3 large or 4 regular size over ripe bananas
1.25 C sugar
0.5 lb (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
2 eggs, room temp
1 tsp vanilla
1.5 C all purpose flour
0.5 tsp kosher salt
1.5 tsp baking soda
0.5 C chopped toasted walnut (optional)
1. Preheat 325. 9"x5"x3" loaf pan.
2. Melt butter then let slightly cool.
3. Whip bananas and sugar in mixer.
4. Mix butter, eggs, vanilla together.
5. Mix flour, salt, baking soda, nuts
6. Whip (4) well and scrape down sides of bowl.
7. Add (5) to bowl and mix
8. Pour into pan and bake for ~1 hour.
(muffin pan: 16-20 mins)
(4 small loaf: ~20mins)
Friday, April 3, 2009
Saturday, March 21, 2009
I don't get Facebook
I'm not a heavy Facebook user which is probably why I didn't even really noticed that they changed their design to be more like Twitter. It doesn't matter to me what the page looked like 'cause I can click on the "profile" link and see my profile and see the friends list (yes, I know I can click on the friend list at the top).
The first time I really tried using Facebook was when I heard they were making themselves a "platform". People can write apps that other people can access through Facebook. That could be cool, but I always had a hard time finding apps unless I saw it on someone's profile. I eventually was able to find it, but don't ask me how. With the new design, I got lost again.
Eventually I found it it at the bottom of the page (Applications > Find More). So I found an app and I guess I "installed" it, but now have no idea how to put it on my profile page like other people do.
I'm guessing that if I bothered to spend 5 minutes understanding how Facebook work that I'd be able to figure it out, but given how people have been talking about design and using Google as a poster child for suppressing it, I'm asking "Why aren't people accusing Facebook of destroying design?" Google might not be "pretty" but it's design is simple and very functional.
The first time I really tried using Facebook was when I heard they were making themselves a "platform". People can write apps that other people can access through Facebook. That could be cool, but I always had a hard time finding apps unless I saw it on someone's profile. I eventually was able to find it, but don't ask me how. With the new design, I got lost again.
Eventually I found it it at the bottom of the page (Applications > Find More). So I found an app and I guess I "installed" it, but now have no idea how to put it on my profile page like other people do.
I'm guessing that if I bothered to spend 5 minutes understanding how Facebook work that I'd be able to figure it out, but given how people have been talking about design and using Google as a poster child for suppressing it, I'm asking "Why aren't people accusing Facebook of destroying design?" Google might not be "pretty" but it's design is simple and very functional.
3 pixels vs 4 pixels
Doug Bowman's post on leaving Google had a quote that has gotten picked up by many bloggers as representative of what is wrong with the engineering culture:
He doesn't give much more context about this debate, but it reminded me of some of my own experiences where I got involved with almost the exact same debate. In my case, the cause of the debate was almost always because there were multiple designers. Either it was two more more designers arguing about the width or it was after a product launch that the next designer decide that the width decision should be thrown out.
What drove engineers nuts was that because decisions are so arbitrary anyone can override the design at any time. Maybe Google is on the extreme end to demand numerical metrics to back up any decision, but for most engineers it was mainly that they wanted to understand the reasoning for a change. Otherwise, engineers would spend their entire lives changing the size of borders.
"I had a recent debate over whether a border should be 3, 4 or 5 pixels wide, and was asked to prove my case."
He doesn't give much more context about this debate, but it reminded me of some of my own experiences where I got involved with almost the exact same debate. In my case, the cause of the debate was almost always because there were multiple designers. Either it was two more more designers arguing about the width or it was after a product launch that the next designer decide that the width decision should be thrown out.
What drove engineers nuts was that because decisions are so arbitrary anyone can override the design at any time. Maybe Google is on the extreme end to demand numerical metrics to back up any decision, but for most engineers it was mainly that they wanted to understand the reasoning for a change. Otherwise, engineers would spend their entire lives changing the size of borders.
Designer's post overblown.
Apparently one of Google's visual designers decided to leave Google and wrote a blog post on why he is leaving. While he has all the right to tell the world his personal opinion on why the job wasn't good for him, I think the reactions to his post are way overblown. Unlike art or print media, software is very much about function.
Is Google destroying design?!? Why don't they ask the question," Are designers destroying engineering?"
Is Google destroying design?!? Why don't they ask the question," Are designers destroying engineering?"
Sunday, March 8, 2009
The value of Google Chrome
A friend of mine recently posted his thoughts on the "Chrome's overinflated importance". If viewed only as a web browser then it is just another entry in the various browsers that exists out there. However, I believe the true value of Chrome will be if it can change the way people and developers look at web applications.
In many ways, advancement in web development is hindered because developers and businesses have not been able to really think outside of limits imposed by the "WWW" of 10 years ago. Another way to say is that the world wants to move to using the Internet as a platform but we are still stuck on using the WWW as the platform instead.
There has been many attempts to try to break out of that mentality. The unfortunate term "Web 2.0" was one attempt (I think) although it never clearly articulated what it really meant and is now just a overused marketing term. In some ways, "Cloud" seems to be another way to break out from the mindset of "web development" to building applications on the Internet.
Chrome's importance to me is whether it can open up the developer's mind to new possibilities by providing them a tool that goes beyond building web sites and web applications. I hope that someday the "web" will move beyond being viewed as an interactive magazine or at least let the "web" be the interactive magazine while we're also using applications on the Internet.
In many ways, advancement in web development is hindered because developers and businesses have not been able to really think outside of limits imposed by the "WWW" of 10 years ago. Another way to say is that the world wants to move to using the Internet as a platform but we are still stuck on using the WWW as the platform instead.
There has been many attempts to try to break out of that mentality. The unfortunate term "Web 2.0" was one attempt (I think) although it never clearly articulated what it really meant and is now just a overused marketing term. In some ways, "Cloud" seems to be another way to break out from the mindset of "web development" to building applications on the Internet.
Chrome's importance to me is whether it can open up the developer's mind to new possibilities by providing them a tool that goes beyond building web sites and web applications. I hope that someday the "web" will move beyond being viewed as an interactive magazine or at least let the "web" be the interactive magazine while we're also using applications on the Internet.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Installing pysvn on OSX Leopard
Here are the steps I took to install pysvn, a python module for subversion, from source on OSX Leopard.
Assuming you're using macports:
sudo port install python26 (follow any instructions it has)
sudo port install subversion (1.5.6 at time of my install)
sudo port install db43 (whichever version of Berkeley DB you installed, updated the sed line below pointing to the right directory).
Download the pysvn source code.
tar -xzvf [file you downloaded]
cd [directory where you uncompressed the file to]
python setup.py configure
sed -i .backup -e "14s@\(.*\) /opt/local/lib/libsvn_ra_dav-1.a \(.*\)/opt/local/lib/libdb-4.3.a \(.*\)@\1 \2 \3 /opt/local/lib/libsvn_ra_neon-1.a /opt/local/lib/libsvn_ra_serf-1.a /opt/local/lib/libserf-0.a /opt/local/lib/libsvn_fs_util-1.a /opt/local/lib/db43/libdb-4.3.a -lsasl2@" Makefile
make
sudo cp -r pysvn /opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages
(sed line taken from here: http://ice.usq.edu.au/instructions/osx/developers_installation_guide.htm#id3)
Assuming you're using macports:
sudo port install python26 (follow any instructions it has)
sudo port install subversion (1.5.6 at time of my install)
sudo port install db43 (whichever version of Berkeley DB you installed, updated the sed line below pointing to the right directory).
Download the pysvn source code.
tar -xzvf [file you downloaded]
cd [directory where you uncompressed the file to]
python setup.py configure
sed -i .backup -e "14s@\(.*\) /opt/local/lib/libsvn_ra_dav-1.a \(.*\)/opt/local/lib/libdb-4.3.a \(.*\)@\1 \2 \3 /opt/local/lib/libsvn_ra_neon-1.a /opt/local/lib/libsvn_ra_serf-1.a /opt/local/lib/libserf-0.a /opt/local/lib/libsvn_fs_util-1.a /opt/local/lib/db43/libdb-4.3.a -lsasl2@" Makefile
make
sudo cp -r pysvn /opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages
(sed line taken from here: http://ice.usq.edu.au/instructions/osx/developers_installation_guide.htm#id3)
Monday, February 9, 2009
Google Web Toolkit
I've been thinking about whether web development has gotten to the point where hand crafting web front-ends by hand is offering diminishing returns. The argument is that directly writing JavaScript, HTML and CSS will produce the most elegant and efficient code and I don't disagree with that although I have to wonder how many web developers really build such good code?
I started thinking about the argument that to really optimize one has to write in assembly. Eventually, though, compilers got so good that it produce better and faster code then most developers. Even if the code is not as optimized, the growing complexity of applications made it such that the amount of extra time it takes to code in assembly just doesn't seem to be worth such small gains.
GWT seems to be Google's answer to this. I want to take some time playing with this and see how it is. My only reluctance is diving back into Java.
I started thinking about the argument that to really optimize one has to write in assembly. Eventually, though, compilers got so good that it produce better and faster code then most developers. Even if the code is not as optimized, the growing complexity of applications made it such that the amount of extra time it takes to code in assembly just doesn't seem to be worth such small gains.
GWT seems to be Google's answer to this. I want to take some time playing with this and see how it is. My only reluctance is diving back into Java.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Starting a New Lunar Year
Last week marked the start of the new lunar year (Chinese New Year). The previous year was suppose to be a year of misfortune because it encompassed a double winter, and looking back at all that has happened in 2008 around the world that it seemed to fit.
I'm going into 2009 with a little more optimism and being thankful for all the good things in my life.
I'm going into 2009 with a little more optimism and being thankful for all the good things in my life.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Happy New Year!
Hope everyone have a happy new year!
It's been a long and tough 2008 so I'm looking forward to 2009. However, in the first few hours of the new year, I'm doing the same thing I was doing in 2008...
It's been a long and tough 2008 so I'm looking forward to 2009. However, in the first few hours of the new year, I'm doing the same thing I was doing in 2008...
Monday, December 29, 2008
There's still a need for professional journalists.
I like reading, watching and listening to the news. In addition, I also like to read some people's blogs. There's been a lot of talk about how the newspaper industry is failing as readership is dropping. While this is an unfortunate reality that I hope the industry can reverse, what really annoys me is when people say how on-line blogs are replacing newspapers in providing news.
Blogs are mainly editorials and not subject to the objectivity of journalism. Even a lot of web sites are editorial forums and not news providers, but tries to project themselves as if they are. Two recent examples highlighted this for me: OSNews and Ars Technica. People might mistaken them as providers of news, but honestly they are subjective editorials on news.
OSNews pretty much had to openly admit it (or remind their readers) as such in their post which basically said that the only way they can get people to submit articles is by removing objectivity. If an actual news establishment did such a thing then it spells the end of journalism.
Ars also clearly indicated that they are mainly the provider of commentary on news in their article which so clearly shows the author's opinion in his choice of wording that I hope people realizes that we can't depend on just any person or business who can put up a site for news.
And this is just my personal opinion.
Blogs are mainly editorials and not subject to the objectivity of journalism. Even a lot of web sites are editorial forums and not news providers, but tries to project themselves as if they are. Two recent examples highlighted this for me: OSNews and Ars Technica. People might mistaken them as providers of news, but honestly they are subjective editorials on news.
OSNews pretty much had to openly admit it (or remind their readers) as such in their post which basically said that the only way they can get people to submit articles is by removing objectivity. If an actual news establishment did such a thing then it spells the end of journalism.
Ars also clearly indicated that they are mainly the provider of commentary on news in their article which so clearly shows the author's opinion in his choice of wording that I hope people realizes that we can't depend on just any person or business who can put up a site for news.
And this is just my personal opinion.
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