Apoplectic Skeptic

joshsternberg: futurejournalismproject: Banksy on...

Thu, 23 May 2013 16:39:01 -0500

futurejournalismproject:

Banksy on Advertising

Via Upworthy. Select to embiggen.

Happiness is…

"Perhaps most disturbing about the Attorney General’s letter is that it leaves totally unexplained..."

Wed, 22 May 2013 18:01:58 -0500

“Perhaps most disturbing about the Attorney General’s letter is that it leaves totally unexplained why the United States has killed so many innocent non-American citizens in its strikes in Pakistan and Yemen. Yet, from my investigation on the ground in a variety of countries, I’ve become convinced that we are making more new enemies than we are killing terrorists. We must confront the realities of the full impact of our ‘targeted’ killing program, particularly when innocent civilians are killed, so that we can have a real debate about whether our counterterrorism strategies are enhancing or degrading our national security.”

- Jeremy Scahill (via excitablehonky)

Um, yes.

America's Best Beer Cities | Travel + Leisure

Tue, 21 May 2013 18:15:33 -0500

America's Best Beer Cities | Travel + Leisure:

ariverisariver:

fuckyeahbeer:

Portland, OR

Denver

Portland, ME

Seattle

Kansas City

Minneapolis/St. Paul

San Diego

Boston

Providence, RI

Nashville

No MILWAUKEE!?

Go home list you are drunk.

"Citizen Koch,” a documentary about money in politics focused on the Wisconsin uprising, was shunned..."

Tue, 21 May 2013 16:40:33 -0500

“Citizen Koch,” a documentary about money in politics focused on the Wisconsin uprising, was shunned by PBS for fear of offending billionaire industrialist David Koch, who has given $23 million to public television, according to Jane Mayer of the New Yorker. The dispute highlights the increasing role of private money in “public” television and raises even further concerns about the Kochs potentially purchasing eight major daily newspapers.”

- PBS Killed Wisconsin Uprising Documentary “Citizen Koch” To Appease Koch Brothers | PR Watch (via diegueno)

thelicenselab: spotify: This is awesome!! Ridic. This is...

Mon, 20 May 2013 14:19:52 -0500

thelicenselab:

spotify:

This is awesome!!

Ridic.

This is absolutely fantastic.

$1.1B didn't buy tumblr, per se. It bought us.

Mon, 20 May 2013 14:00:08 -0500

As I’ve said before (along with plenty of others, I’m sure)… if you’re getting something for free, such as, oh… I dunno… maybe a slick, easy, stylish, trendy blogging service based in NYC… then you’re the product being sold.

Why people are asking for “their slice” of the big ol’ money pie is a mystery to me.

Sure, I wish tumblr’d have gone about it a different way (I’ve long hoped for a pro-level tumblr account option, real serious paid features, etc), but it is what it is now and to whine and bitch about “how come I didn’t get miiiiiine?” on this historic payday is pathetic. Unless you’re being snarky, in which case… snark on, I say. :)

On Sourcing | A Rant - Update

Mon, 20 May 2013 13:52:38 -0500

helms-deep:

A few months ago, I wrote this post about how to properly source material that you found on the internet, here on Tumblr, or even add your own info if you in fact were the one who created said content, and want others to know how cool you are because you’re proud of what you’ve done.

On Sunday morning, the following image came across my dash via a reblog from one of my followers:

If you look at the image, it is very clear who created it: the blogger apolloablaze. And here’s the link to the original post, which now has over 66,000 notes as of this writing. It’s very clever, and apolloablaze deserves credit for creating this.

Now, a short while ago, I saw this from Buzzfeed:

Notice who they put as the “source” of the image? Themselves. You’ll also notice that the image has been slightly altered, with the “Tumblr” logo looking more like the Yahoo! font.

Not more than 15 minutes later, what comes across my dash?

Notice it’s the altered image from Buzzfeed. And also notice that this person has not only stripped it of its source, but reuploaded the image to their own blog and replaced it with THEIR NAME as the source. If you take a look at the particular blogger in question, they are notorious for doing this, not only on their own personal blog, but on two other blogs they manage.

So my question is this: what should we do? Start publicly shaming these people? Create a new blog called “stopstealingotherpeoplesstuff.tumblr.com” and let people submit obvious attempts to snag other people’s original content? Flood their inboxes with messages telling them to stop? Start stealing anything original they post, strip their names from the “source” and replace it with our own? I’m not sure.

Personally, I’d just like to make sure that original content creators are always credited for what they make, and that their work is properly attributed. I know the reblogging system here on Tumblr isn’t the greatest, and that’s part of the problem. I’d love to see the actual “source” of an image be retained no matter how many times it’s reblogged. that would be a good start.

Regardless, if you didn’t create it, it’s not yours. Don’t attribute yourself as the source. You’re breaking the #1 rule of the Internet as given to us by Wil Wheaton: Don’t be a dick.

Rant over. For now.

People suck.

There are many high-profile sites and fellow tumblrs who aren’t following this very basic code of online conduct.

"FWIW, I don’t think there will be any sort of exodus from Tumblr. For most folks habits overcome..."

Mon, 20 May 2013 10:36:15 -0500

“FWIW, I don’t think there will be any sort of exodus from Tumblr. For most folks habits overcome internet-outrage. Even if a million people left, that’s just about a week’s worth of signups.”

- Matt Mullenweg (founder of WordPress), commenting on the possibility of a mass tumblr exodus following today’s news regarding Yahoo!’s big acquisition.

thelicenselab: Their Instruments May Be Garbage, But the Music...

Mon, 20 May 2013 10:28:53 -0500

thelicenselab:

Their Instruments May Be Garbage, But the Music Will Bring Tears to Your Eyes

Landfill Harmonic Orchestra is made up of children in Paraguay playing items scavenged from the trash. Grab yer kleenex.

nedhepburn: Kanye WestBlack Skinhead This changed the rap...

Mon, 20 May 2013 09:46:43 -0500

nedhepburn:

Kanye West
Black Skinhead

This changed the rap game.

That’s some history right there.

dear david karp,

Sun, 19 May 2013 22:19:00 -0500

notentirely:

thanks for tumblr, a platform i have grown to love over the 6 years that i’ve been here.

i understand this is your project and i’ll understand if you sell it. but i wanted to point out, you left money on the table when it came to me.

i’d have paid a small fee to have a “no-ads” dashboard. you could have added all the ads you wanted ($$) and i’d have given you money ($$) to have them not show up for me. money in your pocket both ways.

i also would have paid a small fee for premium features ($$). all that time wasted on trying to get me to not use ‘missing e’ could have been put to better use asking me to pay a small fee ($$) for a better user experience within tumblr itself.

there are several other ways you missed making some solid dough on a tumblr fan such as myself, but i think the point is made.

you left money on the table with me. i hope you don’t do that with yahoo, or whomever you may sell to.

tumblr is a neat place. you did something really great in creating this software. however, we did something great in being the community that used it. you made tumblr worth something, and we’ve made it worth more.

good luck and thanks again.

respectfully,
notentirely

Where does all our military spending go?

Sun, 19 May 2013 22:00:33 -0500

Where does all our military spending go?:

Outside the United States, the Pentagon controls a collection of military bases unprecedented in history. With U.S. troops gone from Iraq and the withdrawal from Afghanistan underway, it’s easy to forget that we probably still have about 1,000 military bases in other peoples’ lands. This giant collection of bases receives remarkably little media attention, costs a fortune, and even when cost cutting is the subject du jour, it still seems to get a free ride.

I'll tell you what... pine nuts are so expensive these days I feel like Karp might be smart to request that $1.1B in pine nuts instead of cash.

Sun, 19 May 2013 18:58:55 -0500

It’s pizza night and we make our own pesto, what?

motomania: Aston Jeebus.

Sun, 19 May 2013 18:54:31 -0500

motomania:

Aston

Jeebus.

thakate: Family run for Melanoma @ the Zoo. My everything...

Sun, 19 May 2013 11:19:05 -0500

thakate:

Family run for Melanoma @ the Zoo.

My everything hurts.

the "Eight I'd Really Rather You Didn'ts" of Pastafarianism

Sat, 18 May 2013 22:40:38 -0500

I’d Really Rather You Didn’t Act Like A Sanctimonious Holier-Than-Thou Ass When Describing My Noodly Goodness. If Some People Don’t Believe In Me, That’s Okay. Really, I’m Not That Vain. Besides, This Isn’t About Them So Don’t Change The Subject.
I’d Really Rather You Didn’t Use My Existence As A Means To Oppress, Subjugate, Punish, Eviscerate, And/Or, You Know, Be Mean To Others. I Don’t Require Sacrifices, And Purity Is For Drinking Water, Not People.
I’d Really Rather You Didn’t Judge People For The Way They Look, Or How They Dress, Or The Way They Talk, Or, Well, Just Play Nice, Okay? Oh, And Get This Through You Thick Heads: Woman=Person, Man=Person. Samey-Samey. One is Not Better Than The Other, Unless We’re Talking About Fashion And I’m Sorry, But I Gave That To Women And Some Guys Who Know The Difference Between Teal And Fuchsia.
I’d Really Rather You Didn’t Indulge In Conduct That Offends Yourself, Or Your Willing, Consenting Partner Of Legal Age AND Mental Maturity. As For Anyone Who Might Object, I Think The Expression Is Go Eff Yourself, Unless They Find That Offensive In Which Case They Can Turn Off The TV For Once And Go For A Walk For A Change.
I’d Really Rather You Didn’t Challenge The Bigoted, Misogynist, Hateful Ideas Of Others On An Empty Stomach. Eat, Then Go After The Jerk.
I’d Really Rather You Didn’t Build multi million-Dollar Churches/Temples/Mosques/ Shrines To My Noodly Goodness When The Money Could Be Better Spent (Take Your Pick): A. Ending Poverty B. Curing Diseases C. Living In Peace, Loving With Passion, And Lowering The Cost Of Cable. I Might Be A Complex Carbohydrate Omniscient Being, But I Enjoy The Simple Things In Life. I Ought To Know. I AM The Creator.
I’d Really Rather You Didn’t Go around Telling People I Talk To you. You’re Not That Interesting. Get Over Yourself. And I Told You To Love Your Fellow Man, Can’t You Take A Hint?
I’d Really Rather You Didn’t Do Unto Others As You Would Have Them Do Unto You If You Are Into, Um, Stuff That Uses Alot Of Leather/Lubrication/Las Vegas. If The Other Person Is Into It However (Pursuant To #4), Then Have At It, Take Pictures, And For The Love Of Mike, Wear A CONDOM! Honestly It’s A Piece Of Rubber, If I Didn’t Want It To Feel Good When You Did It I Would Have Added Spikes, Or Something.

staff: The Tumblr Backup app is ready for beta...

Sat, 18 May 2013 14:29:57 -0500

staff:

The Tumblr Backup app is ready for beta testing!

Download (Mac OS X, requires 10.5 or higher)

Unlike other publishing sites’ approach to backups, our goal was to create a useful copy of your blog’s content that can be viewed on any computer, burned to a CD, or hosted as an archive of static HTML files.

Wherever possible, we use simple file formats. Our backup structure is optimized for Mac OS X’s Spotlight for searching and Quick Look for browsing, and we’ll try to use the same structure and achieve the same benefits on other platforms.

Release notes:

Sorry, there’s no Windows version yet.

The output is minimally styled in a plain theme to ensure complete backups, zero external requirements, and a consistent data structure. Custom theme code is included in the backup as a separate file.

To view the backup in a browser, open the index.html file.

Photosets are not yet fully downloaded.

The following are notbacked up:
Private tumblelogs

Submissions

Notes

Feed-imported posts

Audio files from reblogged posts

You can launch the app every few days and re-run the backup in the same place, and it effectively performs an incremental media backup: image and audio files are only re-downloaded if they don’t already exist in the target folder. Text content and post data are re-downloaded in full every time.

If you have private posts, be careful if you make the backup publicly available. Private posts are included in a private folder, and their images or audio files are included in the standard images and audio folders.

Are you a programmer? Each post’s XML data, as specified by our API, is embedded inside an easily-parsed-out HTML comment in each post’s HTML file, in case you want to do anything cool with it.

(via marco)

So this seems like it might be handy right now… but the link is broken. Anyone have any tumblr archival solutions to share?

"If giving bad intelligence about a terrorist attack for a few days is a scandal. Imagine if you did..."

Sat, 18 May 2013 11:26:21 -0500

“If giving bad intelligence about a terrorist attack for a few days is a scandal. Imagine if you did that for years to justify a war.”

- LOLGOP (via samuraifuckingfrog)

Nah…that would never happen.

(via skepticalavenger)

If Yahoo buys Tumblr...

Sat, 18 May 2013 10:20:43 -0500

squashed:

azspot:

squashed:

… okay. I mean, I guess that would be fine.

I guess change is inevitable. It happens fast on the Internet. The blogs I first followed on Tumblr are by and large gone. Or less active. In some way, I feel like the old guy who hangs out with kids because all his friends are dead. And he likes yelling at kids.

The point being, Yahoo isn’t looking to buy talent, technology, or a quick profit in Tumblr. It’s looking for relevance. It’s knows that when you drop a billion to buy a cool friend, you don’t immediately screw it up by doing something massively uncool.

It’ll be okay.

Is this misguided rosiness in lieu of Yahoo historical pattern of buying and burning successful online platforms?

OTOH, outside of steadfast service stability (which I am indeed most thankful for :)), Tumblr has languished in the past year — the only “enhancements” being of a negative nature (i.e., the recent editor “upgrade”, still riddled with bugs that make it excruciating to edit posts with blockquote text)

And it might serve as the needed impetus for me to complete development on my own homebrewed (and self hosted) tumble-wiki alternative.

In 2007, I was drinking coffee in Marco’s livingroom/dining room/office. He told me he and David had launched a website that had done remarkably well. He urged me to register before somebody else registered daniel.tumblr.com. Maybe I could write things there instead of on LiveJournal. There were about 27,000 users at that point, one of whom was AZSpot. Since then, Tumblr has grown to about 300 billion users, each more unique than the last. So it’s done okay. Marco has left Tumblr, started Instapaper, and recently left Instapaper. The last time we were drinking coffee together, he had a living room and a dining room and an office. So he’s done okay. And I’ve done okay with Tumblr as well. The point being, on the Internet, a lot has changed since 2007. And in 2007 if somebody had announced that LiveJournal was maybe being acquired, I would feel about like everybody feels now. (Where would I store my feelings!?!)

The point being, life is brutal and short on the Internet. When awesome websites are acquired and eventually shut down by other websites, it’s either a pattern or it’s just what happens on the Internet. Does anybody seriously think that if Yahoo hadn’t acquired GeoCities it would be the coolest site on the Internet now?

Though, there’s another angle. Yahoo was founded in 1995. In Internet years, that’s like the Roman Empire. (I’m going to resist the urge to troll you all by saying that, it’s not bad to be in a conquered province because at least you get to be part of the glory of Rome.) Yahoo has at least survived.

The broader point being, things change quickly on the internet. There’s always a younger, cooler site looming just over the horizon. I’m not sure that acquisition by Yahoo particularly diminishes Tumblr’s longterm prognosis. It means an influx of cash, stability, and technical capability. Heck, probably a functional search feature. And it means that Tumblr doesn’t need to desperately look for ways to monetize.

The Internet will kill everything you love. But by the time it dies, you won’t even care.

Filed under: Example of a Good Reason to Follow Squashed.

Hashikui-iwa (by 小川 Ogawasan)

Sat, 18 May 2013 09:44:33 -0500

Hashikui-iwa (by 小川 Ogawasan)