Backward Chaining

The "black swan"

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 19:38:00 -0700

Another thought-provoking podcast from SALT (Seminars About Long Term Thinking).

A “black swan,” (Nassim Nicholas) Taleb explained, is an event which is 1) Hard to predict; 2) Highly consequential; 3) Wrongly retro-predicted. We pretend we know why the big event happened, and so entrench our inability to deal with the next world-changing improbable event.

Examples: Viagra, 9/11, Harry Potter, First World War, Beatles, the PC, Google, and the rise of any successful religion. History is dominated by sudden, lasting changes wrought by deeply unexpected events.

“Never take advice from someone wearing a tie.”

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Dave Thomas on SER

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 22:19:00 -0700

Nice interview with Big Dave on Software Engineering Radio podcast — Link

chumby

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 20:39:00 -0700

chumby: Now this is a kinda cool device! And I almost kinda want one.

Apple TV: Take 2

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 20:30:28 -0700

Installed the Apple TV update last night. I have yet to rent a movie, but I have to say the direct access of iTunes content is very sweet. HD quality is quite acceptible. Netflix is still a better deal overall, but I’ll probably end up buying a movie occasionally (my Netflix queue is full of long tail movies mostly, which will never make the iTunes catalog). Apple TV 1.0 was for me a useful device (watching video podcasts in comfort) and Take 2 takes it to the next level. Nicely done.

InstantShot!

Sun, 03 Feb 2008 07:23:00 -0700

Nice addition to the taskbar providing better controls for screenshots. InstantShot! « DigitalWaters.net Projects

And another that allows changing the file format: ShotChoice

Disk Inventory X

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 20:46:00 -0700

Disk Inventory X: Cool way to see what’s taking up space on your Mac volumes. Also see WhatSize which takes a different approach.

cloud.lic.io.us

Sat, 19 Jan 2008 13:59:22 -0700

Interesting dashboard widget for accessing your del.icio.us bookmarks. Link

Quick Look plugins

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 19:48:00 -0700

A couple interesting Leopard Quick Look plugins

New Job

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 20:42:00 -0700

Started my new job as a Sr. Java Developer at GoDaddy.com on Monday after 14 years with OTI..IBM. Lots of really interesting things happening here and a chance to learn some new Java web frameworks and tons of database stuff (no Ruby at the moment, though, we’ll have to see about that :-). Too bad I missed the holiday bash, everyone was talking about it on Monday. The environment here reminds me of the early days at OTI.

AppJet: Instant Web Programming

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 10:01:00 -0700

AppJet: Instant Web Programming: Interesting way to create webapps using an online IDE.

Vienna Newsreader

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 19:11:00 -0700

Vienna Newsreader: So far I like this. Might possible replace NetNewsWire.

Cocoatech: Path Finder 4.8.3

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 12:18:56 -0700

Cocoatech: Path Finder 4.8.3: After listening to a MacBreak Tech podcast, decided to give Path Finder a demo trial. Looks pretty interesting relative to Finder.

Installing MySQL on Mac OS X

Sat, 01 Dec 2007 07:29:41 -0700

Good article on building your own MySQL install from source. http://hivelogic.com/narrative/articles/installing-mysql-on-mac-os-x

FORA.tv - The World is Thinking

Sat, 17 Nov 2007 20:19:00 -0700

FORA.tv - The World is Thinking: FORA.tv delivers discourse, discussions and debates on the world’s most interesting political, social and cultural issues, and enables viewers to join the conversation. It provides deep, unfiltered content, tools for self-expression and a place for the interactive community to gather online.

dotfiles.org

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 19:53:55 -0700

dotfiles.org: dotfiles.org is a place to upload, download, and share your dotfiles.

Pivotal Blabs

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 07:18:00 -0700

http://www.pivotalblabs.com/

Added to my Rails feeds list.

Rogue Amoeba - Radioshift: Radio on your schedule, only for Mac OS X

Sun, 07 Oct 2007 16:10:14 -0700

Rogue Amoeba - Radioshift: Radio on your schedule, only for Mac OS X

Netflix Freak

Sun, 02 Sep 2007 09:12:53 -0700

Interesting little app for managing your Netflix queue. $15 shareware. Demo available. NetFlix Freak

noobkit.com

Sat, 01 Sep 2007 18:34:49 -0700

A new site for browsing Ruby and Rails doc — www.noobkit.com

MailTags

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 14:37:33 -0700

I pretty much suck at having any kind of sensible email “system”, so Merlin’s latest Inbox Zero series has me on a quest to change that. MailTags adds tagging to mail.app.