February 2012
13 posts
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The Quiet, Quiet Wind
The children played in pastures, running in circumscribed arches, then breaking off cotangentially. The air rushed through their faces, lifting them to fly. Their father smiled as he watched, thin-armed glasses sitting placidly on his face. His smile, small and mirthful, twitched, rose and fell as his mind stretched and collapsed, waxing contemplative over the day. They looked like their mother....
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A Morning
The sun was a bastard for rising so early. Jamie Watkins, splayed askew below the weight of sweat-drenched sheets, contemplated whether this act was a purposeful provocation. He felt the sun’s warmth seep through the windows, and shifted the dampened sheets uncomfortably. He had sweat all through the night again, something his physician had sworn was finished. He would have to call and...
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Firecrackers
Firecrackers. Stark, quick footed down the corridors. Up and out of bed and launching, lighting firecrackers.
“Why me?” he thought. Having barely fallen bedside, he pictured now the slightest little flames, and saw them billow and smoke to life. He wondered if this warranted caring, and in answer to himself gave little more than a noncommittal grunt. Perhaps the same grunt they would...
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Physics and Nirvana
I got a 90% on my Physics midterm. It’s okay. I could have done better.
This seems to be a recurring problem. The comparison of actual accomplishments to a percieved potential accomplishment. All achieved things become lesser based on that ideal, and you end up losing one of the greatest motivators for further effort: a sense of accomplishment. It’s called the “Nirvana...
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The Immorality of Wealth
Sorry I haven’t been blogging much these past few days. I’ve been working on some reorganization, some projects, and time got away from me. I’ve caught it now, and scolded it a bit, and it promises me that this won’t happen again. So, with that dealt with, I think I can begin.
I watched “In Time” a few days ago. It was an okay movie, decently acted, but with...
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Identity
I’ve been trying to come up with the words for this for some time. It’s not always easy to write what you think, because you don’t quite know your own thoughts yet, or you’re afraid to write them down. I feel like that sometimes.
I love The Big Bang Theory. It is one of my favorite shows. But I’ve felt as the seasons have gone on that the characters, once...
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Coffee
I’m trying something new today. Per the advice of a wonderful friend, I am sharing a story I wrote. It is supposed to be fairly funny (and I hope you find it so), but just as a warning, if you are bothered by any strong language or mature themes involving the beverage habits of addled writers, you may want to leave. In fact, might I suggest a more family friendly site, like the Congressional...
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No Blog Tonight
Sorry about this, but I won’t be blogging tonight or (probably) tomorrow night. I have midterms this week, and so it’s really just going to be grind-it-out time for the next few days. I will return to regularly scheduled programming after that, but until then, I leave you with a list of interesting facts from National Trivia Day (which was yesterday, but hey, these are still fun).
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Wit
Wit is a thing to be treasured. Knowledge is a thing to be stored until it’s useful.
Wit is the twinkle in a person’s eye, knowledge is the droning of their mouth.
Wit is, in my humble opinion, far more important than any knowledge you can have, because while knowledge can be gained by anyone with the time and inclination to do so, wit is there, or it isn’t. That’s not...
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Being Original
For the longest time, I was concerned with being original. I was so focused on saying something, the perfect thing, the most poignant point possible. I somehow had this belief that the people whose quotes you read just magically produced them, that their minds were so clear, and their wits so sharp, that they took one look, and knew it all, and said it all. So I waited, and contemplated, not the...
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Exhaustion
I’m feeling it right now. I had a Midterm today, and a Computer Science lab due, and review for my Physics Midterm next Tuesday, and I am tired.
When people are tired, they tend to try less. They’re more short tempered, they’re lazier. I’m all of those things, but I have an additional symptom: when I’m tired, my Asperger’s shows more.
When I’m rested,...
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The Rules
There is an odd phenomenon in places with rules where people become more concerned with the rules than anything resembling accomplishment. As anyone who’s spent any time in a government job or at a government office can attest, the level of paperwork required for even the most mundane task often oversteps the boundary of reasonable caution, and gallops into the world of blind capitulation to...
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Emotional Distance
I have Asperger’s Syndrome. I’ve known for quite some time. It’s not usually a problem, but recently, I’ve come to think of its impact on my life more and more. I’ve decided to start dating, you see, and while I have had a girlfriend before (yes, one) my abilities in this area are sorely lacking, and I’ve found myself floundering a bit. I know that this issue...
January 2012
11 posts
4 tags
Lily Tomlin
Last night I saw Lily Tomlin perform. She entered the stage smiling, over-bowing to the crowd as they cheered and clapped for her arrival. She let loose a few jokes about her home town, Detroit, and the fact that, however hard we try, her town is still poorer than ours. They are in first place, we are in second. It was exactly this sort of comedy that came to characterize the entirety of the show....
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Coming Home
In High School, I did Academic Decathlon. 10 sections, 10 chances for failure, year after year. Rigorous, challenging, invigorating, I weaved in and out of events and factoids in my mind, and grew from a stunted newly-teenaged Sophomore into a far less stunted (but awkward still) Senior. Then I graduated. Today, I went back, and did it again.
But this time, I was a judge, not a competitor. ...
Why We Gloat
Newsflash: everyone is biased. The people who try to hide that bias are the ones you really have to worry about.
This is an incredibly important lesson to learn. News is never completely unbiased (even factsheets have bias). CNN, Fox News, Daring Fireball, Dan Lyons, all of them have biases. Don’t pretend you’re always getting the full and balanced story, and don’t expect it...
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In the Land of Non-Readers →
Just read this. Pretty accurately sums up my own feelings of emptiness when I don’t read.
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A Half Retreat
Not sure how much sense this makes, but there are times when I want to blow everything up. Shut down the blog, quit coding, quit working, delete my Twitter, my Facebook, my Quora, my Dribbble, everything, and retreat. To a cabin, to a shack, maybe. Maybe just to somewhere deep in the recesses of my own mind. Because there I can be safe and know that any responsibility I have is to myself; and...
This Site, Overhauled
Yup, this is more than a simple redesign (although, it is definitely that), it is a complete overhaul. This site is no longer at http://brnkr.tumblr.com, but at the much better http://andrewbrinker.com. This is something I am very excited about. Just so you know, all the old stuff is still here, all the old links will work, it just won’t be on the Tumblr URL, but on my own. I am happy.
As...
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“Richard O’Dwyer, a computing student at Sheffield Hallam University, faces...”
– The Guardian.
I am sorry, but the US does not have the right to indiscriminately act as arbiter of justice throughout the world. The idea of prosecuting foreign nationals for “crimes” that are not crimes in their own country is insane. I can understand the argument that because of the...
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Letterboxd Public Beta →
Matthew Buchanan, talking about Letterboxd:
Letterboxd, the social film diary and review site I’ve been working on with a few colleagues over the past year, is nearing its public beta launch. We’ve continued to add to and improve the site since launching at Brooklyn Beta last October — film pages have had an overhaul as you can see above, among many other improvements.
I have...
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Why I Hate Android →
This is the single best historical analysis of the smartphone world I have ever seen. So many articles about it today are just the categorical statements and micro-analyses of entrenched combatants. This is more. This is the big picture. If you’ve ever had any questions about the whole Android vs. iPhone conflict, read this.
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America Is Getting More Power from Renewables than... →
When you look at the electricity sector alone, renewables shine even brighter. Nuclear’s share of electricity generation dropped by 2.8 percent compared to the first nine months of 2010, while coal’s share dropped by 4.2 percent. In the same period, renewables’ share of electricity generation grew almost 25 percent.
The question is: how much of this is attributable to the bans on new nuclear...
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"I Always Feel Lucky"
I love Wordnik. If you’re not familiar, it’s a dictionary site that goes above and beyond the usual definition + synonym setup of other dictionary services. They give you synonyms, antonyms, hypernyms, hyponyms,”reverse dictionary” (words with the word in their definition), and words often used in the same context. Add in the social features, like the ability to...
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Goals for 2012
Make more stuff.
Don’t reblog; respond.
Be original. If it’s been said, don’t repeat.
Make what I want to make.
Have fun.
December 2011
17 posts
2 tags
And the RIM Troubles Go On... →
As if things weren’t already bad enough.
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Updated Tumblr Text Editor
So, Tumblr has updated their theme editor to feature improved syntax highlighting and brand-new tag completion. It’s pretty neat, although the red text is a bit harsh. Nice job Tumblr Staff. Solid update.
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get up stand up: Defeat the Stop Online Piracy Act →
Right now I, along with many of my peers in the tech community, am a single-issue voter: the defeat of the Stop Online Piracy Act. There is no legislative action more important to the future of the web and our society than its defeat.
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This is my 100th Post
To those of you who read this, thanks for being here. Here’s to 100 more.
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I Work For The Internet →
If you care about the internet, do this. Do it right now.
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No Copyright Intended →
A perfect explanation of how out of touch media companies are.
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Start.io: The Best Damn Thing You Should Be Using →
Start.io is a fully customizable start page for your computer. More important than the start page, however, is the fact that it will tell you when your favorite pages have been updated. It’s made by Jacob Bijani and Peter Vidani
I’ve been using it for a few months now, and I love it. I think you will too.
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My Dinner With Android: Who is any of this good... →
Comments from dinnerwithandroid about the state of Android:
This isn’t about Google’s way vs. Apple’s way. This is about Google having no real control over its platform, to the point where “Android” just becomes another marketing bullet point for dozens of bullshit phones in the market.
I have tried out several different Android devices: my own Droid 2, my grandfather’s Droid X, my...
Pasquale D'Silva: jhnmyr: If you want to be truly... →
jhnmyr:
If you want to be truly intimidating,
If you want to make an impact,
If you want to have strong connections with others
just be sincere.
Sarcasm is not an attitude, and it’s not a personality trait. It’s a style of rhetoric meant to be used occasionally to highlight a larger…
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StumbleUpon Redesigned →
Overall, the color palette is nice, but is commits the same button faux pax as the recent YouTube redesign, the “Stumble!” button goes flat on hover shudder.
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The Reason Android is Laggy →
The best explanation of Android screen lag I’ve seen.
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One Long, Hard, Tiring, Messy, Exhilarating Day
These last twenty-four hours have been some of the hardest of my life. They’ve also been some of the best. Let me explain.
Yesterday, I finished up with everything at school at about 5:00pm. I often take the city bus home, and today I found myself on a lightly loaded bus with some headphones in my ears. It wasn’t an unpleasant ride, and after an hour, I had safely disembarked a few...
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New Release: Architected
Well, my second Tumblr theme ever, Architected, has officially been approved by the Tumblr Theme Garden. It features strong typography, a slew of appearance options, Disqus integration, and even more coming down the pipe.
If you have any questions, you can ask me at http://architected-theme.tumblr.com/ask. I hope you all like it!
November 2011
16 posts
1 tag
Move the Web Forward: A Guide to Growing the Web →
In honor of Blue Beanie Day, here is a link to an awesome resource for anything knitty-gritty in web development. If you are truly focused on supporting the progress of the web, I suggest you check this out.
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Forgetting People: My Problem with Path
Don’t get me wrong. I love Path. I love the interface, I love the idea, but I don’t love one thing: the lack of a web app. I don’t consider this a small grievance, I consider it a serious impediment.
Path is all about building an intimate social network of your closest friends and family. That’s wonderful. But it only has apps for iPhones and Android phones, and...
The Death Of The Black Bar, The Rise Of Google Bar →
parislemon:
Well, that didn’t last long. Google is killing off their black navigation bar, which has been an eyesore since day one of Google+. In its place, Google is going with a more robust Google Bar (in Google Gray).
I don’t see it yet, but I imagine there will be some sort of controversy about Google shoving their other products in your face (though the reality is that they’ve done this...
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A Book Apart 30% Off →
I just purchased the full set of six books for $38. That’s simply amazing.
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The Birth of Microforums
Internet forums have been around for years, and they’ve historically been huge. Large, sprawling collections of threads and threads and more threads. For the old guard power users, they are a collection of intellectual accomplishment and dedication, for newer users, they can be a flustering labyrinth of Brobdingnagian unmeaning.
Enter microforums.
Microforums aren’t so much a...
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Consume Less, Create More
In my mind, many of us fall victim to the issue of over-consumption. The internet is a wonderful thing, but instead of treating it as the gateway to the best of the best, and only consuming those wonderful, top of the line things that are now available, we consume everything. I do that. I follow lots of Tumblogs, and I read a lot of news sites. In the end though, I think it gets in the way. I...
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Please Stop Making Ugly Apps
It seems to me that most Android apps are just plain ugly. Gmail, one of my most used apps, looks like it was made by a 1st year designer with an irrational fear of gradients. I mean honestly, it’s bland as hell. How about the stock Contacts app? About the same.
People may complain about Apple’s skeumorphic designs, but at least they have something interesting to look at. Android...
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Obama 2012 Site Redesigned →
Overall, it seems to be very well done, but I am not a fan of the huge scrolling menu at the top. If it were smaller, it would be fine, but on my 15” MacBook Pro, it takes up a lot of screen real estate.