Urbanape

The Big Lebowski Alignment Chart

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:04:00 -0500

So, this^[1] has been making the rounds over the past few days.

It’s not wrong^[2], but there are a few corrections I’d make:

Walter is Lawful Good. He’s far too rule-bound to be Chaotic.
The Dude is Chaotic Good. While being basically Good, he’s pretty much the definition of Chaotic, bouncing from situation to situation, without any real plan.
The Stranger is True Neutral, as evidenced by the quote chosen. He has no real skin in the entire game.

Update: From off-site, I get a response, “But I’d leave The Dude in the center. He really ties the chart together.” Well, The Dude abides.

Tineye wasn’t able to find a source for it. If you know, please let me know so I can link to the original.↩
It’s just an asshole.↩

Peer Pressure: Good Stuff Matters

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 08:42:11 -0500

Peer Pressure: Good Stuff Matters:

When one works in software development, like I do, and one does not work in frequent contact with clients and colleagues, like I do, it is very easy to lose track of the real world value of the work that one does. Instead it is easy to get caught up in the technical details of the work, especially…

The sum is often greater than the whole of its parts.

I saw that pretty often with the CMSes I’ve been privileged (or horrified) to work on over the years. The sites that come out of those heaps of messy spaghetti code are worth far more that any underlying elegance or cleanliness. Which is not to say that developers should strive to make things as best they can, but to recognize that even with a suboptimal tool, a passionate user can still make something worthwhile.

supervillainlex: Cupid was exhausted after a long day of...

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 08:22:40 -0500

supervillainlex:

Cupid was exhausted after a long day of inspiring all that love.

Yavin IV… I mean Tikal

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:36:14 -0500

So, some might not know that the Yavin IV scenes in A New Hope were shot in Tikal, Guatemala. Shot from the top of Templo IV, incidentally. I wonder if that had a hand in naming the moon.

Here are some shots from ANH, with complementary shots we took on our recent trip.

The Millennium Falcon approaching:

A Rebel grunt tracking the Falcon:

Months with the Magic Mouse

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 09:55:51 -0500

“A loud clatter of gunk music flooded through the Heart of Gold cabin as Zaphod searched the sub-etha radio wavebands for news of himself. The machine was rather difficult to operate. For years radios had been operated by means of pressing buttons and turning dials; then as the technology became more sophisticated the controls were made touch-sensitive — you merely had to brush the panels with your fingers; now all you had to do was wave your hand in the general direction of the components and hope. It saved a lot of muscular expenditure of course, but meant that you had to sit infuriatingly still if you wanted to keep listening to the same programme.” - The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

This is pretty much how I feel about the Magic Mouse after having used it for a few months. As wonderful as the multi-touch is when needed, frustration quickly ramps up when you inadvertently send multi-touch swipes and taps to unintended targets.

Just waiting for the Death of the Mouse.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Fri, 25 Dec 2009 20:04:40 -0500

Merry Christmas, everyone!

atsween: “godzilla and an alien wish everyone a merry...

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:12:20 -0500

atsween:

“godzilla and an alien wish everyone a merry christmas!”

I hope the ZB is for me, and not for that nogoodnik, Zaphod Beeblebrox.

"Techno-puritanism that wars with the body must also resist the weight of paper. I remember that..."

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 12:00:00 -0500

“Techno-puritanism that wars with the body must also resist the weight of paper. I remember that weight. It was the weight of the world, carried by boys.”

- Blissful writing

I, too, remember that weight. As does everyone who ever strapped a canvas bag on their bike or back, and delivered the world to every doorstep on their route.

Cognitive Dissonance

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 16:50:32 -0500

Cognitive Dissonance

Is That an Unspeakable Horror in Your Pocket?

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 09:54:00 -0500

Amazon has 93 H. P. Lovecraft stories in four volumes for Kindle, for $0.99 each:

H. P. Lovecraft

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 11:08:00 -0500

H. P. Lovecraft:

I mean, Jesus. Emo much? The Beats and the Goths and Hamlet all gathered in a black room together couldn’t have out-moped this cosmic-scaled portrait of gloom if they’d tried. That is some epic creative pouting right there.

Love(craft) it.

A Modicum of Focus

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 19:45:28 -0500

Today I ditched fuckyeahhelvetica and Slate in Brief in Briefs. I haven’t bothered linking them since I was the only member, and now they’re dissolved.

I just can’t be bothered to participate in the snarkfest. Beyond Twitter, of course.

Amber wanted me to decorate these bins we got at IKEA.

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 19:34:45 -0500

Amber wanted me to decorate these bins we got at IKEA.

"I’m not interested in writing short stories. Anything that doesn’t take years of your life and drive..."

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:54:44 -0500

“I’m not interested in writing short stories. Anything that doesn’t take years of your life and drive you to suicide hardly seems worth doing.”

- Cormac McCarthy (via gruber)

You Won't Miss It

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:44:49 -0500

marco:

Do you really need to subscribe to that collection of RSS feeds that cumulatively publish hundreds of items per day? If you currently do (I’ve been there), do you really need to read every headline? Exercise: Don’t open your feed reader for a week. Did you miss anything?

Finder tells me that I last launched NetNewsWire (judging by the relevant files in ~/Library/Application Support/NetNewsWire/) on the 10th of September. Only two months, but it feels a lot longer. I still get most of what I need through Twitter (and here in Tumbland). Brent Simmons was right: “If it’s cool or interesting, you won’t miss it.”

Dallas

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:45:31 -0500

Heading to Dallas for two weeks for back-to-back work events: FIrst, a sprint to tidy up and standardize the javascript libraries that various Canonical properties use, and then the Ubuntu Developer Summit.

I asked Amber if I could get some cowboy boots and a Stetson. She said no. Might need to put some longhorns on Anna.

There aren’t enough hearts for this photo.

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 21:07:33 -0400

There aren’t enough hearts for this photo.

Off to London for a Week

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 17:16:58 -0400

I’m heading to London to visit Canonical headquarters. We’ll be sprinting on the Web UI for Ubuntu One.

Amber and Lex are going to fly out to join me on Wednesday, and we’ll spend the weekend celebrating my 36th birthday.

That was the last time Vic the Velociraptor fell asleep on the...

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 15:38:56 -0400

That was the last time Vic the Velociraptor fell asleep on the beach surrounded by kids.

Marc Lavallee: Thank you for your recent email to the FEC’s Public Records Office. 1982-...

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:26:26 -0400

Marc Lavallee:

Thank you for your recent email to the FEC’s Public Records Office. 1982- 1994 Federal Election Results can be sent to you free of charge in paper form. Please provide a mailing address if you are interested in obtaining these publications.

Marc Lavallee: FAIL

Zachery Bir:

“Thank you for your prompt reply. My mailing address is as follows:
Mr. Marc Lavallee
Washington, D.C.
Late-18th Century
Kindly hand-deliver, and my serving-man will give you a shiny tuppence.”