Insanely fresh roasted coffee

Recently, I've been craving some freshly roasted coffee. And by fresh, I mean roasted that day.

I was spoiled in college since I lived a short walk from a local roaster. When coming back from the lab or simply running daily errands the "coffee fog" from the roaster's exhaust would let me know that an insanely good experience was only a few hours away.

Since we don't have roasters like San Francisco's Wayne in historic/suburban Fairfax, I guess I'll have to bite the bullet and start roasting my own. I'll let you know how it goes.

My home town mentioned in NYT

A fellow ex-resident of Springfield, VA and, by his comments, ex-West Springfield high school student (Go Spartans!) remarks on full-out TV vegging.

For the record, there actually are both a Whole Foods and a Trader Joe's in Springfield and the Price Club is now a Costco. In fact, the Whole Foods is now located less than half a mile from the high school and my parent's still live about 1 mile away.

Also, for the record, I hated high school. It managed to be both creatively and socially stifling. My fondest memories of that time were playing Dungeons & Dragons with my friends. If I recall correctly, our campaign ran continuously, on average, once a week for over 3 years.

TWiM, my favorite podcast

I know. I know. I've been promising a listing of my favorite podcasts (see sidebar) for--too long now. To save some time, I'll pull an Uncle Mark and just point you to the one podcast you should definitely be listening to.

TWiM

TWiM is a round table panel discussion by media developers primarily in the movie special effects industry. It's informative, entertaining, authentic, and (as you might expect from the subject matter), of the highest production quality.

Steve Jobs on DRM

It's gratifying to see Steve and Apple "go public" with a common sense series of statements and arguments against DRM and the current state of digital music.

Some of his logic regarding Fairplay licensing may be a bit specious, especially viewed against the current backdrop of competing DRM systems and legislation and litigation in Europe, still I applaud the spirit of this essay.

Bravo. Glad to see folks joining the club.

DOM Polling versus Bottom Scripting

I'm skeptical regarding the scalability of DOM Polling. Until I run a few of my own tests, I'll stick to good 'ole reliable Bottom Scripting. Note, if you're not a Web developer, this stuff probably doesn't interest you.

Move along people, there's nothing to see here.

Clockwork cufflinks

Via BoingBoing:

I actually majored in mechanical engineering before I made the switch to the "path of light" into electrical. Anyways, I've always had a bit of a zeal for mechanisms. I'm usually decidedly anti-jewelry, but I wouldn't mind getting these for Valentine's Day. Are you listening honey?

"Digitized" Hipster PDA

HP, Pen-it, and Logitech listen up.

Do the following 3 things to earn more revenue and market penetration for your heretofore gadget-lovers-only product.

1. Remove the "vibrate" feature of your pen. It's nice, but it takes up too much space/weight for the haptic feedback it provides. The LED light is sufficient.
2. Use a higher-quality, but smaller focal-length lens. This, plus the removal of the vibrator will reduce the required diameter of the pen. Given the cost for optics, this will increase the price, but it will totally be worth it for the increased portability. It will actually start to resemble a pen rather than some gamma-irradiated Hulk-Bic.
3. Manufacture some "smart-paper" in 3x5 notecard and business-card sizes.
4. Have your marketing folks read-up on the Hipster PDA.
5. Write some simple import-only Outlook, Evolution, and iCal integration conduits.

Rinse and Repeat before Apple decides to license the same Anoto technology and come out with the Apple Pen^tm or your collective gooses are cooked in this market.

Mooninites FTW!

Boston "first responders", you are incompetent!

The blame for city-wide disruption rests solely with your inability to properly identify and assess the working components of a battery-powered L.E.D. sign (think LiteBright) not with the 2 individuals arrested for placing these signs.

You're absolutely right mayor. This incident 'isn't funny'—it's pathetic. Some bomb techs need to be canned.

It is telling that these were placed in other cities such as Seattle without incident.

Get'em while they're hot on E-Bay!

LOL

Steve Jobs addressing his local city council

Heh. Just goes to show everybody, and I mean everybody has to "play politics". Democracy and Supplication in action. The kowtowing is...rather pathetic.