Planet Bluesmoonhttp://bluesmoon.info/planet/atom.xml2012-08-25T20:00:51+00:00Planet/2.0 +http://www.planetplanet.orgMozilla, the web and you at Campus Party Europehttp://christianheilmann.com/?p=29422012-08-25T12:21:57+00:00<p>I just got to edit and upload the slides and screencast of my talk at campusparty europe, so here you go:</p>
<p>Campusparty are live streaming and recording the talks. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKZbHx2DHX8#!">Here is mine</a> but sadly enough there is quite a chunk of audio missing and it seems To be out of sync later on.</p>
<p></p>
<p>I also recorded my own <a target="_blank" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9HBV5B8LYI">screencast on YouTube</a> with audio that is a bit on the loud side so turn down your headphones:</p>
<p></p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.slideshare.net/cheilmann/mozilla-the-web-and-you-14067684">The slides</a> are available on SlideShare:</p>
<p></p>
<p><p>There is also a <a target="_blank" href="http://www.slideshare.net/cheilmann/mozilla-the-web-and-you-including-notes">slide version with notes</a> available on Slideshare.</p></p>
<p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/ZbkoEc9e2C0r06oW4lVLTenvGaM/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/ZbkoEc9e2C0r06oW4lVLTenvGaM/0/di" border="0" ismap="true" /></a><br />
<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/ZbkoEc9e2C0r06oW4lVLTenvGaM/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/ZbkoEc9e2C0r06oW4lVLTenvGaM/1/di" border="0" ismap="true" /></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/chrisheilmann/~4/0U2zXCMF7Hk" height="1" width="1" />Christian Heilmannhttp://christianheilmann.com08/24/12 PHD comic: 'Ph.Detours Ep. 1 - LAVA!!'http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=15192012-08-25T06:49:51+00:00<center>
<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr>
<td><b><font size="+1">Piled Higher
& Deeper</font><font> <i> by Jorge
Cham</i></font></b></td>
<td> </td>
<td>
<div align="right"><b><font>www.phdcomics.com</font></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center">
<td colspan="3"><font><img alt="Click on the title below to read the comic" src="http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive/phd082412s.gif" border="0" align="top" /></font></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="3">
<div align="center"><font size="-2">title:
"<a href="http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1519">Ph.Detours Ep. 1 - LAVA!!</a>" - originally published
8/24/2012
</font><p><font>For the latest news in PHD Comics, <a href="http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php">CLICK HERE!</a></font></p>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</center>PHD Comicshttp://www.phdcomics.comComic for August 25, 2012http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2012-08-25/2012-08-25T05:00:00+00:00<img src="http://dilbert.com/dyn/str_strip/000000000/00000000/0000000/100000/60000/5000/800/165855/165855.strip.print.gif" border="0" />
<p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/mkNIUNPs6ZsdhIWa29L7jfXIHdU/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/mkNIUNPs6ZsdhIWa29L7jfXIHdU/0/di" border="0" ismap="true" /></a><br />
<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/mkNIUNPs6ZsdhIWa29L7jfXIHdU/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/mkNIUNPs6ZsdhIWa29L7jfXIHdU/1/di" border="0" ismap="true" /></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DilbertDailyStrip/~4/exGhSnHZMJk" height="1" width="1" />universaluclick.comservice@dilbert.comhttp://dilbert.com/Comic for August 24, 2012http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2012-08-24/2012-08-24T05:00:00+00:00<img src="http://dilbert.com/dyn/str_strip/000000000/00000000/0000000/100000/60000/5000/800/165854/165854.strip.print.gif" border="0" />
<p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/26wC9LfN_frIp8OKq2041IHtn_Y/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/26wC9LfN_frIp8OKq2041IHtn_Y/0/di" border="0" ismap="true" /></a><br />
<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/26wC9LfN_frIp8OKq2041IHtn_Y/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/26wC9LfN_frIp8OKq2041IHtn_Y/1/di" border="0" ismap="true" /></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DilbertDailyStrip/~4/usmMdcx8_dM" height="1" width="1" />universaluclick.comservice@dilbert.comhttp://dilbert.com/Tuesdayshttp://xkcd.com/1099/2012-08-24T04:00:00+00:00<img src="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tuesdays.png" title="Try our bottomless drinks and fall forever!" alt="Try our bottomless drinks and fall forever!" />XKCDhttp://xkcd.com/Unveiling ConFoo 2013http://annafilina.com/blog/?p=7872012-08-23T19:49:22+00:00<p><a href="http://confoo.ca/en" lang="en"><img alt="I am going to ConFoo. February 25 - March 1, 2013 | Montreal, Canada" width="180" height="130" src="http://confoo.ca/images/propaganda/2013/en/attending.jpg" /></a></p>
<p>The next ConFoo will be held on February 25 through March 1.</p>
<p>If you have never heard of ConFoo, it is one of the most important developer-oriented conferences. The team brings you speakers from around the globe to share their hands-on experience with various web technologies. The best news is: it’s driven by the community and is non for profit!</p>
<p>The call for papers opens on August 27 and is important even if you are not a speaker. You can vote on all the proposals as they come in, telling the team exactly what you wish to learn.</p>
<p>If you wish to speak, start writing your proposals as you don’t want to miss out on the votes when submissions open. You can even be notified via the <a href="http://confoo.ca/en/newsletter/speaker/subscribe">newsletter</a>.</p>
<p>More information about ConFoo on the <a href="http://confoo.ca/en">conference site</a></p>Anna Filinahttp://annafilina.com/blogComic for August 23, 2012http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2012-08-23/2012-08-23T05:00:00+00:00<img src="http://dilbert.com/dyn/str_strip/000000000/00000000/0000000/100000/60000/5000/800/165853/165853.strip.print.gif" border="0" />
<p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/6M59VWf4XgwIhkRsGJMKq--6mK0/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/6M59VWf4XgwIhkRsGJMKq--6mK0/0/di" border="0" ismap="true" /></a><br />
<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/6M59VWf4XgwIhkRsGJMKq--6mK0/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/6M59VWf4XgwIhkRsGJMKq--6mK0/1/di" border="0" ismap="true" /></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DilbertDailyStrip/~4/JW_SMwA1Ex0" height="1" width="1" />universaluclick.comservice@dilbert.comhttp://dilbert.com/Things don’t always work out…http://atulchitnis.net/?p=37762012-08-22T10:52:58+00:00I regret to announce that for various reasons, we have had to cancel the workshop on the 25th of August. We have already initiated full refund of workshop fees to all registered attendees, and it will be processed within the next 48 hours. The reason for the cancellation is both bad timing and technical: What [...]Atul Chitnishttp://atulchitnis.net08/20/12 PHD comic: 'The Aura'http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=15182012-08-22T06:07:56+00:00<center>
<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr>
<td><b><font size="+1">Piled Higher
& Deeper</font><font> <i> by Jorge
Cham</i></font></b></td>
<td> </td>
<td>
<div align="right"><b><font>www.phdcomics.com</font></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center">
<td colspan="3"><font><img alt="Click on the title below to read the comic" src="http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive/phd082012s.gif" border="0" align="top" /></font></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="3">
<div align="center"><font size="-2">title:
"<a href="http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1518">The Aura</a>" - originally published
8/20/2012
</font><p><font>For the latest news in PHD Comics, <a href="http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php">CLICK HERE!</a></font></p>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</center>PHD Comicshttp://www.phdcomics.comComic for August 22, 2012http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2012-08-22/2012-08-22T05:00:00+00:00<img src="http://dilbert.com/dyn/str_strip/000000000/00000000/0000000/100000/60000/5000/800/165852/165852.strip.print.gif" border="0" />
<p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/g9vA2W5KSsQTYWX6r8VR3J1gahw/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/g9vA2W5KSsQTYWX6r8VR3J1gahw/0/di" border="0" ismap="true" /></a><br />
<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/g9vA2W5KSsQTYWX6r8VR3J1gahw/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/g9vA2W5KSsQTYWX6r8VR3J1gahw/1/di" border="0" ismap="true" /></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DilbertDailyStrip/~4/-qe65jGOack" height="1" width="1" />universaluclick.comservice@dilbert.comhttp://dilbert.com/Star Ratingshttp://xkcd.com/1098/2012-08-22T04:00:00+00:00<img src="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/star_ratings.png" title="I got lost and wandered into the world's creepiest cemetery, where the headstones just had names and star ratings. Freaked me out. When I got home I tried to leave the cemetery a bad review on Yelp, but as my hand hovered over the 'one star' button I felt this distant chill ..." alt="I got lost and wandered into the world's creepiest cemetery, where the headstones just had names and star ratings. Freaked me out. When I got home I tried to leave the cemetery a bad review on Yelp, but as my hand hovered over the 'one star' button I felt this distant chill ..." />XKCDhttp://xkcd.com/Geek Meet September 2012 with Jonathan Snookhttp://robertnyman.com/?p=23622012-08-21T10:00:03+00:00<div class="important-notice">
<h4>Sold out</h4>
<p> All seats have been taken. Please write a comment to be put on a waiting list, there are always a number of cancellations, so there’s still a chance.
</p></div>
<p>Time for another Geek Meet! If you’re not in Stockholm, you should make it here!</p>
<h2>Introducing Jonathan Snook</h2>
<p>I’ve known <a href="http://snook.ca/">Jonathan Snook</a> for many years, since the early days of my blogging, where we co-operated on a <a href="http://robertnyman.com/2005/11/07/the-ultimate-getelementsbyclassname/">getElementsByClassName</a> function. We’ve met in a number of places in the world, and now I’m happy to have convinced him to visit us here in Sweden! He’s known for many things as a web developer, and amongst other places, worked at Yahoo for a few years. His latest project <a href="http://smacss.com/">SMACSS</a> has gotten a ton of attention!</p>
<h2>The presentations</h2>
<p>Jonathan will give two presentations during the evening:</p>
<h3>Talk 1: Getting your CSS Under Control.</h3>
<p>CSS is easy? CSS is messy. And as a project grows, it only gets messier. This session looks at a few quick tips from the book, Scalable and Modular Architecture for CSS (SMACSS), to help bring things under control.</p>
<h3>Talk 2: So you want to write a book</h3>
<p>Seeking world-wide acclaim by writing your book? Whether you’re publishing with an established publisher or going out on your own, there are plenty of things to consider. We’ll especially take a look at what’s involved in self-publishing and what the highlights and pitfalls are.</p>
<h2>Time & place</h2>
<p>This Geek Meet will be sponsored by <a href="http://www.creuna.se/">Creuna</a>, and will take place September 13th at 18:00 in their office at <a href="https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Kungsholmsgatan+23,+Stockholm,+Sverige&hl=en&ie=UTF8&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=47.301626,93.076172&oq=Kungsholmsgatan+23&hnear=Kungsholmsgatan+23,+112+27+Stockholm,+Stockholms+l%C3%A4n,+Sweden&t=m&z=16">Kungsholmsgatan 23 in Stockholm</a>. Creuna will also provide beer/wine and pizza to every attendant, all free of charge.</p>
<h2>Sign up now!</h2>
<p>Please sign up with a comment below. <strong>Please</strong> only sign up if you know you can attend. There are <strong>150</strong> seats available, and you can <strong>only</strong> sign up yourself. Please use a valid name and e-mail address, since this will be used to identify you at the event to get in.</p>
<div class="important-notice">
<h4>Sold out</h4>
<p> All seats have been taken. Please write a comment to be put on a waiting list, there are always a number of cancellations, so there’s still a chance.
</p></div>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/robertnyman?a=vT50NGWVc_g:NzFlz_1SUEU:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/robertnyman?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/robertnyman?a=vT50NGWVc_g:NzFlz_1SUEU:I2FUP0JpNAM"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/robertnyman?i=vT50NGWVc_g:NzFlz_1SUEU:I2FUP0JpNAM" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/robertnyman?a=vT50NGWVc_g:NzFlz_1SUEU:I9og5sOYxJI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/robertnyman?d=I9og5sOYxJI" border="0" /></a>
</div>Robert Nymanhttp://robertnyman.comComic for August 21, 2012http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2012-08-21/2012-08-21T05:00:00+00:00<img src="http://dilbert.com/dyn/str_strip/000000000/00000000/0000000/100000/60000/5000/800/165851/165851.strip.print.gif" border="0" />
<p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/VIuX0OXuSBNpjDzAxSHkg0sD0Zc/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/VIuX0OXuSBNpjDzAxSHkg0sD0Zc/0/di" border="0" ismap="true" /></a><br />
<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/VIuX0OXuSBNpjDzAxSHkg0sD0Zc/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/VIuX0OXuSBNpjDzAxSHkg0sD0Zc/1/di" border="0" ismap="true" /></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DilbertDailyStrip/~4/yinG9ZPm-1I" height="1" width="1" />universaluclick.comservice@dilbert.comhttp://dilbert.com/Being a better web citizen: complain where things get fixedhttp://christianheilmann.com/?p=29342012-08-20T18:08:08+00:00<p>We like to complain. It feels good, it feels like we are doing something that will make things better. The problem is though, if we don’t complain where things can be changed we are not making things better. In a lot of cases we make them worse. In almost all cases where we don’t complain at the source we actually make people feel worse and share our frustration rather than initiate change.</p>
<p><h2>The right to complain</h2></p>
<p>I remember when that volcano in Iceland erupted and messed with all the flights in Europe. I was scheduled to come back from San Francisco and got sent to 3 different airports in the US. I was in Chicago in a totally rammed airport and queueing up to get a new ticket with about fifty people before me and two hundred or more behind me. A group of three people in front of me had their tickets already and yet were in the queue for the ticket counter. I asked them what they are doing here as they do have their tickets, wondering if I was in the right queue. I was. Their answer was “yeah, we want to complain about the delays!”. I handed them my phone to write an email to the airline and explained that complaining to the person behind the ticket counter about a thing that is incredibly obvious doesn’t help them or the already freaking out person who is faced with a line of 200+ people they probably can not help easily. I was unlucky. Logic doesn’t count when there is exercising the right to complain to be done. It is just another sense of entitlement people seem to need to excercise or else they don’t feel like they are being appreciated. Or something.</p>
<p><h2>Complain where work is being done</h2></p>
<p>In any case, on the web and when it comes to web development or web technology issues it is ridiculously easy to complain where a complaint makes sense and will result in a change that makes things better for everybody. If there is a GitHub repository and you have a problem with the code, file an issue. If you have something that bothers you with browsers, <a target="_blank" href="http://coding.smashingmagazine.com/2011/09/07/help-the-community-report-browser-bugs/">file a bug</a>.</p>
<p>This is the only place where you should bring your worries. In a lot of cases you will find that other people had the same gripes and they have been fixed or need a certain trick to work. Anything else you do is <strong>add to the noise of the internet</strong> without causing any change. Actually, you might expect others to do work for you.</p>
<p>This is one thing I changed in my behaviour on Twitter and elsewhere lately – and so far it did me only good. We do not need conversations about seemingly broken issues of products without the people who create and maintain the product being involved. If they are hard to reach, then this is what should be fixed. Complaining about details to people who might be able to tell the people who should fix the issues doesn’t mean they will get them – it just means you frustrate even more people.</p>
<p>So next time you find yourself feeling the need to exercise the right to complain – or just feel like venting – spend some time finding the right person to complain to. A lot of times you find your anger is less than you initially think it is and many a time you will find that you did something wrong in the first place.</p>
<p>Got a comment? <a target="_blank" href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/111552931212713155841/posts/PS6dCyTMXbF">Add to the thread on Google+</a></p>
<p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/0KZNIn2MD1ONPIVItbbTmr9p-Sk/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/0KZNIn2MD1ONPIVItbbTmr9p-Sk/0/di" border="0" ismap="true" /></a><br />
<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/0KZNIn2MD1ONPIVItbbTmr9p-Sk/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/0KZNIn2MD1ONPIVItbbTmr9p-Sk/1/di" border="0" ismap="true" /></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/chrisheilmann/~4/erzRpJCPG9E" height="1" width="1" />Christian Heilmannhttp://christianheilmann.comDerick's MongoDB tourhttp://derickrethans.nl/2012082009122012-08-20T08:12:00+00:00<div class="article">
<div class="body">
<div class="articleListItem">
<h1><a name="derick_s_mongodb_tour">Derick's MongoDB tour</a></h1>
<dl class="head">
<div class="articleMetaData">
<div class="location"> London, UK</div>
<div class="date">Monday, August 20th 2012, 09:12 BST</div>
</div>
<p>It has been a while since I have written anything. In the last few months I have been busy rewriting the connection handling parts of the <a href="http://pecl.php.net/mongodb">MongoDB driver</a> for PHP. The next post will go deeper into that, and what else will be new in version 1.2 of the driver. Anyway.</p>
<p>Some time ago, my friend <a href="http://www.khankennels.com/blog/">Ligaya Turmelle</a> suggested that I should come and talk at the <a href="http://www.meetup.com/JaxPHP-JaxWeb/">JaxPHP/JaxWeb</a>, the PHP and web developers usergroup in Jacksonville, Florida. And while I was there, why not visit a few other user groups too?</p>
<p>At all the meetups, <a href="http://10gen.com">10gen</a> (my employer) has kindly provided some swag - and rumours go that I get to buy you guys and girls a drink as well.</p>
<p>In the end, after discussing with other web/PHP usergroups in the South East of the US, we came to the following schedule:</p>
<img src="http://derickrethans.nl/images/content/mongo-tour.png" class="left" alt="mongo-tour.png" />
<p>
<strong>Boca Raton, Florida - SoFloPHP - Tuesday, September 18</strong>
</p>
<p>The first stop is the South Florida group (<a href="http://www.soflophp.org/events/71930042/">SoFloPHP`</a>) in Boca Raton. On the evening of the 18th, I will introduce MongoDB for PHP developers:</p>
<p>
<em>This talk introduces MongoDB for developers who aren't familiar with it with a detailed introduction of how to work with MongoDB from PHP. The talk will cover the basics from installing the PHP driver and connecting to mongoDB to creating, inserting, querying for, and updating documents. We will also briefly touch on aggregation, geospatial indexes, GridFS and running database commands.</em>
</p>
<p>I will focus on schema design and indexes, although I will also quickly cover the basics.</p>
<p>
<strong>Orlando, Florida - The Orlando PHP User Group - Wednesday, September 19</strong>
</p>
<p>After South Florida I will be making a stop at the <a href="http://www.meetup.com/OrlandoPHP/events/73968932/">Orlando PHP</a> User Group. The abstract:</p>
<p>
<em>This talk introduces MongoDB for developers who aren't familiar with it through a detailed introduction of how to work with MongoDB from PHP. Derick will cover the basics: from installing the PHP driver and connecting to a MongoDB server to creating, inserting, querying, and updating documents. He'll also cover some accepted best practices in schema design and indexing.</em>
</p>
<p>There is also a related MongoDB event in Orlando, on September 6th there is an <a href="http://www.meetup.com/OrlandoPHP/events/75843562/">evening with MongoDB</a>.</p>
<p>
<strong>Jacksonville, Floria - JaxPHP/JaxWeb - Thursday, September 20</strong>
</p>
<p>The third stop is in Jacksonville. In Jacksonville, the presentation will not be very PHP specific, and members of other user groups are most welcome to attend as well. You can RSVP at <a href="http://mongodb-jax.eventbrite.com/">http://mongodb-jax.eventbrite.com/</a>, and more information is available on the JaxPHP/JaxWeb <a href="http://www.meetup.com/JaxPHP-JaxWeb/events/63085372/">website</a>.</p>
<p>As other user groups are invited as well, I will keep my presentation as language agnostic as possible, and focus on schema design and indexing.</p>
<p>
<strong>Atlanta, Georgia - Atlanta PHP User Group - Friday, September 21</strong>
</p>
<p>I then leave Florida and head to Atlanta to talk at the <a href="http://meetup.atlantaphp.org/events/73155922">Atlanta PHP</a> User Group. In Atlanta, I will give a similar presentation as at the other user groups.</p>
<p>
<strong>Nashville, Tennessee - Nashville PHP User Group - Monday, September 24</strong>
</p>
<p>In Nashville, I will speak after the weekend at the <a href="http://www.nashvillephp.org/events/67112052/">Nashville PHP</a> User Group. In this location, my talk focusses on:</p>
<p>
<em>Derick will be giving an introductory presentation covering the do's and don'ts, best practices and design schemas for MongoDB.</em>
</p>
<p>
<strong>Holiday!</strong>
</p>
<p>After the five user group appearences, I head to the North West of the USA for some R&R - after three weeks on the road (I speak at <a href="http://pfcongres.com/">PFCongres</a> before traveling to the USA) - I think I will need one!</p>
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</div>
</div>Derick Rethansderick@derickrethans.nlhttp://derickrethans.nl/archive.htmlComic for August 20, 2012http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2012-08-20/2012-08-20T05:00:00+00:00<img src="http://dilbert.com/dyn/str_strip/000000000/00000000/0000000/100000/60000/5000/800/165850/165850.strip.print.gif" border="0" />
<p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/Im1PCR6ihf0YGpTZTU5vu8Mgvcw/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/Im1PCR6ihf0YGpTZTU5vu8Mgvcw/0/di" border="0" ismap="true" /></a><br />
<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/Im1PCR6ihf0YGpTZTU5vu8Mgvcw/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/Im1PCR6ihf0YGpTZTU5vu8Mgvcw/1/di" border="0" ismap="true" /></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DilbertDailyStrip/~4/929C7Xlha-s" height="1" width="1" />universaluclick.comservice@dilbert.comhttp://dilbert.com/A Hypochondriac's Nightmarehttp://xkcd.com/1097/2012-08-20T04:00:00+00:00<img src="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/a_hypochondriacs_nightmare.png" title="BUT WHAT IF I REASSURE MYSELF WITH A JOKE AND THEN DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE RASH AND IT TURNS OUT TO BE DEATH MITES AND I COULD HAVE CAUGHT IT" alt="BUT WHAT IF I REASSURE MYSELF WITH A JOKE AND THEN DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE RASH AND IT TURNS OUT TO BE DEATH MITES AND I COULD HAVE CAUGHT IT" />XKCDhttp://xkcd.com/8/19/12http://pearlswine.livejournal.com/628945.html2012-08-20T03:44:28+00:00<a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/jfboyd/pic/0027a32q/"><img src="http://pics.livejournal.com/jfboyd/pic/0027a32q" width="600" height="295" border="0" /></a>Pearls before Swinehttp://pearlswine.livejournal.com/The Dog Days are Overhttp://notmysock.org/blog/misc/the-dog-days-are-over.html2012-08-19T15:05:00+00:00<p>
Friday was my last day in Zynga.
</p>
<p>
Zynga has been a very different place for me to work in. Coming from Yahoo, where the
tech folks had sway over the company, to a place where the product managers were the
core of the company was jarring to say the least. But adapting to thrive, indeed succeed
there has polished off a few rough edges that I had.
</p>
<p>
I've sat at the cliff's edge between what's management and the frontline.
I've stared into the abyss and stared it down.
I've seen exactly how incentives work and more importantly, when incentives tend to work against you.
I've learnt to temper my competitive spirit to skip the usual pitfalls of meritocracy.
I've understood how to work with people who are not engineers.
</p>
<p>
I've known the difference between talking & persuading. To effectively bring people over to
your side of the debate - whether it is with statistics or merely by running experiments. In some
sense this is more diplomacy than being technically right every time - but there's no value in
actually being wrong. And I got better at saying No.
</p>
<p>
I've learnt what risk looks like. Very early in this "game", I learnt to play offense. To gauge
a risk, take it and occasionally clean up afterwards if it blew up in my face. And in some sense
that's the general motto around there. I became quicker at churning out a solution, battle testing
it and minor setbacks weren't really a deterrant anymore. And I was brave.
</p>
<p>
I got to treat crisises differently. I was on the on-call rota. Instead of panicking and hyperventilating,
I started treating them as merely opportunities to offer solutions. And in my spare time, I prepared for
these crisises which turned out to be massively productive moments of innovation. I tried to get some
of it opensourced, but a lot of it is locked up in the paperwork that I never finished.
</p>
<p>
I've had my moments of frustration too. There have been scenarios which were charged with egos and
people politics, which are probably no different in any other workplace - people trying to play
schedule chicken,
folks trying to delay others with scope creep, territorial engineers telling me to keep off their turf &
avoidable meetings where people duel with power point slides full of promises they can't keep. I've
occasionally gotten demoralized about all that, but I've managed to move beyond that and build out a stronghold around me.
</p>
<p>
And finally, the best thing that's happened to me was working with the senior technical folks in the Bangalore office.
People like Binu, Prashun, Prakash & Jayesh have been a big part of my development at Zynga. And not just them actually,
the whole team is full of fun folks who don't really consider work as the end-all of their daily life.
</p>
<p>
It felt like I was part of an uber startup!
</p>
-- <br />
<b>
The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress. <br />
-- Charles Kettering
</b>Gopal Vijayaraghavanhttp://notmysock.org/blogComic for August 19, 2012http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2012-08-19/2012-08-19T05:00:00+00:00<img src="http://dilbert.com/dyn/str_strip/000000000/00000000/0000000/100000/60000/4000/100/164114/164114.strip.print.gif" border="0" />
<p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/_eXDxIGWKH2GSGoDJ4gRghHhMdY/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/_eXDxIGWKH2GSGoDJ4gRghHhMdY/0/di" border="0" ismap="true" /></a><br />
<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/_eXDxIGWKH2GSGoDJ4gRghHhMdY/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/_eXDxIGWKH2GSGoDJ4gRghHhMdY/1/di" border="0" ismap="true" /></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DilbertDailyStrip/~4/l7pacFCITYI" height="1" width="1" />universaluclick.comservice@dilbert.comhttp://dilbert.com/Twitter Weekly Updates for 2012-08-19http://tariquesani.net/blog/2012/08/19/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2012-08-19/2012-08-19T02:19:00+00:00<p>Posted in <a href="http://tariquesani.net/blog/category/twitter-digests/" title="Twitter Digests">Twitter Digests</a></p>Sounds very interesting http://t.co/iHzxgZ88 #GetGlueHD #TheSkinILiveIn # Faved On Flickr iPhoneography Showcase, 08.12.12 http://t.co/Pvt4aWF7 # This giant 3D printer can construct a house in as little as 20 hours http://t.co/v6Zu9nxN better than printing guns I guess # 10 handy jQuery mobile tips and snippets to get you started http://t.co/ClYJ5EXQ # Firefox Addons For Penetration Testing [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/tariquesani/~4/SnYqq6bYgNc" height="1" width="1" />Tarique Sanihttp://tariquesani.net/blog8/18/12http://pearlswine.livejournal.com/628650.html2012-08-18T17:42:48+00:00<a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/jfboyd/pic/00279thr/"><img src="http://pics.livejournal.com/jfboyd/pic/00279thr" width="600" height="191" border="0" /></a>Pearls before Swinehttp://pearlswine.livejournal.com/