Comments on “I have a new favorite Java keyword: continue. Dunno how I missed this...”

Some bad defaults are gone, some new bad defaults are back. The two...

2008-02-16T21:49:16-05:00

Huh. The lowercase ‘g’ looks very similar in both default fonts.

Some bad defaults are gone, some new bad defaults are back. The two...

2008-02-16T21:54:53-05:00

Yeah, the signature eye-glass g. It’s relatively common in serif fonts, but pretty rare in sans. Gill Sans has it, though.

Designers of online venues … leverage metaphors to flatten (or...

2008-02-24T19:01:33-05:00

Learning curve axes:

x: proficiency in activity y: effort

Then a shallow learning curve means you get a lot of proficiency without having to try very hard, and a steep learning curve means you have to read four manuals to figure out how to fall flat on your face.

There is only one path and that is the path that you take, but you can...

2008-02-24T22:57:40-05:00

i don’t know what this means.

I’ll have to dig a bit more to figure out what actually happened...

2008-02-24T22:58:07-05:00

i love physics explained. thank you.

There is only one path and that is the path that you take, but you can...

2008-02-25T19:27:05-05:00

There are obviously many things which we do not understand, and may never be able to.

Designers of online venues … leverage metaphors to flatten (or...

2008-02-25T19:30:02-05:00

I’ve also heard/read people referring to people as having a learning curve. For example, I recall hearing that “she has a very steep learning curve,” implying that “she was gaining knowledge quickly.”

Not sure how I feel about that. Also, can metaphors be transitive?

Designers of online venues … leverage metaphors to flatten (or...

2008-02-25T20:18:02-05:00

I think you’re definitely right — those are the axes that make the metaphor work, but it seems highly unintuitive. Time is v. rarely on the Y axis. I think the basic issue is the operant metaphor here isn’t a numerical one, it’s a physical one. Steep and shallow are referencing hill-climbing (in a non-algorithmic sense), which is a pretty evocative image. It’s just that throwing curve in there muddies the metaphor and makes me think about axes which is really beside the point. Maybe something like a “steep/shallow learning experience/process?”

An update to the exploding wind turbine post

2008-03-01T22:14:18-05:00

Drew knows why I think this is hilarious.

Wrong again!

2008-03-04T08:20:59-05:00

ah, damn. i was rooting for the squirting hypothesis.

Wrong again!

2008-03-04T14:12:25-05:00

…which would be an awesome name for an emo band.

Wrong again!

2008-03-04T16:49:20-05:00

We should just crank that website out. It couldn’t take more than a day, right?

Perhaps it’s related somehow to this concept?

Isopageism

2008-03-16T14:32:40-05:00

Groannnnnn.

Isopageism

2008-03-16T14:54:41-05:00

May I suggest the term “isopagination” instead?

This would allow us to reserve “isopageism” and its derivative, “isopageist” to describe one who believes in the value of achieving isopagination.

Usage: “The damn unilateralists and the isopageists will get what’s coming to them soon enough!” cried Niccolo as he prepared to double-cross the minister of finance.

Isopageism

2008-03-16T15:40:59-05:00

This reminds me of the “reality based community” idea that went around a few years ago. To wit (nytimes magazine):

‘in what we call the reality-based community,” which he defined as people who ”believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.” I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. ”That’s not the way the world really works anymore,” he continued. ”We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality — judiciously, as you will — we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors … and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.”

Perhaps realityists can be added into this typology of reasonable-ideas-as-religions?

Face-opera

2008-04-01T02:52:09-05:00

I think it’s a great idea. I’ll volunteer to participate if you get enough momentum. I don’t even think you need a really fleshed out script, just people who are able to characterize their alternate personas well enough.

As for names, Face-play doesn’t work too well either. I’m hard pressed to think of anything better at the moment.

Face-opera

2008-04-01T02:55:41-05:00

Also, I love the fact that because of your blog’s width restrictions, the link to the previous post looks like it reads:

I did have to break up with one guy because he was very keen on Flagrant Jerknugget

I can see how if your boyfriend were that into the above named band, it might be considered just cause to end a relationship

Face-opera

2008-04-01T14:29:45-05:00

That is, indeed, pretty awesome. I’ve promoted it to its own post so its awesome may be better shared with the Internet.

“I did have to break up with one guy because he was very keen on Ayn...

2008-04-07T00:25:57-05:00

I think the more practical lesson is that you should carry only one book, but multiple interchangeable covers.

Face-opera

2008-04-08T23:00:59-05:00

P.S. I’m still in.

P.P.S. I vote for ‘pantopera,’ as in the audience-inclusive British pantomine meeting the broad scope and huge casts of traditional operas.