Author Archives: mark

Don’t shame, just share – not everyone knows your cultural touchstones

Don’t shame, just share – not everyone knows your cultural touchstones In a class last week, a younger person shared that they did not know who Mister Rogers was. Know that this class has a nice mix of age and backgrounds. When this person said “I don’t know who that is,” the Gen X folks […]

April 15, 02025 – 10:04 | By mark | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (0)

PubNub Pirate Ducks – demo project

Earlier this year I wrote a demo application for PubNub to use at trade shows. It was basic, but that’s what it’s supposed to be. It tries to exercise as much of the PubNub functionality as possible in as small a space as possible with a catchiness for the eyes. You can check it out […]

November 14, 02019 – 16:00 | By mark | Posted in Code, DevRel | Comments Off on PubNub Pirate Ducks – demo project

On Accepting Praise: a Service to Others

This was written for a speech. It has been slightly edited to be read instead of spoken.  We applaud our guest musicians at the end of each service, as I’m sure we will do again today. When we do this, I always find it interesting to watch our musicians receive the applause. Some accept it […]

March 6, 02019 – 22:04 | By mark | Posted in Speaking | Comments Off on On Accepting Praise: a Service to Others

Justin Timberlake – Can’t Stop The Feeling! (Trolls Soundtrack)

I was going to continue with the funk/disco theme today but we had the Trolls soundtrack on in the car on the way to school this morning and everyone was moving to it. It’s such a Friday kind of tune: Nothing I can see but you when you dance, dance, dance (I can’t stop the […]

October 26, 02018 – 19:18 | By mark | Posted in Dance Party, Get | Comments Off on Justin Timberlake – Can’t Stop The Feeling! (Trolls Soundtrack)

The Trammps – Disco Inferno

Disco is such a good option for getting the children up and dancing. Beats that kids can move to and, if you pick right, lyrics that stick in your head. Today we’re looking at Disco Inferno. The one by The Trammps, not the one by 50 Cent. It’s a great song but you’ll be explaining […]

October 25, 02018 – 18:49 | By mark | Posted in Dance Party, Get | Comments Off on The Trammps – Disco Inferno

Rose Royce – Car Wash

Do you have a dirty car or just some kiddos with too much wiggle in them? Then either send them out to wash your car or drop this classic disco medley on the turntable (you have one of those, right) and watch the magic happen. It’s a good life lesson to boot: You might not […]

October 24, 02018 – 21:18 | By mark | Posted in Dance Party, Get | Comments Off on Rose Royce – Car Wash

The B-52s – “Rock Lobster”

How could you not like the following lyrics? Here comes a stingray There goes a manta-ray In walked a jelly fish There goes a dog-fish Chased by a cat-fish   Not to mention it’s danceability. Turn it on during the next dance party and see them spin. https://youtu.be/ofkzvM7Skxg Get it: Rock Lobster on iTunes

October 11, 02018 – 00:30 | By mark | Posted in Dance Party, Get | Comments Off on The B-52s – “Rock Lobster”

My interview on Community Signal

I forgot to post about this at the time. Patrick O’Keefe had me on Community Signal and we had a fun and wide-ranging conversation about community, reputation systems and deprioritization of an existing community. I was happy to be able to participate. How Community Platforms Address the Member Life Cycle

January 30, 02018 – 20:59 | By mark | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on My interview on Community Signal

An experiment with password fields

Links to an experiment I did with bloom filters and password input fields.

August 16, 02017 – 16:11 | By mark | Posted in development | Comments Off on An experiment with password fields

Unintended consequences of out of date software

A broken blog home page leads me down multiple rabbit trails to fix it. Turns out it was a broken plugin. Bonus: how to diagnose Wordpress problems.

July 26, 02017 – 11:29 | By mark | Posted in development | Comments Off on Unintended consequences of out of date software