Linkblog 2008
Info
2026 preface. Most of what I posted on the 2008 blog wasn’t essays — it was a steady drip of brief commentary on links other people would find interesting, with a short personal note and the URL. People sometimes call this “linkblogging” now. Daring Fireball was the era’s standard-bearer, Tumblr was a year old, Twitter was two. The form essentially disappeared a few years later when Twitter, Pinboard, and Tumblr each ate a different slice of it. Surfacing these together honors what they actually were — link annotations, not essays.
The outbound URLs are largely dead. Where I’ve been able to find Wayback Machine snapshots, I’ve linked those instead.
No Calf Left Behind
September 4, 2008
A researcher at a Tokyo zoo has discovered that elephants have more than just good memories — they have the ability to carry out basic mathematical computations. We all understand the notion of a “legacy brain” being capable of simple memorization, recognition, and the ability to quickly analyze a situation and either fight or flee. But I don’t think math skills have ever been part of that, er, equation. Although maybe it does make sense for animals that roam about in herds, since they would benefit from basic chaperone skills to keep the herd intact. They don’t need a No Calf Left Behind law…they just use their brains!
Seven Degrees of Separation
August 9, 2008
As it turns out, six degrees was a tiny bit optimistic in referring to how much social separation exists between each of us. But kick it up one more degree and we’re suddenly one big group of friends spread out across the globe. Microsoft researchers recently put the “six degrees of separation” theory to the test by analyzing Microsoft Messenger instant messages to find out on average how many “hops” it takes to connect any two people. After crunching the numbers on 30 billion conversations, the magic number is 6.6. So Kevin Bacon and his six degrees of separation from the rest of Hollywood wasn’t far off.
SkyNet is Coming
July 15, 2008
Here’s an interesting take on the doomsday scenario laid out in The Terminator movies, and how it might really go down in the real world. No, I don’t think your iPhone is plotting against you just yet but there are some interesting arguments for how “the machines” might strategize a takeover.
Head First PHP & MySQL
June 18, 2008
First off, I want to apologize to anyone who has posted on here and not received a prompt reply. I recently signed on to co-author Head First PHP & MySQL, and it has been quite the hectic project. I’m still a bit overwhelmed trying to stay afloat and get the book finished, so I appreciate your patience. I do read everything that is posted, and will do my best to answer your questions and requests as quickly as possible. Thanks.
The Encyclopedia of Life
April 4, 2008
We live on a planet with over 1.8 million known species of life, and as much as we tout being an “information society,” we are woefully behind in documenting those species. Enter the Encyclopedia of Life, an ambitious attempt to document online every known life form on our planet. What it boils down to is a massive mashup of data along the lines of Wikipedia combined with Google Maps combined with a biological equivalent of Ancestry.com. It’s still in an embryonic stage, but definitely worth a look.
Gaming World Loses an Icon
March 4, 2008
Mainstream gamers may not fully appreciate the man, but Gary Gygax was an incredible force behind adventure gaming, both traditional and electronic. The co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons in 1974, Gygax died today at age 69. I haven’t touched D&D since I was a kid but it made a permanent mark on many creative endeavors to follow. We’ll miss you, Gary.
George A. Romero Interview for Sundance
February 23, 2008
OK, so this is admittedly a bit of a strange post. But I once had a huge fascination with horror films and the special effects that go into making them. In fact, it’s really not such a leap to think of a horror movie with lots of special effects in terms of a technical production like, say, a computer book. Seriously. A lot of the same creative ingenuity has to be tapped to pull off what seems impossible under difficult time and budgetary constraints. Mr. Romero is a master, and in this interview he discusses why he chose to shoot his latest film, “Diary of the Dead,” on such a small budget ($2.5M).