Category Archives: Influences and Inspirations

The World’s Youngest Programmer?

Posted on February 21, 2013 by Karl

Discovery News: Meet the Youngest Video Game Programmer: A bright young programmer from Philadelphia recently unveiled a video game involving ballerinas, jewels and vampires — sure to be a hit with young girls. The programmer herself also happens to be … Continue reading →

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Commodore 64 turned 30 yesterday

Posted on August 1, 2012 by Karl

BBC ran a piece introducing a C64 to a couple groups of children to commemorate the day. Related: Wikipedia: Commodore 64 ars technica: A history of the Amiga c64.com Commodore USA

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Dawn Sanders Jordan: “Everything will be completely up from here”

Posted on July 25, 2012 by Karl

Daniel Rubin wrote about Dawn Sanders Jordan last week and I wanted to leave a post here, because someday I’m going to have to meet or write her. Go Dawn, Go!.

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Want to help grow empathy and fight self-centeredness?

Posted on July 10, 2012 by Karl

There have been more than a few reports outlining a decline of empathy, but did you know (or maybe forget that) reading literature can help you experience another person’s life through reading? A recent study found that it is true … Continue reading →

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“Say what you mean. Bear witness. Iterate.”

Posted on April 20, 2012 by Karl

I went on an interesting journey online last night that led me to the source of the above phrase, a poem on mortality, entropy, memory… and databases. Yes, you read that right. I read Tor.com’s wonderful blog almost once a … Continue reading →

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A James Shore 2006 Post My Favorite Design Read So Far in 2012

Posted on February 19, 2012 by Karl

James Shore’s post in 2006, “Quality With a Name” summarizes clearly what I try and express and practice in my systems design work. This is something to not only read and bookmark, but print out to remind folks who are … Continue reading →

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For Whom The Bell Tolls

Posted on January 29, 2012 by Karl

The famous quoted passage from John Donne below has been brought up a few times the past few weeks. Here is the whole: “Meditation 17″: No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the … Continue reading →

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Alistar Croll: “much of human interaction has shifted from atoms to bits”

Posted on January 6, 2012 by Karl

Read his post on O’Reilly Radar: “The feedback economy”: In a society where every person, tethered to their smartphone, is both a sensor and an end node, we need better ways to observe and orient, whether we’re at home or … Continue reading →

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Steve Jobs: “computer science is a liberal art, it’s something everyone should know how to use, at least, and harness in their life”

Posted on November 27, 2011 by Karl

“Quotes from Steve Jobs Lost Interview”: “Learning to program teaches you how to think. Computer science is a liberal art.” NPR.org: “Steve Jobs: ‘Computer Science Is A Liberal Art’”: “In my perspective … science and computer science is a liberal … Continue reading →

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Dizzying but invisible depth: on complexity

Posted on October 22, 2011 by Karl

Jean-Baptiste Queru, on his Google+ profile, posts a poetic and doozy of a post, “Dizzying but invisible depth”: Today’s computers are so complex that they can only be designed and manufactured with slightly less complex computers. In turn the computers … Continue reading →

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