Nelson's Linkblog 2014-11

about • archive • mastodon • feed

Nice short film encouraging space exploration

2014-11-30 astronauts • sagan • space

Potsdam Gravity Potato

Geoid models show variable gravity on Earth (attn @vruba)

2014-11-30 geoid • gps • gravity • science

Fruit and Spice Park

Tropical botanical garden in Florida

2014-11-29 florida • fruit • garden • tropical

Jalapeños are ruined

Details of the scourge of breeding heat out of chile peppers

2014-11-29 blandness • breeding • food • jalapeno • jalapeño

Sand Creek Massacre

Horrifying US massacre against Indians during the Civil War

2014-11-29 america • civilwar • history • indian • massacre • via:metafilter

Star Wars Christmas

Mercifully edited to the best 15 minutes

2014-11-29 christmas • funny • starwars

How linkers work

20 part essay on an essential part of the software toolchain

2014-11-29 code • linker • software

Jack Dorsey profile

Major new article; partly nasty, partly insightful.

2014-11-29 dorsey • gossip • square • startups • twitter

Op/Ed on gay blood

NYTimes supports allowing gay men to give blood

2014-11-28 aids • blood • gay • hiv • homophobia • redcross

Cheap static hosting

Various ways to host a simple website for cheap or free

2014-11-28 aws • hosting • web

The first Thanksgiving

A bit of historical record from Mann's _1491_

2014-11-27 america • history • indians • squanto • thanksgiving

Should you truncate the Y-Axis?

Data visualization lulz

2014-11-27 funny • statistics • visuialization

God's lonely programmer

Details about the guy behind TempleOS, the religious / schizophrenic outsider operating system

2014-11-27 batshitinsane • computers • programming • templeos

SQLite in Javascript via a cross-compiler. 1.5M minified JS file.

2014-11-26 database • javascript • sql • sqlite

Popular Electronics

PDF archives of the classic magazine

2014-11-25 electronics • hacking • via:reddit

A text editor for writers. Not a word processor, more of an outliner, notes, and prose writing tool.

2014-11-25 mac • software • text • writing

Silk Road Bitcoin analytics

Company traces drug market's currency through the blockchain

2014-11-25 bitcoin • crime • drugs • fraud • money

Magic Leap details

Info on the mysterious augmented reality startup

2014-11-24 augmentedreality • startups • tech • vr

a simple data charting tool from Medium

2014-11-24 charts • datavis • graphs • visualization

World Maps Without New Zealand

2014-11-24 funny • maps • newzealand

HandBrake 0.10.0

AV re-encoding tool gets a major update. Includes VP8

2014-11-24 codecs • software • video

PPTP VPN - TomatoUSB

Detailed notes, pretty manual process

2014-11-24 networking • pptp • router • security • vpn

A daemon for making a very fancy shell prompt

2014-11-23 bash • prompt • shell • software • unix

An archive tool designed for incremental backups

2014-11-23 backup • compression • software • via:onethingwell • zip

MacOS menu bar doodad that gives more details on wifi quality. Costs $0.99.

2014-11-23 mac • macos • osx • software • via:onethingwell • wifi

WashPo has a carefully researched, detailed story on rape allegations against Bill Cosby

2014-11-23 cosby • crime • rape

Reddit FCC rebellion

FCC Commissioner does a bad IAmA on Reddit, gets called out

2014-11-22 fcc • netneutrality • politics • reddit

GAME OF THE YEAR: 420BLAZEIT

Parody game, MLG montages made playable

2014-11-22 funny • games • mlg • montage

Solving Earth Problems

Various tools for dealing with spatial data; spatial indices, etc

2014-11-21 coding • geo • gis • kdtree • maps

Cheezburger: Behind the Music

Personal detailed story of the struggle running the cat meme joke sites

2014-11-21 memes • startups

Reed Software Design Studio

A project I'm helping set up at my old alma mater

2014-11-21 dlab • education • mentors • programming • reed • students

Uber financials leak

Details of revenue, etc for Dec 2013

2014-11-21 financials • leak • uber

A year later, they are more or less the same

2014-11-21 consoles • games • playstation • xbox

Fake journal accepts troll paper

David Mazières up to some hilarious pranksterism

2014-11-21 fuck • funny • journal • publishing • stanford

A simple viewer of BGP routing data. Requires guest login

2014-11-20 bgp • internet • networking • peering

open address machine

Migurski's work on OpenAddresses automation

2014-11-20 maps • openaddresses • osm

Browser Unicode normalization

WebKit browsers screw up user input when POSTing data to a server

2014-11-20 bug • chrome • unicode • webkit

Vib-Ribbon revival

Odd story of a quirky Playstation games

2014-11-20 games • playstation • sony • vibribbon

San Francisco, the city where people shit on the sidewalks

2014-11-19 homeless • sanfrancisco • shame • shit

Uber vs another journalist

More concerns that Uber may misuse its rider data

2014-11-19 journalism • privacy • uber

ASL writing systems

Overview of various options for writing ASL

2014-11-19 asl • deaf • language • sign • writing

One approach to transcribing a sign language to web pages

2014-11-19 asl • deaf • language • sign

A complete Tweet index

Engineering details for a large search engine

2014-11-18 indexing • search • twitter

EFF project to make a very easy to set up SSL certificate

2014-11-18 ca • encryption • security • ssl

Google profile tools

Simple collection of 6 sites at Google that shows data they have on you

2014-11-18 google • privacy • via:reddit

Simple leaderboard listing of static site generators

2014-11-18 development • jekyll • pelican • sites • web

Fix the one drawback of HandBrake

2014-11-18 converstion • handbrake • mp4 • video

Uber opposition research

Yet more evidence of a corrupt internal culture

2014-11-18 batshitinsane • journalism • pandodaily • ridiculous • sarahlacy • uber

Uber CEO profile

Great article by @elcush about Travis Kalanick, the thorny guy in charge

2014-11-17 sanfrancisco • startups • uber

Worth a reload or three

2014-11-17 funny • smarf • toomanycooks • tv • via:waxy

Scarlett profile

Excellent detailed article about a top Starcraft 2 player

2014-11-17 esports • scarlett • starcraft • via:metafilter

Funny old hack; kill processes by playing the FPS game

2014-11-17 doom • fps • games • process • unix

Satellite company that provides AIS monitoring to track ship postions

2014-11-17 ais • data • shipping • space

Satellite visualization

Every satellite in orbit, graphed by altitude

2014-11-17 satellite • space • visualization

ISPs stripping email encryption

Technical measure against spam backfires, prevents security

2014-11-17 badtech • encryption • endtoend • isp

Twitter election shenanigans

GOP posted information they couldn't share privately in public, but only barely

2014-11-17 election • fraud • gop • republican • twitter

English words from indigenous Americans

Words borrowed from Indian languages

2014-11-16 america • etymology • indians • language

MSN Messenger's last gasps

Apparently Microsoft is shutting down service; a bunch of third party clients broke this week

2014-11-16 chat • im • messenger • msn

TCPINC working group

IETF group to add encryption extensions to TCP

2014-11-15 encryption • internet • security • tcp • tcpip

Hire More Women In Tech

A list of simple things companies can do

2014-11-15 diversity • hiring • tech • women

The Faze Clansman

A parody of a parody of gaming videos

2014-11-15 funny • games • mlg • noscope • parody • via:metafilter

Netflix API death

Today is the day Netflix shuts off their public API

2014-11-14 api • business • netflix

New d3.js wrapper for simple kinds of data graphs

2014-11-14 bootstrap • d3js • data • javascript • visualization

Simple visualization of the problematic comet landing

2014-11-14 comet • philae • space

D3 Deconstructor

Reads data + marks out of a D3 visualization so you can restyle

2014-11-14 code • d3 • d3js • javascript • visualization

online code reviews for git repos

2014-11-14 code • git • google • review

Net Neutrality is just a symptom

Excellent editorial calling for more ISP competition

2014-11-14 broadband • fcc • internet • isp • netneutrality • sonicnet

Some detailed science lite for the old school cooking implement

2014-11-13 castiron • cooking • food • via:kottke

Retro adventure game for iOS and Mac

2014-11-13 adventure • games • ios • mac • via:waxy

“Too Many Cooks:” an analysis

Detailed explication

2014-11-13 funny • parody • toomanycooks • tv • via:jwz

Ninja / Waddy Jones

Amazing background on Die Antwoord's frontman

2014-11-13 music • ninja • southafrica • via:metafilter

Weaponized review embargoes

Game company Ubisoft abuses the gaming press

2014-11-12 assassinscreed • games • reviews • ubisoft

Flour tortillas you buy and cook yourself

2014-11-12 cooking • food • tortillas

Philae landing preview

Details of the comet landing taking place in about 16 hours

2014-11-11 astronomy • comet • philae • rosetta • space

Javscript text rendering in canvas

2014-11-11 canvas • fonts • html5 • javascript • typography

Why Does United Airlines Still Exist?

Oligopolies entrench bad service

2014-11-11 airlines • competition • united

Lovely story of Blizzard's World of Warcraft writing

2014-11-11 blizzard • games • lore • warcraft • wow

Browser databases

War stories from PouchDB, making WebSQL and IndexDB work

2014-11-11 browser • couchdb • database • javascript • pouchdb

Fred Wilson on Uber

Calls Uber's attempts to manipulate Lyft funding unethical. (and also pointless)

2014-11-10 ethics • lyft • startups • uber • vc

Deregister iMessage

Apple finally made a tool to recover your SMS number

2014-11-10 apple • imessage • ios • iphone • sms

Life in the potato pits

Remarkably great Metafilter comment about working peeling potatoes

2014-11-10 food • funny • metafilter • potatoes

Javascript Terrarium

A way to run code in a separate process so it can be inspected, etc

2014-11-10 code • javascript • vm

Berlin wall vs Palestine wall

2014-11-10 berlin • israel • palestine

Turing, marathon runner

He ran a 2:46 marathon in 1946!

2014-11-10 history • marathon • running • turing

Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy

A book about Anonymous, the hacker identity

2014-11-09 4chan • anonymous • hacker

Third-party login problems

Real story about "login with Facebook" and the hidden costs

2014-11-09 authentication • facebook • login • oauth • openid

Women fighting Twitter harassment

Organization takes it on themselves to fight awful people on Twitter

2014-11-09 feminism • gamergate • harassment • sexism • twitter

Estonia eResidenciy

Estonia's innovative online authentication system extended to foreigners /cc @timbray

2014-11-09 estonia • identity • login • oauth • openid • password • via:metafilter

South Korea's impressive national identity system is hopelessly compromised

2014-11-09 authentication • badtech • identity • korea • login • oauth • openid • passwords • southkorea

The Amazing Randi

Lovely profile, with an interesting story about his personal life

2014-11-09 amazingrandi • gay • randi • skepticism

A lovely local drinking establishment in the Mission

2014-11-09 beer • mission • shotwells

Seraphs colophon

How the generated book works

2014-11-09 books • nanogenmo • via:metafilter • voynich

Bitbucket VS. GitHub

A recently updated comparison. They're very similar now; I think GitHub has more fancy features, BitBucket has free private repos

2014-11-09 bitbucket • code • dvcs • github

A generative book based on the Voynich manuscript

2014-11-08 books • nanogenmo • via:metafilter • voynich

Gamergate eats itself

Disgusting awful people begin to act disgusting and awful to themselves

2014-11-08 feminism • gamergate • games • stupid • via:waxy

Coordinated effort to map areas in the developing world *before* the crisis

2014-11-08 hot • maps • osm • redcross

Red Pill misogyny

In which boys have a discussion about whether advocating "choking bitches" is a good strategy

2014-11-07 disgusting • feminism • rape • reddit • women

Brilliance from Adult Swim; may require being high

2014-11-07 80s • adultswim • funny • parody

Hilarious gift from Matt Haughey to Stewart Butterfield; an oil painting of a great photo by Paul Bausch

2014-11-07 art • funny • mathowie • pb • photo • slack • slackhq • stewart

La Petite Ceinture

An abandoned rail right of way in Paris

2014-11-06 paris • park • train

What runs groups.io

A look at a modern web / email tech stack, using go

2014-11-06 architecture • email • go • golang • mailinglists • systems

36 people run Wikipedia

Article about the stewards, moderators for the entire site

2014-11-06 community • culture • moderators • osm • wikipedia

A Russian castration cult; had as many as 100,000 members

2014-11-05 batshitinsane • castration • religion • russia

Women Street Artists

Nice gallery site

2014-11-05 art • artists • streetart • women

YouTube: full album

Google runs the largest store of pirated music the Internet has ever seen

2014-11-05 copyright • google • music • napster • youtube

Bivariate color maps for climate data

Another 2d map technique, this one overloads hue in a way that seems to work

2014-11-05 bivariate • climate • color • maps • visualization

NYT bivariate election maps

Nice application of the value-by-alpha technique

2014-11-05 colors • election • maps • visualization

Value-by-alpha maps

Bivariate mapping technique; vary hue and value for 2 axes of data

2014-11-05 colors • datavis • mapping • visualization

Retro-Computing and nostalgia

Paul Ford expresses the feelings I have about the emotional weight of old computer systems

2014-11-05 80s • computers • emulation • history • nostalgia

Referer is dead

Notes on how The Guardian can't tell how people get to their stories anymore

2014-11-04 analytics • guardian • news • referer • security • traffic

BuiltWith Trends

What web components are major sites built with?

2014-11-04 analytics • technology • trends • web

Top map technologies

Chart shows which map libraries various web sites use

2014-11-04 leaflet • maps • metrics

Alternative to voter ID; mark fingers so people can't vote twice

2014-11-04 civilrights • voterid • voting

Intelligent dance music

Learn how to dance to Autechre

2014-11-04 autechre • dance • funny • music

Gigabyte Brix review

PC manufacturers finally building Mac Mini competitors

2014-11-04 computer • linux • macmini • pc • server • sff

Google Maps for astronomy, nice treatment of different wavelengths

2014-11-03 astronomy • maps

Ferguson no-fly was press suppression

No surprise, but FAA authority abused to stop news helicopters

2014-11-02 aviation • civilrights • disney • faa • ferguson • freedom • justice • press • tfr