Heroku suffered a DDOS attack

Root domains are aesthetically pleasing, but the nature of DNS prevents them from being a robust solution for web apps. Root domains don't allow CNAMEs, which requires hardcoding IP addresses, which in turn prevents flexibility on updates to IPs which may need to change over time to handle new load or divert denial-of-service attacks.

We strongly recommend against using root domains. Use a subdomain that can be CNAME aliased to proxy.heroku.com, and avoid ever manually entering IPs into your DNS configuration. We also recommend a low TTL value, which will allow Heroku network engineers to quickly make changes to DNS mapping when necessary.

via status.heroku.com

There's a cost to use a root domain (eg. example.com, but not www.example.com).

Stephen Hawking: “We should seek the greatest value of our action”

So here we are. What should we do?

We should seek the greatest value of our action.

via www.guardian.co.uk

This part is much more important than things someone mean about.

Making TypePad Infinite Scroll Page

It looks like pagination is a new marquee tag. Now all hip websites like Twitter, Facebook got a fancy infinite scrolling. Scroll down more, you’ll get more tweets, status updates or contents. Just for browsing stuff, scrolling with space key (or petting your shiny trackpad) is good enough for those lazy people.

Currently TypePad provides only paginations on monthly archive pages like http://sekimura.typepad.com/blog/2011/02/index.html. But you can make your own infinite scroll page by following these steps:

* Step 1: Create a new “Page” *

Go to “Compose” page and select “New Page” from Compose pull down menu.

* Step 2: Put base html and save it as “all-archives.html”*

Click “HTML” tab and put html code input area.

Here is html code I used. Replace “blogId” with your own. To find your blogId, go to the dashboard for your blog and look at the URL. You will find something like:

http://www.typepad.com/site/blogs/6a00d8341d3fee53ef010535c8916d970c/dashboard

In this case, 6a00d8341d3fee53ef010535c8916d970c is your blogId.

And then save this page as “all-archives.html” or something relevant to publish it.

* Step 3: Enjoy infinite scrolling *

Go to the page you just created and scrolling down. It will automatically loading more entries when you about to get the bottom of page. Mine is here. http://sekimura.typepad.com/blog/all-archives.html.

TypePad JSON API provides such a powerful way to render your contents. Go to the page and find more fun! http://www.typepad.com/services/apidocs

all archives – infinite scrolling

.entry-content {
border-bottom: solid 1px #CCC;
padding-bottom: 10px;
margin-bottom: 10px;
padding-top: 10px;
}

${title}

{{html sanitizedContent}}

/* NOTE: Change this variable with your blog’s id */
var blogId = ’6a00d8341d3fee53ef010535c8916d970c’;

Sumo match-fix scandal and Freakonomics

In this weekend, I’ve got asked about sumo match-fix scandal and realized that the news spreads the world over and people outside Japan are also interested in. I said to my friend “they have been doing that and media keep on hiding the fact. So, it’s no surprise to me”. After checking some blogs, I found out that a controversial book,
Freakonomics by Levitt, mentioned sumo wrestlers are match rigging. I haven’t read the book yet but there’s a pdf file of his paper about corruption in sumo wrestling. Some quotes here:

The key institutional feature of sumo wrestling that makes it ripe for corruption is the existence of a sharp nonlinearity in the payoff function for competitors. A sumo tournament (basho) involves 66 wrestlers (rikishi) participating in 15 bouts each. A wrestler who achieves a winning record (eight wins or more, known as kachi-koshi) is guaranteed to rise up the ofŽ cial ranking (banzuke); a wrestler with a losing record (make-koshi) falls in the rankings. A wrestler’s rank is a source of prestige, the basis for salary determination, and also influences the perks that he enjoys

“Figure 1″ on the paper demonstrates the importance of an eighth win to a wrestler.

The critical eighth win—which results in a substantial promotion in rank rather than a demotion garners a wrestler approximately 11 spots in the ranking, or roughly four times the value of the typical victory. Consequently, a wrestler entering the final match of a tournament with a 7-7 record has far more to gain from a victory than an opponent with a record of, say, 8-6 has to lose.

He found out the peak on 8-7 records. See below.

Figure 2 provides clear visual evidence in support of the model’s prediction. Approximately 26.0 percent of all wrestlers finish with exactly eight wins, compared to only 12.2 percent with seven wins.

<img src="http://sekimura.typepad.com/files/screen-shot-2011-02-07-at-6.04.24-pm.png"

There’re some more interesting analysis such as a give-and-take case “What Happens When Wrestlers Meet Again in the Future” so download the pdf file to read a whole paper.

You might be disappointed with the fact but don’t get wrong. Sumo is “professional” wrestling and you won’t be noticed how they cheat. Just enjoy watching two naked fat guys hugging each other. ;p

The New Readability | Readability Blog

We’re turning Readability into a monthly subscription service with a unique twist: the great majority of your fees (70%) will go directly to the writers and publishers you enjoy. We’re tethering a small, passive transaction to the reading decisions you make through the platform. You can even publicly share the top domains you’re enjoying through Readability. It’s a new type of badge: “I support these writers & publishers.”

via blog.readability.com

This is great win-win situation. A reader clicks "Readability" link to get more readable content: a writer gets a percentage of reader's subscription fee.

How Twitter spent money on marketing

1) We created a Twitter visualizer and negotiated with the festival to put flat panel screens in the hallways. This is something they'd never done before, but we didn't want a booth on the trade show floor, because we knew hallways is where the action was. We paid $11K for this and set up the TVs ourselves. (This was about the only money Twitter's *ever* spent on marketing.)

2) We created an event-specific feature, where, you could text 'join sxsw' to 40404. Then you would show up on the screens. And, if you weren't already a Twitter user, you'd automatically be following a half-dozen or so "ambassadors," who were Twitter users also at SXSW. We advertised this on the screens in the hallways. (I don't know how many people signed up this way — my recollection is not a lot.)

I don't know what was the most important factor, but networks are all about critical mass, so doubling down on the momentum seemed like a good idea. And something clicked.

via www.quora.com

Evan Williams had answered a question on Quora "What is the process involved in launching a start-up at SXSW?"

“Let us use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations” | StarTribune.com

Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let us use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy, and remind ourselves of all the ways our hopes and dreams are bound together.

via www.startribune.com

I just wanted to place this sentence to my blog.

Loaded Gun Slips Past TSA Screeners

According to one report, undercover TSA agents testing security at a Newark airport terminal on one day in 2006 found that TSA screeners failed to detect concealed bombs and guns 20 out of 22 times. A 2007 government audit leaked to USA Today revealed that undercover agents were successful slipping simulated explosives and bomb parts through Los Angeles's LAX airport in 50 out of 70 attempts, and at Chicago's O'Hare airport agents made 75 attempts and succeeded in getting through undetected 45 times.

via abcnews.go.com

TSA fails 70~90% of all attempts to smuggle guns past screeners. Ooops.

mmmeow: An extra point for the bemused, smug dog…

original

An extra point for the bemused, smug dog.

via www.mmmeow.com

ANIMATION GIF ROCKS!