The recently defunct Museum of Science Book Club for the Curious has risen from the ashes in a new location but with the same mission. Now hosted at the Cambridge Innovation Center the next meeting will be May 13, 2010 for a discussion of
From Eternity to Here: The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time by Sean Carroll. Full details can be found at the Museum of Science Book Group Google Group Site.
I've finally finished going through all of my Nepal photos and have put them online. My next effort will be to go through and comment them, but don't hold your breathe on that. All told I took almost 1000 pictures and culled that down to about 650 by weeding out the blurry and bad. Nepal made for some challenging shooting with the frequently overcast and changing weather conditions. I'm sure some of the photos could use a little touch-up magic with Photoshop but that's stepping a little outside my standard photo expertise.
Over the past couple of days my blog has been heavily hit with comment spam. In the last 10 hours I've gotten more than 100 spam message attempts posted to my blog. I moderate all comments so none of those messages saw the light of day but I still have to deal with them. I've never really tuned the comment spam features of MT and I still haven't. Instead I installed a CAPTCHA system. Previously I had required TypeKey in order to leave a comment but that felt a little to draconian. Not everyone has a TypeKey account or wants to create one. Email whitelists are another option but that still requires that I approve or junk email addresses when they are entered.
I'm all about not even having to look at the spam. While this may mean I automatically trash some important comment or email, I think most people are coming to realize that when 90% or more of all email is spam, people will take drastic measures and at some point a message will be lost. As such I'm now running the SCode plugin. The usability of CAPTCHAs is a concern but unless I go back to TypeKey only comments I don't have another good solution at this point. In fact the use of TypeKey on my system just means that your comment will automatically be posted but you still need to enter the security code in order to post.
If you didn't catch Joe Berkovitz's talk at MAX 2006 about an architectural blueprint for Flex applications, it is now posted on Adobe's Flex Developer Center. Joe is the Chief Architect of Allurent, where I work. It is a great read and introduces the concept of Model, View, Controller, and Service (MVCS). Best of all it comes with a sample application that embodies all of the principles outlined in the article.
A friend recently pointed me at GOOD Magazine.
We see a growing number of people tied together not by age, career, background, or circumstance, but by a shared interest. This revolves around a passion for potential mixed with fierce pragmatism and creative engagement. We sum all this up as the sensibility of giving a damn. But to shorten it, let's call it GOOD. We're here to push this movement and cover its realization.
They are currently running a campaign where your entire subscription fee is donated to a worthy organization of your choice.
I met up with people I used to work with at Ruckus for a few drinks tonight. I'm killing a little time before going to bed and figured I'd do one of these silly memes. So here it is...
Getting junk mail? Want to stop it and save environment at the same time? greendimes is a new company that takes care of contacting junk mailers on your behalf to remove you from their mailing lists.
I think I've caught up on a bunch of pictures that had been sitting on my camera. For your viewing pleasure: David and Karen's Wedding, Gilman Manor's Roof, Saying Goodbye to Matt, Bubbles, and Elissa's Apartment.
My camera acted up a bit so I didn't get a picture of Matt driving off or of Craig during the wedding. Yeah, I should get a new camera, but gosh darn it if my current one just mostly works... Also Elissa's room was just too messy to subject her to having a picture of it on the web.
Atheists identified as America’s most distrusted minority, according to new U of M study. To quote:
Atheists are also the minority group most Americans are least willing to allow their children to marry.
That might help explain a few things :)
Adobe is now shipping Flex 2 and Flash 9. Get them now!
The best part is that the Flex 2 SDK is FREE.
Check out the new Flex.org site for everything about Flex.
In the beginning there was the song "Dragosteta din Tei" by Romanian boy band O-Zone.
Next came a man called Gary Brolsma who posted a video of himself dancing and lip-syncing to the song.
This made news.
Along came Brooker.
She posted a spoof of Gary's video on YouTube.
This along with her other videos created a growing fan base.
Then Carson Daly found her stuff and is going to sign her up.
I love the Internet!
Just explore: http://tokyoplastic.com/