randomwalks/dj

"There's something simultaneously earthly and spiritual about the need to fill space with a regularized system. In all of endless possibility, there are only 17 ways to fill a plane with a regular 2 dimensional pattern. Mathematicians call this set The Wallpaper Group. These structures show up in religious art, and in tablecloths. Celtic scribes spent years sitting in poorly lit 10th century monasteries, creating the same type of drawings that we mindlessly scrawl on post-it notes while on the phone."

Originally posted by Michal Migurski from tecznotes links, on June 9, 2007 10:10 PM

Simon Willison's presentation on the Lawrence Kansas Journal-World.

Originally posted by Michal Migurski from tecznotes links, on June 9, 2007 9:01 PM

The BBC reports outrage from the Church of England: Sony used a simulation apparently based on Manchester cathedral as a setting for a shootout in a violent videogame. In my opinion, this marks a watershed in the public, and possibly in the legal understanding of virtualities. While some would hold that any attention, whether positive or negative, is good advertising, the Church's demand that the game be recalled from sale indicates the losses that will be at stake.

Usually, moviemakers seek a "location release" in advance for any place they film, just like the similar "person release" for anyone who is recognizeable in their footage.

Sony's defense that the cathedral is simulated, not directly filmed, relies on notions that the virtual is somehow "unreal". The law is unclear, but many people will immediately recognize that the reality of virtual places and of other simulations is exactly why they are successful. The virtual is "real but not actual" in the immortal words of the novelist, Marcel Proust. A simulation is more than just fiction - it stands in as good as reality. Splitting hairs on this point... misses the point.

What does this mean for other simulations of places? What places does one ask permission for? If a church is inappropriate, what about a city park? Governments have worried about the security implications of satellite images accessible from the web, but could a Google Earth allow access into a cloistered community of nuns, for example? What control do individuals and communities have over how places are experienced - both materially and virtually, and therefore how they are understood and remembered?

There are also implications for debates on terrorism, as computer games generally dramatize violent assaults not just on people but on places and groups of people in famous places in exciting ways.

More on this as we get our head around the vast implications for videogame design and more broadly, for the way we as a global society treat the virtual.

Originally posted by Rob Shields from Space and Culture, on June 9, 2007 8:39 PM

We totally get why this straphanger needed to bring an armchair onto the L - those seats can get hard and uncomfortable after a while! (Sometimes swings are more comfy, too.) We don't think the color goes with the L's austere pale blue and silver scheme, but maybe we're supposed to respond to the eclectic juxtaposition of objects. Actually, this just makes us wonder what's the most unwieldy object you've ever transported via the train? Of course there are bikes, heavy suitcases, and double wide strollers, but we've been noticing a couple air-conditioners ride the rails lately. And then there's that big fish. Do you have any tips for moving large object by subway? Photograph by meganificent on Flickr; tag your Flickr photo "gothamist" so we can see it!

Originally posted by jen from Gothamist Weekly Favorites, on June 8, 2007 4:29 PM

The more I see of Pixar’s Ratatouille the more excited I am to see it. Perhaps I’m still suffering from withdrawal symptoms from not giving a rat’s ass (pardon the pun) about Cars. Yeah, I know, Pixar’s the king of story-telling and strong characters, but still — talking cars.

Every time a new animated feature is released, you can bet there’ll be the ubiquitous “Art of” book along with it. I regularly gobble these books up, because even when the movie isn’t great, a nice heavy book of glossy concept art just can’t be beat (heck, I even bought the one for Robots).

What’s particularly great about Pixar’s books is that they clearly demonstrate the amount of thought, detail, and stylistic cohesiveness that go into establishing the films’ looks from the earliest stages. The Art of Ratatouille may be my favourite yet.

It wasn’t long ago that human skin, delicate foods, and other things that require the most subtle and translucent interactions with light were difficult if not impossible to render convincingly. Now that Pixar no longer has to worry about whether they can render certain things, they are clearly spending their time making things look as lush and beautiful as possible. The book is loaded with some of the most stunningly warm, glowing concept art I’ve seen by the likes of Dan Lee, Nate Wragg, Peter DeSeve, Carter Goodrich, and many more. And if you watch the 9-minute sneak preview of the film, it’s clear they were able to translate that lushness from paper to screen. All this plus Patton Oswalt? June 29th can’t come soon enough.

Previously: Ratatouille trailer and interview with Brad Bird

Originally posted by Johnny from Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog, on June 8, 2007 4:26 PM

I was clicking around Hed Cycling’s site

You don’t know how hard it is for me to say this, but I think it is time for us to break up. We had some great times – I’ll never be able to forget your light weight and durability, and you are still super fast. You were an awesome ride but things have gotten stale. It’s not you, it’s me.

The Hed Alps have been replaced by the Jets (were the Alps like a starter wife?), an excellent wheelset that I’ve been racing on this year and have reviewed on Bike Hugger a few times. In most every race I’m in, I see a set of Alps, usually with the decals worn off, and looking a bit worse for wear, but still rolling and racing. My first Hed wheelset was the Alps and I sold them on Craigslist earlier this year. The dude that bought them was thrilled, happy, and amazed that he found a pair on Craigslist. Here’s to you Alps … goodbye.

Originally posted by Byron from Bike Hugger, on June 8, 2007 3:31 PM

NetNewsWire 3.0.1b7 addresses the top-priority bugs from the 3.0 release.

- Smart lists and searching no longer use Spotlight, which wasn’t working for some people. (However, you can still search news items via the system’s Spotlight search.)

- The Combined View is now based on the version that was in 2.x, since that version doesn’t rely on JavaScript and thus doesn’t crash. There is more to do with the Combined View: pagination (for performance) and UI (to make titles easier to read and make it look cooler).

We’re working on other bugs, too—but these are the highest-priority items.

Originally posted by Brent Simmons from ranchero.com, on June 8, 2007 3:17 PM

"if you believe that Jesus is going to come back in our lifetimes and kill everyone who doesn't agree with him, how do you keep that out of your politics?"

 bookmark this on del.icio.us - posted by stamen to andrewsullivan fundamentalist christopherhitchens youtube quote - more about this bookmark...

Originally posted by stamen from del.icio.us/stamen, on June 8, 2007 3:11 PM

This just in: word is that New York Senator Charles Schumer will be holding a press conference tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. at the Red Hook ball fields in support of the family food vendors. Andrew Carmalini of A Voce and Cesar Fuentes of the Food Vendors Committee of Red Hook Park Inc. will also be in attendance.

Originally posted by Alaina Browne from Serious Eats: Features, Videos and Required Eating, on June 8, 2007 12:53 PM

This just in: word is that Senator Charles Schumer will be holding a press conference tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. at the Red Hook ball fields in support of the family food vendors. Andrew Carmalini of A Voce and Cesar Fuentes of the Food Vendors Committee of Red Hook Park Inc. will also be in attendance.

Originally posted by Alaina Browne from Serious Eats: Posts and Comments by Alaina Browne, on June 8, 2007 12:53 PM

After my intial excitement to Paris's reinstated jail sentence subsided, I decided I feel a little, teeny, weeny bit bad for the heiress. That whole yelling for her mom thing as she was being dragged back to Lynnwood kind of tugged at my heart strings. What's your opinion?

Originally posted by Lindsey Unterberger from Daily Blabber, on June 8, 2007 12:45 PM

OMG I just jumped out of my seat and screamed to the entire office that PARIS IS OFFICIALLY HEADED BACK TO THE SLAMMER!

And you have to love karma -- this time she is being sentenced to serve all 45 days of her sentence, instead of the 23 she would have served had she stayed in jail the first time around. Although, the times she has already served (you know, all three days of it) will be comp'ed. I have a hunch she'll only end up serving the 23 days anyway, but I'm a-okay with that.

According to Access Hollywood, she was hauled out of the courtroom screaming, "Mom!!!"

I love it! I love it! I love it! I love it!

Originally posted by Lindsey Unterberger from Daily Blabber, on June 8, 2007 12:12 PM

Hot 100 women chosen by lesbians. A nice counterpoint to similar lists from Maxim and People. (link)

Originally posted by (author unknown) from kottke.org, on June 8, 2007 12:10 PM

"I don't know why the defendant [Paris] couldn't be treated at Lynnwood, because they have a great medical facility."

-- the judge addressing the courtroom during Paris's hearing

Originally posted by Lindsey Unterberger from Daily Blabber, on June 8, 2007 12:01 PM

This page generates a random pizza for you. I got a thin crust pie with red sauce, topped with mozzarella, red peppers, tomatoes, black olives, green peppers, and breaded chicken. Yum? (link)

Originally posted by (author unknown) from kottke.org, on June 8, 2007 11:06 AM

This story epitomizes the modern conservative movement. They are filled with Frank Luntz talking points, but when it comes down to actual life experiences...well....I give you Judge Robert Bork: Judge Robert Bork, one of the fathers of the modern judicial conservative movement whose nomination to the Supreme Court was rejected by the Senate, is seeking $1,000,000 in compensatory damages, plus punitive damages, after he slipped and fell at the Yale Club of New York City. Judge Bork was scheduled to give a speech at the club, but he fell when mounting the dais, and injured his head and left leg. He alleges that the Yale Club is liable for the $1m plus punitive damages because they "wantonly, willfully, and recklessly" failed to provide staging which he could climb safely.

Originally posted by The Huffington Post News Editors from David Jacobs' Huffs, on June 8, 2007 10:00 AM

President Bush is signing up legal help as he girds for battle with the Democratic-led Congress. Faced with a flurry of document requests and expanding congressional investigations, the White House announced Friday that Bush had hired nine lawyers, including five who'll fill new jobs in the president's legal office. The recruits have solid experience in white-collar crime, government investigations and constitutional law.

Originally posted by The Huffington Post News Editors from David Jacobs' Huffs, on June 8, 2007 10:00 AM

First, thanks for all of the emails I have gotten about thoughts/information about Web 2.0. I am preparing for a panel for Silverdocs and have used this as an opportunity to learn more about the web and the jargon … I mean, the language … created around the new platforms that exist. Getting up to speed on this has taught me that I knew a lot more than I thought. I was a bit nervous because although I have a personal blog and am a pretty internet savvy person, I was not sure that I was ready to speak publicly about these things. Also, I was unsure how to discuss Arts Engine’s role in the whole 2.0 revolution.

I have a much better grasp on the whole thing and will not give up too many of the things I have learned because, well, let’s save the five minutes of information I have for the Silverdocs audience members. I will pass along the definition of web 2.0 because many of my friends have emailed me and said that though they would like to help me in my quest for more information, they have no clue what the heck web 2.0 is. This article gives as a great definition and has some great diagrams. An easy analogy is that web 1.0 is the Encyclopedia Britannica and web 2.0 is wikipedia. Wikipedia allows anyone and everyone to update information. Encyclopedia Britannica simply provides information. A true oversimplification is that, for the reader, web 1.0 is more passive and web 2.0 is more active.

A few days ago, The Brian Lehrer Show featured Andrew Keen, a former Silicon Valley entrepreneur who has written a new book, The Cult of the Amateur: How today’s Internet is killing our culture. Keen believes that blogs, wikis and other web 2.0 phenomena cause a great deal of harm. Listening to him on the show, I was surprised at how pedestrian his arguments were. Haven’t we heard these arguments a hundred times:
• Bloggers aren’t “real” journalists.
• Filmmakers on YouTube are not “real” filmmakers.
• Wikis like wikipedia spread misinformation.

Maybe it was Keen’s glib tone but I thought that he would inspire some new debate.

When Lehrer spoke about some blogs that are deemed “legitimate”, written by living and breathing journalists, he referred to The Huffington Post. Keen then, completely contradicted himself and said that HuffPo is different. It functions more as an online newspaper than a blog because real journalists write it. So if “respected people” write online their work is called online newspapers but the college student, because he or she is an unknown entity, writes on this sub par format known as a blog. This is just more elitist jargon. Writing about what you had for breakfast may not necessarily be news but if there is an audience for it, I argue that maybe it is. I know people would read about what George Clooney had for breakfast if he had a blog. (Is he an eggs and bacon man or a fruit and yogurt kind of guy? These are questions I want answers to. I won't lie.)

As an entrepreneur, Keen did push the idea that many of the artists making videos on YouTube or the musicians putting their music on MySpace for free were not making smart financial decisions. Sure, their work was getting out there but they were making next to nothing financially. Plus (and this was implied) their work was not being seen in a platform that people necessarily respected. People tend to respect work that has to be vetted in some way.

As a filmmaker, I think about how I want to put my work out into the world. I have short films that I have made in film school and they are just sitting on my hard drive taking up space. At first, I did not put them up on YouTube because I want people to see them in a “proper” setting, in a film festival or on some distributors DVD that I can actually make some money off of. The problem with that idea is well, the films are too old to be in any more festivals and only a small handful of distributors take shorts (other than online ones which I have had varied success with). I can huff and puff about other filmmaker friends having their films in [insert fancy film festival here] or being distributed by [insert big name distributor here] but my films still remain on my hard drive.

I finally gave in a year ago and put my third year film school short on YouTube. After a year of doing absolutely nothing to drive traffic to it, 398 people have watched it. It’s not thousands but I could have 398 people watch my film or I could sit around and wait for some outside entity to legitimize my work. You be the judge. No I won’t get rich from this. But people outside of my inner circle will see my work. This can and has lead to success for other artists.

Again, these arguments are not new but because I was provoked to write such a long entry about it, it is clear that it is still a provocative subject. You can read more about Andrew Keen on, ironically, his blog.

Cross posted on Engine Feed.

Originally posted by Angela Tucker from tuckergurl, on June 8, 2007 8:57 AM

It's getting hot out, and you know what that means? Time to order iced coffee drinks from the local barrista. Sadly though, the state of coffee ordering has gotten so complex for me that the addition of "iced" seems to throw my whole order into doubt. I switched to decaf ages ago. I used to order soy milk, now I usually get cow's milk, but never skim. And I mostly order small drinks, though sometimes medium. And I never know in what order to place all the different variables. Today I tried for "small decaf iced latte" and when the women said something about milk, I assumed she asked if I wanted whole milk, so I said yes. Two seconds later, I was served an iced coffee.

"Oh, sorry. I wanted a latte," I said, "An decaf latte."

It seemed to be corrected and one women went to make it while the other began to ring me up.

"Iced medium latte," she said.

Apparently at this coffee shop, latte = coffee and decaf = medium. Or maybe I was just mumbly? I'm not anymore, now I'm all ZIPPY! From what seems to be a medium NOT DECAF iced latte!!

comments are open

Originally posted by meg@megnut.com (Meg Hourihan) from Megnut, on June 8, 2007 8:15 AM

California, long used to exporting fruit, is buzzing about a certain import: mangoes from India have arrived in SoCal. And blogger (and Serious Eater) Marvin has a great comparison, in words and pictures, between regular Mexican-grown variety and the Kesar mangoes from more distant lands. The imports are more than three times as pricey. Marvin's advice:

You should also find some buddies who are mad for mangoes and go in on a case with them, that way it's cheaper. My wife and I will probably eat one or two more of the dozen that I bought, and I will probably give the rest of them to my parents, who enjoy eating mangoes with white rice -- a simple, tasty, and very Filipino preparation.

Bonus: An '80s flashback courtesy of The Last Dragon.

Photograph from Burnt Lumpia

Originally posted by Adam Kuban from Serious Eats: Features, Videos and Required Eating, on June 8, 2007 7:52 AM

After working on this -- on again and off again, mostly off -- for much too long, I'm pleased to say that a significant chunk of kottke.org now has tags (around 5,100 entries are tagged, out of ~13,000). Right now, the only way to access them is through individual tag pages, but after all the bugs are ironed out, I'll be putting them in different places around the site (front page, main archive page, etc.).

Each tag page lists all the entries¹ on the site that are tagged with that particular word...some good examples to start you off are: photography, economics, lists, infoviz, food, nyc, cities, restaurants, video, timelapse, interviews, language, maps, and fashion. Each page also has a list of tags related to that particular tag and further down in the sidebar, you'll find lists of recently popular tags, all-time popular tags, a few favorite tags of mine, and some random tags...lots of stuff to explore.

I've tweaked the design as well: the main column is a little wider, the post metadata look/feel is consistent among short posts and long posts, faint dotted lines now separate all entries, and per-entry tags were added to the post metadata. I'm testing all that out for eventual site-wide use. Questions, comments, bug reports, etc. are welcome...send them on in.

Update: I almost forgot, the nsfw tag.

[1] Not all the entries exactly. Until I figure out how to do some pagination, I've limited the number of entries to 100 for each tag page. The movies page was more than 1 Mb when all the entries were listed. ?

Originally posted by (author unknown) from kottke.org, on June 8, 2007 7:19 AM

On Wednesday night I forcibly snuggled up to Jonah with a 70% completed Wednesday crossword and said we were going to complete it by team work! As I figured out some tough answers we both remarked how I have gotten noticeably better since I started hard-core crosswording 6 months ago. Just as I began to revel in this, the greatest compliment of all came. "You're really going to be good when you're an old lady," Jonah said. If you were in the apartment across the street you would have been momentarily blinded by a flash of light coming from our apt. because I was beaming.

Originally posted by Andrea from Andrea Harner, on June 8, 2007 6:27 AM

Kiss Boring Interfaces Goodbye With Apple's New Animated OS: The shift toward nonstandard interfaces isn't necessarily new. Kai's Power Tools, a set of plug-ins for Adobe Systems' Photoshop, featured what was at the time a revolutionary interface for editing image files. But the developer, Kai Kruse, was too far ahead of his time -- the majority of Mac users disliked the novel interface, which broke with conventions and ignored Apple's Human Interface Guidelines, or HIG. I'd love to read a more in depth history of the evolution of the Mac OS outside the HIG, because my guess is that it's way over-romanticized by design bloggers today.

Originally posted by David Jacobs from hello, typepad, on June 8, 2007 4:43 AM

Kiss Boring Interfaces Goodbye With Apple's New Animated OS:

The shift toward nonstandard interfaces isn't necessarily new. Kai's Power Tools, a set of plug-ins for Adobe Systems' Photoshop, featured what was at the time a revolutionary interface for editing image files. But the developer, Kai Kruse, was too far ahead of his time -- the majority of Mac users disliked the novel interface, which broke with conventions and ignored Apple's Human Interface Guidelines, or HIG.

I'd love to read a more in depth history of the evolution of the Mac OS outside the HIG, because my guess is that it's way over-romanticized by design bloggers today.

Originally posted by David Jacobs from hello, typepad, on June 8, 2007 4:43 AM

I had planned on watching an episode or two of Paula Abdul's upcoming reality show, Hey Paula, just to get in my daily dose of laughter. I fully expected it to showcase the nightmare that the American Idol judge is, but did I expect to be so entertaining that I would want to watch it all the time? Hardly.

Well, Ben Widdicombe of The Daily News says it's that good! The gossip columnist gave the show a glowing review in his column, claiming that his favorite quote of Paula's , "I'm tired of people not treating me like the gift that I am," is just one of the many highlights of the wacky dancer's Bravo bonanza that debuts on June 28th.

Paula is rumored to have tons of fights with everyone from her personal assistant to QVC executives and, even though she lives a very nice life, complains to be under appreciated by everyone that crosses her path.

I'm in.

Originally posted by Tracy Pepey from Daily Blabber, on June 8, 2007 4:11 AM

Vatican city is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome. The Vatican is the smallest independent nation in the world. With Religion as the back/bone the Vatican is a naturally a Mecca for many visiting Nuns from around the world.

A Dyslexsic is able to find Amor in Roma without much effort! Many people associate Roma with being Romantic. I personally associate Roma with sore abdominal muscles due to leaning over and hanging upside down while painting backwards from a rooftop all night long.... Above

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Wooster Collective, on June 8, 2007 3:25 AM

Answer: no.

Jabba has a BELLY BUTTON!

Originally posted by Alice from Wonderland, on June 8, 2007 2:16 AM

---

Marisa Olson Collections 1: Sound Files
images Olson posted to Nasty Nets, reBlogged

Originally posted by tom moody from Tom Moody, on June 8, 2007 1:48 AM

Just in case anyone is wondering (especially people, say, at Apple), I got my entire interview with wired.com cleared with Apple PR before sending it off. (And, no, they didn't ask for any changes.)

In general, talking about the features of their unreleased OS would be a violation of my NDA(s) with Apple, but in this case Apple had already put up public web pages about the CoreAnimation features I mentioned, so legally speaking that creates an exception to my NDA.

But there may be other terms in the Leopard prerelease that I didn't notice, and, as you might imagine, I wanted to make EXTRA SURE I didn't step on anyone's toes, so I got explicit sign-off on my interview from the mother ship. Nobody can call me Jonathan Schwartz. (Interesting fact: Jonathan gave me my first contract when I formed The Omni Group, 16 years ago.)

--

I actually tried to get an exception for my blog, as well, so I could write a pimp-my-code article on how cool Objective-C 2.0 is. Sadly, no dice, so you'll have to wait until October. Not that I'm saying it's cool. Or not. I'm not saying one way or another. I offer no opinion at this time.

Originally posted by Wil Shipley from Call Me Fishmeal., on June 7, 2007 11:41 PM

Answering Jeff's question about sports logos made me realize how much I like the new London 2012 identity. Seeing it made me recoil at first, but a few things have changed my mind about the identity.

The Saved By The Rave Olympic Remix totally nails the retro aesthetic the brand is tickling. The official brand video even makes some of the same covert references with its sinister electronic soundtrack: new rave is a "thing" and by 2012, we should be just about ready for a 20 year bounce of late 80's/early 90's pop cultural nostalgia. Speak Up calls out two other obvious references: Money For Nothing and MTV.

There's also some incredible stuff going on at the end of that brand video (fast-forward to ~1:50):

The logo defines a basic visual grammar that will survive reproduction in print, video, web, etc., and the use I'm seeing so far crackles with energy. In contrast to Jeff's two other contestants for worst sporting event logo (2006 World Cup and Tour de France), 2012 is the only one that has any sort of life in it. World Cup is flaccid and committee-drenched, while Tour is conservative.

London 2012 is absurd and wants to be shown around, so ridiculous that it spawns a wave of derision for maximum exposure.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from tecznotes, on June 7, 2007 10:14 PM

Via Ben and Mena, this outtake from the Sin City DVD of Robert Rodriguez cooking breakfast tacos is the most well-edited cooking video I've ever seen. You'll never again want to eat store bought tortillas after this.

Originally posted by Michael Sippey from this is sippey.typepad.com, on June 7, 2007 9:19 PM

I wanted to write longer entries about these things but I think I'll just bulletpoint them for now:

• They fired Isaiah Washington from Grey's Anatomy for saying the f-word awhile back!  Apparently they were deliberating for a while about this and just informed him that they were not going to renew his contract.  As much as I loved Burke, ABC did the right thing.  I know Washington made an effort to make things right but he has to be punished.  It sucks for the show though.  Really sucks. 

• I went to my first big organizing meeting for volunteers for Barack Obama's campaign.  There were hundreds of people there!  This my first step towards making a real, concrete contribution to this campaign.  Although there were people from all races at the meeting, somehow, it still felt segregated.  It felt like the white people grouped with the white people, the black with the black and so on.  Time will tell if this is all in my head.

• I can't even get into how insane and classist this whole Paris Hilton thing is.  That chick needs to go back to jail, NOW!  This is harder for me to deal with because I have been dealing with someone who was returned to jail after being on parole.  He violated his parole but it was a minor violation and now he may have to go back to jail for the rest of his life!  And Paris can get to be on house arrest because she may have a nervous breaakdown.  True, she is only in jail for traffic violations but if I have to deal with our stupid criminal justice system, she does too.

• My mailbox has been filled with goodies lately which almost never happens.  (Usually it is filled with people offering yet another way to consolidate my numerous student loans.)   Just as I was pulling my copy of Junot Diaz's Drown off of my bookshelf wondering where was he and when was going to write something else, I got the summer fiction issue of The New Yorker!  It feaures a new story from Diaz and other stories from Miranda July (!), Edwidge Danticat and more.  My main criticism about this issue is how few new faces there are (a typical problem with this magazine).  There was only one writer who has been in this magazine several times, David Hoon Kim.  Spread the love guys!  I am eager for some more new voices.  It's not helping your reputation and you are winning fewer literary awards because of it.  Just a thought.

• My anemia is bad again.  I am tired a lot and now have to take some insane amount of iron (1000mg)!  I might have to go in for some minor surgery at some point (around August) to deal with all of this.  I have a serious fear of hospitals and I am just trying to deal with that.  They say I will feel like a million bucks after this surgery.  I will feel ten years younger and will drop weight.  These are good things so I am trying to mentally prepare.

• I am on the fence about the Africa issue of Vanity Fair.  I have not finished the issue yet so I am going to hold my tongue on my feelings overall.  There is a lot of information in this issue that is useful and important.  Still, I am really conflicted about the whole role that celebrities play in all of this.  There is an ick factor to it.  I am not sure if I should just deal with the ick factor because it brings so much attention to parts of the world that need it.   More analysis needed on this one.

• Oh, President Bush is on one of the twenty covers of Vanity Fair's Africa issue.  Did I neglect to mention that?

• Chris Rock has a great piece in this Vanity Fair!  He is so brilliant.  I do not want to spoil it but  have to share my favorite bit:

I said I'd write a piece about the non-participation of African-Americans in Pan-African affairs.  I sat down at my computer and realized that piece would only be three words long.  Those words are:  Niggers are broke.  I sent that to Vanity Fair and they rejected it - not because it was three words, but because they didn't feel like getting a call from Al Sharpton.

• I feel on the brink of something big in my personal life.  I have no idea why I feel this way but I just do.

• I bought the new Maroon 5 and I love it!  I just love Adam Levine's voice. 

• I am taking a break from gossip sites (like JustJared, pinkisthenoewblog, TMZ etc).  I don't think I want to know anymore.  It just ruins everything.  For example, like I just said, I love the new Maroon 5 cd but everytime I hear Adam Levine speak in interview, he just seems annoying and pompous.  It just about ruined John Mayer for me!  I just don't want to know anymore!  I don't want to know what kind of people my favorite artists are.  I just want to enjoy their craft.  (I know.  I know.  "Good luck!")

• Last week we launched The Media That Matters Film Festival at my job.  You can watch the films online.  It features several social issue documentaries that are 8 mins or under.  My two faves are:  Garbage Dreams (#1) and I'm Not A Boy (#11).  Julie Joyce, featured in I'm Not A Boy, has the quote of all quotes in the film.  We think it should be on  t-shirt:  "I want to be something someone craves for and just can't have because they are not on my level."  I always find the events around the festival to be so inspiring.  Watch the films and tell me your faves. 

Originally posted by Angela Tucker from tuckergurl, on June 7, 2007 8:01 PM

What does it take to start writing programs for Linux ? Most people will guess a text editor, knowledge of a programming language and the compiler and libraries of that language would suffice. But ask a professional programmer who has been writing code for Linux and he will differ with you and insist that while the three things stated above can very well help kick start ones programs, other

Originally posted by Ravi from All about Linux, on June 7, 2007 7:01 PM

Next week, San Francisco will become the extremely concentrated stomping ground of Mac developers from around the world. I’m attending this year and am very excited (if a bit overwhelmed!) by the amount of activities that I’m scheduled to participate in both within the official confines of the conference, and outside those walls in various lunch meetings and evening meet-ups.

This is the first WWDC I’ve ever paid for. Ouch! That part stings - but I think it will be worth it. The last WWDC I attended was in San Jose, while I was still working at Apple. I had been several years running, although to be honest I didn’t spend all that much time in the sessions or parties. As a member of the Core Services team I had little time or inclination to be too curious about the various technologies that comprised “complete developer landscape.” Usually I learned about technologies as they related to the Core Services functionality that my team was providing.

This year is going to be different. As an independent software developer, I’m interested in — no, fascinated by — almost every facet of the system. The reason of course is that almost every facility Apple provides has the potential to be useful to me in providing new features to my users.

The other huge difference between now and then is the number of people I have become acquainted with outside of Apple. I have to confess that as an inside developer I didn’t go out of my way to make friends with 3rd party developers. I did meet a few at various developer kitchens and through email correspondence, but mostly I just stuck with my Apple friends. This WWDC will be exciting because I’ll get to see so many of my old Apple friends again, and also see so many of the 3rd party developers I’ve come to know through the web.

Meet Me In San Francisco

If you’re going to WWDC, be sure to wear a flower in your hair. Whoops, phrase-o. If you’re going to WWDC, and you have an interest in meeting me, I’ll be showing up in some predictable places throughout the week. These events all promise to be jam-packed with interesting folks. They’re not the only places you’ll find me, but they’re probably the most reliable (i.e. I’ll be there for a while):

Sunday: SF Mac Indie Soiree. The only for-pay event I’m going to, but so many people from the Mac developer world are going to be there I would feel extremely dumb to skip it.

Monday: Buzz Andersen’s Party. I have been jealous of those who attended this party for the past few years. I guess it turns out I could have gone while I still lived in San Francisco, but I wasn’t “tuned in” enough to know about it. (I was busy earning a BA in Music). Also, right around the corner and at roughly the same time are the WebKit and TUAW parties. So if you get bored anywhere you should find amusement nearby.

Thursday: I don’t know what Apple has in mind for its replacement of the venerable Cupertino Campus Bash, but I’ll be finding out, and hopefully catching up with a bunch of my old Apple friends.

I would be honored to meet any readers of this blog who happen to stumble upon me. Don’t worry, it will be easy to spot me in the crowd. I’ll be the nerdy programmer!

Originally posted by Daniel Jalkut from Red Sweater Blog, on June 7, 2007 4:08 PM

Faile, the Williamsburg streetart supergroup composed of two guys named Patrick, is having their first solo NYC gallery show this weekend, and they've asked Gothamist to announce the super-secret location. They've taken over an old glass factory on Chrystie Street just south of Stanton, and filled it with dozens of their canvases and sculptures. If you've enjoyed their street work and are in the neighborhood, check out the show-- today through Sunday, 11am-6pm, at 201 Chrystie. A few pictures from inside the gallery, after the jump.

Originally posted by jake from Gothamist Weekly Favorites, on June 7, 2007 4:07 PM

Buzz: “Come celebrate the start of the Apple Worldwide Developer’s conference, meet the people who make your favorite Mac software, listen to some great music, and enjoy some of the Mission District’s finest tacos, straight off the truck!”

I’m pleased to be able to say that the tacos are on NewsGator. ;)

Originally posted by Brent Simmons from ranchero.com, on June 7, 2007 3:49 PM

A series of visually insteresting ads from Juicy Fruit. (link)

Originally posted by (author unknown) from kottke.org, on June 7, 2007 3:48 PM

It’s hard not to see the new high-resolution 17-inch MacBook Pro display as a few months ahead of its time.

Originally posted by John Gruber from Daring Fireball, on June 7, 2007 2:56 PM

Di Fara, the famed Brooklyn pizzeria that claims a space in many people's hearts, has been closed since Monday after failing five of the last six Department of Health restaurant inspections. Now, the media has flocked to get sad reactions from customers. The NY Times talks to a Brooklyn College student, who says, "I come twice a week, at least. This is the best pizza. I don't want to find a new place." The violations included rodent infestation as well as preparing food without gloves. Owner Dominic DeMarco does not wear gloves, and his son told amNY, "My dad has a thing where he just can't make pizza while wearing gloves... For him, pizza is a very hands-on experience." Yeah - and the pizza is going into a super-hot oven. Pizza blog Slice created a waiver of liability for eating at Di Fara - we'd sign it! The DeMarcos are awaiting a tribunal (!), scheduled for June 14. DeMarco's daughter told the Times that though they provided a food safety certificate, it wasn't recognized because it was a photocopy. Slice, which has long loved Di Fara, believes this might be a silver lining, given that there's been a problem lately - burnt crusts - writing, "Maybe this break will give Di Fara some time to adjust the oven and fix whatever needs it." Do you think Di Fara's will re-open? And here are DOH inspection results, save for the most recent one. Photograph taken at DiFara's by tud5000 on Flickr

Originally posted by jen from Gothamist Weekly Favorites, on June 7, 2007 1:20 PM

Perl 5's reference counting scheme almost always keeps memory usage predictable...except for one corner case. The Resource Acquisition Is Initialization strategy helps avoid memory leaks--and can improve your use of exceptions, alarms, other resources, and even transactional systems. Igor Gariev demonstrates.

Originally posted by Igor Gariev from Perl.com, on June 7, 2007 1:15 PM

"Ugh. Fine, join facebook, but for the love of god, don’t friend your kids. It’s the online equivalent of trying to hang out with your kid and their friends." A reader comment on a the NYT article "omg my mom joined facebook!! 

“wayyy creepy,” it said. “why did you make one!”

Ah, there she was.

“What are you talking about?” I typed innocently.

“im only telling you for your own good,” my daughter typed.

“Be my friend,” I typed.

“You won’t get away with this,” she typed. “everyone in the whole world thinks its super creepy when adults have facebooks.”

“Have facebooks? Is that what you think a Profile page is called?” I typed.

She disconnected.

And below a favorite Simpson's clip.