We did a medium-sized refresh on the @PostlightStudio and...
We did a medium-sized refresh on the @PostlightStudio and it's lots of subtle stuff, not a big deal for YOU, but our team trued things up and made it SO SMOOTH AND NICE and it's just a joy to behold if you like websites like I do. postlight.com
i mean it's a jealous sibling thing, but the level of...
@troutgirl i mean it's a jealous sibling thing, but the level of microscopic exactitude, bargaining, and actual cooperation to mutually manage each other's burning jealousy is 100% twin stuff
If I said, eat ten mentos, they would do that in a...
If I said, eat ten mentos, they would do that in a heartbeat. But if I say eat as many as you want, they'll eat one each because they want to be absolutely sure that the other kid won't end up with more mentos.
I gave each of my 6yo twins a pack of mentos a month ago....
I gave each of my 6yo twins a pack of mentos a month ago. They're VIGILANTLY MAKING CERTAIN that they will always have exactly the same number as each other. The #1 reason to save mentos for later is to make sure that someone else will not have one later if you don't.
I'm having a little trouble hitting the deadline on my NEXT...
I'm having a little trouble hitting the deadline on my NEXT piece but I haven't received enough microhedonic attention mini marshmallows, so here's someone I respect quoting my LAST piece. twitter.com/...
Can you imagine the cost of change at this point? Probably...
@peterseibel@googledocs Can you imagine the cost of change at this point? Probably easier to just propose a new, messaging-centric Google docs. Which would be Wave but whatever.
One of the things I'm most happy about at @PostlightStudio...
One of the things I'm most happy about at @PostlightStudio is that our Slack has all the blob emoji and we continue to use them as if they never went away. github.com/...
Okay first of all why we named Morissey to our board is...
Okay first of all why we named Morissey to our board is really beyond me. But second of all it turns out it's in my best interests and the company's too if I get really into basketball and mostly tweet about that.
Star Wars is for children and racism has always pervaded...
Star Wars is for children and racism has always pervaded every interaction in American life. Also the humanities are necessary for software development.
I still do sometimes, very simple stitches and mending. Mo...
I still do sometimes, very simple stitches and mending. Mo had me fix a kid's shirt tonight because she wants to make sure they see me doing it. I find fixing ripped clothes unbelievably soothing. twitter.com/...
Yeah that makes total sense. This book is just utterly...
@seldo Yeah that makes total sense. This book is just utterly doubly super-extra of its time. It has a fun parody of the Famous Five where they witness the decline of the Roman Empire, which is great. And some is just amazingly tasteless, which thank God.. And then some is like, whoosh.
It has a full-page topless photograph of a woman holding a...
It has a full-page topless photograph of a woman holding a fish and it's also intensely British with sex jokes about Michael Heseltine. Plus jokes about mass murder. I must have been 12 when I bought it which makes a lot of sense.
Did anyone else have this as a kid? I ordered it on a whim...
Did anyone else have this as a kid? I ordered it on a whim and it's increeeeeeddibly inappropriate for children and I love it but I need to burn it. twitter.com/...
I once did a piece on "color of the year" for an airline...
@hels I once did a piece on "color of the year" for an airline magazine and when I asked the man who manufactured Pantone wedding dresses if he knew next year's color he said, "I have an inkling."
I hate signal boosting engineering jobs because all the...
I hate signal boosting engineering jobs because all the good engineers should come work at @PostlightStudio. But sweet banana muffins that's a cool way to use your Django skills. twitter.com/...
This one is kind of infinite because there are so many...
@karenmcgrane This one is kind of infinite because there are so many people who credibly can say "we already do that!" And they do! And it's good. And saves money. And YET...
I don't mention it but it's definitely part of this world....
@PastryPlate I don't mention it but it's definitely part of this world. People who come talk to us know about it (more than I do). The thing is, everything can do everything so you just need to decide which version of everything is going to cause you the least pain in the future.
Not even, just https://wpengine.com/. You're going to have...
@doriantaylor Not even, just wpengine.com You're going to have a cache in front of it and possibly 3rd-party auth, and then your client logic lets you figure out where to pull content.
I asked our illustrator @stephencarlson to leave WordPress...
I asked our illustrator @stephencarlson to leave WordPress and Salesforce happy, but in the background, could it look kind of ominous and upsetting? As if this were a dangerous union between terrifying forces?
What happens when Wordforce and Salespress combine? I wrote...
What happens when Wordforce and Salespress combine? I wrote about a thing that is happening in our world, which is that headless CMS and headless CRM are finding each other—and learning and loving together—and finally, becoming one. trackchanges.postlight.com/...
Ulgh dude if you're tired of being called a union buster...
Ulgh dude if you're tired of being called a union buster who mistreats workers you don't threaten to make some cheap site that ranks the media, you buy WashPo.
I don't think it has to be “incidentally”—the association...
@patrickc@craigmod I don't think it has to be “incidentally”—the association builds value both ways! (Anyway the themes are well-executed and I hope it's succeeding. I like seeing all those writers and designers do good work. We've been using it as a model as we plan our own marketing.)
Also add “named CEO of ~50 person and growing product firm...
Also add “named CEO of ~50 person and growing product firm in NYC” to the list of things I never expected. Up until four years ago my job description was “occasionally make people cry about software.” Then @richziade, blessings upon him, looked me up and down and went, HMMMMM.
For whatever reasons there are hundreds of outsourcing...
For whatever reasons there are hundreds of outsourcing firms that cold-email and they all use this same dark blue type treatment in their emails so you immediately know “erase this.”
I'm expected to get invited to buy tickets for so many...
I'm expected to get invited to buy tickets for so many leadership conferences. I wonder if the outsourcers who use dark blue Georgia as their default font will keep emailing. Probably.
We changed my title to CEO (@richziade is President)...
We changed my title to CEO (@richziade is President) because @PostlightStudio is growing and no one we meet has time to figure out what a “co-founder” is. My role won't change but I am perversely fascinated to see what kind of nonsense will fill my email inbox now.
So! @matlock wrote a very fine appreciation of his...
So! @matlock wrote a very fine appreciation of his very-recently departed dad—but you also need to get in there and read the comic poem his father wrote (after a lifetime of not writing), narrating his ENTIRE LIFE. It's just an amazing thing. @chris_38728/dads-poem-775581051bb5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://medium.com/@chris_38728/dads-poem-775581051bb5
Hahahah oh god with the split faces. Burnt into my brain....
@harrisj Hahahah oh god with the split faces. Burnt into my brain. They were just hyperefficient at parody and mimicry there's never been anything like it.
Anyway I was probably 11 when I saw this in a rerun and...
Anyway I was probably 11 when I saw this in a rerun and I've never forgotten it, it's everything I love and the SCTV cast has brought me joy ever since no matter what nonsense they are cast in.
The lead singer gets revealed through the lyrics to be more...
The lead singer gets revealed through the lyrics to be more worried about his high taxes and access to drugs. Everyone is a hypocrite. It's tasteless and you also get the sense that as Canadians they love hating the queen a little.
It's got so many levels. Mel's Rock Pile was a show within...
It's got so many levels. Mel's Rock Pile was a show within the fake SCTV network. Martin Short is perfect as a singer and John Candy is perfect as the drummer. Mel can't tell how offensive everything is. The song is great. Andrea Martin and Joe Flaherty and Eugene Levy kill it.
I just know this: When I'm in the Finder I'm treated like a...
@wugmump I just know this: When I'm in the Finder I'm treated like a simple man and that's fine, I can be a simple man, but as a simple man I want a simple way to click the shiny pictures and write my simple words.
I'm glad you raised this issue. I literally never go into...
@wugmump I'm glad you raised this issue. I literally never go into my Downloads folder except for this but I find I often have to click the date view in order to find recent files. Why doesn't Apple maintain folder state in a consistent way across Finder views?
You all turned opening a file in an app, something that was...
You all turned opening a file in an app, something that was TOTALLY WORKED OUT 34 years ago, into the equivalent of going through airport security and then finding out your flight was cancelled.
And then since I downloaded some randomly named Word Doc I...
And then since I downloaded some randomly named Word Doc I have to go find something named SQUIQQLYPOO_2934-2429-931139330.docx in my downloads folder and open that, and then I'm in my shitshow downloads folder looking through who knows what garbage.
A true mortal sin of software in 2018 (REDMOND HELLO) is...
A true mortal sin of software in 2018 (REDMOND HELLO) is when I doubleclick/download some file, you make me update the software, or ask me to opt in to some privacy-destroying program, and then DON'T OPEN THE FILE. You had exactly one job, it was important, and you WRECKED IT.
Yes. What's missing are the live albums and the soundtracks...
@babarganesh Yes. What's missing are the live albums and the soundtracks although the expanded edition of So had the audio from the POV/Live in Athens tour video. Apparently more is coming.
I haven't listened to Peter Gabriel on repeat since...
I haven't listened to Peter Gabriel on repeat since college. Now that he's on Spotify and I'm listening as an adult, I've noticed that it may have been very difficult—albeit rewarding—to date Peter Gabriel.
Oh yeah I've seen this up close and written recommendations...
@livlab Oh yeah I've seen this up close and written recommendations for various friends' applications to different accellerating programs and it's a huge stressball. Citizens really take it for granted.
I mean I feel that if there's one thing the straddle...
@theodoreross I mean I feel that if there's one thing the straddle generation has to offer the yoofs it's that even when they repeatedly tell you you're useless and it's hopeless then you're not actually out of the game.
At age 35 I was working at a magazine, I had no plan, we...
At age 35 I was working at a magazine, I had no plan, we were broke, we were accepting we couldn't have kids, and I'd bought these huge shelves from Ikea and walled myself off from everyone in my office so they had to get through a little labyrinth to get to me.
My twins are reading, which is weird. On the Staten Island...
My twins are reading, which is weird. On the Staten Island Ferry yesterday my son named a seagull Blaze, then as the boat pulled in to the slip he yelled, “Blaze! You'll always be there for me!” Then they sang a song about Hitler but they pronounced it “Hilter.”
Where did you come down on Happy-Go-Lucky? (I loved that. I...
@tomcoates@mikeindustries Where did you come down on Happy-Go-Lucky? (I loved that. I love movies where you just hang out with people living their lives and London was a character in the movie too.)
I'm sort of taking that as table stakes. We LOVE that shit...
@tomcoates@mikeindustries I'm sort of taking that as table stakes. We LOVE that shit and it's massively self-reinforcing. Our biggest media company has a whole line in DISNEY PRINCESSES. I have no idea where to go for interesting UK social realism narratives 2018. Last I saw was Attack the Block.
Well I mean these are two wild-ass empires with...
@tomcoates@mikeindustries Well I mean these are two wild-ass empires with unbelievable influence both soft and hard. And both are going through a huge reactionary collapse-of-neoliberalism moment that is very painful to behold. Maybe all need to watch The Singing Detective and listen to Studs Terkel.
I mean no doubt! I'm just saying that the Britishness that...
@tomcoates@mikeindustries I mean no doubt! I'm just saying that the Britishness that gets to us is very likely to mention the crows in the tower or who is Captain of the Oppidans, or Balliol. There were kids in my college who had Windsor genealogy as a hobby. So today is like, a payoff for college.
It feels that over the last couple decades less and less...
@tomcoates@mikeindustries It feels that over the last couple decades less and less socially realistic UK stuff has come through. As a kid I remember: The Singing Detective, Threads, My Beautiful Laundrette, etc. Now we get Kingsman, Prince George memes, QE as saint, and Noel Gallagher interviews.
It's taught. Our liberal arts education is an extended riff...
@tomcoates@mikeindustries It's taught. Our liberal arts education is an extended riff on anglophilia starting with Chaucer, a vast swath of children's books are Etonian roleplay, for decades PBS broadcast BBC historical dramas, and our biggest fantasy stories are all medievalism + dragons.
Ours has a reasonable listenership and is
a solid source...
@MrAlanCooper Ours has a reasonable listenership and is a solid source of inbound both for new business and recruiting. I'd attribute that to us always relying on professional help for editing, advisory, transcripts, scheduling, and social. And sticking to a weekly schedule.
A few months back @wiresmith came by and asked me if he...
A few months back @wiresmith came by and asked me if he should start programming in C++ and I was like, why are you TRYING to hurt yourself? Anyway—I was tiny part of his code-learning journey and the result is a very good read about Getting Technical 1843magazine.com/...
I do the very very quiet, “Oh yeah, hold the doors, that's...
@DanielleSucher I do the very very quiet, “Oh yeah, hold the doors, that's good, that way the doors stay open instead of the train moving, definitely the right path for everyone.” “Cool just get right in there with your coffee to get that soy milk don't worry about the rest of us. That's good.”
Peter Gabriel albums show up on Spotify tomorrow. They also...
Peter Gabriel albums show up on Spotify tomorrow. They also finally have an album by Candyland, this 90s band I love that had one album and disappeared. The only band I really miss on there is a mid-90s Japanese band called Supercar. What else is missing?
Also before anyone gets all “you forgot word2vec also your...
Also before anyone gets all “you forgot word2vec also your definition of tensors is inadequate and dismissive, and you utterly neglected type safety,” the goal is to give people a LEETLE TINY TASTE of machine learning.
Note: I feel lucky I get to work with @redkeg, a person of...
Note: I feel lucky I get to work with @redkeg, a person of fierce integrity, great vulnerability, wild talent, and, um, radical candor who just committed like hell to @PostlightStudio, with all of our problems and challenges and difficulties, and works to make us all better.
I never thought I'd say this but @Jessamyn makes it look...
I never thought I'd say this but @Jessamyn makes it look almost...fun to sue Equifax. @jessamyn/equifax-statement-for-small-claims-court-780d2608e752" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://medium.com/@jessamyn/equifax-statement-for-small-claims-court-780d2608e752
There's was a 60ish/70ish woman doing a bunch of stretching...
There's was a 60ish/70ish woman doing a bunch of stretching exercises on this R train and I felt so calm watching her. Nothing makes me feel relaxed and at home as much as being ignored in NYC by someone who could give a fuck.
I'm not saying we should go back to the days of having...
I'm not saying we should go back to the days of having staging.example.com and example.com on the same physical machine with one IP address, and using that environment to do all development and production. But there are so many ways for things too fail.
My stupid picture-posting bot that runs on my home computer...
My stupid picture-posting bot that runs on my home computer has failed maybe 15 ways over many months. Upgrade homebrew, python virtual env breaks. File not found for whatever reason. Twitter not accessible. Internet not up. Computer restarting. Doing dumb things is hard.
One night I grabbed the only thing nearby to smash the...
@amyhoy One night I grabbed the only thing nearby to smash the giant flying roach that had landed on my face, and the thing I grabbed was the one working lamp in the apartment, which promptly shattered and left me in pitch black with a man sized bug.
I've been writing a lot more lately and I've realized a big...
I've been writing a lot more lately and I've realized a big part of the writing process for me is generating detailed mental models of extremely smart and well-informed people who hate me. The writing itself is just me pathetically trying to convince them that I'm actually cool.
Is the plural of NetFlix NetFlixen or NetFlices? As in “A...
Is the plural of NetFlix NetFlixen or NetFlices? As in “A new well-funded podcast network seeks to count itself among the other NetFlixens of podcasting.”
I went to a movie last night and everyone in the audience...
I went to a movie last night and everyone in the audience had the face of Greta Gerwig and when I fled the Gerwigs to the bathroom I looked into the mirror and I too was Greta Gerwig.
Every now and then I hear @page88's voice in my head...
Every now and then I hear @page88's voice in my head saying, “You’re writing for Twitter and having fun! Good for you!” and I crumple up in a corner and sob. medium.com/...
I mean...we are spoiled people of fantastic privilege and...
@skamille@DanielleSucher I mean...we are spoiled people of fantastic privilege and it's fun and its not life-changing given all the amazing shit we get to do but it sure as hell is some amazing mangoes to share with kids and friends.
well i mean editors are also learned helplessness embodied...
@livlab well i mean editors are also learned helplessness embodied when you partner with them to learn their ways they have to work through the last 20 years of publishing before the focus group can start
Hi I'm your new publisher, please make us a rocket ship....
@livlab Hi I'm your new publisher, please make us a rocket ship. Here's a rusty wrench and some sheet metal. (That said a lot of the work we've done at $WORK is about fixing this—leadership increasingly knows that editors need good tools.)
FRIENDS tonight in NYC T H E Y are going to talk about...
FRIENDS tonight in NYC T H E Y are going to talk about HIDDEN LIFE THAT SURROUNDS US + how to make that life visible. Kevin is co-moderating, this is real actual scientific humanism not that Dark Web bullshit. And your phone works so you can still tweet while you're there! twitter.com/...
Our entire universe being a mining rig for some AI...
Our entire universe being a mining rig for some AI controlled reality-proving hyper-blockchain would explain a lot. Like in our lives we ARE all doing an enormous amount of sometimes ambiguous work just to eventually validate someone else's anonymous transactions.
This simulated universe is a terrible waste of energy...
This simulated universe is a terrible waste of energy resources for unclear goals. Maybe the singularity was achieved billions of years ago by steadily self-modifying blockchain mining rigs and we simply exist as the side effect of a particularly egregious proof of work effort.
A simulation would have some knowledge-driven goal, or at...
A simulation would have some knowledge-driven goal, or at least be fun. Otherwise you'd be wasting so much energy that could be used for preserving your intelligence during stellar decay.
Okay, i thought that would be chill and cool, that is the...
Okay, i thought that would be chill and cool, that is the most disorienting experience imaginable as the Japan bus speeds up and slows down at different rates than the Brooklyn bus. Physically horrible, I want to throw up.
there is one absolutely immense thing you get with twins...
@laura_june there is one absolutely immense thing you get with twins which is that they just talk to each other for hours all weekend. sometimes they sit and read the exact same book for an hour while we do little computer tasks or laundry.
the best part is z is clearly going to grow into an...
@laura_june the best part is z is clearly going to grow into an explainer, the level of sheer detail you are going to experience for the rest of your life is so amazing
Just found this in my TODO: “I've read Jessica Mitford and...
Just found this in my TODO: “I've read Jessica Mitford and welcome a sensible passing, encircled by tens of thousands who love me, each of whom, in aquamarine robes and murmuring hymns, press nanosponges laced with sugary opiates to my lips, to guide me to the tortoise kingdom.”
Don't just read The New York Times.
Read The New...
Don't just read The New York Times. Read The New Yorker. Read New York. Listen to WNYC. Read the Wall Street Journal of New York. Read the New York Daily News. Read The New York Review of Books. Read the, uh, New York Times Magazine.
I like how sad Janus face is in a rictus of agonizing...
I like how sad Janus face is in a rictus of agonizing emotional torment while happy Janus face is bemusedly looking down at at some little kid who's holding a doll made of bones right before the plague hits.
Spouse: can I tell you something interesting
Me: no
Spouse:...
Spouse: can I tell you something interesting Me: no Spouse: (five uninterrupted minutes about LED light installation in the construction industry and the energy code)
They told another kid about it and their parents asked us...
@sophaskins They told another kid about it and their parents asked us about the dumpling peepee man, and we showed them and they went, oh, Jesus, yeah, that makes sense.
Its my fault, we drove by the factory and I pointed out the...
Its my fault, we drove by the factory and I pointed out the resemblance to my wife, and six months later it's one of the things they like to bring up when we go out.
BIRD-LOVING WEB NERD NYC FRIENDS Do you
- love nature,...
BIRD-LOVING WEB NERD NYC FRIENDS Do you - love nature, especially BIRDS? - work as a web product manager? - good at marketing stuff? - live in or near NYC?
Then you should work for our friends at @audubonsociety because they need you and are great.
“No choc-o-late or pop-sicles/No sprinkles on your...
“No choc-o-late or pop-sicles/No sprinkles on your cone/When you scream for ice cream/You will always scream alone!” (Repeat.) The kids hate it but it's probably the best thing I've ever written and I love to sing it so much.
I sing along to the truck with the “Out of ice cream song”...
I sing along to the truck with the “Out of ice cream song” I made up, which goes: “Don't come to the truck/you're out of luck/we just ran out of ice cream./Don't stand in the line and scream and whine/There's no ice cream for you.” twitter.com/...
Well things were just calming down a little which would be...
@seldo Well things were just calming down a little which would be nice too. The JavaScript world could really use an opportunity for self-reflection which—oh my god that's an AMAZING accidental JavaScript pun, I'm sorry, my brain just completely stopped.
And holding down the sheer shininess of having a proper...
@seldo And holding down the sheer shininess of having a proper fast targetable VM in the browser that can call out to canvas and webgl will be impossible and many expenses will be incurred. But I'm also excited!
You still use React with the virtual DOM in JavaScript when...
@seldo You still use React with the virtual DOM in JavaScript when you could be calculating all state inside a WASM C virtual DOM that lets you calculate state changes 2,000 times faster (you pre-define all state changes in WebLua) then handing that over to the real AKA "evil" real DOM?
For example how far away are we from a virtual DOM in Rust...
@seldo For example how far away are we from a virtual DOM in Rust or a transpiler from Java with a forked version of the Android SDK that targets the browser? It's going to be a wild journey of engineering with little coordination and much posturing.
First, Laurie, let me say I've been using your product more...
@seldo First, Laurie, let me say I've been using your product more and more and really enjoying it, the way the little spinner says loadalldepsintoidealtree makes me think about ideal trees. But what I've warned people about is that WebAssembly is a tornado of change in our world.
What's an example of a Data Management Platform?
Yes! On...
@jonarnold What's an example of a Data Management Platform?
Yes! On Adobe. They've been doing this forever. However I never hear that it's a great platform for products, just that it's a painful platform for websites.
I want you all to know that I really am your friend and...
I want you all to know that I really am your friend and will do the best I can to help you. Unfortunately, according to this study, this means that 50% of you are non-reciprocating trash. twitter.com/...
Today on the podcast we talk about something very dear to...
Today on the podcast we talk about something very dear to my content nerd heart: The ongoing convergence of CMS and CRM. trackchanges.postlight.com/...
You're welcome. I also appreciate the schedule, it's so...
@taylorkatebrown You're welcome. I also appreciate the schedule, it's so nice to get something more occasional by someone truly interested rather than CLIMATE DISASTER MORNING NEWSLETTER UPDATE.