slip.stream.stitch

"I try to play with at least one deck every morning."

Sat, 18 May 2013 09:44:22 -0700

My team and I spent almost four hours straight yesterday afternoon making gloriously inappropriate deck jokes amongst ourselves and then eventually the rest of our cohort and laughing so hard we couldn’t breathe or speak or see (due to the tears streaming from our eyes). Because we were building a web app for flashcard studying, so we were working with card models and user models and study round models and guess models and, god help us all, deck models. Our app had to handle decks. We were performing complicated functions on decks, pulling decks out of large arrays and shoveling decks into user objects, raking and seeing databases with our decks, increasing deck size and then making decks smaller, discussing whether a session could handle the load of a big deck and what the app should do once a user had finished with a deck and the deck had emptied itself of cards. Whether a user could play with a deck for more than one round or could swap decks at any given moment. How to make sure our app could support multiple (or even unlimited) decks. And more. Oh, so much more.

Granted, there was a steady half-hour stretch toward the end where we actually got our code written (we kept accidentally breaking our deck methods and the decks weren’t performing to spec), though we had to make some changes to our testing environment because our original deck was too hard.

Then again, this burst of productivity came hot on the heels of at least one full hour of giggling uncontrollably.

(Meanwhile, the other cohort kept busy trying to solve Sudoku boards by stuffing random digits into tiny boxes.)

cardboardlife: Crochet character head (modeled by Luke). The...

Thu, 16 May 2013 22:27:19 -0700

cardboardlife:

Crochet character head (modeled by Luke).

The way I made this was to make a balaclava and then start from the bottom again and build up a big cat head around it, joining the front onto the eye and mouth holes as I went along. The mouth hole is hidden under the face-flaps.

I lost count of how many things about and in this photo I LOVE SO MUCH.

"Water does not resist. Water flows. When you plunge your hand into it, all you feel is a caress...."

Thu, 16 May 2013 22:22:16 -0700

“Water does not resist. Water flows. When you plunge your hand into it, all you feel is a caress. Water is not a solid wall, it will not stop you. But water always goes where it wants to go, and nothing in the end can stand against it. Water is patient. Dripping water wears away a stone. Remember that, my child. Remember you are half water. If you can’t go through an obstacle, go around it. Water does.”

- Margaret Atwood (via biscodeja-vu)

I adore Margaret Atwood, but Bruce Lee > Madam Mags:

“Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless— like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup; you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle; you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”

And Lao-tzu > *

Tao
is the way of water.
There must be water for life to be,
and it can flow wherever.

And water, being true to being water
is true
to Tao.

Those on the Way of Tao, like water,
need to accept where they find themselves;
and that may often be where water goes
to the lowest place, and that is right.

Like a lake
the heart must be calm and quiet
having great depth beneath it.

The sage rules with compassion,
and his word needs to be trusted.

The sage needs to know like water
how to flow around the blocks
and how to find the way through without violence.

Like water, the sage should wait
for the moment to ripen and be right:

water, you know, never fights
it flows around

without harm.

(Chapter 8, Tao Te Ching)

rachelisaflameprincess: bendydicks: considerthishippie: Instead of just looking up into the sky,...

Sat, 11 May 2013 09:19:44 -0700

rachelisaflameprincess:

bendydicks:

considerthishippie:

Instead of just looking up into the sky, you’re actually gazing down into the infinite cosmic abyss, with only gravity holding you onto the surface of the earth.

oh

i was not prepared for that

"Always come back to the breath"

Thu, 09 May 2013 10:24:25 -0700

"Always come back to the breath":

Something Jen occasionally does during a session is remind us to “always come back to the breath”. While I am poetically fond of the prepositional phrase “back to” in and of itself, I especially like the sound and feel of this particular saying. Breath is such a fundamental, elemental thing. Coming back to the breath is coming back to the thing that keeps us alive. Coming back to the breath is coming back to existence, to the simple act of acknowledging existence without the complicated philosophical undertaking of identifying a “why”.

(not posting on the DBc stream for fairly obvious reasons.)

Sun, 05 May 2013 15:38:00 -0700

Recently I had a dream in which I was writing Ruby code for sex. And not like code for a game about sex, but like actual human sex. Like, if humans were actually just computers running programs— I was writing the program we would be running when we wanted to get down and dirty.

The point here, though, is that I woke up seriously disturbed. And not because I was dreaming about coding (this is hardly the first time). And not because I was dreaming about coding sex functions that were surprisingly well-formulated and accurate. But because there was one line, a method call parameter, I think, that I knew was wrong but the program was running fine in spite of that, and code that runs when it should be breaking is something that pisses me off to no end.

[Edit: see also (via Yannick)]

writersprocrastinate: Hi, I’m a writer. My hobbies include not writing. Also occasionally...

Sat, 04 May 2013 19:55:16 -0700

writersprocrastinate:

Hi, I’m a writer. My hobbies include not writing.

Also occasionally writing about not writing.

DLG + DBc

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 14:10:12 -0700

DLG + DBc:

Notes from the Squirrel girl of the first graduating class of the Chicago Dev Bootcamp program.

My head hurts and I don’t have the patience to figure out Tumblr’s inner workings right now. If you’re looking for or are interested in following my Dev Bootcamp notes, they’re on the account linked above, not this main one.

Award-winning childrenâs author E.L. Konigsburg dies in Virginia at age 83

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 21:58:00 -0700

Award-winning childrenâs author E.L. Konigsburg dies in Virginia at age 83:

neil-gaiman:

FALLS CHURCH, Va. â E.L. Konigsburg, an author who twice won one of the top honors for childrenâs literature, has died. She was 83.

I loved “From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler”. I loved reading it as a boy, and I loved reading it aloud to my kids.

Oh. “Mixed Up Files” was a favorite of mine for so long. When I finally went to New York for the first time as an adult, my only motivating factor to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art was to see if the things described in that book— the bed the kids slept in, the sarcophagus where the music cases were hidden, the smug Egyptian cat statue— were still there, and I was beyond disappointed that the only day we were able to go to the Metro, I got sick and couldn’t make the trip.

Of the *other* books of hers I’ve read, though “The View from Saturday” is the most cherished. When we saw “Slumdog Millionaire” in the theaters, I was convinced it was based on “The View from Saturday” (it wasn’t a derogatory conviction; I actually really like that movie). I still hold that there is no fiction more necessary and powerful and poignant than well-written children’s literature.

I grew up drinking only skim milk and for some reason, 1% and 2%...

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 16:31:24 -0700

I grew up drinking only skim milk and for some reason, 1% and 2% milk gave me the creeps. One time, however, I found myself in a house that only had 2% and I wanted cereal for breakfast, so, no joke, I poured ~1/8 of a cup of the 2% over my cereal and then filled the rest of the bowl with water.

Also!! My Blind Pilot spatula.

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 12:37:00 -0700

Also!! My Blind Pilot spatula.

Next to the specialty spice shop is an olive oil and balsamic...

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 12:33:11 -0700

Next to the specialty spice shop is an olive oil and balsamic vinegar shop that I never noticed until today. 25+ oils and 12+ balsamics! All of them sampleable! And mixable! The woman in the shop mixed a lemon olive oil with a pomegranate balsamic for me and it smelled heavenly. I didn’t taste it because my stomach has been off but I carried it with me as I finished my errands so I could keep smelling it.

Chicago!! Oh, Chicago.

ONE: TRANSIT (LAS-BKK) + BANGKOK

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 00:40:05 -0700

ONE: TRANSIT (LAS-BKK) + BANGKOK:

You are sitting in your room in Las Vegas. It is midnight on Friday, May 19, 2012. You have 3 hours and 45 minutes before you’re supposed to leave for the airport.

» look room

A typical bedroom. There is a bed, covered with clothes and electronics. An empty 65L backpack sits on the floor. A suitcase full of clothes and shoes is in the corner.

» pack backpack for trip

You cannot do that yet.

» dick around on the Internet for three hours

You dick around on the Internet for three hours. It is now 3 a.m. You have 45 minutes before you’re supposed to leave for the airport.

» pack backpack for trip

You spend 40 minutes trying to organize and fold and arrange things properly, then eventually just shove everything from the bed and the suitcase into the backpack. You can re-pack in Bangkok.

» go to airport

Also: yeah, that was a “Tangled” GIF. I watched it for the first time in February and am...

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 22:39:14 -0700

Also: yeah, that was a “Tangled” GIF. I watched it for the first time in February and am oddly hooked on it now.

On kind of a whim, one of my roommates (aside: this is the first...

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 21:28:15 -0700

On kind of a whim, one of my roommates (aside: this is the first time I’ve had a roommate in either 4 or 1.5 years, depending on whether or not boyfriends count as roommates, and it’s surprisingly not weird at all) and I went out to explore Millennium Park today, and shortly after we entered the park, we heard music coming from a pavilion. He noticed a sign advertising sustainable cooking demonstrations, so we walked over to the pavilion to investigate and were dismayed to discover we’d missed all of them.

AND THEN! I saw the closing event of the, uh, event, and— AND! AND!!! CONCERT BY BLIND PILOT!!!!!!!!

I don’t often abuse exclamation marks. Three tends to be my limit. But I also don’t often get really excited about bands. Blind Pilot is an exceptional exception for both these cases.

I made a mad dash for the pavilion entrance, ready to throw down whatever cash necessary to get to that stage, but the security admissions something something guy apologized and said that the event was basically over (I’d thought it was just past 2 p.m., but apparently it was nearly 3 at that point). But he let us hover by the entrance so we could listen, which was good enough, and then maybe a minute later, an official-looking woman came over to us and ushered us inside, saying it was far too cold for us to be lingering outside, and then before shooing us over to the stage, she handed us rubber spatulas. Because I guess all the event attendees got free rubber spatulas and there was clearly a surplus which she was trying to reduce.

Point of this story: RANDOMLY STUMBLED UPON BLIND PILOT, GOT TO HEAR THEM PLAY 3-4 SONGS FOR FREE, AND GOT A FREE RUBBER SPATULA.

I was thoroughly unable to contain my overabundance of glee. And actually the whole day ended up being a happy-dance city prowl. Dude! Chicago! You do not have to try so hard to make me love you. But, you know. Okay. <3

I quit dancing a year-and-a-half ago but I’m tempted to start up...

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 16:23:42 -0700

I quit dancing a year-and-a-half ago but I’m tempted to start up again just for shoes like these.

http://www.modcloth.com/shop/1930s-shoes

Net neutral is still way better than pissed-off.

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 15:47:01 -0700

Discovered a really great speakeasy last night. +1
With a really great jazz quintet playing. +1
And had one (1)(ONE) drink that had me intermittently sprinting to the bathroom the rest of the evening to throw up. -1
Even after I stopped having anything left TO throw up. -1
Which reminded me why it’s been 4 months since the last time I drank anything. +/-1

My bike arrived! +1
It doesn’t seem damaged! +1
I figured out how to reassemble it in like 1/10 the time it took me to figure out how to disassemble it! +1
But I forgot to pack the bike lock so now I have to get another one. -1
I already own 3 bike locks. -1
Also I keep hearing all these great stories about how prolific bike theft is out here, regardless of locks. -1

People grow. +10
Sometimes people inherently change (for the better). +1
Except lots and lots of people don’t. -1
Especially the people who need to change the most. -10

It’s snowing! +1
Holy fuck snow is cold. -1
Especially while wearing flip flops. -1
And yoga pants. -1
But yay I have boots? +1
And knee-high wool socks! +1
But in order to wear the boots I’d have to put on real clothes. -1
There is nothing in my schedule for the rest of today that requires me to abandon this pile of heavy warm blankets in my centrally-heated apartment. +1

Hello: We need to talk about the Friendzone

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 10:28:04 -0700

Hello: We need to talk about the Friendzone:

yeti-detective:

Consider something for me. Imagine that I, an incredibly good-looking, nice, eligible man, was walking into a shop ahead of you. As I reach the door I stop to look behind me, and I see you there only a few paces away. So I wait and hold the door. Maybe you say something like, “Thanks, bro. That was really nice.”

To which I respond, “Yeah, it was. Now you know what you have to do, right?” And I take my dick out.

Would that be uncomfortable for you? Would it be unpleasant for you to live in a world where, if a man was nice to you, it meant he expected you to pleasure him sexually? Guess what! That’s uncomfortable for women, too. Isn’t that weird? It’s almost like they’re the same kind of person you are. WEIRD!

No, actually. It’s not weird. It turns out they are the same kind of person you are, and having unwanted dicks around is as horrifying to them as it is to you. So, stop. Stop it with your unwanted dick.

The opening part of this post (not the quoted section above, which appears later) made me bristle because it felt like it was going in a pro-PUA direction, but then it turned out to be surprisingly great.

Money Portraits cash money, son

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 19:49:29 -0700

Money Portraits

cash money, son

"we who find solace in the darkness are not alone"

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 09:31:23 -0700

"we who find solace in the darkness are not alone":

If I say that walking through that drain was like a dream, understand that I don’t mean dreams of the soulful-wishing kind.

In 2002, a (now-but-not-then-)friend of mine and his editor explored miles of storm drains beneath Las Vegas to investigate the community of people living down there. Eleven years later, I asked him to take me down into the madness to see it for myself, and then I wrote a thing about it, which is the first proper “thing” I’ve written in a really really long time and it doesn’t totally suck.

slip.stream.stitch

"I try to play with at least one deck every morning."

cardboardlife: Crochet character head (modeled by Luke). The...

"Water does not resist. Water flows. When you plunge your hand into it, all you feel is a caress...."

rachelisaflameprincess: bendydicks: considerthishippie: Instead of just looking up into the sky,...

"Always come back to the breath"

(not posting on the DBc stream for fairly obvious reasons.)

writersprocrastinate: Hi, I’m a writer. My hobbies include not writing. Also occasionally...

DLG + DBc

Award-winning childrenâs author E.L. Konigsburg dies in Virginia at age 83

I grew up drinking only skim milk and for some reason, 1% and 2%...

Also!! My Blind Pilot spatula.

Next to the specialty spice shop is an olive oil and balsamic...

ONE: TRANSIT (LAS-BKK) + BANGKOK

Also: yeah, that was a “Tangled” GIF. I watched it for the first time in February and am...

On kind of a whim, one of my roommates (aside: this is the first...

I quit dancing a year-and-a-half ago but I’m tempted to start up...

Net neutral is still way better than pissed-off.

Hello: We need to talk about the Friendzone

Money Portraits cash money, son

"we who find solace in the darkness are not alone"

Award-winning childrenâs author E.L. Konigsburg dies in Virginia at age 83