Major Handwaving

"Somehow, this is all going to work"

Twitter Garbage Removal

I recently stopped using Brizzly and went back to the Twitter webpage after I realized that Brizzly just wasn't getting it done for me. When I started using the Twitter webpage again, I realized that the sidebar had become polluted with annoying crap in my absence, so I decided to write a little userscript to fix it up. This works in Chrome and Firefox, but doesn't hide the ad in firefox yet.

EDIT: It now hides the promotions in firefox, after a little refactoring

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Grandstanding on Thin Air

I love rumors and speculation surrounding product leaks and 3rd hand accounts of future developments.

It's really interesting to read the comments as the armchair philosophers and econ 101 businessmen state their bold assertions with little to no thought about their statements.
They see something they like, and now every competitor must instantly have feature X, because if they like feature X, then everyone likes feature X!
Pay no attention to the fact that feature X was a secret from every other company until it walked out on stage, therefore for competitors to incorporate feature X in their products would take months of delay and massive redesigns. Never mind the idea that different people like different things, so feature X is really only relevant to a portion of the potential customer base anyway. Don't worry about the new feature Y that will never be as mind numbingly awesome as feature X, because Y hasn't been approved by the masses as quickly as X was.
It's comments and posturings like these that make me remember that everyone has their own opinions, and that we all forget that those opinions probably aren't shared by anyone but ourselves.
Reflecting on this is the only way to not sound like a jackass come feature Z, and I truly hope to think about it the next time I tread down that path. At least, I will attempt to remind myself of it, which is the best that any of us can do I suppose...
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Muir Woods

Went to the fantastic Muir Woods with my parents. It's a little slice of old growth forest right outside SF. So peaceful next to the giant redwoods and bubbling streams. I really want to spend a whole day here next time and really explore all the trails, and to just sit and relax in this forested sanctuary.

-- Daniel Freedman --


             
Click here to download:
Muir_Woods.zip (10898 KB)

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California - Great for Backgrounds.

Took this shot on a roadtrip to LA from SF. I just love how the hazy light from the sun reflects off the rolling brown hills.

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Script for listing verified twitter followers

Whipped up a little script that shows your verified twitter followers. Wrote it because a friend had complained how the python-twitter library doesn't let you search more than one page of followers.

Caveats: requires the CPAN modules JSON::DWIW and LWP::Simple. Also doesn't work on protected accounts.

Use: perl verified_followers.pl "username".

Prints: screenname => "real name" of verified follower.

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Life without Flash - So close, yet so far

After Debian pulled the very, VERY insecure 64-bit linux flash plugin, I decided to test just how long I could live without flash. I used HTML5 Youtube, and tried not to get too pissed when I saw that "Missing Plugin" message pop up. I made it a few days, up until the latest Zero Punctuation came out. I just couldn't stand it anymore. I then found that http://debian-multimedia.org/ had a great package for installing a 32-bit flash plugin in a 64-bit environment, so I installed it and got the "full web" back again.

In the process, I found that debian-multimedia has a ton of extra packages that don't necessarily work well on my system, so I pinned them down below my repo. It wasn't the most intuitive process, so I decided to share my pinning file:

Package: *
Pin: origin www.debian-multimedia.org
Pin-Priority: 50
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Indie Music

Recently I had a revelation: there is some indie music I don't hate out there in the world. I had always thought that indie music would always be one genre I disdain, but a concert I went to in San Francisco changed my mind. There I found the bands http://www.misterloveless.com/ and http://transferband.com. They played some awesome music, and I was banging my head with the rest of the crowd, including the hipsters. It was then that I realized that I only hate shitty indie music. All the fluffy, lighthearted stuff I hear on the radio and from people around me was what I had thought all indie music was like. But no, there is some actual good music out there too. Now instead of outright rejecting any plans involving indie music concerts, I'll evaluate whether I could like any of the bands first by listening to some of their music. Time to start expanding my music library!

 

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Time to Stop Listening

How long has it been since the news had real information? Did it ever?
Every time I turn on the tv or try to read something on reddit that
isn't technology news, all I see are incendiary stories meant to rile up
emotion more than convey fact. When did this actually become
permissible? It is especially sad to see articles that say Obama's new
candidate is a conservative right next to articles that call her a
liberal. It isn't just the crazy Tea Party wackos doing it either.
Alternet is just as crazy stupid. I used to *know* that FOX was lying to
me, but to see MSNBC do it too is just depressing. I just wish the rest
of the country could see how bad this is getting and do something about
it. Maybe one day people will laugh at Rush Limbaugh instead of
listening to him.  Until then, I'll just have to take everything with a
massive grain of salt and remember that no information source is pure.
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Deep Fried Nutella

Ladies, and Gentlemen, I present the next deep fried sensation:

Deep Fried Nutella.

We start with a dough made from flour, water, and olive oil. We add a dash of vanilla extract. Then we knead the dough until moldable. Next, we flatten the dough, cut it into pieces, and put a ball of nutella in the center. Roll the dough around the nutella, making sure all the seems are closed tightly. Fry the dough + nutella in a pan with Crisco until golden brown. Drain the oil off of the piece and enjoy.

Deep Fried Nutella: old world taste and deep fried cooking, now together.

Photoset
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I have an amazing girlfriend

:)

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