Oy. When I wasn't paying attention it seems that possibly GitHub deprecated the API I'm using. I'm really not sure. The calls I make are all in the Contents part of the REST API. Maybe these are not the ones that are deprecated. I sure hope not. #
The seasons are changing, so it was time for a new header image. The old one was of the Sheep Meadow in Central Park and the skyline of CPW taken on a super hot June day. The new image is of Naomi Osaka, a sports hero with a story. #
Big idea from Obama's speech. Better is good. This could be the US motto, as much as E Pluribus Unum, which is a similar idea. In a country that is the amalgamation of free people, no one ever achieves everything they want. But better is good.#
I find these animated GIF shots of NYC intersections captivating. #
Journalism is eventually going to form something like the NBA or StubHub, a central organization that manages the aggregate of all their businesses, yet allows each to pursue independent strategies. The analogy. I can watch the Mets play in San Francisco. The Mets are paid, as are the Giants paid when they play in New York. I want to read a story on the New Yorker website today. Tomorrow I'll want to read something on Mother Jones or NY Mag. I can't possibly, as a reader, have a separate business relationship with each. I pay the NY Times because I live in New York. But that should get me access to reporting by their competitors. #
- Yesterday I wrote about for-the-record blogging and did a 6-minute podcast on why that's important, and how we haven't done much if anything to address the problem.#
- One of the big concerns is where to store the pre-rendered version of your writing. At this point that pretty much means using a commercial service, something owned by a big company, which has problems of its own. For example, where Facebook can change their API overnight, it's hard to imagine Amazon doing the same with S3. Their API is their business model. For Facebook, the API is just nice-to-have. #
- BTW, Facebook did throw out, quickly, a big part of their API, because it was an attack vector used by Russian spammers. I don't blame them. I went in with my eyes open. #
- That's why I think, on reflection, that GitHub, especially since it has been acquired by Microsoft, represents a pretty good option, one of the best we have, maybe even better than S3. Why? Again, the API -- GIT -- is the product. GitHub without GIT is a vastly different product. Microsoft could evolve it, say in 10 years, to the point where GIT is as important as SMS is for Twitter, an ancient legacy, supported half-heartedly (I was never a fan of SMS in Twitter, btw). It could happen. But in this world, ten years is a long time. It shouldn't be, but it is.#
- Another fact in its favor is that Microsoft has an excellent reputation for continuity over the years by not deprecating past APIs, preserving software and data compatibility. I haven't been following closely in recent years, but in the 90s and through the 00s I marveled that new Microsoft OSes could still run software I shipped for MS-DOS in the early 80s. Somewhere deep in Microsoft's DNA, we hope, still lurks a reverence for how we got where are. #
- GitHub was sure to get acquired by someone. Microsoft was probably as good as they could have done. #
- Another thing about GitHub is that they, prior to the Microsoft acquisition at least, encouraged us to think of it as a backend for a website. #
- And even better, all of this is free. #
- So I think it's a pretty good place to start for a future-safe for-the-record blogging back-end. #
- PS: I have a couple of projects I started in the last couple of years that relate to this. English, a wizzy editor for GitHub docs and readme's, uses GitHub's OAuth-based API. And a Node app, GitHubPub, that serves via templates from GitHub repos, with custom domain names. Between the two, you could get to a very low cost Medium clone, the ideal of the for-the-record blogging concept, with hosting done for free by Microsoft. It's scary in a way how high you can build without paying a bill or even a strategy tax. #
- I binged two series over the last couple of weeks -- Man in the High Castle and The Deuce. Just a few comments on each.#
- The Man#
- I had read Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick, and remember it being quite different from the series on Amazon. I had started to watch the first season when it first came out but gave up in boredom and confusion and lack of caring. I decided to give it another try when a friend said she loved it. I accidentally started in the middle of episode 2 of season 2 (thinking it was episode 2 of season 1). It took a while to realize my mistake, but I decided to keep going because I was interested in the characters. Something that had not happened when I started with season 1. #
- Anyway, it's a pretty mediocre story with the same characters meeting each other over and over, trying to get somewhere with each other, that they never seem to get. But it is beautifully shot, and a bit entertaining, so I got all the way to the end. And then I decided to watch the first two episodes of season 2, and then what the hell I watched the first season from the beginning. #
- It is science fiction, an alternate history that plays with the idea of alternate history. That much of Dick's story they kept, and that was fascinating. #
- The Deuce#
- I had a similar experience with The Deuce, the first time I tried to watch it. Made it through the first episode. I really don't like the star, James Franco. But also the first time I watched it I wasn't in binge-watching mode, as I guess I am now. This time I started where I left off last time, and cruised through the eight episodes of season 1. #
- I am one of many people who think The Wire is the best thing ever on TV. I've watched it from beginning to end so many times I've lost count. All I have to do is start with the incredible opening scene of season 1, episode 1, and I'm committed to going all the way. I may watch it again now that I've learned that everything that streams has closed captions. It would be helpful sometimes to know the actual words Wire characters are saying.#
- Okay, The Deuce, run by the same guy who did The Wire, follows the same formula and has many of the same actors cast in different roles of course. Levy the lawyer is now the sargent of the 14th precinct in Manhattan. The beat cop hero, kind of the equivalent of McNulty in The Wire is played by D'Angelo Barksdale (took me a while to figure it out, he's wearing a wig, and of course has aged quite a bit). Cool Lester Smooth even makes an appearance at the end of the last episode, making you wonder if he's coming back for season 2 (it started last night, btw). The star of season 2 of The Wire, Frank Sobotka, has a big part in this show too. #
- And the structure of the cast is the same as The Wire. There's the journalist, there's a union, and the pimps are like the dueling gang bosses. And the cops of course. #
- But the scale of this show is nothing like The Wire. It follows the formula, for sure, but it's a shadow of a shadow of the original. When you realize how closely they're following the formula it's a disappointment because it's so pale in comparison. #
- No matter, I'm going to watch the next seasons of both shows. Because no matter how bad they are compared to the original, they're top notch compared to most of the schlock on Netflix and Amazon. Which is a subject for another post. #