February 2012
6 posts
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Gumption Scarcity and the Engineering Mindset
“[Entities] often have problems that can be solved, and have been solved in many other [places]. But if they do not have the will to solve them, then all of our effort to address the issue is wasted. Our desire to solve the problem will simply come across as interference, meddling, or worse. So as I move from youthful enthusiasm to elderly wisdom, one of my development goals is to supress...
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“What is it to do one’s “fair share”? In small groups,...”
– The Economist’s always awesome bloggers on “The Politics of Fairness” via T.E.S. The article does a great job of attacking what we really mean when we talk about fairness, and wades into equality territory as well. A good read at either end of the political spectrum. Fair...
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“Ryan: Machines don’t have a universal noun – that’s why they suck. Every...”
– How I Explained REST to My Wife via Stack Overflow
Tom Blomfield: Automate Everything →
tomblomfield:
Performing manual, repetitive tasks enrages me. I used to think this was a corollary of being a programmer, but I’ve come to suspect (or hope) that this behaviour is inherent in being human.
But being able to hack together scripts simply makes it much easier to go from a state of rage to a basic…
January 2012
4 posts
5 tags
“But then one gray morning did Internet Explorer 6 no longer load The Google....”
– An epic tale of tech support and bravery that is a must read for any brave souls that have ever ventured into the dusty depths to ”fix” a router (via McSweeney, via Kottke)
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“9/11 could join the Trojan Horse and Pearl Harbor among stratagems so uniquely...”
– (via Seitz via Schneier) Interesting sentiment. Lots to think of there when it comes to assessing one’s disposition to risk, our current security posture, and the importance of being first in order to succeed. (I shouldn’t have to say it but just in case, I’m measuring...
December 2011
9 posts
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“Explore—go off into the craziest recesses of interaction models you’d like to...”
– Craig Mod, Designer, Flipboard (via A List Apart)
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Javascript Dev Model Differences / Advantages?
I’ve been digging in to some things to take my #JS chops to the next level, and have recently run into a number of frameworks that seem very powerful - Knockout, JavascriptMVC, and Backbone. I’ll need to invest time in them, but I’m curious about the differences between the MVC / MVVM models and which you think are better. Any thoughts?
All I know is that EVERY codebase...
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SOPA Redux
I ██████ ████ ███████ to my ████ and all I got was ████ █████ ████████ ████ the ████.
I’ve censored the following, in opposition of a bill that gives any corporation and the US government the power to censor the internet—a bill that could pass out of committee this week. To see the uncensored text, and to stop internet censorship, visit:
...
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“Let’s go back to music: It is meaningful if I tell you that I really like...”
– Mike Loukides, Via Nicholas Carr
Interesting Point - I would say that there is some value to seeing Spotify songs come across the wire on Facebook, and I’ve definitely listened to them myself, curious to see what others’ tastes were, but there will be more value to a comment about how...
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November 2011
7 posts
Humane JS →
A simple, modern, framework-independent, well-tested, unobtrusive, notification system. Utilizes CSS transitions when available, falls back to JS animation when not. Includes mobile support.
This. Rules. I will find some way to use it, I promise :)
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BRYCE DOT VC: PIPA and SOPA Need a New Name →
brycedotvc:
There is a lot of talking, linking and letter writing to senators as the tech industry works frantically to stop a bill moving quickly through congress that will have a devastating effect on out industry. PIPA and SOPA, as some say:
This is the worst piece of Internet legislation in…
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Today is American Censorship Day - Stop PIPA /... →
Call your Senator / Congressperson. Lots written about this but I think we can all agree it’s a bad idea for a body like Congress to write policy that has lots of possible down sides and a very narrow up-side use case.
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Continuations: Trust and Personal Scaling →
continuations:
Delegation is worthless if you redo every bit of work that comes back. So you can only delegate effectively if you trust the people you are delegating to. That’s one sense in which trust is key to personal scaling.
But trust is needed in the other direction as well. The people you delegate to have to trust you. They have to trust that they won’t be second guessed at every...
October 2011
7 posts
5 tags
“Dissent is fine. If – and this is a big IF – you have other ideas. If you’re...”
– Mark Suster from his blog article “Lead, Follow, or Get the F*ck Out of the Way”
“Anyone familiar with Professor Christensen’s work will quickly recognize the...”
– Steve Jobs Solved the Innovators Dilemma (via brycedotvc)
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WatchThis video was a great intro to the power of repeatable creation of standard configurations for all phases IT. Dev, to Prod, to Ops, to Sales. Great talk, and I’m anxious to find a use case that will get me working with it in my spare time.
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“One of the things I strongly believe is that being a brigade commander or...”
– More from GEN Barry McCaffrey (ret) from his Oral History. (via Best Defense)
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“… battalion command taught me … to see down two levels but command...”
– General Barry McCaffrey (ret) in his Army War College Oral History (via Best Defense)
Chris Eidhof: iOS products are a local optimum →
chriseidhof:
This morning, I was sitting in the booming heart of Seville, sipping my café con
leche and reading The
State of the Art is
Terrible
by Zack Morris. A great read indeed. It then finally dawned on me: most apps are a local optimum. This includes
most of the apps I’ve worked on, including the most…
A good read, and a good thought piece to challenge those of us thinking of how...
September 2011
22 posts
5 tags
How Porsche Hacked the Financial System and Made a... →
What is documented here is extremely difficult to do in markets that encourage transparency. It was done a lot in the early 1900s before the data became more accessible, much to the chagrin of many an investor (if you haven’t, you MUST read Reminiscences of a Stock Operator which is an excellent lesson) but to see it done in more modern times given exchange laws and transparency is quite a...
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“So be Patriotic. Go out there and get rich. Get so obnoxiously rich that when...”
– Mark Cuban (via urban-fervor)
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Hire for the Ability to Get Sh*t Done →
I have found that the two biggest causes of having to fire an employee at an early stage startup are a lack of culture fit, and the inability to Get Shit Done. I don’t care how smart someone is - if they are unable to work hard and crank out a large amount of high quality work, they will weigh down your startup.
I’d say this applies not just to start-ups, but to any company...
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Pirate Party wins 9% of Vote in Germany on Talk... →
”We want to make public all data, all administrative procedures,” said Martin Delius, a 27-year-old IT engineer.
The election win has thrust the party, and its leader, into the limelight. ”From IT-nerd to full-time politician,” said the Financial Times Deutschland online edition in a profile of Andreas Baum, the head of the group.
Its supporters and leaders are young...
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“Senior administration officials who briefed reporters on some of the details of...”
– Sorry - that’s not a spending cut that you can count. So we’re down to $1.9 billion dollars. $1.5 billion from tax increases, OK that’s $400 billion in entitlement cuts. Drop in the bucket. UNACCEPTABLE.
What about raising the social security age to double or triple your savings...
4 tags
Sriram's Tumblr: Don't be so f*king strategic →
sriramk:
One of the occupational hazards of working at Microsoft was attending offsites. These were 2-3 day affairs, typically cloistered watching endless sessions of Powerpoint in a out-of-the-way Washington resort with a bunch of execs. At one such shindig I was attending a few years ago, one of the…
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WatchSome great satire from College Humor that harkens to the “Drunken History” series from funnyordie.com. The difference here is that it hits at a hard truth - that you probably don’t know the answers to these questions, and may not even bother to look further than the first hit on Google hehe.
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Watchboatporn:
CONGRATULATIONS! IT’S A BOAT!
Midnight Rambler Christening (by Rebecca Ramaley)
That Ker 40 does look sexy! Would love a ride, and the Sydney-Hobart is definitely on my bucket list.
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Wanted: Used Laser Full Rig, Half-Decent Shape
I’m looking to get back to my Dinghy roots this year, and what better way than with a Laser, but I don’t have 5 grand to spend on a new one like this. There are hundreds behind garages across the country going unused, so I’m asking you all if you might know where I can find one in half-decent shape with OK spars for a good deal. Interested in your thoughts. Have a deal for me?
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[Effing] Sue Me →
pudjam666:
So,
It was 1998 and the dot-com boom was in full effect. I was making websites as a 22 year old freelance programmer in NYC. I charged my first client $1,400. My second client paid $5,400. The next paid $24,000. I remember the exact amounts — they were the largest checks I’d seen up til that…
This is an inspiring article, but it also requires a personal gut check. Are you...
6 tags
Watchamericascup34sf:
#ACWSPlymouth full replay with a technical sailing commentary. #acws
Incredible racing, from incredible athletes - hard work, fast speeds, and extremely technical sailing to get it right. This is exactly what top-flight sailing should be. Great to see and I can’t wait for day 2 coverage!
Also, check out the resumes for some of these boats! Spithill, Kostecki, and...