The Dangling Pointer has a new address - https://aaron.blog! The old domain name(s) will still continue to work but you'll be redirected to this new address. Exciting, right?? Not too long ago Automattic launched the .blog Top-Level Domain and started offering domains through https://get.blog. I decided to jump on the bandwagon and get my own!
http://radio.garden By bringing distant voices close, radio connects people and places. Radio Garden allows listeners to explore processes of broadcasting and hearing identities across the entire globe. From its very beginning, radio signals have crossed borders. Radio makers and listeners have imagined both connecting with distant cultures, as well as re-connecting with people from ‘home’ from thousands of miles away – or using local community radio to make and enrich new homes.
Instead of talking in a big group we split off into separate channels which is somewhat anti-collaboration. I realized the other day that channels in Slack (or any other group messaging platform) are both good and bad. When there are a small number of rooms it's easier to find a conversation or to be involved in the majority of discussions. As the number of people in the rooms grows, chats become more noisy. The solution is to create another channel - ideally something subject-specific to filter out the noise. There's a counter-effect which is somewhat unexpected - it can reduce interaction between members. ...
Want to know why I really don't care for single sign-on? Let's pretend I want to sign into StackOverflow.com. The FlowOooh! I want to check my reputation on StackOverflow! Oh crap, this is a new computer. Let me log in!Huh. Well, let's check 1Password.Shit. I didn't save my password. Oh wait, maybe it was Google?Okay I think it's the second one. Um. Okay? Allow.That wasn't it. Let me click Back and see if it was Facebook. ...
I woke up this morning seeing two notifications of calendar appointments I just couldn't miss. [sarcasm] Annoying, right? Here's the best part. No matter what I do - Accept, Maybe, Decline - the sender of the spam appointment receives the notification of my action. There's no way to just simply delete the damn invitation from your calendar without sending the reply! Well I guess that means 章兴言 & 历昭 are going to get a sad decline from me. ...
There's a cool service in macOS called "Summarization" that takes a block of text and figures out the most important sentences or paragraphs in it. I've used this service before to help reduce the amount to read on longer posts and conversations. It is definitely not perfect but it can help provide some clarity where our TL;DR brains need it. In this example screenshot you can see I'm looking at a Wikipedia article. The summarize service gives you the option to summarize by paragraph or by sentence. There is a slider to indicate how much detail you want to retain. While less seems better, I've found the algorithm loses accuracy roughly around 40%. ...
Today I'm starting the day off with a deep breath and an eye on the future. Life seems to be a series of stepping stones and the path to the place where we all get along is not perfectly straight. Just remember to be kind to your fellow humans, we are all citizens of this planet. None of us has any more right to be here than the other.
I drafted this post with an idea that I wanted to apologize to all the people I've met at conferences and I do not recognize them the next time we meet. It's especially embarrassing when I've had conversations online with them and didn't connect to two realities. The problem lies with how my brain works and how Attention Deficit Disorder can skew memories and how I process things. Frequently when I meet people I've forgotten their names within seconds. I try to say their name over again and to reinforce the memory of meeting them with some facial features or bits about what they work on. This process works well in the beginning of most events but within a few hours to a second day or more, I'm toast. ...
Not pictured: 10 more notifications below these.