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dpearson

1,410 karma · joined September 14, 2011

I built NFLScoreBot (http://nflscorebot.github.com), as well as a Scoreboard to go with it (http://scoreboard.dpearson.me).

Twitter: @dpearson_ Github: github.com/dpearson

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dpearson··on Show HN: Get scores and stats for baseball games on Twitter and App.net
App.net version: https://alpha.app.net/mlbscorebot

French versions:

    Twitter: https://twitter.com/mlbscorebotfr

    App.net: https://alpha.app.net/mlbscorebotfr
dpearson··on JavaScript right on the hardware
Any sort of compiler for JavaScript could only support a subset of the language, unless you shipped an interpreter alongside the compiled code. This subset might be unfamiliar enough to the point that moving to a new language wouldn't be that much harder for some programmers.

I also see nothing on the site to suggest that C/C++ (at least) couldn't be supported, although I have no clue how much work you would have to do yourself (likely too much).

dpearson··on Stop Allowing App Reviews From Beta iOS Versions
It would be one thing if the iOS 7 reviews only showed up for other developers running the beta, but these reviews only (in the best case scenario) dilute and obscure actual, legitimate reviews.

In the former case, the reviews might provide a benefit. Now, however, they hurt sales to customers who haven't updated and won't until after Apple's deadline for compatability (that is, release day).

EDIT: Not to mention that the new APIs are still changing, so even if a fix was allowable, it might just end up breaking again.

dpearson··on Congressman requests subpoena of NSA’s White House, IRS phone logs
This subpoena has nothing to do with PRISM; it's really more of an effort to link the White House to the IRS targetting of conservative groups (which was apparently just an agent running amok).

Ultimately, though, there's the classic adage about the president: "The buck stops here." If Obama was aware of PRISM (which I have to believe he did), then he also had the choice of stopping it. The same is true of the IRS scandal. Even if he did not (unlike Nixon) direct the programs, knowing about them and not stopping them (again, if true; I really don't know) is tantamount to running them.

dpearson··on Petition to Pardon Edward Snowden
However, when the president of the United States issues a pardon, even one that is of questionable legality, it's still a powerful statement: Ford placed the power and influence of the Oval Office in between Nixon and any prosecutor.

This petition suggests a similar maneuver with Obama and Snowden.

dpearson··on Petition to Pardon Edward Snowden
Nixon received a "full, free, and absolute pardon" from Gerald Ford [0], despite not actually having even stood trial, let alone having been convicted.

[0]: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/26847.html

dpearson··on The NSA story reinforces why an entity like WikiLeaks is important
Whenever I see someone downvoted for an unpopular (on HN, anyway) opinion, I always upvote the comment, even if I don't believe that the comment otherwise merits an upvote. It's my way of striking back at the practice.
dpearson··on Addicted to Twitter
The ideal for me would be to maintain the accounts, but use them less. I'm worried that being completely without any social networking presence could hurt me down the road with companies being reluctant to hire someone who seems like they might have something to hide. In my opinion, at least, this attitude is ridiculous, but I've already had people look at me strangely about it.
dpearson··on Addicted to Twitter
I've noticed the same pattern as my access to technology has expanded. Initially, I was completely unconcerned with my online presence, but, as the years wore on, it became less of a relief to be away from everything and more of an impatience to get back and check Twitter, email, news, etc. Unfortunately, I'm not sure that there's a way to go back, either for myself or for society as a whole.
dpearson··on ISO efficiency: when are time hacks worth the effort?
This is assuming that the fixes are necessarily designed to save time. That's not always the case, however: I have some tasks that are fairly quick, but it's far easier to automate them (even though, in time savings, the automation is worthless compared to the effort expended) than to just do them by hand. With manual tasks, there is a certain annoyance factor, and, if you're anything like me, you will forget to do it once or twice and figure out only when someone complains.
dpearson··on Countries Statistics API
You could try scraping the CIA World Factbook, which should have all of that information. There's no formal API, but someone has written a scraper[0] that you could rerun to get newer data (or, for that matter, you could write your own scraper).

[0]: https://github.com/twigkit/worldfactbook-dataset

dpearson··on Web Scraping 101 with Python
> Scraping online content is so simple these days, if a website doesn't offer an API you still have alternatives ;)

Having written code to both leverage a site's (private) API and to scrape that same site (when the private API stopped existing), I would much, much rather use an API. Yes, the scraper works, but the scraper's code is much messier, and JSON keys, for example, provide some documentation in their own right. Looking at the scraper months later, there's a lot more headscratching. Scraping will work, but it also will leave you searching for many little pieces of information that would be exposed by an API but aren't by a static site.

Still, I will agree that scraping is much easier; I've used jsdom (Node.js) extensively, and, for my use cases, it feels like working in a browser (full DOM, scripts, etc.).

dpearson··on Ubuntu Rolling Release Proposal
I used to use Debian, and I'm not sure I'd go back. On one hand, the stability was wonderful (Debian was pretty much bulletproof for me), but packages were, for stable, quite old. Hardware compatibility isn't quite as good: hardware (including a USB Wi-Fi dongle) that Ubuntu autodetects and has no trouble with became an adventure to get working.

I tracked stable, so maybe testing would be better in terms of package outdating, but hardware compatibility is Debian's achilles heel right now.

dpearson··on Apple's upgrade dilemma
Apple is already killing off device support, sometimes (seemingly) for marketing reasons. With iOS 6, Apple dropped support for the first-generation iPad, but continued to support the iPhone 3GS (which I cannot imagine being much faster [edit: see Xuzz's reply to this comment]). The obvious reason, from my layman's perspective, is sales: the iPhone 3GS was on the market more recently, so the (newer) iPad got the ax.

Apple also tied app support for the iPhone 5, and future iPhones, to ending support for the iPhone 3G and its ilk; I understand that long build times are far from desirable, but this move seems like a great way to encourage upgrades.

Then again, maybe I'm just a cynic.

Edit: I've not used an iPhone 3GS on a day-to-day basis, but I've seen better performance out of my first gen iPad (and maybe it's just me) just before it was EOL'd than I ever saw with the iPhone 3G/iPod touch 2G family, both of which were truly awful performance-wise before Apple pulled the plug. I'm guessing the real reason for keeping support for the iPhone 3GS but not the iPad 1G was, as coob mentioned, the fact that it was on sale when iOS 6 was released.

dpearson··on DC-area schools consider copyright policy that takes ownership of students’ work
Compare that to other DC-area counties, though. Per the Washington Post [1], Fairfax, Loudoun, and Arlington all have median household incomes over $100,000. Montgomery sits at almost $93,000. So in comparison, $71,000 per year is low.

[1]: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/local/highest-i...

dpearson··on Julian Assange to run for Australian Senate
> Old media is indeed dying.

I can't speak for Autralian media, but "old" media like the New York Times and the Washington Post in the US seem to still do well for themselves. Many big investigative pieces still come from newspapers, as most online-only outlets don't yet have the resources for that work. Newspapers are certainly less responsive (and the smaller papers are declining in quality, unfortunately), but for high-quality journalism the old guard has yet to be beat.

dpearson··on GitHub now supports Twitter Cards
Any tweet with a Github link shows a card when viewed through the web interface. Here's one of mine: https://twitter.com/dpearson_/status/288415765223321600
dpearson··on Windows 8 proving less popular than Vista
I don't think that the problem is figuring out Windows 8 (something that anyone could do given enough time), but, rather, the real problem is unwillingness to buy. Having heard from friends and the media that Windows 8 is radically different, any remaining interest is dissipated on sight of screenshots or a demo computer in-store.

That said, my parents, when actually confronted with it, were fine; they weren't huge fans, but using the new interface wasn't a problem after they adjusted.

dpearson··on No one-click unsubscribe? It's spam.
Twitter, too, has twelve categories of email to opt yourself out of, although I don't believe that you're not automatically opted in to all of them (I unsubscribed long ago, so I can't be sure).
dpearson··on Show HN: A Different Kind of Scoreboard
I might open source the frontend, but the code responsible for summary generation probably won't be released any time soon.
dpearson··on Show HN: A Different Kind of Scoreboard
You have a point about logos, and I'll remove them if someone complains. The rest, though, I believe is unique enough (and I do disclaim affiliation/endorsement at the bottom).

Ultimately, this is a continuation of a school project, so I'll take it down if it's a problem.

dpearson··on Show HN: A Different Kind of Scoreboard
It is subtle, and I don't know how to improve on it other than highlighting, which involves changes I don't want to make with the site live on a Sunday afternoon.
dpearson··on Show HN: A Different Kind of Scoreboard
If you're asking about the backend (and how the summaries are generated), probably not, at least for now. The frontend, on the other hand, doesn't have much to it.
dpearson··on Show HN: A Different Kind of Scoreboard
The winner/leader has their logo shown above the team that's trailing, although I will add some highlighting of the final score.
dpearson··on Show HN: A Different Kind of Scoreboard
I think I'd rather go with Skywing's suggestion of highlighting the scores rather than placing them next to the logos, although coloring player names (despite the same problems as highlighting scores) is something I should do.

As for hockey, I'll be adding it once the NHL lockout ends.

dpearson··on Show HN: A Different Kind of Scoreboard
Video highlights as a link out would be possible (although I certainly couldn't embed them). Maybe I'll add a highlights link on mouse over, so as to keep it relatively uncluttered.
dpearson··on Show HN: A Different Kind of Scoreboard
I forgot about possession when I was building this, but I will be adding it before next week's games.
dpearson··on Show HN: A Different Kind of Scoreboard
Not a bad idea...it might be a tad tricky to implement though given that my backend spits out summaries as plain text. I'll try to implement it later.
dpearson··on Show HN: A Different Kind of Scoreboard
I don't have any particular reason for not using jQuery; I'm just not a huge fan.
dpearson··on Show HN: A Different Kind of Scoreboard
The raw game data comes from a scraper I wrote, but the summaries are generated by the same backend that I use for @NFLScoreBot and friends.
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