Weekly Round Up

This is a new series I’m thinking of creating. It’s more for my use than it is for anyone else. A weekly list of all the blog posts, articles, videos, etc. that I uncover through the week that I found interesting or worthy of sharing.

Tech News & Tutorials

Using Bootstrap the Right (Semantic) Way

An excellent look at how bootstrap is in some ways a regression back to table-based html and away from semantic html. This is something that has always bothered me a little about bootstrap – just how much it looks like a recreation of tables.

Granted, I’ve solved the problem by breaking the page up into views and composing them using PHP. The un-semantic bootstrap goes into “layout” level view which in turn loads semantic views that are free from the bootstrap’s representational classes. The result is that I can change out the layout views, or remove them entirely to get a semantic html document or swap out the CSS framework without impacting the semantic views. This might be a good topic for a new article.

The Codeless Code

The Tao of Programming

I love how programming tends to inspire people towards reflecting on Eastern thinking. It is true that programming is a very meditative activity. The Tao of Programming, I just found this week, but I’m also adding the Codeless Code since that is a site that I do like to begin my work days.

Disruption? Not if you are making the same people rich…

Being in the Midwest, I stopped really paying attention to the West Coast’s tech environment. It simply didn’t feel like something that would involve me much. Now that I’m out in Jackson, I’ve really started to put my mind towards thinking more about the West Coast tech and what it would mean to get involved in it.

A Nationwide Gentrification Effect is Segregating Us by Education

I don’t think I really noticed this effect until I moved to Idaho. The Dakotas are such a vastly educated group for their rural upbringings. Sioux Falls is overflowing with degree holders. Something like 80% of my high school class went on to college. Going on to college was something that I just assumed everyone did and that the majority of people had at least some collegiate experience. Not so in Idaho, it was a complete inversion. Most people just finished high school, if they had any college experience is was for an associates not a Bachelors or graduate degree. Suddenly, my typical “ice breaker” small talk of where did you go for school, what as your degree in, etc. was completely useless.

Whatever Happened to Programming

This seems so true about web programming. I have met far too many people who think installing wordpress (or the CMS du jour), editing config files or xml is the height of development. I fear that I am just a marginal step above that with my frameworks, high-level scripting languages, and package list libraries. Over time, it seems like there is less and less of a distinction between the programmer as scientist and the programmer as technological bolt turner in the modern assembly line.

Entertainment

New Weird Al Video

Hey, what I can I say. I like Weird Al.

Sword Art Online: Aincrad Review

Kathryn Hemmann’s Contemporary Japanese Literature blog is a new addition to my RSS feed. I love her assessment of Sword Art Online, and I’m amazed that series has gone on to produce a second season. I could hardly stomach watching the first six episodes.

Tiki Hangover: Unearthing the False Idols of America’s South Seas Fantasy

I must be honest: I haven’t read through this entire article yet. But the first few paragraphs just seem like a wealth of information about architecture and Americana-tiki.

How tall can a Lego Tower Get?

Just a fun article examining how much pressure a lego brick can withstand and how that would add up to a theoretical lego tower of 375,000 bricks.

Massive Masaaki Yuasa Art Book Will Be Published Next Month

God, do I love the work of Massaaki Yuasa. Enough that I might even be tempted to order this from Japan. If you don’t recognize the name, you probably will recognize the anime: Tatami Galaxy, Kaiba, Cat Soup all three on my list of must haves for anime. I haven’t started watching Ping Ping (maybe next week), but from what I’ve heard, it should live up to the hype.