January 2009
47 posts
(((Chris and I made this a couple summers ago....
“That’s why there are so many copycat startups. If startups are basically...”
– Giles Bowkett, Never Hate. Only Ever Destroy. Venture-backing as the equivalent of artist patronage…
“I mean, who could forget “Twilight”? Teenagers screaming for free tickets...”
– Blockbuster Openings Vs. a Lackluster Box Office PS. Dark Night is the 27th most successful film of all time, coming in just below Thunderball. The theatrical release as mass entertainment is over.
The Contiki Operating System →
“Contiki is an open source, highly portable, multi-tasking operating system for networked memory-constrained networked embedded systems and wireless sensor networks.” (((someone just contacted me on…
This Sufjan Stevens song is on 4AD’s...
Using git submodules to track vendor/rails →
how to run off of edge rails using git
Furious Audio Technologies →
a bunch of neat homebuilt audio hacks including an acoustic amplifier built from a stethoscope
Alvin Lucier - UbuWeb Sound →
includes mp3s for a multipart interview/documentary that seems interesting
Exploring the C++ Unit Testing Framework Jungle →
nice comparison rundown of C++ testing options. will likely use one of these as the basis for an Arduino testing framework
TUT: C++ Template Unit Test Framework →
another small low-dependency C++ testing option
Crowbar - SIMILE →
“Crowbar is a web scraping environment based on the use of a server-side headless mozilla-based browser.” (((great solution for automating or scraping highly js-intensive interfaces)))
google-mobwrite - Google Code →
MobWrite converts forms and web applications into collaborative environments. Create a simple single-user system, add one line of JavaScript, and instantly get a collaborative system.
Building a contact mic from a Radio Shack Piezo... →
“This is one way to put together a contact microphone. It is not the best way, but the end result is pretty satisfying. And it doesn’t cost much” (don’t miss the upgrade to a better element on the…
“It’s way too easy to forget how great the Police were. Stewart Copeland makes...”
– Merlin Mann, kung fu grippe
“But where the Talking Heads comparison really fits is the identical set of...”
– Simon Reynolds, The People vs. Vampire Weekend
Who's uglier?
I posed the question earlier: is there any pop star of equal level of success who’s as ugly as Serge Gainsbourg. Dylan was proposed as a candidate and disagreement ensued. I think that Gainsbourg takes this one in a stroll. Here, I’ve tried for a fair comparison to pick images from the height of their youthful un-ugliness. Both of them got weirder looking and more hideous with age,...
Setting up your Git repositories for open source... →
includes a rare pretty good explanation of creating remote branches with git
Will and I made a song awhile back and as of now it is released as Atom by Biting Biting Biting Biting Biting:
bitingbitingbitingbitingbiting.com
Knotty Pine, a collaboration between David Byrne...
Mappa.Mundi Magazine - Internet Prayer Wheel →
Beautiful remembrance of Jon Postel comparing him to a secret explorer mapping the interior of India: “Nain Singh walked twelve hundred miles in the employ of the British Secret Service. Dressed as a…
“On a musical level, you can start here: what is even happening in those songs?...”
– The FADER - A Rational Conversation Between Two Adults: Is Animal Collective The Great Band Of Our Time? (Part One)
The Best Links 2008 →
Kottke’s take on last year. Lot’s of good stuff here including the How Buildings Learn link from earlier.
The Whole Earth Effect — Plenty Magazine →
Interesting-looking oral history of the Whole Earth Catalog. Rec’d by Boing Boing.
How Buildings Learn TV series →
apparently, a documentary Stewart Brand made based on his classic, How Buildings Learn. Really want to watch this sometime. It’s 4 parts on google video.
“VCs need music businesses that can grow to very large size. For scalability you...”
– Lucas Gonze, on user unhappiness with the Hype Machine redesign
A sign of my life’s weirdness is the...
A History Of Painting
sciencefiction:
First things didn’t look real, then things looked real, then things looked really real, then things didn’t look real at all, then they looked real, then they were just things.
“None of this a counsel of despair. Seriously. We dare not despair because in any...”
– Bruce Sterling, The WELL: State of the World, 2009 (((Bruce Sterling’s annual, unmissable, public address on the WELL has begun. His ranting-mode writing makes the world seem more vivid, more important, and more malleable than it does in the dulling lens of much other media.)))
“The everyday object is the monarch of all objects.”
– Bruce Sterling, Worldchanging: The Last Viridian Note
“Geeks always claim to be minimalists, but they just really can’t design stuff.”
– anon (via heather-rivers)
Ben Folds Five covering She Don’t Use Jelly...
