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Aug18
A good rule of thumb when theorizing about cable TV production is that everything is less expensive and less elaborate than you think it is.
(0)Aug8
The SXSW 2009 Panel Picker is live. If you attended our Secrets of JavaScript Libraries panel and enjoyed it — or if you missed our Secrets of JavaScript Libraries panel and would move heaven and earth to get a chance to undo the biggest mistake of your life — then give large numbers of stars to More Secrets of JavaScript Libraries, our follow-up panel. Thanks to John Resig for taking the initiative (once again).
(0)Jul25
As he passes on the reins of At The Movies, Roger Ebert fondly remembers Gene Siskel (the Waldorf to his Statler). “Did Gene and I hate each other? Yes. Did we love each other? Yes.” The hilarious YouTube videos at the bottom of his post were discussed on MetaFilter a while back; some focus on the vitriol, but I prefer to see the begrudging friendship and mutual respect. By including the videos on the page, Ebert shows he feels the same way.
(1)Jul23
At a recent Congressional hearing, the head of the airlines’ primary lobbying organization, the Air Transport Association, asserted that pricing is not an effective mechanism for balancing supply and demand for landing slots. When lobbyists argue that basic economic principles do not apply to the industry they represent, a red flag should go up.
(0)Jul21
The audio from the Secrets of JavaScript Libraries panel has finally been posted on the SXSW web site! John Resig has the slides if you want to follow along.
(0)Jul14
Steven Frank, co-author of Transmit: Don’t use FTP. Finally someone says it! FTP is a crazy, insecure non-protocol, and the fact that it’s still used has more to do with ubiquity than any sort of merit. SFTP piggybacks on all the security of SSH and is much easier to work with. WordPress has a great feature that automatically upgrades your installed plugins — but only on FTP, not SFTP.
Jul11
Immature testing organizations tend to have about five clean tests for every dirty test. Mature testing organizations tend to have five dirty tests for every clean test. This ratio is not reversed by reducing the clean tests; it’s done by creating 25 times as many dirty tests.
Jul9
Brand New looks at the Hornets’ logo tweak. Scroll down to the comments section to see their secondary logo — it’s exceedingly clever, co-opts some New Orleans iconography (the primary logo dates back to the Charlotte era), and kicks the primary logo’s ass. The Saints’ fleur de lis logo represents an era when a team’s logo could be unapologetically abstract. (The bigger news is the slight color change; I’m looking forward to seeing the new uniforms.)
Jun30
Practical Prototype & script.aculo.us: the book
Against all odds, I have written a book designed to familiarize the reader with Prototype and script.aculo.us.
How am I supposed to convey how hard this was? I’d say it was like giving childbirth, but the process itself took much longer than it takes to grow a baby.
Why did it take so long? First: unlike a baby, which grows at a steady pace whether you like it or not, a book is all too easy to put off when you’ve got a full-time job.
Second: unlike a baby, which will claw its way out at a date of its own choosing, a book’s natural tendency is to languish. Mine settled into a valley when it was roughly 60% complete; rather than redouble my efforts in order to get it over the hump, I sat on the couch and pretended it didn’t exist for a while.
So don’t misunderstand me: I’m not suggesting I have some knowledge of childbirth that allows me to empathize. I’m only saying that the process of writing my book was far more painful and, as a result, has far more meaning.
I am humbly indebted to everyone at Apress for making this possible — especially Beth Christmas and Clay Andres, who helped me get off my perfection pedestal and get the damned thing out the door. Anyone else would’ve ditched the albatross long ago.
I am also grateful to Aaron Gustafson for being my technical editor. He had to ensure my code examples worked even while the APIs for the final version of Prototype 1.6 were changing almost daily.
And, of course, I am grateful to Christophe Porteneuve, author of the excellent Pragmatic Programmers book on Prototype/script.aculo.us, for his enthusiasm and occasional guidance. Some may view our books as being in direct competition. I say: why not buy both?
You can get a glimpse of Chapter 1 at the Apress web site, and Ajaxian has Chapter 4. The rest you’ll have to pay for, so head over to Amazon.
Jun25
If I were the benevolent dictator, I would make it capital offense for members of the punditocracy to opine ignorantly about the tastes and habits of “regular people,” who apparently have comfort zones no larger than their footprints, and who are unwilling to vote for anyone who doesn’t live their lives exactly like they (are imagined to) do.
