CircleCount helps you better understand Google+

2013-05-25 15:37:45 (4 comments, 3 reshares, 24 +1s)

I love this!
Phone booth becomes communal book swap in Germany

2013-05-24 15:06:49 (0 comments, 4 reshares, 6 +1s)

The Cult of Expertise: Surrendering Freedom  
by +Peter Strempel 
https://plus.google.com/u/0/110695872689494369839/posts/VmpPZannGiH

Read and comment on the original.
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#experts   #experience   #politics   #rationality  

2013-05-21 18:12:08 (40 comments, 26 reshares, 46 +1s)

UXG+: Read More  
#waronwords   #ildl  

2013-05-20 03:14:40 (6 comments, 2 reshares, 25 +1s)

ATX: Art Wall  
Every few days new art appears. Every few days they paint over it. Then the art reappears. Now someone's knitted cozies for the concrete barriers. I love the tenacity of the artist and how the graphics cheer up this dreary wall next to the railway underpass...the one otherwise unpleasant part of the walk between Ladybird Lake and the so-called Market District.
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#atx   #keepaustinweird  

2013-05-18 21:37:40 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

ATX: Economy of the F1 Grand Prix
Via Austin Energy: "The final report on planning, execution and economic impact of the F1 Grand Prix held in Austin last November is now available. Attendance over a three-day period totaled more than 265,000; hotel occupancy during the event weekend peaked at 97.8%, the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport set a one-day passenger traffic record of 21,725."   #ATX   #F1  

2013-05-17 13:45:14 (19 comments, 1 reshares, 14 +1s)

The inevitable image test

2013-05-16 12:39:38 (25 comments, 7 reshares, 35 +1s)

I'm also submitting this (with notes from my past posts) to Google+ feedback.

2013-05-11 21:39:14 (1 comments, 2 reshares, 9 +1s)

Walter Schumacher, of Central Texas Bee Rescue, has started a new apiary atop the W Hotel in downtown Austin. The honey these bees produce will be used in the hotel’s bar and restaurant in specialty cocktails, desserts and appetizers.

2013-05-08 02:03:09 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 12 +1s)

RIP Ray Harryhausen
It was almost exactly 50 years ago, sometime in May 1963, that I first saw The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad in the waning days of the school year when the teachers had nothing else for us to do. It was the first movie that really scared me but it thrilled me, too. I don't think I had nightmares but I thought about it for years later. The images burned into my mind: the cyclops grilling sailors over the fire, the giant two-headed bird, the shaky bridge over the river of lava where they fulfill the genie's wish, the dance of the cobra woman, the bewitched tiny princess, and especially the battle between the cyclops and the fire breathing dragon

I have a copy and still watch it occasionally. I'd take it over Iron Man 3 any day.

Related
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2013/may/07/ray-harryhausen-dies
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#dynorama ... more »

2013-05-05 18:27:10 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 8 +1s)

BEWARE CALVINIST BARBARIANS ...
[This post may be easier to read at http://peterstrempel.com/2013/05/06/beware-calvinist-barbarians/]

The contemporary triumph of secular rationality over any kind of Christian virtue or spirituality in Western civilisation (outside the US) is now so complete that there is reason to be concerned about overplaying zealous anti-religious sentiment.

Christians have not assisted themselves in this regard by being deaf, dumb, and blind to grotesque crimes by clergy against children.  Nor have they proven equal to the task of addressing socio-economic and political changes in the past 70 years that expose old fashioned approaches dating back to the 16th century as laughably ineffective.

Against this background, even egalitarian Australia still has its advocates of Christian virtues, if such virtues can indeed be found.  That a seniorm... more »

2013-05-04 15:34:40 (2 comments, 2 reshares, 21 +1s)

Abandon 
This article comes at an important juncture in my life—a time when I've just finished one huge commitment and have not yet begun another. The pressures of my earlier commitment allowed me to see just how much of the "busy-ness" of my life I could ignore with no real consequence. Now I question whether I want that busy-ness to seep into my day, to once again absorb all my time. Like Paul Miller a year ago I think, wouldn't I be more productive without the distraction?

While I do appreciate the stimulation I receive from my online interaction, I also recognize that the Internet (like TV) can become a crutch, a place where I seek to be passively entertained rather than work on projects that require some thought or effort. This is not the fault of the Internet, only with myself.

I once moved to another country in an attempt to strip my life of allit... more »

2013-05-03 00:51:19 (6 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

ATX: Storm Downs Pecan at Uncle Billy's
Today in Austin it feels like November more than May. The winds are cold and gusty and one of the large pecan trees found along Barton Springs Road has blown over. This at Uncle Billy's, the brewpub/barbecue joint just around the corner and down the street from us.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/105052115421672109026/about
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+Brian Titus  #atx  

2013-04-30 22:05:14 (11 comments, 0 reshares, 14 +1s)

Neglect  
My garden as allegory. Time once again to cultivate forgotten pleasures and tend to what has been neglected.

2013-04-19 21:24:07 (6 comments, 6 reshares, 16 +1s)

Stereotypically American 
From the satirical article. "...while many Americans would like nothing more than to make sweeping, insensitive generalizations about these two individuals based purely on their ethnic identity, this process is largely impeded by the fact that 9 out of 10 Americans truly know next to nothing about Chechnya, including even the very barest details of what or where Chechnya is,” said lead researcher Dr. Tim Kinane, adding that a majority of American citizens are almost totally unaware of Chechen history and culture, how to locate Chechnya on a map, whether Chechnya is a country or a city or a region, or that a person from Chechnya is called a Chechen."
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2013-04-16 09:33:19 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

2013-04-15 00:12:41 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 17 +1s)

Boston Postcard: Reflections and Contrasts 
The 1947 Hancock Tower reflected in I.M. Pei's 1976 John Hancock Tower with the Trinity Church in the foreground.

http://www.aviewoncities.com/boston/hancocktower.htm
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#bostonmarathon2013  

2013-04-11 19:41:53 (13 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

Language: Words and Meaning
From the article: "Broadly speaking, where is spelling without vocabulary?"

"Words are not merely arbitrary strings of letters that pop into existence ex nihilo and exist on a plane of pure and inviolate "wordness", unsullied by actual human use."
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Whatever language I'm struggling in, I often get distracted by the words themselves. I'm so enamoured of individual words that I forget to make them work for me in larger units of thought: like phrases or sentences. And when it comes to composing them in an orderly fashion into paragraphs and essays! my readers despair.

As for spelling...although American, growing up I mostly read English books and now I'm married to a Brit. So I never remember which spelling belongs to which country. It's just a gray/grey area for me. And on the... more »

2013-04-09 17:45:40 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

ATX: Google Fiber
Rumors are flying that Google Fiber is coming to Austin.
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#atx   +Google Fiber 

2013-04-08 01:59:15 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 12 +1s)

Austin: Lonestar Rod and Kustom Roundup: 2012
After dinner we went for a stroll to watch the hot rods and classic cars drive slowly and noisily up and down the Avenue.
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#ATX #SouthAustin

2013-04-06 22:33:22 (8 comments, 1 reshares, 8 +1s)

ATX: Google Fiber
Rumors are flying that Google Fiber is coming to Austin.
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#atx   +Google Fiber 

2013-04-06 14:00:33 (27 comments, 4 reshares, 14 +1s)

Measure of Man: Good and Bad Employees  
Susan Adams writes In blithe understatement. "Often what makes people good at those jobs can’t be defined by simple metrics."

Gee, you think? And you are still so wishy-washy that you soften that statement with "often" and "simple"?

The gist of the article is this. The best employees are unchallenged. The worst employees happily oblivious to the lack of efficacy of their contributions.

From the article. "...high performers tend to thrive on feeling involved and challenged. They also act as company ambassadors with clients, customers and potential hires. If they are bored or they feel under-appreciated, they will stop talking up their employer, mentally unplug from their work, start looking for opportunities elsewhere and eventually jump ship.

As for low performers,com... more »

2013-04-05 11:46:39 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Film: No 
 Per the article, “The campaign for the No contained a huge component that was the electoral registry,” Mr. Vivanco said in a telephone interview from Washington. Voters “had to be educated about participating in a process that was perceived by many as not legitimate. How do you persuade people to take this seriously” when many were convinced that the Pinochet side “will engage in fraud, will use me, will never allow themselves to lose?”

  “All of that was obviously a big component, and it’s true it is not part of the film at all,” Mr. Vivanco added. “But I went to see a movie, not a PBS piece.”
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Although it was not the focus of the film explicitly, I actually felt that it was very much the point. How do you get people to vote who feel that the system is so corrupt as to not be legitimate, who think, "What's thepoint?" Not only di... more »

2013-03-31 22:56:13 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 6 +1s)

Here's a map of US cultural regions, and the history of how these distinct "nations" came to be.

We grapple with political and cultural polarization today, but this shows it goes much deeper than Red State/Blue State talk. There's a lot of history behind it.

In fact, the conflict between Northeastern pilgrim culture and Southern aristocrat culture is one that goes back to the English Civil War of the mid-1600's.

These two powers have continued to form ever-shifting coalitions with the other American regions throughout the history of US electoral politics and internal warfare.

From 1861 to the present day, Dixie has opposed Washington, resentful that its independence was suppressed by force of arms, while trying to control federal government enough to make its own values -- however un-democratic they may be -- the law of the land.
... more »

2013-03-31 17:03:29 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 8 +1s)

Lodoicea maldivica  

2013-03-30 03:00:03 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 16 +1s)

Trajectory 
Looking back at that moment, all those years ago, who would have predicted that our arcs would cross? So unforeseen and unexpected. 

From this vantage point, your path seems a logical progression which has brought us together in this moment. But from that beginning, how unlikely. How incredible. 

The collision of ideas alters our courses a bit so that we travel the same trajectory. We are forever changed.
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#18263

2013-03-22 02:09:19 (5 comments, 1 reshares, 9 +1s)

Predictably Irrational  
Signed up for +Dan Ariely's free online course on Coursera. I met him at SXSW a few years ago and enjoy his stories about his research. I've bought and already read the first two books in the course (hard-copy because I'm old-fashioned).

2013-03-19 01:23:03 (10 comments, 1 reshares, 18 +1s)

Smell the Roses  
For +Dieter Mueller...I'm not always such a dour pessimist. I do, on occasion, step away from my gadgets, walk out into the real world, and take time to smell the roses.

This is my favorite: a Bourbon rose, 'Souvenir de la Malmaison'. She blooms but once a year and this is her week. I can't stay away from her. She is a bit finicky in humid weather and her flowers have a tendency to ball (that is, the outer petals remain sealed so that the flower can't open). But on her good days, she is very, very good.

2013-03-16 21:54:37 (17 comments, 1 reshares, 10 +1s)

The Case for Shame 
Is there one? On the one hand, I certainly think it's preferable that each of us have our own finely-honed sense of shame that prevents us from being complete pricks and doing stupid things just because we can, either because they are legal or (if not) because we think we can get away with it.

I do often look around me and wonder, "Do you have no sense of shame?"

On the other hand, having been raised in a religious environment where shame was used to control people like a herd of beasts, I don't relish the idea of shaming people into social compliance. I rebel against such social/psychological coercion. I think it's harmful to the individuals that it is inflicted upon and I think it creates an ugliness and mob mentality in the people who appoint themselves in charge of the shaming.

And, to me, that's the danger of... more »

2013-03-12 15:06:20 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 18 +1s)

Creativity with Food

I'm yet again hitting myself on the head for not posting anything non-technical for a while now - but hopefully photos of food more than make up for that :)

And not just any old photos! +Hong Yi, an artist from Malaysia, does a masterful job of playing with her food and photographing it. She's publishing a photo per day, every day in March on Instagram (http://bit.ly/XFFMeV). Am I fishing for a dinner invitation? You bet ;-)

#art   #digitalart   #photography   #food   #foodphotos   #foodphotography  

2013-03-09 20:52:17 (6 comments, 2 reshares, 23 +1s)

All Must Be Shared 
Scored two posters (signed!) from the engaging +Aaron Wood who has a booth at the SXSW Gaming Expo. This is one of those Southby events free and open to the public. If you have a chance, check it out. If you can't get to it, check out Aaron's work at his Etsy store.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/Justonescarf?ref=pr_shop_more
http://sxsw.com/interactive/gaming/expo
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#sxsw2013  
#atx  

2013-03-07 18:08:59 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

In today's +Austin American-Statesman: roundup of free/no-badge-required official #SXSW Interactive events, parties and panels http://www.statesman.com/news/technology/free-events-available-at-sxsw-interactive-even-wit/nWgsY/

2013-03-07 16:24:55 (2 comments, 4 reshares, 13 +1s)

Today's Google+ update brought bigger cover photos. This workaround allows you to resize your profile image.

2013-03-06 19:30:36 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 14 +1s)

Writers: Gabriel García Márquez
His birthday and a nice little piece on The Writer's Almanac. Thoughts heard today on my morning drive...
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Excerpt

He learned to write short stories first from Kafka, and later from the American Lost Generation. He said that the first line of Kafka's Metamorphosis "almost knocked [him] off the bed," he was so surprised. In one interview, he quoted the first line ("As Gregor Samsa awoke that morning from uneasy drams, he found himself transformed into a gigantic insect") and told the interviewer, "When I read the line, I thought to myself that I didn't know anyone was allowed to write things like that. If I had known, I would have started writing a long time ago. So I immediately started writing short stories."
...
It was from his own grandmother that he learned the tone he usedin... more »

2013-03-06 18:08:18 (74 comments, 0 reshares, 17 +1s)

Google+ Uglifies Profile Page Cover Photos
Another "improvement" that makes the words illegible against the background and once again destroys whatever unique layouts we designed for ourselves.

You know...it really does make a difference to a design when you resize elements and change their locations.

Updated: So basically, they've bled the photograph into the text and BLURRED both. Great design choice. Thanks, guys.

Updated: Goddamit! All that EXTRA space devoted to the new rollover hovercard and they can't even manage to get one line of text on it without cutting it off!

Now I "Works at Making a Simpler, More Beautiful Goo..." Great!

Updated: Ugh! What's with that ugly blue line under to highlight the tab I'm on.

Updated: As soon as you scroll to look at someone's posts, the giantprofi... more »

2013-03-05 18:13:29 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

The sequester, the fiscal cliff, and all the other political crap 

Imagine how other so called "developed democracies" must feel when they realize that the richest country in the world is run by a bunch of buffoons. What can this say about them? Should they try to emulate us? Although I personally would advise against it, some, such as Italy, are trying. 

There are some very real, very important political issues that need to be addressed at the earliest possible date, but those issues are complex, have no easy solutions, will take time to get resolved, and in every case will cost money. Complex issues make poor theater, especially when they will, in the best case, take years and even decades to sort out. And so our leaders invent crises that are necessitated by no reason other than to distract the electorate from the important problems no one wants to take on, andw... more »

2013-03-03 17:44:49 (17 comments, 0 reshares, 14 +1s)

Irreversible Damages  
I turn the platter over carefully, saying as I do to the other, "Gently, gently. I'm just going to let it drain here and then I'll move it when it has dried." So he won't move it and break it. My precious little indulgence from an earlier life. A platter I'd spent $150 on so that we could have summer meals of cheeses and pickles and olives.

As I lay it down a chip flies off the back. I've broken it even as I'm reminding myself out loud to be so careful. I've broken it and now it cannot be unbroken. It's ruined. Forever. And I cannot turn back the clock to the moment, only seconds before, when it was not ruined.

To comfort me, the other says, it's just a chip. We can glue it back. It's on the back. No one can see it.

But I will know it. All I want to do is break the platter into a thousand... more »

2013-02-26 02:25:21 (56 comments, 0 reshares, 13 +1s)

Culture vs. Policy, reminded me of my blog post from a few years ago: http://blog.softwareontheside.com/2010/10/culture-beats-process.html

2013-02-20 19:49:38 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 11 +1s)

Much of the situation at Wal-Mart has come as a result of their own relentless labor practices. The low wage work with limited hours, along with their drive for low cost that actively encouraging their manufacturers to outsource ultimately impacted their core customers the most. Urban knowledge workers on the coasts on the other hand exist in an entirely different reality. (Please realize, I am no exception to this.)

2013-02-11 00:35:27 (8 comments, 2 reshares, 14 +1s)

I finally got access to my Twitter archive [1]. I've been using Twitter since 2006 — and it's amusing to go back and see how inane my updates were back then. Seems like I mostly complained and made coffee. But, there's also a curious kind of earnestness and optimism about my tone; snarky, for sure, but also interested in everything going on in those earlier, heady days of the social web. I mean, none of us knew that Twitter would turn into a global phenomenon, but we had sense that there was something enduring about its ability to capture little human vignettes in a starkly simple medium.

Anyway, looking back over my archive, there was one tweet [2] on August 23, 2007 that was different than the rest — and yet looking over the month-to-month visualization Twitter provided, you'd never be able to spot this needle in the haystack of my 16,072 tweets:

how do youfee... more »

2013-01-27 18:33:08 (26 comments, 1 reshares, 11 +1s)

Politics: The War on Women, Part WTF?!!?  
The poor, frightened dears. Why do you think they can't get laid? Is it their itty bitty dicks or just their charming manners? Apparently the only way they can imagine a woman opening her legs is if that woman is economically dependent on them. Submit, harlots! Women, are they right or what?

As for their fantasies of submissive women on which they can impose their wills...well, if I thought that way, I'd be ashamed to admit it publicly. I suppose they also dream of lording it over black men but are bit more concerned that if they give voice to those fancies that they might get beaten to a pulp in a dark alley.

What a disgrace these two are to real men. You know, the kind of men who women like just because they're men. No coercion (economic, physical, or otherwise) necessary.

Transcript  more »

2013-01-22 18:05:04 (269 comments, 3 reshares, 25 +1s)

That's Not Allowed! Social Media Thought Police  
In July of 2011, in the very first weeks on Google+, I came across posts by +Dain Binder and +Ahmed Zeeshan attempting to define an etiquette for our interactions here. I was a bit taken aback by the sudden desire for rules in a landscape yet explored. How could we know good, better, or best ways of interacting much less declare the one, right way? 

People asked me netiquette advice and I wasn't shy about giving it. But I always prefaced my advice with these cautions: Think first, what are you are trying to accomplish. What works for me might not work for you. There's more than one right way to do this.

Most importantly, just because I apply a standard to myself does not mean I wish to impose it on you.

What is this impulse to begin imposing rules before anyone has a chance to&qu... more »

2013-01-21 17:18:25 (26 comments, 12 reshares, 43 +1s)

User Experience: Less Interactivity  
I'm tempted to turn sharing and commenting off on this post so that you, dear reader, do not feel obligated to respond.

This is one of the most sensible things I've read lately. If only it weren't from the Onion, maybe social media and website designers would take it more seriously.

From the article. "Tired of being bombarded with constant requests to share content on social media, bestow ratings, leave comments, and generally 'join in on the discussion,' the nation’s Internet users demanded substantially less interactivity this week."

"Speaking with reporters, web users expressed a near unanimous desire to visit a website and simply look at it, for once, without having every aspect of the user interface tailored to a set of demographic information culled from their previous browsinghi... more »

2013-01-17 01:56:23 (9 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

2013-01-12 15:59:59 (11 comments, 5 reshares, 19 +1s)

Politics: White House Responds to Petition for Death Star
I don't know whether to post this under politics or humor although I suppose that there isn't really much of a distinction.

However, it does make me happy to see that not all bureaucrats are dour. 
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Petition:
Secure resources and funding, and begin construction of a Death Star by 2016.

Response:
The Administration shares your desire for job creation and a strong national defense, but a Death Star isn't on the horizon. Here are a few reasons:

•  The construction of the Death Star has been estimated to cost more than $850,000,000,000,000,000. We're working hard to reduce the deficit, not expand it.
•  The Administration does not support blowing up planets.
•  Why would we spend countless taxpayer dollars on a Death Star with afundament... more »

2013-01-08 14:56:50 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 11 +1s)

A few more I decided I liked. And one for a new profile photo. Totally didn't plan the reflection in the back of the mirror but it work. I saw it in the view finder but didn't think it would come out so good!

2013-01-05 12:57:07 (83 comments, 17 reshares, 65 +1s)

Concentration and the Myth of Multitasking  
Of late my attention has been fractured. I find that I cannot do one thing without thinking of half a dozen others. I begin and am distracted. My mind meanders. My thoughts wander. I cannot settle. Unsettled I become more restless and so accomplish nothing.

The tools I use to work have become less of the solution and more of the problem because they constantly interrupt my work with their demanding notifications. Particularly and specifically the integration of Google+ into the rest of the Googleverse means that I can't check my mail or do a search or have a chat window open with my remote office without the constant distraction of the red notification box. Only Google Docs provides a haven.

In order to work, I'm forced to reclaim my desktop, to drop out of the cloud and put my feet on the firmer ground of my desktop... more »

2013-01-01 15:28:27 (15 comments, 2 reshares, 35 +1s)

明けましておめでとうございます  
Best wishes for 2013. The cards pictured are from a game traditionally played during New Year's in Japan, uta-garuta,  a card matching game in which the first three lines of a poem are read out and players try to be first to find the card that contain the last two lines.  

The game consists of 100 poems (百人一首 hyakunin isshu), each a work of a different poet, the anthology compiled in the 13th century by Fujiwara no Teika (and perhaps his son). Uta-garuta tournaments take place all over Japan in January, nationally competitive tournament as well as in junior and senior high schools. Recently, a manga  "Chihayafuru" reignited interest in competitive karuta among younger kids. 

I'm trying to imagine an Western equivalent, sitting around on New Year's Day playing a card game matching lines ofChaucer, perhaps? As if. A hundred lines fr... more »

2013-01-01 18:43:00 (25 comments, 3 reshares, 24 +1s)

Clean Slate  
If I worshipped a god, I might choose Janus, the god of thresholds, looking forward and looking back, marking beginnings and endings. I have learned to love marking the New Year because I use it is an opportunity to stop a moment in the swiftly flowing stream of time, catch my breath, and check my bearings.

To prepare for the New Year I do o-souji  which is the Japanese year-end tradition of "spring cleaning". I'm attracted to the idea of getting everything in order before a New Year starts, of getting rid of accumulated clutter, paying debts, and tying up loose ends. This satisfies my need for closure.

My version of New Year's cleaning is not restricted to just cleansing and scrubbing. (In fact, there has not been nearly enough of that.) This is when I organize. I dump the contents of my drawers, get rid of old clothes, dried up pens,a... more »

2012-12-31 09:58:28 (0 comments, 3 reshares, 25 +1s)

Obligatory 2013 recommendations: What really matters in life? 

One of the exercices you're supposed to do when trying to figure out what's your purpose in life, is to imagine your burial and what eulogy you would like to hear at that moment from your friends and family. The idea is that this will help you determine better priorities in your choices.

Earlier this year, I created the following series of tombstones of imaginary glorious Social Network users, emphasizing on the futility of some of our activities. 

I reshare them here now, hoping that this may help you in finding the right priorities for the new year, and make 2013 even better than 2012!  

Happy New Year! Guter Rutsch! Bonne Année! Feliz Año Nuevo! うれしい新しい年 ! السنة الجديدة المبتهجة ! 

tl;dr:Get. Your.Priorities. Right!... more »

2012-12-30 16:41:00 (59 comments, 4 reshares, 32 +1s)

Journals  
I've been using Moleskine hardbound grid-lined journals for the last few years. I have scores of mismatched journals dating back to when I was ten and the Moleskines were as close as I've ever been to settling into a system.

Last month when I needed a new one, I couldn't find exactly what I wanted. Since the shop didn't have my usual grid-lined style, I settled for unlined. My handwriting is illegible enough within the constraints of lined pages. Without, it was darn right unruly.

So I went back and tried the Leuchtturm1917. It is almost the same size, just 1/4 inch taller...the added space gives a line for the date. Other bonuses: page numbers and a blank table of contents to fill in. The paper is nice. I like it better than the Moleskine.

Imagine my joy, then, when I wandered in Half Price Books 20% off everything year-end sale and... more »