http://9elements.com/io/projects/html5/canvas
Really nice site using the canvas tag in HTML5 and the Processing.js port from its Java counterpart. Nicely nicely done.
No surprise that IE8 is behind the ball again. You need to hack in canvas support. *booooo*
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/18/amazon-shutters-unpopular-alexa-site-thumbnail-service/
Sucks. I had literally just built a site that was using the Amazon site thumbnail generator. Techcrunch lists a couple of replacements, but the one that i’ve found that works the best is PageGlimpse.
The other sites don’t offer a way to tell you when the image that’s been queued is actually ready. Alexa always was able to deliver the image right away. However, PageGlimpse sets a 302 temporary redirect for you. This is good in detecting whether or not the image has been generated. You can setup a cron or some other sort of job to update the images in the background when they are generate. When I finish my scripts, i’ll see if my client will allow me to post it up here.
So a freak thing happened to my friend’s brother-in-law last week, a 100 lb tree trunk fell on him. Luckily he survived, but he’s in pretty bad shape right now. It’s so unfair… every day we work our asses off, look both ways when we cross the street, try and stay healthy, but in the end, fate really has control of our lives; we surely don’t.
This is the same reason why I created JennieBot. In the end, our friends and family and the relationships we have with them are really what’s important in life and we need to be thankful for the time we get with them. Sometimes, we just need to be reminded of that. Money and success can come and go, but they’re nothing without friends and family.
Our thoughts and our prayers go out to you and your family Sasha. Get better soon.
yum install yum-priorities
rpm -import http://dev.centos.org/centos/RPM-GPG-KEY-CentOS-testing
cd /etc/yum.repos.d
wget http://dev.centos.org/centos/5/CentOS-Testing.repo
edit CentOS-Testing.repo, and set enabled=1
edit CentOS-Base.repo and exclude=php*
yum update
A former colleague of mine asked about how I filled out job requirements. Unless the employer has had a background in the role that they’re filling they, I see them struggle with this task all the time. I’ll try and cover filling out requirements in two frequent scenarios: 1. Someone’s left and you need to fill the spot and 2. Filling an entirely new role.
1. Someone’s left and you need to fill the spot.
For this, I usually just pull out their resume that they applied with (yes, that means you need to keep all their resumes on file) and then I copy their skills and add the additional years of experience that they acquired with me. Also you should think about what attributes that you liked about them, as well as attributes that you didn’t like about them. I always look at this as a chance to upgrade if possible! For instance, not really having a design background I was looking for a replacement for a designer that had left. I pulled out his resume, found their previous skills and added the things they worked on in the current position.
2. An entirely new role
I always cheat and use craigslist as a baseline reference. I find the role that would best suit this position. I usually will try and tweak the role, removing and adding things that I feel would be beneficial to my organization, or removing things that wouldn’t make sense in my current organization. This usually brings me to a skillset that is pretty close to what I need. At this point i’ll talk to someone else that I know in the same occupation to have them vet the skillset/requirements. This has always been a saving grace for me.
If all else fails, i’d write down a set of skills that you would imagine the role would need and learn more about the role through the interviews 
. This is when you’re trying to figure out the role yourself. I like to throw it back on the interviewee and ask them about what they think this role entails and how it fits into the overall make-up of the company. It’s always fun to hear another person’s viewpoint on what they think their role should be in your organization. If it sounds right, then you may want to hire that person!
