Weekly Thing for November 18, 2017
and dreary the entire day. There wasn’t a shadow anywhere. But wait, I can make my own with a flashlight. 🔦 Some assistance from Mazie with the flashlight and I got my shot.
Speaking of photos I got my photography website back online this past week. I’m still not loving the theme but it’s okay for now. I think I have some photos left to link up but it’s very workable. I also heard from a number of people that it was not cool to miss a photo in last weeks Weekly Thing, so I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen again. ☺️
I haven’t written about Micro.blog but I should. I’ve used it exclusively to create all my status messages since it launched. People that follow me on Twitter are seeing a syndication of that content. I no longer author anything on Twitter, so I have full control of my content via Micro.blog. It’s one step away from the dumpster fire of hate known as Twitter. Micro.blog is still requires an invite. I have extra codes if any of you want one send me an email.
Wishing you a very Happy Thanksgiving! 🦃
Photog 📷
I participated in the Micro.blog Photo Challenge this week. This is my abstract photo for liquid. The CO2 bubbles streak as they charge up and out of the water.
Nov 15, 2017 at 7:08 PM Minneapolis MN
Links 📌
Introducing the New Drip — Kickstarter
Cool new offering from Kickstarter that is in-line with platforms like Patreon. High quality platforms that can be a means to send financial support to various individuals doing compelling things seem like a good idea. I don’t know that they will ever amount to a huge opportunity for creators, but it’s a good channel.
Toronto - The Incredible Rise of Tech
Promotional but good in-depth article about the rapid growth of the technology sector in Toronto. We have an office in Toronto which has given me a very small glimpse into that city. There are numerous companies looking at opening Toronto locations.
Roadster | Tesla
Amazing new version of the Tesla Roadster. 0-60 mph in 1.9 seconds! 😲
Fly the airplane: Three practices for effective incident response | ITProPortal
Key things to consider in incident response to technology issues. I like the callout to Gawande’s Checklist Manifesto , a fabulous book!
Tim Berners-Lee on the future of the web: ‘The system is failing’ | Technology | The Guardian
The inventor of the web is very concerned about the direction things are going. I’d agree with him. We aren’t guaranteed a free and open Internet. We have to make that happen.
GTD in 15 minutes – A Pragmatic Guide to Getting Things Done
Simple, approachable guide to the GTD methodology. I like to keep these around since different people like different overviews.
Highlights from Python Marathon by SPS Commerce in Ukraine | SPS Commerce
Cool even that our team in Ukraine organized for Python developers in Kyiv! 👏
Topicbox: modern group email discussions
Interesting new offering from Fastmail . I use Fastmail for my personal email. Looks a lot like a message board but tied more tightly to email.
On Being - Daniel Kahneman - Why We Contradict Ourselves and Confound Each Other
Kahneman is amazing and I greatly enjoyed his Thinking Fast and Slow . It’s one of those books that keeps coming to mind over and over after you’ve read it.
On Being - Atul Gawande - What Matters in the End
I’m a big fan of Atul Gawande and this episode of On Being is focused on the material in Being Mortal , a book I think everyone should read.
Containers Podcast
Good audio series in the spirit of The Box , which my book club read a long time before I joined. An amazing look into how impactful the containerization of shipping has been on the world. Also on iTunes .
Datasette: instantly create and publish an API for your SQLite databases
This is a really cool project to make public data sets available via a JSON API. Datasette dynamically creates an API for any SQLite database , and there is a handy utility for Python to turn any CSV into a SQLite database. This writeup of making a datasette for Polar Bears is a good overview. Super easy and simple project doing a good thing. Listing of datasettes . 👏
How Many Robots Does It Take to Fill a Grocery Order? - Bloomberg
This is worth looking at just for the video of the robots on an elevated grid or matrix moving around and picking things. I strongly believe we are just seeing the beginning of this type of automation, and this isn’t even combined with any intelligence. Employment problems lie ahead. 😒
Glitch: write fun small web projects instantly - Julia Evans
Overview of Glitch that sounds pretty awesome for doing small web projects and sharing them. 💚
Turn off retweets!
Simple project from Julia Evans that allows you to turn retweets off for everyone you follow on Twitter. i’ve long wanted a feature on Twitter to do this. Used this right away and all retweets are disabled. 😁
Entering the Quantum Era—How Firefox got fast again and where it’s going to get faster – Mozilla Hacks – the Web developer blog
I may have to give Firefox a look for the first time in several years. I love the ethos of Firefox, particularly the pro-privacy positions, but the performance has been so bad as to be comical. This is a nice, approachable writeup on how they have focused on performance. Even people that are less technical may find this interesting as it gives a glimpse into how your browser works and the complex processes involved with making software very fast.
Promotion 🎁
Creative Commons helps you legally share your knowledge and creativity to build a more equitable, accessible, and innovative world — unlocking the full potential of the internet to drive a new era of development, growth, and productivity. I have been a supporter of Creative Commons for years. Larry Lessig, the founder of Creative Commons, has done the world a great thing by creating a legal structure to help authors and creators encourage remix culture. In addition to donating, you should consider making your content under a Creative Commons license. Donate to Creative Commons today!
Microblog updates 🎈
- Micro.blog Photo Challenge, Day 7: Shadow. Einstein. /cc @douglane →
- Hanging with @pbacken at #TeamSPS “Hop To It” Brew Off! →
- Fun (and cold!) #TeamSPS Brew Off today. Tailgate style! →
- Micro.blog Photo Challenge, Day 6: Seasonal. /cc @douglane →
- Excited for tomorrow’s #TeamSPS Brew Off! Part of our annual United Way campaign. Give back! →
- Micro.blog Photo Challenge, Day 5: Liquid. CO2! /cc @douglanr →
- Micro.blog Photo Challenge Day 4: Up Close - Espresso! /cc @douglane →
- Micro.blog Photo Challenge, Day 3: On The Move! /cc @douglane →
- Got my photography site back online. Still cleanup to do, but fun to see some of my favorite images. →
- Photo Challenge Day 2: Tasty! Smoking pork belly for bacon! /cc @douglane →
- After putting more complicated theme in Hugo takes 5.2 sec for 9,970 pages. Still a speed demon. →
- Hugo seems like it would be superior for my website needs in every way. May need to dig in and make it happen. →
- Hugo just generated 8,173 pages in 2.4 seconds. Jekyll takes around 500 seconds to do similar. Whoa. 🤯 →
- Photo Challenge Day 1: Squares /cc @douglane →
- Went to a Bat Mitzvah for the first time today and was taken at the beauty of the ceremony! →
The end 🎬
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