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merlin: 9. Read more lists on the internet. Number 8. Borrow David Byrne’s Big Suit.

merlin:

9. Read more lists on the internet.

Number 8. Borrow David Byrne’s Big Suit.

For DOS systems.

For DOS systems.

All new! Just released!

All new! Just released!

Charlotte helps me prepare a new logbook.

Charlotte helps me prepare a new logbook.

fedward: tiffanyb: lizlet: rachelfershleiser: awesomeringerud: “Drillmaster,” he said, “this is not alagai’sharak as we were taught it.” -The Desert Spear I think I win this one. “The quality of laughter is so incredible and deep and real and serious.” Nope, I do! “He can’t look at me — his eyes are closed, his fave is all scrunched up.” :( “Define Task-Based Audience Segments.” I think the only way to do this meme with professional books. “Carved stone reliefs at the palace do not show him sipping beer through a straw; instead, he is depicted elegantly balancing a shallow bowl, probably made of gold, on the tips of the fingers of his right hand, so that it is level with his face.” I’ll take it.  From A History of the World in 6 Glasses.  At least, that’s what’s at the top of what my Kindle says is page 45. Henry James, The Turn of the Screw: This had become thoroughly her attitude by the time that, in my recital of the events of the night, I reached the point of what Miles had said to me when, after seeing him, at such a monstrous hour, almost on the very spot where he happened now to be, I had gone down to bring him in; choosing then, at the window, with a concentrated need of not alarming the house, rather that method than a signal more resonant. I, uh… 

fedward:

tiffanyb:

lizlet:

rachelfershleiser:

awesomeringerud:

“Drillmaster,” he said, “this is not alagai’sharak as we were taught it.” -The Desert Spear

I think I win this one.

“The quality of laughter is so incredible and deep and real and serious.”

Nope, I do!

“He can’t look at me — his eyes are closed, his fave is all scrunched up.”

:(

“Define Task-Based Audience Segments.”

I think the only way to do this meme with professional books.

“Carved stone reliefs at the palace do not show him sipping beer through a straw; instead, he is depicted elegantly balancing a shallow bowl, probably made of gold, on the tips of the fingers of his right hand, so that it is level with his face.”

I’ll take it.  From A History of the World in 6 Glasses.  At least, that’s what’s at the top of what my Kindle says is page 45.

Henry James, The Turn of the Screw:

This had become thoroughly her attitude by the time that, in my recital of the events of the night, I reached the point of what Miles had said to me when, after seeing him, at such a monstrous hour, almost on the very spot where he happened now to be, I had gone down to bring him in; choosing then, at the window, with a concentrated need of not alarming the house, rather that method than a signal more resonant.
I, uh… 

(Source: meme-meme)

This makes me happy. historicalmeetups: Samuel Beckett
Playwright, novelist, and Nobel laureate meets André the GiantGargantuan professional wrestling legend In 1953, fresh off the success of Waiting for Godot, Beckett bought a plot of land near the hamlet of Molien, in the commune of Ussy-sur-Marne, about forty miles northeast of Paris. There he built a cottage for himself with some help from a group of locals, including a Bulgarian-born farmer named Boris Rousimoff. Over the years, Beckett and Rousimoff became friends and would occasionally get together for card games. Rousimoff had a son, André, known as Dédé, who was something of a physical marvel. By the age of 12, André was over six feet tall and weighed 240 pounds. No school bus could hold him, and his family lacked the means to buy a car big enough to schlep him back and forth to school in Ussy-sur-Marne. Enter Boris’ old card-playing buddy Beckett, who owned a truck and was more than willing to pay his friend back for his help with the cottage by giving a lift to his enormous pituitary case of a son on his drives into town. Years later, when recounting his conversations with Beckett (which he did often), André the Giant revealed that they rarely talked about anything besides cricket.

This makes me happy.

historicalmeetups:

Samuel Beckett

Playwright, novelist, and Nobel laureate

meets

André the Giant
Gargantuan professional wrestling legend

In 1953, fresh off the success of Waiting for Godot, Beckett bought a plot of land near the hamlet of Molien, in the commune of Ussy-sur-Marne, about forty miles northeast of Paris. There he built a cottage for himself with some help from a group of locals, including a Bulgarian-born farmer named Boris Rousimoff. Over the years, Beckett and Rousimoff became friends and would occasionally get together for card games. Rousimoff had a son, André, known as Dédé, who was something of a physical marvel. By the age of 12, André was over six feet tall and weighed 240 pounds. No school bus could hold him, and his family lacked the means to buy a car big enough to schlep him back and forth to school in Ussy-sur-Marne. Enter Boris’ old card-playing buddy Beckett, who owned a truck and was more than willing to pay his friend back for his help with the cottage by giving a lift to his enormous pituitary case of a son on his drives into town. Years later, when recounting his conversations with Beckett (which he did often), André the Giant revealed that they rarely talked about anything besides cricket.

the understatement: Android Orphans: Visualizing a Sad History of Support

fedward:

understatementblog:

Why Don’t Android Phones Get Updated?

It appears to be a widely held viewpoint3 that there’s no incentive for smartphone manufacturers to update the OS: because manufacturers don’t make any money after the hardware sale, they want you to buy another phone as soon as possible. If that’s really the case, the phone manufacturers are spectacularly dumb: ignoring the 2 year contract cycle & abandoning your users isn’t going to engender much loyalty when they do buy a new phone. Further, it’s been fairly well established that Apple also really only makes money from hardware sales, and yet their long term update support is excellent (see chart).

In other words, Apple’s way of getting you to buy a new phone is to make you really happy with your current one, whereas apparently Android phone makers think they can get you to buy a new phone by making you really unhappy with your current one. Then again, all of this may be ascribing motives and intent where none exist - it’s entirely possible that the root cause of the problem is just flat-out bad management (and/or the aforementioned spectacular dumbness).

This is damning of the entire Android ecosystem. Whether by intent or accident the people in charge of it have made the platform into something whose biggest value is in not being the iPhone (the previous advantage of not being AT&T [at least in the case of the Droid] having been erased by the launch of the Verizon, and now Sprint, iPhone 4 and 4S). Android’s carriers and manufacturers have taken out one perceived drawback which is, in fact, a great advantage on the iPhone platform. Apple’s nature makes the platform stable for users and developers, and aside from periodic griping about App Store policies (a lack of transparency on rules, the 30% cut) the marketplace is larger and healthier than the Android marketplace will ever be, and this distinction will only increase over time. What’s better for users is better for developers, and vice versa, as app store demand increases app supply, and vice versa.

Go read the whole thing. It has an awesome chart.

This is a major reason why I bought an iPhone rather than an Android.  When Android first supported tethering (v2.2, I think) none of the local phone companies would commit to supporting the new version on any of their current phones.  Some of the phones were still stuck on v1.5 with no promise of future upgrades.

So it came down to a question of whether I trusted my cell phone company to something helpful for me for free.  That’s a question that answers itself.

Plans for the future

I will set up a tumblr where I only follow people with beards, black-framed glasses, and red plaid shirts.  That ought to narrow it down.