An Awesome Headline
July 29, 2007
It’s really nice that with all the uncertainty in the world today, the New York Times can still hit us with such an awesomely funny headline.
This is Automattic. A great group shot from our trip to Stinson Beach. This meetup was twice as large as our last, just six months ago when we went to La Paz. Matt and Toni have really put together a great group.
Stinson
July 26, 2007
It’s early on day 4 of the Automattic offsite. The trip’s been productive and fun, as working together has given us the chance to quickly develop some cool enhancements to your favorite Automattic projects.
Monday was a full-day session with Robert Hoekman, Jr., author of Designing the Obvious, required reading for anyone who designs web applications. Robert also presented a session at WordCamp aimed specifically at bloggers and blog design, so it was great to get to pick an expert’s brain for a few days. We got to analyze a few areas of WordPress.com and you’ll be seeing the fruits of our labor shortly with some small, but significant improvements.
Aside from work, we’ve all had a good time enjoying the beautiful sights of Stinson Beach, playing a bit of Wii Sports, and consuming an army’s supply of beer. Automattic’s newest addition, Nikolay Bachiyski (in Bulgarian!) brought along a Bulgarian liquor called rakia that was a big hit. Some of the more adventurous in the crowd donned the wet suits and hit the waves, but with a water temperature hovering somewhere around 40º, I decided to reaffirm my reputation as a landlubber.
Two days left, then it’s back to San Francisco for the weekend. Then, I’ll be taking a week off as Johnathan and I get ready for our big move to New Orleans. Whew.
WordCamping
July 22, 2007
Day Four in San Francisco, writing this as WordCamp draws to a close. Some of the most exciting things still to come, though—Liz Danzico (I love her site’s design) of Happy Cog is presenting a session titled Usability Analysis of WordPress, where she’ll share some of the research she’s gathered while working on the information architecture of WordPress. And obviously, Matt Mullenweg’s State of the Word should be an interesting assessment of where we are and where we’re headed.
Tonight, the Automattic team will travel to Stinson Beach, where we’ll be spending the next week for our biannual company meetup. Being a “virtual” company, it’s nice to have the chance to work together in-the-flesh for a while. We’ll have five days on the beach, followed by two more days of free time in San Francisco. I’ve had a great time enjoying the city with my pal from my Silverpoint days, Steve Cox. Hopefully I’ll get to do some more of that next weekend.
And then, it’s off to New Orleans! I have not even begun to pack, so once I return from California, I’m taking the next week off to move and get settled into our new digs. It’ll be a busy next few weeks, but I’m excited about all that’s ahead.
Times-Picayune: Elderly couple’s lives in limbo over unpaid $1.63 tax bill
In 1996, the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office mailed a paltry $1.63 property tax bill for the Slidell-area home of Kermit and Dolores Atwood that never reached its destination.
The seemingly innocuous, misaddressed bill was the start of a bizarre legal ordeal that threatens to leave the elderly couple homeless and now stands at the door of the state Supreme Court.
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Bill Richardson: Total Maricón
Richardson, a Hispanic and the governor of New Mexico, was a guest on Don Imus’ syndicated radio program on March 29, 2006. Imus, who later lost his job over making racial comments, jokingly said one of his staffers suggested Richardson was “not really Hispanic.”
Richardson replied in Spanish that if the staffer believes that, then he is a “maricón.”
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation says the word means “faggot” in Spanish.
In a statement this week, Richardson said that in the Spanish he grew up speaking, “the term means simply ‘gay,’ not positive or negative.”
Step 1: Go to Google Translate.
Step 2: Type “maricón” and click Translate.
Step 3: Place a bet on how much longer Richardson’s campaign lasts.
Mike Gravel: Why I Wasn’t Invited to the Debate on Gay Issues
Yesterday the Human Rights Campaign announced that it will not invite me to the first-ever presidential debate on gay issues because I didn’t raise enough money. To say that I’m shocked is an understatement. I can confidently say, of all presidential candidates, I’ve been the most outspoken advocate for gay rights.
Mike Gravel, though an underdog, is clearly far more progressive with regards to gay issues than any of the “big 3” Democratic candidates. Minor candidates are a welcome sight in presidential debates because they keep the big guys honest—just see what Gravel has done in every debate thus far. It’s not hard to imagine that, as Gravel suggests, HRC shut him out of the debate for just this reason.
Also not hard for me to imagine: the campaigns of one or more of the “top tier” candidates lobbying HRC to keep Gravel out of the debate. Lets hope HRC does the right thing and extends an invitation to the senator.
UPDATE: It’s already happened. HRC, “due to enthusiastic support,” has invited Gravel to the debate. Good call.
Up in Smoke
July 13, 2007
This little feature came up repeatedly during my three years with my PowerBook G4. I had to have my power adapter replaced four times because the worn-out cable began sparking and smoking. The design of the cable was clearly just wrong—a laptop’s power cable should be able to withstand years of being bent, twisted, and wrapped around the power brick. Fortunately, Apple’s redesigned MagSafe adapters introduced with the MacBook line appears to have fixed, or at least diminished, the problem See Barry’s comment on this post.
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Protest Mars Historic First Vedic Prayer In U.S. Senate
‘Lord Jesus, protect us from this abomination,’ shouted one. ‘Lord Jesus, forgive us father for allowing a prayer of the wicked, which is an abomination in your sight,’ screamed another. ‘This is an abomination. We shall have no other gods before you.’
I fear the United States has become a breeding ground for a frightening brand of religious fundamentalism, one just as dangerous to our nation’s future as those other religious fundamentalists you hear so much about.
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Now this is an entrance.
July 13, 2007
Wait about 30 seconds into the video for a first impression like no other. This ain’t your ordinary drag show. Via Joe.My.God.
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