Categories
documentary

Anonymous – The Story of Aaron Swartz

I first discovered Aaron Swartz while watching Ze Frank’s The Show in 2006. Aaron had donated a $100 for a gold ducky sponsorship link and I clicked it— and I remember thinking at the time, who has a hundred bucks for a stupid gold ducky?! But the paid sponsorship took me to his site and pretty much I knew immediately I had discovered a genius. (I only learned later that Aaron had so much money from selling Reddit).

I read his blog religiously. At one point he started a serial short story, Bubble City, about a dystopic future in which Google’s powerful reach is able to help the government spy on the protagonist — Aaron updated not quite as often as I would have liked. Later he started writing about being investigated by the FBI himself — the actual FBI. It’s surreal thinking about all the things that Aaron is and was famous for, I just liked him because I thought he was an amazing writer. Who was this person?

I was shocked when I found out he worked for Wired Magazine and got fired for reasons that were never really clear but gave me the impression he might not be the easiest guy to get along with; not to mention was going through some pretty tough depression. The comments about the Wired/Fired shirt were prescient.

Well, I don’t know the fashion in ‘cisco, I’ll admit. Also, my comment about hoping all is going to be well, on second thought, is very silly; as Aaron is brilliant and well-connected, I’m certain he’ll be just fine :)

Provided he doesn’t kill himself.

I remember thinking that one day I was going to go out of my way to meet Aaron, but at the same time, I didn’t have a clue how I was going to make that happen. I did email him once, and he replied promptly, but that was about it and I’ll always regret never getting a real conversation going with him.

I was devastated when I heard the news about him in 2013 and I still think about him every once in a while.

Here’s a documentary about his life:

Categories
bad review revue

The Bad Review Revue

The Meg: “It’s not fun, it’s not serious, it’s not scary. It is stupid.” — Johnny Oleksinski, The New York Post

The Happytime Murders: “A few critics are calling it the worst movie of the year. Unfair! This R-rated look at a serial killer running wild in a puppet-populated L.A., has what it takes to be a contender for worst of the decade.” — Peter Traverse, Rolling Stone

Mile 22: “If the nonstop reign of skull crushing, eye gouging ultra violence isn’t enough to exhaust you entirely, trying to keep track of what’s important and why definitely will.” — Meg Downey, CBR

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom: “Is there any future in the Jurassic Park franchise? They were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, that they didn’t stop to think if they should.” — Clarisse Loughrey, That Darn Movie Show

Slender Man: “This tawdry, shoddy stinker is a movie of rare and total incompetence, literally unwatchable thanks to some of the worst cinematography in film history.” — Jim Lane, Sacramento News & Review

Categories
cooking recipe video

Chicken Taco Salad

I’ve been having fun with time-lapse videos lately. Here’s one of me making Chicken Taco Salad from this evening. All ingredients can be substituted as per what you have and how much you like it. This recipe was basically me just eyeballing it.

Recipe:

two large chicken breasts
1/2 cup corn (I used corn on the cob)
a head of romaine lettuce
1 tomato
1 avocado
1 cucumber
a couple handfuls of nacho chips
some grated cheese
a couple dollops of plain yogurt
an equal amount of your favourite salsa

Cook chicken until brown and reaching an internal temperature of at least 74°C. Mix the rest of the ingredients and serve.

Categories
Art cooking

Rice Crispy Squares

Looking for a super-easy treat for the next potluck you attend? There’s nothing easier then rice crispy squares.

Enjoy:

3 table spoons butter
1 package (about 40) large marshmallows (or 4 cups of mini marshmallows)
6 cups rice crispies

1. In large saucepan melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat.

2. Add rice crispies cereal. Stir until well coated.

3. Using buttered spatula or wax paper evenly press mixture into 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan coated with cooking spray. Cool. Cut into 2-inch squares. Best if served the same day.

Categories
Art cooking recipe

Ooey Goey Puffed Wheat Squares

If you like Puff Wheat Squares, you are going to love these.
I got the recipe from http://www.mennonitegirlscancook.ca/2009/10/ooey-gooey-chocolatey-puff-wheat-squares.html and modified it slightly. This version uses 2 cups less puffed wheat and substitutes in 2 cups of corn flakes. You can do it either way.

Ingredients
8 cups puffed wheat
2 cups Corn Flakes
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup corn syrup
1 cup white sugar
6 tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
Combine butter, corn syrup, sugars and cocoa powder in a heavy saucepan.
Bring to a boil. (Very important)
Remove from heat and add vanilla.
Pour over puffed wheat
Mix well and press into a greased 9 x 13 pan.

Categories
computer

Messages within Messages App on macOS Not Delivered

A couple of weeks ago I had an issue with my iPhone and decided to log out of iCloud and then log back in. That fixed whatever problem I was having (I don’t even remember what it was) but from that point on the Messages app on my MacBook Pro stopped being able to send messages. Anytime that I would try I would just get the “Not Delivered” error message. Clicking retry didn’t help either. After some frustrating searching of old forums and searching through settings to find anything that I could turn off and turn back on, I finally decided to just log out and log back in. It fixed the problem.

Categories
typography

What are the Fonts Included with the Adobe Typekit Free Plan

One of the great things about an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription is that it comes with a basic “free” TypeKit plan which gives one access to 280 font variations (20 at any one time). Something that is not so great is that there is no obvious way to find out which fonts are included without swimming through the thousands of possible font choices that are not included in the basic free typekit plan.

Recently I came across a lesson on Lynda.com that shared all of the fonts in the free plan and I’ve updated the list and made it into a .pdf to share — Fonts Included with the Adobe TypeKit Free Plan.

Enjoy!

Updated version August 2018.

Update: Interestingly, I discovered that while difficult to make a file with all of the 280 free fonts in the same document, once I exported the finished document, I was able to sync all the fonts and leave them activated.

Categories
family

Nesslin

Dear internet, I’d like you to meet Nesslin!

She was born at the end of May, weighed about 3.8 kg (8 lbs., 6 oz.), loves to eat (and then sleep), and has a lovely, gentle personality. Both mom and baby are home and after some temporary adventures with Andrea’s high blood pressure, both are doing fine. Nesslin is not a particularly popular name right now (It doesn’t even register on a Wolfram Alpha name search and less than 5 people have the closest match, Nessie). I’ve never been quite so content as when she fell asleep on my chest yesterday and we snoozed together on the couch for an hour or so — a little slice of heaven.

Categories
humor movie

Star Wars with Ron Howard

I’m really looking forward to the new Solo movie coming out later this month. Having Ron Howard as the director made the perfect opportunity for this Arrested Development Star Wars parody.

Categories
bad review revue

The Bad Review Revue

Rampage: “Johnson’s big opportunity for a memorable one-liner comes and goes with a sheepish ‘Well, that sucks.’ Touché, ‘Rampage.'” — J. Olson, Cinemixtape

I Feel Pretty: “The only thing you’ll feel after seeing I Feel Pretty is pretty damn crummy.” — AJ Caulfield, The Young Folks

Super Troopers 2: “It could almost be considered a subversive indictment of law enforcement, not to mention lowbrow humor. Almost, that is, if it were remotely funny.” — Pat Padua, Washington Post

Blumhouse’s Truth or Dare: “This gasser of a schlocky horror film should only be experienced on a dare.” — Courtney Howard, Fresh Fiction

Duck Butter: “It feels like we’re seeing the director’s cut of an IKEA commercial.” — Owen Gleiberman, Variety