Slightly Off KIlter

Normal is overrated

Web/Tech

  • My Brain on EEG

    (Originally posted in Slightly Off Kilter on July 19, 2014) I’m a Science Geek. I’ve loved Science, of all kinds, for as long as I can remember. In College, I discovered Psychology and participated in as many Psych labs as I could, whether for extra credit or not. I also love learning about how the… Continue reading

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  • Why Most Unit Testing is a Waste

    I just finished reading “Why Most Unit Testing is a Waste”, a paper (PDF) by James O Coplien. I spent several years working as a “Quality Lead” in two companies that were writing Operating System code in C++. Unit Testing was “in” at the time (and the engineers would write their own tests and that… Continue reading

  • The War Against Outliers

    An article in Forbes suggests that people without Facebook accounts may be viewed with suspicion. This is based, largely, on: a Slashdot story (flagging a German news story), a woman who wrote to an advice column, and anecdotal evidence of job seekers and employers wondering aloud “about what it means if a job candidate doesn’t… Continue reading

  • Privacy in the Internet Age

    I read an article today, in Read Write Web, on Facebook’s “privacy changes”. The headline screamed “Facebook’s Zuckerberg Says The Age of Privacy is Over” . Here’s what I think. Continue reading

  • Who Owns the Data?

    There’s been a lot of discussion in the Cyberverse recently regarding Robert Scoble and Facebook. Robert lost his Facebook account (he got it back after appealing) when he violated Facebook’s Terms of Use by using a program to “scrape” (download) Facebook data — specifically, his “friends” list. What’s interesting to me is that most of… Continue reading

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  • Hiding Behind the DMCA

    Like it or not, the Web is a medium for sharing. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to say “look, but don’t touch”. Personally, if one of my cats’ photos showed up on icanhascheezeburger, I’d feel honored. Continue reading

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  • Do You Pass The Joel Test?

    Do you work for a Tech company? Are you part of a software team? Does your team pass the “Joel Test”? Continue reading

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  • Net Community

    In yesterday’s Good Morning Silicon Valley, by John Paczkowski: That’s always been the problem with Net community: people Want to know why social software is doomed? Digg Corrupted: Editor’s Playground, not User-Driven Website, Suspicious Digging, Digg Censors Stories That Offend Sponsors, Digg Corrupted and Digging Fraud. I disagree. Continue reading

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  • Addicted to the Computer?

    [This essay has been hanging about since February, waiting for the Chronicle to publish their article. It’s beginning to look like that isn’t going to happen. So… here we go.] I am a member of the San Francisco Chronicle’s Two Cents program (a pool of people who agree to be accessible to The Chronicle via… Continue reading

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  • Can You Pass the “Human” Test?

    On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog. in The New Yorker, 1993 It may be OK to be a dog, but these days more and more sites ask you to prove you’re not a computer program (aka a “bot”). Bots wreck havoc around the net, signing up for mailing lists (so they can send… Continue reading