Blog
Writing helps me think more clearly. This archive is longer posts; quick updates now live in notes.
Topics: AI, blogging, photography, programming, projects, Signboard
Not a dinosaur egg – July 2017 You have to wonder, though, what amount of water moving at what speed over what duration would it take to make this stone look like this? I'm no geologist but I'd say a lot, fast, and a fair amount of time geologically speaking.
Roger McNamee, very early investor in both Google and Facebook (and, though he's profited, he regrets it): The people at Facebook and Google believe that giving consumers more of what they want and like is worthy of praise, not criticism. What they fail to recognize is that their products are not making consumers happier or more successful. Like…
Mirage: A world living on top of reality. I played around with the app this afternoon. It is very rough. Super frustrating to try and use. But I sincerely hope they continue to pull this thread. I hope to see a lot more of this type of thing over the next 36 months. /via Andy Baio.
I haven't missed Twitter that much since deleting my account. The first week or two I missed Moments – but once that subsided I realized that Moments are generally a waste of time. Realtime reporting of most newsworthy events result in ill-informed, unsubstantiated tweets. I'm at a point now where I'd much prefer to get the real story…
Weeds – July 2017 Summertime hikes offer a completely different experience to early spring hikes. Most of this grass was only a few inches high in early spring, about a foot or so in June, and in this photo in late-July it is at least 3-feet high.
Magnet: Activated by dragging, customizable keyboard shortcuts or via menu bar, Magnet declutters your screen by snapping windows into organized tiles. Although macOS Sierra has a great split-screen option* that rival's Windows 10 snap-to-side feature I've always wanted a bit more control. This utility is currently only a dollar and does a lot more. /via Colin Walker. *…
Turkey, Archbald, PA – July 2017 This young Jake wanted blood. He spotted me from about 50 yards away and decided to come investigate. I crouched behind a bush and got smaller and smaller to try not to intimidate him and he got within a single yard from me. I have it all on video.
Colin Walker, like me, struggles with what should be syndicated to networks and what should be brought back into the blog context. He makes this specific point about replies: Social replies like on Twitter or Facebook don't, in my opinion, need to be owned – they belong in the context of the social network and that particular conversation….
Grass – July 2017
Moby Dick Big Read: ‘I have written a wicked book’, said Melville when his novel was first published in 1851, ‘and I feel as spotless as the lamb’. Deeply subversive, in almost every way imaginable, Moby-Dick is a virtual, alternative bible – and as such, ripe for reinterpretation in this new world of new media. Out of Dominion…
My friend Matt D'Avella, director of the documentary Minimalism (available now on Netflix), recently interviewed Ryder Carroll – the creator of the Bullet Journal. I like Matt, I use the Bullet Journal method every day, so this is an instant-watch.
Tim Nahumck: I always try to reduce the number of apps that I use at any given time and cutting the reliance on multiple services when and where possible. This sounds a lot like my repeated attempts to consolidate around Apple's default applications. I like Tim's use of Slack as a personal center of information. I have Slack…
One of the most enjoyable aspects of working on your own project is that there is so much to do. That may seem strange, why would I want to have so much to do? But if you look at it a different way it becomes a much more enjoyable experience. Whenever I sit down to work on my…
Barry Schwartz for Search Engine Land re: Google killing Instant Search: Now as you type, you will only see search suggestions and then be able to click on those suggestions to see the results. The search results will not load any result pages without clicking on a search suggestion or clicking enter. As I said previously, end of…
Central Railroad of Pennsylvania and New Jersey Freight Station, Lackawanna Avenue, Scranton, PA – July 2017 I captured this one on a recent afternoon constitutional. I hate seeing buildings like this waste away to nothing.
The iOS 11 Public Beta is the first beta OS I've installed from Apple. I did so in part because I want to help improve the OS by providing feedback and analytic data, but also because I wanted to test my aforementioned app that I'm building, and lastly I've wanted driving mode since very early iOS days. I…
Beach Haus Brewery, Belmar, New Jersey – July 2017 – ★★☆☆☆ Eliza and I dropped in and sampled a few brews at Beach Haus Brewery in early July. Unfortunately, I didn't find anything in particular notable about the brewery or the beer.
BBC: Google is adding a personalised Facebook-style news feed to its homepage – Google.com -to show users content they may be interested in before they search. End of an era.
Estelle Weyl: Interviewing diverse candidates will not create a diverse environment. While the above organizations may have filled that diversity pipeline, that pipeline is full of leaks. Diversity recruiting is really only lip service. Work, school, community and conference environments need to be inclusive. Inclusivity in the sealant that prevents many pipeline leaks. Many companies have seemingly made…
9th Ave Pier, Belmar, New Jersey – July 2017 Earlier this month Eliza and I ate dinner at 9th Ave Pier in Belmar, New Jersey. It was an interesting experience. At 9th Ave Pier you find a seat yourself (despite the fact that the place was packed). This could be done by creating your own tables using objects…
Harold Jenkins: I've long wanted to do a piece on the subject of gardening as violence. Gardening is an extremely violent act. To start a garden you must first kill whatever is already growing in the place you want to garden: cut down trees, tear out vines, rip up or smother sod. Then you break the soil and…
Franklin Court, Scranton, PA – July 2017 I hastily snapped this walking back to my car from July's NEPA JS after-gathering at Ale Mary's.
Apple: Welcome to the Apple Machine Learning Journal. Here, you can read posts written by Apple engineers about their work using machine learning technologies to help build innovative products for millions of people around the world. The first post Improving the Realism of Synthetic Images is already live.
White Oak Pond – July 2017 (click to zoom) On Saturday I drove passed White Oak pond to check on its status. You might remember this post as to why it has been drained. Compare the above photo with October 2015.