doing, he utterly transforms the images, stripping away the awkward construction and stilted drama of the original to reveal the wonderful sense of mystery that saturates the greatest early genre films.

While East of Borneo is a sound film, Rose Hobart must be projected at silent speed, accompanied by a tape of "Forte Allegre" and "Belem Bayonne" from Nestor Amaral's Holiday in Brazil, a kitschy record Cornell found in a Manhattan junk store. As a result, the characters move with a peculiar, lugubrious lassitude, as if mired deep in a dream. In addition, the film should be projected through a deep blue filter, unless the print is already tinted blue. The rich blue tint it imparts is the same hue universally used in the silent era to signify night.

Rose Hobart was only one of several mythologized actresses who populated Cornell's hermetic world. Many of his boxes were homages to the actresses that formed his pantheon: Lauren Bacall, Hedy Lamarr, Greta Garbo and Deanna Durbin, among others. (Yawn. --tm) In Rose Hobart, Cornell holds Hobart in a state of semi-suspension, turning the film itself into a sort of box. She moves her hands, shifts her gaze, gestures briefly, smiles enigmatically, perhaps steps slightly to the side, and little more. The world appears as a sort of strange theatre, staged for her alone.

But the root of Cornell's genius as a filmmaker is his singular version of montage. Cornell's version of continuity is the continuity of the dream. He does not juxtapose images so much as suggest unlikely — but still vaguely plausible — connections between them. Hobart's clothing may change suddenly between shots, but her gesture is continued or she remains at a similar point in the frame. Unlike most collage filmmakers, Cornell does not rely on cheap irony or non sequitur. His films are unsettling because their inexplicable strings of images are like reflections from the deep well of the subconscious. In fact, one of the most arresting images in Rose Hobart comes when a solar or lunar eclipse is paired with the image of an object falling into a circular pool of water. Hobart simply gazes bemusedly at this spectacle, as if it were little more than a parlour trick.

Yes! That sequence is amazing, I wish it was in this Quicktime clip from the Walker Art Center. The Cornells of today are lurking on YouTube and/or being busted by the intellectual property police. Too damn bad.

Originally from Tom Moody by tom moody reBlogged on Apr 23, 2006, 5:40AM

Originally posted by tom moody from Tom Moody, on April 23, 2006 1:50 PM

"But this is all academic. Most officers would acknowledge that we cannot leave Iraq, regardless of their thoughts on the invasion. We destroyed the internal security of that state, so now we have to restore it. ... My sincere view is that the commitment of our forces to this fight was done with a casualness and swagger that are the special province of those who have never had to execute these missions -- or bury the results."

Originally from tecznotes links by Michal Migurski reBlogged on Apr 23, 2006, 12:38PM

Originally posted by Michal Migurski from tecznotes links, on April 23, 2006 1:50 PM

Smashing Pumpkins are (going to be) recording a new album. (via 6f6)

Originally from kottke.org remaindered links by jkottke reBlogged on Apr 23, 2006, 1:54PM

Originally posted by jkottke from kottke.org remaindered links, on April 23, 2006 1:50 PM

I can't find a permanent link to it, but for the next week or so, you can see the NY Times package on the Empire State Building, which turns 75 this year. Lots of photos, rememberances, etc.

Originally from kottke.org remaindered links by jkottke reBlogged on Apr 23, 2006, 1:35PM

Originally posted by jkottke from kottke.org remaindered links, on April 23, 2006 1:50 PM

Manhattan's Chinatown is already pretty crowded on weekends, so imagine what it's like when 50 restaurants offer food samples for $1-2 a plate. The threat of rain didn't seem to deter anyone from venturing downtown today for a Taste of...

Originally from A Full Belly by Adriana reBlogged on Apr 22, 2006, 9:35PM

Originally posted by Adriana from A Full Belly, on April 23, 2006 8:51 AM