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Browse Wikimedia Commons for photos to insert into new posts
On the New Post and Edit pages, give the user the ability to browse freely licensed photos from Wikimedia Commons to insert into their posts. ... It would be nice to give users the ability to dress up their more text-heavy posts with graphics. Wikimedia Commons is a useful source of freely licensed graphics.
Go vote in the poll & comment there if you'd like that.
What smartphone gives me root, has an OS that'll be around in 2 years, & won't crash too much?
Nov. 2nd, 2011 10:11 amI care about:
- Freedom (I want root on my phone without having to jailbreak it)
- Hardware quality
- Operating system quality (random crashiness is not acceptable)
- Operating system longevity & upgradability (Maemo and Meego went away pretty fast, and I don't want to buy a device that will never see another OS upgrade)
I'd rather have a physical keyboard, either in addition to or instead of a touchscreen, but I can stand not having one. And I have basically no hope that I could get a device made under fair labor practices and with any attentiveness to the environmental impacts of its manufacture, but am willing to be surprised.
I really do not care how many apps are available for a phone -- I'll be fine if it browses the web, makes and received phone calls, and it would be lovely if it takes mediocre photos and plays music. And it can be big and heavy and ugly and I don't mind as long as the hardware is robust.
I am planning on buying a device, that is, buying an unlocked one separately from getting a data/voice plan from a carrier (see again: my interest in freedom). I acknowledge that I am being picky here so I'm fine with spending commensurately. And I live in the US but am willing to purchase devices from abroad. For example, if multiple people have tried the Geeksphone Zero and can recommend it, I'm willing to pony up.
Recommendations?
(Crosspost from Ask MetaFilter.)
Erotic scifi stories fundraiser
Sep. 13th, 2011 10:10 amIn which my wages oppress others
Aug. 20th, 2011 04:19 pm"So in what follows I describe Wikipedia as a problematic monopoly. I don't ignore its positive sides, but they don't play any role in this text."
Then there's really no point in critiquing it, is there? The point of such a rant is not to be fair or to point a way forward, but to present a bunch of assertions without having to back them up.
I'll argue about this if people want to hear my thoughts on some particular point.
[0] I say "and on me" in that the author argues that, since unpaid volunteers make Wikimedia's content and maintain its community processes, it is wrong to pay Foundation and Chapter workers: it is "the payment to some 100 people that makes the unpaid work of every other contributor so shameful [sic] abusive".
Anxiety dream
Jul. 3rd, 2011 09:27 pmWeirdest nap in a while.
Travel & request
Jun. 10th, 2011 03:33 pmBlogged about history of technology & WikiLeaks the other day.
The request: if you have a smartphone, tablet, or other mobile device, will you test our new Wikipedia mobile gateway on it? Thanks.
WisCon request
Jun. 1st, 2011 01:37 pm- Imaginary Book Club
- How To Describe Nonwhite Characters Sans Fail
- Sciency Fiction
- I Don't Know Why I'm On This Panel
Kate Nepveu's report on How To Describe Nonwhite Characters Sans Fail. Thanks, Kate!
Pre-WisCon
May. 20th, 2011 04:56 pmI respond to variants on "Sumana" and am not terribly bothered by variant mispronunciations. I prefer handshakes to hugs usually; if we've never met before, I probably don't want to hug you, and ask first.
Please invite me to things, tell me about room parties, etc. I'll try to keep on top of my personal email at sumanah [at] panix [dot!] com, and Twitter & Identi.ca, where I am @brainwane. I blog a lot at Cogito, Ergo Sumana.
I'm on a few panels:
- Imaginary Book Club, Saturday morning at 10am
- Sciency Fiction, Sunday morning at 10am
- I Don't Know Why I'm On This Panel, Sunday afternoon at 4pm
Questions?
Joel on Coal
Apr. 1st, 2011 12:20 amThe other crucial thing about having a schedule is that it forces you to decide what seams you are going to choose, and then it forces you to pick the least safe corridors and cut them rather than slipping into pillar-robbing (a.k.a. slope creep).
Coworking guy: Pretty good, and you?
Me: It's getting better! I'm seeing you, aren't I?
CG: (big smile & giggle) Flattery will get you EVERYWHERE! That's what's missing from my life, more consistent flattery.
Me: Careful what you wish for: the consistency might increase, but the texture might not be what you'd like.
CG: Wow, that was well-put-together. I'm gonna take that to my desk to think about.
Ada Initiative Survey
Mar. 28th, 2011 07:36 pm
I just took the five-minute survey on women in open tech & culture (a really inclusive definition). The Ada Initiative is surveying people of any gender in "a wide range of activities and communities based around free/open licenses, and other forms of open, decentralised, and grassroots participation in technology and related fields." If you're reading this, you should probably go take it. It really does take less than five minutes, and this data is crucial so we can gauge how well we're doing now and how far we'll go in the next few years.
- [health/weight goal?]
- Save on mortgage
- Plan ski trip
- Fuck Kojak
Aim high, I guess!
Pettiest status mope ever
Feb. 12th, 2011 05:16 amThis is not even a first world problem. This is, like, a 21st Century Versailles problem.
Recruiting
Feb. 9th, 2011 12:40 pmAs you might have seen from my microblogging, I seem to know a lot of firms that are hiring. In short: I know people who are looking for project managers, UX designers, backend developers, undergrads who code, playtesters, kernel & mobile hackers, so if you know me at all, feel free to contact me to ask for an introduction.
Wikimedia, the foundation that supports Wikipedia ("No, Mom, not Wikileaks, that's different"), is looking for lots of engineers (deadline in 2 days) and fundraisers/researchers/analysts/more. The Volunteer Development Coordinator role also has a 11 February application deadline: attention, open source community managers!
Get paid to hack Linux mobile and save vendors & developers from constantly reinventing the wheel at Linaro. They especially need kernel and Android hackers and technical project and product managers.
OpenPlans, the New York City nonprofit that uses technology to make cities better, has decadent offices and benefits. Oh, and they're looking for a web designer, two engineers, and a fundraising manager.
Socialbomb, the Brooklyn startup that creates stylish experiences connecting Blu-Ray and mobile devices to Facebook & Twitter, is looking to fill several roles, including development.
I'll be administering some Google Summer of Code work this year, so I'd like to recruit bright university students to consider applying. It's never too early to start thinking about summer internships! And don't worry too hard about qualifications: "Do you have some programming experience at the university level? Then, yes, you are good enough! No, you don't need to be a Computer Science or IT major."
And I know at least one more project that's looking for a part-time playtester and a part-time project manager, so let me know if you're interested.
[cross-posted from Cogito, Ergo Sumana and updates/edits will live there]
The guy I miss
Dec. 14th, 2010 09:14 amSo anyway, I don't feel so great. But this morning I had a nice conversation with Leonard on the phone. Lots of joking, me telling him Not Always Right anecdotes, laughter and riffing. He read and lent me Alan Furst's Night Soldiers and I'm reading and loving it. Leonard's read two Fursts and several John Le Carré novels (I've read Furst's Dark Star and haven't read any John Le Carré), and we talked about how they're different, how in Furst any mistake is a way for the state to get at you, but in Le Carré a mistake leads to misunderstandings and further mistakes. And the viewpoint character in the Furst we've read doesn't usually have a lot of formal power, and feels powerless.
He was excited about recommending a Le Carré to me: first Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, or maybe Tailor of Panama, no, too depressing, aha! Smiley's People. "I know you'd like it because it's about institutions and spying."
I burst into tears, happy that he understands me so well.
[Posted here instead of Cogito, Ergo Sumana because I don't feel comfortable talking about crying on my main blog, because I worry that men in my industry will think less of me. I'm ok with it being public but this is sort of a less-trafficked space apart...]
*sips second serving of Seagram's*
Sample of his:
So, may we have the purposes common;
May your aim be common as mine,
And, may we pray together for them.
May we always have thought and purpose in common,
May our aims align,
And may we pray together towards them.
