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    Tuesday, July 14th, 2009
    crasch
    3:01a
    links for 2009-07-14

    Original: craschworks - comments

    Monday, July 13th, 2009
    ch
    10:33p
    heavens to murgatroid!
    I updated the ol' web site:

    http://www.murgatroid.com/

    Mainly I revised the professional info and added a new resume.  

    I still need to pull the pubs section together.  Soon'ish ....
    ezma
    2:18p
    Sarah! SARAH SARAH!
    WHO the fuck CARES about Sarah Palin ANYMORE?!

    I don't care about her stupid Ethics complaints - because they're all being made by petty people that have NOTHING better to do with their time than nit-pick a politician. Like, ZOMG! NO other politician on EARTH has Ethics this bad! OH NOES!!! There were only 2 complaints that would've held any water what so ever, and they were both dismissed.

    She stepped down - that's great ... move along now.

    OMG! She has a retarded baby! OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!!!!

    OMG! Her Daughter's ex-boyfriend/fiance/thingy SPOKE! GET HIS AUTOGRAPH !!! He's bashing the Palins - again.

    ZOINKS! She thumbed her nose at David Letterman - the world is going to implode!!!

    I want the media to die die die die die ... can't they find something new and interesting to write about ... I mean, 8 fucking people have died in this city in 90 days. Doesn't that sound weird and interesting?! You really want me to believe that all these middle aged homeless dudes died, coincidentally, within DAYS and weeks of each other of the SAME CAUSE?! Is there such thing as INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING anymore?!?! Woodward and Bernstein IS ASHAMED of YOU!

    Has anybody BOTHERED to talk to this Lisa Andrews girl that married a fucking INSANE-CONVICTED MURDERER, so that he could confide in her without risk of the police finding out where the other bodies are?! She has a fucking Myspace, go from there ADN. Instead, you taunt me with these little 3 sentence blurbs on these little tid bits of story! YET, you will repeat yourself on anything having to do with SARAH FUCKING PALIN - 10 paragraphs of crap that I've already read, but reiterated just in case I forgot how much the media hates republicans.

    ADN, KTUU - it's things like you that make me want to vote Republican just to spite you.

    I am so sick of Sarah Palin ... I wish she never would've run for anything - not that the media would've let any other Republican in office off the hook - yeah, I'll believe that a Democratic Politician is squeaky clean the day the U.S. gets out of debt.

    Current Mood: bitchy
    crasch
    3:01a
    links for 2009-07-13

    Original: craschworks - comments

    Sunday, July 12th, 2009
    ch
    11:37p
    Art Brut
    I've had one Zyrtec,
    two Advils.
    with a drink.
    that made me feel,
    invincible.



    ch
    10:56p
    ch
    9:34p
    Wilco
    I do like the new album, but it isn't amazing like YHF (!) or Ghost, or even "just" fabulous like Sky.

    I suppose I should add that I'm not complaining.
    ch
    8:41p
    SC Boardwalk

    Contact!





    That's his schoolmate Allison in the co-pilot/passenger seat.


    meganbnl
    10:07a
    Upscale Chow Down
    Last night I took a little journey into fine dining.
    My mother's cousin Jack and his wife Shirlee from Dayton, Ohio were visiting over the weekend, and they wanted to take us out to dinner last night. Jack had reservations at some little place in the Bloomfield section of Pittsburgh (an area I'm totally unfamiliar with) and we figured some friend of his in the city had told him about it and made the reservation for him.
    We ventured into the steamy summer evening with a chilled bottle of wine (this place doesn't have a liquor license) and made our way to 'Sausalido'. It's a tiny place that only seats about 40 (there's a 'party room' upstairs), and is decorated very cleanly with off-white walls, black tables, and original (and for sale) abstracts on the walls, providing the color.
    Our waitress appeared about 30 seconds after we sat down.....and it was Shirlee's granddaughter Natalie!! So, yeah. They kinda had an 'in' to this place. Natalie's from Virginia, but she went to school at Pitt, and still lives in town. She's a server at Sausalido....and her boyfriend happens to be the chef!
    I was a little afraid that the food would be too 'cuisiny' for me, but it wasn't. It was delicious, and half of my dinner's in a box, to be enjoyed this evening. Well, I just couldn't finish it all....not after I saw Key Lime créme bruleé as a dessert option!! :D
    Besides having a yummy dinner with Jack and Shirlee, we also got to see Natalie again, and I got to hang in an extemely cool neighborhood, all of which made for a fun evening.
    So if you're ever in Pittsburgh, head to Bloomfield and eat at Sausalido. Tell 'em I sent you. ;)

    Saturday, July 11th, 2009
    crasch
    3:02a
    Friday, July 10th, 2009
    jmaynard
    2:38p
    Randy Beaman's pal...
    From [info]keeper1st:

    One time, OK see, one time Randy Beaman's friend Colin, who was the son of one of the writers of Animaniacs, was made into a caricature and recorded lots of stories about Randy Beaman, and eventually Colin grew up and joined the Army and now he's fighting in Afghanistan.

    'K bye.

    Current Mood: thankful
    crasch
    3:01a
    links for 2009-07-10
    • Neat blog with lots of DIY ideas. Including elegant pot rack.
    • f I had but one backdrop to use for portraiture I would choose a simple roll of white seamless paper. With one roll of paper you can create many options. For the rest of the week I’m going to break it down for you. We are going to look at getting it to pop to pure white, making it various shades of grey, getting it to go black, gelling it to any color in the rainbow, and doing very easy and quick changes in post production to further the visual options available to us when using such a simple background.</p>

      As simple as it is, it can be easy to mess up too. I hope to help you out like other photographers have helped me along the way.Before we get into the shooting technique for this, let’s start from the start and look at the gear and resources needed to pull this off.

    • This flame you CAN hold, without burning your skin off. Learn to make fireballs you can hold in your hand. This amazing video tutorial shows you how to do it. All you'll need for this little science experiment or fiery weapon is 100% cotton cloth, scissors, lighter fuel, cotton string, and a needle. Be careful to follow the directions in this how-to video carefully otherwise you'll really be playing with fire.
      (tags: fire magic cool)
    • An infinite white background is more than hip and trendy. Clean, professional and flexible, the secret is in the lighting. And while framing the head and shoulders is easy, lighting a full-body shot is much more complex. This segment shows you how to Light Infinite White, on a finite budget and in a limited space. Watch this video special effects tutorial and learn how to create infinite white lighting.
    • A cyclorama is something I've always wanted. Until building my current studio I've never had an adequate place for one. So, like most of us, I've had to use seamless background paper-which I loathe. I've never seen instructions for building one, so I was forced to invent the technique demonstrated here. So far, everything seems to be holding up just fine. Be forewarned, this project is a lot of work, and the finished cyc weighs a lot-like maybe a ton for every 16' or so. If your floors and walls are not real sturdy, don't try this.
    • World Press Photo aims to support professional press photography on a wide international scale. Promotional activities include an annual contest, exhibitions, the stimulation of photojournalism through educational programs, and creating greater visibility for press photography through a variety of publications.
    • lens recommendations
    • When I examine the vistor figures for my website going back to August 2000, I can see how many more visitors there are for the technique pages than any others. In fact, 68% of all page views on this site between August 2000 and August 2008 were to one of the many technique examples. I don't suppose that is going to change any time soon so this page provides an index to all of the new technique pages posted since the 1st of September 2008.
    • This DIY aluminum laptop stand was initially made by Aaron Kravitz and was inspired by a $50 model he once saw. Needless to say that this is one sexy laptop stand, one of the nicest I've seen. On top of being nice, it's also dirt cheap. All in all, he used about $8 in metal, a hacksaw, and a few strips of leather. To bend the aluminum, he used his hands and a sawhorse. Aluminum was chosen due to its malleability. Kravitz admits that he mostly eyeballed the bending. They turned out well and since you only need to bend one, it doesn't really matter which way you do it. The important thing is that there are these struts that support the stand.
      (tags: diy laptop stand)
    • 16 port USB hub
      (tags: usb tools)
    • Transformer USB drive
      (tags: usb toys gifts)
    • Esto connectors are available in 1" square and 3/4" square to fit a variety of tubing profiles. They are manufactured using super tough, high quality molded nylon material. Standard colors include light-grey and black. Custom colors are also available.
    • Dynamic moving backdrops with very high resolution</p>

      visual projected images, perfectly sychronized to the

      live stage actions, lighting and music. This long awaited stage

      set dream is now a reality with the introduction of

      networked picture servers which integrate all forms of

      visual content onto one seamless stage backdrop to produce

      the ultimate "Virtual Set". Artistic murals, Still images,

      Photographic images, Moving icons, Corporate branding,

      Video footage are all possible elements which can now be incorporated into your next stage production.

    • This is the evolution of the first DIY guide to something bigger. Now included are hints and guides for setting up and running a studio. This guide is not yet finished, and probably never will be finished at all, but it will be constantly updated if I find time. Any useful suggestions for updates and complements are gladly received and will be integrated if possible. Just send e-mail. The German original is available at http://www.photoquack.de/tutorials/baustrahler.htm
    • Does some interesting photography with continuous lighting
    • Make your own “Dim-able” Keno-Flo for $49!
    • Build instructions for DIY softbox
    • DIY Spiderlite softbox
    • Metal connectors should theoretically make your building go up faster and stronger. With much of the items listed here a person needs to use their imagination to finish off the project. Meaning for example you can make a simple design on paper for a small dwelling or tent and use accessories available from the listed suppliers to provide framework connectors or to provide maybe a canvas or poly covering.
    • EnableDesign has built a number of these beds. The bed provides security and safety.
      The bed is sized to fit a standard single size mattress. The overall height of the bed is
      approximately 80 inches. The door and end panels have mesh covering in the openings.
      The doors slide in tracks and function much like a standard bathtub enclosure. The mattress
      is low to provide easy access. Custom requirements can be accomodated.
      (tags: bed enclosed)
    • Metal security storm doors need not give your home an institutional appearance. With over 50 decorative style and ten colours to choose from, these beautiful protective security doors can in fact enhance the curb appeal of your home, while protecting your family and belongings from unwanted intrusion.
    • Hand forged wrought iron doors; also fake wrought iron
    • Jay Leno has a lot of old cars with a lot of obsolete parts. When he needs to replace these parts, he skips the error-prone machinist and goes to his rapid prototyping 3D printer. Simply scan, print and repea
    • Jim's shop is located near his home in Circle Pines, Minnesota, near the "Twin Cities" of Minneapolis and St. Paul. If you have a serious interest in Jim's instruments and you expect to be in the Twin Cities area, contact Jim to plan a time to visit. It is not unusual for prospective customers to make a trip to the shop to see how Olson guitars are made, and to take a "test drive" on a recently completed guitar. All visitors leave Jim's shop amazed at the number, intricacy, and precision of the tools and jigs he has created to help him make the best guitars possible.</p>

      For those unable to visit in person, this corner of the web site offers a "virtual tour" of Jim's shop. The tour is a bit brief right now, but we have about 100 photos that will be added gradually over the next few months. So enjoy your virtual visit, and drop by again soon to see more.

      (tags: art guitars)
    • As the name suggests, a blog for expats in China
    • Magma Kettle barbecues are nearly ubiquitous throughout North American cruising grounds. I've owned one for a couple cruising seasons now, and I've learned a lot about the ups and downs of these units.</p>

      Let me say right off that this grill has enhanced our cruising experience more than any other single improvement. Moving cooking operations out to the cockpit removes the steam, splatter, and spills from the cabin entirely.

      Even more significant, though, is the elimination of the bottleneck at the cabin door, which is where the galley is. The rest of the crew can come and go as they please while I cook astern. It sounds silly, but cooking out back seems to make the boat physically larger. On a 22 foot boat, a change like this is almost as good as buying a boat three feet longer.

    • Obama and his Senate allies would limit competition by requiring insurers to cover everyone for the same "fair" price. No "cherry picking," the president says. No charging healthy people less.</p>

      They call this "community rating," and it sounds fair. No more cruel "discrimination" against people who have a preexisting condition, obese people or smokers. But such simple-minded one-size-fits-all rules take from insurance companies their best price-dampening tool: Risk-based pricing encourages people to take better care of themselves, just as car-insurance companies reward good drivers. With one-size pricing your car-insurance company must give the town drunk the same deal it gives you.

    • [The same people who want to operate a national healthcare system can't even run their own cafeteria profitably.]</p>

      Year after year, decade upon decade, the U.S. Senate's network of restaurants has lost staggering amounts of money — more than $18 million since 1993, according to one report, and an estimated $2 million this year alone, according to another … without a $250,000 subsidy from taxpayers, the Senate won't make payroll next month….

      In a masterful bit of understatement, Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chairman of the Rules and Administrations Committee, which oversees the operation of the Senate, blamed "noticeably subpar" food and service.

    • Scred is a Finnish company building tools and services to help friends, groups and communities manage their money, wherever they are.</p>

      Pools are for simple tracking and balancing amongst friends, while MiniCorps allow you to track income and expenses, as well as actually sell items and receive money.

    Original: craschworks - comments

    Thursday, July 9th, 2009
    ch
    10:42p
    Herb Simon
    "What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention, and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it." (Computers, Communications and the Public Interest, pages 40-41, Martin Greenberger, ed., The Johns Hopkins Press, 1971.)
    jmaynard
    5:26p
    Colonel Ed is dead
    I never knew this side of the man...

    COLONEL ED IS DEAD

    Ed wanted to be a Marine fighter pilot. The US was building up their military force, but they were not at war yet and the Navy required all its potential Navy and Marine pilots to have two years of college. So Ed started classes at Boston College.

    When Pearl Harbor was attacked the Army and the Navy both dropped the college requirement and Ed applied to the Marines. His primary flight training was in Dallas and then he went to Pensacola , Florida . He was carrier qualified, which means he knew how to perform a controlled crash of his single engine fighter, onto the rolling deck of a Navy floating runway.

    It took Ed almost two years to get through all the Navy flight training. His problem was he was a very good pilot and the Marines needed flight instructors. He had a great command presence and public speaking ability, which landed him in the classroom, training new baby Marine pilots.

    His orders to the Pacific fleet and the chance to fly combat missions off a carrier came in the spring of 1945, on the same day the Atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Of course his orders where changed. He never went to sea and he was out of the Marines in 1946.

    Ed stayed in the USMC as a reserve officer. He became a successful personality in the new TV medium, after the war. His Marine command presence helped. He was recalled to active duty during the Korean War. He never got to fly his fighter aircraft, but he saw his share of raw combat. He flew the Cessna O-1E Bird Dog, which is a single engine slow-moving unarmed plane. He functioned as an artillery spotter for the Marine batteries on the ground and as a forward controller for the Navy & Marine fighter / bombers who flew in on fast moving jet engines, bombed the area and were gone in seconds. Captain Ed was still circling the enemy looking for more targets, all the time taking North Korean and Chinese ground fire.

    He stayed with the Marines as a reserve officer and retired in 1966 as a Colonel.

    One night I was watching a show when the subject of Colonel Ed earning a number of Navy Air Medals came up. The host, a former Navy officer, understood the significance of these medals, but Ed shrugged it off, saying that if you flew enough combat missions they just sort of gave them to you. Ed flew 85 combat missions over North Korea; he earned every one of those Air Medals. The casualty rate for flying forward air controllers in Korea sometimes exceeded 50% of a squadron's manpower. Ed was lucky to have gotten home from that war.

    Once a Marine, always a Marine.

    When the public was spitting (taking their personal safety into their own hands) at Marines on the streets of Southern California during Vietnam, Colonel Ed was taking Marines off the streets and into his posh Beverly Hills home. I spoke to a retired Marine aircrew member the day Colonel Ed died and he personally remembered seeing Ed at numerous Marine Air Bases in California in the 1960s. He was known for going to the Navy hospitals and visiting the wounded Marines and Sailors from this country's conflicts, even in the last years of his life.

    Colonel Ed presented awards and decorations to fellow Marines and attended many a Marine ceremony and the annual Marine Corps Birthday Ball. He stayed true to his Corps as a board member of the Marine Corps Scholarship Fund and as the honorary chairman of the National Marine Corps Aviation Museum. After retiring from the Marine Reserve, one night on the Johnny Carson show, members of the California Air National Guard came on stage.

    Colonel Ed was commissioned a Brigadier General in the Air Guard in front of millions of Americans who watched it happen live. You will not see anything like that on TV anymore.

    The three core values of a United States Marine are; honor, courage and commitment. This is what a Marine is taught from the first day of training and this is what that Marine believes. That was Colonel Edward P. McMahon Jr. USMCR Retired. Of course we knew Ed as Ed McMahon of the Johnny Carson, Tonight Show. Before he was a national figure he was a true combat hero and a patriot the nation needed then and this country needs now.

    Your war is over. Thank you Colonel McMahon. Semper Fi sir.

    23 June 2009
    Major Van Harl USAF Ret.


    Is it permissible for a civilian to tell a Marine "Semper fi"? If so, I'll add mine.

    Current Mood: grateful
    Wednesday, July 8th, 2009
    jmaynard
    8:43p
    How possible is a military-led coup in the US?
    I posted the following statement in a closed forum:

    the US military is so thoroughly professional, and the culture of it being subordinate to civilian power (but only insofar as it is required to follow lawful orders and refuse to follow unlawful ones) so ingrained, that a coup run or supported by the US military is just about totally impossible.


    ...and got told I was being "willfully optimistic". I truly don't think so; I can see no set of circumstances under which a coup would be supported by the US military, much less led by it, that did not involve actions on the part of the President and/or Congress that would rise to the level of outright abrogation of the Constitution and would produce an armed revolt among the populace.

    Those of you reading this who are closer to the US armed forces than I am, how optimistic is my statement?

    Current Mood: surprised
    ezma
    4:18p
    Who was your last hug?
    My boyfriend's back and you're gonna be in trouble - heyyaaaa heyyaaaa Mah boyfriend's back ...

    Do you drive with your windows up or down?
    They see meh rollin', they hatin'

    Think of the person you'd like to be with the most right now, when did you last talk to them?
    SKY rockets in FLIGHT. AFTA noon delight.

    When's the last time you did something you knew was wrong?
    This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius, the age of a-quar-i-uuuuuus, A-Quari-ussss

    Is it possible that you could be pregnant right now?
    They tried to make me go to rehab, I said, no no no

    How many times have you kissed the last person you kissed?
    Like a Virgin - touched for the very first TIME!

    If the year consisted of only one season, which would you choose?
    Summer lovin' had me a blaAast, Summer lovin' happened so faAast.

    Do you hate being alone?
    I truly am indeed Alone again, Naturally

    Are you tan?
    It's alarming how charming it is to be a-farming. How calming and balming the effect of the air

    Do you hate the last guy/girl you had a thing with?
    I’m the kinda girl that hangs with the guys. Like a fly on the wall with my secret eyes. Takin it in, try to be feminine. With my makeup bag watchin all the sin ...

    Have you ever been out past curfew?
    I found it hard, it was hard to find. Oh well, whatever, nevermind ...

    Is there a girl that knows everything or mostly everything about you?
    It's all right, it's all right, aaaaalllll right. She moves in mysterious ways

    Are you enemies with a former friend?
    Open wide and eat the worms of the enemy.

    Do you still talk to the person you were dating 8 months ago?
    Mike D comeon an rock the Sure SHOT - ya can't, ya won't and ya don't STOP

    How did you and your number 1 become friends?
    We.Are.FAM-ILY, I got all mah sistahs with me. We.Are.FAM-ILY. Get up everybody and DANCE!

    Where is your ex?
    I don't know how I'm meant to feel anymore.

    Who was the last person you cried in front of?
    I wanna hold'em like they do in Texas, Please. Fold'em, let'em hit me, raise it baby stay with me. I love it. Love game intuition play the cards with spades to start. And afta he's been hooked I'll play the one that's in his heart. mu mumumaaa ...

    Do you regret dating anyone you dated?
    Hold my breath as I wish for death. Oh please god,wake me. Now the world is gone Im just one

    Who was the last person in your bed besides you?
    Noboooody knows, the trouble I've seen. Noboooody knows mah sorrooowwww...

    Do you currently have a hickey?
    A Joke, I'm a negative creep. And I'm stone, I'm a negative creep

    Did anyone see you kiss the last person you kissed?
    No diggity, no doubt

    Who were you last in the car with other than family?
    Dude looks like a lady (x4)

    What's a bad habit you have?
    Damn procrastination

    Is there someone you often talk to drunk?
    Nobody knows. Nobody knows but me

    Are you addicted to anything that is not a recreational drug?
    ALMOST. sweet talk. CAFFEINE. Make contact

    Do you find the opposite sex confusing?
    And be a simple kind of man. Be something you love and understand. Be a simple kind of man. Wont you do this for me son ... If you can?

    What's the last thing you laughed really hard over?
    It's been a while ... since I could hold my head up high

    Are you picky about who you give your number to?
    It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.
    Yes we can.

    Do you have any Jordan's or Matt's in your cell phone?
    No woman, no cry

    If you failed a class for the year, would you rather go to summer school or repeat the grade?
    I got my first real six-string. Bought it at the five-and-dime. Played it till my fingers bled. It was the summer of '69

    If you got expelled from school, what school would you go to next?
    Schooooooooooools OUT for SUMMER! Schoooooooooooooooooooooools OUT forEVA!

    If you had the chance to move out of your current house right now, would you?
    Work It Harder Make It Better Do It Faster. Makes Us stronger More Than Ever Hour After Our Work Is Never Over

    If your best friend was kicked out, would your parents let him/her live with you?
    It's my liiiiiife. It's now or never. I ain't gonna live for-eve-r. I just want to live while I'm alive. It's my liiiiife ... My heart is like an open highway Like Frankie said I did it my way. I just wanna live while I'm alive. It's my life

    Are any of your teachers left-handed?
    But I'm not the only guy I know that. I'm not the only guy I know that. You never notice. The only guy I know, well I'm not the only guy I know. That you never notice.

    Do you miss school?
    School Daze, school daze, I'm here doin' time. School daze, school daze, my age is my crime. School daze, school daze, I'm here doin' time. School daze, school daze, I'm attending hell high

    Have you ever had a dream about MySpace?
    I know I'm pathetic, I knew when she said it. A loser, a bum's what she called me when I drove her home. There's no more waiting and sure no more wasting, I've done all I can but she still wants to be left alone

    Have you ever kissed someone who was over 21?
    Now, sure as the sun will cross the sky. The lie is over. Lost, like the tears that used to tide me over

    If you married the last person you text messaged, what would your last name be?
    Now it's the same old song, but with a different meaning. Since you been gone. It's the same old song, but with a different meaning. Since you been gone

    Would you say you have an organized bedroom?
    And I'm here to remind you, of the mess you left when you went away. It's not fair to deny me, of the cross I bear that you gave to me. You, you, you oughta know

    Think of the last person who said "I love you", do you think they meant it?
    Maybe far away, or maybe real nearby

    What kind of guys/girls are you usually attracted to?
    Just get on the floor and do the New Kids' dance. Don't worry 'bout nothing 'cause it won't take long. We're gonna put you in a trance with a funky song, 'cause you gotta be Hangin' tough, hangin' tough, hangin' tough.

    What have you eaten today?
    Food, glorious food! We're anxious to try it. Three banquets a day - Our favourite diet!

    What do all your saved texts say?
    Superstar. Where you from, how's it going? I know you. Gotta clue, what youre doing? You can play brand new to all the other chicks out here. But I know what you are, what you are, baby

    Would your parents trust you to stay the night at your boyfriend'​​s/​​girlfriend'​​s house?
    I'm a mover, a shaker, like Mack the Knife, I can take your last dollar with a throw of the die.
    I've got a gift for winning from heaven above.... but I'm just a baby in this business of love.

    Don't you just hate running into people you know?
    You pretend youre high. You pretend youre bored. You pretend youre anything - Just to be adored. And what you need. Is what you get. Don't believe in fear, don't believe in faith, don't believe in anything ... That you cant break. You stupid girl. You stupid girl. All you had you wasted. All you had you wasted

    When you're at the grocery store do you use the self checkout?
    ALLLL BYYYY MYYYY SEeeeEELLLLFFF.

    Your ex shows up randomly at your house, what do you say?
    WHAT!? WHAT?! OKAAAYYY!

    What could you not go without during the day?
    And through it all, how could you cry for me? Cause I don't feel bad about it. So shut your eyes,Kiss me goodbye, And sleep. Just sleep.

    Current Mood: bored
    crasch
    3:01a
    links for 2009-07-08
    • general Informations and Key shortcuts for Kent Sibilev's great ruby-debug gem. http://www.datanoise.com/ruby-debug/, http://rubyforge.org/projects/ruby-debug/ A reference manual for version 0.10.0 is at http://bashdb.sf.net/ruby-debug.html

    Original: craschworks - comments

    Tuesday, July 7th, 2009
    meganbnl
    10:17p
    Something Old
    A couple of my geneologically inclined relatives are considering doing a family calendar, featuring a member of my grandmother's generation in the month of their birth, with group shots to fill in non-birthday months.
    I volunteered to do my grandmother, great aunt Mary, and great uncle John, with cousins around the country doing the rest. Collages of old photos were decided upon, and I've got tons of old photos....and by 'old', I mean 'dating back to the early 1900s'.
    Yesterday I threw together one of my grandmother. I trimmed it with some pressed rose petals to give it a little more character, since they represent her love of flowers.
    It's not by any means 'final'....it needs work (especially since it's crooked), but I like it. This could be a fun project.

    crasch
    9:58a
    Does Medicare have lower administrative costs?

    …only an extremely small portion of administrative costs are related to the dollar value of health care benefit claims. Expressing these costs as a percentage of benefit claims gives a misleading picture of the relative efficiency of government and private health plans.Medicare beneficiaries are by definition elderly, disabled, or patients with end-stage renal disease. Private insurance beneficiaries may include a small percentage of people in those categories, but they consist primarily of people are who under age 65 and not disabled. Naturally, Medicare beneficiaries need, on average, more health care services than those who are privately insured. Yet the bulk of administrative costs are incurred on a fixed program-level or a per-beneficiary basis. Expressing administrative costs as a percentage of total costs makes Medicare’s administrative costs appear lower not because Medicare is necessarily more efficient but merely because its administrative costs are spread over a larger base of actual health care costs. When administrative costs are compared on a per-person basis, the picture changes. In 2005, Medicare’s administrative costs were $509 per primary beneficiary, compared to private-sector administrative costs of $453.

    Via Greg Mankiw

    Original: craschworks - comments

    crasch
    9:47a
    Best books on design/aesthetics?

    What books on design or aesthetics do y’all like? The one that comes immediately to mind for me is Edward Tufte’s Visual Display of Quantitative Information. I also liked Design of Everyday Things.

    What else is good? What’s the graphic designer’s bible? Specialist titles (for example, design of typography) are also welcome.

    Original: craschworks - comments

    crasch
    3:01a
    links for 2009-07-07

    Original: craschworks - comments

    Monday, July 6th, 2009
    crasch
    4:02a
    links for 2009-07-06
    • Big Nerd Ranch Europe, premier provider of intensive classes for programmers, is pleased to announce three of its flagship courses on Mac OS X. The whole month of February is dedicate to learning Cocoa programming for Mac OS X, developing applications for the iPhone and leveraging the powerful Unix foundation of Mac OS X along with learning advanced Cocoa programming techniques for professional developers.
    • In part 1 and part 2 of this series, we looked at the core of the Objective-C language, defining classes, creating objects, and sending messages to them. This final article covers the more advanced parts of the language.
    • 5 star barber on Yelp
      (tags: hair barber)
    • After completing the first stages of program development, like design and debugging, you can use performance tools such as Saturn to help optimize your program. Saturn helps you understand your program’s function-calling structure and how much time was spent in each function. Saturn consists of two parts: a graphical front-end and a dynamic library back-end. The Saturn back-end library leverages the instrumentation infrastructure in gcc to generate an output file that summarizes how much time your program spends in various functions. The Saturn front-end can then read this file and present a representation of the function calling patterns and a function tree view.
      Saturn allows you to visualize the data in two ways: a traditional call-tree view and a graphical call-stack timeline. Using this information, you can eliminate expensive calling behavior (for example, deep call stacks which do not last long) as well as understand which functions take up the greatest portion of execution time
    • Chances are, if you’ve developed any kind of Cocoa application, you’ve probably made use of Cocoa Bindings in one way or another, particularly when it comes to Core Data. The technology is ‘key’ to so many of the underlying frameworks but it is a technology that tends to be often-used but frequently not fully understood.</p>

      If you are someone who happily binds Array Controllers and View objects together using Interface Builder but have always wondered discretely exactly how the magic behind the scenes happens, or if you just don’t quite comprehend the difference between ‘KVC’ and ‘KVO’ (or perhaps can never quite remember what they stand for…), this article might help you out. In it, I’ll attempt to demonstrate a ‘faux-bindings’ methodology that connects a value from one object with a value from another object, but without using the actual Apple Cocoa Bindings technology. The bare-bones of how the ‘faux binding’ works will be there for all to see; while the internal workings of Cocoa Bin

    • If your application could benefit from improved performance—and let's be honest, most can—you need to know about Shark 4, the latest update to Apple's remarkable performance optimization tool. Shark enables you to very quickly identify where your application's performance problems lie, down to the specific functions on which you should concentrate your optimization efforts. You can then focus on the fixes that will yield the maximum benefits. Developers using earlier versions of Shark have found and fixed problems that improved performance dramatically, in a matter of hours.
    • Cutest hedgehog ever.
      (tags: cute hedgehog)

    Original: craschworks - comments

    Sunday, July 5th, 2009
    meganbnl
    10:37p
    Gettin' Not-So-Crazy
    You know you're not a party animal anymore when your idea of a hot 4th of July night consists of lighting sparklers for the sole purpose of photographing them, watching Pittsburgh's fireworks on TV, then settling down to wallow in the cinematic glory which is 1776.
    Works for me, though. :D

    crasch
    12:34p
    crasch
    3:01a
    links for 2009-07-05
    • TinEye is a reverse image search engine. You can submit an image to TinEye to find out where it came from, how it is being used, if modified versions of the image exist, or to find higher resolution versions. TinEye is the first image search engine on the web to use image identification technology rather than keywords, metadata or watermarks. For some real TinEye search examples, check out our Cool Searches page.
    • This provocative 14-piece porcelain coffee set was made in Spain exclusivley for the New Museum. The crimson handprints and smears are an almost Baroque reflection on the act of consuming a meal. Edition of 15.</p>

      $500.00

    Original: craschworks - comments

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