Changing the World

Remember Martin Luther King Jr., not just today, everyday. ...

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 08:19:40 -0500

Room 306 Lorraine Motel, copyright KN

Remember Martin Luther King Jr., not just today, everyday. April 4th, 1968

Adele on NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert. A great video, very...

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 16:59:54 -0500

Adele on NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert. A great video, very intimate atmosphere.

Solar System Scope: Unbelievable

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 09:00:05 -0600

Solar System Scope: Unbelievable:

You just have to try it out. Words cannot describe this site. Incredible work.

mitmproxy: Man-in-the-middle proxy for HTTP

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 21:00:06 -0600

mitmproxy: Man-in-the-middle proxy for HTTP:

Cool nerd alert:

mitmproxy is an SSL-capable man-in-the-middle proxy for HTTP. It provides a console interface that allows traffic flows to be inspected and edited on the fly.

Double Fine Adventure @KickStarter Almost $2.4 Million (with 9 days left)

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 18:04:06 -0600

Double Fine Adventure @KickStarter Almost $2.4 Million (with 9 days left):

This story got a lot of press from Tech Crunch and others about a month ago when the Kick Starter raked in $400 then $900 thousand in only 16 hours. Now, with 9 days left, no one has checked back in. Double Fine Adventure is now at almost $2.4 million dollars. That’s right, MILLION. Wow. Congratulations 2 Player Productions! And another great example of what Kick Starter can do for anyone.

"The power of introverts" by @SusanCain from #TED2012

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 17:16:26 -0600

"The power of introverts" by @SusanCain from #TED2012:

This Susan Cain TED 2012 talk on “The power of introverts” is very good and a must watch for everyone. - from your friend, an introvert :)

"Code is Magical" - Get Started Today

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 10:03:05 -0600

The recent Tech Crunch article about Kaitlyn Trigger, the girlfriend of Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger is a great example of how anyone can learn how to develop software. It gets easier everyday. This article then reminded me of my friend Clint Hall’s presentation, “Code is Magical”, which you should all watch (only 6.5 minutes). Stop putting off tomorrow, what you can do today. Especially women. There’s no need to be afraid of software. Check out the comments on the Tech Crunch article for various helpful resources. Also feel free to check out Codecademy.

Open Source Hardware - Limor Fried Spark Interview

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 21:00:05 -0600

Open Source Hardware - Limor Fried Spark Interview:

A short (19:30) audio interview of Limor Fried that’s beneficial to anyone new or in-the-know about the Open Source Hardware movement, Adafruit Industries, Arduino, and all the other fun stuff.

Circuit Playground App from Adafuit Industries

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 15:07:06 -0600

If only the iPad and the Circuit Playground application were available when I was a college electrical engineer :) For only $2.99 in the Apple App store, you can have your very own electronics resource on your iPad (or iPhone). This handy, easy to use app supports component identification, information, Ohm’s Law & Power calculations, conversion (decimal, hex, binary and ASCII), resistance calculations in series and parallel, PDF storage and access, and website access to Adafruit.

I would not have expected anything less from Adafruit Industries. The application is beautiful and easy to use. Plus very inexpensive. A must of all scholastic, hackers, and hobbyists alike. Download yours today!

Coders 4 Charities - March 23rd through 25th

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 11:39:42 -0600

Come one, come all to the 5th annual Kansas City Coders for Charities event! I had the privilege of participating in the 4th event, and I must say: it was a lot of fun! It’s like a Startup Weekend but you go and work on the charity project you choose. It’s a lot of fun and for a great cause. Sign up now! Also, this event seems to lack graphic designers and web designers. There’s usually enough front and back end developers, but designers are in short supply. Pass this on to your design friends and have them join you.

Join HERE

lianamaris: Valentine’s Day vs Women 2.0 Conference Women 2.0...

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 11:32:21 -0600

lianamaris:

Valentine’s Day vs Women 2.0 Conference

Women 2.0 Conference is on Feb 14 at the Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA! Get out there!

The #CodeYear #FizzBuzz challenge has multiple possibilities

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 21:01:06 -0600

Since I already sent Codecademy some feedback on step 4 of the FizzBuzz extra lesson, I couldn’t re-submit another variations of the code that technically appear to work, but isn’t what Codecademy is looking to “pass” the step in the lesson.

Here’s my code snippet that appears to work, and has a nested if statement, just like the Hint suggests it wants:

But, look very closely at what Codecademy really wants to pass the step in the lesson…see if you can pick it out (this picture below is what passes the step):

The lesson wants the text to litterally print out “FizzBuzz”, not “Fizz Buzz” which I had originally typed :)

I also sent them feedback on this structure that also appears to work:

i % 3 === 0 && i % 5 === 0

i % 15 === 0

i === 15

Once you actually pass the 5th and final step, you can play with your code and make it work for multiple possibilities (listed above) and variations in the string (even putting the space back in “Fizz Buzz”) and they all run properly.

In one month, look what I’ll be able to do. Thanks...

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 11:06:42 -0600

In one month, look what I’ll be able to do. Thanks @Codecademy!

MIT Set to Launch Online Learning Initiatives

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 09:00:05 -0600

Even if you are up-to-date on this breaking news from MIT, I find it important to take a moment to reflect on how much of a game-changer this will be.

Seriously, take a minute to read the article…and just think.

Now that you’ve collected your thoughts, what do you think? I’ve read a lot of articles (and watched plenty of video) about education and the rising costs of higher education. With our economy in flux, as with anything, we need to weigh the cost-benefit, right? That’s what our economics class taught us.

There has been a lot of discussion as to what the internet can do to disrupt this old-world tradition. Now, I’m not talking about for-profit “colleges” (such as University of Phoenix), I’m talking about our true state schools and academia that is established and has been around for a while (think MIT, Yale, University of Purdue, Stanford, Cal, etc.).

Many of us who are also beyond our formative college-years are also trying to continue our education. With the every changing horizon of technology, industry, and again, our economy, we need to be competitive to stay ahead. We’re always looking for affordable but non-restrictive learning options (think Khan Academy). The advent of distance learning and current online courses from some of the same institutions have helped usher in this change. But some of the time restrictions still don’t fully fit into our full-time job + family lifestyle. Especially if we are trying to complete course work for degrees and certificates.

The upcoming spring MITx learning initiative is exciting because it’s still very similar to the current MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW), but will add current course plans, learning tools, (I’m assuming social/sharing tools), and offer a “mastery” certificate. Everything will be free, except the certificate. What more could you ask for?

In return, MIT is getting a chance to investigate and learn how this type of educational disruption penetrates our society.

I understand there is no current statement as to the cost of the certification, but I am willing to be a test subject for the opportunity to continue my education. And I’m pretty sure the certification won’t cost me $50,000+ …as do most semesters at any university.

Links (not repeating any from above text):

Women in STEM - Harvey Mudd College Breaking Down Barriers

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 21:11:06 -0600

Women in STEM - Harvey Mudd College Breaking Down Barriers:

Not very in-depth, but a starter article about what Dr. Maria Klawe and the professors are doing at Harvey Mudd College to increase & retain female enrollment in STEM programs.

Wired - 9 Awesomely Geeky Spots Where You Must Check In

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 15:10:06 -0600

Wired - 9 Awesomely Geeky Spots Where You Must Check In:

You may not be able to “check in” to all of these places, but it’s a novel idea.

Create Your Own Muppet

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 09:05:06 -0600

I didn’t believe it either, but at FAO Schwarz, you can create your own Muppet Whatnot…for $99 US dollars. Even if you don’t want to purchase, it’s a fun way to spend 15 minutes of your day.

TrackerNews: Ben Franklin Would Have Loved This: Hackerspaces at the Public Library

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 21:02:05 -0600

TrackerNews: Ben Franklin Would Have Loved This: Hackerspaces at the Public Library:

Following on the heels of my recent post: Maker Bots Instead of Toys for Tots, this post needs to be shared.

trackernewsdots:

Public Libraries + Hackerspaces. Brilliant. And yet another reason why public libraries—and public librarians—are an essential part of a free society, fostering the kind of innovative, productive, creative, healthy, expansive culture worth a good chest thump. Not only is it about leveling the…

Where young people go to retire.

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 15:05:05 -0600

Where young people go to retire.

ByeDaddy.org Does Not Find All Registered Domains

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 13:13:40 -0600

Just an FYI to people using the ByeDaddy.org site, the website does not currently identify all registered GoDaddy domain names. I currently have one website registered that is not identified. Either ByeDaddy cannot identify privately registered domains or it cannot identify .co domain names (I’m guessing it’s the former).