"Much of the essence of building a program is in fact the debugging of the specification."
Fred Brooks (The Mythical Man-Month)
"
Apple’s products are replete with Apple-like features and details, embedded in Apple-like apps, running on Apple-like devices, which come packaged in Apple-like boxes, are promoted in Apple-like ads, and sold in Apple-like stores. The company is a fractal design. Simplicity, elegance, beauty, cleverness, humility. Directness. Truth. Zoom out enough and you can see that the same things that define Apple’s products apply to Apple as a whole. The company itself is Apple-like. The same thought, care, and painstaking attention to detail that Steve Jobs brought to questions like “How should a computer work?”, “How should a phone work?”, “How should we buy music and apps in the digital age?” he also brought to the most important question: “How should a company that creates such things function?”
Jobs’s greatest creation isn’t any Apple product. It is Apple itself.
"John Gruber (24 August 2011)
(Source: daringfireball.net)
Zizek + Assange + Democracy Now
Required viewing.
Icograda 2009 Biennial Review on Web Design Served
Behance curates a site called Web Design Served which features daily hand-picked web design from the Behance network. Tonight I received an email from them noting I had just been featured. I’m flattered that they picked one of my projects. Thanks Behance!
Hello Backbone.js
Another interesting teaching format. It would be nice if a git-like diff could be displayed to live-toggle between the last state and the new state. But on the whole, this is a lovely way to learn, and more compelling than a blog format or book format.
It was several months ago when I linked to another teaching format that I loved (but cannot find link right now!)
"Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s [people’s] blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency. Remember that our sons and grandsons [daughters and granddaughters] are going to do things that would stagger us. Let your watchword be order and your beacon beauty. Think big."
Daniel Burnham, Chicago architect. (1846-1912)
(Source: ontko.com)
Laminate x TKYO
I am excited to be a member of the new Laminate x TKYO network. I joined to see what would become of the opportunity, which to me seems different than typical networks like Art Fox or Behance. There’s something quite personal and physical about this network. The technical execution is still lacking but the heart is far and away more present then other giant networks, so far.
My new profile is at: http://www.laminate.tkyo.co.uk/tkyo-members/jason-kuhrt/ and my studio space reveal is at http://www.laminate.tkyo.co.uk/artspace/jason-kuhrt-wp/.
NDP off to a terrible start
If you are going to doubt something sensitive like this then damn well make sure it’s backed up with bullet-proof facts and sources. Unchecked doubt and casting undue aspersions on a whim isn’t useful, especially for an MP whose remarks are official fodder for any opposition.
If Mulcair has good reason for his suspicions then he needs to cite them, otherwise he ought to be a lot more straight forward and less a cliché of some film-esq left-wing contrarian. I’m happy the NDP retracted his comments but good riddance, I can’t believe this crap happened in the first place.
Some “Majority”
3.9 in 10 Canadians of only 61% of the eligable-to-vote-Canadians support Harper.
Assuming those that do not vote tilt toward non-conservatism for any or all of the following reasons:
- they are young people and students
- Conservatives are more organized in getting their voters to come out to polling stations
- Conservatives are more decided voters (ignoring Bloc) as their ideology is a polarizing one, it is easier to be a fence sitter between NDP/Liberal/Green than with Conservatives
…then the actual support for Harper among Canadians may be at pinned around 2 in 10 or 3 in 10. Some “Majority”, be it 2,3 or 3.9.
Historic Election
Tonight I witnessed the most radical Canadian election in my lifetime). Two amazing things happened that I feel great about:
First, Elizabeth May, the leader of the Green Party, gets voted in. she is the first MP from the Green Party to get voted into Parliament. I am extremely happy to have such a well spoken and inspiring person from a party I strongly support become an MP. I think this is just the beginning for the Green Party.
Second, the NDP, for the first time in history have won over 43 seats and become the official opposition. the NDP won 61 new seats tonight… Incredible. I voted NDP in this election to help ward off a Conservative Government but I also genuinely like the party and Jack Layton, the leader.
And there are some shocking things that also occurred:
The Bloc Quebecois is almost annihilated losing some 40 seats and are left with just 3 or 4. Duceppe, the BQ leader is not elected in his own riding and steps down as BQ leader. Liberals get lowest seat count in history and for the first time are not the official opposition. Michael Ignatieff is not elected in his own riding and steps down as Liberal leader.
But worst of all in my opinion, Canada is now led by a majority Conservative government. If this means I can expect an intensified version of the last several years, then I am terrified. I will say that his winning speech tonight was promising, but it does nothing to reassure me against the draconian actions I anticipate.
Speak up Parler Fort [get Harper out]
If you are voting Monday May 2nd 2011 in the Canadian federal elections then definitely watch these brief speeches. They are thoughtful, broad, and sincere.
Even if you are not a Canadian or are not eligible to vote, you might still enjoy them.
Watch them all here: http://www.youtube.com/user/SpeakUpParlerFort.
Here is their FB page: http://en-gb.facebook.com/pages/SpeakUpParlerFort/205279526161404?sk=wall
Here’s one of the english-speaking artists:
Slavoj Žižek & Orbital content
Two things that got me excited recently:
An article, Orbital Content, by Cameron Koczon which I think hits the nail on the head regarding the future of content. The article pinpoints how the internet is becoming (and could further become) a place in which each user is the centre of their universe; each one becomes a curator of sorts. I feel like this is one of the most relevant social paradigms that the web could bring this decade.
A presentation, Catastrophic But Not Serious by Slavoj Žižek. I love this philosopher. He meanders a lot but I’ve come to relish it. He’s funny and often explains things very clearly (you’ll just have to work around his nose-sniffling and at-times difficult english). He strikes me as humanitarian and I love that he often engages with the public, as if leading a charge to make philosophy visibly relevant to the masses again.
2011 Canadian election debates
In English.
In French? (I can’t find the French night debates on youtube…)
The Green Party*
I think Elizabeth May’s (leader of the Green Party) 26 minutes are more informative than the official debates between the other parties. Her substantive arguments and the party’s determination to avoid a left/right-wing label helps earn my vote for them.
* Which was left out of the debates despite last election having almost as many votes as the Bloc Quebecois which was admitted to the debates.
