Venture Optimist

Venture Optimist: "

Brad Feld: ‘I think the next 20 years of innovation around software and the Internet will make the last 20 years look like child’s play... I don’t see an endpoint to the human animal’s desire to innovate.’

I love Brad’s optimism. It matches my own. We’re all just barely getting started here.

When I initially read the piece, I mis-read the line as ‘I don’t see an endpoint to the human animal’s desire to communicate.’ Which is also true, and it’s why the internet, that great communication machine, is still brand-new.

"

(Via Brent.)

HardTimes :: Hole [VIDEO]

At the end, Ze says to try this, it actually works. I think it's brilliant. Hard times or not, this can make time with a special someone even more special.

HardTimes :: Hole from ze frank on Vimeo.

A Prayer for Mothers and Daughters

HarperCollins has a page up for Mother's Day. It's a really nice video of Charles' artwork with Neil reading his poem. Please go to the page and read Neil's notes about the book too.

The book still makes me cry every time I read it.

Wil Wheaton is a very smart man

I have to say, I'm really impressed with how well Wil thinks on his feet. He did a great job with the well metaphor, and segued from physics to tequila flawlessly. Not bad for just a geek.

(Via Wil Wheaton.)

That’s Quite an Argument

How does Gruber find these geniuses?

So the problem with Apple’s iLife apps is that they’re too good, and kids never learn that they need to struggle with technical issues before using software to express themselves creatively.

(Via Daring Fireball.)

Does She Love You? by Pasha Malla - The Morning News

In case you weren't sure, this should clear it up for you: Does She Love You? by Pasha Malla - The Morning News

Gus Mueller is amazing

He's gone and done it again. Made something amazingly cool and then turned around and let the world have it.

JSTalk's goal can described like this: JSTalk is to AppleScript, what Cocoa is to Carbon.

...

And that's my favorite part about JSTalk. You have the option to write your script in a Objective-C like style if you want to. And if you're the type of person who is scared of ['s, you don't have to use them!

(Via Gus's blog, adventures in Flying Meat..)

Some folks get it

Hospital CEO With A Heart Finds An Unusual Way to Avoid Layoffs | Crooks and Liars

But a lot of them realize that everybody's in the same boat and that their boat doesn't rise because someone else's sinks.

Franklyn looks pretty cool

I have to say, this movie looks awfully good. I seem to be developing an ever-growing affinity for steam-punk.

OK, I made one of these

Finally got one of these made.

Mine looked like this:

Lets Hear It for Mystery

Not all news has to be bad news

OK, so I saw this story today, and it helped me remember that not all news has to be bad news. It also reminded me of this one from last spring. Hopefully they'll bring a smile to your day.

Movie Trilogy Trends

OK, I think I gotta agree with this: The Trilogy Meter

Update: Oh, and a nice update using the IMDB star ratings to chart the films.

Bailout Part 2

More miscellaneous thoughts about the economic 'crisis.'

Don't bail out businesses. Use the money to shore up unemployment and small business loans. I guarantee that if the unemployment pool is big enough, plenty of entrepreneurs will rise from the ashes.

Bailout Part 1

Miscellaneous thoughts about the economic 'crisis.'

Don't bail out homeowners being foreclosed. Instead shore up Section 8 housing. Let the banks foreclose and try to do something with the properties. In many cases, I expect the local housing markets to drop enough that many of the foreclosed could re-enter the market, albeit at a lower level. Let the market do its thing, and let people fail. Otherwise, they will never learn.

A Twitter Decision

People have trouble when they first hear about Twitter. They can't get a handle on what it is. It's whatever you want it to be. Your usage patter will probably match mine. Heck, my usage pattern this week probably won't match mine next week. Not only is Twitter evolving, but it evolves at different times for different users. I think Rands has a really good handle on the important points of Twitter here.

Every couple of weeks, a meme stressing about 'an increase in Twitter spam' wanders the Internet. Each time I see this meme appear, I turn away from my keyboard and bang my head against my desk three times.

The Recession is a Painful Cure

The American economy does have serious problems, but the recession is the fix for those problems, not the cause.

I've always liked the way Aaron thinks.

(Via possible/probable.)

Noodlings » The Invisible Interface: Stealing Prefs

The Invisible Interface: Stealing Prefs

In this installment of The Invisible Interface, we are going to look at stealing preferences. What is stealing preferences? Simply enough, it’s using the preferences of some other app instead of having your own for a particular feature. The point of this is to avoid having to provide a separate interface for settings when the user has already made their choices known somewhere else.

I have to say that I consider this not only brilliant, but the Right Way ™ to do it.

Country Inspection

Running on Hope from Douglas Sarine on Vimeo.

If you didn't know Douglas is the amazing talent behind Ask a Ninja and the The Ninja Handbook .

How to Build an Upside-Down Fire: The Only Fireplace Method You’ll Ever Need

I'm trying this tonight!

How to Build an Upside-Down Fire: The Only Fireplace Method You’ll Ever Need

Again, standards rock!

James Strachan's Blog: How Sun could fix Swing and promote innovation and unification in the UI space: this is a great idea!

Firelight - Not Silverlight, Not Flash

This is the direction web development should be moving in. Standards compliance and no plugins. Now we're talking.

(Via Reddit.)

OK, I need to make one of these.

The Omnomicon: how to make a rainbow cake!

(Via Reddit)

Seaside Statefulness

I really hope this is the future of web development. Smalltalk and Seaside have been secret loves of mine (Smalltalk since 1988, Seaside somewhat more recently) that I had been afraid I'd never be able to publicly acknowledge.

Wait for it...

Wow. Who would have thought it. Wil Wheaton can actually sing pretty well. And can let go and disappear into a game of Rock Band 2 in front of a live audience at a con.

(Vial Wil)

Koumpounophobia

You absolutely need to see the first one (at least) of these videos. And yes, the video will explain the title of this post.

(Via Neil Gaiman.)

The Curious Case of Forrest Gump from FGump44

OK, this is a great job of spotting a movie-recyle:

The Curious Case of Forrest Gump - watch more funny videos

Tips from the Master

Scriptwriting in the UK: Joss Whedon's Top 10 Writing Tips is an amazing set of writing tips. They're focused on screenwriting, but I think they're pretty universal.

johnaugust.com » The Remnants, in full

johnaugust.com » The Remnants, in full

Cool web pilot done during the writer strike. I'd love to see Ze get more work.
The Remnants from John August on Vimeo.

(Via Gruber.)

The Joel on Software Discussion Group - Why I Hate Frameworks

The Joel on Software Discussion Group - Why I Hate Frameworks:

The factory factory factory will produce only the tool factory factories that you actually need.

I can't tell you how closely this matches my recent experiences.

(Via rands.)

Getting more out of life

Maxing out your Triangle — jackcheng.com

Some people might ascribe to the philosophy that it’s okay to be at a well-paid-yet-crappy day job and use the remaining time and money enjoying your hobbies. I disagree.

How full is your triangle?

(Via Merlin Mann.)

Contagious Happiness

Check it out.

Smile and Your Social Network Smiles With You:

Every wonder about how you affect your friends in online networks, or how you are impacted by them? Check out this article from Edge:

Edge: SOCIAL NETWORKS AND HAPPINESS By By Nicholas A. Christakis & James Fowler

We found that social networks have clusters of happy and unhappy people within them that reach out to three degrees of separation. A person’s happiness is related to the happiness of their friends, their friends’ friends, and their friends’ friends’ friends—that is, to people well beyond their social horizon. We found that happy people tend to be located in the center of their social networks and to be located in large clusters of other happy people. And we found that each additional happy friend increases a person’s probability of being happy by about 9%.

(Via Unquiet Desperation.)