Sadly, due to some quirky bugs last week, I’d turned caching off for the first time in 3 years, so my server has tipped over. If you’re having problems reading it, here’s an archived version.
Note to self: Don’t read the comments.
The Facebook Algorithm Mom Problem is #1 on Hacker News today.
TFW what you thought was a moist lemon muffin, turns out to be a much dryer corn bread one. 😝
I’ve been meaning to do it for quite a while, but I’ve finally started a stub in the Indieweb wiki for the topic Indieweb for Journalism.
There is a rapidly growing group of writers and journalists who have been joining the Indieweb movement, and it’s long overdue to create a list of resources specific to the topic to help out ourselves and others in the future.
I’d also welcome everyone to join in the conversation online via webchat, IRC, Slack, or Matrix. Hopefully we can all make each others’ sites better and more useful for our daily writing work. (If anyone needs help logging into the wiki or getting set up, I’m happy to help.)
Overheard in SoCal: “…you were waiting to see if I had the conejos to interrupt him…”
I think you meant cojones. Conejos are bunnies: 🐰
Did a bit of work on my Indieweb blogroll this evening. Imported some additional data, added photos (Indieweb is people-centric after all), tweaked the CSS, and a few other tidbits. Still doing some work with the OPML feed, but will be adding some additional categories/links soon.
You know it was an awesome Indieweb Summit for WordPress, when you log in and see all these awesome updates!
Just some of the WordPress related updates that were built and released at the Indieweb Summit this weekend in Portland.
Knowing that I’ve read a lot about Shannon and even Vannevar Bush over the years, I’m pleasantly surprised to read some interesting tidbits about them that I’ve not previously come across. I was a bit worried that this text wouldn’t provide me with much or anything new on the subjects at hand.
I’m really appreciating some of the prose and writing structure, particularly given that it’s a collaborative work between two authors. At times there are some really nonstandard sentence structures, but they’re wonderful in their rule breaking.
They’re doing an excellent job so far of explaining the more difficult pieces of science relating to information theory. In fact, some of the intro was as good as I think I’ve ever seen simple explanations of what is going on within the topic. I’m also pleased that they’ve made some interesting forays into topics like eugenics and the background role it played in the story for Shannon.
They had a chance to do a broader view of the history of computing, but opted against it, or at least must have made a conscious choice to leave out Babbage/Lovelace within the greater pantheon. I can see narratively why they may have done this knowing what is to come later in the text, but a few sentences as a nod would have been welcome.
The book does, however, get on my nerves with one of my personal pet peeves in popular science and biographical works like this: while there are reasonable notes at the end, absolutely no proper footnotes appear at the bottoms of pages or even indicators within the text other than pieces of text with quotation marks. I’m glad the notes even exist in the back, but it just drives me crazy that publishers blatantly hide them this way. The text could at least have had markers indicating where to find the notes. What are we? Animals?
Nota bene: I’m currently reading an advanced reader copy of this; the book won’t be out until mid-July 2017.
A great little introduction and start to what portends to be the science biography of the year. The book opens up with a story I’d heard Sol Golomb tell several times. It was actually a bittersweet memory as the last time I heard a recounting, it appeared on the occasion of Shannon’s 100th Birthday celebration in the New Yorker:
In 1985, at the International Symposium in Brighton, England, the Shannon Award went to the University of Southern California’s Solomon Golomb. As the story goes, Golomb began his lecture by recounting a terrifying nightmare from the night before: he’d dreamed that he was about deliver his presentation, and who should turn up in the front row but Claude Shannon. And then, there before Golomb in the flesh, and in the front row, was Shannon. His reappearance (including a bit of juggling at the banquet) was the talk of the symposium, but he never attended again.
I had emailed Sol about the story, and became concerned when I didn’t hear back. I discovered shortly after that he had passed away the following day.
nota bene: I’m currently reading an advanced reader copy of this; the book won’t be out until mid-July 2017.
Apparently there’s a beta Bioinformatics group on Stack Exchange now. It’s just come out of alpha in the last few days and it appears anyone can join now.
Spotify has a great little Easter egg playlist to try to keep you as a customer!
Had a great time at WordCamp Orange County today!
If you’re going to WordCamp Orange County this weekend and want to chat about using Indieweb principles on your personal website or blog, I’m happy to talk or do short demos.
