jjames tumblelog

Saw this on a bank branch ahead of the economic meltdown....

Mon, 18 May 2009 18:01:20 -0400

Saw this on a bank branch ahead of the economic meltdown. foreshadowing…

If (and only if!) you have seen the new Trek movie, check out...

Mon, 18 May 2009 13:53:00 -0400

If (and only if!) you have seen the new Trek movie, check out the When Worlds Collide comic tie-in.

Still wondering who took order of a tank at the local Volvo...

Sun, 17 May 2009 20:11:56 -0400

Still wondering who took order of a tank at the local Volvo dealership. (via jjames)

A conversation I just had at work

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 16:59:00 -0500

(1:29:36 PM) Coworker: what do I type in html for a hard return within text?
(1:30:44 PM) Me:

(1:30:57 PM) Coworker: sweet, thanks. do I need to add anything to the beginning?
(1:32:02 PM) Coworker: what if I want to put in a blank line between paragraphs?
(1:34:25 PM) Me: you can wrap the paragraphs in

(1:35:38 PM) Coworker: excellent... and to make text bold?
(1:35:47 PM) Coworker: (sorry, last question)
(1:37:00 PM) Me: or
(1:37:13 PM) Coworker: Thank you!
(1:45:56 PM) Me: another important one
(1:46:04 PM) Coworker: what does that do?
(1:46:09 PM) Coworker: make the word sparkle?
(1:46:35 PM) Me: it inserts unicorns and grants wishes

Clay Shirky on Love, Internet Style On AT&T engineers...

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 10:35:00 -0500

Clay Shirky on Love, Internet Style

On AT&T engineers scrutinizing community support like comp.lang.perl.misc:

They didn’t care. They didn’t care that they had seen it work in practice because the already knew it couldn’t work in theory.

A couple other great quotes:

Perl is a Shinto Shrine. Perl exists not as an edifice but as an act of love.

We have always loved one another. We’re human. It’s something we are good at. But up until recently the radius and half life of that affection has been quite limited.

Dharmesh Shah’s insights from Business of Software...

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 10:13:00 -0500

Dharmesh Shah’s insights from Business of Software 2008

Your idea can suck or be non-existent. The number one thing you need to do is get started. The right idea, the one that you are actually going to hopefully make money on some day, will likely not occur to you until after you have started a company.

You should get your product out there and start charging for it as early as possible and charge as often as possible. Lots of good things happen when you start charging people for money. The most important of which is: they tell you when your product sucks because they refuse to buy.

I <3 LAZER BASS

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 23:22:00 -0500

I <3 LAZER BASS

Scheme Bricks pull the reletively obscure programming language...

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 22:08:00 -0500

Scheme Bricks pull the reletively obscure programming language Scheme into service for a live musical performance.

Python 3000 released 992 years too early

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:49:00 -0500

Dubbed Python 3000 as that was the “expected” release date, Python 3.0 has arrived. The Announcement 3.0 Version of A Byte of Python Discussion: reddit, ycombinator

LilyPond: Musical Typography

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 17:34:00 -0500

Just ask any musician that plays classical music: new scores do not look as nice as old ones.

LilyPond creates beautifully crafted sheet music from a relatively simple notation. They call it Automated Engraving and explain how the software, by contrasting with Finale, is responsible for the quality.