Ryan Catalani

Exploring the intersection of creativity and technology.

[ryancatalani]

And race matters for reasons that really are only skin deep, that cannot be discussed any other way, and that cannot be wished away. Race matters to a young man’s view of society when he spends his teenage years watching others tense up as he passes, no matter the neighborhood where he grew up. Race matters to a young woman’s sense of self when she states her hometown, and then is pressed, 'No, where are you really from?', regardless of how many generations her family has been in the country. Race matters to a young person addressed by a stranger in a foreign language, which he does not understand because only English was spoken at home. Race matters because of the slights, the snickers, the silent judgments that reinforce that most crippling of thoughts: 'I do not belong here.'

From Justice Sotomayor's dissenting opinion on the ruling upholding Michigan's ban on affirmative action in public university admissions. She continues: "In my colleagues’ view, examining the racial impact of legislation only perpetuates racial discrimination. This refusal to accept the stark reality that race matters is regrettable."

[ryancatalani]

My photos from Emerson's 12th annual 9/11 vigil.

[ryancatalani]

Headlines about the Boston Marathon bombing suspects continue to dominate national news.

[ryancatalani]

Reflecting on the snow-covered Common, yesterday's sunset was spectacular.

[ryancatalani]

Scenes from last night.

[ryancatalani]

Nemo provided some quite scenic snowfall on the Boston Common.

[ryancatalani]

I started drawing on an iPhone at the beginning of 2009, and, at the time, I liked being able to work so small. I got so used to the size that the first time I used the iPad, it felt like I had a pinball machine in front of me. In time, however, I became more proficient on the tablet and started using more lines and more detail. To the point that now, it feels primitive indeed to draw on the iPhone.

Five years after Jorge Colombo's innovative New Yorker cover (left) drawn with the iPhone app Brushes, he followed up this week with a cover—in the same visual style and perhaps same physical location—created on an iPad.

[berkeleybeacon-blog]

Of course I like that — that’s exactly who I am. I have lots of swag, clearly.

— President Pelton commenting on @DatPeltonSwag, the parody Twitter account prompting laughs—and some controversy—on campus.

[ryancatalani]

"I'm sorry. Am I reading too brightly?"

[ryancatalani]

"We're all created equal, baby. After that, you're on your own."

(Reminds me of this: "Americans have an egalitarian approach to inequality: they want everyone to have an equal chance to become better-off than everyone else.")

[digg]

A Connecticut newspaper ran an ad for a gun show next to a story about Sandy Hook today.

[shortformblog]

As a former newspaper guy, let me emphasize that in situations like these, you can generally check the ad stacks and change things to avoid situations like this.

[ryancatalani]

The first sunrise of 2013 here on Oahu's east coast was rainy, but not gloomy — such showers are considered a blessing in Hawaiian culture, and seemed not to signal an ominous new year, but one filled with nourishment and growth.

These photos are also on Flickr.

[ryancatalani]

The Impossible is a new film, just released to general acclaim, depicting the true survival story of a family during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

But what struck me about the trailer was its focus on white people. The movie's protagonists are Spanish tourists. And there was only a fleeting shot of non-white people — yet the disaster killed over 200,000 people in Southeast Asia, mostly in Indonesia.

I haven't seen the film yet, but apparently this dearth of indigenous people continues in the full version. The New York Times' A.O. Scott writes:

Virtually everyone shown suffering after the tsunami is a European, Australian or American tourist, and the fact that the vast majority of the dead, injured and displaced were Asian never really registers. ... And the terrible effects of the tsunami on the local population are barely acknowledged.

I don't mean to discount what apparently is an incredible work of acting and directing. But it seems somewhat disingenuous not give more attention to those who were actually affected by the tsunami.

[bookmania]

Judging a Book by Its Lover. It is one of the coolest book trailers I’ve ever seen online. Going through it is such an experience. Thanks, Golda for sharing. Check it out: Judging a Book by Its Lover: A Field Guide to the Hearts and Minds of Readers Everywhere.

[berkeleybeacon-blog]

Thanks to Houston Yang for creating this meme.

And you should take a few moments to fill out our political poll, and show how you feel about important issues this election season. It’s completely anonymous, and the results will be released November 1.

[ryancatalani]

An astounding endorsement for Romeny

The Orlando Sentinel, central Florida's largest newspaper, endorsed Mitt Romney:

Other presidents have succeeded even with the other party controlling Capitol Hill. Democrat Bill Clinton presided over an economic boom and balanced the budget working with Republicans. Leaders find a way.

With Obama in charge, the federal government came perilously close to a default last year. Now it's lurching toward another crisis with the impending arrival of massive tax hikes and spending cuts on Jan. 1.

It is absolutely incredible how this editorial conveniently disregards the previously unimaginable levels of Republican obstructionism in both chambers of Congress. ("Democrats held strong majorities in the House and Senate during his first two years," it argues, ignoring the GOP's unprecedented use of the filibuster.)

And "leaders find a way"? Obama did indeed find a way — to, among other things, rescue GM, pass an economic stimulus bill, add millions of jobs, and reform healthcare, despite consistent and nearly complete Republican opposition.

It continues:

Romney is not our ideal candidate for president. We've been turned off by his appeals to social conservatives and immigration extremists.

Well, it's a good thing, then, that Romney's economic plan makes so much sense.

If he doesn't produce results — even with a hostile Senate — we'll be ready in 2016 to get behind someone else who will.

Yeah, what could go wrong in four years?

The Sentinel's endorsement of Romney isn't itself bothersome — newspapers are, of course, free to support any candidate they'd like. But the editorial makes no mention of how Romney would specifically help Florida residents, and its reasons for supporting Romney in general are disingenuous or misleading. It's disappointing to read.

[ryancatalani]

So you want to log into WebCT?

People using the newest version of OS X, Mountain Lion, might see this warning after logging into WebCT:

This stems from a new feature called "Gatekeeper," meant to protect your computer from untrusted and possibly nefarious apps. But that doesn't matter – the main problem is that you can only seem to press the "Deny" button, since "Java will not allow any access to this applet." So how are you supposed to access WebCT?

Clicking on "Show Details" offers more information:

A certificate, in essence, is cryptographic file that verifies someone's or something's identity, and provides one of the most foundational elements of security on the Internet. With digital certificates, we know that facebook.com is really Facebook, not steal-your-facebook-info.com, and that your data is passing safely between your computer and Facebook — or in this case, that WebCT is really WebCT, not a malicious third-party.

In this case, the certificate exists, but expired over five months ago: this means, in theory, that the certificate could be invalid or stolen. They can expire by mistake, though, and Emerson is trustworthy, so it's probably safe to trust this certificate. It's not really obvious, but the only way to do this is to check "Always trust 'Blackboard Inc.'"

After entering your computer's password and clicking "Allow" in the Java prompt, you may face another warning:

This browser is unsupported? But it's the latest version of Safari (6.0.1) on the latest version of OS X. Checking what browsers are supported identifies the issue:

The page hasn't been updated since the days of OS X 10.6 and Safari 4 – which were released more than three years ago, and are two versions outdated. I managed to track down a more recent version of the page, though:

The penultimate OS X release is at least mentioned, but every browser tested is "unsupported," or, according to the page's glossary, "either impossible or not tested." Since WebCT seems to work, it's probably the latter. The page also says that "Google Chrome is not supported" — which might make sense, if Chrome wasn't the most popular browser in the world.

Maybe some these problems stem from the fact that this version of WebCT was initially released in 2005 — the year President Bush started his second term, YouTube was founded, and Pope John Paul II died. At least it still works, though — if a little slowly.