Barnaby Walters

Much as I like docblocks, the phpdoc proposal reads like an attempt to recreate the semantics which staticly typed languages give us, but outside the language in verbose comments and requiring extra tools to use for some reason.

Personal highlight from today’s DnD session: making an intelligence (religion) check to determine if slices of blessed apple go brown. And failing.

From Pokemon and Star Wars JSON APIs: “There are hundreds of websites about Pokémon but none of the data they had was consumable through an API.” Problem has never been lack of APIs but discrepancy between human-readable hypertext pages and otherwise hidden machine-readable data. Rethink your assumptions!

Played “Colonial” recently. Should really be called “Colonial White Supremacy Capitalist Christian Patriarchy Board Game”. Recommended only for satirical purposes.

MONTHS of going [r] [r] [r] [r] nearly non-stop have finally paid off! I can roll an [r] and am DISPROPORTIONALLY HAPPY ABOUT THIS. Next step: sustaining it.

This is one of the more beautiful uses of the edgier sounds the #gurdy can make I’ve heard in a while:

From the amazingly talented Matthias Loibner (no surprises there).

Orion (non)launch glossary:

• “hold”: the rocket’s still on the ground
• “range issue”: there’s a boat in the way
• “wind violation”: it’s a bit windy
• “fill-and-drain valves will be cycled open and closed”: we’re pushing all the buttons to see if that makes the rocket go
• “scrub”: same time tomorrow then!

If you aren’t aware of #Ferguson, #TamirRice and #EricGarner, or you were but stopped paying attention, start paying attention. See the US for what it is.

Read @shaunking dailykos.com @WesleyLowery, @CassandraRules, @Awkward_Duck, @deray.

#dataviz rule of thumb: you should still be able to see the shape of the data (if not magnitude) with all the numerals removed.

This label on @derickr’s site is equally valid advice for both form fields :)

The gestalt principle of proximity rejects your internet comments! “Please leave blank, your comment will not be posted. Don’t type nonsense in though, that would be a waste of both of our time”

Reykjavík currently giving out free wind-induced religious experiences. Hallgrimskirkja or Gamla Hringbraut. Be careful.

Noticed an English pronunciation habit: I say “the” as [ði] (thee) when the word afterwards starts with a vowel, and [ðə] (thuh) when the next word starts with a consonant.

More required reading by @quinnnorton:

• How White People Got Made (2 parts)
• Women and the Internet (4 parts)
• Don’t Vote

One of the creepiest visible things about Facebook IMO is contact prioritisation in the chat sidebar. Whenever a contact changes places, I think “what did I do to prompt that? What did they do? What maths told Facebook that would optimise my engagement with it? Is it trying to influence me? Am I being experimented on?”.

Anyone in Reykjavík know of a Ferguson #justiceformikebrown solidarity march/protest or want to organise one?

#watched Interstellar and throughly enjoyed it. Giggled endlessly at the wonderfully kerbal spin-docking, and sighed exasperatedly at the magical SSTOs with near infinite fuel (except when the plot required otherwise) and an ascent profile of “well, uh, we take off… and go up… and we’re in space now. YAY!”.

Also: props to Hans Zimmer for the best use of a pipe organ in a film score I’ve heard for a long time. Caught me by surprise!

#TIL about thought-terminating clichés, an excellent term for an annoying discussion habit. Adding Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism to my reading list.

#listening to Aldrei skal eg gleymur þér by FUNI:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcSG0sxqsMM

With beautiful #iceland photos taken by Chris and Bára, which I stitched together into a video.