The short-form week of 8–14 Jul 2013

15 Jul 2013

The week in review, 140 characters at a time.

This document was created automatically from my archive of my Twitter stream. Due to limitations in the Twitter API and occasional glitches in my archiving system, it may not be 100% complete.

In a conversation that started on Sunday at 12:19pm

Burned my thumb. BBQ ain't free.—@kendall
@kendall I reached across in front of a blowtorch yesterday and I've no BBQ to show for it!—@ndw
@bsletten recurring meme: http://t.co/ODkg1eD58a /cc: @ndw —@mamund
@ndw Ugh! You ok?—@kendall
@kendall Yeah. Almost more embarrassing than painful. And pretty much all better now. Didn’t take me long to realize my error!—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Sunday at 05:24pm

Spreading the manure thickly ... Gardening or grant writing?—@jahendler
@jahendler Yes.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Monday at 08:59am

So. @exploregod made the front page of the Austin paper. For the record, I have absolutely no questions about your imaginary friend.—@ndw
@ndw The "we create content" bit in the @exploregod bio seems particularly apt.—@wdonohue

Monday at 03:58pm

The increasingly ubiquitous social sharing prompts at the end of user workflows are the “exit through the gift shop” of consumer computing.—@al3x

In a conversation that started on Monday at 04:23pm

looking at the diffs of the diffs—@mdubinko
@mdubinko Ah, regression testing.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Tuesday at 06:52am

“For instructions … follow this link to our video.” Oh, puleeez. Yes, video can be a boon for some instruction, but for most things: words.—@ndw
@ndw yup, recently I have the feeling that the “young generation” lost the ability|concentration to read more than 3 sentences—@olivierjeulin

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 08:17am

"source ~/.bash_history" <- A colleague just recounted the story of when he ran this. You shouldn't.—@DRMacIver
@DRMacIver Oh dear. No, you shouldn't. Ouch!—@ndw

Wednesday at 10:27am

Democracy: the idea that the people who write YouTube comments should be able to choose who runs the country. Be ... http://t.co/hb6rH1Vtas —@tommorris

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 11:47am

Gas pumps that blare commercials at you. #hatefulthings —@ndw
@ndw Annoying to the point of making me avoid those stations. #shell —@ebruchez
@ebruchez @ndw Same here, I am also avoiding #Shell stations, just because of this. Which, as long as there is choice isn't a problem.—@avernet
@ndw amazed that's a thing at all! Blimey.—@psd

Wednesday at 01:09pm

Stop Glorifying Hard Work and Long Hours http://t.co/iY4s6utUsn —@lmorchard

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 06:04pm

A journey that would have taken months 200 years ago and I'm annoyed by a 4 hour delay. #airtravel #firstworldproblems —@ndw
@ndw Hans Rosling's TED talk "The magic washing machine" also puts these things into perspective.—@EileenOttawa

Thursday at 10:13am

RT @chris_biow: @cdhayes I'm concerned with future misuse of surveillance by people who wrote policy based on a legal declaration that tort…—@ndw

Thursday at 05:33pm

Colleague "You spelt analyze wrong" Me "Your whole country spelt analyse wrong"—@RobVesse

Friday at 09:50am

2003: "I replaced you with a set of very small shell scripts." 2013: "I replaced your scripts with a six-figure enterprise DevOps platform."—@NeckbeardHacker

Friday at 12:37pm

May have just stumbled across a 1979 paper highly relevant to unsolved problems in semantic modeling. #Balisage —@mdubinko

In a conversation that started on Friday at 03:22pm

The Texas legislature is an embarrassment to the entire Universe. http://t.co/KT6A2OOMai —@BadAstronomer
@BadAstronomer Pretty much. I feel so much better about the TX drivers license that arrived in the mail yesterday. :-/—@ndw

Friday at 03:44pm

Use less JavaScript.—@defunkt

Friday at 03:50pm

BREAKING: @TheOnion tearfully announces they're ceasing publication immediately, explaining that they can't compete with the #txlege —@HCookAustin

Friday at 04:44pm

A what point does the mockery of a parody of a mockery of a parody of a sham in #texas cause a black hole to form: http://t.co/lhY6C7o7m2 —@dhmspector

Friday at 05:12pm

seen on FB: Keep Calm and Tamp On #TamponGate —@jahendler

In a conversation that started on Friday at 05:22pm

I am totally unimpressed by being told I'm naive & most cricketers do it. That just means most cricketers are dishonest, which is even worse—@RichardDawkins
@RichardDawkins I tend to think "everyone else does it" must be the single worst reason for doing anything.—@jcrichards1976

In a conversation that started on Friday at 05:38pm

Why is winning so important. Why is winning more important than decency? Wouldn't you rather lose honestly than win dishonestly? Seriously?—@RichardDawkins
@RichardDawkins If you win dishonestly, I can't believe that you really FEEL as if you've won—@OllieThorpe97
@OllieThorpe97 @RichardDawkins if you accept the philosophy "by any means necessary", perhaps you lose the notion of "winning dishonestly".—@ndw
@RichardDawkins Somewhere along the line we seem to have forgotten that "it's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game."—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Friday at 06:35pm

Another parental setback: at 6 years old, my daughter has decided that she likes mustard on her hamburgers.—@siracusa
@siracusa I like mayo. Are we still friends?—@liza
@liza You were always an odd duck, so sure.—@siracusa
@siracusa I just don't like ketchup okay??—@liza
@liza @siracusa "No." But ok anyway, I guess.—@ndw

Friday at 07:31pm

If you like Ayn Rand go fuck yourself.—@tunixman

Friday at 09:13pm

bureaucracy: job centers with no jobs for misfits. misfits create their own jobs: entrepreneurs. government support for them? bureaucracy.—@dscape

Saturday at 03:11am

Descartes walks into a bar. “Beer?” asks the barman. “I think not” replies Rene, who disappears. http://t.co/Lfr6QIHFcS —@JohnRentoul

Sunday at 02:21pm

It's raining glass. HD 189733b: It is a huge gas giant orbiting very close to its host star. The planet's... http://t.co/bA3828qi1C —@jwz

Sunday at 03:39pm

“This is what the worship of death looks like.” RT @JWilliamJames: bell hooks says a great thing http://t.co/atXZiwUw3S —@neilio

In a conversation that started on Sunday at 03:47pm

Nine Random Misconceptions About Atheists http://t.co/3ucQ3wkNcL —@LeaVerou
"We don’t think we have the answers. We don’t think you have the answers" Misconceptions about atheists via @LeaVerou http://t.co/pUZE3GYFBI —@amyvdh