Most of my friends aren't on twitter, or use it only very occasionally. This article will probably only confound them more. If they, by some strange happenstance (man, I wish they would), decide to join, this is a good, quick primer on some dos and don'ts for being a good twitter citizen. (#)
August 22, 2008
7:45 am
Everyone born after Ghostbusters 2 just blends into one huge, apple-cheeked, nubile symbol of my mortality.
Jon Stewart, from a Daily show rant addressing Olympic gymnasts – and more generally, all the young dudes. (#)
August 21, 2008
6:16 pm
Messaging platforms like IM and SMS are defusing the idea of location as a hurdle to accessing content, it’s true. But somewhat unwittingly and paradoxically, they’re also tethering themselves to individual clients, to physical hardware with unique stores of data. When the data on a device is the only copy of its kind, its location is more important than ever. Until these services have an IMAP-like solution, they won’t truly be able to liberate us from location, or be as useful or as powerful as they can be.
Khoi Vinh, arguing for an extension of the concepts that drive IMAP email to other messaging protocols. I love the idea of IMAP for SMS. (#)
August 19, 2008
I promised more ExpressionEngine tips, and I intend to deliver. Today, let’s take a look at EE’s SQL query module. Like the gallery module, this one’s only available with a paid license, and for my money, the functionality these two tools bring to the table more than make up for the $100 personal site fee. So just quit yer whining about that price tag.
This is the last novelty blog I'll link for awhile. Promise. It's just that these things are like crack to me. Simple, no nonsense giggles. The concept on this one's a bit narrower than most: show us your worst professionally-made cake disasters. For best results, check out the Beyond Bizarre category first. (Via Guardedly Optimistic.) (#)
August 18, 2008
12:57 am
I never want to forget that something’s fried.
Jeffrey Steingarten, commenting on a dish prepared by Bobby Flay for Iron Chef America. (#)
August 17, 2008
When independent cartoonists are crafting shorts that make Disney and Pixar look like artless amateurs, you know the future is at hand. The Blender Foundation, creators of the popular Blender 3D modeling software, apparently created this film to showcase what kind of work one can produce with their tools. Stunning stuff. (Via Drawn!) (#)
12:42 pm
When you control the pipe you should be able to get profit from your investment.
Sen. John McCain describing his stance on net neutrality. (#)
August 16, 2008
Have you been watching the Olympic swimming? God knows I have. I'd been hoping someone would publish the official finish photos from Michael Phelps' unbelievable win over Milorad Cavic. I saw it on TV, but seeing these pictures, I'm even more amazed. Kid was a good two feet behind Cavic in the last few meters. That was some seriously lucky timing. (#)
August 14, 2008
If there was a tagging system here, this would most certainly get marked "good for nothing." But because TNF is a taste-agnostic zone, it's jammed right up against "Imagining the Tenth Dimension" with no differentiation given between the two. A simple premise: find photos of two "celebrities" that look alike, post them, comment. Some are brilliant. (Via yewknee.) (#)
August 13, 2008
I'll admit that I lose Rob Bryanton's "plain english" explanation of the 10 or 11 dimensions suggested in String Theory somewhere around dimension five, but I'm still intrigued. And he does a great job with the whole Möbius strip analogy. If you've done a lot of acid in your day, I'm betting this video will be especially enlightening. (Via Bobby.) (#)
August 12, 2008
5:31 pm
Change the yellow labels, change the caption and you change the meaning of the photographs. You don’t need Photoshop. That’s the disturbing part. Captions do the heavy lifting as far as deception is concerned. The pictures merely provide the window-dressing. The unending series of errors engendered by falsely captioned photographs are rarely remarked on.
Errol Morris, filmmaker and writer for the New York Times, on the amazing suggestive power of words + photographs. (Via Boing Boing.) (#)
I just did this last weekend. There are some pointers here I wish I'd had when I started, but I'm only linking it to it here because I'm flabbergasted that Sonos is trying to sell a device bundle that does just about the exact same thing for a cool grand. WTF, guys? One caveat: volume control sure would be nice. (#)
August 11, 2008
If you design on the web, there are a limited number of job titles you can whip out when asked what you "do." Cameron Adams has come up with a terrific little flow chart that pretty handily sums up how the conversation's gonna go. (#)
Nike continues their run of making transcendent commercials out of ho-hum songs. In this one, gymnast face-plants, Prefontaine, Lebron, some toddling kid, and a cancer-stricken Lance, all over top the best moment from The Killers' "All The Things That I've Done." Aside: There's gotta be a retrospective of the best of Nike's TV ads. Right? Well, I can't find any. If you have, leave a link to it in the comments. Bonus if it includes that one set to the Pixies' "Oh My Golly." (#)
August 9, 2008
I’m in the middle of a mammoth site build using ExpressionEngine, the same CMS I use to power TNF. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be posting about some of the best tricks I’ve learned during this particular build. I’m starting with the simplest: Invoking EE’s $IN class for use in your templates.
August 8, 2008
3:29 pm
I never liked the idea of the “for Dummies” or the “complete idiot’s guide to” book series’, but their sales success have certainly demonstrated that plenty of people identify with being a dummy or a complete idiot. Self-deprecation is fine, just realize that there’s a dear line between embracing your own ignorance and ensuring a prophesy of certainty.
David Hansson, partner at 37signals and co-creator of Ruby on Rails. (#)
