Category: General

A couple weeks back, I had this idea for a new web app. Like so many of these ideas – I wrote it down. Just to get it out of my head.

This afternoon, I get an email from my sister describing the need for a web app not unlike the one I wrote down earlier.

So, I took a few minutes after dinner and started looking for available domain/code names for the project. Nothing that I’d be proud of. Nothing that would really resonate with me as I built it. Nothing that would continually remind me of the attitude and purpose of the site.

Then, the moment I walked away from the search, I remembered…

I already have the perfect domain. And I just renewed it.

This new project is both a perfect fit for the domain name and easier to prototype.

Smiles.

Bryan Schumann and I talk about composing music, improvising music, and whether the classical guitar pairs better with an upright bass or an electric trumpet.

Listen to a Guitar, Bass, and an Electric Trumpet

Earlier this week, a natural gas main ruptured on the other side of the block.

Our block and half a dozen other surrounding blocks were evacuated.

There were no 30 foot flames shooting into the air. Just the constant sounds of gas leaking into the atmosphere at high pressure.

It could have been worse.

Much worse.

But it wasn’t – so word of the rupture and evacuation was isolated. A couple general sentences in the Star Tribune, Twitter, and KSTP through out the day.

Communication to the affected families. I sensed the fire department was getting frustrated at repeating himself to each citizen that walked up.

Then again how would he have communicated status of the repair to ~60 evacuated households?

My Proposal for an Open-Source Community News Platform

“…data minimization is the most effective security tool…But — of course — it’s not in the database owner’s interest to limit the data it collects; it’s in the interests of those whom the data is about.” – Bruce Schneier

“Here’s the reality: most people don’t want to start a business. They don’t have an idea. They don’t want to come up with one from scratch. They don’t want the risk of the first 3-6 months with no salary and having to walk around with a tin-cup for funding. So most people join companies. That’s OK. It’s the more sane thing to do. Startups have high failure rates.” – Mark Suster

“That’s it. You look at the four parts of a font, look at what would be similar and what would be different and then start choosing fonts based on those attributes. You want to choose a font face based on whether it complements or contrasts with your chosen font….Sometimes it is the simplest things that you take away.” – Bob Martens

“I remember thinking that the food scene was very progressive, and Minneapolis should get more national attention than it currently does. There are really good cooks there and people on the cutting edge.” – Bobby Flay

…4. Goals aren’t as important as we think….
…6. When your child asks for your attention, always grant it….
…20. A good walk cures most problems….
…23. Competition is very rarely as useful as cooperation….
…27. Create….
…37. Fear will try to stop you. Doubts will try to stop you….

If you’re looking for a quick way to track when Flash movies (or anything else in <object> <embed> tags) are played – this works for me:

Quick overview: create a new div with an onClick action and put the Flash movie inside it.

Then in the movie’s <object> tag – add <param name="wmode" value="transparent" /> and in the <embed> tag add this attribute wmode="transparent"

The wmode declarations allow the click in the Flash movie to pass through to the enclosing div and trigger the onClick.

Like this:
<div onClick="_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'Videos', 'MovieName', 'PageName']);">
<object...>
<param name="movie" value="http://path.to.swf" />
...
<param name="wmode" value="transparent" />
<embed wmode="transparent" ..." />
</object>
</div>