We’re done, AP Stylebook

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Travis

First you betray the English language with the “modern usage of hopefully,” now “cloud?”

Cloud: The collection of data and use of related computing services via remote servers accessed through the Internet.

The Internet is a collection of data and use of related computing services via remote servers accessed through the Internet. Stop adding meaningless marketing buzzwords and “modern usages.” How am I supposed to tell people to put periods in p.m. or to not use the ampersand if you use “cloud?”

It’s not your job to appeal to the lowest common denominator. It’s your job to raise it. That’s why we have style rules to begin with.

Said with a straight face

Posted on May 1, 2012 by Travis

I couldn’t say this with a straight face because I have an adequate grasp of irony. Maybe that’s what we need in a leader, though?

Apple event media coverage

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Travis

My favorite thing to do after an Apple event is read the coverage. It’s usually a mixture of disappointment and “this will never work” followed by Apple making billions of dollars off it. Mashable provides my favorite example of a group covering all their bases today so they’ll have been right from the beginning in the future.

A sign of the times

Posted on January 14, 2012 by Travis

I sincerely hope Arthur Brisbane’s question of whether or not the New York Times should challenge “facts” (his quotes, not mine) is an art project. If not, there’s no more damning an article written that explains everything that’s wrong with traditional media.

Vanity Fair created a great response that I will not endeavor to outdo.

Whose job is it to decide what words look strange and what words just look fancy? And at what point does an exotic extra consonant become distracting?

An open letter to Sarah Palin

Posted on July 10, 2011 by Travis

Dear Sarah Palin,

I would like to show you something you wrote yesterday. I added my own emphasis for clarity.

As we approach 2012, there are important lessons we can learn from all of this. First, we should never entrust the White House to a far-left ideologue who has no appreciation or even understanding of the free market and limited government principles that made this country economically strong. Second, the office of the presidency is too important for on-the-job training. It requires a strong chief executive who has been entrusted with real authority in the past and has achieved a proven track record of positive measurable accomplishments. Leaders are expected to give good speeches, but leadership is so much more than oratory. Real leadership requires deeds even more than words. It means taking on the problems no one else wants to tackle. It means providing vision and guidance, inspiring people to action, bringing everyone to the table, and with a servant’s heart dedicating oneself to striking agreements that keep faith with our Constitution and with the ordinary citizens who entrusted you with power. It means bucking the status quo, fighting the corrupt powers that be, serving the common good, and leaving the country better than you found it. Most of us don’t see a lot of that real leadership in D.C., and it’s profoundly disappointing.

You quit early. Shut the fuck up.

Sincerely,

Travis Walters

TL;DR headlines are for old media

Posted on June 5, 2011 by Travis

I often read through the Starcraft 2 Mac Technical Support forum to see what the state of things are for the Mac. Today I came across this post in a topic on OS 10.6.7. I haven’t updated to 10.6.7 because I’d read elsewhere that the update caused Starcraft 2 to become unplayable on some machines. Why I check to see if my Macbook Pro can play SC2 when I play it on my PC anyway is a post for another day.

The very first line by AtomicBanana struck me. “TL;DR: Mac OS X 10.6.7 update makes SC2 unplayable on MacBook Air.” After reading “TL;DR” for probably the thousandth time, it occurred to me that in old media we’d call what came after “TL;DR” a headline.

This image serves no purpose other than to show a piece of cool artwork.

The evolution of writing on the Web amuses me. We consolidated our writing styles to make things move quickly and get right to the point. Efficiency is key. We dropped all the rules and now we’re realizing some of them were important. We inefficiently add “TL;DR” wherever we need a head or subhead because we didn’t design a special place for headlines in comments or forums. The only improvement is that this special type of Web headline can go at the beginning or end.

Of course this isn’t really meant to be a headline. It’s the product of a certain segment of Generation Y hellbent on making the rest of us look bad. “Too long; didn’t read” is there to summarize a post so someone can guess what was said and reply with their own opinion without having to read.

I hope bringing grammar rules back even if in a broken roundabout way catches on. We might be able start using punctuation again. Until then:

TL;DR blogger realized TL;DR are headlines at the top or bottom of text.

My new favorite song

Posted on May 28, 2011 by Travis

This fantastic ditty has a some pretty awesome lyrics, specifically at the 1:33 mark.

Girl I turn that thing into a rainforest
Rain on my head, call that brainstorming

Wirekipedia

Posted on April 12, 2011 by Travis

Hi, Wired. Please don’t clutter Wikipedia with ads. Thanks. Also, I can get to Wikipedia by myself. You’re supposed to provide me with stuff I can’t readily find on my own.

You want $20 for this, New York Times

Posted on March 19, 2011 by Travis

Is the statue Dave Hansen? Did the man on the right just walk into the shot?

Say no to Kia

Posted on March 16, 2011 by Travis

Anyone who knows me, knows how much I loathe Kia Country. An audible gasp could be heard by anyone close to me when I saw this. This might go down as one of the worst days of my life. Blocked!