A nice person just pointed out https://www.earhustlesq.com...
A nice person just pointed out earhustlesq.com which is a podcast done inside San Quentin that I want to hear. I made a goal to have no opinions in 2018 but the drug-law-driven carceral state is an unmitigated racist evil fueled by corruption and poisons our republic.
That's as far back as I've got. I administered my own mail...
@shabbychef That's as far back as I've got. I administered my own mail servers until Gmail happened so I always had sensible backup/migration strategy.
Oh but I see like adding indexes and doing virtual tables...
@simonw@knowtheory@magnetikonline@dabbledb Oh but I see like adding indexes and doing virtual tables and the like would be kind of nice from web interface. Boy that is actually a puzzler. Writing data from the web feels like a mess. SQL queries with in-database side-effects feels like it's in keeping with the goals.
I know but then you'd be locking the DB and blocking reads!...
@simonw@knowtheory@magnetikonline@dabbledb I know but then you'd be locking the DB and blocking reads! You've created such a happy reward for bundling up lots of data into little immutable boxes, and that reward is a completely reliable immutable API that I can 7zip up and hand to anyone in the universe.
The JSON interface is like, "we save the text and when you...
@knowtheory@simonw@magnetikonline The JSON interface is like, "we save the text and when you retrieve it we parse the JSON at several hundred MB/s and let you do path queries against it please stop overthinking it, this is filing cabinet."
It's sort of a zero-magic system and proud of it. "Yeah...
@knowtheory@simonw@magnetikonline It's sort of a zero-magic system and proud of it. "Yeah your fancy dates are just text to us, and almost everything else is text, too. Oh and the order of WHERE clauses matters here and there. Obviously! That's just how computers work!"
For another thing I was doing I dumped 200GB of JSON into...
@knowtheory@simonw@magnetikonline For another thing I was doing I dumped 200GB of JSON into it, which took overnight, and it reads that back at about 100MB/sec with a relatively complex extraction, and then you're off to the races. So I mean you can pound the hell out of it.
it was maildir, so a little less stress, i just walked the...
@hyfen@xpollen8@shabbychef it was maildir, so a little less stress, i just walked the files, about 50 gb. it's like a six hour job to parse all the emails to json and dump them.
I find I'm increasing the speed of exploration every time I...
@simonw@magnetikonline I find I'm increasing the speed of exploration every time I create a subset of the data, but I can always refer back to the core data object to fetch more, and can add indexes on the JSON too. If it needs to graduate to a "real" DB, NBD. Pleasant way to work with large corpora.
It's a GREAT pattern. Parse + dump 70GB in the bucket (8...
@simonw@magnetikonline It's a GREAT pattern. Parse + dump 70GB in the bucket (8 hrs). Walk each doc, using json_extract to make a table (20 min). Use json_[each|tree] to make one-to-many relations (like the "to" fields of an email). Don't try to make "real" primary keys, just index liberally.
Like most things SQLite it depends and on your def of...
@evanpro@shabbychef Like most things SQLite it depends and on your def of fuzzy. Out of the box no, sqlite.org/... although you can use a porter stemmer, and the matching for regular queries is fine. But...then... sqlite.org/... and sqlite.org/... ...
You can even pipe SQL into it with like sed scripts. And...
@knowtheory You can even pipe SQL into it with like sed scripts. And then @simonw's datasette now means I can have a read-only API and hosting environment for little sites and visualizations launched at the command line. There's so little config.
I doubled down on it because it lines up GREAT with lazy...
@knowtheory I doubled down on it because it lines up GREAT with lazy data-hacking where you're dumping garbage in a bucket of hope. I tripled down once I got good at the JSON1 extension because you can dump anything from any API in there then extract it to tables, suits weekend projects.
building towards it in half hour chunks, little by little...
@knowtheory building towards it in half hour chunks, little by little (although I did solve for the "you have these meetings with people OUTSIDE your company" challenge and it is immediately interesting and useful information)
I'll put something on github soon but basically:
- sqlite3...
@xpollen8@shabbychef I'll put something on github soon but basically: - sqlite3 with JSON1 and FTS5 extensions - walk email tree with a mail parser that produces json - save json to sqlite - make a simple table (id, from, subject, body) and populate from json - add full text index
I got all my email into SQLite3 with full text search so I...
I got all my email into SQLite3 with full text search so I can find things like that time I wrote to @shabbychef on October 12 1996 and said “Kind of sick of big money web. I like the small, interesting web pages.” (Buries face in hands.)
Thing is I just wanted to be alone more than DO anything....
@TheMFingChisa Thing is I just wanted to be alone more than DO anything. It came down to just slowly walking back to Rosemont and feeling independent and free, for a half hour.
I'm recording 30 minutes of digital audio in order to share...
I'm recording 30 minutes of digital audio in order to share the under-reported story of the historical northern Atlantic fishing industry because the world needs to hear amazing codpasts.
It's called like Podblaster or Podhole or Pod in the Bucket...
@mathowie@PostlightStudio It's called like Podblaster or Podhole or Pod in the Bucket or Podmaster or Castalot or Cast Call or Po'cast'R or CastAPodAHoney or PocketListen. I get my texts through Signal all blue.
Cultural organization technology friends—do you have...
Cultural organization technology friends—do you have API-based event ticketing (event management/payment/seating reservation system) that you have used and not hated? Or did you have to build your own?
Wrote the newsletter today, I was going to discuss what it...
Wrote the newsletter today, I was going to discuss what it was like to switch from iOS to Android but it ended up being about how little I truly know about enormous technology ecosystems despite being deeply interested in them. trackchanges.postlight.com/...
Ursula K. LeGuin knew decades before most people that you...
Ursula K. LeGuin knew decades before most people that you could put great sentences, painful social realism, the theory of relativity, and people riding giant flying cats into a book and all that just made it a more amazing book.
you can do amazing things with numbers @xoelop/weve-simulated-the-bitcoin-price-for-the-whole-2018-you-won-t-believe-the-result-4a602679dac2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://medium.com/@xoelop/weve-simulated-the-bitcoin-price-for-the-whole-2018-you-won-t-believe-the-result-4a602679dac2
Come on, this is 101 stuff. Copper conducts godly energy...
@biocuriosity Come on, this is 101 stuff. Copper conducts godly energy from ancient water spirits which enters into the dowser's third eye through the humors.
Boy, ain't that the case. “I wonder what Barnes got up to...
@jackrusher@Eric_WVGG Boy, ain't that the case. “I wonder what Barnes got up to after he moved to Ireland, let's Google and find...oh. Oh, my.” Although without Google I wonder if I'd ever even have known.
I'm overjoyed to announce that Skip the Coffee has been...
I'm overjoyed to announce that Skip the Coffee has been acquired by Fǔbài Heavy Industries and will be shut down in 25 minutes. Thank you all for carrying so many bags along our incredible journey!
Sorry cut off I meant to write 72 hours. Obviously room for...
Sorry cut off I meant to write 72 hours. Obviously room for improvement and we know that four digit codes are secure so we are working with local coffee shops to make their bathroom codes a 256-bit zero padded integer.
Now where it gets interesting is when you start putting the...
Now where it gets interesting is when you start putting the bathroom numbers directly into a blockchain and let people pay for them with what we are calling shitcoins. Our proof of concept can do proof of work on any four digit bathroom code in
Sure well you monetize because there is already-profiled...
Sure well you monetize because there is already-profiled foot traffic that you can market to with coupons after their visit. And people pay to gain access to the codes. For only the cost of one coffee a month you can pee in over 2000 NYC locations.
Okay so all the bathroom codes get printed on receipts...
Okay so all the bathroom codes get printed on receipts right? We create a platform where restaurants can send those to a server every day, and people can pay for an app that tells them the codes based on geolocation. It's called Skip the Coffee.
This is some deep Philly area atavistic dad-related stuff....
@Phantasmaphile This is some deep Philly area atavistic dad-related stuff. I haven't watched a game besides the superbowl in years and I need to watch this one.
There is nothing like an Eagles championship game bring to...
There is nothing like an Eagles championship game bring to mind decades-old childhood memories of my father, brother, grandfather, and their friends all screaming at a television in rage, despair, and frustration.
GCal. There's a secret URL in Google Calendar for every...
@mattnworb GCal. There's a secret URL in Google Calendar for every calendar you use ("Settings" > "Settings for my Calendars" > [Pick Calendar] > [scroll down] > "Secret Address in iCal Format"). That's a plain HTTPS url to an iCalendar file, you just download it whenever.
@Skeptimom@rustyk5 It's not for lack of trying (cf alumni.media.mit.edu/... [and many before]). I think the hard part is different times of life and different ways of thinking make it impossible to consumerize such a thing. I guess the one “technology” that had wide adoption was GTD.
Do you all have like, a mental model for what would be...
@PJVogt@rustyk5@sogrady Do you all have like, a mental model for what would be great? We would totally throw together a panel at @PostlightStudio about "what would make a great podcast app."
Well the ML stuff has kind of overtaken the intelligent...
@rustyk5 Well the ML stuff has kind of overtaken the intelligent agent stuff because (1) nothing is structured; and (2) all the money is at that scale, selling to brands, instead of dealing with consumers.
Then I'd have some idea of what the hell I was doing in the...
Then I'd have some idea of what the hell I was doing in the room. Instead of busting its ass on my behalf my computer wants to show me stock tips and weather and how long it will take to drive from from 5th Ave Manhattan home to Brooklyn (even though I took the train in).
Because my computer could say, "You're meeting with...
Because my computer could say, "You're meeting with marysue@baconbits.com and that was scheduled a month ago—here are the last two emails you sent her right before it was scheduled."
It drives me bananas how much useful human info is locked...
It drives me bananas how much useful human info is locked away in email, calendar, tweets, etc. and how unimaginative people are about doing things with that data.
Anyway now I can have my computer write me an email saying...
Anyway now I can have my computer write me an email saying stuff like "You have two standing meetings and two meetings with people from outside the office. One requires travel."
Yeah if JS is your language this is the absolute easiest...
@mathowie@mikeindustries Yeah if JS is your language this is the absolute easiest path because it involves zero setup and the most making of things and gets you an immediate REST API for your database.
I don't know, it's nice to feel positive things towards...
@osulop I don't know, it's nice to feel positive things towards people who are working towards their goal! Also I don't really think of us as complete strangers. Hi!
Oh God. Andy, thanks for digging that out. I wiped that...
@jackrusher@waxpancake@textism Oh God. Andy, thanks for digging that out. I wiped that from memory, likely because I “needed” to make mental room for perceived slights and insults from strangers. But it goes to show, my only interactions with Dean were polite, supportive, and kind, over decades.
Some @textism facts: He paid to sponsor my website in the...
Some @textism facts: He paid to sponsor my website in the name of his dog Oliver. He invited me to hang in France after 9/11 when I was caught in Israel. He designed anthologies of web writing for free. Here's an email I sent him. I have no idea what it was about. twitter.com/...
Anyway! Our company is in no way perfect, it is not the...
Anyway! Our company is in no way perfect, it is not the answer to all of your problems, but we try to do things by the book and be very respectful, and we love our work. We can't guarantee total employee happiness—but we strive to create opportunities for satisfaction and pride!
The thing to do is to apply through those links, but AFTER...
The thing to do is to apply through those links, but AFTER you apply you can DM me (always open, like a diner) or email me at mailto:paul.ford@postlight.com and I'll try to answer questions (it might take me a minute because things are busy).
We need a marketing designer, because we are reaching out...
We need a marketing designer, because we are reaching out in 2018 to build a marketing platform that is basically about helping people make sense of technology and the change that is BLASTING THROUGH THE UNIVERSE #op-230842-marketing-designer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://postlight.com/careers/#op-230842-marketing-designer
And we need engineers—web and software thinkers who want to...
And we need engineers—web and software thinkers who want to engage with product managers and designers, and who are willing to go up and down "the stack" to look for opportunities and efficiencies. And who hate repeating themselves. #op-192584-full-stack-engineer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://postlight.com/careers/#op-192584-full-stack-engineer
We need designers, people who can think systematically...
We need designers, people who can think systematically about UX and build interfaces to large, complex platforms, and who love to talk about that work and learning more about that. #op-192607-product-designer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://postlight.com/careers/#op-192607-product-designer
But wait! We also need product managers! #op-192611-product-manager" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://postlight.com/careers/#op-192611-product-manager How do we see the role? Exhibit A: trackchanges.postlight.com/... Exhibit B: trackchanges.postlight.com/...
If you believe there's one true way to build/do things (or...
If you believe there's one true way to build/do things (or hate deadlines), you won't like it. If you see software as culture, and want a front-row seat where you can see many industries and styles of working up close, this place is fantastic.
That said! People come in at a normal hour and leave at a...
That said! People come in at a normal hour and leave at a normal hour, and have lunch. We don't want rockstars, ninjas, heroes, or martyrs. We want people who want to ship and improve their craft.
We need a Director of Product Management (#op-206522-director-of-product-management)" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://postlight.com/careers/#op-206522-director-of-product-management) and a Director of Product Design (#op-230497-director-of-product-design)." target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://postlight.com/careers/#op-230497-director-of-product-design). You will help our teams get smarter and faster, but you will also SHIP. Being a leader and practitioner is hard, but that's what we're about.
Friends, @PostlightStudio, the product studio I co-founded...
Friends, @PostlightStudio, the product studio I co-founded with @richziade, is GROWING. We've built a stable firm with a positive environment. We need product managers (NYC), designers (NYC), and engineers (NYC/US). Come make us even better! postlight.com/...
I know I talk too much about SQLite but what I've realized...
I know I talk too much about SQLite but what I've realized is that it's replaced XML for me as a data format for exploring the nature of things and pattern-seeking. Esp since you can dump JSON in and then do path queries to make smaller queryable indexed relations.
Slate and NYMag are as of now sharing a common tech...
Slate and NYMag are as of now sharing a common tech platform which is...a cool and unusual example of competitors working towards a shared goal to mutual benefit! twitter.com/...
He's a nice guy and one hell of a pilot, and he's faced...
@tressiemcphd He's a nice guy and one hell of a pilot, and he's faced death AND rasied over 75 chicks to maturity, which is why he's going to work so hard for the people of Ioho—because they deserve someone who'll fight for them in Washington.
you might as well get FULLY back on your bullshit and stop...
you might as well get FULLY back on your bullshit and stop trying to find “solutions” because we're through the looking glass and what we thought was a looking glass is a small hen named Gerald who can pilot a helicopter and who's running for governor of Ioho, the 59th state
oak trees are computers. primary schools should be replaced...
oak trees are computers. primary schools should be replaced by real working airplanes. it is now federal law that you shower at night. the state flag is simply one live hedgehog living its best life on webcam. everyone gets a weimaraner.
literally any garbage idea is better than the ideas of the...
literally any garbage idea is better than the ideas of the people currently running america. "everyone should wear purple hats and change their name to percy" is a better idea than the current leadership of the state department is capable of creating.
I hope the lesson the next generation takes from this is...
I hope the lesson the next generation takes from this is that we were useless basic people who should be unplugged ASAP but I'm more convinced you'll just elect Romney. twitter.com/...
I kind of want to write as the FBI and say that I'd been...
I kind of want to write as the FBI and say that I'd been just arrested as a terrorist and since they were family on my family plan and that we needed some questions answered, what is a good time to talk?
Three nerds were on my Spotify family plan when I went to...
Three nerds were on my Spotify family plan when I went to check (it had a dumb password, my fault) and I want to write them and say hi. One straight up used his college my.yorku.ca email address. One's into DARK BITCOIN and goes by Darius. One has good opsec.
For some reason even though I've watched the show I can't...
For some reason even though I've watched the show I can't get the idea out of my head that Mindhunter is about rogue levitating brains and that the Henry Cavill-lite one needs to turn to the Biff from Back to the Future one and go READY TO HUNT SOME MINDS? They use spears.
Basically what that piece says feels about right to me....
@matt_deboard Basically what that piece says feels about right to me. State management is always hard and there is no magic architectural pattern. We love thinking functionally and using serverless platforms. trackchanges.postlight.com/...
Right! And knowing that that view exists and that you can...
@cjd3vries Right! And knowing that that view exists and that you can capture it actually changes your behavior and connection to the world, which is the truly fun part of technology.
I like how Choire trolls us with Bitcoin sweaters and then...
@felixsalmon@Choire@gabrielsnyder@jackshafer I like how Choire trolls us with Bitcoin sweaters and then no STILL NOT ENOUGH trolling he has to trot this nightmare interview out into the light.
I wonder if blockchain stuff will have that same wild...
I wonder if blockchain stuff will have that same wild implosion that the web did in the early 2000s, leaving only believers, who release what users actually want six years later (and then increasing, endless consolidation). nytimes.com/...
Nah I'm coming off a nice iPhone 6 which had a perfectly...
@cjd3vries Nah I'm coming off a nice iPhone 6 which had a perfectly fine camera. I mean we live in a world of unbelievable riches and we've hardly begun to use what we have, it's just wild.
(The Pixel DID completely lose its shit once and require me...
(The Pixel DID completely lose its shit once and require me to reinstall everything, which was a pain in the ass. I'm still upset about it. I had all my apps in folders.)
So @_cynar mentioned Bill Laswell which put me in mind of...
So @_cynar mentioned Bill Laswell which put me in mind of Gigi, and I went back to Gold & Wax, which is one of the few times I've returned to something from a decade ago and found it even better than I remembered. Just a flawless album. open.spotify.com/...
It's just dumb stuff like this, IDK, it's very fast and...
It's just dumb stuff like this, IDK, it's very fast and easy to just mess around while you're at the playground. Same is true of iOS, I guess, I just didn't as much. twitter.com/...
ARABESQUE #1 STARTS PLAYING startling me from my chair...
@redleaf8 ARABESQUE #1 STARTS PLAYING startling me from my chair where I fell asleep hours ago watching I, Claudius. Soon I know Jack Horkheimer will say, “Pertheuth! And Andrawmahdah—the star-crawst lovahs.”
I would also install silent automatic door openers on all...
@leahfinnegan I would also install silent automatic door openers on all Vatican doors so I could just move through the building in robes like an all powerful ghost.
It was a sensible decision. IDK, no one remembers that...
@michelet@michellelegro@annehelen@aminatou It was a sensible decision. IDK, no one remembers that thing but I built a special CMS just for index stats and me and @elizabethminkel spent lots of nice hours just lining up 25,000 stats. RIP.
But I built it using Django/Solr etc. After I left the...
@michelet@michellelegro@annehelen@aminatou But I built it using Django/Solr etc. After I left the budget was so tight (comically so) that the new web person picked his battles. A much simpler, less interactive version was built to connect to the one big WordPress install.
There was a digital version of the index that was pure...
@michelet@michellelegro@annehelen@aminatou There was a digital version of the index that was pure (just words and a search bar) but had secret powers let you search and sort by stats and had a great taxonomy, and it went out in 2009 or so and got tons of traffic, tweets, and love! (metafilter.com/...
CODE by Charles Petzold is the best I think, starts with...
@laurenfklein@Sierra_OffLine CODE by Charles Petzold is the best I think, starts with flashlights, but I would just play the game HUMAN RESOURCE MACHINE with them yelling out ideas en.m.wikipedia.org/...
Too soon might as well be never. Anyway they did preserve...
@kleinmatic Too soon might as well be never. Anyway they did preserve the archive and move it to WordPress and even paid for a web designer. I'm glad they didn't destroy the archive proper. It could have happened. And I learned how to edit, write, and think about platforms.
Things happen. It was good and it was viral! But it was in...
@kleinmatic Things happen. It was good and it was viral! But it was in Django and Solr and had an obscure taxonomy module that let you search for Illinois and find Chicago and it was unfair to expect people to support that when I left in a hurry. I built it for myself not the future.
I've had this exact thought, and I am assuming that the...
@hondanhon I've had this exact thought, and I am assuming that the total supply of attention is far less than is necessitated by the business plans of the current marketplace. I tried to think of some ways to measure it but I think you just multiply a number of minutes by a number of humans
This morning I successfully achieved full boots on and...
@kzwa@hondanhon This morning I successfully achieved full boots on and backpacks packed 20 minutes early by bribing with 10 minutes of YouTube. Took six years.
I see a few songs surviving because sentimental piano...
@alpesh_shah@danielpunkass I see a few songs surviving because sentimental piano standards fit in nicely with the rest of musical history. Same with Elton John.
Yep! You can do a lot of this with Chrome headless, too,...
@meyerweb@firefox Yep! You can do a lot of this with Chrome headless, too, but try as I might I can't make Chrome headless believe I am me, whereas Firefox does run against my profile/cookies/etc. And just seems to work right out of the box.
I appreciate the way @firefox lets you do command-line...
I appreciate the way @firefox lets you do command-line screenshotting and cookies just work (i.e. "./firefox -screenshot netflix.jpg netflix.com/... It will take screenshots of pages up to 32,000 pixels tall (then you you need to pass in -window-size=800,32000). twitter.com/...