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Ben Fry / projects / writing / genetics / about
Design and the Elastic Mind
Perhaps three months late for an announcement, and at the risk of totally reckless narcissism, I should mention that four of my projects are currently on display in the Design and the Elastic Mind exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. My work notwithstanding, I hear that the show is generating lots of foot traffic and positive reviews, which is a well-deserved compliment to curator Paola Antonelli.
There's a New York Times article and slide show (too much linking to the Times lately, weird…) and a writeup in the International Herald Tribune that even mentions my Humans vs. Chimps piece.
The first wall as you enter the show is all of Chromosome 18, done in the style of this piece.
It's a 3 pixel font at 150 dpi, so there are 37.5 letters per inch in either direction, and the wall is about 20 feet square, making 75 million letters total. Paola and her staff asked whether it was OK to put the text on the piece itself, which I felt was fine, as the nature of the piece is about scale, and the printing would not detract from that. The funny side effect of this was watching people at the opening take one another's picture in front of the piece, mostly probably not realizing that the wall itself was part of the exhibition. Perhaps my most popular work so far, given the number of family photos in which it will be found.
Former classmate Ron Kurti also took a nice detail shot:
Also in the show is the previously mentioned Humans vs. Chimps project as seen below:
This image is about three feet wide so you can read the letters accurately. It's found next to an identically sized print of isometricblocks depicting the CFTR region of the human genome (the area implicated in connection to Cystic Fibrosis). The image was first developed for a Nature cover.
Finally, the Pac-Man print of distellamap is printed floor to ceiling on another wall in the exhibition. Unfortunately there was a glitch in the printing that caused the lines connecting portions of the code to be lost (because they're too thin to see at a distance), but no matter.
Much moreso than my own work, however, by far the most exciting for me is the number of projects built with Processing that are in the show. It's a bit humbling and the sort of thing that makes me excited (and relieved) to have some time this summer to devote to Processing itself.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008 | iloveme
Google Underwater
So that might not be the awesome name that they'll be using, but CNET is rumormongering about Google cooking up something oceanographic along the lines of Maps or Earth. Their speculation includes this lovely image from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) of Columbia University.
Unlike most people with a heartbeat, I didn't find Google Maps particularly interesting on arrival. I was a fan of the simplicity of Yahoo Maps at the time (but no longer, eek!) and Microsoft's Terraserver had done satellite imagery for a few years. But the same way that Google Mars shows us something we're even less familiar with than satellite imagery of Earth, there's something really exciting about possibility of seeing beneath the oceans.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008 | mapping, rumors, water
Me blog big linky
Kottke and Freakonomics were kind enough to link over here, which has brought more queries about salaryper. Rather than piling onto the original web page, I'll add updates to this section of the site.
I didn't include the project's back story with the 2008 version of the piece, so here goes:
Some background for people who don't watch/follow/care about baseball:
When I first created this piece in 2005, the Yankees had a particularly bad year, with a team full of aging all-stars and owner George Steinbrenner hoping that a World Series trophy could be purchased for $208 million. The World Champion Red Sox did an ample job of defending their title, but as the second highest paid team in baseball, they're not exactly young upstarts. The Chicago White Sox had an excellent year with just one third the salary of the Yankees, while the Cardinals are performing roughly on par with what they're paid. Interestingly, the White Sox went on to win the World Series. The performance of Oakland, which previous years has far exceeded their overall salary, was a story, largely about their General Manager Billy Beane, told in the book Moneyball.
Some background for people who do watch/follow/care about baseball:
I neglected to include a caveat on the original page that this is a really simplistic view of salary vs. performance. I created this piece because the World Series victory of my beloved Red Sox was somewhat bittersweet in the sense that the second highest paid team in baseball finally managed to win a championship. This fact made me curious about how that works across the league, with raw salaries and the general performance of the individual teams.
There are lots of proportional things that can be done too—the salaries especially exist across a wide range (the Yankees waaaay out in front, followed the another pack of big market teams, then everyone else).
There are far more complex things about how contracts work over multiple years, how the farm system works, and scoring methods for individual players that could be taken into consideration.
This piece was thrown together while watching a game, so it's perhaps dangerously un-advanced, given the amount of time and energy that's put into the analysis (and argument) of sports statistics.
That last point is really important… This is fun! I encourage people to try out their own methods of playing with the data. For those who need a guide on building such a beast, the book has all the explanation and all the code (which isn't much). And if you adapt the code, drop me a line so I can link to your example.
I have a handful of things I'd like to try (such as a proper method for doing proportional spacing at the sides without overdoing it), though the whole point of the project is to strip away as much as possible, and make a straightforward statement about salaries, so I haven't bothered coming back to it since it succeeds in that original intent.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008 | salaryper, updates, vida
Updated Salary vs. Performance for 2008
It's April again, which means that there are messages lurking in my inbox asking about the whereabouts of this year's Salary vs. Performance project (found in Chapter 5 of the good book). I got around to updating it a few days ago, which means now my inbox has changed to suggestions on how the piece might be improved. (It's tempting to say, "Hey! Check out the book and the code, you can do anything you'd like with it! It's more fun that way." but that's not really what they're looking for.)
One of the best messages I've received so far is from someone who I strongly suspect is a statistician, who was wishing to see a scatter plot of the data rather than its current representation. Who else would be pining for a scatterplot? There are lots of jokes about the statistically inclined that might cover this situation, but… we're much too high minded to let things devolve to that (actually, it's more of a pot-kettle-black situation). If prompted, statisticians usually tell better jokes about themselves anyways.
At any rate, as it's relevant to the issue of how you choose representations, my response follows:
Sadly, the scatter plot of the same data is actually kinda uninformative, since one of your axes (salary) is more or less fixed all season (might change at the trade deadline, but more or less stays fixed) and it's just the averages that move about. So in fact if we're looking for more "accurate", a time series is gonna be better for our purposes. In an actual analytic piece, for instance, I'd do something very different (which would include multiple years, more detail about the salaries and how they amortize over time, etc).
But even so, making the piece more "correct" misses the intentional simplifications found in it, e.g. it doesn't matter whether a baseball team was 5% away from winning, it only matters whether they've won. At the end of the day, it's all about the specific rankings, who gets into the playoffs, and who wins those final games. Since the piece isn't intended as an analytical tool, but something that conveys the idea of salary vs. performance to an audience who by and large cares little about 1) baseball and 2) stats. That's not to say that it's about making something zoomy and pretty (and irrelevant), but rather, how do you engage people with the data in a way that teaches them something in the end and gets them thinking about it.
Now to get back to my inbox and the guy who would rather have the data sonified since he thinks this visual thing is just a fad.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008 | examples, represent, salaryper
All Streets Error Messages
Some favorite error messages while working on the All Streets project (mentioned below). I was initially hoping to use Illustrator to open the generated PDF files (generated from Processing), but Venus informed me that it was not to be:
I'm having difficulties as well. Why did I pay for this software?
Generally, Photoshop is far better engineered so I was hoping that it would be able to rasterize the PDF file instead, never mind the vectors and all.
Oh come on… Just admit that you ran out of memory and can't deal. Meanwhile, Eugene was helping out with the site, from the other end of iChat:
Sunday, April 27, 2008 | allstreets, software
The Advantages of Closing a Few Doors
From the New York Times, a piece about Predictably Irrational from Dan Ariely. I'm somewhat fascinated by the idea of our general preoccupation with holding on to things, particularly as it relates to retaining data (see previous posts referencing Facebook, Google, etc.)
Our natural tendency is to keep everything, in spite of the consequences. Storage capacity in the digital realm is only getting larger and cheaper (as its size in the physical realm continues to get smaller), which only seeks to feed off this tendency further. Perhaps this is also why more individuals don't question Google claiming a right to keep messages from their Gmail account after the messages, or even the account, have been deleted.
Ariely's book describes a set of experiments performed at M.I.T.:
[Students] played a computer game that paid real cash to look for money behind three doors on the screen… After they opened a door by clicking on it, each subsequent click earned a little money, with the sum varying each time.
As each player went through the 100 allotted clicks, he could switch rooms to search for higher payoffs, but each switch used up a click to open the new door. The best strategy was to quickly check out the three rooms and settle in the one with the highest rewards.
Even after students got the hang of the game by practicing it, they were flummoxed when a new visual feature was introduced. If they stayed out of any room, its door would start shrinking and eventually disappear.
They should have ignored those disappearing doors, but the students couldn't. They wasted so many clicks rushing back to reopen doors that their earnings dropped 15 percent. Even when the penalties for switching grew stiffer — besides losing a click, the players had to pay a cash fee — the students kept losing money by frantically keeping all their doors open.
(Emphasis mine.) I originally came across the article via Mark Hurst, who adds:
I've said for a long time that the solution to information overload is to let the bits go: always look for ways to delete, defer, or otherwise avoid bits, so that the few that remain are more relevant and easier to handle. This is the core philosophy of Bit Literacy.
Put another way, do we need to take more personal responsibility for subjecting ourselves to the "information overload" that people so happily buzzword about? Is complaining about the overload really an issue of not doing enough spring cleaning at home?
Sunday, April 27, 2008 | retention
Restroom information graphics
I like neither bacon nor these machines, so I wish they would always provide this helpful explanation (or warning).
Friday, April 25, 2008 | infographics
The Earth at night
Via mailing list, Oswald Berthold passes along images and a short article of the Earth from space as compiled by NASA, highlighting city lights in particular.
The collection is an update to the Earth Lights image developed a few years ago (and which made its way 'round the interwebs at the time).
For the more technical, a presentation from the NOAA titled Low Light Imaging of the Earth at Night provides greater detail about the methods used to produce such images. Also includes a couple interesting historical examples (such as the first image they created) as well as comparisons of city growth over time based on changes in the data.
Of course many conclusions can be drawn from seeing map data such as this. Look at the difference between North and South Korea, for instance (original image from globalsecurity.org).
Apparently this is a favorite of former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld:
Mr Rumsfeld showed the picture to illustrate how backward the northern regime really is – and how oppressed its people are. Without electricity there can be none of the appliances that make life easy and that we take for granted, he said.
"Except for my wife and family, that is my favourite photo," said Mr Rumsfeld.
"It says it all. There's the south, the same people as the north, the same resources north and south, and the big difference is in the south it's a free political system and a free economic system.
I've vowed to myself not to make this page be about politics so I won't get into the fatuous arguments of a warmonger (oops), but I think the fascinating thing is that
This image, this "information graphic," would be of such great importance to a person that he would see fit to even mention it in reference to photos of his wife and children. This is a strong statement for any image, even if he is being dramatic.
The use of images to make or score political points. There's some great stuff buried in recent Congressional testimony about the Iraq War, for instance, that I want to get to soon.
In regards to #1, I'm trying to think of other images to which people maintain such a personal relationship (particularly those whose job is not info graphics—Tufte's preoccupation with Napoleon's March doesn't count.)
As for #2, hopefully we'll get to that a bit later.
Friday, April 25, 2008 | mapping, physical, politics
New work, now posted. All of the streets in the lower 48 United States: an image of 26 million individual road segments. This began as an example I created for one of my students in the fall of 2006, and I just recently got a chance to document it properly.
Nothing particularly genius about this piece—it's mostly just a matter of collecting the data and creating the image. But it's one of those cases where even in a (relatively) raw format, the data itself is quite striking.
The data in this piece comes from the U.S. Census Bureau's TIGER/Line data files. The data is first parsed and filtered (to remove non-street features) using Perl. Next, using Processing, the latitude and longitude coordinates are transformed using an Albers equal-area conic projection (which gives it that curvy surface-of-the-Earth look that we're used to), and then plotted to an enormous image that's saved to the disk. The steps are similar to the preprocessing stages described in Chapter 6 of Visualizing Data.
I had originally hoped to use this piece to show patterns in street naming, but I didn't manage to find as much as I had hoped. For instance, names of local trees and flowers being tied to the local geographic regions where they're found. However, cookie cutter suburban neighborhood developments seem to have obliterated any causation. "Magnolia" is such a nice sounding, outdoorsy word; who wouldn't want it adorning their street corner? Local flora be damned.
There are, however, a few other interesting tidbits in the data that I hope to cover in a future project. Real work be damned.
Friday, April 25, 2008 | allstreets
Data availability is aiming too low
The quote is primarily in regards to Web 2.0 (cough), and I couldn't agree more.
"Praising companies for providing APIs to get your own data out is like praising auto companies for not filling your airbags with gravel. I'm not saying data export isn't important, it's just aiming kinda low. You mean when I give you data, you'll give it back to me? People who think this is the pinnacle of freedom aren't really worth listening to."
Via pmarca, I think?
Thursday, April 24, 2008 | acquire
Dusting off
There's nothing worse than someone keeping a journal or blog and having it go stale, so I've watched in horror during the forty day Lenten fast since I've had a chance to post. Things should be better in the next few weeks.
My guidance is Mark Twain, speaking in The Innocents Abroad, who lampooned blogging so accurately a short 139 years ago.
One of our favorite youths, Jack, a splendid young fellow with a head full of good sense, and a pair of legs that were a wonder to look upon in the way of length and straightness and slimness, used to report progress every morning in the most glowing and spirited way, and say:
"Oh, I'm coming along bully!" (he was a little given to slang in his happier moods.) "I wrote ten pages in my journal last night – and you know I wrote nine the night before and twelve the night before that. Why, it's only fun!"
"What do you find to put in it, Jack?"
"Oh, everything. Latitude and longitude, noon every day; and how many miles we made last twenty-four hours; and all the domino games I beat and horse billiards; and whales and sharks and porpoises; and the text of the sermon Sundays (because that'll tell at home, you know); and the ships we saluted and what nation they were; and which way the wind was, and whether there was a heavy sea, and what sail we carried, though we don't ever carry any, principally, going against a head wind always – wonder what is the reason of that? – and how many lies Moult has told – Oh, every thing! I've got everything down. My father told me to keep that journal. Father wouldn't take a thousand dollars for it when I get it done."
"No, Jack; it will be worth more than a thousand dollars – when you get it done."
"Do you? – no, but do you think it will, though?
"Yes, it will be worth at least as much as a thousand dollars – when you get it done. May be more."
"Well, I about half think so, myself. It ain't no slouch of a journal."
But it shortly became a most lamentable "slouch of a journal." One night in Paris, after a hard day's toil in sightseeing, I said:
"Now I'll go and stroll around the cafes awhile, Jack, and give you a chance to write up your journal, old fellow."
His countenance lost its fire. He said:
"Well, no, you needn't mind. I think I won't run that journal anymore. It is awful tedious. Do you know – I reckon I'm as much as four thousand pages behind hand. I haven't got any France in it at all. First I thought I'd leave France out and start fresh. But that wouldn't do, would it? The governor would say, 'Hello, here – didn't see anything in France? That cat wouldn't fight, you know. First I thought I'd copy France out of the guide-book, like old Badger in the for'rard cabin, who's writing a book, but there's more than three hundred pages of it. Oh, I don't think a journal's any use – -do you? They're only a bother, ain't they?"
"Yes, a journal that is incomplete isn't of much use, but a journal properly kept is worth a thousand dollars – when you've got it done."
"A thousand! – well, I should think so. I wouldn't finish it for a million."
Stay tuned for Mark Twain's thoughts on Digg, YouTube, and Web 2.0.
Thursday, April 24, 2008 | site
Representing power usage in the sky
Wonderful project that shows power usage mapped to a green cloud, projected into the sky and onto the output of the Salmisaari power plant in Helsinki. From their description:
Every night from the 22 to the 29 of February 2008, the vapour emissions of he Salmisaari power plant in Helsinki will be illuminated to show the current levels of electricity consumption by local residents. A laser ray will trace the cloud during the night time and turn it into a city scale neon sign. Nuage Vert is a communal event for the area of Ruoholahti, which anticipates esoteric cults centred on energy and transforms an active power plant into a space for art, a living factory. In tandem, as a reversal of conventional roles whereby the post-industrial factory is turned into space for culture, Kaapeli (the cultural factory) becomes the site of operation and Salmisaari (the industrious factory) becomes the site of spectacle.
Check out their blog page with updates and pictures.
Thursday, April 24, 2008 | physical
Why are the Microsoft Office file formats so complicated?
An excellent post from Joel Spolsky about the file format specifications that were recently released by Microsoft (to comply with or avoid more anti-trust / anti-competition mess).
Last week, Microsoft published the binary file formats for Office. These formats appear to be almost completely insane. The Excel 97-2003 file format is a 349 page PDF file. But wait, that's not all there is to it!
This is a perfect example of the complexity of parsing, and dealing with file formats (particularly binary file formats) in general. As Joel describes it:
A normal programmer would conclude that Office's binary file formats:
are deliberately obfuscated
are the product of a demented Borg mind
were created by insanely bad programmers
and are impossible to read or create correctly.
You'd be wrong on all four counts.
Read the article for more insight about parsing and the kind of data that you're likely to find in the wild. While you're at it, his Back to Basics post covers similar ground with regard to proper programming skills, and also gets into the issues of file formats (binary versus XML, and how you build code that reads it).
Joel is another (technical) person whose writing I really enjoy. In the course of digging through his page a bit, I also was reminded of the Best Software Writing I compilation that he assembled, a much needed collection because of the lack of well chosen words on the topic.
Saturday, March 15, 2008 | parse
Are you a member of Facebook.com? You may have a lifetime contract
A New York Times article from February about the difficulty of removing your personal information from Facebook. I believe that in the days that followed Facebook responded by making it ever-so-slightly possible to actually remove your account (though still not very easy).
Further, there is the network effect of information that's not "just" your own. Deleting a Facebook profile does not appear to delete posts you've made to "the wall" of any friends, for instance. Do you own those comments? Does your friend? It's a somewhat similar situation in other areas—even if I chose not to have a Gmail account, because I don't like their data retention policy, all my email sent to friends with Gmail accounts is subject to those terms I'm unhappy with.
Regardless, this is an enormous issue as we put more of our data online. What does it mean to have this information public? What happens when you change your mind?
Facebook stands out because it's a scenario of starting college (at age 17 or 18 or now even earlier), having a very different view of what's public and private, and that evolving over time. You may not care to have things public at the time, but one of the best things about college (or high school, for that matter) is that you move on. Having a log of your outlook, attitude, and photos to prove it that is stored on a a company's servers means that there are more permanent memories of the time which are out of your control. (And you don't know who else beside Facebook is storing it—search engine caches, companies doing data mining, etc. all take a role here.) Your own memories might be lost to alcohol or willful forgetfulness, but digital copies don't behave the same way.
The bottom line is an issue of ownership of one's own personal information. At this point, we're putting more information online—whether it's Facebook or having all your email stored by Gmail—but we haven't figured out what that really means.
Saturday, March 15, 2008 | privacy, retention, social
Democratic Delegate Scenarios
One of the chapters that I had to cut from Visualizing Data was about scenarios—building interactive "what if" tools that help you quickly try out several possibilities. This is one of the most useful aspects of dynamic visualization—being able to try out different ideas in a quick way (and safe, as in non-destructive, since Undo is always nearby). Hopefully I'll be able to cover this sometime soon.
At any rate, one such scenario-building tool is Slate's Delegate Calculator, where you can drag primitive sliders back and forth and see the possibilities for delegate outcomes for Hillary and Obama.
I've seen complaints about its math, but it seems to do an OK job for a big-picture look at the likelihood of different outcomes. Getting the math 100% is impossible (unless you have a far more complicated interface) because the delegate selection process is different in each state. It appears that none of the states wanted to be seen using the same approach as another, and with fifty states going their own way, things got pretty random (Texas: we'll have a caucus and a primary).
I think that's enough posting about politics for a bit.
Saturday, March 15, 2008 | election, politics, scenarios
Basing News Categorization on Blog Blather
Found this on Slashdot, but their headline—"Microsoft Developing News Sorting Based On Political Bias" made it sound a lot more interesting than it may be. The idea of mining text data to tease out mythical media biases and leanings sounds fascinating. What sort of axes could be determined? Could we see how different kinds of language are used, or ways that particular code words or phrases infect news coverage?
Unfortunately, the research project from Microsoft looks like it's just procuring link counts from "liberal" and "conservative" blogs, and gauging the vigor of commentary on either side. Does this make you uneasy yet?
We are politically binary: the world has devolved into conservative and liberal! (Or not, yet why do people insist on it?) The representation seems almost entirely U.S.-centric, right down to the red and blue coloring on either side. Red states! Blue states! Red blogs! Blue Blogs! A maleficent Dr. Seuss has infected our political outlook.
What about those other axes, where are they? Of all the things to cull from political discourse, liberal vs. conservative must be one of the least interesting. Did you need a team of six from Microsoft, plus all the computing power at their disposal, to tell you that one article or another ruffled more feathers on either side of this simplified spectrum?
There's so much to be learned from propagation of phrases and ideas in the news; why hasn't there been a more sophisticated representation of it? (Because it's hard?) The Daily Show has shown this successfully (queueing several people in order repeating something like "axis of evil" or something about "momentum" for a candidate).
Blogs are not real. When you turn off the computer, they go away. The internet is not a place, and is too divorced from actual reality to be a useful gauge on most social phenomena. Using blogs as input for a kind of meta-study seems like a poor way to acquire data.
The problems I cite are a bit unfair since they haven't posted much on their site (looks like they're presenting a paper…soon?) so the reaction is just based on what they've provided. I knew Sumit Basu back at the Media Lab and I think it's safe to assume there's more going on…
But what about these bigger issues?
Saturday, March 15, 2008 | news, politics
Lesson #5: Proportionality should be a guideline in war
Halfway through The Fog of War by Errol Morris (of The Thin Blue Line, or the Apple "Switch" ad campaign depending on your persuasion), Robert S. McNamara (Secretary of Defense for the Kennedy and Johnson administrations) describes proportionality in war:
Why was it necessary to drop the nuclear bomb if [General Curtis] LeMay was burning up Japan? And he went on from Tokyo to firebomb other cities. 58% of Yokohama. Yokohama is roughly the size of Cleveland. 58% of Cleveland destroyed. Tokyo is roughly the size of New York. 51% percent of New York destroyed. 99% of the equivalent of Chattanooga, which was Toyama. 40% of the equivalent of Los Angeles, which was Nagoya. This was all done before the dropping of the nuclear bomb, which by the way was dropped by LeMay's command.
The gruesome description is abetted by a different kind of proportionality—that when placed in the context of size with regard to U.S. cities, these numbers become more "real." I found this set particularly striking for how ordinary the cities were—Cleveland and Chattanooga, in addition to the usual New York and Los Angeles. The huge metropolitan areas may be too abstract for many, but Cleveland!?—those are actual people!
The entire transcript is also on Errol Morris' site—amazing. Why don't more studios do this? It's great to be able to study it more closely, and was enough to convince me to purchase (rather than just rent) the movie.
Sunday, March 9, 2008 | movies
"How much is your education worth to you?!? E-mail your best offer."
Article from the Chronicle of Higher Education about course selection (competition, class lotteries, etc).
Every college has a hot-ticket class. Maybe it's the subject matter (serial killers! sailing!) or maybe it's a celebrity professor (George Tenet! Toni Morrison!). Whatever it is, everybody wants to get in.
And, of course, not everybody can. So how do you decide who gets a seat and who's disappointed?
If you're Patricia de Castries, you make everybody sleep outside your door. Ms. de Castries, assistant director of the Stanford Language Center, teaches a wildly popular wine-tasting course at the university. Often more than 100 would-be connoisseurs compete for the 60 spots, so on the eve of registration students show up with pillows and sleeping bags, hoping to get their names on the list. "It's tough," says Ms. de Castries, "but if you want to be in the class, you do it."
Covers the range from MIT's technical approach to Wharton's free market approach, where students at the latter bid on courses using a point system. Sadly, the article now seems to be blocked except for those academic-types who have access to a subscription.
(Thanks Eugene)
Sunday, March 9, 2008 | probability
Wal-Mart states and Starbucks states
Comparing the number of Starbucks and Wal-Marts per capita across the United States (the lower 48 at least).
Read more Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science from Andrew Gelman's lab at Columbia.
(thx, jason)
Sunday, March 9, 2008 | infographics, mapping
The Myth of the 'Transparent Society'
I've always been uncomfortable with the idea of David Brin's The Transparent Society, because it provides an over-simplified version of a very complex problem. While it appeals to our general obsession with finding simple solutions, it fails to actually address a very real problem. Rather than a revolutionary or provocative idea, it's in fact an argument for maintaining the status quo.
I've never quite been able to parse it out properly, but was pleased to see that Bruce Schneier (Chuck Norris of the security industry) addressed Brin's argument this week for Wired:
When I write and speak about privacy, I am regularly confronted with the mutual disclosure argument. Explained in books like David Brin's The Transparent Society, the argument goes something like this: In a world of ubiquitous surveillance, you'll know all about me, but I will also know all about you. The government will be watching us, but we'll also be watching the government. This is different than before, but it's not automatically worse. And because I know your secrets, you can't use my secrets as a weapon against me.
This might not be everybody's idea of utopia — and it certainly doesn't address the inherent value of privacy — but this theory has a glossy appeal, and could easily be mistaken for a way out of the problem of technology's continuing erosion of privacy. Except it doesn't work, because it ignores the crucial dissimilarity of power.
Schneier's most recent book is Beyond Fear (which I've not yet had a chance to read) and also has an excellent monthly mailing list (that I read all the time) that covers topics like privacy and security. He is a gifted writer who can explain both the subtleties of the privacy debate as well as the complexities of security in terms that are informative for technologists and interesting for anyone else.
Sunday, March 9, 2008 | privacy
Li'l Endian
Chapters 9 and 10 (acquire and parse) are secretly my favorite parts of Visualizing Data. They're a grab bag of useful bits based on many years of working with information (previous headaches)… the sort of things that come up all the time.
Page 327 (Chapter 10) has some discussion about little endian versus big endian, the way in which different computer architectures (Intel vs. the rest of the world, respectively) handle multi-byte binary data. I won't repeat the whole section here, though I have two minor errata for that page.
First, an error in formatting which lists network byte order, rather than network byte order. The other problem is that I mention that little endian versions of Java's DataInputStream class can be found on the web for little more than a search for DataInputStreamLE. As it turns out, that was a big fat lie, though you can find a handful if you search for LEDataInputStream (even though that's a goofier name).
To make it up to you, I'm posting proper DataInputStreamLE (and DataOutputStreamLE) which are a minor adaptation of code from the GNU Classpath project. They work just like DataInputStream and DataOutputStream, but just swap the bytes around for the Intel-minded. Have fun!
DataInputStreamLE.java
DataOutputStreamLE.java
I've been using these for a project and they seem to be working, but let me know if you find errors. In particular, I've not looked closely at the UTF encoding/decoding methods to see if there's anything endian-oriented in there. I tried to clean it up a bit, but the javadoc may also be a bit hokey.
(Update) Household historian Shannon on the origin of the terms:
The terms "big-endian" and "little-endian" come from Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, published in England in 1726. Swift's hero Gulliver finds himself in the midst of a war between the empire of Lilliput, where people break their eggs on the smaller end per a royal decree (Protestant England) and the empire of Blefuscu, which follows tradition and breaks their eggs on the larger end (Catholic France). Swift was satirizing Henry VIII's 1534 decision to break with the Roman Catholic Church and create the Church of England, which threw England into centuries of both religious and political turmoil despite the fact that there was little doctrinal difference between the two religions.
Friday, March 7, 2008 | code, parse, updates, vida
United Nations data now (more readily) available
The United Nations has just launched a new web site to house all their data for all you kids out there who wanna crush Hans Rosling. The availability of this sort of information has been a huge problem in the past (Hans' talks are based on World Bank data that costs real money), and while the U.N. has been pretty good about making things available, a site whose sole purpose is to disseminate usable data is enormous.
Thursday, March 6, 2008 | acquire
Zipdecode in der Schweiz
Dominic Allemann has developed a Swiss version of the zipdecode example from chapter six of Visualizing Data. This is the whole point of the book—to actually try things out and adapt them in different ways and see what you can learn from it.
Switzerland makes an interesting example because it has far fewer postal codes than the U.S., though the dots are quite elegant on their own. With fewer data points, I'd be inclined to 1) change the size of the individual points to make them larger without making them overwhelming, 2) or work with the colors to make the contrast more striking, since changing the point size is likely to be too much), and 3) get the text into mixed case (in this example, Gossau SG instead of GOSSAU SG). Something as minor as avoiding ALL CAPS helps get us away from the representation looking too much like COMPUTERS and DATABASES, and instead into something meant for regular humans. Finally, 4) with the smaller (and far more regular) data set, it's not clear if the zoom even helps—could even be better off without it.
Thanks to Dominic for passing this along; it's great to see!
Thursday, March 6, 2008 | adaptation, vida, zipdecode
Goodbye red background, farewell imposing text blocks
I'm in the midst of rolling out a web site redesign. The former site (un)design was assembled just after finishing my Ph.D. I expected it to be bad enough to force myself to make a proper site. Three and a half years passed, with even friends who weren't designers (including my future mother-in-law) taking exception. The redesign was done by my friend Eugene Kuo, who couldn't deal with it any longer.
I'm currently building out the design and hooking up all the pages (including a handful of projects that weren't linked before). The navigation at the top will slowly begin to work as this process continues. For instance, the "projects" link currently points to my old site, which is missing anything I've done in the past four years. The big images on the home page will soon be rotating through projects, while the new projects page will provide a better visual overview of what's inside.
At any rate, thanks to Eugene and keep an eye out…
Wednesday, March 5, 2008 | site
Google Chart API
I've not had a chance to try these out with an actual project yet, but the Google Chart API seems to be a decent way to get Tufte® compliant chart images using simple web requests. Just pack the info for the chart's appearance and data into a specially crafted URL and you're set.
It's a nice idea for a service, and I also appreciate that Google has kept it simple, rather than implementing it through a series of obfuscated and strangely-crafted embedded JavaScript (like, say, Google maps or their newer search APIs after discontinuing the SOAP protocol).
Wednesday, March 5, 2008 | api, represent
Robust Analysis of Socio-cultural Observations
Given the number of data points provided, it would be difficult to refute the findings depicted in this chart.
Related work can be found here and here. While later research findings (by latecomers who foolishly claim to have invented the approach) here and here.
Thanks to Raelynn Miles for the original link.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008 | infographics, music
Cracks in the Guggenheim
Beautiful info graphic from a September 2007 article about the restoration of the Guggenheim, depicting the cracks in the concrete walls. From the image:
Since the Guggenheim Museum opened in 1959, Frank Lloyd Wright's massive spiral facade has been showing signs of cracking, mainly from seasonal temperature fluctuations that caus the concrete walls, built without expansion joints, to contract and expand.
The image is partly striking for the contrast between the NYT-style geometric graphic and pale colors mixed with the organic shape of the cracks. Wonderful.
Sent from one of my former students at CMU (you know who you are, drop me a line if it was you…I've lost the original message!)
Tuesday, March 4, 2008 | infographics
Can we just agree never to use the word "surge"… in any context?
Somewhere between the "most important" and "only useful" thing about the wide availability map data, GPS systems, and the sort of mash-up type things that are all the rage is the ability to actually annotate map information in a useful way by combining these features.
An unfortunately titled article from the Technology Review describes a system being used in Iraq to help soldiers with their counterinsurgency efforts.
The new technology … is a map-centric application that … officers … can study before going on patrol and add to upon returning. By clicking on icons and lists, they can see the locations of key buildings, like mosques, schools, and hospitals, and retrieve information such as location data on past attacks, geotagged photos of houses and other buildings (taken with [GPS-equipped] cameras), and photos of suspected insurgents and neighborhood leaders. They can even listen to civilian interviews and watch videos of past maneuvers. It is just the kind of information that soldiers need to learn about Iraq and its perils.
It's a wonder that such systems aren't the norm, and the software described seems quite straightforward. But a step further, I found this quote intriguing:
"It is a bit revolutionary from a military perspective when you think about it, using peer-based information to drive the next move … Normally we are used to our higher headquarters telling the patrol leader what he needs to think."
Not so much the cliché of technology being an enabler or democratizer (that can't be a word, can it?) Rather, there's something interesting about how the strength of a military structure (in discipline and rote effectiveness) is derived in part from top-down control, but that lies in direct contradiction to how information—of any kind, really—needs to move around this organization for it to be effective. What does it mean an approach like this one works in such contrast to tradition?
Thursday, February 28, 2008 | iraq, mapping
The minimum, the maximum, and the typos therein
Blake Tregre found a typo on page 55 of Visualizing Data in one of the comments:
// Set the value of m arbitrarily high, so the first value
// found will be set as the maximum.
float m = MIN_FLOAT;
That should instead read something like:
// Set the value of m to the lowest possible value,
// so that the first value found will automatically be larger.
This also reminds me that the Table class used in chapter 4, makes use of Float.MAX_VALUE and -Float.MAX_VALUE, which are inherited from Java. Processing has constants named MAX_FLOAT and MIN_FLOAT that do the same thing. We added the constants because -Float.MAX_VALUE seems like especially awkward syntax when you're just trying to get the smallest possible float. The Table class was written sometime before the constants were added to the Processing syntax, so they use the Java approach.
There is a Float.MIN_VALUE in Java, however the spec does a very unfortunate thing, because MIN_VALUE is defined as "A constant holding the smallest positive nonzero value of type float", which sounds promising until you realize that it just means a very tiny positive number, not the minimum possible value for float. It's not clear why they thought this would be a more useful constant (or useful at all).
And to make things even more confusing, Integer.MAX_VALUE and Integer.MIN_VALUE behave more like the way you might expect, where the MIN_VALUE is in fact that the lowest (most negative) value for an int. Had they used the same definition as Float.MIN_VALUE, then Integer.MIN_VALUE would equal 1. Which illustrates just how silly it is to do that for the Float class.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008 | series, updates, vida
Sometimes, the map plays with you
I missed seeing it live, but was told about it by a baffled friend who muttered about watching CNN and that the anchors were having a little too much fun with a new touch-screen toy while they covered returns for the primaries. The Washington Post provides more details.
Standing in front of an oversize monitor, King began poking, touching and waving at the screen like an over-caffeinated traffic cop. Each movement set in motion a series of zooming maps and flying pie charts, which King was then able to position around the screen at will.
The story also references Tim Russert's much-talked-about (and I'd-forgotten-about) whiteboard scribbling for the 2000 election, which has me wondering about which presentation was actually more informative for viewers.
Thankfully, The Daily Show provides some insight:
Tuesday, February 26, 2008 | election
Restoring Sight with the Tongue
Visualization works because our eyes are the highest bandwidth channel for getting information into our brains. Researchers working to restore sight have found that the second best place may be the the tongue, due to the high density of nerve endings. An amazing testament to the adaptability of the brain to begin perceiving visual/spatial information from sensors of another organ.
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are developing this tongue-stimulating system, which translates images detected by a camera into a pattern of electric pulses that trigger touch receptors. The scientists say that volunteers testing the prototype soon lose awareness of on-the-tongue sensations. They then perceive the stimulation as shapes and features in space. Their tongue becomes a surrogate eye.
Earlier research had used the skin as a route for images to reach the nervous system. That people can decode nerve pulses as visual information when they come from sources other than the eyes shows how adaptable, or plastic, the brain is, says Wisconsin neuroscientist and physician Paul Bach-y-Rita, one of the device's inventors.
Via mailing list post from Daniel Brown.
Saturday, February 23, 2008 | science
Caricatures of the Presidential Candidates
An example of how cartoonists embed sophisticated ideas inside their drawings, videos from the Washington Post of caricaturist John Kascht describing his process. I especially liked the idea of Obama not smiling (in spite of the positive persona the campaign has been selling), and the description of McCain's head as a "clenched fist" couldn't be more apt. These are impressions that will stick with me next time I see all these candidates.
On Obama: "There's a messianic aura about him. … That air of destiny really registers all across his face and in his body language as well. He shines. Light literally bounces off the guy from everywhere … And yet for all of the surface appeal of him, I'm drawn to the unsmiling images of him, where he has his head tipped back with an almost aristocratic bearing. Seems very telling somehow. As a work in progress he's completely fascinating to watch and to draw."
On Hillary: "It seems to fit that Clinton's cheeks are her most prominent features. Cheeks aren't exactly the windows to the soul, but Hillary Clinton's not exactly a 'peek inside my soul' kind of person, anyway. … Her round facial features seem to balance on top of one another, and along the same lines her head seems to balance on top of her narrow shoulders like a boulder on a pyramid. I find it really interesting that this graphic profile that she cuts—of all of these elements in precarious alignment—is such a perfect metaphor for her political balancing act."
On McCain: "His jaw gives him away…it's an anger barometer. During debates when he's being challenged by an opponent, he bites down hard, and you know what he really wants to do is go to the podium next door and smack somebody. … He's got a head like a clenched fist, and it expands with every passing year. … His small, dark eyes are watchful and wary. Whether he's smiling or talking he bares his teeth; they're choppers really, and they flash with metal. They look like weapons. His skin isn't skin so much as hide."
On Mitt: "Mitt Romney is both the easiest and the hardest of the candidates to caricature. … He seems less like an individual person than a 'type' of person. He's what central casting might come up with for the game show host type or the Ward Cleaverish 50's dad type. … Because of the heavy ridge of his brow and his deep-set eyes, it's tough to even see his eyes, much less find a twinkle in them. But his hair sparkles. That's what we end up making eye contact with. It's off-putting rather than inviting."
Link and summaries stolen from Daily Kos.
Saturday, February 23, 2008 | drawing
Karl Gude describes How to Draw an Eye
Wonderfully simple explanation of how to draw an eye. Karl used to be the graphics editor at Newsweek, and now teaches in the journalism school at Sparty.
I thought I'd share a short video I just made on how to draw an eye. I think it's fun… Skip to the end if you're in a hurry, though it's only a couple of minutes long. Please pass it along to any budding artists! I plan to do a series of drawing instruction videos over time and this is the first.
Karl put together a fun conference last year. Conference might not be the right word (the attendees were the speakers, and the speakers the only attendees); really it was a handful of info geeks hanging out in Newport discussing each other's work, but we certainly had a good time.
Watching Cancer Growth with a See-Through Fish
Information visualization is the process of converting abstract information, like raw numbers, into form. Visualization is about representing phenomena, like weather, that already have a physical manifestation. Then there's open your damn eyes, where you just stare at the thing you're studying. Researchers at Children's Hospital in Boston have created a see-through Zebrafish, allowing them to watch cancer growth in the fish's body.
Via Slashdot.
Visualizing Data is my 2007 book about computational information design. It covers the path from raw data to how we understand it, detailing how to begin with a set of numbers and produce images or software that lets you view and interact with information. When first published, it was the only book(s) for people who wanted to learn how to actually build a data visualization in code.
The text was published by O'Reilly in December 2007 and can be found at Amazon and elsewhere. Amazon also has an edition for the Kindle, for people who aren't into the dead tree thing. (Proceeds from Amazon links found on this page are used to pay my web hosting bill.)
Examples for the book can be found here.
The book covers ideas found in my Ph.D. dissertation, which is the basis for Chapter 1. The next chapter is an extremely brief introduction to Processing, which is used for the examples. Next is (chapter 3) is a simple mapping project to place data points on a map of the United States. Of course, the idea is not that lots of people want to visualize data for each of 50 states. Instead, it's a jumping off point for learning how to lay out data spatially.
The chapters that follow cover six more projects, such as salary vs. performance (Chapter 5), zipdecode (Chapter 6), followed by more advanced topics dealing with trees, treemaps, hierarchies, and recursion (Chapter 7), plus graphs and networks (Chapter 8).
This site is used for follow-up code and writing about related topics.
Much Clicked
Visualizing Data Examples
On needing approval for what we create, and losing control over how it's distributed
Brains on the Line
Watching the evolution of the "Origin of Species"
Piet Mondrian Goes to the Super Bowl
Sustainable Creativity at Pixar
Surfing, Orgies, and Apple Pie
Eric Idle on "Scale"
Are electronic medical records really about data?
Feb 2008 – April 2008
May 2008 – June 2008
June 2008 – August 2008
Sept 2008 – Dec 2008
Jan 2009 – May 2009
June 2009 – Nov 2009
All work on this site is under copyright and may not be copied or reproduced without permission.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


he internationally heralded choreographer marks the 20th anniversary of his company with a dazzling new work inspired by the life and art of African American photographer Charles "Teenie" Harris -- a.k.a."One Shot." Ronald K. Brown/Evidence has created a challenging and impressive vocabulary of its own by focusing on the seamless fusion of traditional African dance with contemporary choreography and providing unique views of human struggles, tragedies and triumphs. The new piece offers a stirring meditation on the idea of having "one shot" in life. The company also performs Order My Steps and Grace.


Általános ismeret az internet és a World Wide Web (WWW) működéséről.
Megfelelő gyakorlati ismeretek a HyperText Markup Language, az az (HTML) nyelvet kapcsolatban.
Tanulás az interneten információt nyújt a kezdőknek, és bemutatja az alapvető fogalmakat a programozással és az internettel kapcsolatban.
Object-oriented. No distinction between types of objects. Inheritance is through the prototype mechanism, and properties and methods can be added to any object dynamically. Class-based. Objects are divided into classes and instances with all inheritance through the class hierarchy. Classes and instances cannot have properties or methods added dynamically.
Variable data types are not declared (dynamic typing). Variable data types must be declared (static typing).
Cannot automatically write to hard disk. Can automatically write to hard disk.
The ECMAScript specification is a set of requirements for implementing ECMAScript; it is useful if you want to implement standards-compliant language features in your ECMAScript implementation or engine (such as SpiderMonkey in Firefox, or v8 in Chrome).
Select the code in the pad and hit Ctrl+R to watch it unfold in your browser!


2013 was a big year for me creatively. Fate brought me a sweet girl by the name of Angela. She provided me with HUGE opportunities to expand my card crafting work as well as my design skills. I have loved Unity since I began card crafting in 2008. But 2013 was my year. My year to join the Unity family.
I started with a guest design spot. Then, I got one very special email asking to stay. Then, I started designing stamps. It was meant to be in 2013.
I love my Unity family. Angela, her family, the staff, the design team girls and the artistas. They are all my family. They mean the world to me. So thank you, 2013 for bringing me THEM.
And I gotta say, Unity fans are pretty special to me, too. For an entire year, I have read each and every comment you all have left me. You have touched my heart, with each word and compliment you've given.
Today, I'm posting a few Unity creations that I submitted to Paper Crafts Magazine that never got their chance to shine this year. I hope you enjoy, and I look forward to many many more Unity projects in 2014.
Your next stop along the way is the always creative Jolande. As always, don't forget to leave a comment for a chance to win a fabulous Unity prize and be sure to check out the year in review sale going on on the Unity website. Enjoy!


Many people believe that eco-friendly cleaning is more expensive than conventional cleaning. We've all seen the crazy markups that seem to magically appear on items once a green label is slapped on them, but there are also lots of deals and savings available too.
Stop using Swiffer Sweepers and Mops. Pass on Swiffer Dusters too. Instead of spending $10 a month on paper towels and disposable mops and dusters, invest $60 or so in a set of washable microfiber mops and cloths that will last years instead. I've got lots of cleaning tools listed in my Amazon shop, but you can also find them in a good hardware store, supermarket, The Container Store, or Bed Bath and Beyond.
Buy concentrated cleaning products. I love Better Life products. You can buy gallon sized jugs of concentrates of what-EVER and other solutions on their website. Plus you'll get free shipping since it's over $25! Dr. Bronner's Liquid Castile Soaps and Sal Suds are also highly concentrated- a little bit in a spray bottle or bucket of water will go very far! Check out Lisa Bronner's dilution cheap sheet. Housekeeping Channel has a list of helpful tips for understanding how to dilute cleaning solutions.
Sign up for email newsletters from manufacturers of your favorite green cleaning products. I'm always getting printable coupons from Seventh Generation. Connecting with companies on Facebook and Twitter is another way to get notice of deals. Don't forget to connect with your local supermarket, health food store, and drug store too. They'll have sales and promotions on green cleaning products as well.
Look for free or inexpensive samples directly from a product manufacturer. Sound Earth will send out a free sample with every order. This will help you discover products you like and avoid ones you don't.
Make your own cleaning products. Check out my video for how to make Viva Vinegar All Purpose Spray or sign up for my mailing list to receive a free illustrated zine of my favorite green cleaning recipes. Invest in a copy of Better Basics for the Home by Annie B. Bond. It's got a natural and inexpensive solution for practically every housekeeping conundrum: cleaning, personal care, pet care, gardening, pest control, etc.
Follow directions on the package (or contact customer service if there are none) to find out the best way to use a product. Don't use more than what's called for. Using the wrong or least effective product for the surface will also waste money because you'll be inclined to use more of it but you still won't get great results.
Spray cleaning product at the surface, or the cleaning cloth, and not at the air around the surface. You wanna hold the spray bottle relatively close to what you want it to get on. Seems obvious, but it's a product-wasting error many people make without even noticing.
Do you have any other tips for saving money on green cleaning? Leave a comment.
Consider supporting this blog by purchasing green cleaning & fun home goodies selected by me via my Amazon shop or clicking on an ad. Thanks.
I've been experimenting with making my own green cleaning products. It's been kinda fun. It's amazing what vinegar can do!


text:
My Trip To Newark
For some reason, I decided to run in a 5K in Newark this morning. Not sure why. Random observations: (1) Nice people at the Seven Hills school that sponsored the event.. Although I had an awkward moment when I was greeted by a nice lady who wanted to know my name, and I replied "Barry." She responded. "Ok, Barry Green." (2) Didn't see the lady from the city court that made it on Fox 4 the other day. (3) That school is very nice. (4) The run was a little odd in that they sent you down three different roads and you had to do a U-turn and come back. (5) I had to dodge a three legged dog. (6) I had to dodge a pack of dogs. (7) At one point, three horses were running beside me on the other side of a fence. (8) I think I came in fourth. But third was a little girl. Seriously. And as I came to the finish line, I was finishing strong. And then, suddenly, I was passed by a guy who had more self-confidence and swagger than any man I had seen before. His name was . . . Ralph Hardy.
More Powerful Than A Letter To The Editor
A 16-year-old girl posted a cry for help on YouTube two weeks ago. She was allegedly drugged and raped by a 23-year-old man. In the video, she does not name the rapist, but instead focuses on her disappointment that the Florida state attorney's office refused to prosecute the case . . . . Source. One thing about being a prosecutor is that there will always be people unhappy with the decisions you make. But, man, the Internet sure changes the playing field.
If You Recognize The Name Brian Loncar . . .
. . . you'll love this. I can't remember if he used to be The Texas Hammer or The Texas Strongarm. (Thanks emailer Ken.)
From the DMN:
Joe Barron, 52, was arrested in Bryan, Texas, after he drove more than three hours to have sex with a person he thought was a 13-year-old girl, according to police.
He is one of about 20 ministers from Prestonwood Baptist Church, the Plano megachurch.
Here's a story from the Bryan College Station Eagle. We'll have our own story up and posted as soon as we can.
Prestonwood, understandably, has disabled the information on its website as to who this guy is but a Google cache lists him as "Minister Adult Married III." Oh, my, indeed. The privates are going to be the downfall of society.
We have an 'unattended death' of a 22 year old in Paradise area.
Developing.
Barry (from mobile)
Edit: I'm sure this happened, I just don't have any details. (4:13 p.m.)
At the jail ...
Edit: Somehow the text didn't come through with the email. If I remember correctly, this guy was an inmate in 1993 when the jail was being expanded. Inmates who were trustees (or "trusty" as they used to be called) were assisting in the construction. I think a wall of cinder blocks fell on this guy one morning. I can't remember what he was being incarcerated for.
I love movies about the illegal drug trade. Blow. Scarface. Traffic. And the great documentary Cocaine Cowboys.
And I'd put American Gangster right up there with them. Except for the ending. This thing is "based on a true story" but I really haven't checked it out yet. But I find that hard to believe.
The last 20 minutes turns into a bad Law & Order episode. And, without ruining the ending, if you hypothetically believe a person can be a cop investigating a high level drug trade, then graduate from law school and become a prosecutor in the very same case, and then later on a defense lawyer for the guy he prosecuted, this movie is for you.
- Think about your tax bill. Ok, Ready. Headline: "Hutchison wants $100 mil for border drug war." When did she lose her mind?
- There's a road sign on 407 headed towards Justin that warns you of "low flying aircraft." Why? I mean, I know there's a little airport there but how exactly am I supposed to react to the warning?
- Odd moment of Fox 4 News at 6:53 this morning when they were showing us a dog ts back on the carpet they wanted us to adopt: "Show us that money shot," said Evan. I thought Tim was gonna lose it.
- Speaking of Fox 4, Todd Carruth is leaving as well. I'm afraid that I'm going to turn it on one morning and see nothing but an empty studio.
- Private poll dancing mishap. Good times.
- Don't care to much about the California Supreme Court ruling paving the way for gay marriage. But the fact that hottie Portia de Rossi plans to marry is deeply disconcerting.
- And it's good to see Sen. John Cornyn was quick to suggest that the federal government will get involved in the gay marriage debate. Thank goodness the federal government comes to save us again.
- More crazy federal intervention. That crazy story where some teenager killed herself after being duped on myspace?: The lady who might have done the duping was federally indicted. Incredible. Simply incredible.
- Geekiest thing I've done in a while: Learning PHP and mySQL. Ya know, if I could earn a living being locked in a room for nine hours a day writing code, I think I would.
- It's time for The Preakness and the very wheels off Running Of The Urinals.
- If you want to understand the mortgage crisis, check out this week's podcast of This American Life.
I've Been Busy But Did Notice This
One plane lands on another plane taking off today in Roanoke. It's hard to believe it actually happened and they stayed that way.
And on a completely unrelated note, I've changed the comments to allow them to "pop up" instead of taking you to a different page. Some people complained that hitting the "back" buttom after looking at comments was one of the problems with the speed.
Edit: And I'll try something else. I'll limit the number of my posts to 10 on the first page. Previously it was limited to the last four days, regardless of the number of posts. That will at least decrease the size.
- Channel 5 did an alarmist "Date Rape Drug" story last night: Jane McGarry says "never put your drink down."
- Law and Order in some ways is kind of silly. Saw a defense lawyer, right in front of his client, ask for a plea bargain from the prosecutor last night and then accept it immediately. Ya might want to ask your client about that, hoss.
- John Edwards endorsed Obama yesterday. I think endorsements have no impact whatsoever - unless some nutcase endorses you. Uh, I endorse John McCain.
- Anybody found the Versus network yet?
- Check out the title bar at the very top of your screen.
- Every newscast last night warned me of "Crazy Raspberry Ants." They use their dead to build bridges, or so Channel 5 told me this morning. Do they scream, "Tonight we dine in hell!!!!"?
- The other day Kay Bailey Hutchison popped on Rush Limbaugh's show on WBAP and thanked him for all that he "did for America." And to think I shook her hand at the old Decatur K-Bob's once.
- Other than maybe two people, I don't know the identity of any of the commenters on here who have Google IDs associated with them. But I do see a pattern: Someone posts a lot, gets bombarded with attacks, and then they go back to anonymous posting. Don't blame 'em.
- Tonya Harding is on The Today Show this morning promoting a new book. That poor girl's wheels are still off.
- Pic of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's yacht that Brad and Angelina just vacationed on in Monaco. I was on an Alumacraft with a 15 hp motor on Lake Bridgeport once.
- That crazy Six Flags commercial of the old lady laughing as she shines a light on the wall causing her cat to go nuts is funny.
- And I still laugh at the new/old Bill O'Reilly tape when he screams, "We'll do it live!!!!!"
- A multi-million verdict against Vioxx which was awarded by some crazy South Texas jury was overturned yesterday. That crying you heard last night was a guy was a lawyer who went from poor to rich to poor again because of a "contingency fee."
- I've had a 7 gram of fat frozen quesadilla for dinner for five straight days.
- Our Presidet honors fallen soldiers by giving up golf. Didn't he do a skit once where he looked for WMDs in his office?
- Megan Henderson "Hey, Now." (Thanks emailer and Frontburner)
Ralph Hardy On Fox 4 - But We Have Issues
Tonight, Fox 4 News did a story on Blog Hero and Legend Ralph Hardy. Below are some screenshots,and we learned the following:
(1) There are no hookers in Newark - an assertion which can seriously be questioned.
(2) Court Clerk Amy Cromer (below in burnt orange) is a rising star in city government and could easily surpass a few "Hey, nows" that have heretofore been posted. (Edit: OK. Don't even try to make comments about, uh, stuff. Not gonna post 'em.)
(3) Lari Barager must hate me. She made reference to about three blogs but Liberally Lean didn't get a single mention. Nothing. Nada. Maybe it's because I referred to Megan Henderson as the hottest girl in local news. Maybe it's because she's been wronged by someone else and taking it out on me. Developing . . .
(4) Franklin Miller has proclaimed himself the "go to guy" for Newark for any and all information. Franklin could have been my BFF if he had said, "Yeah, I know Ralph. He's a playa." (And he had the very funny line last night of, "If there were hookers in Newark, I'd know it.")
Frilly's?
Let The Legend Begin: Ralph Hardy
WorldNetDaily.com appears to be the first reputable news organization (I'm not a news organization nor am I reputable) that has proclaimed the Newark "13 year old boy and hookers" story to be fake.
There is no Ralph Hardy.
But, like the ficticious Tyler Durden in Fight Club, he may become a legendary Wise County character. Like Rook Ramsey or George Harwood or Phil Ryan. Only fake.
So, dear Wise Countians, in all decisions in the future let this be your guide: what would Ralph Hardy do?
- "Kaptain Robbi Knievel" will jump a bunch of Hummers at the Motor Speedway next month. Saw him on the news last night - dumb as a box of rocks.
- A" longtime priest of the Catholic Diocese of Dallas resigned Tuesday from his new post at St. Michael the Archangel Church in McKinney amid complaints about his past participation with an Internet site for gay priests." That sentence makes my head hurt.
- But I think the Baptists need to trick up their church names a bit. Maybe, the Mark the Disciple of Jesus Immersed in the Jordan Baptist Church of Flatwood.
- Our jury cards used to have potential jurors fill out their religious affiliations. Baptist was oftentimes spelled as "Babtist" by lots of folks.
- The Rangers are 13-5 over the last 18 games. Don't get your hopes up. And from the number of empty seats on television, not many people are.
- "American Gangster" is very good but not great. But I'm not done with it yet.
- I've rented "Grizzly Man" again so I can once again enjoy the magic.
- The government told us last month that one of the girls taken into custody from the FLDS was a minor and pregnant. Now they say "Uh, nope. Our bad." Government incompetence or Government lies. Take your pick.
- Various local newscasts were covering people camping out to get season football tickets for Southlake Carroll this morning. Why don't they take some of their gold bullion and build a bigger stadium?
- Speaking of Southlake, heard one local church gave out a gift certificate last Sunday to a high tone spa in Southlake.
- The presidential election will be interesting. Will America put aside years of racism to elect a black man or will it settle for a George Bush third term? But it was funny to see the right wing go nuts two days ago when McCain spoke against "global warming."
- Google Maps, which I love, is incorporating real estate listings. To see it even in the Decatur area, go here and click on "show search options" at the top. It's far from complete,
Tara Reid Ponders Blog's Slowness
Complaints Of Blog Slowness
Not being one to turn my back on monetary subscribers, I have heard your complaints about the slowness of the "The Blog." Your pain is my pain. But in a word, I'm confused. First, the darn thing is hosted by Google by its blogger/blogspot "get yourself a free blog" software, so I don't have any control over its speed. That being said, I've never seen a problem. I access it at work via Embarq DSL, from home by AT&T DSL,and through the courthouse by I don't know what. I've never had a problem with speed. (Internet or crank.) But I certainly believe you folks that complain. Do you guys have the same problem with that Google hosted Incidental Remarkings drivel? (Uh, I joke) That being said, I'll post the silly poll on the side to get a feel for the problem. In the meantime, I've limited the number of posts that can appear on the front page and I'll try to limit the embedded video (which surely slows it down.) And I'll check out (and am open to) other options. Good times. Edit: And for you techies out there, my wisecounty.com host just moved to a different platform that allows Wordpress hosting. I think I know what that means, but have never experimented with Wordpress.
Newark Worldwide News?
The Internets are full of a story involving a 13 year old from Newark, Texas who has been "convicted" of ordering an extra credit card on his dad's account to buy hookers. And the kid is named.
When did this happen? I'm putting my best reporters on this story. Sumtin' ain't right. Sumtin' ain't right-at-tal.
But, if it is true, I'm hanging out with the kid this weekend.
Edit: Since I just saw this in a parking lot very close by, I'll try and get some answers.
Edit #2: I have spoken to His Holiness, the Honorable Police Chief Gerald Wright who says, and I'm paraphrasing here, "This is crazy talk! It didn't happen!" Seems like the prosecutors up in the courthouse have never heard of the kid nor have any of the Newark townspeople down at Floyd's Barber Shop.
But it seems as the story filters out over the Intertubes that Newark City Hall is getting calls from all over the world. It's even made PerezHilton.com. Triple good times.
Hottest Woman In History Of Local News . . .
. . . might be jumping to Media Evil Empire. And I was disturbed she wasn't on the newscast this morning.
(Cue Green Day's Time Of Your Life.)
And Another
A former teacher at Early High School is accused of having sexual contact with an 18-year-old male student when she worked at the school, police said. Joy Blackstock, 23, is free on $15,000 bond after being arrested Thursday on a charge of improper relationship between an educator and a student, Brown County Jail records state.
(Story. Silly registration required.)
Holy, crap. She's hot. 23. The "victim" is 18. She's arrested only because she's a teacher and he's a student. Call Dateline NBC!! Call Chris Hansen!! Fire up the Sexual Registration list!!!! The streets aren't save with sweet Joy walking around!!!!!
There are worse crimes in a typical hockey game.
(Thanks emailer.)
Worst. Movie. Ever?
- Two more Fort Worth motorcycle deaths
- I don't know why conservatives freak out over the concept of nationalized health care. Everyone I know thinks it's reasonable for their HMO to pay more on their behalf than they pay in each year. And to a great extent that happens. With employer's passing along the high insurance premiums, that's closer to socialized medicine than insurance.
- I've begun reading H.G. Wells' The Invisible Man. Edit: As a commenter pointed out, I should read Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. Sadly, that is what I intended to download from iTunes. I'm an idiot. Who would have thought two famous novels would have the same name?
- I probably agree with the Libertarians more than anyone else. But yesterday they announced that Bob Barr would be the party's presidential nominee. That is completely stunning. He's been a conservative nut job all his life.
- Why was Tony Romo throwing out the first pitch at a Cubs game? There's something just not right about that guy.
- A client reminded me of the Rock Island Railroad company the other day. Hadn't thought of that since I saw the cars rolling through Bridgeport when I was in my baby diaper.
- There was an unassisted triple play in the Major League last night. Every time I see one (assisted or unassisted) it takes me a while to figure out what happened.
- Apple says all the iPhones are gone fueling rumors of a next generation device. Sheesh. I got mine a couple of months ago, my law partner got his two weeks ago, and I've heard the Wise and Jack County probation officers got a fleet of them two weeks ago.
- Someone commented under the "prom dress" post below that everyone just needs to "conform to society." Puhhhleeeeze.
- Pretty amazing photos coming out of China after the earthquake, but I'm surprised they have "counties" over there.
- The potential Decatur restaurant smoking ban is insane. I hate smoking as much as the next guy, but it's incredible that government can tell a local business owner how to run his business. If he/she wants to allow smoking, let the market determine whether that's a good idea.
- After a brief Supreme Court interruption, Texas is back in the Death Business. Eight inmates are scheduled to be killed by the government by the end of August.
- Speaking of death, a dog on a Formula One racetrack is not-a-good.
- Edit: Violent New York newscast F-Bomb.
That Had To Cost A Lot In Gas To Get There
The R and R blog (who has basically made me give up posting celebrity crap since he/she gets to it before me) had this gem from a day or so ago. Is that the Decatur-Beggar-In-A-Tie hanging out in Haltom City? R and R says "yes, it is."
We've Got More Injustice!!!!
Obviously, school officials are not familiar with a little old document called the United States Constitution which, the last time I checked, guaranteed every American the right to dress provocatively (as recognized by the Supreme Court in Electric Boutique and New Orleans Nights v. Decatur, Texas I.S.D.) The ACLU and I shall march upon the administration building until this injustice is cured.
High School Steeple Chase Carnage
A very funny pair of videos (that I'll link to instead of embed), and the crowd response/commentary only adds to the joy. One. Two. Trust me. Edit: And for those who like their videos a littler darker, check out this one of a guy who almost jumped off the George W. Bush freeway this morning.
The No Spin Zone
Edit: Link Of Video Here. The embedded version was acting a little wanky. I'd seen references to this video, but I finally watched it a second ago. It's all over the place today. Warnings: (1) You have to listen to Bill O'Reilly, (2) F-Bombs, and (3) You have to listen to Bill O'Reilly. I've never really hated the guy as much as most people, but he makes Obama's pastor look like Santa Claus in this thing. Get that man a teleprompter that works. Quick. What say ye?
Kinkiness Goes Horribly Wrong
New Mexico - A woman is accused of chasing her boyfriend with a knife after thinking he was an actor in a pornographic movie they were watching together.
The victim says it all started when he and his girlfriend were inside his southwest Albuquerque home watching a pornographic move at 10:30 Wednesday morning.
Full story. I'm not making this up.
One Woman Gang
This girl's accomplishments at the State Track Meet made just a tiny blurb in the Dallas Morning News yesterday. But I expect a wave of publicity now. Story.
And, for the local tie, the Jack County District Clerk told me about this gal about a month ago.
Edit: Good lord, people. Back off the comments (that I have rejected left and right.) She's a kid.
- 95 people have already died in tornadoes in the United States this year.
- 900 students "buried" in a China earthquake this morning.
- The death toll in Myanmar has risen to 28,000
- "Carrollton's new mayor says top priority is ridding city of illegal immigrants."
- I'm overwhelmed with "Good Will Towards Men" this morning
- I scraped my knee. It takes a lot of bandages to keep gauze on a knee.
- I didn't care much about the Jenna Bush wedding (she seems very bland), but I did find it interesting that the caterers of the rehearsal dinner didn't know who they were catering for until less than 24 hours before the event.
- The first Groom/Bride dance was to this song and the first Father/Daughter dance was to the painful Joe Cocker song of "You Are So Beautiful To Me."
- Brandon Davis, the guy in the Sergeant Carter hat who was running for mayor of Rhome, received 25 votes.


Full of beautiful, atmospheric illustrations, 'Dragon Dancer' is a story which shares the excitement and wonder of Chinese New Year.
Yao is a Dragon Dancer; Shen Long is the costume created by Yao's grandfather. Every year, Shen Long comes to life, speaking to Yao as he wakes the dragon from his sleep so they can banish bad luck from the skies of Singapore.
The illustrations in this book are fascinating. A mixture of detail and imagination, they propel the reader into the magic of Chinese New Year, its mystery and traditions. An excellent starting point for research and discovery of this ancient tradition and all the customs around Chinese New Year, Dragon Dancer is also written beautifully, with rich language choices.
This is an amazing book, offering a wealth of opportunities for use in school as well as being a wonderful story to share again and again.


Endangered African animals such as the rhino, elephant, leopard, and lions are being hunted and poached to extinction. As the national carrier, South African Airways has a moral obligation to safeguard these precious animals, but it recently went back on its commitment to ban transport of these trophy animals. Please sign my petition asking South African Airways to stop supporting wildlife slaughter by trophy hunters.
After Cecil the lion was killed in Zimbabwe, many airlines including Delta woke up and realized it's bad business and poor conservation policy to support the slaughter of some of the most incredible wild animals on the planet -- Delta, United, Virgin, British Airways, Emirates, and many other airlines now have global bans on transport of the Big 5 (lion, leopard, elephant, rhinoceros, buffalo).
As someone with a passion for wildlife photography and who lives in South Africa, I can tell you photography tourism brings more income to the lodges, its surrounding communities, and South African Airways, as the same animals are being photographed, over and over again. Wealthy trophy hunters are exploiting Africa's animals in a cruel, shameful way!
Once an animal is dead, it's gone. One by one they will disappear if the hunting continues, and South African Airways is enabling trophy hunters to slaughter these animals despite global criticism.
Other airlines have listened to customers. We can make this change if we work together to show South African Airways it's bad business to ship slaughtered wildlife.
Please sign my petition asking South African Airways to join other airlines who commit to stop transporting these animals gruesomely killed for fun.
Regina Fugate needs your help with "Tell South African Airways to stop shipping slaughtered wildlife trophies". Join Regina and 652,658 supporters today.


The Llewellin Setter is a specific strain from the English Setter dog breed. This strain is a mixture of Duke-Rhoebe-Laverack, and eventually crossed with Armstrong's dog, Kate. The Llewellyn Setter was granted separate recognition in 1901 by The American Field's Field Dog Stud Book. This breed is considered to be different from the English setter despite sharing many similarities.
The Llewellin Setter was developed by R. Purcell Llewellin, a Welshman, who obtained the breed from an infusion of both the Gordon and other strains of setters. The crossbreed led to the development of the Llewellin, a small stature dog with little ears and a tendency to be drawn from other hunting dogs.
The Llewellin setter is a field dog that has excellent endurance and an innate desire to hunt for birds. This hunting enthusiast owes this trait to its closeness to the hunting Lavarack strain, which is bred to hunt. However, when taken as a pet, the Llewellin is very mild and reserved with a sweet nature and a desire to be in people's company.
While there are plenty of exceptions, most male Llewellins range from 45-65 pounds and females from 35-55 pounds. Males may be 19-26 inches at the shoulder and the females measure 18-24 inches.
The Llewellin Setter adult male will grow to weigh between 23 to 30 kgs depending on its diet and other factors. Depending on the size, the dog will at three months weigh between 9 to 11.4 kgs. At six months, the Llewellin male will weigh between 16.7 kgs to 21.2 kgs, and at a year old, they will weigh between to 22.3 to 29 kgs. After 12 months, the growth of the breed usually slows down and stops entirely at 16 months.
The female Llewellin can weigh between 18 to 25 kgs. At three months, the female will be between 7.3 to 9.7 kgs, while six months, the dog will weigh between 13.4 kgs to 18 kgs. At a year old, a female will be between 17.5 and 24.2 kg. Just like the male, the female will stop growing at 16 months.
The Llewellin Setter's lifespan typically goes for at least 12 years based on the nutrition, conditioning, exercise, and genetic history. Some dogs may have some genetic conditions that may shorten their lifespan. It is essential to look out for symptoms and conditions of the dog to establish its health status. Some life-threatening diseases may be from the environment, nutrition, or even inherited. In other cases, as the dog gets older, they can get cataracts which interfere with their eyesight.
The Llewellin Setter breed can make an excellent family dog. Their playful nature makes them perfect for families with children to keep them busy and entertained. They generally have a mild temperament. Llewellin Setters are also very nurturing and will look after small children around the house. Additionally, this breed is incredibly social and are seen to appreciate spending quality time with their human friend/owner.
Although they can be highly energetic, athletic, and playful, they are still very conscious of their surroundings. However, since they are used to the outdoors and participating in hunting activities, they can be challenging to housetrain. They are affectionate dogs but can be stubborn and manipulative at times. This is why it's important to patiently train them at a young age, especially if you want to keep them as indoor companions.
Llewellin Setters were bred to become working dogs. They are happiest and healthiest when they are mentally and physically challenged. This means that they need to have various tasks to do, especially outdoor tasks that require a lot of running, jogging, or both. They also tend to enjoy playing sporting activities such as the flyball as well as going on hunting escapades. This means that the breed is not best for a city apartment living dog and will require to have a home with a big backyard or even a farm.
If you want to keep them as an indoor family pet, it is essential to ensure that they get the proper amount of exercise for both mental and the physical stimulation. Keep in mind that the lack of exercise for this active breed will lead to chewed up furniture and shoes in the house. Don't forget to put these dogs through an excellent training program when they are young. That way, they will see you as pack leader and respect your and your family.
I believe that all dogs should be fed with the absolute adherence to their diets and dietary needs. This starts with the puppy stage up to adulthood. Their health and wellbeing are partially dependent on the type of food you feed them. Good food boosts their immune system to keep them healthy and robust for a longer period of time. Check out this article on the Best Dog Food Brands for ideas of what brand of dog food you can give to your pet.
The Llewellin Setter breed is an active dog that requires exercise and regular running. Consequently, they do need a lot of space. Up until a few years ago, these dogs were mostly outdoor pets, but now people are keeping them as indoor pets. This new trend is not a problem as long as they get the proper exercise that they need in the outdoors. That means walking or running them on a daily basis to prevent disruptive behaviors. That being said, the Llewellins are very social and affectionate dogs that will make a great addition to your family.
We find that these dogs are quite enjoyable and will make excellent indoor or outdoor pets as long as they get the proper training and exercise.


A project to improve the roads at Georg Fischer Central Plastics in Shawnee is moving forward thanks to recent action by the Oklahoma Transportation Commission. At its Jan. 7 meeting, the commission approved the use of Industrial Access Road Program funds to improve North Leo Ave. and Independence St., which connect the facility to nearby US-177/US-270.
The Oklahoma Department of Transportation will commit up to $275,000 in state funds and Georg Fischer Central Plastics is contributing $25,000 toward the project. Construction will be overseen by the City of Shawnee and Pottawatomie County.


New York will briefly have a new restaurant, one catering strictly to the feline trade.
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - New York has always been a great food town, with cuisines from all over the world represented in its thousands of eating-places.
But on August 17th, there will be a restaurant launch like no other in the city's history: the gala grand opening of the Meow Mix Caf�, purported to be the first ever catering to cats.
Cat food maker Meow Mix is committed -- that might be the exact right word -- to welcoming a feline clientele to the cafe, which is located on Fifth Avenue, directly across the street from the main branch of the New York Public Library. The launch is part of a promotion marking Meow Mix's first foray into the wet cat food market.
At the restaurant, the company will ply nice kitties with some of its new cat food flavors. These include: What's the Catch, a tuna treat; Gobbliscious, turkey meat (natch) and giblets; and a beef dish called Filet Meow.
"We're trying to be the Ben & Jerry's of cat food," says marketing director Ira Cohen.
More than a third of all American households now own a cat (or so the owners would like to believe), according to Cohen. These cat-lovers average about two cats per household; that adds up to 80 million mousers.
The company hopes the cafe will raise its name recognition among that huge clientele. The Meow Mix Caf� follows numerous other brand names, such as Coca Cola, Harley Davidson, and Hershey, to midtown Manhattan retail locations.
It's part of a trend called experiential marketing, which aims to make customers active participants in a company's promotions and advertising, and so make them more aware of � and more emotionally attached � to a product or brand.
Another part of the effort is the Meow Mix Mobile, a van that travels from city to city around the country spreading the word and delivering cat food to elderly or housebound customers.
The company also sponsors Meow TV, a cable show aimed at the third of the cat population that is said to like to watch television. Besides features appealing to human viewers, the show has scenes, such as squirrels running along the tops of fences, said to fascinate cat couch potatoes.
At the Meow Mix Caf�, the company expects a tabby turnout of between 50 and 100 on opening night. "Some of them will be with Meow Mix employees and their friends and relatives," says Cohen. "But we're also expecting a lot of regular New Yorkers to stop by."
In addition to cat food, the caf� will serve human food. Its store will sell toys, games, and Meow Mix-branded merchandise.
If you want to dine there, however, you better hurry. As in most things in life, there's a catch: "The restaurant will remain open for only five days," says Cohen. "If it works, we'll think about doing it in other cities."
The effort is costing Meow Mix in the neighborhood of $200,000. Any proceeds -- "all money taken in," according to a spokesman -- will go to animal-related charities.
After the caf� closes Cohen says the company will evaluate how well it did and then possibly take it on the road. "I believe this concept might have legs, four in this case," he says without any apparent shame.
The caf� will be open from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on August 17, and from noon to 8 p.m. the following four days. It will not welcome dogs.


4 Kg Fresh Fruits Basket (Seasonal Fruits) with 15 stem daisy flower decorated with it.
Wish your loved ones the goodness of health and beauty in life with this special gift, where the fruits meet the flowers. This beautiful healthy gift is sure to delight your loved ones. Send this to the ones you care for and this blooming beautiful basket will reflect your love. Festivities are round the corner, quickly send it your loved ones and make them enjoy this wholesome gift comprising of 4 kilo grams of fresh seasonal fruits with 15 stems of daisy flower decorated with a wooden basket.
4 Kg Fresh Fruits Basket (Seasonal Fruits) with 15 stem daisy flowers decorated with it.