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