links.lmorchard.com

July 2012

212 bookmarks saved in July 2012

Bombshell: Koch-Funded Study Finds 'Global Warming Is Real', 'On The High End' And 'Essentially All' Due To Carbon Pollution | ThinkProgress

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/07/28/602151/bombshell-koch-funded-study-finds-global-warming-is-real-on-the-high-end-and-essentially-all-due-to-carbon-pollution/
Our results show that the average temperature of the earth’s land has risen by two and a half degrees Fahrenheit over the past 250 years, including an increase of one and a half degrees over the most recent 50 years. Moreover, it appears likely that essentially all of this increase results from the human emission of greenhouse gases.
#climatechange #imported:pinboard #politics #science #to:fb
archive.org #32712

Bombshell: Koch-Funded Study Finds 'Global Warming Is Real', 'On The High End' And 'Essentially All' Due To Carbon Pollution | ThinkProgress

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/07/28/602151/bombshell-koch-funded-study-finds-global-warming-is-real-on-the-high-end-and-essentially-all-due-to-carbon-pollution
Our results show that the average temperature of the earth’s land has risen by two and a half degrees Fahrenheit over the past 250 years, including an increase of one and a half degrees over the most recent 50 years. Moreover, it appears likely that essentially all of this increase results from the human emission of greenhouse gases.
#climatechange #politics #science #to:fb
archive.org #22392

Computers are very good at the game of Go

http://blog.printf.net/articles/2012/02/23/computers-are-very-good-at-the-game-of-go
Zen19 is beating extremely strong amateurs, but it hasn't beaten professionals in games with no handicap yet. That said, now that we know that Zen19 is using Monte Carlo strategies, the reason why it seems to be getting stronger as it's fed more CPU time is revealed: these strategies are the most obviously parallelizable algorithms out there, and for all we know this exact version of Zen19 could end up becoming World Champion if a few more orders of magnitude of CPU time were made available to it. Which would feel like a shame, because I was really looking forward to seeing us figure out how brains work.
#ai #games #go #imported:pinboard #programming
archive.org #22388

Yes, Government Researchers Really Did Invent the Internet | Observations, Scientific American Blog Network

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2012/07/23/yes-government-researchers-really-did-invent-the-internet/
In truth, no private company would have been capable of developing a project like the Internet, which required years of R&D efforts spread out over scores of far-flung agencies, and which began to take off only after decades of investment. Visionary infrastructure projects such as this are part of what has allowed our economy to grow so much in the past century. Today’s op-ed is just one sad indicator of how we seem to be losing our appetite for this kind of ambition.
#government #imported:pinboard #internet #research #to:fb
archive.org #32713

Yes, Government Researchers Really Did Invent the Internet | Observations, Scientific American Blog Network

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2012/07/23/yes-government-researchers-really-did-invent-the-internet
In truth, no private company would have been capable of developing a project like the Internet, which required years of R&D efforts spread out over scores of far-flung agencies, and which began to take off only after decades of investment. Visionary infrastructure projects such as this are part of what has allowed our economy to grow so much in the past century. Today’s op-ed is just one sad indicator of how we seem to be losing our appetite for this kind of ambition.
#government #internet #research #to:fb
archive.org #22387

Daily Kos: Elizabeth Warren: 'Why aren’t we rebuilding America?'

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/07/28/1114390/-Elizabeth-Warren-Why-aren-t-we-rebuilding-America
It really is that simple. The nation's roads, bridges, electrical grid, water systems, national parks—the whole infrastructure—is crumbling. At the same time unemployment remains persistently high. Put people to work fixing the stuff that's broken. It's not rocket science. It would be that simple, except for a Republican Party that won't do what's best for the country, won't attempt to fix these things because fixing these things might help reelect President Obama and Democrats in Congress. Furthermore, making the country work proves that government works, and Republicans want none of that.
#economy #imported:pinboard #jobs #politics #to:fb #warren
archive.org #22385

The Pirate Bay - The galaxy's most resilient bittorrent site

http://thepiratebay.se/blog/210
With the development of GPS controlled drones, far-reaching cheap radio equipment and tiny new computers like the Raspberry Pi, we're going to experiment with sending out some small drones that will float some kilometers up in the air. This way our machines will have to be shut down with aeroplanes in order to shut down the system. A real act of war.
#bittorrent #drones #imported:pinboard #internet #piratebay #punknet #raspberrypi #to:fb
archive.org #22381

Nothing To Do With Arbroath: Food fetish lecturer who asked female student to stuff a pie down his pants struck off

http://arbroath.blogspot.com/2012/07/food-fetish-lecturer-who-asked-female.html
A lecturer who asked a female student to stuff a pie down his pants has been struck off by Scotland's teaching watchdog. Gavin Bradford, 37, asked other girls to smear themselves in ketchup and eggs and pour sour milk into their underwear. In the bizarre exchanges, which happened online late at night when Bradford was teaching in Canada, he asked more than 20 girls — some as young as 12 — to switch on their webcams so he could watch them. The General Teaching Council (GTC) panel heard that Bradford told one girl he would "take delight in slowly pushing a gooey pie in her face" and asked two others to make a video of them urinating. He also told students his favourite swear words and demonstrated using them in a sentence. The Ontario Discipline Committee panel, which revoked Bradford’s teaching certificate in November 2011, said: "The behaviour may have started out innocently but escalated to the point of using vulgar language and making improper suggestions of an explicit sexual nature."Photo from here. On Tuesday, the Fitness to Teach panel of the GTC ruled that Bradford was not fit to teach in Scotland. Bradford, from Glasgow, fled home after the Canadian scandal and got a job as a performing arts lecturer at Coatbridge College in Lanarkshire in January 2010, where he took charge of a production of the musical Chess — telling staff there he had left Canada because his marriage had broken up. However, the Ontario authorities tipped off their Scottish counterparts. Bradford did not turn up at the hearing in Edinburgh, where GTC presenting officer Paul Reid said his conduct fell significantly short of the standards expected of a registered teacher. He highlighted the nature of the correspondence between Bradford and his pupils in Canada, in particular the fact the "inappropriate and vulgar communications" had taken place outside of school hours. He said there was a need to protect children and maintain the confidence of the public in the teaching profession.
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #22376

Proposed standards for the care and feeding of user generated content – Jeffrey Zeldman Presents The Daily Report

http://www.zeldman.com/2012/07/25/proposed-standards-for-the-care-and-feeding-of-user-generated-content/
Treat our data like it matters. Keep it secure and protect our privacy, of course—but also maintain serious backups and respect our choice to delete any information we’ve contributed. No upload without download. Build in export capabilities from day one. If you close a system, support data rescue. Provide one financial quarter’s notice between announcing the shutdown and destroying any user-contributed content, public or private, and offer data export during this period. And beyond that three months? Make user-contributed content available for media-cost purchase for one year after shutdown.
#cloud #data #imported:pinboard #services #to:fb
archive.org #32714

Proposed standards for the care and feeding of user generated content – Jeffrey Zeldman Presents The Daily Report

http://www.zeldman.com/2012/07/25/proposed-standards-for-the-care-and-feeding-of-user-generated-content
Treat our data like it matters. Keep it secure and protect our privacy, of course—but also maintain serious backups and respect our choice to delete any information we’ve contributed. No upload without download. Build in export capabilities from day one. If you close a system, support data rescue. Provide one financial quarter’s notice between announcing the shutdown and destroying any user-contributed content, public or private, and offer data export during this period. And beyond that three months? Make user-contributed content available for media-cost purchase for one year after shutdown.
#cloud #data #services #to:fb
archive.org #22373

The real reason we’re upset about Sparrow’s acquisition

http://www.elezea.com/2012/07/sparrow-google-acquisition/
You see, for a long time we’ve chanted this refrain wherever we could: If you’re not paying for it, you’re not the customer; you’re the product being sold. We point to Facebook and Delicious and ad-supported sites and lament the fact that we’re all just a set of eyeballs being sold to advertisers. So we came up with a solution. We decided that we don’t want to be free users any more. We decided that we want to pay independent developers directly so that they can have sustainable businesses and happy lives.
#business #google #imported:pinboard #indie #software #sparrow #to:fb
archive.org #32715

The real reason we’re upset about Sparrow’s acquisition

http://www.elezea.com/2012/07/sparrow-google-acquisition
You see, for a long time we’ve chanted this refrain wherever we could: If you’re not paying for it, you’re not the customer; you’re the product being sold. We point to Facebook and Delicious and ad-supported sites and lament the fact that we’re all just a set of eyeballs being sold to advertisers. So we came up with a solution. We decided that we don’t want to be free users any more. We decided that we want to pay independent developers directly so that they can have sustainable businesses and happy lives.
#business #google #indie #software #sparrow #to:fb
archive.org #22371

Power Pwn: This DARPA-funded power strip will hack your network | ZDNet

http://www.zdnet.com/power-pwn-this-darpa-funded-power-strip-will-hack-your-network-7000001331/
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)'s Cyber Fast Track program helped funded the development of the Power Pwn. Pwnie Express, which developed the $1,295 gizmo, says it's "a fully-integrated enterprise-class penetration testing platform." That's great, but the company also notes its "ingenious form-factor" (again, look at the above picture) and "highly-integrated/modular hardware design," which to me translates to: it's the perfect tool for hacking a corporate network.
#hardware #imported:pinboard #nifty #plugcomputers #pwnie #to:fb
archive.org #32716

Power Pwn: This DARPA-funded power strip will hack your network | ZDNet

http://www.zdnet.com/power-pwn-this-darpa-funded-power-strip-will-hack-your-network-7000001331
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)'s Cyber Fast Track program helped funded the development of the Power Pwn. Pwnie Express, which developed the $1,295 gizmo, says it's "a fully-integrated enterprise-class penetration testing platform." That's great, but the company also notes its "ingenious form-factor" (again, look at the above picture) and "highly-integrated/modular hardware design," which to me translates to: it's the perfect tool for hacking a corporate network.
#hardware #nifty #plugcomputers #pwnie #to:fb
archive.org #22367

Matt Kantor prepares a nine-course meal inspired by Rush | Appetizer | Life | National Post

http://life.nationalpost.com/2012/07/21/plates-of-prog-rock-an-epic-nine-course-meal-inspired-by-rush/
Kantor’s ambitious dinner was a testament to his Rush fandom (the New York state native fell in love with the band as a junior-high-school student in the early ’80s and never looked back), and also his latest foray in a culinary crusade. He hopes to help bring what he calls “thinky” food — reminiscent, let’s say, of a well-wrought Neil Peart lyric — to a city whose gastronomic endeavours, he finds, veer closer to the Top 40.
#dinner #food #imported:pinboard #music #rush #to:fb
archive.org #32718

Matt Kantor prepares a nine-course meal inspired by Rush | Appetizer | Life | National Post

http://life.nationalpost.com/2012/07/21/plates-of-prog-rock-an-epic-nine-course-meal-inspired-by-rush
Kantor’s ambitious dinner was a testament to his Rush fandom (the New York state native fell in love with the band as a junior-high-school student in the early ’80s and never looked back), and also his latest foray in a culinary crusade. He hopes to help bring what he calls “thinky” food — reminiscent, let’s say, of a well-wrought Neil Peart lyric — to a city whose gastronomic endeavours, he finds, veer closer to the Top 40.
#dinner #food #music #rush #to:fb
archive.org #22364

Hallo.js, a simple rich text editor for the web - Henri Bergius in Berlin, Germany

http://bergie.iki.fi/blog/hallo-editor/
Hallo.js is a simple rich text editor built as a jQuery UI widget and utilizing the HTML5 contentEditable functionality for allowing in-place editing. This sort of real in-place editing differs from more traditional editors like TinyMCE in that the content is never detached from its place on a page, and so for instance all CSS rules apply to it. This makes the editing experience much more true WYSIWYG.
#cms #editors #imported:pinboard #javascript #mdn #webdev #wysiwyg
archive.org #32719

Hallo.js, a simple rich text editor for the web - Henri Bergius in Berlin, Germany

http://bergie.iki.fi/blog/hallo-editor
Hallo.js is a simple rich text editor built as a jQuery UI widget and utilizing the HTML5 contentEditable functionality for allowing in-place editing. This sort of real in-place editing differs from more traditional editors like TinyMCE in that the content is never detached from its place on a page, and so for instance all CSS rules apply to it. This makes the editing experience much more true WYSIWYG.
#cms #editors #javascript #mdn #webdev #wysiwyg
archive.org #22360

Laughing in Purgatory: Mississippi Passes Anti-Richard Dawkins Legislation

http://www.laughinginpurgatory.com/2012/07/mississippi-passes-anti-richard-dawkins.html
Today we struck a blow for religious freedom in the great state of Mississippi. For too long our children have been unprotected against the nefarious teachings of Richard Dawkins. I have personally talked to many concerned parents who said that they were horrified when their children told them that God was a delusion or that human beings are simply carbon-based robots who took orders from the D-N-A. This law puts the end of that nonsense now. Let's pray that Mississippi will be a beacon of hope for the rest of our Christian nation.
#dawkins #funny #imported:pinboard #mississippi #religion #satire
archive.org #22359

Bill Nye to CNN: ‘The two sides aren’t equal’ on climate change | The Raw Story

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/07/02/bill-nye-to-cnn-the-two-sides-arent-equal-on-climate-change/
“There are a couple of things that you can’t really dispute,” Nye explained to CNN’s Carol Costello. “Sixteen of the last 17 years have been the hottest years on record. That’s just how it is.” “I appreciate that we want to show two sides of the stories — there’s a tradition in journalism that goes back quite a ways, I guess — but the two sides aren’t equal here. You have tens of thousands of scientists who are very concerned and you have a few people who are in business of equating or drawing attention to the idea that uncertainty is the same as doubt. When you have a plus or minus percentage, that’s not the same thing as not believing the whole thing at all.”
#billnye #climatechange #environment #imported:pinboard #politics #science #to:fb #weather
archive.org #32723

Bill Nye to CNN: ‘The two sides aren’t equal’ on climate change | The Raw Story

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/07/02/bill-nye-to-cnn-the-two-sides-arent-equal-on-climate-change
“There are a couple of things that you can’t really dispute,” Nye explained to CNN’s Carol Costello. “Sixteen of the last 17 years have been the hottest years on record. That’s just how it is.” “I appreciate that we want to show two sides of the stories — there’s a tradition in journalism that goes back quite a ways, I guess — but the two sides aren’t equal here. You have tens of thousands of scientists who are very concerned and you have a few people who are in business of equating or drawing attention to the idea that uncertainty is the same as doubt. When you have a plus or minus percentage, that’s not the same thing as not believing the whole thing at all.”
#billnye #climatechange #environment #politics #science #to:fb #weather
archive.org #22348

Chrystia Freeland | Analysis & Opinion | Reuters.com

http://blogs.reuters.com/chrystia-freeland/2012/07/12/the-1-percent-vs-president-obama/
The Democrats are challenging that win-win story of American capitalism. Their contention is that the U.S. economy is failing the middle class. They argue that those at the top need to contribute “a little more” to help rebuild the American middle. Even more threateningly, they point out, as in their critique of Bain Capital, that some of the business strategies that have enriched the elite have actually hollowed out the middle.
#imported:pinboard #obama #occupy #politics #to:fb
archive.org #32724

Chrystia Freeland | Analysis & Opinion | Reuters.com

http://blogs.reuters.com/chrystia-freeland/2012/07/12/the-1-percent-vs-president-obama
The Democrats are challenging that win-win story of American capitalism. Their contention is that the U.S. economy is failing the middle class. They argue that those at the top need to contribute “a little more” to help rebuild the American middle. Even more threateningly, they point out, as in their critique of Bain Capital, that some of the business strategies that have enriched the elite have actually hollowed out the middle.
#obama #occupy #politics #to:fb
archive.org #22346

7 Compromises Google Made To Put Chrome on iPhone and iPad

http://www.chromestory.com/2012/07/7-compromises-google-made-to-put-chrome-on-iphone-and-ipad/
Google Chrome for iPhone and iPad is here. But as you all know by now, it is not the complete Chrome experience on iOS. There are many compromises (platform limitations, as Google calls it) that Google had to make to bring Chrome to iOS. Let’s take a look at 7 of them.
#browsers #chrome #google #imported:pinboard #to:fb #webdev
archive.org #32725

Basic instinct: how we used to code • Reg Hardware

http://www.reghardware.com/2012/04/27/retro_week_basic_instinct/
I’ve recently caught myself, like some horrific solo re-write of the Monty Python Four Yorkshiremen sketch, waxing lyrical to my two iPod-wielding young ‘uns about the good old days; when men were men, computers were effectively clockwork, and computer games… well, come to think about it, they still cost about 69p. But you didn’t download them from an app store. Oh no. They came bound into computer magazines and had to be typed in by hand. And oh yes, they were in an arcane language called Basic.
#imported:pinboard #oldschool #programming #retro #to:fb
archive.org #32730

Basic instinct: how we used to code • Reg Hardware

http://www.reghardware.com/2012/04/27/retro_week_basic_instinct
I’ve recently caught myself, like some horrific solo re-write of the Monty Python Four Yorkshiremen sketch, waxing lyrical to my two iPod-wielding young ‘uns about the good old days; when men were men, computers were effectively clockwork, and computer games… well, come to think about it, they still cost about 69p. But you didn’t download them from an app store. Oh no. They came bound into computer magazines and had to be typed in by hand. And oh yes, they were in an arcane language called Basic.
#oldschool #programming #retro #to:fb
archive.org #22323

John Resig - Secret Omens: Book Update

http://ejohn.org/blog/secret-omens/
To the point of Jeff’s post, I would absolutely not write a technical book again. It’s a tedious process and unless you LOVE writing and are really good at it (like Nicholas Zakas or Dave Flanagan) then I suggest that you stick with the medium that is truly successful: Writing long-form articles/blog posts and possibly spinning them off into purchasable ebooks. (As an example, I’d point to Juriy Zaytsev and Peter-Paul Koch both of whom could get any JavaScript position in the world purely based upon the quality of their articles and sites, without ever having written a book.)
#books #ebooks #imported:pinboard #javascript #publishing #to:fb #writing
archive.org #32731

John Resig - Secret Omens: Book Update

http://ejohn.org/blog/secret-omens
To the point of Jeff’s post, I would absolutely not write a technical book again. It’s a tedious process and unless you LOVE writing and are really good at it (like Nicholas Zakas or Dave Flanagan) then I suggest that you stick with the medium that is truly successful: Writing long-form articles/blog posts and possibly spinning them off into purchasable ebooks. (As an example, I’d point to Juriy Zaytsev and Peter-Paul Koch both of whom could get any JavaScript position in the world purely based upon the quality of their articles and sites, without ever having written a book.)
#books #ebooks #javascript #publishing #to:fb #writing
archive.org #22322

Node.js WiFi-Extending Robot

http://glench.com/make/nodejs-robot/
The beast above is a robotic system intended to be operated remotely in hazardous areas where network infrastructure is scarce. The robot is controlled over a WiFi network that originates on the robot and is extended by dropping the black repeater units on its back. I and seven other computer and electrical engineers built this monster as part of a senior design project at Northeastern University.
#imported:pinboard #nifty #node #robots #to:fb #wifi
archive.org #32732

Node.js WiFi-Extending Robot

http://glench.com/make/nodejs-robot
The beast above is a robotic system intended to be operated remotely in hazardous areas where network infrastructure is scarce. The robot is controlled over a WiFi network that originates on the robot and is extended by dropping the black repeater units on its back. I and seven other computer and electrical engineers built this monster as part of a senior design project at Northeastern University.
#nifty #node #robots #to:fb #wifi
archive.org #22321

Pee-Wee Herman dubs the Dark Knight Rises trailer, should dub the whole movie - Boing Boing

http://boingboing.net/2012/07/12/pee-wee-dubs-dark-knight-rises.html
Pee-Wee Herman took part in a bit on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon in which he narrated the trailer for The Dark Knight Rises. Great, now this movie is going to be hilarious when it's definitely not supposed to be, and I'm just going to have to see it twice so I don't hear Pee-Wee Herman the second time. Also: John Cleese should also dub this trailer. (via Gawker)
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #22315

Inflatable Cthulhu Arm, A Giant Wearable Tentacle

http://laughingsquid.com/inflatable-cthulhu-arm-a-giant-wearable-tentacle/
Archie McPhee’s Inflatable Cthulhu Arm is a giant wearable tentacle that fits over your hand so you can pretend that you’re turning into Cthulhu, the “unspeakable horror from beyond space.” It would also be great if you want to costume up as the Laughing Squid logo, kind of like Dan’l did with their Cthulhu tentacles (but, of course, on a much larger scale). The also carry a less menacing version, the Inflatable Tentacle Arm. Cthulhu is a mythical dark god from another dimension that every nerd knows about…good for squid costumes and having tentacle fights with your pals.
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #32733

Inflatable Cthulhu Arm, A Giant Wearable Tentacle

http://laughingsquid.com/inflatable-cthulhu-arm-a-giant-wearable-tentacle
Archie McPhee’s Inflatable Cthulhu Arm is a giant wearable tentacle that fits over your hand so you can pretend that you’re turning into Cthulhu, the “unspeakable horror from beyond space.” It would also be great if you want to costume up as the Laughing Squid logo, kind of like Dan’l did with their Cthulhu tentacles (but, of course, on a much larger scale). The also carry a less menacing version, the Inflatable Tentacle Arm. Cthulhu is a mythical dark god from another dimension that every nerd knows about…good for squid costumes and having tentacle fights with your pals.
#needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #22314

Twitter follows Facebook down the walled garden path | The Verge

http://www.theverge.com/2012/7/9/3135406/twitter-api-open-closed-facebook-walled-garden
Ben Popper, writing for The Verge: Twitter set off alarm bells across the web in recent weeks when it ended its partnership with LinkedIn and reiterated its warning that it would be cracking down on the terms of its API. The company didn’t offer any explanation for why it removed tweets from LinkedIn, but speaking with sources familiar with the company’s plans, The Verge has learned that major changes are coming in the next few months which will move Twitter from an open platform popular among independent developers towards a walled garden more akin to Facebook. I can’t think of a more ominous four-word description of Twitter’s future than “More akin to Facebook”. For me, Twitter isn’t just a little bit better because of third-party clients — it’s vastly better because of third-party clients. Whatever it is Twitter is planning, I sure hope it isn’t going to cut third-party clients loose.  ★
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #22309

Romney Receives 20-Minute Standing Ovation At NAAWP Event | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

http://da.feedsportal.com/c/34529/f/632231/s/21419994/l/0L0Stheonion0N0Carticles0Cromney0Ereceives0E20Aminute0Estanding0Eovation0Eat0Enaawp0H28750A0C/ia1.htm
HOUSTON—During an address Wednesday to the National Association for the Advancement of White People, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney received a lengthy standing ovation from the group of 2,000 Caucasians who had gathered to hear him sp...
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #22307

Origin of the @reply – Digging through twitter’s history | Anarchogeek

http://anarchogeek.com/2012/07/09/origin-of-the-reply-digging-through-twitters-history/
Twitter’s been around for over 6 years now, and it’s most of it’s early history has been forgotten. The amazing thing about twitter as a platform and community is that it’s evolution has come through it’s use. Through use, people together evolve new ways of communicating. The #hashtag, the retweet, the @reply, follow friday, trending topics, real time twitter search, explaining twitter trends, cc-ing users, etc… These were all creations of the user base, people tried out ideas and build them. Twitter the company later adopted the conventions of it’s community and formalized the tools. This letting the community of users create, and then adopting the practices is critical to how Twitter’s grown to be such an amazing platform. It’s also why new efforts to deliver a ‘consistent experience‘ are a terrible idea and if they succeed will kill twitter’s future innovation.
#apis #history #imported:pinboard #social #to:fb #twitter #webdev
archive.org #32736

Origin of the @reply – Digging through twitter’s history | Anarchogeek

http://anarchogeek.com/2012/07/09/origin-of-the-reply-digging-through-twitters-history
Twitter’s been around for over 6 years now, and it’s most of it’s early history has been forgotten. The amazing thing about twitter as a platform and community is that it’s evolution has come through it’s use. Through use, people together evolve new ways of communicating. The #hashtag, the retweet, the @reply, follow friday, trending topics, real time twitter search, explaining twitter trends, cc-ing users, etc… These were all creations of the user base, people tried out ideas and build them. Twitter the company later adopted the conventions of it’s community and formalized the tools. This letting the community of users create, and then adopting the practices is critical to how Twitter’s grown to be such an amazing platform. It’s also why new efforts to deliver a ‘consistent experience‘ are a terrible idea and if they succeed will kill twitter’s future innovation.
#apis #history #social #to:fb #twitter #webdev
archive.org #22296

Map pinpoints the 2,284 US temperature records broken in June

http://io9.com/5924257/map-pinpoints-the-2284-us-temperature-records-broken-in-june
Yes, June was a hot a month for folks in the US, but just how hot? According to the National Climactic Data Center, US states and territories saw 2,284 temperature records broken in June and 998 records tied. The center has conveniently mapped out all 3,282 of those record temperatures. The National Climatic Data Center contains the world's largest active archive of weather data, and has a handy interactive map that lets you see the record highs, lows, precipitation, and snowfall for various parts of the United States. In playing around with this application, NPR noted that so far this year has been heavier on the record highs than last year; 2012 so far has seen 23,283 record highs set while by this time in 2011, 13,582 records had been set. Head over the NPR for more weather record insights. The map above doesn't show all 3,282 temperature records met or broken in the US, as some were set in Alaska, Hawaii, and US territories. Visit the National Climatic Data Center website to see the sites of all the US's new temperature records. [National Climatic Data Center via NPR via Geekosystem]
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #22294

Spelunky review: Obtainer of rare antiquities, giver of aneurysms | Joystiq

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/07/04/spelunky-review/
Spelunky, an Xbox Live Arcade revamp of a free PC indie game, straddles the line between insurmountable addiction and a precise extractor of self-hatred. Like other rare indie gems, such as Metanet's N series, Spelunky is equal parts diabolical and ingenious. The concept is simple: explore worlds filled with treacherous obstacles while collecting treasures and attempting to survive. You start the game with a standard whip along with a few climbing ropes and bombs, which are used to carve out a path to the level's exit. Each randomly generated level is filled with traps, enemies, and environmental disasters awaiting your unnamed adventurer. Survival may be the primary goal, but Spelunky's secondary objective is to make players regret the follies of poor split-second decisions. It's the kind of experience you hate yourself for loving, but love it you shall. Gallery: Spelunky (XBLA) Continue reading Spelunky review: Obtainer of rare antiquities, giver of aneurysms Spelunky review: Obtainer of rare antiquities, giver of aneurysms originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 04 Jul 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #32737

Spelunky review: Obtainer of rare antiquities, giver of aneurysms | Joystiq

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/07/04/spelunky-review
Spelunky, an Xbox Live Arcade revamp of a free PC indie game, straddles the line between insurmountable addiction and a precise extractor of self-hatred. Like other rare indie gems, such as Metanet's N series, Spelunky is equal parts diabolical and ingenious. The concept is simple: explore worlds filled with treacherous obstacles while collecting treasures and attempting to survive. You start the game with a standard whip along with a few climbing ropes and bombs, which are used to carve out a path to the level's exit. Each randomly generated level is filled with traps, enemies, and environmental disasters awaiting your unnamed adventurer. Survival may be the primary goal, but Spelunky's secondary objective is to make players regret the follies of poor split-second decisions. It's the kind of experience you hate yourself for loving, but love it you shall. Gallery: Spelunky (XBLA) Continue reading Spelunky review: Obtainer of rare antiquities, giver of aneurysms Spelunky review: Obtainer of rare antiquities, giver of aneurysms originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 04 Jul 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments
#needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #22289

Good guy Ron Perlman reprises his Hellboy role for a very special audience of one

http://io9.com/5924190/good-guy-ron-perlman-reprises-his-hellboy-role-for-a-very-special-audience-of-one
It's not Hellboy 3 but it's a scene that warms our Hellboy-loving hearts. Ron Perlman donned the red makeup again not for a movie or a promotional event, but to fulfill a young boy's Make-a-Wish dreams. Young Zachary's heart's desire was to meet Hellboy and become Hellboy himself. The Make-a-Wish foundation made it happen, having Zachary and his family meet a made-up Perlman down at the makeup effects studio Spectral Motion. Perlman, ever the good sport, ordered up a "Hellboy sized" sampler of burgers, shakes, and fries for everyone involved and Zachary even got to play Hellboy himself, sitting in the Spectral Motion makeup chair and putting on the big red horn stumps. Forget another Hellboy movie. We'll happily watch 90 minutes of Ron Perlman cheering up sick kids — maybe with a cat or two for good measure. Make a Wish day with Zachary [Spectral Motion Facebook via Geekologie]
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #22278

Scripting News: Twitter is a Corporate API

http://scripting.com/stories/2012/07/07/twitterIsACorporateApi.html
Conclusion -- corporate APIs are good for the corporations that own them, and pretty much bad for everyone else. I would be reluctant to develop on any corporate API unless I was prepared to have my work completely deleted or obviated or usurped by the platform vendor. You really don't have any power. However it's pretty much impossible to avoid them. But try to. And don't be a crybaby when you get hurt. permalink
#apis #imported:pinboard #twitter #webdev
archive.org #22277

Golgo 13 watches, guys. You can live your life... - Tiny Cartridge - Nintendo DS, DSi, & 3DS News, Media, Videos, Imports, Homebrew, & Retro Junk

http://tinycartridge.com/post/26705988002/golgo-13-watches-guys-you-can-live-your-life
Golgo 13 watches, guys. You can live your life always asking “What Would Duke Togo do?” during those times (hur hur) when you have to make hard decisions, without having to actually wear one of those corny bracelets. Seiko is releasing these two limited edition models (total of 1,500 units produced) in Japan today for around $725 and $800, and they’re going for around that much on eBay right now. My birthday is in seven days, y’all, and if you’re wondering what Duke Togo would get me for a present, this is what he’d buy — a watch with his own face on it. Buy: Golgo 13 stuff See also: Lots of Golgo 13 posts [Via @feitclub]
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #22276

Super Metroid poster by Ian Wilding. It’s a little... - Tiny Cartridge - Nintendo DS, DSi, & 3DS News, Media, Videos, Imports, Homebrew, & Retro Junk

http://tinycartridge.com/post/26666645165/super-metroid-poster-by-ian-wilding-its-a-little
Super Metroid poster by Ian Wilding. It’s a little different from the “minimalist” thing that’s happening with a lot of posters/fanart, but it’s still simple, and just really nice to look at. Plus, it serves as a reminder that Super Metroid exists, which is an important public service. The print is available in a variety of sizes from Wilding’s Society6 shop. Buy: Metroid: Other M Find: Nintendo DS/3DS release dates, discounts, & more See also: Lots more Metroid posts
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #22275

Never Use Source Control GUIs! « late.am

http://late.am/post/2011/09/27/never-use-source-control-guis
In 5 years, something like 90% of the source control mishaps I’ve seen can be attributed to GUIs hiding complexity of what they’re doing. Git can be a beast to learn, for sure; but at least once you develop an intuition, you can be reasonably safe in performing even advanced operations at the command line tool, in a way I’ve never felt (or felt from co-workers) about GUI tools.
#control #git #guis #imported:pinboard #source
archive.org #22272

Will Your Children Inherit Your E-Books? : NPR

http://www.npr.org/2012/06/21/155360197/will-your-children-inherit-your-e-books
What happens to our books when we die? Many books disappear before we do, of course; they fall apart, or we put them out on the stoop for scavengers. A book like this one, however — a text that is still read and reprinted, that has played a notable role in the 20th-century imagination, and then a copy of the text that played an especially interesting role — is likely to be passed down carefully as long as we can preserve and recognize it. Like the Bibles some families use to record their histories, it traces a chain of readers through time.
#archives #books #ebook #imported:pinboard #inheritance #to:fb
archive.org #22269

Amazon's helpful algorithm reveals that customers like to make explosives

http://io9.com/5923485/amazons-helpful-algorithm-reveals-that-customers-like-to-make-explosives
This is definitely the perfect screenshot for today, as Canadians recover from the weekend's fiery festivities and people in the US celebrate Independence Day by going online and ordering the ingredients for explosives. In this screenshot, you can take joy in the friendly way Amazon informs us that people who buy one ingredient for thermite often buy all of them together (thermite contains aluminum powder and iron oxide powder, and is usually lit with magnesium ribbon). Now these are the kinds of product recommendations we need. What could go wrong? Over at the fine site "How to Make Stuff," we learn the hard way to make thermite by scrounging the ingredients at local machine shops and paint stores. But why dig around and deal with finding stores in the real world when Amazon makes it so easy for you? To see this for yourself, just search Amazon for aluminum powder. Also, PLEASE DO NOT MAKE THERMITE AT HOME.
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #22266

Nothing To Do With Arbroath: Woman trying to kill bedbugs burns down apartment block making 30 people homeless

http://arbroath.blogspot.com/2012/07/woman-trying-to-kill-bedbugs-burns-down.html
Authorities say a Kentucky woman trying to kill bedbugs accidentally started a fire that destroyed several apartments in downtown Carlisle in Nicholas County. It took firefighters from several counties to put it out. Not only had to battle the flames, but the extreme heat as well. You could see the flames shooting out from the apartment's roof from several blocks away. "I was scared to death for my husband because he was in the apartment," says Vicky Bussell, who lived there. Firefighters disappeared into the smoke as they climbed the ladder to make sure everyone was out the building. It took hours to get a handle on the out of control fire. "I've never really seen anything like this before," says Brianna Ross. About 30 people lost their homes. Six families in the apartment building where the fire started, and ten families next door. "It damages you. It's hard when you lose everything," Bussell says. The Carlisle Fire Chief says a woman doused her couch in alcohol to try to get rid of bed bugs, and when she dropped her cigarette, the fire started. "They're just belongings, you can replace them anytime. Main thing is, nobody got hurt," says Randal Lutes, who lost everything. While everyone did make it out, four people were taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation. Jackie Bond's mother was one of them: "My mom's bed ridden. I take care of her everyday. I don't know where I'm going to take her, I don't know what to do." Red Cross will be helping some of these people with a place to stay Friday night, but after that, many of these fire victims say they don't know where they'll go. "I guess i just work until we build everything back up," Bond says. "Everybody's alive. As long as everybody's alive, I'll find a way. I'll have to."
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #22242

Great Scott! DeLorean-Inspired Time Circuit Clock with Adafruit gear! « adafruit industries blog

http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2012/07/02/great-scott-delorean-inspired-time-circuit-clock-with-adafruit-gear/
From the moment these LED displays made an appearance on our weekly Ask an Engineer show, comparisons were being made to the DeLorean time circuit from the Back to the Future films. It was a moral imperative then to make a demo! If you’re handy with Arduino and some shop tools, you should be able to pull off something similar (better, even), or adapt the ideas to other projects. This was quickly built in fun, so please don’t expect the same level of polish as a finished product tutorial.
#arduino #bttf #clocks #diy #electronics #hacks #imported:pinboard
archive.org #32742

Great Scott! DeLorean-Inspired Time Circuit Clock with Adafruit gear! « adafruit industries blog

http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2012/07/02/great-scott-delorean-inspired-time-circuit-clock-with-adafruit-gear
From the moment these LED displays made an appearance on our weekly Ask an Engineer show, comparisons were being made to the DeLorean time circuit from the Back to the Future films. It was a moral imperative then to make a demo! If you’re handy with Arduino and some shop tools, you should be able to pull off something similar (better, even), or adapt the ideas to other projects. This was quickly built in fun, so please don’t expect the same level of polish as a finished product tutorial.
#arduino #bttf #clocks #diy #electronics #hacks
archive.org #22232

Mozilla Thimble

https://thimble.webmaker.org/en-US/
Thimble makes it ridiculously simple to create your own web pages. Write and edit HTML and CSS right in your browser. Instantly preview your work. Then host and share your finished pages with a single click. Easy, huh?
#imported:pinboard #mozilla #webdev
archive.org #32743

Mozilla Thimble

https://thimble.webmaker.org/en-US
Thimble makes it ridiculously simple to create your own web pages. Write and edit HTML and CSS right in your browser. Instantly preview your work. Then host and share your finished pages with a single click. Easy, huh?
#mozilla #webdev
archive.org #22227