Golda Velez

TechStuff

Someone has replayed your snap! Instant gratification for the long term.

I am not the snapchat type.  I prefer books, code, and UIs that let me drive, think about what I'm doing, and build things over time.  But with two of my kids off to college and Snapchat their preferred method of communication, I'm snapchatting. What strikes

Society & Politics

"I actually sweat the specifics because they matter. "

I love this quote - this is one of my core values and love hearing Hilary say it.  She may be personally ambitious - so shoot her - but I believe that she works hard and cares about stuff, including women and kids. She meets with a lot of people in scary situations

Thoughts

Omit Needless Motions : thoughts on the Alexander technique

A friend introduced me yesterday to the Alexander technique, which after reading about on various websites, I still know very little about.  Here is why I consider that a failing in principle. I am not merely a demanding, impatient, spoiled American, though I am those things too.  But the technique,

Thoughts

took me long enough: the key..

..to a good life is having a framework in which you can spend the bits of time doing good things, things in line with your long term deep goals.  That's it.  And that's the software I really want to write, the thing that ties together the

Uncategorized

Orphan Writings

I've written several bits for the Tucson Citizen, but they're no longer around even as archives.  I'll get the originals and post them here.  Meantime, I'm writing on DailyKos as 'wordmonkey' : http://dailykos.com/blog/wordmonkey

Writing

25 commandments I've never followed

Maybe one, maybe a handful of them, but I don't think I've ever followed all of them. Even posting this here seems to break the key idea that readers are the most important part of writing, because if it were posted somewhere else maybe it would

TechStuff

area51

I've been using StackOverflow for years as a programmer, and never before scrolled to the bottom to see the whole community of sites.  Not only is there stackoverflow for plumbers and scifi/fantasy buffs, but http://area51.stackexchange.com/ lets you join or start a community of experts

Booknotes

Lincoln on pragmatic idealism

I really like these quotes from his debate with Douglass: "This they said and this they meant (the equality of those certain unalienable rights).  They did not mean to assert the obvious untruth, that all were then actually enjoying that equality, nor yet, that they were about to confer

TechStuff

Learning Communities Online

Just found P2PU - Peer to Peer University - on a list at reddit of online learning resources This looks really cool.  The ones I'm most excited about so far are BOINC for citizen scientists tools for content curation

TechStuff

My Friend Radio

'listen to what joe is listening to/last listened to' Para valorar qué camiseta conviene para una colección de clubes con criterios claros, es recomendable revisar la temporada, el diseño y los detalles históricos. Antes de pagar, es útil verificar el estado indicado y la claridad de las

Writing

Editorial Calendar search tool

This looks useful: http://us.cision.com/edcals/edcals.asp (though all the links appear to be output with the ':' following the http, as of 1/6/2012) Quien busque camisetas históricas de fútbol puede reducir dudas comprobando la temporada, el diseño y los detalles históricos. Las fotografías

RandomWrites

The Terrible Trivium and other matters

I admit it - I enjoy children's books.  My excuse is reading them to my kids.  When they all grow up I'll have to rent kids so I can read to them.  Compare picture books for kids to power point presentations designed for executives: both assume a

Thoughts

quiet thoughts

so many things that cannot be said...at least the good thing about voice is it doesn't leave a record Para valorar camisetas de fútbol para mujer con criterios claros, es recomendable revisar la temporada, el diseño y los detalles visibles. Antes de pagar, es útil verificar que

Thoughts

Writing anonymously and what's wrong with Google Plus

Second things first:  Google Plus is too all-encompassing and controlling.  I can't get a feed to publish elsewhere, or hack at, or stream, or store as text.  Anything I write there lives ONLY in Google Plus, it seems, and can be taken out only manually. And I&

RandomWrites

Creative Commons Case studies

Ah - I've been looking for this: ways people are sharing documents to make structures outside corporations.  Creative Commons is building up some case studies of how CC licenses spread good ideas through the world. http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Case_Studies Global Voices Online is a good one, I

Society & Politics

American History Quiz: Which founding father leaked documents that triggered the start of the American Revolution?

From 1773 to 2011, leaking incriminating documents into the public eye has been a powerful mechanism to galvanize revolutions. Nothing quite like reading in black and white the recommendation for "abridgement of what are called English liberties". Benjamin Franklin leaked Royal Governor Hutchinson's letters to the

RandomWrites

idea for writers...

Most content sites and could use more serious, thoughtful writers.   Brave activists in democracy movements around the world could use more financial support. What if, content sites hire democracy activists who need to make a living, to research best practices in established democracies, in community building and local governance?  They

Citizen Journalism

Benefit Corporations spreading - not in Arizona yet

Most companies are legally required to be selfish.  That is, to put shareholder value over all other considerations including worker health, dangers to consumers, damage to the environment, or anything else. Enter the "B Corp" - a kind of company that can legally pay attention to what most of

RandomWrites

what makes a website useful?

google does presentation and display pretty well - but if the website adds structure and tools and clues Para escoger compra de camisetas de fútbol, es práctico verificar las medidas indicadas y el tipo de ajuste. El pedido puede cerrarse después de confirmar el precio total, el plazo de entrega y

Citizen Journalism

Huppenthal barefaced lie?

2011-06-20 The Huffington Post ran a hard-hitting article Jun 17:Did Arizona Education Chief Huppenthal Commit a Felony in Growing Ethnic Studies Scandal? Read it for yourself - the Tucson Weekly has posted a full PDF of the ethnic studies audit online The audit appears to be a

RandomWrites

rails and open content and non-coding technology

franchise restaurant = convention over configuration but, the key is documented convention otherwise you just have a bunch of mysterious dependencies

Citizen Journalism

Randy Parraz Interview

The cool thing about citizen journalism is you get to talk to really neat people. I talked to Randy Parraz, who led the Pearce recall effort, back in June.  His voice was a little raspy after talking to thousands of voters, and the day after turning in the petitions he

Booknotes

"I just want to emphasize the point that we are disconnected from reality"

Quotes from Shoot an Iraqi by Wafaa Bilal and Kari Lydersen. Thought-provoking book...raw, kind of a flat humor without hatred even though a US military drone killed his brother, and Saddam killed numerous other family members.  Some quotes : "Solitude was such sweetness to me that it was

Thoughts

Books are mature memes

The larval stage is when living in the host's brain; metamorphosis is the act of writing; and the mature stage capable of reproduction is in written form. Sometimes larval stage ideas reproduce in casual conversation, but mass reproduction is almost always after metamorphosis.  Even ideas transmitted in speeches

Citizen Journalism

Recall Pearce campaign - no, campaigns!

I didn't even know there is a strong effort out to recall Russell Pearce, the Arizona State Senator who has perhaps done the most harm to Arizona and to Tucson. ** Update - There were actually TWO efforts to recall pearce, and the first one posted, Arizonans for Better Government,