Micek's Tumblelog

langer: I can’t even begin to tell you how DONE I am with this whole nerd tradition of naming...

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:34:06 -0600

I can’t even begin to tell you how DONE I am with this whole nerd tradition of naming programming languages or frameworks after things the nerds responsible for maintaining them happen to enjoy. Take the examples of Python (so named for its inventor’s love of “Monty Python”), or Django (read: Django Reinhardt), or Hadoop (named for the lead developer’s child’s stuffed elephant), or Go (short for ‘Google’, whose employees quite like themselves), or Rails (a result of the community’s shared enjoyment of sadism).

All day long I have to work with technologies named to reflect the enjoyments and idiosyncrasies of OTHER nerds and I’ve had about enough of it (seriously, one more word about “unladen swallow” and I’m liable to snap).

So I’m going to set myself to building my own suite of tools—a programming language, a data store, and a web framework—which will be named for things that I enjoy and they’ll be engineered to be the best the industry’s ever seen so that everyone will have to use them and they’ll be named, respectively, Paris Hilton, Rihanna, and Lady Gaga, and YOU’RE ALL JUST GOING TO HAVE TO FUCKING DEAL.

I’d totally work with a Gaga framework.

allisonweiss: Allison Weiss - “You + Me + Alcohol” Oh, what’s...

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:32:21 -0600

allisonweiss:

Allison Weiss - “You + Me + Alcohol”

Oh, what’s this? Nothing. Just felt like posting another song from my new album which comes out all across these internets on Tuesday 11/24 and you can still preorder a signed copy until tonight at 11:00pm EST!

www.allisonweisswasrightallalong.com

also you can get two songs from it for free at www.allisonw.com/2songs

I’m just seeing this now?! The “going out”...

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:39:54 -0600

I’m just seeing this now?! The “going out” iPhone case!

Barnes and Noble’s Nook Reader Fails to Live Up to Promises

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:14:36 -0600

Barnes and Noble’s Nook Reader Fails to Live Up to Promises:

caterpillarcowboy:

infoneernet:

To use the technical term, it’s slower than an anesthetized slug in winter.

And it’s buggy. In four days, my Nook locked up twice and displayed an “Android operating system has crashed” message twice. You can change the type size for books, newspapers and even your own PDF documents — but not for B&N’s own essays on the Nook’s Daily screen. The software isn’t even smart enough to ignore little words like “a” and “the” when alphabetizing; “Pride and Prejudice” comes before “The New York Times.”

Navigating the Nook makes the 1040 tax form seem like a breeze. You’ve got two page-turn buttons (< and >) on each side of the reading screen, up/down/back buttons on the color screen, and a Home button above the color screen. Quick: Which one returns you to the table of contents?

So O.K., the Nook is a mess, clearly rushed out the door in hopes of stealing some of the Kindle’s holiday cheer. “We want to optimize everything quite a bit,” a product manager concedes. The first of many software fixes, B&N says, will arrive wirelessly on Nooks next week.

» via The New York Times

Ouch.

Good to know, I was considering one of these.

emptyage: When I wrote about it in Wired a year ago, people...

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:12:08 -0600

emptyage:

When I wrote about it in Wired a year ago, people thought I’d made Geoshagging up*. I got a bunch of skeptical emails that essentially called bullshit. (Nevermind that the article was fact-checked, the apps were there all along for anyone who cared to look.) How far we’ve come in just 12 months.

choire:

This is how the gays do things now. I feel such a strange mix of feelings about this development! Jealous/horrified? Skeeved/intrigued? Grossed out/envious? Relieved mostly that I don’t have to be involved, yes, for sure.

I swear I only downloaded grindr for fun, but omg rawr! And ONLY 707 feet away!

*And by made up, I mean the activity, not the word. I did make up the word. Mea culpa.

Google Chrome Beta for Mac is out.

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 10:48:58 -0600

Google Chrome Beta for Mac is out.:

Time to give this a week-long whirl, assuming flash is working properly.

I live in this building. via (dowhatyouloveandfucktherest)

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 09:58:22 -0600

I live in this building.

via (dowhatyouloveandfucktherest)

Looking at bottles of booze for design inspiration this...

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 09:40:42 -0600

Looking at bottles of booze for design inspiration this morning.

http://www.thedieline.com/blog/2009/11/50_favorite_liquor_package_designs.htm

The Brads http://www.bradcolbow.com/archive.php/?p=176

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 09:05:50 -0600

The Brads

http://www.bradcolbow.com/archive.php/?p=176

stuffhipstershate: Oldsters One of the main tenets of...

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 09:02:09 -0600

stuffhipstershate:

Oldsters

One of the main tenets of hipsterdom is, intrinsically, youth. Hipsters are eternal Peter Pans, romping children, glorious newly sprouted blossoms careening merrily toward a blazingly glorious end. In short: Hipsters are not supposed to grow up. Which is why aging members of the counterculture are so reviled: they are grim markers of what looms over the horizon, cautionary tales in the epidermis. Overall, there are two kinds of Oldster:

1). The Old Dude at the Bar: The old dude at the bar is basically just that—a horn-rimmed-glasses-wearing, fedora-sportin’, Smashing Pumpkins-adoring loser whose burgeoning gut spills over the top of his skinny jeans like froth over the lip of an overfilled Yuengling. This specimen is most likely an “artist,” but, in reality, spends more time drinking whiskey on the sidewalk outside his studio than actually painting. He wiles away his days playing a giant game of musical chairs, moving from neighborhood bench to neighborhood bench, until, when night finally falls, he takes his rightful place on his favorite bar stool, where he officially kills everyone’s buzz.

2). The Hipster with a Baby on His/Her Hip: One cannot even pretend to know what’s going on in the alternative world when one has a tiny person permanently welded, parasite-like, to one’s body. Yet the hipster parent persists in frequenting the same brunch spots, stores and (rather disturbingly) bars that he or she did before becoming afflicted with infantitis. I’m sorry Mommy and Daddy, artful stains are cool, but whatever is currently spewing out of that tiny keening beast has no place splattered across your totally played-out cowboy boots.

In short, although hipsters live in a state of extended adolescence, if they had their druthers, they would see their elders (read: anyone over 35) meet some dramatic fabled end, or park their skinny asses on an ice float and disappear out to sea…you know, like an old Eskimo is wont to do.

(Photo)

"I’m not saying ‘everyone is basically bisexual’. I think that’s bullshit. Some people are clearly..."

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:31:00 -0600

“I’m not saying ‘everyone is basically bisexual’. I think that’s bullshit. Some people are clearly not bisexual. Some people are clearly gay or straight. And even though most people do have at least some capacity to be attracted to both/all genders, that still doesn’t make them ‘basically bisexual’. Sexual identity is complicated — it’s about political identity, cultural identity, sexual history, romantic and relationship preferences, etc., as well as basic sexual attraction. And when people are deciding which identity (if any) works best for them, they get to decide for themselves which of these factors gets priority.”

- Greta Christina - The Case of the Missing Bisexual

This is why queers and transgenders are fighting for their equal rights. As long as people spread lies and homophobia and transphobia, telling us that because we are born a certain way our whole lives are essentially determined from birth till death, this is why we must become verbose and vehement. Just because I was born with a vagina does not mean I have to end up making babies, raising children, be a housewife, “compliment” my spouse, yada yada yada. Or, just because I was born as a man, it means I cannot bear my emotions, kiss my fellow male friends, or be an active force in my children’s lives?

Granted, there are some biological factors that give each main sex its benefits and weaknesses. Women live longer, but are more prone to emotional and psychological issues. Men are stronger and more enduring physically, but live shorter lives.

The message is that, as long as we force the illusion of heteronormativity, we, the third nature, will keep ourselves made visible.

And if you think we are flaunting ourselves because we kiss and hold hands like any “traditional” couple, I think you are nuts. You would rather hold onto your illusion of control of and black-and-whiteness rather than explore the possibility that there may be more to the world than you think.

(via ardhanari)

I’ll reblog anything that uses the word ‘heteronormativity’

"If something’s worth doing, it’s worth doing hungover."

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:27:58 -0600

“If something’s worth doing, it’s worth doing hungover.”

- Trooandroo, spoken like a true alcoholic (via frangry)

sexartandpolitics: Brother Ali - Tight Rope Your family is...

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 14:18:44 -0600

sexartandpolitics:

Brother Ali - Tight Rope
Your family is stressed out you’re getting older
You don’t live the way they did back in Somalia
It’s extra difficult to be a daughter
Trying to keep it modest with the sinners all around you
Wear the wrong garment your parents get an ulcer
If you wrap it up the other children picking on you
[…]
Daddy says people go to hell for being
What he is and he certainly believes them
Cause there ain’t no flame that can blaze enough
To trump being hated for the way you love
And cry yourself to sleep and hate waking up
Its a cold world y’all shame on us

axinomancy: Explicit Support for Same-Sex Marriage by State and...

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 14:04:54 -0600

axinomancy:

Explicit Support for Same-Sex Marriage by State and Age (click to enlarge)

I’d like to point out that Minnesota is the top-ranked of midwest states. Woo! Of course, Iowa is way down there in support and look what happened.

Minimalism is mandatory

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 13:15:58 -0600

Minimalism is mandatory:

I think the idea that many people have of minimalism is that there is nothing on a site, but some text. Maybe there is an image or two, but what you get is usually a black & white site that offers a nice, clean grid structure which pleases the eye…

…However, to really understand the essence of minimalism we have to understand what are the most important elements to a site.

fishy: lemonadediary: zombienumbersix: eush: KF alerted me...

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:35:11 -0600

fishy:

lemonadediary:

zombienumbersix:

eush:

KF alerted me to the existence of this—during senior week, we stole the Classics department’s bust of Homer and took it to different places on campus and photographed it. Afterwards, we made a photo album of it and gave it to our professors (who didn’t even notice Homer was gone, by the way).

So I present to you, Homer’s Odyssey.

weeks101: stuffaboutminneapolis: 1st Big Snowfall Of The...

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:35:08 -0600

weeks101:

stuffaboutminneapolis:

1st Big Snowfall Of The Season On The Way

The snow will taper off throughout Wednesday morning. Parts of southern Minnesota and western Wisconsin could receive up to a foot of snow, and the Twin Cities may see 7-10 inches of snow.

Winter arriving shortly. Stoked.

Can’t wait, looks awesome.

How Obama Came to Plan for ‘Surge’ in Afghanistan - NYTimes.com

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 10:29:18 -0600

How Obama Came to Plan for ‘Surge’ in Afghanistan - NYTimes.com:

soupsoup:

paulscheer:

Excellent Article by the NY Times about the troop surge. Worth a read to understand how the decision was made.

Outstanding Read

fullfrontalfreelance: You Are The CSS To My HTML T-Shirt -...

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:42:03 -0600

fullfrontalfreelance:

You Are The CSS To My HTML T-Shirt - Rumplo, A Place for T-shirts

Christmas Present Please.

David Lebovitz's 10 Easy Ways to Improve Your Cooking

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 12:04:37 -0600

David Lebovitz's 10 Easy Ways to Improve Your Cooking:

tktc:

adeandabet:

krankmills:

Here’s 10 easy things you can do to improve your cooking. I’ve touched upon a few before and some apply to baking, some to savory cooking. They’re ways that I’ve personally improved my cooking and stocked my pantry, and all of these things are within the reach of everyone. They’re all pretty simply and actually kind of fun to implement, and I hope they’ll making cooking and baking far more enjoyable and rewarding for you, as they have for me.

{David is pretty high on the list of people I enjoy because I learn something while giggling. Best possible combination- TKTC}