Monthly Archives: November 2009

Two comparisons of different programming languages worth reading

Posted on November 22, 2009 by Karl

Normally these kinds of pieces are worthless, but these two recently stood out to me: Dennis M. Ritchie: Five Little Languages and How They Grew: Talk at HOPL* March 19, 2002 Michael Tsai: Perl vs. Python vs. Ruby – distinguished … Continue reading →

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Clay Shirky lays out the issues confronting the future of news journalism

Posted on November 22, 2009 by Karl

Read the whole thing. Nieman Journalism Lab: Clay Shirky at the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy: …in the nightmare scenario that I’ve kind of been spinning at for the last couple years has been: Every town … Continue reading →

Posted in Coding, Software Engineering, Programming, Communications, Connection, the Internet, the Web, and Media, Education, Journalism, norgs, and the future of news | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off

Two links on simple map visualizations with Python

Posted on November 22, 2009 by Karl

Simon Wilson: Exploring Python: Stack Overflow Dev Days Amsterdam November 2009 FlowingData: How to Make a US Country Thematic Map Using Free Tools

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Social Networking == Social Division?

Posted on November 22, 2009 by Karl

You would think after 20 years of the Web, we would come to a better understanding that it either helps us connect, or helps us segregate. You’d be wrong. Following is some research and reading. But first… What do you … Continue reading →

Posted in Comcast, Public Service, Civics, Government and Activism | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

I Believe In Miracles Cover-a-rama

Posted on November 22, 2009 by Karl

My last band used to cover “I Believe In Miracles” by the Ramones, influenced by Peal Jam’s cover. This morning I find myself messing around with it on my old acoustic, first time I’ve had the opportunity to play in … Continue reading →

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Teenagers and children from Pennsylvania failed by “those who knew but failed to speak” and “those who saw but failed to act.”

Posted on November 15, 2009 by Karl

The more I hear of what happened in Luzerne, the more my heart breaks. Summary: Over five years over 6000 children were driven into the PA juvenile ‘justice’ system while a judge received kickbacks. Inquirer: William Ecenbarger: Luzerne officials deny … Continue reading →

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SVN Branch Management Link-a-rama

Posted on November 14, 2009 by Karl

Coding Horror: Software Branching and Parallel Universes Perforce: Laura Wingerd & Christopher Seiwald: High-level Best Practices in Software Configuration Management InfoQ: Version Control for Multiple Agile Teams BetterExplained: A Visual Guide to Version Control Branch Maintenance: Chapter 4. Common Branching … Continue reading →

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Worth Repeating: Rob Pike “Data dominates.” and Frederick Brooks “Representation is the Essence of Programming”

Posted on November 14, 2009 by Karl

Rob Pike is a famous name in programming with a history going back to Bell Labs, co-author of two often quoted books, and today works at Google. Back in February 1989 he wrote an essay, “Notes on Programming in C” … Continue reading →

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40 year old ongoing study into preschool still providing insight

Posted on November 8, 2009 by Karl

American RadioWorks: Emily Hanford: Early Lessons: “doing well in school, and in life, is about more than a test score.”: “Now you’re getting into something really deep,” says economist James Heckman. “How is it that motivation is affected? What causes … Continue reading →

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Profile of Ludwig Wittgenstein in Time Magazine

Posted on November 1, 2009 by Karl

Time Magazine: Ludwig Wittgenstein: He began by trying to reduce all mathematics to logic and ended by finding most metaphysics to be nonsense Ludwig Wittgensten is a major character in Logicomix.

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