Monthly Archives: January 2011

Must reading about Kensington at Philly.com

Posted on January 30, 2011 by Karl

The Inquirer recently wrapped up a series about the struggles faced in Kensington and Philadelphia’s First Congressional District – the 2nd hungriest in the nation: “Hunger in the First”: Alfred Lubrano: “Inquirer spotlight on hunger spurs acts of generosity” Alfred … Continue reading →

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Balancing automated and non-automated testing

Posted on January 29, 2011 by Karl

Actually the following talk is on automated, manual, early cycle, and late cycle testing, and test planning, crowd sourcing, and dog-food programs, and more. YouTube: GoogleTechTalks: “Turning Quality on its Head” Presented by James Whittaker, Engineering Director, Google Inc. Google … Continue reading →

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Maptivism getting easier, happening more

Posted on January 22, 2011 by Karl

Combine mapping, with participation, and a subject matter that needs attention, and you can create some powerful, useful tools. Google Maps APIs and various mashup techniques made it easy for technologists to build services that pulled together these concepts, but … Continue reading →

Posted in Coding, Software Engineering, Programming, Communications, Connection, the Internet, the Web, and Media, Public Service, Civics, Government and Activism | Tagged , , , | Comments Off

Queen and Heroism

Posted on January 22, 2011 by Karl

slacktivist: “The terror of knowing what this world is about”: Nothing new here — nothing novel or innovative or unusual. But worth repeating, I think. In any case, it was something I needed to repeat after firing up the computer … Continue reading →

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So what language/skill will you be learning this year?

Posted on January 17, 2011 by Karl

Rafe is going to be investing in learning JavaScript and Node.js. After some server-side JavaScript work last year with Alfresco WebScripts, I’m inclined to to continue to dig in further myself. First up is finishing “Eloquent JavaScript”. Related, recent reads: … Continue reading →

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Ever see the “Mother of all Demos”?

Posted on January 17, 2011 by Karl

In 1968 Douglas C. Engelbart, along with a team of 17 researchers at Stanford, in a 90 minute taped demonstration, showed us what was then the future – which is now the present (and soon to be the past?) – … Continue reading →

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Metallica’s Sanitarium guitar parts broken down

Posted on January 16, 2011 by Karl

Invisible Oranges analyzes the isolated guitar parts to Sanitarium – and you can listen to them to – in its post, “”Welcome Home (Sanitarium)”: Just the guitar”.

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Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2011

Posted on January 16, 2011 by Karl

Emma came home from school with a pamphlet and homework assignment on Dr. King the other day and it gave me the opportunity to speak a little about someone I consider a hero and what he challenged us to do. … Continue reading →

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On spreading fear for righteousness

Posted on January 16, 2011 by Karl

A Star Trek clip with a lesson straight out of “To Kill a Mockingbird” (one of my favorite books BTW). YouTube: “Lessons in Humanity: Habeas Corpus”

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The Twelve Doctors of Christmas

Posted on January 16, 2011 by Karl

Tor.com ran a great series of essays on each of the Doctors titled “The Twelve Doctors of Christmas” that has some good reads. My favorite essays out of the bunch: “The Third Doctor” “Born to be an Alien” “Shifting into … Continue reading →

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