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Friday, January 30, 2004 |
How dynamic categories work.
In the spirit of the lightweight browser-based solution, I decided to
create an equally lightweight server-based version based on Python and
libxml2/libxslt. (I'm also working on a slightly heftier, but more
powerful variation based on Berkeley DB XML; we'll explore that one
next time.) [O'Reilly Network]
... [Jon's Radio] 
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A Taste of Linux.
Jim Lynch bites into four low-fat distros that boot off CD but deliver
the full flavor of Linux. Use Linux on your computer without ever
installing a thing! [Extremetech]
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How to spot a trendy logo.
Interesting piece on current trends in logo design (merging blobs,
swooshes, pop-art finneals, the color green, wireframes, etc). Though
it strikes me that, given my penchant for dinstinctiveness in logomarks
that I would be liekley to use this as a crib-sheet for critiquing the
logo-development undertaken by my design-firm: "Dude, a green wireframe
swooshy pop-art blob? That is so played-out. I want the new-new." Or, as Ian McDonald put it in his brilliant novel, Out on Blue Six:
So I said, like, whazz new, I mean, like new
new, not old new, yuh know, like last-week new, so she said, this yulp
in the shop, "This is new," like she said, "Cheez, like everyone, but everyone's going to be wearing one which week," like, whazz a yulp
know 'bout fashion? Anyway, I thought, well, maybeez sheez right, so, I
got one, so I did like, whadyou think? Isn't it wheeeee! like. Isn't it
the most? Meanasay, you not got fashion, you not got nothing!
Link
(via Smartpatrol) [Boing Boing Blog]
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Ian McDonald's Kling Klang Klatch. 
Thinking about Ian McDonald for the post on logomarks
below got me thinking about McDonald's stone-brilliant 1992 graphic
novel, Kling Klang Klatch, illustrated by David Lyttleton. Unlike much
of McDonald's most amazing work, Kling Klang Klatch is still in print,
which makes me feel like there's maybe just a little justice in this
universe.
Kling Klang Klatch is a hardboiled detective story that revolves
around the lyrics to various classic Tom Waits lyrics, in ways both
trivial (The diner menu lists "Eggs and sausage, side of toast, coffee
and a roll, hashbrowns over easy, chili in a bowl") and significant.
The kicker is that all the characters in this really grisly murder
mystery are teddy bears, dollies and other toys, executed in vicious lines that make their cuddliness into something sinister.
Heartbreak and psoriasis, my friend.
I am telling you, it's all heartbreak and psoriasis.
Five a.m. on the greasy streets of a city that never sleeps, the dolls
are on the hard stuff and the transport's about to strike again. On the
news it's all bombs and killing machines the size of tenement blocks.
The only consolation for a weary middle aged cop on his way home is a
little illegal sugar and some sweet tenor sax.
But that was before they found the body that looked like
somebody and unzipped it then scooped out all its insides. And the
three words scrawled on an alley wall.
Three red words, so fresh they were still dripping.
KLING KLANG KLATCH
It's enough to knock out anyone's stuffing. And in Toyland, that's no joke.
Link [Boing Boing Blog]
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Ben Fry's Mario Soup. Talk about a cool hack! Tons of gorgeous visualizations and maps on Ben's site. Check it out!QUOTE Any
piece of executable code is also commingled with data, ranging from
simple sentences of text for error messages to entire sets of graphics
for the application. In older cartridge-based console games, the images
for each of the small on-screen images (the "sprites") were often
stored as raw data embedded after the actual program's instructions.
This piece examines the unpacking of a Nintendo game cartridge,
decoding the program as a four-color image, revealing a beautiful soup
of the thousands of individual elements that make up the game screen. UNQUOTE [Roland Tanglao's Weblog]
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Cool and Free WinForms Controls. Robert McLaws points us to some cool WinForms controls for .NET types. "His
controls add Office 2003 stylings to any app, and are completely
customizable. I'd gladly pay $100 bucks a pop for these controls, but
he gives them away for free. Awesome!"
He also hints that Martin Spedding is working on some kind of RSS
app. Cool! Can I test it? I got 1227 feeds. Who else would be a good
beta tester? [The Scobleizer -- Geek Aggregator]
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Kottke. Corporations are defined under the law as persons. When analyzed against standard psychiatric tests, corporations look like psychopaths.
Question: Are corporations role models for the people that run them or
are they a reflection of attitudes and morals of those in command? I
think right now, unfortunately, the former is true. It explains Enron,
Tyco, and all of the other major corporate failures quite nicely. [John Robb's Weblog]
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Cringely whacks offshoring. No solutions listed though.
What is the scope of the offshoring problem?
Here an article in the McKinsey Quarterly (via Forbes): By
McKinsey estimates, in 2002 it was worth $32 billion to $35
billion--just 1% of the $3 trillion worth of business functions that
could be performed remotely. Because of the significant benefits
already being realized through offshoring, the market is projected to
grow by 30% to 40% percent annually over the next five years. This
prospect may cause consternation over job losses in the United States
but it will make offshoring an industry with well over $100 billion in
annual revenue by 2008.
What is $100 b of offshored services worth in terms of jobs? First,
an offshored service costs ~50% of the service produced in the US (on
average). Since this is basically a pure salary play (infrastructure is
minimal), these estimates mean that 2 m ($100k) information workers
will be offshored by 2008. Also, given these jobs usually produce
upwards of ~4 additional jobs per position (community impact), this is
a net loss of 10 m jobs by 2008. [John Robb's Weblog]
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© Copyright 2004 William J. Maya.
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