Writer

Brian Goodman

Website

105 posts

Winding down. Hacking PERL.

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Vacations are for getting away from work and resting from the daily grind. Yet, almost everyone seems to need a week to unwind before getting to relax. My week of unwinding was productive. During my last workweek, I was helping an employee configure Apache to ... More »

Copyright doesn’t mean don’t use

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When the Creative Commons forged a more progressive look copyright law, enabling content creators legal power to elect specific use of their works, a cultural movement ensued. Until that point, copyright law reflected a historical component of intellectual pro... More »

Prototyping can lead to remarkable outcomes

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Prototyping is something software builders leave to user experience professionals and that is completely insane. Prototyping should inhabit everyone’s being. It is an opportunity at any step of any process or creation. There are too many first drafts called ... More »

Creating the future while minding your business

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The last day of the Buckminster Fuller exhibit at the Whitney delivered many surprising moments of genius. Visionary and inventor, Buckminster is an innovator’s innovator. He saw the value of drawing upon interdisciplinary fields to inform a unique and faceted... More »

Worlds within worlds

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The following presentation photographs in a working series titled “Nodes.” They represent select captures of a performance mixing water, oil, vinegar and soap. The evolution of the act sets out a beginning middle and end. Some echo the qualities of computer gr... More »

What are we saying?

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It is encouraging that people find analyzing data so compelling. Visualizations like the ones you can find at Digg labs can whet the appetite of almost anyone. Environments such as Many Eyes allow users to engage more directly in the dialogue of information ex... More »

Where did the time go?

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The last few months have been a non-stop twister. While my monthly blog posts languished, I was busy scouting interesting flowers and insects in my backyard. Respecting the advice of those far better at macro photography, a couple months ago, I purchased a Can... More »

I think ICANN

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ICANN is loosening the rules around domain suffix at the detriment of having any meaning and comprehension embodied in a hostname. URLs need more thought, not freedom. Even ICANN’s CEO brings the move down to vanity plate level contribution. Apparently, the ... More »

The success of participation

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One of the magical things about grassroots computing – grassroots anything probably – is that any success is decided by the participants. This basic rule is what ensures support but perplexes companies who want to make money from the productive application... More »

Getting the brain to swell

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Clippinger turns to Robin Dunbar and colleagues to show that there is a correlation of neocortex development (thinking and problem solving) and membership size in social groups. …the evolutionary success of Homo sapiens can in large measure be attributed to it... More »

Do you trust who I am?

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Philip Zimmermann’s Pretty Good Privacy was a critical platform for educating the world on secure communication. PGP encryption is so good, that even the most determined agencies can essentially go pound sand–it is pretty good privacy to be humble, not to ... More »