(11:22 PM)
4/30/2007
(10:47 PM)
garfield
Garfield made funny: The Garfield Randomizer. via a post on why Garfield isn't funny.(8:35 PM)
map of sacramento farmers' markets
Farmers' Markets in downtown Sacramento, CA (mostly from downtownsac.org).(2:22 AM)
lat/long lookup
latitude/longitude lookup (geocoding-geolocator). find the lat & long of a place by scrolling and zooming on a yahoo map. via plasticbag.org.4/27/2007
(5:15 PM)
images in google maps
on google maps image cutter - java app that chops & zooms an image so you can display large (not necessarily spatial) images through the google maps interface (pan/zoom). hrm. (the thing itself: Google Maps Image Cutter)(4:34 PM)
geospatial analysis with google earth
this session looks really interesting: On-the-Fly Spatial Analysis With PostGIS and Google Earth. it's at the "FOSS4G 2007" conference (open source for geospatial things) in late September.(4:29 PM)
mime types for KML/KMZ
KML mime types:application/vnd.google-earth.kml+xml and application/vnd.google-earth.kmz.
(1:51 PM)
twitter obsession continues
The coolest thing about twitter is how easily it translates to all kinds of mediums. It makes the same kind of sense in whatever context you choose to consume it in: on its own as a website, as RSS, as SMS, as IM, as a Dashboard widget, and as a standalone app like Twitteriffic.(1:24 PM)
apt description of microformats
Microformats are intended to be “simple conventions for embedding semantic markup in human-readable documents.”
from WaSP on accessibility of hCalendar's date format (via simon willison)
(3:51 AM)
embarassing fact
I am obsessed with Lily Allen's song "Smile." I think I will go listen to it again.(3:24 AM)
Mozy backup
Mozy beta for Mac OS X. mozy is an online backup service with encryption. this is exciting.(2:49 AM)
gmaps spatial analysis... near future?
also at the sac drupal meetup, someone very briefly mentioned that they were doing spatial analysis of a sort with google maps: doing queries within a polygon. which is the first step (and very build-upon-able) towards gmaps becoming an actual GIS (Geographic Information System, versus just a viewer of geographic data). something about reno journalism students and drupal...??(1:51 AM)
sac drupal meetup:
I went. it was fun. also, weird: knowing that I'm comfortable where other girls would not be. is that raising the entry barrier for other women? I almost feel like I am doing a disservice to others of my sex (gender is another ballgame). then again, maybe it's the opposite?
I definitely carry around an "I am right" mindset, which is often an impediment to adopting new approaches to things, but which can also be good for guarding my self-esteem and allowing me to continue advocating for myself. I don't use this mindset all of the time, though.
4/26/2007
(1:45 PM)
Yahoo! India Maps
Yahoo! just launched India Maps. look pretty different than yahoo maps of the US.(1:00 PM)
meeting
was at a meeting yesterday about the digital divide and broadband internet access in CA. There was a guy there who talked about (among other things) creating content specifically for low-income users, which makes a lot more sense after realizing he works for One Economy, the org that does The Beehive.4/25/2007
(11:37 PM)
digital->analog, by hand
printing film on an inkjet. via kottke.
From a technical standpoint, this process renders a terrible quality image... I shot my last roll of Kodachrome in 2005, the year it was discontinued. In this regard, it [this experiment] is a kind of awkward memorial to this sturdy film stock...
(9:32 PM)
KML to shp
apparently GPS TrackMaker can convert a bunch of different geographic data formats to KML (reference). what I was really looking for was something to convert KML files to shapefiles, which might be something like ogr2ogr and a shell script.(9:21 PM)
EULA
Google Earth's EULA says:
The Software is made available to you for your personal, non-commercial use only. †You may not use the Software or the geographical information made available for display using the Software, or any prints or screen outputs generated with the Software in any commercial or business environment or for any commercial or business purposes for yourself or any third parties.
to which my boss says, "eh."
(4:05 PM)
darryl recommends
the tv show "Heros."4/24/2007
(1:21 AM)
thing I want to measure
thigh size of women vs. men.4/23/2007
(1:34 AM)
word
restive: "(of a person) unable to keep still or silent and becoming increasingly difficult to control, esp. because of impatience, dissatisfaction, or boredom." this word means the opposite of what it sounds like! but wait: the second definition in my dictionary is "(of a horse) refusing to advance, stubbornly standing still or moving backward or sideways." also, a synonym: contumacious.4/22/2007
(3:10 PM)
roommate's thoughts
last night my roommate was thinking about how:
- entertainment is a social glue
- shared cultural events act as a substitute for shared events
(2:02 PM)
word
diminution: "a reduction in the size, extent, or importance of something." used on cartalk.4/21/2007
4/20/2007
(2:19 PM)
winmail.dat
Dealing with winmail.dat and unreadable email attachments. Outlook generates an attachment called "winmail.dat" when you send RTF or HTML emails. It contains formatting information, but the info is only usable by Outlook, so users of other email clients will see a weird "winmail.dat" attachment.(1:49 PM)
herby smell I think I like
comfrey plus sage.4/19/2007
(3:22 PM)
user corrected geocoding
updating your business location in Google Maps - move the pointer, get a postcard with a confirmation key, the data doesn't get fed back to Google's data provider.4/18/2007
(9:25 PM)
picasa + google earth
geocoding photos with Picasa + Google Earth. see also: Panaramio, a georeference-oriented photo sharing service. It is showing up by default right under "Geographic Web" in the Layers panel of my Google Earth, and Stockholm, Sweden is particularly well photographed.(2:41 AM)
California hikes
California Hiking links - haven't found anything super-useful there yet, but I'm still hoping. Mike and I are willing to go up to 3 hours from Sacramento.(2:11 AM)
phone calls with google
use google to make free calls to businesses. "even on pay phones," except when do you have a computer near a payphone?(1:18 AM)
GIS use cases
light article with some health-related GIS use-cases. via the all points blog.(1:15 AM)
web app use behavior groups
Google on its' mobile strategy:
Rechis said that Google breaks down mobile users into three behavior groups:
- A. 'Repetitive now'
- B. 'Bored now'
- C. 'Urgent now'
via all points blog.
(1:10 AM)
Google Earth limitations
Why Google Earth Won’t Be the Default Viewer for GIS Information. I wonder how GE has addressed these points in the two years since that was posted.
also: "no one actually works at the Googleplex." on a more serious note, GE updated its New Orleans aerial imagery early this April (2007). geographic data like aerial photos need metadata.
4/17/2007
(3:37 PM)
hey, iPhoto users
iPhoto keeps your deleted photos on disk. so go delete them with the "Empty Trash" item under the main iPhoto menu.(12:48 PM)
liquor
Maine's favorite liquor: Coffee brandy. via Jen.
Allen's [Coffee Flavored Brandy] is so popular that its different bottle sizes rank first, second, sixth and ninth on the Maine Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages and Lottery Operations list of the top 25 alcoholic items sold last year.
(12:41 PM)
chickens
chickens and rabbits. youtube. I miss having a yard with animals in it. via kottke.(3:19 AM)
on HTML5
HTML5, XHTML2, and the Future of the Web. Simon Willison's talk, "What the heck is HTML 5?" goes in the same direction, but as a 5 minute lightning talk.4/16/2007
(11:49 PM)
baseline grids
Setting Type on the WEb to a Baseline Grid, at ALA, and Compose to a Vertical Rhythm, at 24 Ways. this excellent sxsw "web typography sucks" presentation brought baseline grids into the spotlight recently (and is more succinct than either of the previous articles).(11:41 PM)
some podcasts
- TED talks are now online; Jan Chipchase has some recommendations
- Macworld podcast on EMI, iPods, and Google Desktop. with John Gruber.
- Jim Coudal on how his short attention span helps his business stay quick
- Another podcast with Jim Coudal. I forget what it's about even through I listened to half of it a few days ago.
- Pop!Tech podcasts - especially Erin McKean's session, in which she talked about dictionaries. One of the things she mentioned was making dictionary data available via APIs, to see what sort of mashups people would come up with; that planted the seed that lead to Panlexicon.
(11:39 PM)
rails honesty
from the much-linked Interview with Twitter Developer Alex Payne (Rails scalability issues kerfluffle): I really appreciate when people are honest about their favorite framework.
None of these scaling approaches are as fun and easy as developing for Rails. All the convenience methods and syntactical sugar that makes Rails such a pleasure for coders ends up being absolutely punishing, performance-wise.
There shouldn’t be doubt in anybody’s mind at this point that Ruby itself is slow.
(11:14 PM)
community tech toolkits
The Community Technology Network of the Bay Area has some interesting toolkits (we want to do something like these at my work): digital storytelling, web building with Drupal.(10:38 PM)
mobile phones in activism
Three cool mobile phone activisim things: endangered species ringtones, news headlines via SMS in Zimbabwe to circumvent government censorship, and SMS for women in South Africa who are victims/potential victims of domestic violence. from MobileActive.org - Mobile Phones for Civic Engagement. It seems to me that the growing presence of cell phones in the global south is much more significant to efforts for social change than in places like the US.
see also: Ethan Zuckerman's Draft paper on mobile phones and activism.
(10:25 PM)
awesome cat photo plus bitching
photo on flickr: cat and a crane.
via a post on the flickr blog about a project to mail out 1,000 paper cranes and have people send photos of them back. someone says about the paper crane project thing, "I'm always amazed by the creativity and inventiveness shown by folk round here." since when is sending art in the mail and asking for a response creative or innovative? regardless of an individual project's coolness, the concept isn't "creative" or "innovative" anymore.
(8:50 PM)
long title, long read
characteristics information and communication technologies need for success in the nonprofit world: "low costs, low complexity, high maturity, high relevance." it's taking me forever to get through this report: "Bridging the Innovation Divide: An Agenda for Disseminating Technology Innovations within the Nonprofit Sector."(7:12 PM)
skin google reader
Google Reader Theme. via simon willison. theme page points to the Firefox extension Stylish, which lets you add custom styles to any page.(2:46 PM)
word
"e-social" - asocially absorbed in cell phone/computer/ipod/etc. coined by defective yeti's aunt. word/neologism.(2:17 PM)
on ending projects
Paul Ford of ftrain.com on launching websites (specifically, Harper's Magazine)
One, two, three: I will never get enough praise; of course I failed; and what I did was not particularly important.
(2:10 PM)
puzzles
geometry puzzles - build figures with limited numbers of blocks. via defective yeti linkblog.(1:10 AM)
15 lbs germs
There are about 13 trillion cells in the human body, while there are about 14 trillion bacterial cells living on the skin alone, as a normal, healthy population. That doesn't include fungi. Fully 10% or something of dry body mass is bacteria-- that is what, 10-20 pounds of germs?
from myvag.net on girl germs.
4/13/2007
(8:46 PM)
question
do x/html doctypes specify anything about how css is parsed? for example, which css version (1/2/3) to expect?(8:17 PM)
defining a projection
Defining a Projection for a Shapefile or Geodatabase with ArcToolbox (with ESRI's ArcCatalog or ArcMap).(2:32 PM)
communications plan
links on communications plans for nonprofits, from Ben's post on a Nonprofit Communications session at NTC 2007:
(1:20 AM)
nonprofit tech interests
Organizers' Collaborative "Pre-Conference" Survey - things semi-technical nonprofit people are interested in learning/talking about(1:16 AM)
twittervision
twittervision: twitter messages on a map. fascinating. via that o'reilly post.(1:15 AM)
authenticating (or not) SMSes
with the rise of twitter, other services will be getting texty too:
It’s not just Twitter and Jott who are susceptible to these issues. Unfortunately, I’ve come across cell phone companies, credit card companies, and even banks that rely on Caller ID information to authenticate their customers. Because it is so easy to spoof Caller ID, it is clear that Caller ID information should never be trusted to authenticate users, and many financial institutions have learnt this the hard way.
Given the popularity of Twitter, similar phone+IM+email mash-up services are likely to be created in the very near future. I sincerely hope these services realize the implications of authenticating users based on incoming SMS headers and Caller ID information.
Twitter and Jott Vulnerable to SMS and Caller ID Spoofing. via daring fireball.
(12:50 AM)
drawing toothpaste for dinner
How To Draw Toothpaste For Dinner: Secrets Of A Cartoonist (youtube). via project.ioni.st.(12:19 AM)
hah.
"If Windows users cared about consistency, they wouldn’t be using Windows." - Daring Fireball blurb on Adobe CS3 UI(12:13 AM)
anti junk mail service
GreenDimes - a $36/year service that stops your junk mail. via a comment on that 37signals fly on the wall post.(12:08 AM)
chat + group blogging
2lmc's spool-style chat/group blogging always seems really fun to me. also, 37signals "fly on the wall" post.(12:00 AM)
flickr pro signup...
uses PayPal?!? weird.4/12/2007
(11:44 PM)
Coudal Partners admiration
I've long admired Coudal Partners because they're a design firm that puts a significant amount of effort into doing fun things for themselves: movies, online features, the Museum of Online Museums, a great website. They also have a [growing] array of design-centric business projects: JewelBoxing (CD/DVD packaging), The Deck (think-they're-better-than-you ad network), Pixie discs (live recordings of The Pixies), lowercase tee (kids t-shirts), pinsetter (letter pins). They went from doing design for regular clients to doing design for themselves. From an article on Coudal Partners in the Chicago Sun-Times:
"The whole work-for-hire thing in design and advertising, where the client owns everything outright, is a broken model," he said.
Since 2002, Coudal, 46, has stitched together a number of projects where his eight-employee firm enjoys an ownership stake.
(10:41 PM)
poetry movies
poems by Billy Collins, with animations. via coudal. I especially like Forgetfulness.(2:53 AM)
hard boiled eggs
how to hard boil eggs: cover them with cold water in a saucepan. bring to a boil. turn down to a simmer for 11 minutes. take them out and rinse them in cold water until cooled. I don't like any runnyness in my eggs, ever.4/11/2007
(7:28 PM)
sms from the web
Gizmo SMS - send free text messages. met a guy at NTC 2007 who had Gizmo on his Nokia N770 internet tablet: "I don't have a telephone."(5:38 PM)
listserv drama
I joined an email listserv this morning and already there are five messages of drama about what should and shouldn't be posted to the list and who is or isn't a list ogre. A little bit of apathy would go a long way for these guys.(4:02 PM)
link from Ben
Ben sent this link on technology plans for nonprofits, which really interests me. it was written in 2001, but hasn't aged signficantly beyond a few mentions of operating systems. I hope to do some more reading and talking about technology and communications plans over the next couple months.(2:15 AM)
two books I don't recommend
His Majesty's Dragon, by Naomi Novik. stuffy and humorless. all one thing after the other. the main character spent most of the book being more proper and doing his duty better than everyone else. notably, he spent a good amount of time thanking other characters.
The Book of Jhereg, by Steven Brust. all the plot lines are backed up by intricacies that only the main character seems to know, and he only starts knowing them when the plot needs to move forward. solutions basically fall into his lap. the plot elements that are probably supposed to be funny... aren't. also, it brings up huge cultural issues, discusses them for one and a half pages, and then drops them entirely.
on the other hand, I read all of both of them, and am bothering to note their titles.
4/10/2007
4/09/2007
(11:06 PM)
Speed Scrabble
Speed Scrabble - so much fun. we (family) played all afternoon, and now I want to play some more.(10:46 AM)
library refuge
How the Public Library Became Heartbreak Hotel: public libraries are day shelters for the homeless. via ?(10:45 AM)
custom map creation ui in google maps
O'Reilly Radar >Google Launches MyMaps. it's a feature where you can make google maps with points, lines, and polygons on them, and access them as a link or make a KML file. via simon willison.(10:34 AM)
spare change
meyer on guilt about giving/not giving to panhandlers.
I give [charity] to one hundred poor people on the assumption that I may find one out of a hundred who is worthy and I will have the merit of helping him. But you refrain from giving to one hundred poor people... lest one of them be unworthy. Therefore know that the average beggar who holds out his hand is presumed to need the money and you should not concern yourself with hidden matters. - Rabbi Chaim Halberstam
(10:23 AM)
Iranian typography
Iranian Typography. the modern stuff (posters and book covers) is really pretty. via ?4/08/2007
(5:19 PM)
Amazon S3 and MySQL
MySQL Interface to Amazon S3. so amazon's s3 can be used as a MySQL storage engine. I think. via simon willison(5:14 PM)
noodles
noodle folding (youtube) - video of a chef folding dough (12x) to make noodles. via ?.(10:11 AM)
color scheme
dabble db (a web app) customizes colors based on customers' logos. via simon willison. uses saturation and lumninance.4/04/2007
4/03/2007
(1:43 AM)
presta
Thing I learned about inflating my tires: Presta valves have a screw-tip. So, on the left, the valve cap is on. In the middle, the cap is off, but the tip is still screwed down. Trying to pump the tire up with the valve tip screwed down won't work. I tried it. For a month. On the right, the tip is loosened. This is how it needs to be for pumping.
4/02/2007
(10:06 PM)
pickled eggs
pickled eggs sound gross to me but the weird picture in this article is making me curious. via serious eats.(12:55 PM)
wild:
I didn't open my laptop once between 5 pm Friday and 1 am [after] Sunday night.
bec dot white - gmail dot com