Ryan Tomayko

Why's (Poignant) Guide to Ruby —

I’ll admit, I’ve been holding out, hoping that _why’s disappearance was just a big misunderstanding. But at this point, I don’t think he could come back even if it were a big misunderstanding. Here’s a mirror (thanks mislav + GitHub Pages) of the Poignant Guide – the canonical reference for how to be. It’s our GOF; our SICP. I don’t think I’ve ever been so in awe of a piece of technical literature. Now it just makes me sad.

No More Secrets —

Ian McKeller shows how easy it is to find web API “secret keys” when the user has access to the (network) client code. It’s actually a nice little crash coarse in how to write cracking software (here “crack” means warez scene type “crack”). That crazy shit like this is possible is why I got into software in the first place. Completely

Video of Chris Wanstrath's Ruby Hoedown '08 Keynote —

I just totally love this kid. Chris explains the future and past of, uh, everything that matters, and gives good, solid, practical reasons for why contributing to free and open source software projects is something worth dedicating a large chunk of your time to.

Today is the Day —

The greatest thing I’ve ever seen on the internet.

Office Worker Goes Absolutely Insane Video —

NFW!

The Common Lisp Directory finally crashed after 823 days —

“So the CLD lisp process uptime experiment is now over and I will move the CLD to a better place than a simple server in my basement.”

20 Year Archive on Google Groups —

I’m apparently the last person on the internet to see this. The rise of internet culture as recorded on Usenet. It’s beautiful, really.

Vimperator —

Make Firefox like Vim. No, like, insanely like Vim. Not just h,j,k,l mappings but everything. Looks like it’s been around for awhile. I’m not sure how I missed it.

The Pirate’s Dilemma —

“We live in a world where it is legal for a company to patent pigs, or any other living thing except for a full birth human being, but copying a CD you bought onto your hard drive is considered an infringement of someone else’s rights.”

When You Wish Upon a Beard —

Wow.I shudder to even observe the brilliance that is _why. There’s an actual Cut-out Adventure Beard here.

random thoughts on being an entrepreneur —

Wow.

How To Get Started On Anything (Using Coffee) —

OMFG this explains my whole life.

Firebug 1.0 Beta Screencast —

Holy… This is big. Huge big.

The Beatles on the Ukulele —

The kid is sick.

On the implausibility of the explosives plot. —

I’ll have to come out of hiding to bookmark this one. Too good to not make my wow list.

java sucks —

let’s go back to ‘97

Why I Hate Frameworks

Tim Bandits - What were Einstein and Gödel talking about? —

Yea, this is the coolest thing I’ve read in a long time. Tim: let me borrow that “Gödel, Escher, Bach” book – I’ll tear that shit up in a night, I swear…

Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, Video Lectures —

When did I die and how the hell did I end up in heaven? Crazy!

Quitting the Paint Factory - On the virtues of idleness —

I would love to read this but I’m too busy doing work. Let me know if it’s interesting. Work, work, work! ;)

Satellite imagery of the Sri Lanka before/after/during Tsunami —

this is just crazy. make sure you take a look at the large 800x600 images toward the bottom.

Basic Critical Thinking for Software Developers —

AKA: “how to avoid the language war..” must read!

TinyP2P —

that’s sick. sick! did you notice he even squeezed a CC license in there?

How George Bush won the election —

I don’t even know how to summarize this.. honest and shaking!

MC Tim Ryan (D-OH) —

Wow! Beautiful wrap-up of everything that’s wrong with the Bush administration by my very own congressman Tim Ryan. Must watch..

Good Bad Attitude —

Paul Graham on why hackers have “shitty attitudes” when it comes to topics of IP and removal of natural liberties. (Feynman’s safe cracking gets a mention, btw).

Jon Stewart on Crossfire —

This is amazing. Jon Stewart is my hero. Bittorrent of the whole show or text transcript available. You have to watch it to get the full effect though.

F*ck Big Media: Rolling Your Own Network —

just.. wow.

Wired: The Long Tail —

Excellent article on the huge edge-case media market.

Connie Rice: Top 10 Secrets They Don't Want You to Know About the Debates —

Mind-blowingly fucked up.

free culture —

Must watch flash presentation (with audio) of Prof. Lawrence Lessig’s speech on free culture at OSCON 2002.

Richard Feynman: The QED Lectures —

Real audio of outstanding Feynman lectures on QED

Shirky: Situated Software —

Apps rarely need to scale, so don’t spend time making them scalable. The more specific software is to a problem domain, the more successful it will be. Software that tries to do too much usually sucks.

Dear Media, my fake beheading video 0wn3d J00 —

“Our hearts go out not only to the families of those who have died as a result of international terrorism, but to the soldiers who have also bravely died for my right to speak freely.”

How to be a Programmer —

A Short, Comprehensive, and Personal Summary

"My Beef With Big Media" by Ted Turner —

wow.

Cory Doctorow: Microsoft Research DRM talk