Hello, world. I’m MacDara Conroy, and this is my blog.


Date: November 2011

Gateways to Geekery: Giallo

I love The AV Club's Gateways to Geekery - this one on giallo is a very handy primer - and I'm thinking it's an idea that would lend itself very well to print... #link

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Microdata for recipes at schema.org

A descriptive framework or microformat for recipes in HTML. It's a bit too 'machiney' for my tastes (not their fault -- the W3C proposal for microdata is to blame) but other than that, nicely done. #link

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Phil Gyford on asymmetry

The notion of seeing - and judging - others differently to ourselves. In other words: "I am infinitely subtle, complex and never quite what I seem; you are predictable and straightforward, an open book." It's particularly evident in US politics and culture at the moment. #link

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John Gruber comments on accusations that Steve Jobs built freedom-sapping digital 'prisons'

Jesus, Gruber drives me mental sometimes. Maybe calling Apple products and services 'tyrannical' or 'freedom-sapping digital prisons' is overstating the point, but it's pretty clear those words are being used for rhetorical emphasis, not absolute literalism, so that smug bullshit doesn't play. As for the main point: if you invest so much in a closed system (like I have), it's never as easy as just choosing to leave. Could I switch platforms tomorrow and go back to a Windows-based set-up? Not without an outlay of thousands of euro and a few solid days of software installation. 'Prison' might be too strong, but 'debtor's prison' is an apt simile in this case. #link

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Scott and Scurvy

Epic post from Maciej Ceglowski last year that I never noticed at the time. Did you know they forgot the cure for scurvy in the 19th century? Crazy stuff. #link

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Robottke

A robot blog emulating the style of Jason Kottke. It was bound to happen at some point. #link

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