Tag: linkblogging

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Last week, the webcomic XKCD ran a strip, Umwelt. Or perhaps it would be better to describe it as several comic strips.

As explained in the mouseover text, the title refers to the idea that because animals have different senses, each animal effectively inhabits a different reality. This can philosophically be extended to human perceptions.

Keeping that in mind, make sure you read it in a few different web browsers (both desktop and mobile!) for the full effect (JavaScript required). And try resizing the window.

As an art project, it’s the best use of browser-sniffing I’ve ever seen.

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You may have noticed elements of the 1990s creeping back into comics, music, movies and TV. There’s a reason for that: pop culture seems to be obsessed with its past on a 20-year cycle, and the current love affair with the 1980s has passed its peak.

I go into more detail — including thoughts on some of the implications for the 10-year and 30-year troughs in the cycle — at Speed Force in Return of the 1990s.

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It’s true. I’ve been staring at two large glowing rectangles for 8 hours now, taking occasional breaks to stare at a smaller glowing rectangle (as I did on my lunch break), and will probably spend some time staring at one of several glowing rectangles during my evening at home.

It really sounds pathetic when you put it that way.

Report: 90% Of Waking Hours Spent Staring At Glowing Rectangles – The Onion

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IEEE Spectrum article on The Strange Birth and Long Life of Unix.

This was an interesting read, especially for the cloak-and-dagger tactics they had to resort to not only to create the OS in the first place, but to do things like distribute bugfixes (because management was afraid that distributing bugfixes would be considered “support”). Literally on the level of “go to the mailbox on such-and-such street after 2pm.”

(Rescued from my Google+ archive)

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