“Five minutes to write a blog post that changes everything, or five minutes to deliver an act of generosity that changes someone. Five minutes to invent a great new feature, or five minutes to teach a groundbreaking skill in a way that no one ever thought of before. Five minutes to tell the truth (or hear the truth).
Five minutes a day you might do exceptional work, remarkable work, work that matters. Five minutes a day you might defeat the lizard brain long enough to stand up and make a difference.
”
Trey Piepmeier
Posts
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March 08, 09:24 AM
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March 02, 06:00 PM
“Failure to map the surprise into the mental model results in an uncomfortable realization: ‘The world does not work as I expected. Therefore, other surprises are guaranteed to happen randomly. QED. I have no control whatsoever. Shit.’”
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March 02, 05:59 PM
“If there is one thing you want to know quickly about those around you, it’s their penchant to fight the surprise or flee it.”
- March 02, 11:01 AM
- February 26, 07:52 PM
- February 25, 02:32 PM
- February 23, 12:36 PM
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February 08, 10:54 PM
- February 08, 01:17 PM
- February 02, 11:48 AM
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February 01, 11:02 AM
“If you’re good at something, never do it for free.”
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January 28, 11:43 PM
Horace Silver & The Jazz Messengers / Doodlin’
- January 27, 12:30 AM
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January 27, 12:25 AM
Bearded Enid
Jnonfiction-Style cutout day on Whiskerino.
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January 25, 11:17 PM
“Books permit us to voyage through time, to tap the wisdom of our ancestors. A library connects us with the insights and knowledge of the greatest minds and the best teachers drawn from the whole planet and from all our history, to instruct us without tiring, and to inspire us to make our own contributions to the collective knowledge of the human species.”
Carl Sagan (46:37) -
January 13, 01:13 PM
Where does mildew come from?
Mildew spores are midi-chlorians that started hanging out with the wrong crowd.
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January 13, 01:12 PM
How did you build this into Tumblr?
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January 13, 01:08 PM
Why do children close their eyes when they laugh, but adults don't?
The tides of Neptune have a greater effect on children.
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January 13, 01:06 PM
Could you come to my house and have a bag and board party to save my comics from the dangers that have befallen them?
Yes, if you provide some tasty beverages.
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January 13, 01:04 PM
Can a taco make a man cry with joy?
Signs point to yes.
- January 09, 12:23 PM
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January 05, 12:31 PM
Can't-Miss Blogs
Today, a coworker was asking for good blog recommendations.
Boy howdy have I got a lot of feeds. I used this as an excuse to boil my list down to the best of the best.
Here’s what I sent him (in no particular order):
- http://daringfireball.net/
- http://hivelogic.com/
- http://nathanborror.com/
- http://orderedlist.com/
- http://www.panic.com/blog/
- http://xkcd.com/
- http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/
- http://jeffcroft.com/
- http://nubyonrails.com/
- http://blog.peepcode.com/
- http://randsinrepose.com/
- http://cabel.name/
- http://www.yewknee.com/blog/
- http://jasonsantamaria.com/articles/
- http://drawn.ca/
- January 04, 05:41 PM
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January 03, 12:42 PM
“
There’s a natural tendency to understand the origin of the cosmos in familiar biological terms. The mating of cosmic deities or the hatching of a cosmic egg or maybe the intonation of some magic phrase.
The Big Bang is our modern scientific creation myth. It comes from the same human need to solve the cosmological riddle.
”Carl Sagan (38:04) - December 20, 11:13 AM
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December 17, 04:58 PM
- December 17, 04:01 PM
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December 16, 05:30 PM
“Most people, though, the ones with great jobs, are in the business of dancing with entropy, not creating it. Take what comes, sort it, leverage it, improvise and make something worthwhile out of it.”
- December 15, 11:22 PM
- December 14, 08:13 PM
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December 13, 10:26 PM
Cool Things Mentioned in jQuery Podcasts I Listened to Today
yayQuery Episode 5 / Cool things in jQuery 1.4
- Image Maps
- Apparently, jQuery 1.4 handles image maps properly. Rebecca Murphey mentioned that the book High Performance Websites recommends using image maps in certain situations. I’m all about these old school techniques if it makes sense. It seems like kottke.org was using image maps on its navigation until the recent redesign. Then again, I also advocate tables for layout if the mood strikes me.
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onBeforeUnload- jQuery 1.4 also apparently handles this neat event better than it used to. This is the event that gets triggered when you see a message when you’re editing a document in Google Docs and try to close the window. Very good to know. I might have to add detection of this event into ComicBinder.
The Official jQuery Podcast Episode 4 / Online debugging
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JS Bin
- This was mentioned as a cool way to do JS debugging that you could share with your friends. I had forgotten about this site. I need to use it. And it reminded me of another site I had forgotten about that I need to use:
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hurl
- Online display of HTTP responses. Trying to figure out how to use an API? Copy and paste the URL you’re working with to your API guru friend. Like an online version of HTTP Client.
- Image Maps
- December 11, 08:18 PM
- December 10, 11:41 PM
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December 09, 03:13 AM
Ron Hemelgarn's Guide to Personal Happiness and World Domination
- Be honest.
- Know your talents.
- Live with enthusiasm.
- Be disciplined and determined.
- Don’t worry about problems—solve them.
- Look eye to eye, and up to people when you can. Never look down.
- Assume your full share of responsibility.
- Don’t cling to the past.
- Don’t let your possessions possess you.
- Pray consistently and confidently, for dreams to come true.
This was in the June 11, 2001 issue of Autoweek. I had it pinned on my wall for a long time. I just found it again.
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December 08, 10:02 PM
Lydia the Tattooed Lady
Via Bryan Hunter.
- December 07, 05:24 PM
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December 07, 03:49 PM
“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
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December 07, 03:09 PM
“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”
- December 06, 08:27 PM
- December 03, 04:31 PM
- December 02, 12:51 PM
- December 02, 12:43 PM
- December 02, 12:25 PM
- December 01, 04:13 PM
- November 30, 06:32 PM
- November 25, 01:42 AM
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November 23, 08:49 PM
“If you wait long enough, everything changes.”
- November 23, 03:33 PM
- November 21, 10:46 AM
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November 20, 05:54 PM
Cameron Stewart / Batman & Robin
I love how distinctive the “new” Batman & Robin look. It’s easy to tell this is Dick Grayson and Damian Wayne.
Tweets
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Help @emmaemail fill 1,000 backpacks during #SXSW at www.myemma.com/backpack and check out @justkyle's awesome design.173 minutes ago from web
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I'm most happy with @dreamhost as a registrar, but there's a lot of TLDs they can't do.4 hours ago from Tweetie
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I still haven't found a domain registrar I'm happy with. Any suggestions that aren't Go Daddy or 1&1?4 hours ago from Tweetie
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@postpostmodern I also want to get rid of a bunch of extraneous Google apps-for-your-domain. Shared host with email forward is a nice thing.16 hours ago from Tweetie
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@postpostmodern I don't want them to be setup like that. I want them to be more portable in general. One less layer of complexity.16 hours ago from Tweetie
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@postpostmodern I have some domains on Slicehost that are just redirecting using Apache. I don't know what I was thinking.17 hours ago from Tweetie
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Pro tip for people with too many domains: if you have forwarding domains, do it with your registrar and not your host. Moving sucks.18 hours ago from Tweetie
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@ploafmaster You'd never been to Edo's?!19 hours ago from Tweetie
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25 hours ago from Tweetie
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@jt2k I recommend it.26 hours ago from Tweetie
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I ate here today: http://eatshere.net/l/20 #neh27 hours ago from web
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How to manage your @github Gists using tags: http://delicious.com/synthrabbit/gist27 hours ago from Tweetie
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Health food. — at Gabby's Burgers and Fries http://gowal.la/s/kPc29 hours ago from Gowalla
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Just got my @whiskerino Skullbeard buttons: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=vt_related_1&listing_id=4154503029 hours ago from Tweetie
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@justkyle If you're in a CSS context, you can use the system color picker by clicking on a hex color and hitting cmd-shift-C29 hours ago from web
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@dap6000 I work at Emma, so yeah. :)31 hours ago from Tweetie
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Wish I could be at #sxsw with the the @emmaemail crew.32 hours ago from Tweetie
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@ChadERoberts There's a firehouse in Smyrna? Mmm...44 hours ago from Tweetie
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This is very clever: Iceland wants to be your friend http://shar.es/mbiAh2 days ago from ShareThis.com
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@simplebits Awesome. Are you going to sell the Dribbble stickers separately at some point?2 days ago from web
Posts
- March 01, 01:47 AM
- February 28, 12:12 AM
- February 27, 02:22 AM
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February 26, 12:24 AM
February 25, 2010

Posted: 9:24pm
Beard smash! Surprisingly hard to get his pose. I'll settle for this. @blastro forever!
[ 4 comments ] - February 24, 10:41 PM
- February 24, 01:27 AM
- February 22, 09:45 PM
- February 21, 10:02 PM
- February 20, 06:44 PM
- February 16, 05:41 PM
- February 13, 11:39 PM
- February 10, 08:07 PM
- February 09, 11:53 PM
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February 08, 09:51 PM
February 8, 2010

Posted: 6:51pm
Hey, I got mentioned in a rap song. I guess I'd better keep going. I was seriously considering backing out. My perfect streak has been broken by 3 shameful days now. Rap song + it's my birthday = keep going (at least for now). I've been a bit disappointed that I'm not coming up with more creative stuff to share with the whisker-crowd. I'd rather do the minimum 1 photo a week and make that one count that just post mediocre junk every day. Can I blame it on not having a good camera? Nah, that's a lame excuse. Tone is in your fingers. It's just plain laziness and not taking the time and effort to do something remarkable. Maybe I can do better.
[ 14 comments ] - February 05, 12:18 AM
- February 03, 11:35 PM
- February 02, 11:46 PM
- February 01, 09:51 PM
- February 01, 12:38 AM
- January 31, 01:12 AM
- January 29, 05:29 PM
- January 28, 10:54 PM
- January 28, 12:13 AM
- January 26, 11:39 PM
- January 25, 11:56 PM
- January 25, 12:06 AM
- January 23, 09:37 PM
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January 22, 09:52 PM
January 22, 2010

Posted: 6:52pm
Can you see it, Joker? Feels to me... like it's written all over my face. I've lain awake nights... planning it... picturing it... ...endless nights... ...considering every possible method... treasuring each imaginary moment... From the beginning, I knew... ...that there's nothing wrong with you... ...that I can't fix... ...with my hands...
[ 9 comments ] - January 21, 09:29 PM
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January 21, 12:16 AM
January 20, 2010

Posted: 9:16pm
Always With Me Clockwise from lower left: Keys, wallet, Pilot G-2 0.38 pen (recommended by Gruber), grandfather's pocket knife, glass of PBR, hipster PDA.
[ 4 comments ] - January 19, 08:19 PM
- January 18, 10:25 PM
- January 18, 12:45 AM
- January 16, 06:41 PM
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January 15, 10:53 PM
January 15, 2010

Posted: 7:53pm
Books I'm reading #5: Daredevil: Love and War. Just an old book I pulled out of my collection to read. A collection that will soon reside on comicbinder.com
[ 6 comments ] -
January 14, 09:18 PM
January 14, 2010

Posted: 6:18pm
Books I'm reading #4: How to Win Friends & Influence People. It's an old book, but it's still really good. This copy belongs to my parents, and may have originally belonged to my grandparents. This edition was published in 1964, and it's the 114th(!) printing.
[ 11 comments ] -
January 14, 01:53 AM
January 13, 2010

Posted: 10:53pm
Books I'm Reading #3: Mindfulness in Plain English. While I haven't yet taken up the habit of regular meditation, I realize the benefits of it. I found this book from a recommendation by Mister Hivelogic, Dan Benjamin. This is another book that I've had for quite a while, but still haven't managed to finish yet.
[ 4 comments ] -
January 12, 09:31 PM
January 12, 2010

Posted: 6:31pm
I think I got this book last Christmas (2008). I still haven't finished it, but it's filled with some good things so far. I got the idea for my Solutions Log from this book.
[ 5 comments ] -
January 11, 10:28 PM
January 11, 2010

Posted: 7:28pm
My theme this week: Books I'm Reading While I would normally consider myself a fairly large comic book dork (quite a bit more so when I was younger), it's the shameful truth that I've never read all of Watchmen. I don't even own this copy: I picked it up from the library today. And I even spend most of my free time working on a comic book collecting website. You can get some spoilers for the rest of the week on my Readernaut Reading list.
[ 19 comments ] - January 10, 09:14 PM
- January 09, 08:56 PM
- January 08, 04:49 PM
- January 07, 10:54 PM
- January 06, 10:00 PM
- January 05, 10:12 PM
- January 04, 11:20 PM
- January 03, 10:50 PM
- January 02, 04:53 PM
- January 01, 04:50 PM
- December 31, 10:43 PM
- December 30, 10:15 PM
- December 29, 11:52 AM
- December 28, 11:02 PM
- December 27, 10:14 PM
- December 26, 10:56 PM
- December 26, 02:17 AM
- December 24, 11:19 PM
- December 23, 11:09 PM
- December 23, 12:33 AM
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December 21, 05:02 PM
December 21, 2009

Posted: 2:02pm
Hangin' with Djangles, the Django Gorilla. @Phil is a master Djangorillamaker.
[ 6 comments ] - December 20, 10:19 PM
- December 19, 10:09 PM
- December 19, 12:34 AM
- December 18, 01:59 AM
- December 16, 02:47 PM
- December 15, 03:37 PM
- December 14, 09:02 PM
- December 13, 09:15 PM
- December 12, 01:45 PM
- December 11, 08:20 PM
- December 10, 03:24 PM
- December 09, 02:12 PM
- December 08, 01:32 PM
- December 07, 09:09 PM
- December 06, 03:56 PM
- December 05, 05:27 PM
- December 04, 05:01 PM
- December 03, 02:35 PM
- December 02, 09:36 PM
- December 01, 02:55 PM
- November 30, 05:09 PM
- November 29, 05:30 PM
- November 28, 02:51 PM
- November 27, 05:19 PM
- November 26, 03:42 PM
- November 25, 06:59 PM
- November 24, 04:16 PM
- November 23, 04:36 PM
- November 22, 05:53 PM
- November 21, 10:36 AM
- November 20, 10:18 AM
- November 19, 02:58 PM
- November 18, 08:45 PM
- November 18, 12:08 AM
- November 16, 09:06 PM
- November 15, 07:05 PM
- November 14, 06:32 PM
- November 13, 05:43 PM
- November 12, 09:16 PM
- November 11, 09:09 PM
- November 10, 03:35 PM
- November 09, 10:39 AM
- November 08, 07:15 PM
- November 07, 08:34 PM
- November 06, 03:57 PM
- November 05, 04:12 PM
- November 04, 11:13 AM
- November 03, 02:45 PM
- November 02, 03:36 PM
- November 01, 12:37 PM
Posts
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February 28, 01:42 PM
Installing MySQL on Snow Leopard using Homebrew
If you already have a
/usr/localfolder and it’s not owned by your user:sudo chown -R `whoami` /usr/localInstall Homebrew:
cd /usr/local git init git remote add origin git://github.com/mxcl/homebrew.git git pull origin masterThis is kind of odd–you install Homebrew right into the base of your
/usr/localfolder. It nicely ignores other folders that already exists there. Just do it.Install MySQL:
brew install mysqlYeah, it’s really that easy. This will take a while.
Now warm it up:
mysql_install_dbAnd make sure it automatically starts again on login:
launchctl load -w /usr/local/Cellar/mysql/5.1.43/com.mysql.mysqld.plist -
February 25, 02:56 PM
The mate Shell Command for TextMate
I keep having to look this up.
To add the
mateshell command, select the Help menu from within TextMate and select"Terminal Usage..."Source
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February 22, 05:02 PM
Using Dropbox to Share Git Repositories
First, create a Git subfolder inside your Dropbox folder. Then you can share the individual projects inside that folder with whomever you want (or just use it for instant offsite backups).
From inside a Git project:
git clone --bare . ~/Dropbox/Git/gitproject.git git remote add dropbox ~/Dropbox/Git/gitproject.gitWhen you’re ready to push:
git push dropbox masterYour Collaborator’s View
Your collaborator would work on the project like so (inside the folder where they want their project to live):
git clone ~/Dropbox/Git/gitproject.gitIf they want to have a
dropboxremote instead of the defaultorigin:git remote add dropbox ~/Dropbox/Git/gitproject.gitThey would then push the same way:
git push dropbox masterTo get the other person’s changes, it’s the standard deal:
git pull dropbox masterSource
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January 10, 04:46 AM
Create Your Own Local Copy of the Django Documentation
sudo easy_install SphinxInside your local SVN checkout of Django:
cd docs make htmlNow you’ll have a beautiful local copy of the documentation to browse for those rare moments when you’re away from the internet (perhaps you’re in a fort?). Just point your browser to:
file:///path/to/your/django/docs/_build/html/index.htmlSource
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January 04, 10:03 PM
Getting Django + MySQL running again on Snow Leopard
Previously…
- Install the latest Xcode Tools from your Snow Leopard installation DVD
- Re symlink things to
/Library/Python/2.6/site-packages(Leopard used 2.5)- Django
- Any other thing you had symlink’d in 2.5
MySQL + Python
- Install MySQL from source like Dan says but use the latest version of MySQL (5.1.42 in my case) instead of the version he says to use.
- Install MySQL-Python like the top answer on this Stack Overflow question.
After all that Sequel Pro is still showing the version of MySQL as 5.1.33, but it seems to be working…
PIL
This was by far the biggest headache. I finally found a solution:
Install like this, but before running
sudo python setup.py install, do this:LDFLAGS="-arch ppc -arch i386 -arch x86_64" CFLAGS="-arch ppc -arch i386 -arch x86_64" python setup.py buildIf you already had PIL installed and had the source files you compiled from before, be sure to delete them and start fresh from a new Imaging-1.1.6.tar.gz.
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December 10, 06:08 PM
Using the jQuery Autocomplete Plugin with Django
Here’s another look into the development of ComicBinder.
There’s already a good tutorial on how to use an autocomplete plugin with Django, but I wanted to use this much snazzier plugin.
The Process
Load both
jquery.autocomplete.min.jsandjquery.autocomplete.cssin your page.In your form object, create a
CharFieldto hold your autocomplete. Something like:title = forms.CharField(label='', widget=forms.TextInput(attrs={'placeholder': 'The name of a comic'}))Create a hidden field to hold the primary key of the item you’re selecting (so you don’t have to depend on searching against a ‘name’ field or something else equally brittle):
title_pk = forms.IntegerField(widget=forms.HiddenInput())Create a view to populate the autocomplete list:
def title_lookup(request): results = [] if request.method == "GET": if request.GET.has_key(u'q'): value = request.GET[u'q'] # Ignore queries shorter than length 3 if len(value) > 2: model_results = Title.objects.filter(name__icontains=value) results = [ (x.__unicode__(), x.id) for x in model_results ] json = simplejson.dumps(results) return HttpResponse(json, mimetype='application/json')This will, of course, need a URLconf:
url(r'^title_lookup/$', view=title_lookup, name='title_lookup'),And to finish it off, a bit of JavaScript in your template to call the plugin:
<script> $(function() { $('#id_title').autocomplete('{% url title_lookup %}', { dataType: 'json', width: 500, parse: function(data) { return $.map(data, function(row) { return { data:row, value:row[1], result:row[0] }; }); } }).result( function(e, data, value) { $("#id_title_pk").val(value); } ); } ); </script>Sources
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December 02, 06:50 PM
Smart URL Redirects in Django
While building ComicBinder’s URLs, I wanted a way to differentiate a volume of a title other than one, and a printing of an issue other than one. So, for example, a URL to the second printing of the second volume of Amazing Spider-Man #1 would look like:
/marvel/amazing-spider-man_2/1_2/That’s easy enough with some
URLconfwrangling. What I’m talking about today is automatically redirecting a request for_1in any of those places to the same URL without the_1. While technically correct, I want the lack of underscore + number to mean one, and for there to be only one URL for a resource (someone send me a link to a clever article that talks about this).django.views.generic.simple.redirect_toto the rescue. Try something like this:(r'^(?P<publisher>[-\w]+)/(?P<title>[-\w]+)_1/(?P<number>\d+)_1/$', 'django.views.generic.simple.redirect_to', {'url': '/%(publisher)s/%(title)s/%(number)s/'}),I made a few of these to account for situations where it was the first volume, but nothing specified for printing, and vise versa.
Not too bulky, and since I have that sitting near the normal rule, it shouldn’t put me out too much to update it if I make any changes.
Source
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November 09, 05:55 PM
How to Log Something
With The Django Debug Toolbar
Somewhere in your Python code (not a template):
import logging logging.debug(something_you_want_to_log)With Firebug
Somewhere in your JavaScript or the Firebug Console:
console.log(something_you_want_to_log);That was easy.
Sources
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October 29, 06:13 PM
Display the Number of Comments on a Blog Post in EE and WP
ExpressionEngine:
<a href="{comment_url_title_auto_path}#comments">{comment_total} {if comment_total == 1}Comment{if:else}Comments{/if}</a>WordPress:
<?php comments_popup_link('0 Comments', '1 Comment', '% Comments'); ?> -
September 15, 03:05 PM
Remove a Git Submodule
- Delete the relevant line from the
.gitmodulesfile. - Delete the relevant section from
.git/config. - Run
git rm --cached path/to/submodule(no trailing slash). - Commit and delete the now untracked submodule files.
Source
- Chat conversation with JTJ.
- Delete the relevant line from the
Posts
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November 06, 09:53 AM
APOD: 2009 November 6 - Ring Nebula Deep Field It’s odd...

APOD: 2009 November 6 - Ring Nebula Deep Field
It’s odd that something so utterly gruesome could be this pretty. It’s like driving by the rotting corpse of your neighbor’s father on the side of the road. This is the fate of our sun in another 5 billion years or so.
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June 09, 07:05 AM
APOD: 2009 June 8 - Possible Jet Blown Shells Near Microquasar...

APOD: 2009 June 8 - Possible Jet Blown Shells Near Microquasar Cygnus X1
This is an annotated picture of a black hole with all sorts of interesting stuff happening around it.
- May 25, 10:29 AM
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April 14, 09:41 AM
APOD: 2009 April 11 - The Big Picture As I’ve said...

APOD: 2009 April 11 - The Big Picture
As I’ve said before, it’s hard to place in context the amazing pictures you see of deep space with the sky you see every night. This helps.
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February 14, 02:02 PM
APOD: 2009 February 9 - Anemic Galaxy NGC 4921 at the...

APOD: 2009 February 9 - Anemic Galaxy NGC 4921 at the Edge
It’s cool to see three very distinct regions of space in a single picture. The focus of the picture is the large galaxy, but you can also see “nearby” stars in our own Milky Way as well as even more distant galaxies behind the big one in the picture.
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November 23, 03:29 AM
APOD: 2002 January 21 - Volcano and Aurora in Iceland I...

APOD: 2002 January 21 - Volcano and Aurora in Iceland
I can’t imagine what it must be like to live somewhere where you can see things like this.
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November 15, 10:24 AM
APOD: 2008 November 14 - Fomalhaut b Since I got interested in...

APOD: 2008 November 14 - Fomalhaut b
Since I got interested in astronomy as an impressionable young man, I’ve understood that most stars probably have planets around them. It’s been really rewarding to watch the progress over the last few years as more and more planets have actually been observed (for the most part indirectly—until now). I even understood that to directly observe a planet around another star, the exact technique used in his photograph would have to be used.
This planet is 3 times the size of Jupiter and 14 times farther away than Jupiter is from our sun. It’s also a mere 25 light years away (basically in our cosmic backyard). That means it is an enormous (probably uninhabitable) planet really far away from its star, which is very close to us. So it’s probably about as easy to visually observe as any planet in our immediate neighborhood. It’s an incredibly important step in the exploration of our galaxy, but there’s still a ways to go.
It’s amazing that so much has happened in this field in such a short time. I would not be surprised if within the next decade or so we observe a planet that is a potential target for an interplanetary mission.
It’s an exciting time to be alive.
- October 26, 02:54 PM
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October 20, 01:51 AM
APOD: 2008 October 17 - An Extraordinary Voyage Apparently...

APOD: 2008 October 17 - An Extraordinary Voyage
Apparently dumping trash into the atmosphere and taking video of it is APOD worthy. Who knew?
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October 01, 11:46 PM
APOD: 2008 September 29 - A True Image from False Kiva This...

APOD: 2008 September 29 - A True Image from False Kiva
This one’s been making the rounds on Tumblr, so I thought I should make a place for it on the APOD Log. This is an amazing picture.
No PhotoShop here. Astrophotographer Wally Pacholka took this single exposure photograph at False Kiva in the Canyonlands National Park, Utah. He admits to being concerned about mountain lions as he waited in the dark cave to capture this beautiful view reaching from inside the Earth to infinity. (via Neatorama) - September 20, 10:01 AM
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September 19, 10:25 AM
APOD: 2008 September 19 - Companion of a Young Sun like...

APOD: 2008 September 19 - Companion of a Young Sun like Star
This is big news. An actual photograph of a planet in another solar system. Within the last few years, they’ve found scads of planets around other solar systems, but I’ve never heard of there being a direct photograph.
From APOD:
this picture likely represents the first direct image of a planet belonging to a star similar to the Sun.
Does that mean there have been other direct images of planets around non sun-like stars?
In any case, this is incredibly cool.
- August 09, 11:23 AM
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July 28, 10:22 AM
APOD: 2008 July 28 - SDSSJ1430: A Galaxy Einstein Ring This is...

APOD: 2008 July 28 - SDSSJ1430: A Galaxy Einstein Ring
This is some crazy, relativistic stuff right here—gravity bending light into a circle. The computer generated images of the individual parts are especially cool.
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July 23, 11:22 AM
APOD: 2008 July 23 - High Cliffs Surrounding Echus Chasma on...

APOD: 2008 July 23 - High Cliffs Surrounding Echus Chasma on Mars
This is the kind of APOD I like: nobody really knows what’s going on here. This one is also great because I was sure it was an illustration. Nope—it’s a photo from the Mars Express orbiter. It really looks like an illustration in a science book from the 50s or 60s.
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July 15, 03:31 PM
APOD: 2008 July 15 - Gas and Dust of the Lagoon Nebula Pictures...

APOD: 2008 July 15 - Gas and Dust of the Lagoon Nebula
Pictures like this where they remove the stars are really striking. If most of what was removed was foreground stars, I suppose this gives a more realistic view of what it would be like to be closer.
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July 14, 10:54 AM
APOD: 2008 July 14 - Changes in Angular Mars I had never...

APOD: 2008 July 14 - Changes in Angular Mars
I had never thought of this—since Mars is further from the sun than we are, we never see Mars (or any other planet further out than we are) in a crescent phase.
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June 25, 09:56 AM
APOD: 2008 June 25 - What is Hannys Voorwerp I love this kind...

APOD: 2008 June 25 - What is Hannys Voorwerp
I love this kind of thing. We have no idea what this is. Here’s a green blob that some random person (not an astronomer) found by browsing images online. Astronomers don’t know what it is!
I might have to come back to this and write more later.
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June 19, 11:21 AM
APOD: 2008 June 19 - The Star Streams of NGC 5907 Grand...

APOD: 2008 June 19 - The Star Streams of NGC 5907
Grand tidal streams of stars seem to surround galaxy NGC 5907.
I wonder what life is like (if it’s possible) around those far-flung wisps of stars. The victims of violence on a scale so grand, it’s undetectable on human timescales unless you’re millions of light-years away.
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June 16, 10:33 AM
APOD: 2004 March 9 - The Hubble Ultra Deep Field It amazes me...

APOD: 2004 March 9 - The Hubble Ultra Deep Field
It amazes me that this is one continuous view of deep space. Everything is a galaxy. Lots and lots of tiny (as seen by us) galaxies.






























































































































