Stumax 2

Link: Poor Richard’s News – America, we need to talk about the Boston “lockdown” and manhunt for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

A thought-provoking piece about policing in the wake of the Boston bombings. What police behavior is justified in a case like this? What’s over the line?

The police in Boston were searching for some dangerous criminals who killed innocent people, killed a rookie police officer, hurled at least 3 bombs at police during the chase, and engaged the police in a massive gunfight. Obviously, extraordinary precautionary measures are reasonable and necessary.

However, when there is a manhunt for 1 person, it’s also important to remember that over 99% of the other people in the area are innocent. These innocent people shouldn’t be herded like cattle out out of their homes at gunpoint. They shouldn’t be treated as suspects. The number one priority of police officers should be to protect citizens, not protect themselves from citizens.

Via ShortFormBlog

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Link: High Scalability: Scaling Pinterest

Using mature, reliable, widespread tools isn’t just about scaling more easily — it’s about being as low-needs as possible so you can spend more of your time and attention on things that matter more to you.

Marco Arment’s conclusion here is a smart observation on dealing with problems of scalability in web services, but it could also apply to just about any area of tool use. I like fiddling with my tools, systems, and processes as much as the next guy, but at some point I just want to get stuff done. More and more I’ve been simplifying my toolsets so that I spend my energy on creating, not on infrastructure.

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Link: High Scalability: Scaling Pinterest

Using mature, reliable, widespread tools isn’t just about scaling more easily — it’s about being as low-needs as possible so you can spend more of your time and attention on things that matter more to you.

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Link: Review: Real Racing 3 for iOS needs to fix its payment model before it can shine | Macworld

I completely agree with this Macworld review , especially the bottom line:

Real Racing 3 handles like a dream and is one of the biggest, most feature-rich, and deepest racing games I’ve played—it’s truly a worthy successor to Firemint’s first two titles. Unfortunately, EA has taken the air out of the tires of Real Racing 3’s lightning quick gameplay, effectively turning one of the best iOS games on the market into a frustrating, stop-and-go test on your patience.

I love racing games and have enjoyed the Real Racing franchise. I downloaded Real Racing 3 as soon as it was available, but became disenchanted pretty quickly with the micro-transaction model that makes you either wait several minutes for upgrades and repairs or buy coins to proceed without delay. I deleted the app yesterday because it just wasn’t fun to play the game under that kind of business model.

Real Racing 3 is a good game, and EA could charge a fair price for the complete experience. I wish they would.

A blast from the past

Posted 58 days ago · 0 Comments

I’m still proud of the fact that I participated in the very first Ignite talk back in 2006. I can still remember 250 or so geeks crammed into the Capitol Hill Arts Center, building bridges out of popsicle sticks, drinking beer, and enthusiastically cheering on the evening’s presenters. I recently came across my slides from that night and thought I’d post them here just for grins. I’m still fairly happy with what I came up with for that night. Enjoy.

Maxwell's Laws from stumax

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Link: Scripting News: Ignore the Bigco’s.

Dave Winer thinks we have a problem to solve:

It’s nice that the Bigco’s have their business models. But that’s not the point.

I want to connect my writing with yours, and have it be readable by people no matter what device they use, where ever they are, no matter what kind of net connection they have, today and 20 years from today.

I tend to agree.

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Link: The RSS Apocalypse

My reaction to Google shutting down Reader is a lot like David Sparks’: I feel a bit miffed, but I’ll find alternatives. But the broader RSS-reading public may find this to be more than just an inconvenience.

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Link: Poor Richard’s News – America, we need to talk about the Boston “lockdown” and manhunt for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

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Link: High Scalability: Scaling Pinterest

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Link: High Scalability: Scaling Pinterest

Video: Ship Your Pants

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Link: Review: Real Racing 3 for iOS needs to fix its payment model before it can shine | Macworld

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Link: Create In-A-Pinch Pinhole Reading Glasses with Your Fingers

A blast from the past

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Link: Scripting News: Ignore the Bigco’s.

Video: Hitler Finds Out Google Reader is Shutting Down

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Link: The RSS Apocalypse

Strt’s Fickrs

@stumax on App.net

Things I Pinned

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