Link

Link / Science — No Comments
9
May 12

PhDs on Food Stamps? [Link]

Another good post over at In The Pipeline. This one examines claims about people holding advanced degrees needing assistance. Derek Lowe does his normal excellent work and debunks some of the conclusions.

Looking at advanced degrees as a percentage of the population, we have 4.3% in 1970, 7.2% in 1980, 8.8% in 1990, 8.6% in 2000 (a decrease I’m at a loss to explain), and 10.6% in 2009.

I agree with his scepticism. But I also know many PhD chemists that have been out of work for a long time or have been repeatedly out of work over the past two years. None of them have applied for Food Stamps. Granted, they probably wouldn’t go around talking about it if they were.

As for those increases in advanced degrees? When there are no jobs for college graduates they tend to go to graduate school. Unfortunately the Bureau of Labor Statistics groups all college degrees together.

Link — No Comments
9
May 12

Controlling the Fear [Link]

From Wil Wheaton:

So this wasn’t merely a failed, nascent plot which is causing this fear-mongering media orgy: it was one controlled at all times by the U.S. and Saudi Governments.

By way of Frankintosh

iOS / iPhone / Link — No Comments
8
May 12

Fixing iOS Battery Issues [Link]

Andrew Peters has posted his solution to my iPhone battery problem. He was kind enough to contact me through Twitter and offered his expert advice freely. I can’t say how he comes by his expert advice. Use your imagination.

Needless to say, I am very thankful for his assistance. His post is thoughtful and complete. It also describes his experience with what does and does not drain an iPhone battery. True Genius.1

  1. See what I did there? ↩

Link / Zymurgy — No Comments
8
May 12

A Keezer [Link]

I built my own under-counter kegerator for the home bar. I plan to build a keezer for the garage this summer. I’ll probably get a bit fancier than this though. I’ll also build it into my work bench to save space in the garage.

I buy a lot of supplies from Northern Brewer. They’re good.

iOS / Link / Mac / Web — 9 Comments
8
May 12

Evernote Acquisitions

Michael likes where Evernote is going with their acquisitions of Skitch and Penultimate. I’m not as enthusiastic.

Background

I was an ardent Evernote user from the early days. I started exploring it when it was still web centric. When Phil Libin focused like a laser on the Mac, I was thrilled. I pumped massive amounts of info into it. I had two pro accounts just to support the company.

My enthusiasm waned when I wanted to extract my info into an archive. Evernote provides simple export tools but most of the information is lost or mangled. I decided to future proof all information I wanted to keep for more than a week. I still use Evernote as a central multi-platform clipboard. It’s my short-term memory. Everything else goes into plain text or standard file formats like PNG, JPG or PDF.

Skitch

Skitch is one of the original Mac screenshot apps. It was ground breaking when it first came out in 2010 but development slowed and the application began to feel like abandon-ware. Evernote acquired Skitch in August 2011. I was intrigued by the potential future of the application.

In the 9 months since the Evernote acquisition, Skitch released an iPad app that was attractive but lacked a lot of the features I needed. I stopped using it within a couple of weeks. The app was updated 4 times with bug fixes but never really earned its way back to my iPad. I also haven’t opened the Mac version of Skitch in a couple of months. It just feels stagnant and anachronistic.

I’m dissapointed Skitch has not progressed more. I’m dissapointed integration with Evernote is not better. I can appreciate the idea of single-focus apps but Evernote needs a built in image editor.1 It feels like the only thing Evernote bought was an extra sharing button in Skitch.

Penultimate

Penultimate is consistently one of the top rated sketching apps and I like it a lot. The ink system is impressive, but like Skitch, Penultimate development has slowed way down. There is still no option to zoom in Penultimate and the last couple of updates were minor bug fixes or Retina iPad support.

The Penultimate acquistion feels just like the Skitch acquistion. I’m sure Penultimate will get a more direct method for sharing with Evernote but I’m doubtful there will be much more.

Tear Down These Walls

I’d prefer if Evernote went Full Monty with these acquisitions. Integrate Sktich image editing into Evernote. Provide direct support for Penultimate sketching in Evernote. Both of these apps have overlap with the reasons I want to use the Evernote app. I’d like Evernote to stop buying sharing buttons and start buying Evernote enhancements.

  1. Perhaps this applies more to the iOS version of Evernote, but I’d still rather have the functionality built right into Evernote on the Mac. ↩

Link — No Comments
8
May 12

Access 1Password from Launchbar [Link]

Nik provides a Ruby script to access 1Password logins through Launchbar and QuickSilver. I haven’t tried it yet, but I certainly will this weekend.1

  1. Of course, I will examine the code of any script I download, especially one accessing my keychain and 1Password file. ↩

Link / Science — No Comments
8
May 12

You’re a Peer Too [Link]

Derek Lowe discussing a NYT article making the case for allowing comments on scientific publications and archiving them for posterity.

. . .the comments section of any engaging article is almost as necessary a read as the piece itself — if you want to know how insider experts received the article and how those outsiders processed the news (and maybe to enjoy some nasty snark from the trolls).

—Jack Hitt

I think this is exactly what science is about, and exactly what it needs.

—Derek Lowe

I totally agree.1 Some of my favorite articles are R.B. Woodward pieces from the 50′s.2 I would have loved to know what his contemporaries had to say at the time.

  1. But, you know, comments on blog posts are totally not tolerable. Go write your own paper and publish it if you want to comment. Sarcasm people. Sarcasm. ↩

  2. To be honest, I like them all. Mastery is attractive. ↩

Link — No Comments
7
May 12

Sometimes Photos are Just Facts [Link]

From Techdirt:

The sketch could never have existed without my original image nor without my taxonomic expertise in identifying the species. I received no acknowledgement for my part. Somebody else got paid for my efforts, and I got… an excuse to write a blog post, I suppose. What I mean is, I feel like a chump.

—Alex Wild

But Wild’s work could never have existed without the ant itself…

—Leigh Beadon

Link — No Comments
7
May 12

The Ten Commandments of Teaching [Link]

I’d like to suggest that these are good rules for anyone doing anything.

Link — No Comments
3
May 12

Buying Happiness [Link]

Another great link and exposition from Jeff at Coding Horror.

It is not surprising when wealthy people who know nothing about wine end up with cellars that aren’t that much better stocked than their neighbors’, and it should not be surprising when wealthy people who know nothing about happiness end up with lives that aren’t that much happier than anyone else’s. Money is an opportunity for happiness, but it is an opportunity that people routinely squander because the things they think will make them happy often don’t.

Link — No Comments
3
May 12

Almost Didn’t Happen [Link]

It’s a good story and it’s the story of my life.

Life is anything but inevitable. But it continually amazes me how when I stop pursuing something that isn’t really right for me that I discover something perfect.

iOS / Link — No Comments
3
May 12

The Art of Apps [Link]

I wish I lived near SoHo so I could go to this art exhibit about iOS designs. This is what you get when a company with taste takes over a consumer electronic market: Phone UI is considered art.1

By way of Subtraction

  1. This is not sarcasm. I fully agree that there are some stunningly artful iOS app designs. ↩

Link — 2 Comments
3
May 12

Trust Me I’m Lying [Link]

An interesting read from Jeff Atwood at Coding Horror. I actually think lying serves a social need. It allows us to pretend we are nicer than we actually are.

Link — No Comments
3
May 12

Fossil Sale [Link]

Fossils for sale on May 20th. I was thinking the Dodo skeleton would be perfect for either the RIM or Microsoft lobbies.

By way of BoingBoing

Link / Web — No Comments
2
May 12

Character Encoding [Link]

A well oranized resource for HTML character encoding from Penn State.

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