randomwalks/dj

The vision and purpose for an application, or even an organization for that matter, are the standing marching orders. When someone makes a decision, they need a framework within which to make that decision. If the framework doesn’t exist or lacks clarity, it’s nearly impossible to make consistently good decisions. More importantly, for a large team, it is entirely impossible to have everybody rowing in the same direction without that vision.

Figure 1 The primary means of navigation within projects organizes the issues by responsibility and status. This not only organizes the issues along those lines, but serves to constantly reinforce the value placed on responsibility.

For that reason, it’s imperative that the vision and purpose exist. Since I’m developing the issue tracker virtually on my own, I might not have to coordinate a team of developers, but I do need that same framework. I’ve had a loose vision for our bug and issue tracker for years, but that’s not good enough. Loose visions lead to loose execution. So, after a bit of exploration, I decided that status, responsibility, and accountability are the most important aspects of the application.

Then of course, the corollary to that rule was that everything had to be as simple as possible. How did I define simple? I knew that any piece of functionality that did not directly support status, responsibility, or accountability wasn’t going to make it into the first version. More importantly, it meant that the design had to place an emphasis on those elements.

Emphasizing Status and Responsibility

Figure 2 Making status and responsibility highly visible is the key.

One of the first decisions that evolved was to base the navigational elements on responsibility and status. (Figure 1) The most important responsibilities are included. They are, “My Issues”, “Everyone’s Issues”, and “Nobody’s Issues”. In the system, unassigned issues are like red flags. Therefore, they even receive their own navigational tab so they can’t be overlooked. Also, all closed issues are excluded from the primary tabs and included in their own tab to that the main tabs are focused on active issues and making progress.

Additionally, when you’re viewing one of the tabs for active issues, the issues are listed such that status and responsibility are readily visible. (Figure 2)You should be able to quickly scan or scroll through a list of issues and gain a very thorough understanding of what you’re up against.

Figure 3 The header provides an very easy way to locate the key information and also serves as a gentle reminder of the current status. Figure 4 Each comment has a visual indicator of the new status if the status was changed with the comment.

In order to establish a visual language the elements of the design indicating status are carried over when you’re viewing an issue. The colors are used in the header at the top of the page for an ambient indication of status, and each comment also has a block quickly illustrating whether the status changed when that comment was made. (Figures 3 & 4)

Similarly, the comments are designed to facility quick scanning. This enables a rapid understanding of the life-cycle that a particular issue has undergone. Or, if you’re working on an issue, it enables you to quickly look back in time through the comments to find the original reason the issue was reopened. With the easily visible status indicators attached to comments, this all becomes much more natural and intuitive.

Summary

By having a clear vision and purpose, it enables everyone to make more focused and appropriate decisions. Whenever you face that tough “what should we do here” situation, the vision provides an obvious route out of the woods. Without that vision, there’s no telling what kind of decisions are being made. A particular quote comes to mind here.

Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.- Alexander Hamilton

It’s worth thinking about. What does your application stand for?

Originally posted by (author unknown) from GarrettDimon.com, on February 2, 2008 10:10 PM

A long post on the AWP is forthcoming.  In the meantime, here's a list of the books I purchased or otherwise acquired at the conference.  My friends weren't kidding when they told me that the bookfair was reason enough to register for the conference.  Most of the books on this list are from small and independent presses, so I made it a point to provide links.

coming down in white by Lori Shine (Pilot Books, limited edition of 200)

nothing fictional but the accuracy or arrangement (she by Sawako Nakayasu (Quale Press, 2006)

Kiss Me with the Country of Your Mouth by Amy King (Dusie, 2007)

The Desires of Letters by Laynie Browne (belladonna*, 2006)

Befallen I by Erín Moure (belladonna*, 2005)

A Revisioning of the Preamble of the Constitution of the United States of America by Jen Benka (belladonna*, 2003)

Mauve Sea-Orchids by Lila Zemborain (trans. Rose Alcalá and Mónica de la Torre) (belladonna*, 2007)

Specimen, Specimens by Anne Heide (Etherdome, 2008)

Learning the Language by Kate Greenstreet (Etherdome, 2005)

passing world pictures by Valerie Coulton (Etherdome, 2002)

Some Bridges Migrate by Scott Pierce (Small Fires Press, 2007)

Air Pocket by Kimiko Hahn (Hanging Loose Press, 1989)

Fieldnotes by Mark Weiss (Junction Press, 1995)   

Isa the Truck Named Isadore by Amanda Nadelberg (Slope Editions, 2006)

Lyric Postmodernisms: An Anthology of Contemporary Innovative Poetry ed. Reginald Shepherd (Counterpath Press, 2008)

Nylund the Sarcographer by Joyelle McSweeney (Tarpaulin Sky Press, 2007)

[one love affair]* by Jenny Boully (Tarpaulin Sky Press, 2006)

Exit Interview by Paul Guest (New Michigan Press, 2006)

The Cow by Ariana Reines (Fence Books, 2006)

Mommy Must Be a Mountain of Feathers by Kim Hyesoon (trans. Don Mee Choi) (Action Books, 2008) ,

Lip Wolf by Laura Solórzano (trans. Jen Hofer) (Action Books, 2007)

At the Drive-In Volcano by Aimee Nezhukumatathil (Tupelo Press, 2007)

You Can Tell the Horse Anything by Mary A. Koncel (Tupelo Press, 2003)

Bright Turquoise Umbrella by Hermine Meinhard (Tupelo Press, 2004)

The Bad Wife Handbook by Rachel Zucker (Wesleyan UP, 2007)

Originally posted by Adriana from Stingy Kids, on February 2, 2008 7:44 PM

We're just three days away from Super Tuesday. So I wanted to run down the latest polls out this weekend. On the Republican side the picture is coming pretty quickly into focus: John McCain looks poised to crush Mitt Romney on Tuesday. If you look at the results of the Gallup daily tracking poll, virtually all of Giuliani's support nationally has gone to McCain, pushing him up into the mid-forties. Put that apparent break-out together with the fact that the Republican side is dominated by winner-take-all primaries, and it seems more than likely McCain will take Tuesday in a blow out. Probably enough to effectively end the Republican race. (For more, here's our look at the state by state breakdown as of yesterday.) The Democratic side is far less clear, both because of the proportional delegate allotment and because of the volatility of the polls. The big story over the last ten days has been Barack Obama steady gains against Hillary Clinton nationwide. On January 20th, Obama was 20 points behind Clinton. On Feb. 1st, he was 3 points behind, both according to the Gallup daily tracking poll. But then today, in the same poll, Hillary popped back to a 7 point margin.

Any political or public opinion professional will tell you that it's very difficult to draw very much from a single day of a tracking poll. And weekend night's are notoriously unpredictable for getting good samples. But the only other publicly released tracking poll now being conducted, by Rasmussen, also showed a similar, albeit milder, Hillary blip in today's results -- Clinton 45%, Obama 37%, that's her up two points from the day before. The fact that this was the first night of polling after the Democratic debate provides some possible explanation for the change. Obviously this is not quite a national primary on Tuesday, about half the country will be voting. But national polls mix in populations that are being actively contested with phone-banking and tv ad runs and those that aren't. And the state by state polls aren't coming in great enough numbers to give us a clear read of the trends, especially anything that might have happened in the last couple days. Tomorrow's tracking poll results and especially those released Monday will give us a better sense of whether today's numbers were just noise or the beginning of a new direction in the race. Having gone over these numbers with Election Central's Eric Kleefeld, it seems clear that both Clinton and Obama will rack up a respectable number of state victories. But with the proportional allotment of delegates and the close margins, it doesn't seem like either is likely to come away with substantially more delegates than the other. Assuming the final delegate numbers aren't too far apart (and by that i mean, say, closer than a 60%-40% split) a lot of the press coming out of Super Tuesday could be about who 'won' California, even though like the other states, it's proportional rather than winner take all. What my gut tells me is that this all comes down to whether that blip in Hillary's margin from today turns out to be the first sign of something real. He's been moving so quickly in so many different states and nationwide that if his momentum continued through Tuesday I think he'd be set for a very good night. But perhaps that debate solidified Hillary's position and stopped him cold. I'll be very interested to see tomorrow's numbers. To see our analysis of the outlook in each of the Super Tuesday states as of Jan. 31st, click here. For all the polls released yesterday and today, click here.

Originally posted by Josh Marshall from Talking Points Memo, on February 2, 2008 4:33 PM

The Clinton campaign apparently understands that they need to shore up some African-American support after Bill Clinton's aggressive campaign rhetoric against Barack Obama in South Carolina — Bill is set to go on a tour of black churches in Los Angeles tomorrow, CNN reports. "They need to go touch the people like they did before. The bickering they got in in South Carolina must be put aside," said an unnamed elected official who will accompany Bill on the trip, and who described it as a "mea culpa tour." "Bill is going to have to come back among those who loved him and he did so much for. He is going to have to do it – I can't do it for him – and face the voters."'

Originally posted by Eric Kleefeld from TPM Election Central, on February 2, 2008 10:07 AM

For your convenience, here's a list of our Super Bowl party food-related posts from this week:

• Pizza Showdown: The Best Delivery Pizza for Your Super Bowl Party
• Pork Tacos
• Brown's Nachos
• Gametime Guacamole Goes Head to Head
• Super-Healthy Super Bowl Dip: Edamole
• The Best Blue Cheese For the Ultimate Super Bowl Blue Cheese Dip
• Seven-Layer Bean Dip
• Salsa Picante
• Boston Cream Pie
• Ketchup Chips
• Frito Pie

Originally posted by The Serious Eats Team from Serious Eats: Main, on February 2, 2008 9:00 AM

According to multiple reports, Johan Santana and the Mets agreed to a six-year, $137.5 million deal, with a $18.75 million club-option for the 2014 season with a team buyout.

…like teddy said, “Pay the man his money,” and they did…

In the New York Post, Mike Vaccaro believes that, by signing Santana, the Mets finally have their soul back.

…it had to be done…as i had been saying, if you want an ace, and i mean a real ace, this was the price the Mets would have to pay: lots of prospects and lots of money…period…or, instead, we could have collectively hoped and prayed that one of Mike Pelfrey, Phil Humber, Kevin Mulvey or Deolis Geurra would turn in to santana…this way, though, it’s a guarantee…

In a report for FOXSports.com, Ken Rosenthal explains…

“The top starting pitchers — Santana, Jake Peavy, Carlos Zambrano, Roy Oswalt — rarely make it to the open market. Indians lefty C.C. Sabathia figures to be the next exception, and he likely will hit the jackpot as a free agent, surpassing Santana. Rest assured, that deal will be stupid, too. The Mets, though, need not apologize for this dramatic step.”

In the Bergen Record, Bob Klapisch leads by writing…

“For three days, the anxiety was thick enough to clog a Met fan’s pores, although there was never any doubt the deal — the steal — of the decade would end in a handshake.”

…believe me, bob, there was doubt…at least among Mets fans…seriously, you should see my e-mail’s inbox…oh, baby…i lost count of the number of fans who threatened to no longer watch the Mets or baseball if the Mets botched this…

Klapisch continues on by asking a variety of questions associated with the deal, such as, “Was there any chance the deal could’ve collapsed?,” and, “What are Santana’s strengths? Does he have any weaknesses?,” among others.

Rosenthal also adds…

“The Mets need his presence, and not simply on the mound. Starting pitchers rarely are leaders, but Santana could provide an authoritative voice in the clubhouse — something the Mets lacked during their historic collapse last September. At the very least, his addition will shift the tone of spring training away from last season — no small psychological benefit.”

…exactly…not that santana needed to be acquired for public relations purposes…but, damn, he sure will help…

…i have had the chance to talk with lots of people over the last few days who know santana, or played with or coached him, and i keep hearing words like, “bulldog,” “focused,” and, “great teammate,” which is always nice to hear…

Originally posted by Matthew Cerrone from MetsBlog.com, on February 2, 2008 5:39 AM

Thanks to the volunteer work of Pat Hughes, Bob Frank, Mike Miley, Chuck Remes, Dave Dribin and Victoria Wang, I’m pleased to finally offer videos of C4[1]’s presentations.

I’ll upload one video per week, updating this entry as I encode+upload the videos:

• Wolf Rentzsch: Indie Ethos
• Wil Shipley: Monster Marketing
• Daniel Jalkut: Application Acquisition
• Shawn Morel: Virtualization Vivisection
• Bob Ippolito: Exploring Erlang
• Adam Engst: Hacking The Press
• Tim Burks: RubyObjC & Nu
• Cabel Sasser: Coda Confidential

You can peek at the schedule if you want the detailed presentation descriptions.

(Video geek tidbit: it takes my MacBook Pro six to seven hours to encode an hour of video. It then takes Viddler another hour or so to transcode it to Flash video. Many CPU cycles died to spare your precious bandwidth.)

Way back when I considered turning these videos in DVDs that I could sell to increase C4’s budget. However online videos like TED and Google Tech Talks have really driven home how great frictionless sharing of high-quality presentations can be. So spread these videos far and wide, all these are great speakers talking about subjects dear to their heart.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from rentzsch.com: Tales from the Red Shed, on February 1, 2008 8:02 PM

Wouldn’t be caught dead with a “latte” from Starbucks or a Coolata from Dunkin Donuts? Well, you haven’t reached the summit of coffee snobbery until you’ve had the self-proclaimed “ultimate” cup of coffee, expertly prepared by computers and pneumatic tubes at the Lower East Side’s Roasting Plant. Since opening last spring, business has been hopping at the sleek Orchard Street café; coffee aficionados are drawn back as much for the fresh coffee as for the experience of seeing it made.

And here, fresh means fresh; at Roasting Plant, each cup is brewed on demand. Upon placing your order – perhaps a medium “Red Eye” with Ethiopian Harrar Longberry with a shot of Sumatra Mandheling – the precise amount of beans are suctioned up through overhead pipes to be brewed on demand. At no time are the beans handled by filthy, clumsy human hands. And during the day, beans are periodically vacuumed out of bins and whisked through the pipes to the in-store roaster; about 15 minutes later they’re sent to the bins to await their future in your refined palate.

Roasting Plant was started by Mike Caswell, an industrial engineer who adapted the machinery from a Swiss model. A choice of six single-origin beans can be blended to order; you can also splurge on a “flight” of different brews, each one designated by a labeled napkin and accompanied by a cup of water to cleanse the palate between sips. Have you tasted the Roasting Plant’s fresh brew yet? Is it really ultimate? (Watch a video of the process here.)

Originally posted by John Del Signore from Gothamist Weekly Favorites, on February 1, 2008 6:56 PM

Meredith Stern Mine $25 This is a silkscreened, hand stamped, machine and hand sewn, stuffed animal, artist book. A labor of love. This is a reproductive justice piece. The book inside the stomach is as follows: The cover is hand stamped with the words "Is this mine". Inside the book are the lines "when we allow them to keep taking" [followed by several pages of many of the laws which have been passed in the United States (like 24 hour waiting periods, parental consent laws, etc)]. The text closes with "all that may be left" with a small hand bent coat hanger. Multimedia artist book 4" x 18" x 2.5" unsigned, edition of 72

Originally posted by Meredith Stern from Just Seeds, on February 1, 2008 5:02 PM

Fog Creek Software are the makers of the fine FogBugz bug tracking system, which I have started using for managing my own projects. You probably also know one of its founders, Joel Spolsky, as the author of an entertaining and informative blog about programming, and other software business-y stuff.

Today, Fog Creek posted an item to their new network status blog, confessing that 14 users had been overcharged for Copilot in January. Everything’s OK, these users are being refunded for the overcharge. The problem is resolved. And yet, Fog Creek chose to publicize the mistake anyway.

Fog Creek obviously recognizes that you earn the respect of customers when you’re willing to admit to thousands (hundreds of thousands?) that you screwed up, even if only 14 were actually affected.

Bravo, Fog Creek.

The reason I’m blogging this is because, well, I like Fog Creek, but also because I think heaping praise on companies that do the right thing is the best way to encourage other companies to follow suit.

Originally posted by Daniel Jalkut from Red Sweater Blog, on February 1, 2008 4:24 PM

Tim O'Reilly: Social Graph API: One small step for Google, one giant step for the Internet Operating System. Unlike OpenSocial, this is an example of Google using their strengths (search) for social networking.

Originally posted by Wes Felter from Hack the Planet, on February 1, 2008 4:22 PM

Yikes. Just now, I spent over US$600 on new typefaces. Well, not really. Mentally, I did, because I just quickly tallied up all of the typefaces I’ve seen recently and wished that I owned.

I’ll do that from time to time; window shopping, as it were, for new fonts to add to my repertoire, though I’ll rarely indulge myself by actually buying them. It’ll come as no surprise to most folks that, more often than not, I’ll fall back on Helvetica.

Still, I do have some desire to broaden my horizons. It’s just rare that I’ll find new typefaces that strike me as compelling enough to buy. The problem isn’t that I find recent typographic design lacking. Rather, it’s that I just don’t often find new typefaces that I feel are a good match for my particular ‘design voice’ (say what you will about the relative distinctiveness — or lack thereof — to be found in Helvetica, but helps me say what I want). I draw a parallel between finding the right typefaces for my repertoire and putting together a wardrobe: there are plenty of clothes that I see worn by other people to smashing effect, but it’s not every style that I feel would look good on me.

That said, here are a few of the ones that I threw into my mental shopping cart.

Omnes

The Hairline, Thin and Extra Light versions of Joshua Darden’s Omnes are gorgeous. They’re an elegant and slightly more playful alternative to the heavily used Light and Ultra Light weights of Helvetica Neue, and there’s just the slightest hint of a deco feel in there that I find to be very swank, for lack of a better term.

Apex Serif and Klavika

As readers of A Brief Message know, I’ve been enamored since last fall with Chester Jenkins’ warmly authoritative Apex Serif, which is the principal display type that I use for that project. This is one of the few contemporary fonts that have resonated with me so much that I actually purchased it and have continued to use it regularly. Unfortunately, I’m not quite as enamored of his Apex New, the sans serif interpretation that Jenkins released a few years after the original. It just doesn’t seem quite as definitive in its voice as the serif version.

Instead, I think I’d prefer Process Type Foundry’s Klavika, which a friend turned me on to recently. It’s got a clean boldness that parallels Apex Serif nicely, though I have my doubts as to whether you could get away with using them side by side. It’s true, they both feature a certain humanness that redeems their respective robotic tones. But used together, I imagine they would come off quite coldly.

For a change of pace, I’ve been trying to imagine a design problem that I can assign myself in order to justify the purchase of Hoefler & Frere-Jones’ emphatic Ziggurat. It features exceedingly satisfying slab serifs and, for me, has something of the same comforting quality of New Century Schoolbook, one of my all-time favorites. But it’s so evocative of the archetypes of ‘Egyptian’ types that I’m not sure it would really work for me. Still, I could look at it for hours.

Speaking of typefaces I’ll never use, I get a kick out of Stefan Kjartansson’s Black Sabbath, which is at once imposing and deadpan hilarious. On the sales page for it, the copy describes Black Sabbath as “colossally black,” and I couldn’t put it any better. I find it entertaining as heck the way its forms seem to punch holes in the page (or screen); it’s so over-the-top aggressive that it’s quite charming, even though I wish there were a few measures more subtlety in the counters of the O and C shapes. Still, at just US$38.95, it’s tempting enough just to buy to have around. Like that copy of “Paranoid” that I’ve got but never listen to.

Originally posted by Khoi Vinh from Subtraction, on February 1, 2008 3:46 PM

After my post about porous streets that were installed in a neighborhood in Oregon, I got an email from resident James Santana that included photographic evidence of just how well the streets work at absorbing stormwater into the ground.

The water line indicates where the porous street ends and the regular pavement begins. Pretty cool, isn't it? More information about Pringle Creek is available here.

Help us change the world - DONATE NOW!

(Posted by Erica Barnett in Urban Design and Planning at 5:20 PM)

Originally posted by Erica Barnett from WorldChanging: Tools, Models and Ideas for Building a Bright Green Future, on February 1, 2008 3:20 PM

I figured it would be worth noting how I managed full and Lite versions of the same app, for the benefit of any Cocoa programmers considering the same thing.

It’s pretty simple, actually.

1. I had a separate target (named NetNewsWire Lite) inside the same project. (The easiest way to get started is probably to duplicate your existing target.)

2. In the Xcode toolbar I made sure the Active Target popup was visible. (So I could switch between targets easily.)

3. In the Groups & Files list, I enabled the Target Membership column, so I could set which files were included in which targets. (Ctrl-click, or right-click, on the Groups & Files header.)

4. Each target had a separate Prefix Header setting. (proprefix.h and liteprefix.h)

5. Instead of just defining #LITE in the prefix header, I did separate #defines per feature. (Not for every feature, but for features that may not appear in the Lite version.)

For instance, proprefix.h has lines like this:

#define FIND 1
#define COLUMN_DATE 1
#define COLUMN_SUBJECT 1
etc.

While liteprefix.h has lines like this:

#define FIND 0
#define COLUMN_DATE 1
#define COLUMN_SUBJECT 0
etc.

Then, in the right places in the code, I used those.

#if FIND
    [do findy things here]
#endif

The reason to do this on a per-feature basis is because it makes it easy to change your mind. For instance, one day I decided that the Lite version should get a date column, and I just edited liteprefix.h and rebuilt.

Easy? Yep.

Update: I bet I got the per-feature-#defines from working on Frontier.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from inessential.com, on February 1, 2008 3:06 PM

Please check out my story in Salon.com about Japanese kitchen knives! It published today. Here's some more information, in case you're interested:

If you want to buy a Japanese knife, I highly recommend visiting Korin Trading (online, too). Korin carries the most extensive collection of top Japanese knives in the U.S. and their staff is super knowledgeable. This is the place where professional chefs shop, but they also sell lots of blades perfect for amateur cooks, too (and reasonably priced).

So how do you figure out which is the right knife for you?

When I visited Osaka's giant Ichimonji knife company not too long ago -- which displays a mind-boggling thousand blades -- I watched the salesmen quiz customers on everything from hand size to kitchen size, leafing through thick knife catalogs packed with price, size, steel and handle specs. But ultimately it's about feel. Customers tried one knife after the other and pretended they were cutting -- like playing the kitchen version of air guitar -- until they found the blade that did it for them.

Which style should you buy, Western or traditional?

Top quality Western-style knives from Japan have the sharpest, most precise blades you can find in this category (German and French knives don't compare). They're produced from high-tech stainless steel, so they won't rust. And you work with them the way you'd work with any serious chef's knife. Handcrafted traditional Japanese knives, on the other hand, require a bigger commitment. Carbon steel rusts unless you maintain it. And you have to learn different cutting techniques, too -- I've seen books on the subject.

But as the ever gracious Mr. Shinichiro Terakubo, the 18th-generation owner of Kyoto's hallowed Aritsugu knife company, once told me: You'll gain a respect for fine traditional Japanese knives that goes beyond mere utility. To this man -- who has sold blades to the world's best chefs -- these blades carry a unique spirit. Cooks build a unique relationship with their traditional knives. Sharpening and caring for them is even "a way to get to Zen," he believes.

I've been thinking a lot about Mr. Terakubo's words after I bought my own set of traditional Japanese knives at his shop this past November. (I'm not going to tell you how much they cost. Gulp.) I've been cutting with them since at Matsuri, the restaurant kitchen where I volunteer, and it's been a remarkable experience.

Chef Ono has been teaching me knife skills (thank you, chef), and I've began to slowly (and painfully -- bloody fingers sometimes -- but as the chef likes to say, "no pain, no gain!") get a feel for my blades. The cutting technique is totally different than with Western knives. For instance, with the yanagi, the long sashimi knife, the chef taught me how to pull the blade while arcing it in a crescent-like swoop. I have to really concentrate because these tools are so precise. Canting it the wrong way even a degree or two messes up the cut. Last night Chef Ono showed me a new cut, the katsura-muki technique for cutting a continuous, paper-thin sheet of daikon. I'm going to need a few months to get that one down -- at least.

By the way, to teach yourself: The excellent Japanese Cooking, A Simple Art has useful chapters on traditional knives and cutting techniques, and Chiharu Sugai, the knife sharpening master of Korin, has produced an outstanding sharpening instructional DVD.

Working with these traditional knives and learning how to sharpen them has added a new dimension and depth to my appreciation for Japanese cooking. When I enjoyed dinner last week at Sushi Zen in Manhattan, sitting at the dining counter across from Chef Suzuki, a true master, I found myself as rapt by his cutting technique as I was by his peerless sushi. Like Mr. Terakubo said...

Originally posted by Harris Salat from The Japanese Food Report, on February 1, 2008 1:53 PM

I'm trying to come to terms with the fact that I won't have Mitt to kick around much longer. So in today's episode we savor some of Mitt's finest moments of the weeks, as well as a couple choice Rudy ones ...

Originally posted by Josh Marshall from Talking Points Memo, on February 1, 2008 12:47 PM

According to Ken Rosenthal from FOXSports.com, during an appearance on SNY’s Daily News Live, Johan Santana is in the room with Mets representatives and his agents while negotiating what could end up being a seven-year deal in total, with an eighth-year option.

…next step has got to be a signature…

…sign, johan…sign…

…Update…5:50 pm…

…for what it’s worth, supper has been delivered to the negotiating table…i kid you not…

…Update…6:02 pm…

…seriously, this has to be a done deal, i would think…they’re not all together, in the same room, eating dinner, only to rip up the deal and go home, you know what i’m saying…

…Update…6:44 pm…

The Mets have issued a statement saying negotiations are complete and Santana is scheduled to take a physical.

…from what i can gather, the physical will be tomorrow…

…Update…6:46 pm…

…i have reason to believe the deal is for a guaranteed six years, and $137.5 million…as expected, he’ll stay under contract on his current deal, but paid roughly $7 million on top of that…i can’t confirm that with people connected to the team, though…

…Update…7:02 pm…

…santana’s agents also rep Jose Reyes, who has been invited to the press conference, which will almost certainly be next week…

Originally posted by Matthew Cerrone from MetsBlog.com, on February 1, 2008 12:32 PM

Sarah Silverman would like her boyfriend Jimmy Kimmel to know...well, just watch. (via davenetics)

(link)

Originally posted by jason@kottke.org from kottke.org, on February 1, 2008 10:57 AM

Congrats to Brad Fitzpatrick on the unveiling of Google's Social Graph API.  I love that the work he started at Six Apart with OpenID and the open social graph continues on at GOOG.  Brad's video is a great introduction to the API; he is a master of the whiteboard (I've seen it in action many many times), and I love the fact that the first whiteboard scene looks like it's been shot in front of a whiteboard that's eight stories tall.  (Oh, and the line where he says "once we throw away all the links that aren't marked up like this" is perfect.)

Clearly from Google's perspective it's obvious and elegant to have the Googlebot reporting on the graph; if it's public data it's being indexed by Google already, and it encourages the use of simple markup like XFN and FOAF to declare social relationships. But I wouldn't be surprised to see some sort of privacy blowback on this when the API starts to get baked into consumer services: "Wait -- Google knows who my friends are, too? How do they know this?" It's going to be incumbent upon social services that are (a) enabling individuals to connect with one another and (b) expressing that connection in an indexable way to make it clear that those relationships are public (if they are) and demonstrate the benefits of those relationships being public (and the risks of exposing relationships you don't want public).  I'm not talking about language in a privacy policy, I'm talking about features that create a better user experience for the data being available.

A short comparative story.  About a year ago there was a pretty significant shift in how normal everyday people thought about blogs.  (I'm not talking about what people in the echo chamber thought about blogs -- I'm talking about people who could care less about the people and service you know and love.)  Perception shifted from "why would I want to put that much information about myself out there" to "I need to do this to own my results page on Google." This wasn't about blogging for SEO, but rather about having control over what information is available about you online. Blogs are an easy way for people to do that, and it's driving the next big wave of adoption.

Here's the point:  connections being discoverable (like they are today -- check out these results for sippey.com) will drive the next wave of adoption of connection creation tools, just like content being discoverable is driving the current wave of adoption of content creation tools.

Three thought experiments, just for "fun."

• Short term: This weekend Six Apart's David Recordon is hosting the social graph FOO Camp; what are the odds that a hack comes out of there to explore relationship strength and/or missing relationships based on this API.  (Hey, Steve -- you're friends with Jerry on these three services, why not on this one?)
• Medium term: How long until this is connected explicitly into my Google profile. It would be trivial for them to ask me to claim sippey.com as my own using OpenID. Search, advertising and all of their social stuff could be customized based on this information.
• Long term: social relationships as an influencer of credit scores?

Originally posted by Michael Sippey from this is sippey.typepad.com, on February 1, 2008 10:49 AM

"owing to unavoidable data corruption, all Upcoming.org events must be reinstalled monthly"  

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Waxy.org Links, on February 1, 2008 10:12 AM

An official decision has been reached in the Long Bet between Dave Winer and Martin Nisenholtz of the NY Times. The bet was made in 2002 when Winer asserted that:

In a Google search of five keywords or phrases representing the top five news stories of 02007, weblogs will rank higher than the "New York Times" Web site

Winer won the bet but it's worth noting that the Times has a growing stable of good blogs itself. (via workbench)

(link)

Originally posted by jason@kottke.org from kottke.org, on February 1, 2008 10:06 AM

they're culling FOAF/XFN links from the web; here's an example of passing my FriendFeed URL to their My Connections app [via] 

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Waxy.org Links, on February 1, 2008 9:43 AM

Michelle Williams is breaking her silence, since the death of her ex Heath Ledger.

In a statement released Friday, Michelle said:

“Please respect our need to grieve privately. My heart is broken. I am the mother of the most tender-hearted, high-spirited, beautiful little girl who is the spitting image of her father. All that I can cling to is his presence inside her that reveals itself every day. His family and I watch Matilda as she whispers to trees, hugs animals, and takes steps two at a time, and we know that he is with us still. She will be brought up with the best memories of him."

Now, my heart is broken, too.

Heath Ledger: In Memoriam

Photo: X17online.com

Originally posted by Tracy Pepey from iVillage - Daily Blabber, on February 1, 2008 9:22 AM

Chowhounder #1 goes to Bar Boulud trashes it, says he's not coming back, encourages other Chowhounders to stay away. 'Hounders 2, 3, 4, and maybe 5 cancel their reservations. #1 writes a note to the GM. GM calls him to apologize. Chowhounder #1 now planning a return visit. [Chowhound]

Originally posted by BL from Eater, on February 1, 2008 9:09 AM

Some people, when confronted with a problem, think "I know, I'll use regular expressions." Now they have two problems.
--usually attributed to jwz in comp.lang.emacs

I had seen jwz's quote a few times, it's a very clever, and in the past week as I've been playing with a particularly nasty regex in Erlang I keep muttering to myself variations—"now I have nine problems" for example.

Today I threw the quote into Google and found this post over a year old by the guy who taught me regular expressions, the author of Mastering Regular Expressions Jeffrey Friedl.

In his post he tracks down the original quote and possible origins. Apparently it was recently on Reddit, and jwz himself makes an appearance in the comments.

Originally posted by torrez from Andre's Notes, on February 1, 2008 9:06 AM

Move On has just announced that its membership voted to endorse Obama -- giving him a good deal of organizational heft on the left and a bit of a bulwark against criticism of his conciliatory, centrist-sounding rhetoric. What's interesting, though, are the numbers of the vote: Obama trounced Hillary among MoveOn members, 70%-29%. Even more interesting, a MoveOn spokesperson tells me that roughly 300,000 members voted in the last 24 hours. In 2004, when the group did a similar vote, it took three days to reach that number. And keep in mind that Howard Dean was in the mix that year. MoveOn's full statement is after the jump. Separately, a note to Readers: Please take a moment to register to comment by clicking on "create an account" in the upper right corner. There's lots of good stuff awaiting you if you do -- for instance, in the next few days we'll be starting to feature reader blogging here at Election Central. That means you all. So please register to comment. There's tons to discuss, and it only takes two seconds. Really. And yes, we're gonna keep repeating it... MoveOn's statement:

“Our members’ endorsement of Senator Obama is a clear call for a new America at this critical moment in history. Seven years of the disastrous policies of the Bush Administration have left the country desperate for change. We need a President who will bring to bear the strong leadership and vision required to end the war in Iraq, provide health care to every American, deal with our climate crisis, and restore America’s standing in the world. The enormity of the challenges require someone who knows how to inspire millions to get involved to change the direction of our country, and someone who will be willing to change business as usual in Washington. Senator Barack Obama has proved he can and will be that President. “With 3.2 million members nationwide and over 1.7 million members in states that vote next Tuesday, we’ll be able to immediately jump into action in support of Senator Obama’s candidacy. We’ve learned that the key to achieving change in Washington without compromising core values is having a galvanized electorate to back you up. And Barack Obama has our members ‘fired up and ready to go’ on that front. “We congratulate Sens. Clinton, Dodd and Biden, former Senator Edwards, Governor Richardson, Congressman Kucinich and former Senator Gravel on running tremendous campaigns. We thank them for their contributions to the important debate that has gripped our nation and for their ongoing engagement with our members. We’re looking forward to working together to bring progressive values to the nation’s capitol and to end this disastrous war in Iraq. MoveOn members are committed to putting a Democrat in the White House in 2008 and ushering in a new era of progressive values no matter who wins the nomination.”

Originally posted by Greg Sargent from TPM Election Central, on February 1, 2008 7:22 AM

Improv Everywhere was back recently causing a commotion (or more appropriately: a standstill) at Grand Central. For this prank the troupe had 207 "agents" in place that all froze on cue for five minutes. (We'd love to see this go down in Times Square.) The below footage shows the latest stunt:

The onlookers prove to be equally entertaining, and didn't know what to think (protest? acting class?). One employee trying to move his cart through the terminal has to radio in for help: "I can't move my cart, there's hundreds of people frozen everywhere. This is wild. I need some help." Improv Everywhere: making the commute more interesting.

Originally posted by Jen Carlson from Gothamist Weekly Favorites, on February 1, 2008 7:00 AM

Re-elect Clay Davis Shirt #2
Originally uploaded by Mike Monteiro.

Originally posted by David Jacobs from hello, typepad, on February 1, 2008 6:33 AM

I have written about this before but I love Jimmy Kimmel and Sarah Silverman. I just think they are the greatest couple ever! This video she made with Matt Damon has made the rounds but in case you missed it, here it is. I have been working late and staying up later so I was blessed to watch this when it aired. So funny. Where does she come up with this stuff?

I think the thing I love about my friends Sarah and Jimmy and their relationship is that they are able to make fun of each other in this way. It is something I aspire to in a romantic relationship.

Enjoy!

Originally posted by Angela Tucker from tuckergurl, on February 1, 2008 6:02 AM

Lou Donaldson: It's Your Thing

From Hot Dog (Blue Note, 1969)

Ronnie Foster: Mystic Brew

From Two-Headed Freap (Blue Note, 1972)

Both on Droppin' Science (Blue Note, 2008)

Back in the mid-1990s, Blue Note Records, astutely noting how popular their catalog was becoming amongst hip-hop producers, began to release a series of anthologies in 1993 called Blue Break Breaks. Each featured about a dozen or so songs that had gotten the sample treatment - the first two or three sets included songs directly from Blue Note but by Vol. 4, they had moved to subsidiary catalogs purchased by Blue Note's parent company. 

Almost nine years after the release of the last in the series, Blue Note - along with Wax Poetics - have resurrected the concept in the form of Droppin' Science: Greatest Samples from the Blue Note Label, and more than ever, they shine the light on how these particular songs have been sampled. (I'm almost certain thanks would have to go out to the-breaks.com for some of that info). 

Here's the tracklisting:

1. Lou Donaldson - "It's Your Thing"

2. Ronnie Foster - "Mystic Brew"

3. Donald Byrd - "Think Twice"

4. David Axelrod/David McCullum - "The Edge"

5. Jack McDuff - "Oblighetto"

6. Joe Williams - "Get Out Of My Life Woman"

7. Grant Green - "Down Here On The Ground"

8. Lonnie Smith - "Spinnin Wheel"

9. Jeremy Steig - "Howling For Judy"

10. Lou Donaldson - "Who's Makin Love (To Your Old Lady)"

 

BONUS TRACKS (Digital album and LP version)

11. Ronnie Laws - "Tidal Wave" 

12. Monk Higgins - "Little Green Apples"

13. Donald Byrd - "Wind Parade"

A few thoughts about this...

1) I'm curious as to who the main audience for this ends up being. Most of the songs it features were sampled as early as 20 years ago and the most recent is "The Edge," flipped by Dr. Dre ten years ago. I would think that many people who'd have a relationship to the songs that sampled these originals have been around long enough to have already copped most of these songs on an earlier release. Then again, maybe there's a new wave of nostalgia that's sweeping through, especially by all those, "I can't believe 'Crank Dat' is a hit" curmudgeons.Also, while about half of these songs appeared on one of the (out of print) Blue Break Beats series, the other half have not, including "The Edge," and surprisingly, both Donald Byrd songs. 

2) For a "best of" collection, this is solid but there are a few inclusions I found surprising: "Oblighetto"? I love me some Jack McDuff but if Tribe had never touched this for "Scenario," I'm not sure we'd be seeing it here. Same goes for "Howling For Judy." I like flute funk as much as the next guy but it's nowhere as big as a sample as some of the other songs here, especially the Donaldson cuts.

3) And if we're tackling Blue Note artists: no love for Bobbi Humphrey? Blue Mitchell? Reuben Wilson? I would have gladly swapped out songs by artists whose work appears twice (Byrd and Donaldson) to broaden the artist representation. 

4) Of the songs off there, "Mystic Brew" still holds up the best (though "It's Your Thing" is still a fun listen). That bassline was a work of beauty...

Originally posted by O.W. from soul sides, on February 1, 2008 5:14 AM

Just how dire was John McCain's financial situation last year, before he vaulted back to frontrunner status? The Washington Post has some details on the $3 million loan that McCain took out in order to finance the campaign, including a rather macabre detail — because McCain pledged his fundraising list as collateral, and he would need to be alive to give the list its full value, he had to take out a special life insurance policy just in case he failed to survive the campaign. As it turned out, the gamble appears to have paid off. McCain has won the crucial primaries in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida, and looks like he's on his way to the nomination. As for the debts — he was $500,000 in the hole even before this loan — he should have no problems raising the money now.

Originally posted by Eric Kleefeld from TPM Election Central, on February 1, 2008 4:25 AM

Rhizome ive seen this game in person,......its AMAZING!!!!!! this is a DEF goto event if you are in NYC. congrads RSG.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Cory's Web LOG, on February 1, 2008 3:23 AM

Photograph of the Puck Building, where at least one 7th floor business supports Obama, by Tien Mao

It's pretty safe to say many New Yorkers are aligned with the Democratic party, but it's unclear who NYC's registered Democrats will vote for on primary day - Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. Though in the highly unscientific survey of sights around the city over the past week (and year), it seems the senator representing Illinois has an edge.

Photograph of a Fort Greene bake sale from not-quite-old-enough-to-vote Obama supporters by Lauren Kesner

Photograph of Bushwick stencil by Martha Burzynski on Flickr

New York magazine's cover feature about Clinton and Obama looks at the two candidates and their appeal and their different worldviews. And in Chicago, there's a lot of street art supporting Obama - there's even an art show (in Chicago) in support of Barack Obama planned for next week, Go Tell Your Mama.

Update: Vinny at Insignificant Thoughts thinks there is scientific information showing who people will vote for and links to some polling data indicating Clinton is a favorite. However, the polls still include Edwards as an option and do not slice the data to the NYC-level - we can see how Hillary is a popular choice for New York state, given her years of getting to know upstaters.

And, hey, if we see a Hillary Clinton - or Mitt Romney/John McCain/Mike Huckabee - bake sale, we'll let you know. Or you can let us know - tag your photo on Flickr with "gothamist" or send the photo to photos(at)gothamist(dot)com .

Originally posted by Jen Chung from Gothamist Weekly Favorites, on January 31, 2008 4:21 PM

An interesting moment: Hillary seeks to turn her health care loss to the GOP to her advantage -- and simultaneously draw a sharp distinction with Obama -- by saying that if we don't articulate the goal as "universal health care" at the outset, Dems will be ceding crucial turf to the GOP:

I think we as Democrats have to be willing to fight for universal healthcare. And what I concluded, when I was looking at this — because I got the same kind of advice, which was, "It's controversial, you'll run into all of this buzzsaw." And I said, "Been there, done that." But if you don't start by saying you're going to achieve universal healthcare, you will be nibbled to death. And I think it's imperative that as we move forward in this debate and into the campaign, that we recognize what both John Edwards and I did: That you have to bite this bullet — you have to say, "Yes, we are gonna try to get to universal healthcare."

Obama's response, in keeping with his message, is two-fold: No one will go un-insured under his plan, and, more important, the candidate who can best unite Dems, Republicans and independents behind a common goal is the one who will ultimately resolve the health care crisis. Separately: Please register to comment above, where it says "log in." There are a great deal of goodies in it for you that we'll be sharing in the days ahead.

Originally posted by Greg Sargent from TPM Election Central, on January 31, 2008 3:35 PM

It needs to be said that Barack Obama went out of his way to assuage the worries of Edwards supporters -- that is, the fear that his voice will disappear from the conversation now that he's no longer in the race. "First of all, I want to acknowledge a candidate who left the race this week, John Edwards, who did such an outstanding job elevating the issue of poverty," Obama said, adding that his will be "a voice for this party and for this country for many years to come." Hillary didn't come anywhere near this level of tribute, saying that she and Edwards had the same ideas about health care. Oh, and please register to comment above where it says "log in." Lots of benefits to it that we'll be telling you about.

Originally posted by Greg Sargent from TPM Election Central, on January 31, 2008 3:27 PM

The oil sands of Alberta have created an oil boom in the Canadian province.

And how much oil is there? Estimates bounced around for years until 1999, when Alberta got serious about determining its potential. Based on data from 56,000 wells and 6,000 core samples, the Energy and Utilities Board (EUB) came up with an astonishing figure: The amount of oil that could be recovered with existing technology totalled 175 billion barrels, enough to cover U.S. consumption for more than 50 years. With the new math, Canada slipped quietly into second place behind Saudi Arabia's 265 billion barrels in oil reserves, followed by Iran and Iraq.

Edward Burtynsky took some photos of the oil sands to accompany the piece. (thx, marshall)

(link)

Originally posted by jason@kottke.org from kottke.org, on January 31, 2008 3:06 PM

You could build castles and spaceships out of Legos, but isn't that what most people do? Try something different—make Lego sushi instead. It's hard, sharp-edged, and indigestible! [via Adorablog and Sushi or Death]

Originally posted by Robyn Lee from Serious Eats: Main, on January 31, 2008 1:15 PM

Speaking of Twitter, Prologue looks interesting: it’s a WordPress theme that serves as a standalone Twitter-like server for a small team. This sort of idea — more reliable and private — sounds perfect for distributed teams.

 ★ 

Originally posted by John Gruber from Daring Fireball, on January 31, 2008 12:15 PM

Immaculate Heart College Art Department Rules. Saw this on FFFFOUND! the other day and was too lazy to type it up...I'm glad Mike is less so.

6. Nothing is a mistake. There is no win and no fail. There is only make.

7. The only rule is work. If you work it will lead to something. It's the people who do all of the work all the time who eventually catch on to things.

There is only make. Love that.

(link)

Originally posted by jason@kottke.org from kottke.org, on January 31, 2008 11:54 AM

Somebody pointed me at LP Cover Lover a few days ago. Go ahead and take a look. You might get stuck there for a while like I did; it’s pretty fun. There are a lot of funny oddball covers over there, but there are some shining examples of beautiful LP cover design, too. Come back when you’re done.

Okay. We listen to a lot of music at Mule. All of us have strong feelings about it, we have detailed conversations about the weirdest aspects, we understand critical differences between minor subgenres. But the thing that doesn’t get talked about much is the artwork. Which is a shame, because I remember I used to have excited conversations with my friends about a favorite band’s new album and wondering what the cover would look like. Of course, this was when albums were 12" disks of vinyl that came in pressboard covers. Other than some indie labels that painstakingly create amazing covers for each release (Catbird Records, for example), I can’t remember the last time I gave a crap what a CD cover looked like.

I never felt a terrible sense of loss at the rise of the CD over the LP as a medium of sound transmission. I understand the arguments — it just never made that much difference to me, maybe because of the ear-shattering music I listened to for so long. No, the big loss for me was the album cover. The vast expanse of a 12" square gives a designer a lot of room to work with, and people have done amazing and astonishing things with that room. Just browsing through the site linked above can show you that. Great album covers are not just beautiful designs: they’re art. CD packaging is almost always just that: packaging that has to be designed.

Flipping through a stack of LPs (or even 45s) is infinitely more satisfying thank trying to flip through a stack of CDs. The attempted marketing of the case by the CD manufacturers — calling it a “jewel box”, as though it held a precious gem — always seemed disingenuous. They’re hard plastic with sharp corners that shatter into ugly pieces when they break and the booklets are not a comfortable or compelling size to hold or read. They’re more like instruction manuals.

Mike and I have done a few LP/CD/CS covers. A friend of ours ran a little indie record label in the early ’90s and we did his covers to pad our portfolios and because it was fun. Most of the time the band would have a pretty clear idea of what they wanted and we just had to execute it, making sure that everything fit into the three formats (we were still doing cassettes back then) and that the negatives were correct before sending them off to the distributor who took care of the printing. I like to think that we were contientious about how the cover looked at CD size as well as LP size (we really didn’t worry much about the cassette — we’d just squeeze it in there), but when the printed covers came back, it was always the LP that looked best. I always wanted to try to figure out how to package a CD in a 12" gatefold cover, but indie label budgets don’t allow for that kind of shenanigans.

As digital music distribution takes precedence over physical objects, are we looking at the demise of album art altogether? Liberating the music from a particular physical format is great for the music and the musicians: the focus is on the artist and his or her aural art, not on some post-post-post-post-modern designer’s font choice. But I’d like to think that that liberation could lead to renaissance in music-related art.

As much as I like the idea of the music standing on its own, I can’t deny my own love of the visual associations I have between beloved albums and their LP covers. And seminal labels like Blue Note had just as much impact on visual aesthetics as on music. I like what Radiohead did with In Rainbows: sell the digital music, but also make a really nicely packaged set of vinyl avaiable. I’m working on an EP cover right now and the band will be taking that same approach.

I don’t know if an online experience can ever take the place of those 12" covers, but I’d love to see someone release an album (or whatever a set of music should be called now) that had a compelling visual component. Where’s that going to come from?

Originally posted by mccreath from Mule Design : Off the Hoof, on January 31, 2008 11:45 AM

Mr. Mickey knows that in the midst of all the Obama mania there are Hillary supporters who are feeling a bit like vegetarians at a Texas BBQ. Everyone is saying that Obama has star quality and is the new JFK. Even Kennedy icons Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg and Ted Kennedy have jumped on the bandwagon. Now MM j'adores him some Kennedys and wishes that Teddy could be president. He's one of the only politicians who cares about the poor and is able to get legistlation through. Still, if you ask me, JFK was young, gorgeous, had an amazing wife but was NOT a great President. I love a dream of hope born in the snows of Iowa as much as the next person but what I like even more when it comes to the person leading our country is experience, intelligence and toughness which I feel like Hillary has to spare. Barack is a star, that's true (although personally I'm not as moved by his speeches as many people seem to be), but Barack has a long career ahead him filled with experience and achievements that will make him a great president one day. But I think it's too early. I'm DELIRIOUS that the two front runners are a woman and an African American. That's HISTORIC. Still, if I ask myself who would do the best job as president, I have to say Hillary. And that's why I'm voting for her.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from PAPERMAG: WORD UP!, on January 31, 2008 10:14 AM

6 months ago, I stopped reading Gothamist cold turkey. I was annoyed that Jake Dobkin, the publisher, kept defending graffiti vandals as if they were doing some great community service in defacing people’s property. I also got tired of their agenda-driven reporting on news stories and their rabid left-wingism. Mind you, I’m not the type to ignore a site because I disagree with it, but blind blatant politics with an agenda turn me off.

Seeing as Gothamist rarely ever interjects any critical thought into their articles, this one really put me over the edge. After showing a warehouse with OBAMA painted on the windows, a sidewalk painted with Obama and Obamawick (a contraction of Obama and Bushwick) and some exploited kids doing a “Bakesale for Obama,” Gothamist concludes as follows…

It’s pretty safe to say many New Yorkers are aligned with the Democratic party, but it’s unclear who NYC’s registered Democrats will vote for on primary day - Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. Though in the highly unscientific survey of sights around the city over the past week (and year), it seems the senator from Illinois has an edge.

It’s unclear? Is it? Really? Now mind you, they do say their “poll” is unscientific, but whether their poll is scientific or not is not at issue. The part about it being unclear who New Yorkers are going to vote for is simply ridiculous to anyone who lives in this city outside of Park Slope, Greenwich Village, and Williamsburg. For anyone who would like to see it, here’s what people who actually use statistical data have to say…

Unclear? I guess if you call having an average lead of 23 points in the polls unclear, then we certainly might need to ask the question of who people want.

Give me a break, Gothamist.

Originally posted by Vinny from insignificant thoughts, on January 31, 2008 10:14 AM

Twitter has been officially off Joyent since 10PM last night. This may come as a surprise to some after yesterday’s posts here and here regarding the two companies working together. Those of us at Joyent appreciate the opportunity we had to work with the talented folks at Twitter. It is a great service. We wish Twitter every continued success.

As I mentioned yesterday, Joyent is standing ready with excess free infrastructure to support Twitter through this transition in the event that they need it.

Originally posted by David Young from Joyeur, on January 31, 2008 10:08 AM

Yahoo! launched its “OpenID Provider service” in beta today, and it includes Flickr support! Which means you can now use your photostream URL to log into sites which support OpenID. (a small but growing number) Read the official blog post, or check out the Yahoo! OpenID site to find out more.

Mosaic from mag3737.

Originally posted by Kellan Elliott-McCrea from Flickr Blog, on January 31, 2008 9:57 AM

Robin Chase's talk about the future of transportation, the environment, and the Internet was my favorite talk at TED last year. Yes, that's one talk!

Originally posted by David Jacobs from hello, typepad, on January 31, 2008 8:38 AM

Robin Chase's talk about the future of transportation, the environment, and the Internet was my favorite talk at TED last year. Yes, that's one talk!

Originally posted by David Jacobs from hello, typepad, on January 31, 2008 8:38 AM

The former mayor is finally out of the hunt for the White House. Rudy Giuliani made the announcement at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California, with John McCain beside him. Giuliani endorsed McCain, saying the country needed "someone who can be trusted in times of crisis." He added, "Obviously I thought I was that person. The voters made another choice."

On a plane from Florida to California, Giuliani told reporters that he was dropping out. From the Daily News:

"I called some of our strong supporters early today and told them what I think you all now know, which is that I am going to endorse John McCain," he told reporters aboard a private 727 that was winging him to California from Florida, where he placed a distant third in Tuesday's primary.

"It's disappointing to lose a race for president because you believe you're the best candidate," he added. "But I am supporting John McCain. And he is far and away the best person to right now be the commander in chief of the United States."He added that he hasn't asked for a cabinet position, thinks he'll be a "mostly private" person and will remain involved in Republican politics.

Politico thinks Rudy's defeat means the end of 9/11 politics.

Originally posted by Jen Chung from Gothamist Weekly Favorites, on January 31, 2008 8:33 AM

This is an important bit of information that I meant to put out there for anyone “Googling” on the topic.

A thread on the MT community forums reported having trouble running MT 4.0 with Perl 5.10.

I replied that the particular error “may be related to [Perl] v5.10 disallowing a sloppy program practice or it may be some difference in the ActiveState implementation.”

Chris Ernest Hall, QA manager at Six Apart, wrote me to let me know (he wasn’t able to get the message out to mt-dev where the topic was later picked up) that that particular error was a known issue that was fixed in MT 4.1. He also noted that “there are numerous other problems with Perl 5.10.0 in terms of necessary database libraries not being available. So, right now, Perl 5.10.0 (the ActiveState version at least) is not compatible with MT.”

The bottom line is MT 4 and MT 4.1 should not be run on Perl 5.10.0 at this time.

This is not uncommon when a new a “dot zero” release of any software is released. The good news is that MT works perfectly well with the latest stable release of Perl 5.8. Users just need to be a bit patient before jumping to the latest greatest version of Perl with their MT systems.

Originally posted by Timothy Appnel from Code / Appnel Solutions, on January 31, 2008 8:08 AM

It was recently King Juan Carlos of Spain's 70th birthday and Hola put 70 images from his life on their website and you lucky MMBloggers get to see MM's favorites. This is a shot of JC as a child with his brothers and sisters. It's not such a great picture but I think it's a very cute shot of his mother Maria de las Mercedes, Countess of Barcelona. She should have been Queen but wasn't!

Originally posted by (author unknown) from PAPERMAG: WORD UP!, on January 31, 2008 7:59 AM

You might have expected that this would have happened quicker, but here, at any rate, is the inevitable spot from Hillary touting her New York Times endorsement...

The campaign hasn't announced yet where exactly it's running, but one assumes it will be running in many big Feb. 5th states. (Via Ben Smith.)

Originally posted by Greg Sargent from TPM Election Central, on January 31, 2008 7:58 AM

Yesterday from CNN.com: Nader takes steps towards another White House bid. WASHINGTON (CNN) – Ralph Nader, the longtime consumer advocate who was blamed by many Democrats for Al Gore’s loss in the 2000 presidential election, launched an exploratory committee Wednesday for another White House bid, and told CNN he is likely to get in the race if he can put the resources in place. "John Edwards, the banner of Democratic Party populism, is dropping out, and Dennis Kucinich dropped out earlier, so in terms of voters who are at least interested in having major areas of injustice, deprivations, and solutions discussed in a presidential campaign, they might be interested in my exploratory effort," Nader said. Nader has launched an official exploratory committee Web site, and said he will formally make a decision in about a month. He said he is certain to get in the race if he can demonstrate the ability to raise $10 million and recruit enough lawyers to deal with ballot access issues. He has yet to formally file paperwork with the Federal Elections Committee, though he does not need to until he officially becomes a candidate, according to the FEC." This man makes me want to throw up. No matter how he spins it he held the power eight years ago to prevent Bush from becoming president. Simply put, if he was less of an egomaniac Gore could have won. And the eight hideous years that wrecked our country would not have been the same. I despise this man.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from PAPERMAG: WORD UP!, on January 31, 2008 7:02 AM

TED and Miro announce the TED Miro player -- a free, downloadable, open-source media player that comes pre-loaded with TED's channels and content guide.

Download the TED Miro player here, for Mac and for Windows .

Using the channels, you can browse TEDTalks by Theme -- "A Greener Future," "Africa: The Next Chapter," and many more. And you have access to the entire universe of programming available through the Miro player -- thousands of channels of news, educational programming, music and other video and audio podcasts.

TED is one of three premier partners for the Miro player -- the other two are Revision3 and the German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle.

The Miro player is a project of the Participatory Culture Foundation. To learn more about Miro, visit GetMiro.com.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from TED | TEDBlog, on January 31, 2008 7:00 AM

Finally, Bud may have topped the farting horse spot that ran during Super Bowl XXVIII…

The Life Cycle of a Blog Post, From Servers to Spiders to Suits — to You

Originally posted by Adam from randomWalks, on January 31, 2008 6:50 AM

Robin Chase rose to fame by founding Zipcar, the world's biggest car-sharing business, but that was one of her smaller ideas. In this presentation she travels much farther, contemplating road-pricing schemes that will shake up our driving habits and a no-fee mesh network as sprawling as the United States Interstate highway system. But how could you build a free wireless system that vast and pervasive? Chase finds the answer in a few short lines from The Graduate. And it has nothing to do with plastic. (Recorded March 2007 in Monterey, California. Duration: 13:39.)

Watch Robin Chase's talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances.

Read more about Robin Chase on TED.com.

Embed this video: Use this code to run the video on your own site:

Originally posted by (author unknown) from TED | TEDBlog, on January 31, 2008 4:07 AM

Filed under: Accessories, iPod Family

I'm a fan of watches, so I have been interested in the Nike Amp+ Remote Control for awhile. That's the watch/iPod remote control from Nike that works with your iPod Nano /Nike+ combo. It will let you start, stop, and fast forward music, as well as tell the time and give you one button access to your power song.

I haven't bought one for a few reasons:

• I don't have an iPod nano, so I can't use the Nike stuff
• I haven't seen one in person

The only solution for the first reason is to get an iPod nano, however, the good folks at the Watch Report have solved my second issue. Thanks to this video, which accompanies their review of the Amp+ Remote Control. Clearly, if your looking for a watch that tells time first and foremost, this isn't the watch for you. That being said the Watch Report concludes that the pros out number the cons.

Are there any Nike Amp+ Remote Control users out there? Sound off in the comments with your thoughts on this product.

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Originally posted by Scott McNulty from The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW), on January 31, 2008 4:00 AM

• Commission to Unveil Final Congestion Pricing Plan Today... (Post, Sun, AP)
  
• ...Assembly Dems Don't Like Proposal, But 'They Can Be Dealt With' (News, NYT)
  
• Budget Constraints Will Slow, Not Stop, Major MTA Projects (AM)
• Public Park May Take Shape at Fulton Street During Transit Center Delays (News)
• NYC Transit: Concrete Station Floors Get Much Dirtier Than Tile (News, AP)
• MTA Board Tinkers With Metrocard Bonuses (Newsday)
  
• Gridlock Sam: 'Don't Even THINK About Parking Here' Not a Joke (News)
• Downtown Richmond Debates One-Way Vs. Two-Way Streets (Urban Richmond)
• National Retailer Pledges $15,000 Grants to Bike Advocates (Bike Commute Tips)
  
• Beijing Ready to Order Cars Off the Road For Olympics (NPR)

Originally posted by Ben Fried from Streetsblog, on January 31, 2008 3:45 AM

9:58p The Plane Takes Off (via kottke)

Originally posted by David Jacobs from hello, typepad, on January 30, 2008 5:55 PM

With Mayor Bloomberg up in Albany deriding Gov. Spitzer for bilking the city out of $500 million in promised funding, it's no wonder that the perennial call for secession has arisen.

Every time NY State politics gets heated, we get to rehash the economics of NYC declaring itself independent from the state. During his NYC budget speech last week, Bloomberg pointed out (again) how NYC pays more than $11 billion in state taxes it doesn't get back. Almost on cue, after Governor Spitzer revealed a budget with less NYC funding, proponents of NYC independence piped up. Notably, Queens Councilman Peter Vallone:

"I think secession's time has definitely come again," Mr. Vallone, who spearheaded a similar push in 2003, told The New York Sun yesterday. "If not secession, somebody please tell me what other options we have if the state is going to continue to take billions from us and give us back pennies. Should we raise taxes some more? Should we cut services some more? Or should we consider seriously going out on our own?"

Vallone also said in 2005 that secession "may be our only viable option."

polls - Take Our Poll

While this is an evergreen issue in New York politics, in our opinion, NYC has a lesser chance of becoming a 51st State than the five boroughs becoming unconsolidated. It's fun to talk about, but the last time an area of the U.S. tried seceding, it ended finally, but unhappily.

And before Vallone or anyone else blows a gasket talking about secession, let's try to remember that it was the Erie Canal in upstate NY, that enabled NYC to become the economic powerhouse in the United State that it is today. Before that, the city was an also-ran to cities like Philly and Boston.

Also, it was upstaters who guaranteed the issuance of a Bill of Rights to the Constitution, while downstate merchants were clamoring for untrammeled federal consolidation of the colonies. We're all in this big crazy state together; let's try to keep it together.

Image of Woody Allen on a york from New York magazine

Originally posted by Dave Hogarty from Gothamist Weekly Favorites, on January 30, 2008 2:33 PM

Continuing the theme of edible tic-tac-toe boards, we bring you Tic Tac Toast. Sure, a pedestrian knife could probably due the grid-carving trick, but how lame! Bread lobbyists, if you’re out there, is this your comeback to a rough Atkins decade? Wooing bread-haters with plastic toys? (Nice move) Low-carb wraps could never provide such a perfect X and O-fighting medium. Bring it, peanut butter. Jelly is taking you down! [via Laughing Squid]

Originally posted by Erin Zimmer from Serious Eats: Main, on January 30, 2008 1:00 PM

Apparently the mantra over at Serious Eats is “Post first; copy edit later.”

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Tim Murtaugh’s Excuse for a Blog, on January 30, 2008 10:08 AM

Steve Martin: "What if there were no punch lines? What if there were no indicators? What if I created tension and never released it? What if I headed for a climax, but all I delivered was an anticlimax? What would the audience do with all that tension? Theoretically, it would have to come out sometime. But if I kept denying them the formality of a punch line, the audience would eventually pick their own place to laugh, essentially out of desperation. This type of laugh seemed stronger to me, as they would be laughing at something they chose, rather than being told exactly when to laugh."

Originally posted by Michal Migurski from tecznotes links, on January 30, 2008 10:07 AM

Duncan Watts' research is challenging the theory that a small group of influential people are responsible for triggering trends as explained in Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point.

"If society is ready to embrace a trend, almost anyone can start one--and if it isn't, then almost no one can," Watts concludes. To succeed with a new product, it's less a matter of finding the perfect hipster to infect and more a matter of gauging the public's mood. Sure, there'll always be a first mover in a trend. But since she generally stumbles into that role by chance, she is, in Watts's terminology, an "accidental Influential."

Perhaps the problem with viral marketing is that the disease metaphor is misleading. Watts thinks trends are more like forest fires: There are thousands a year, but only a few become roaring monsters. That's because in those rare situations, the landscape was ripe: sparse rain, dry woods, badly equipped fire departments. If these conditions exist, any old match will do. "And nobody," Watts says wryly, "will go around talking about the exceptional properties of the spark that started the fire."

I've previously covered some of what Clive talks about in the article.

(link)

Originally posted by jason@kottke.org from kottke.org, on January 30, 2008 10:01 AM

My earlier post on this development sparked a lively discussion on the icommons list. Here is a great post on the topic by Wendy Seltzer :

reblogged via WendySeltzer.org, 1/11/08:

Mukurtu Contextual Archiving: digital "restrictions" done right

Filed under: culture, commons — wseltzer @ 10:37 am

I'm accustomed to thinking of digital restrictions in the U.S. intellectual property context. We’re told that DRM use restrictions are trade-offs for getting material in digital form, but generally, the trade is a bad one for the public.

The Mukurtu Wumpurrarni-kari archive Kimberly Christen helped the Australian Warumungu community in Tennant Creek to construct puts digital restrictions in a very different light. 

As Kim described when I met her at a conference over the summer, the Warumungu have a set of protocols around objects and representations of people that restrict access to physical objects and photographs. Only elders may see or authorize viewing of sacred objects; other objects may be restricted by family or gender. Images of the deceased shouldn't be viewed, and photographs are often physically effaced. When the Warumungu archive objects or images, they want to implement the same sort of restrictions.

They wanted an archive that was built around Warumungu protocols for accessing and distributing materials (in many forms). One of the first mandates was that everyone had to have a password so that they could only see materials that they were meant to see based on their family/country/community status.

Kim's response was to help construct a digital archive with access controls — ACLs based not on copyright but on the various elements of a person's community status. Your identity sets your view-port into the archive; the computer will show only items you have permission to see. The community can thus give objects context in the online archive similar to that which situates them offline. As an object’s status changes, the database can be updated to reflect new rights or restrictions.

Yet the Mukurtu's form of "DRM" is fragile.  Users are encouraged to print images or burn CDs, which have no controls built-in.

People can also print images or burn CDs and thus allow the images to circulate more widely to others who live on outstations or in other areas. In fact, one of the top priorities in Mukurtu's development was that it needed to allow people to take things with them, printing and burning were necessary to ensure circulation of the materials.

Unlike copyright-DRM systems, which fall back to the most restrictive state when exporting or communicating with "unsigned" devices (such as blocking all copying and breaking or lowering playback resolution on high-definition monitors), this one defaults to granting access.  It's up to the people using the system to determine how new and unknown situations should be handled.

Because the Murkurtu protocol-restrictions support community norms, rather than oppose them, the system can trust its users to take objects with them. If a member of the community chooses to show a picture to someone the machine would not have, his or her interpretation prevails — the machine doesn’t presume to capture or trump the nuance of the social protocol. Social protocols can be reviewed or broken, and so the human choice to comply gives them strength as community ties.

One of the lessons of the recording industry lawsuits and growing shift from DRM'd music is that community norms don't support current copyright law. Rather than fight copyright norms with bad code, we should learn from the Warumungu and build code (and law) to support social practice.

Further good news: Kim says she and Craig Dietrich will be releasing the archive's code as Free Software.

Originally posted by joy garnett from NEWSgrist - where spin is art, on January 30, 2008 7:54 AM

Turns out Timmy is right—a study found that double-dipping transfered at least 50 to 100 bacteria from one mouth to another with every bite.

Originally posted by Alaina Browne from A Full Belly, on January 30, 2008 3:46 AM

Today, the Republican presidential hopefuls are vying to win the Florida primary (the Democrats aren't allowing Florida delegates to count at the convention, because Florida moved its primary up). Polls close in two hours, and many believe that the state will be contested between John McCain and Mitt Romney. Our former mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has spent much time in Florida, instead of campaigning in South Carolina, Iowa or New Hampshire (though he did spend a substantial amount of time in NH), seems like he may be in third place or even fourth, if Mike Huckabee does well.

Some political strategists think Giuliani should pull out of the race "within hours in order to preserve his political ties and business relationships" (there's a debate tomorrow, and other candidates could be pissed if a dead-in-the-water Giuliani takes up time). Also, some think it's better for "America's Mayor" not to face an embarrassing New York primary finish. [America's Mayor mix below]

Also a sign is how Giuliani has not dominated the Republican talk; who ever though he'd be described as "subdued"? However, Giuliani said yesterday that business, like the debate, will carry on for his campaign, telling reporters on Monday, "I think the winner of Florida will win the nomination, and we're going to win Florida." Maybe he's really thinking that actor Jon Voight's endorsement will put him over the edge!

surveys - Take Our Poll

Whatever he decides to leave the race, whenever that may be, Giuliani's actions are confusing - yesterday he gave reporters autographed souvenir baseballs, which many suspect are parting gifts.

Originally posted by Jen Chung from Gothamist Weekly Favorites, on January 30, 2008 2:49 AM

John McCain appears to have just barely edged out Mitt Romney in the all-important Florida GOP primary, according to projections from CNN and the Associated Press.

Right now, with just over half reporting, McCain has 36%, Romney has 31% and Rudy is bringing up third with 15%.

The scuttlebutt in GOP circles is that the McCain and Romney camps are both aggressively lobbying Rudy for his endorsement, in the expectation that Rudy will drop out soon, perhaps even tonight.

More soon.

Late Update: Rudy is speaking now. It sounds very much like a drop-out speech. Rudy is telling America what it needs to do in order to not succumb to the terrorists without him at the helm.

Late Update: Tomorrow the GOP is set to debate in California. Will Rudy show? ABC News reports that the Rudy and McCain camps are negotiating over ways to give Rudy a graceful exit.

Late Update: Romney just gave his concession speech. His message, in a nutshell: Unions and Hillary are bad, and we should thank George W. Bush for keeping us safe for the past six years.

Late Update: One thing worth noting: This is the first GOP primary that wasn't open to independents, and McCain won it. If you look at the exit polls, you can see that McCain won the broad middle of GOPers, winning over Romney among somewhat liberal, moderate, and somewhat conservative Repubicans, and only losing to Romney among very conservative voters.

Late Update: It's done -- Rudy will drop out and endorse McCain.

Originally posted by Greg Sargent from TPM Election Central, on January 29, 2008 4:15 PM

A bunch of new coding headstarts were posted on the Leopard Dev Center—learn about RubyCocoa, JavaScriptCore, Instruments, and more.

Originally posted by Brent Simmons from ranchero.com, on January 29, 2008 3:15 PM

This was submitted by Phil Alden Robinson, writer-director-producer, and member of both the WGA and the DGA.

While we anxiously await the results of the "informal talks", I've been doing some hard thinking about the DGA deal. There's quite a bit in there to be pleased with - deal points that should serve us well in the future, and that never would have been achieved without our strike. But there

Originally posted by Laeta Kalogridis from United Hollywood, on January 29, 2008 1:45 PM

Don't you love a marriage made in heaven? That's what the press release calls the collaboration/remix of Tone Loc's "Wild Thing" by Peaches. I can't really argue with that. The occasion for this unlikely pairing, captured here on video from a performance in Berlin, is the 20th anniversary of the release, which was, believe it or not, once the fastest selling single in music history. A full slate of Delicious Vinyl's classic records by Young MC, The Pharcyde, Masta Ace, The Brand New Heavies, Def Jef, Born Jamericans, and Fatlip re-imagined by Hot Chip, Spank Rock, Diplo, Bonde Do Role, A-Trak, Ed Banger's Mr. Flash & DJ Medhi is also in the works. Each release will be available on limited edition vinyl, launched with a special DV Twenty Years Fresh party in select cities worldwide. (Stay tuned for dates and locations to be announced soon.) The tracks will be part of a triple vinyl full-length album slated for release in 2008.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from PAPERMAG: WORD UP!, on January 29, 2008 11:44 AM

With his review of trees, Steven Frank cleverly skewers what passes for culture/tech trend writing these days.

Trees. It seems like you see them everywhere these days. But are trees viable in the long-term, or just another flash-in-the-pan fad for the under-30 crowd?

(via chris glass)

(link)

Originally posted by jason@kottke.org from kottke.org, on January 29, 2008 11:24 AM

An article of mine is running in the Design Issues column of the January/February 2008

Communication Arts. It started out as a piece about design education outside of traditional design schools, but then turned into something more — about grassroots engagement with public space and the power of design to envision change. Thanks Nicolas, Kim, Chris, David, and DK for their insight.

The Vision Thing

Seeing and creating change through design

It’s is not just in design schools. It’s not just in mentorship programs at top shelf firms. Design and education meet in the streets.

Most graphic design education points to a career as a design professional. But the same tools we use to undertake user research, solve problems, and satisfy clients can be used by young people to voice their opinions and meet the needs of their neighborhoods and communities.

The stories below are shining examples of design as populism. The designers of these projects – amateurs and professionals – have moved beyond a passive relationship to the world, beyond the daily pattern of serving clients, responding to assignments, and deadlines.

By taking it outside, they are asserting a positive vision and owning the spaces they live in – and in the process are making these places better for us all.

Human Traffic

Memorials shape our collective memory. They are a tangible, public stake against forgetting, a manifesto to the present and a reminder of the past as a warning for the future. Put forth by loved ones after a tragedy, grassroots memorials are at once both personal and public – often filling a void where government-funded memorials leave off. Some are subtle collections of flowers and personal items, occupying quiet corners of common space. Others scream out for attention. Rendered three-stories tall on the side of a building, the memorial mural on Butler Street and Third Avenue in Brooklyn is hard to ignore.

The design is a tribute to 28 pedestrians killed by cars between 1995 and 2007 in the streets of Brooklyn’s Gowanus neighborhood. The mural depicts three young boys, fifth-graders Victor Flores and Juan Estrada, and 4-year-old James Rice. All three were killed by cars speeding around corners – Rice was struck down just a block from the spot where the mural now stands. The driver who hit Rice got a ticket for failure to yield. Represented as towering figures painted in ghostly blue, the boys hold up redesigned streetsigns with traffic-related symbols urging respect for pedestrians. The three boys are accompanied by a blank silhouette holding up an unambiguous red stop sign declaring: “Not one more death.” The effect is chilling.

Continue »

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Social Design Notes, on January 29, 2008 2:46 AM

Thanks to the most recent MetaFilter podcast, I discovered the MetaFilter wiki and its EatMe page -- a collection of food-related AskMetafilter threads. Some of my favorites to get you started: Can I eat this? Majick's Cooking Manifesto, Homemade Crunchy Snacks

Originally posted by Alaina Browne from A Full Belly, on January 29, 2008 2:39 AM

An AIGA post from last summer (The Amazing Visual Language of Processing) has got me thinking about the tension in the relationship between design and technology, especially in a firm like Stamen.

One of the ways in which we describe our work to ourselves is a balance between Divergence and Convergence, words that my dad explained to me a while back in a design context. Divergence means sketching, exploring, playing, choosing the right metaphors to use. Convergence means you have a goal in sight, and you're problem-solving to attain it within known constraints. We shift from one mode to another over the course of a client engagement, and we're starting to get better at self-awareness in this process. There's a perpendicular division/dialogue as well, between what and how, and I think it operates above the project level, maybe even above the company and industry level in some cases.

Our What is the content you see in a Hindsight or Swarm, the visual presentation of an information source like home construction or popular news stories. This is the obvious bread and butter of what we do, and generates a lot of phone calls, e.g: "we saw Digg Labs, and we have this new website idea that we can't talk about, but we'd like a Labs of our own, please, for when we launch." I think a lot of traditional design (for an ever-changing definition of "traditional") happens here: if you already know how to do CMYK or HTML, you can focus on the communication, the content, and finally the finesse.

Our How is the way we get things done, and is the sum total of all the data, web, presentation, shaping, protocol, publishing, processing, algorithmic, and other domain knowledge we've built up over the years. I think about this a lot. In addition to being a partner/owner, my official role is Director of Technology. This means that much of my time is spent with a machete in the jungle of new stuff that might be interesting to us at some point in the future: new technology, new sources of interesting data, and new ways of cramming it all through the thin straw of the web for viewing in a browser.

The thing that keeps me going is that all this How work is really fascinating. A lot of it happens in the early phases of a project, and not all of it sees the light of day, but I like to think that one of our competitive advantages as a company is having a deep well of technique to draw from, and the ability to keep a dialogue going between the two poles. The reason I say above that this dialogue frequently seems to span companies is because in many cases, it is obstructed by force of habit. If you already know how to do something, there's no need to learn to do it another way. Dialogue keeps novelty flowing up and back to the visible work, and inspiration and movement down and towards the coalface where all the dicking around happens. Groups that lack this line of communication seem to either get stuck in techno-noodling/experimentation on one hand or cul-de-sacs of process fervor on the other.

Some of the most interesting people I know are adept at shuttling back and forth along the line between the two poles. Matt Biddulph seems to spend 75% of his time running Dopplr, and the other 75% of his time exploring hardware, Erlang, Second Life, and Jabber. My friend Bryan is a builder and carpenter, and talking to him about his new house show a similarly expansive scope: I'm fascinated by the idea of pointing to doors and windows and being able to assert that they should be moved this way or that, holes for new doors punched in existing walls, and entire new spaces carved out of basements and foundations. Eric Sink had a great way of explaining this constant peering-into-things in a 2003 blog post where he talks about constant learning ("Don't work for a manager who is actively hindering your practice of constant learning. Just don't do it."). I also enjoyed Clayton Christensen's Innovator's Dilemma and its examples drawn from the disk drive industry (the mayflies of computing) for an extended explanation of the ways in which an existing What can block the view to a new How, to the point that entire companies and even industries are plowed under. For whatever reason, technology (as much a moving target as "traditional") freaks people out, e.g. Miko's extensive comments on the GiveWell fiasco from last month: "Though the 'elders' were universally extremely bright and accomplished people, I was struck by what I can only call a sort of fundamental insecurity.... As soon as technology is mentioned, many of them seem to forget what they already know, and fail to ask the basic questions they have been asking all their lives."

Back to the convergence/divergence thing, I think the what/how conversation spins on a different axis, more slowly than individual projects. Just as an example, the granularity of Stamen's mapping work exploded this past year when we started the Modest Maps project and introduced a city-scale level of detail to our work and served as the backdrop to a series of efforts at representing time. The previous year, our work with Digg (designing their API, the Labs work) led to a multi-client exploration of liveness. This year, we've identified responsiveness as a seam to mine, looking at ways in which new and old projects might incorporate user feedback to change the underlying systems.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from tecznotes, on January 28, 2008 9:10 PM

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Rumors, Software, Odds and ends, Apple, iPhone

A site called Sven on Tech claims to have word straight from an Apple "source" as to why there isn't cut and paste on the iPhone. Apparently, and get this, they just haven't figured out how to implement it yet. In other news, the Apple TV will be a success, as soon as Apple figures out how to implement that, too.

Yeah, in case you haven't guessed yet, I don't buy it. I'm not sure who this "source" is (and there should be an unwritten rule of journalism that anyone who wears a nametag at a convention booth doesn't get to count as a "source," unless they're talking about nametag news), but if someone from Apple says that implementation was the only reason they haven't put copy-and-paste on the iPhone, then either they're lying, or they're just plain too full of themselves. Let's not forget, despite their achievements, that this is the company that created the worst error message implementation known to man -- the iPhone won't be a failure if the copy and paste is a little more complicated than most other functions. They haven't figured out how to implement it? Surely they've seen this-- they know it's possible.

But here's why my reasoning falls down: I can't think of another reason Apple would keep it off the iPhone. Do they think people don't need to cut and paste? Is the RIAA expanding their fight against copying music to copying and pasting everything? Does Steve just never visit any sites besides Apple.com and thus never have to copy and paste anything? I don't buy the "implementation" argument but I don't, unfortunately, have a better one to put in its place.

[Via Mac Rumors]

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Originally posted by Mike Schramm from The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW), on January 28, 2008 2:30 PM

A nice way to get through the off-season without thinking about steroid scandals.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Elsewhere, on January 28, 2008 1:31 PM

One of the most useful words that I've been fixated on for a while is "retcon". A portmanteaux of "retroactive continuity", retcon comes from the world of comics and represents the idea of "correcting" past facts to represent a new desired reality. The word has long been in usage, as is predictably well-documented on Double-Tongued Dictionary and Wikipedia

In comics, of course, this is fairly harmless. In TV, as when it turned out that it was all a dream, it's downright entertaining. But we see retcons in the world of business and politics more and more frequently.

Usually, the criticisms of retconning in the real world are that it's, well, Orwellian. Politicians in particular seem partial to especially heinous misuses of this technique. But the idea's captured my imagination because it seems like there may be some positive reasons to bring retconning out of the comics closet and into the real world.

Basically, a lot of us spend time lamenting mistakes or regretting bad decisions or bemoaning missed opportunities. But there are many, many times when it turns out that something that seemed like bad news at the time turns out, in retrospect, to be for the best.

And in particular, I find that many of the most successful people I know are those who are able to look back at events in their lives and rethink them in a new context, to turn defeats into victories on the strength of the lessons learned. It's the same creative impulse that motivates people to create new worlds through their creativity, ambition, or artistic ability. In the pages of a comic book, or in turning the inevitable setbacks in life into learning experiences, retcon is the way we (re-)invent the universe.

Originally posted by Anil from Anil Dash, on January 28, 2008 1:11 PM

Last week Movable Type passed one of the biggest milestones in its history: the first stable version of Movable Type Open Source was officially released. Technically, Movable Type has been available under a GPL license since December. But for so many of you who were waiting in the sidelines for an officially blessed, officially tested stable version of the product, we are happy to say that it is finally available for download.

Since our original announcement, we've been paying close attention to your questions about MTOS. So instead of summarizing all of the new features that have been introduced in MTOS again, I thought I would take a moment to revisit some of those questions. This should also help explain the motivations behind the MTOS project and how it relates to the other Movable Type products available from movabletype.com.

Why MTOS? What do you hope to achieve with this distribution?

As stated on the project's hompage, the mission behind MTOS is:

• To produce a powerful and easy to use open source blogging platform that can scale to meet anyone's needs.
• To serve as a role model in the adoption and application of open Internet web standards.
• To allow the community to collaborate more effectively on developing software for the Movable Type platform.
• To provide a staging ground for exciting and innovative new Internet technologies and standards.
• To nourish groups and individuals wishing to build on top of the platform, whether it is to fix a bug, develop a feature or build a business.
• To make it easier for others to start blogging by creating additional distribution channels.

From a philosophical standpoint, it's even easier to explain the motivations behind MTOS: We want to make it as easy as possible for as many people as possible to express themselves freely on the web.

What are all the different versions of Movable Type that are available, and how is MTOS related to or different from them?

• MTOS (Movable Type Open Source) is a distribution of MT available under the GPL (v2). This version is free in every sense of the word. Users can download it for free, redistribute it for free, make changes for free, and so on and so forth - provided of course that they apply by the limitation set forth by the GPL.

• Movable Type for Personal Use is a distribution of Movable Type that is 100% identical to MTOS from a code perspective, however it is only available under a proprietary (closed source) license. This, by definition, is what makes Movable Type dual licensed. Oh yeah, and by the way: it also happens to be free - meaning it costs nothing to use and download. If you use the Personal edition, you can also choose to purchase installation services or support.

• Movable Type for Commercial Use is a distribution of Movable Type that includes the commercially-licensed equivalent of the core open source product and includes the Movable Type Professional Pack that contains features exclusive to our paid customers. We bundle Movable Type and the Professional Pack together in a single download to make it easier for customers to install by requiring only to download and install one thing, as opposed to two.

If MTOS and Movable Type for Personal Use are "identical", then why offer them under different licenses?

The answer is actually pretty simple: first, when embarking on this whole licensing change we spoke with our customers first, many of whom expressed a preference to keep using the same kind of MT license that they always had. Since it doesn't cost us at Six Apart anything, and it makes our customers happy, that sounded like a good deal; We'll continue making the personal use license available. And by making sure that the customers we support are on a known, tested, stable build of the product, we can be much more efficient with our support. It also helps us be more effective in identifying the feature requests and bug reports we use to

But stay tuned, in the future we may choose to expand upon our support services, based on the feedback and requests we hear from the community.

Can I use MTOS for commercial purposes?

This is surprisingly, one of the most commonly asked questions we have received from our users - no doubt because we have historically licensed Movable Type to our users for use only in specific contexts (e.g. our Educational Licenses, our Non-profit Licenses, and our Commercial Licenses).

In so choosing the GPL for MTOS Six Apart gave its users the right to use Movable Type Open Source for any purpose whatsoever, without any need to pay Six Apart anything. Ever. Period. Its yours to do with what you please. Really, we are not kidding.

However, software licensed under the GPL is not without strings. For the vast majority of users, the restrictions the GPL imposes upon them are not wholly relevant. That being said: if you are a developer of Movable Type software, if you wish to bundle Movable Type with software you have created, or if you wish to make Movable Type available for download or otherwise redistribute it, then you are highly encouraged to familiarize yourself with the terms of the GPL v2.

What does the GPL allow me to do?* and *where can I go if I have questions about the GPL?

The best resource for anyone seeking answers about any license is the author of that license. For the GPL, that happens to be the Free Software Foundation. We recommend the official GPL FAQ as the place to check to see if you question has already been answered.

---

We hope the above answers have proven useful to you. If you have additional questions just leave them in the comments and we'll be happy to help get you answers.

Originally posted by Byrne Reese from MovableType.org - Home for the MT Community, on January 28, 2008 9:57 AM

Barack Obama spoke right after Teddy Kennedy endorsed him today, and in his speech, the Illinois Senator skillfully drew a connection between JFK and himself with this anecdote about his Kenyan father:

I barely knew him, but when, after his death, I finally took my first trip to his tiny village in Kenya and asked my grandmother if there was anything left from him, she opened a trunk and took out a stack of letters, which she handed to me.

There were more than thirty of them, all handwritten by my father, all addressed to colleges and universities across America, all filled with the hope of a young man who dreamed of more for his life. And his prayer was answered when he was brought over to study in this country.

But what I learned much later is that part of what made it possible for him to come here was an effort by the young Senator from Massachusetts at the time, John F. Kennedy, and by a grant from the Kennedy Foundation to help Kenyan students pay for travel. So it is partly because of their generosity that my father came to this country, and because he did, I stand before you today – inspired by America’s past, filled with hope for America’s future, and determined to do my part in writing our next great chapter.

Between Caroline Kennedy's New York Times Op ed yesterday entitled "A President Like My Father," to Teddy Kennedy's JFK-like declaration that it is time for "a new generation" of leadership, to the staging of the event at American University, where JFK gave a famous speech on world peace, to Obama's own repeated use of the word "torch" and his biographical link to a young JFK, you could hardly imagine a better couple of days for the Obama campaign than these have been.

Obama's full speech after the jump.

Late Update: Expanding on the idea that this was the best couple of days you can imagine for Obama, also consider that the news broke today that Obama associate Tony Rezko was arrested.

If this news had broken on any other day, it would obviously have commanded more attention.

Obama's speech, as prepared for delivery:

Thank you Congressman Kennedy and Caroline and Senator Kennedy for your words, your support, and the service you’ve rendered to this country.

I stand here today with a great deal of humility. I know what your support means. I know the cherished place the Kennedy family holds in the hearts of the American people. And that is as it should be. Because the Kennedy family, more than any other, has always stood for what’s best about the Democratic Party, and about America. That each of us can make a difference and all of us ought to try. That no frontier is beyond our reach when we’re united, and not divided. And that those of us who are not content to settle for the world as it is, can remake the world as it should be – that together, we “can seek a newer world.”

No one embodies this proud legacy more than the people we’ve just heard from. For a woman who was introduced to America in the spotlight, Caroline has worked out of public view to bring about change in our communities. Whether it’s her work with New York City’s public schools or the Profile in Courage Award or through books on politics, civil rights and history, Caroline has been a quiet force for change in this country. And it’s an honor to have her support.

It’s also an honor to have Congressman Kennedy’s support. He’s been a real leader in the fight to make sure every American has equal access to the quality mental health care they need. It’s one of the great civil rights issues of our time, and it’s an issue I’m proud to have worked on with him. He’s not just part of the next generation of Kennedy leaders, he’s part of the next generation of Democratic and American leaders, and I look forward to fighting by his side in the months and years to come.

And it is a special honor and privilege to have the support of the Congressman’s father, Senator Kennedy. In the year I was born, President Kennedy let out word that the torch had been passed to a new generation of Americans. He was right. It had. It was passed to his youngest brother.

From the battles of the 1960s to the battles of today, he has carried that torch, lighting the way for all who share his American ideals.

It’s a torch he’s carried as a champion for working Americans, a fierce proponent of universal health care, and a tireless advocate for giving every child in this country a quality education.

It’s a torch he’s carried as the lion of the Senate, a man whose mastery of the issues and command of the levers of government – whose determined leadership and deft political skills – are matched only by his ability to tell a good story.

Ted Kennedy stands apart from the prevailing wisdom in Washington that has reduced politics to a game of tactics and transactions, in which no principle is beyond sacrifice. And his public life is a testimony to what can be achieved when you focus on lifting our country up, rather than tearing political opponents down.

Few public servants in our nation’s history have had such a profound influence on the course of our nation. Few leaders in this country have more experience in how to bring about real change. And few have better judgment about where we’re headed as a party and a people.

Today isn’t just about politics for me. It’s personal. I was too young to remember John Kennedy and I was just a child when Robert Kennedy ran for President. But in the stories I heard growing up, I saw how my grandparents and mother spoke about them, and about that period in our nation’s life – as a time of great hope and achievement. And I think my own sense of what’s possible in this country comes in part from what they said America was like in the days of John and Robert Kennedy.

I believe that’s true for millions of Americans. I’ve seen it in offices in this city where portraits of John and Robert hang on office walls or collections of their speeches sit on bookshelves. And I’ve seen it in my travels all across this country. Because no matter where I go, or who I talk to, one thing I can say for certain is that the dream has never died.

The dream lives on in the older folks I meet who remember what America once was, and know what America can be once again. It lives on in the young people who’ve only seen John or Robert Kennedy on TV, but are ready to answer their call.

It lives on in those Americans who refuse to be deterred by the scale of the challenges we face, who know, as President Kennedy said at this university, that “no problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.”

And it lives on in those Americans – young and old, rich and poor, black and white, Latino and Asian – who are tired of a politics that divides us and want to recapture the sense of common purpose that we had when John Kennedy was President.

That is the dream we hold in our hearts. That is the kind of leadership we need in this country. And that is the kind of leadership I intend to offer as President.

So make no mistake: the choice in this election is not between regions or religions or genders. It’s not about rich versus poor; young versus old; and it is not about black versus white. It’s about the past versus the future.

It’s about whether we’re going to seize this moment to write the next great American story. So someday we can tell our children that this was the time when we healed our nation. This was the time when we repaired our world. And this was the time when we renewed the America that has led generations of weary travelers from all over the world to find opportunity, and liberty, and hope on our doorstep.

One of these travelers was my father. I barely knew him, but when, after his death, I finally took my first trip to his tiny village in Kenya and asked my grandmother if there was anything left from him, she opened a trunk and took out a stack of letters, which she handed to me.

There were more than thirty of them, all handwritten by my father, all addressed to colleges and universities across America, all filled with the hope of a young man who dreamed of more for his life. And his prayer was answered when he was brought over to study in this country.

But what I learned much later is that part of what made it possible for him to come here was an effort by the young Senator from Massachusetts at the time, John F. Kennedy, and by a grant from the Kennedy Foundation to help Kenyan students pay for travel. So it is partly because of their generosity that my father came to this country, and because he did, I stand before you today – inspired by America’s past, filled with hope for America’s future, and determined to do my part in writing our next great chapter.

So I’m asking for your hands. I’m asking for your help. And I’m asking for your hearts. And if you will stand with me in the days to come - if you will stand for change so that our children have the same chance that somebody gave us; if you’ll stand to keep the American dream alive for those who still hunger for opportunity and thirst for justice; if you're ready to stop settling for what the cynics tell you you must accept, and finally reach for what you know is possible, then we will win these primaries, we will win this election, we will change the course of history, and light a new torch for change in this country – and “the glow from that fire can truly light the world.”

Originally posted by Greg Sargent from TPM Election Central, on January 28, 2008 8:54 AM

Rochelle asks and Amazon answers: is loaning the Kindle (by libraries) a violation of Amazon.com’s terms of service. Answer: yes.

Originally posted by jessamyn from librarian.net, on January 28, 2008 8:23 AM

The 4th Annual Krispy Kreme Challenge took place on Saturday in Raleigh, N.C. Challengers run from NC State's bell tower to the Krispy Kreme on Person St in downtown Raleigh (2 miles), eat a dozen donuts, and then run back. Winning requires completing the course in 60 minutes or less without tossing your donuts. An awe-inspiring 3,035 donut loving runners registered for this year's race. Some key stats from the race as reported by the News and Observer:

31:20 — Winning time, registered by Philip Curley
10 — No. of runners for the first Krispy Kreme Challenge, in 2005.
3,035 — Number of registered runners for this year's race.
$20,000 — Money raised by the event for the North Carolina Children's Hospital
36,420 — Number of donuts prepared for the event
144 — No. of grams of fat in a dozen donuts (more than twice the recommended daily allowance)
2 — No. of minutes it took Dylan Selinger, a sophomore majoring in business at N.C. State to eat his 12 donuts
12 — No. of plastic lined trash cans awaiting runners at the finish line

Originally posted by Alaina Browne from A Full Belly, on January 28, 2008 7:46 AM

Political Radar: Author Toni Morrison Endorses Obama:

"Nor do I care very much for your race[s]," Morrison continues to Obama, "I would not support you if that was all you had to offer or because it might make me 'proud.' "

"In thinking carefully about the strengths of the candidates, I stunned myself when I came to the following conclusion: that in addition to keen intelligence, integrity and a rare authenticity, you exhibit something that has nothing to do with age, experience, race or gender and something I don't see in other candidates. That something is a creative imagination which coupled with brilliance equals wisdom.

"Our future is ripe, outrageously rich in its possibilities. Yet unleashing the glory of that future will require a difficult labor, and some may be so frightened of its birth they will refuse to abandon their nostalgia for the womb.

"There have been a few prescient leaders in our past, but you are the man for this time," she concludes.

Originally posted by David Jacobs from hello, typepad, on January 28, 2008 7:01 AM

Political Radar: Author Toni Morrison Endorses Obama:

"Nor do I care very much for your race[s]," Morrison continues to Obama, "I would not support you if that was all you had to offer or because it might make me 'proud.' "

"In thinking carefully about the strengths of the candidates, I stunned myself when I came to the following conclusion: that in addition to keen intelligence, integrity and a rare authenticity, you exhibit something that has nothing to do with age, experience, race or gender and something I don't see in other candidates. That something is a creative imagination which coupled with brilliance equals wisdom.

"Our future is ripe, outrageously rich in its possibilities. Yet unleashing the glory of that future will require a difficult labor, and some may be so frightened of its birth they will refuse to abandon their nostalgia for the womb.

"There have been a few prescient leaders in our past, but you are the man for this time," she concludes.

Originally posted by David Jacobs from hello, typepad, on January 28, 2008 7:01 AM

Nokia Beta Labs has just launched a lovely new app that automatically tags your photos with their exact location using GPS – and it’s coming to all compatible handsets in the future.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from NokNok.tv, on January 28, 2008 6:33 AM

Dear Natalie,

See?

Even New York Magazine thinks your vegan shoe launch is a little bit much.

On the upside, if you ever get tired of that particular shoe, you can chop it into small bits and serve it to your pet bunnies.

We love bunnies.

Even (especially?) if they're not making up a J. Mendel coat.

xoxo

Fashionista

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Fashionista, on January 28, 2008 5:39 AM

Chuck Klosterman writes that the New England Patriots would be better off losing the Super Bowl than compiling a perfect 19-0 season; the final game loss would make them more interesting.

But if they lose -- especially if they lose late -- the New England Patriots will be the most memorable collection of individuals in the history of pro football. They will prove that nothing in this world is guaranteed, that past returns do not guarantee future results, that failure is what ultimately defines us and that Gisele will probably date a bunch of other dudes in her life, because man is eternally fallible.

Jill Lepore would likely agree with Klosterman. In her recent New Yorker article on Benjamin Franklin (the patron saint of bloggers, BTW), she argues that he failed to follow many of his aphoristic writings and in doing so became more interesting.

He carried with him a little book in which he kept track, day by day, of whether he had lived according to thirteen virtues, including Silence, which he hoped to cultivate "to break a Habit I was getting into of Prattling, Punning and Joking." What made Franklin great was how nobly he strived for perfection; what makes him almost impossibly interesting is how far short he fell of it.

It's also worth noting that, per Aristotle and Shakespeare, the hero in a tragedy always has a fatal flaw; it's what makes him a hero and the story worth listening to.

Originally posted by jason@kottke.org from kottke.org, on January 28, 2008 4:15 AM

In a kind of companion piece to the dire fish news of last week, Mark Bittman writes in yesterday’s Times about the global impact of our growing appetite for meat, quoting a geophysicist Gidon Eshel: “When you look at environmental problems in the U.S., nearly all of them have their source in food production, and in particular, meat production.”  If I were a cynical New Yorker, I’d say this was simply Bittman’s crafty way of promoting his latest book, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, but in fact, the piece serves to remind me that I am an earnest flesh-loving Midwesterner who has to work harder at developing strategies for eating more plants and smaller portions of meat from animals raised according to their nature.

But it’s not going to be easy—what to do about my veal stock love, for instance?  We need to source veal from humanely raised calves.

And speaking of stock: I’ve posted about the hidden beauty of water on the Elements blog, of using water rather than those heinous cans of College Inn and Swanson “low sodium” (low relative to what?) chicken broth for braises and sauces.  Now a kindred spirit has written about a way of doing this as well.  Daniel Patterson is that relatively rare chef, one who can really write.  I  love his contributions to the Times’ magazine, and in yesterday’s issue he describes another strategy for using water as the sauce base by blending the liquid and vegetables and fat from a standard braise to finish sauce.  The technique really works and results in a voluptuous texture (from the fat and the vegetable puree) with a rich satisfying flavor.  I did this recently with pork shoulder—cooking it in a tight pot packed with onions and just enough water to cover, braise till fork tender, remove the shoulder, blend the cuisson, the cooking liquid, in the pot with a hand blender, slice the meat and serve it with the sauce—simple onion-braised pork shoulder.  And the liquid doesn’t have to be water—you could use or wine and water, or beer, or milk and I’ll bet it would delicious as well.

See, I’m already hungering for meat at 9 am.  I think I need to go get Bittman’s book.

Originally posted by michael ruhlman from ruhlman.com, on January 28, 2008 4:05 AM

Barack Obama is picking up the endorsement of author Toni Morrison, who won the Nobel Prize in literature for her writings on African-American life.

The endorsement is special due to some famous words that Morrison wrote about Bill Clinton in 1998: "White skin notwithstanding, this is our first black president. Blacker than any actual person who could ever be elected in our children's lifetime."

Originally posted by Eric Kleefeld from TPM Election Central, on January 28, 2008 3:59 AM

For real this time: Mythbusters will air their challenge of the airplane on a conveyor belt puzzle this Wednesday at 9pm ET. (thx, darin)

(link)

Originally posted by jason@kottke.org from kottke.org, on January 28, 2008 3:19 AM

Ronald C. Arkin, "Governing Lethal Behavior: Embedding Ethics in a Hybrid Deliberative/Reactive Robot Architecture," Technical Report GIT-GVU-07011. Fascinating (and long: 117-page) paper on ethical implications of robots in war.

Summary, Conclusions, and Future Work

This report has provided the motivation, philosophy, formalisms, representational requirements, architectural design criteria, recommendations, and test scenarios to design and construct an autonomous robotic system architecture capable of the ethical use of lethal force. These first steps toward that goal are very preliminary and subject to major revision, but at the very least they can be viewed as the beginnings of an ethical robotic warfighter. The primary goal remains to enforce the International Laws of War in the battlefield in a manner that is believed achievable, by creating a class of robots that not only conform to International Law but outperform human soldiers in their ethical capacity.

It is too early to tell whether this venture will be successful. There are daunting problems
remaining:

• The transformation of International Protocols and battlefield ethics into machine usable representations and real-time reasoning capabilities for bounded morality using modal logics.

• Mechanisms to ensure that the design of intelligent behaviors only provide responses within rigorously defined ethical boundaries.
• The creation of techniques to permit the adaptation of an ethical constraint set and underlying behavioral control parameters that will ensure moral performance, should those norms be violated in any way, involving reflective and affective processing.
• A means to make responsibility assignment clear and explicit for all concerned parties regarding the deployment of a machine with a lethal potential on its mission.

Over the next two years, this architecture will be slowly fleshed out in the context of the specific test scenarios outlined in this article. Hopefully the goals of this effort, will fuel other scientists’ interest to assist in ensuring that the machines that we as roboticists create fit within international and societal expectations and requirements.

My personal hope would be that they will never be needed in the present or the future. But mankind’s tendency toward war seems overwhelming and inevitable. At the very least, if we can reduce civilian casualties according to what the Geneva Conventions have promoted and the Just War tradition subscribes to, the result will have been a humanitarian effort, even while staring directly at the face of war.

Originally posted by schneier from Schneier on Security, on January 28, 2008 3:12 AM

Mark Bittman had a remarkable piece in the New York Times yesterday about the true costs associated with all the meat we consume. According to Bittman, growing more industrialized meat, growing the feed the associated animals eat, and eating the resulting animal flesh, are collectively having dire consequences on the environment and our health. Bittman's story even gave a passionate, enthusiastic carnivore like me pause, and that's saying something. Bittman makes a compelling case for eating less meat, which of course people like Michael Pollan have been advocating for some time now.

I've been eating less meat on my diet, and I must admit I feel better. I don't miss the meat "hangover" that I used to get after polishing off a steak. Last night I went out for my birthday and brought home half the portion of delicious pork I was served at my favorite neighborhood restaurant.

Here are a couple of eye-opening lines from the story:

Two academics "calculated that if Americans were to reduce meat consumption by 20 per-cent it would be as if we all switched from a standard sedan--a Camry, say--to the ultra-efficient Prius."

"Perhaps the best hope for change lies in consumers’ becoming aware of the true costs of industrial meat production. “When you look at environmental problems in the U.S.,” says Professor Eshel, “nearly all of them have their source in food production and in particular meat production. And factory farming is ‘optimal’ only as long as degrading waterways is free. If dumping this stuff becomes costly — even if it simply carries a non-zero price tag — the entire structure of food production will change dramatically.”

"If price spikes don’t change eating habits, perhaps the combination of deforestation, pollution, climate change, starvation, heart disease and animal cruelty will gradually encourage the simple daily act of eating more plants and fewer animals."

Bittman is no vegetarian, nor does he advocate that we all become vegetarians. But if eating less meat can impact the world in so many positive ways, we all ought to do our part.

Originally posted by Ed Levine from Serious Eats: Main, on January 28, 2008 2:39 AM

• Brazilian Lessons for 2008 - New York Times
  It’s good to begin the year in a country where coconuts are cleaved with nonchalant grace and the air is salty-sweet and there are guys on the beach from the “Life is Too Short Surf Club” and the minister of tourism advises those frustrated by long
  (tags: funny brasil brazil philosophy)

Originally posted by charlie from Lifeblog, on January 28, 2008 2:18 AM

If Angelina Jolie didn't was to fuel pregnancy rumors at last night's SAG awards, she probably should have worn something a little bit more form-fitting.

Angie, looking beautiful as always, walked in the red carpet in a very loose and flowy vintage Hermès dress -- that didn't go anywhere near her belly. With Brad Pitt on her arm (not a bad accessory), Angie and her man seemed absolutely blissful -- and she looked like she could absolutely be carrying the twins sources are buzzing about.

Angelina's rep refused to comment on the rumors, but it's looking more and more like fact to us.

Originally posted by Tracy Pepey from iVillage - Daily Blabber, on January 28, 2008 1:57 AM

If you grew up in and around DC, this will make your day: SeriousEats has compiled a list of "regional pizza styles," and DC's very own "jumbo slice" has made the list. SE may call it "First Oldest Original Jumbo Slice," but me and my friends? Thanks to my sister, we call it "Pizza As Big As Your Head!"

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Good People Better Rise Up!, on January 27, 2008 3:37 PM

While watching "The Neverending Story", my girlfriend asked me to read the IMDB trivia page for that movie to her.

Naturally I didn't do anything of the sort and also stopped watching the movie to instead program a general solution for this kind of craving.

My girlfriend finished the movie and went to bed before I was done, so this isn't thoroughly tested – please point out any issues. ;)

I give you: the IMDB Trivia & Goofs Growler (highlighted).

I'll make this quick since I need to hit the hay. Download that file and read the comment block at the top.

It's a Ruby script that should work on OS X Leopard with Growl and growlnotify.

It takes an IMDB URL (or just the movie ID) as input; looks up the trivia, goofs, and duration of the movie; figures out suitable intervals; and gets growling.

Enjoy!

Originally posted by Henrik from The Pug Automatic, on January 27, 2008 1:54 PM

Specks Williams: We Gave the Drummer Some
From 7" (Jax, 196?)

Little Hooks w/ Ray Nato and the Kings: Give the Drummer Some More
From 7" (United Artists, 1972)


Nothing too elaborate here - I picked up this Specks Williams 45 recently and automatically thought of the Little Hooks song; thought the two made sense to pair together. As it turns out, there's an interesting coincidence b/t the two, insofar as Baltimore's Little Hooks w/ Ray Nato and the Kings were first signed, back in the 1950s, to the Jax imprint, same label as Newark's Specks Williams put his single out on. The Little Hooks song, however, came out on the Hollywood label, Enjay before getting picked up for wider distro by United Artists.

Of the two, I'm actually more partial to the Williams single, 1) it has the better drum break and 2) I like how it opens loud but then slides into a slick little guitar jazz number; not what you'd quite expect from it. "Give the Drummer Some More" wins for the better intro though, no question.

Originally posted by O.W. from soul sides, on January 27, 2008 11:00 AM