The future of the government forges

The GSA is currently planning forge.gov, which is widely assumed to be based on forge.mil, the much-discussed collaboration platform from the Defense Information Systems Agency, or DISA. forge.mil is a pretty incredible idea: a single destination for testing, certification, and software development in the Defense Department. It sounds obvious, but the idea remains revolutionary. For … Continue reading The future of the government forges →

Billy Graham’s Hard-Drinking Granddaddy’s House

I wasn't expecting to see this today, and certainly didn't seek it out, but I'm glad I stumbled on it. It is, by the way, in the same town in which you can find the remnants of the PTL.

Google contacts in mutt and vim

I'm a long-time fan of the mutt email client. I've probably been using it for ten years. It's quick, text-based, and does precisely what I want. I've been using the vim text editor for even longer than that. In using mutt and vim, though, I surrender some of the convenience of a mail client like … Continue reading Google contacts in mutt and vim →

If I title this wrong, it will diminish the beauty of the photo.

[via ffffound.]

My Toast at Chris and Carolyn’s Wedding

This weekend, I was lucky enough to be the best man at my friend Chris' wedding. It's the first time I've actually been part of a wedding party. The scariest part, for me, was the toast at the rehearsal dinner. It wasn't the presentation that had me worried, it was the content. I wasn't sure … Continue reading My Toast at Chris and Carolyn’s Wedding →

Tilt-Shift: Leave it to the experts.

I first ran into this tilt-shift effect in Harper's Magazine a few years ago. You make a regular photograph look like a photo of small things taken by a macro lens. This is done by messing with the "focus" of the photo. Done right, the subject looks like an impossibly elaborate model. I like that … Continue reading Tilt-Shift: Leave it to the experts. →

Meridian Hill Park: Full of Fail.

Meridian Hill Park, which is also known as Malcolm X Park, is at 16th Street NW and W Street NW in Washington, DC. It was built from 1914 to 1936. I had been told that it was created as part of a campaign to make Washington the host of the Prime Meridian. Many cities were vying for the privilege of hosting the arbitrary marker, and in the same way that a city will build a stadium to encourage the Olympic Committee, Washington organized Meridian Hill Park. Here's a shot that captures the... sloppiness that can be found there: Though it's a little down-at-the-heels, Meridian Hill Park still has an air of importance. Even if it's an importance that's mostly forgotten. For that reason, I think it's a very romantic place. Or so I thought. Wikipedia tells me that I'm wrong. Completely.

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Vice Admiral Mark Edwards on Open Standards

“The days of proprietary technology must come to an end. We will no longer accept systems that couple hardware, software and data.” – Vice Admiral Mark Edwards, US Navy, 6 March 2008 Edwards spoke on the importance of open systems to ensure interoperability, and even went so far as to suggest that the Navy was … Continue reading Vice Admiral Mark Edwards on Open Standards →

USA 193 to get done by Barking Sands

Per slashdot, the folks at satobs have found this NOTAM that suggests USA 193 is getting shot down right around Maui. ~~We can only assume that Barking Sands Missile Range will be doing the dirty.~~ Update: the deed will be done from a ship. That Star Wars crap would never work anyway. In other news, this whole operation is probably a very, very bad idea.