Megan Taylor: Web Journalist

git + webcam = lol

Megan Taylor — Wed, 23 May 2012 23:04:16 +0000

git + webcam = lolcommits.

IKEA Hackers: Creative IKEA desk

Megan Taylor — Wed, 23 May 2012 21:59:49 +0000

Welcome to FreshDirect

Megan Taylor — Wed, 23 May 2012 13:33:00 +0000

FreshDirect finally started delivering to the Bronx this week. I received my first order yesterday. Totally in love with the convenience factor, plus they carry the brand of kitty litter my cats like! Prices are basically the same or a little lower than my neighborhood store, except for the fancy organic or locally farmed stuff.

The programmer, who needs clarity, who must talk… – Life and Code

Megan Taylor — Thu, 17 May 2012 14:31:02 +0000

“The programmer, who needs clarity, who must talk all day to a machine that demands declarations, hunkers down into a low-grade annoyance. It is here that the stereotype of the programmer, sitting in a dim room, growling from behind Coke cans, has its origins. The disorder of the desk, the floor; the yellow Post-It notes everywhere; the whiteboards covered with scrawl: all this is the outward manifestation of the messiness of human thought. The messiness cannot go into the program; it piles up around the programmer.”

Ellen Ullman, Close to the Machine: Technophilia and its Discontents (1997), p. 23

via Life and Code.

teach yourself to code

Megan Taylor — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:21:02 +0000

teach yourself to code, resources for people to want to learn programming. By Kate Ray.

Open Thread Mondays: A Manifesto For Hyperlocal | Sheepshead Bay News Blog

Megan Taylor — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:46:51 +0000

I believe local journalism, local government and local economies are the linchpins of a vibrant, healthy nation. For decades, as conglomerates swallowed up independent news outlets across the nation (our own local paper, Bay News, is owned by News Corp. – the same company that owns Fox News and the New York Post, for example), local coverage was watered down because community reporting is expensive, and stockholders want dividends. And because corporations can view employees as easily replaceable cogs, one reporter who lives in the community and has covered it for decades is just as valuable as one straight out of journalism school three states over.

But community reporting requires more than cogs. It requires more than an academic familiarity of those it covers. What meaningful local reporting requires is a personal investment. If the reporter doesn’t stand to benefit from a healthy community, his coverage will serve to dramatize and exacerbate problems rather than solve them.

When Sheepshead Bites ventures to cover the community, we do it because we’re neighbors. Our writers live here. Our business is based here. And we endeavor to support and uplift our neighbors for all of our benefit.

Our reporting sees results. When we complain about garbage, it gets cleaned up. When we question politicians, they endeavor to meet our concerns. When we cry to the city that Sheepshead deserves more – well, we’re still waiting to see about that one. This alone makes the site a worthwhile exercise, because, to me, the significance of one’s aspirations is only measurable by how much it helps others. Not to get preachy, but a preacher’s quote is especially applicable here: “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’” (That’d be Martin Luther King, Jr., by the way.)

from Open Thread Mondays: A Manifesto For Hyperlocal | Sheepshead Bay News Blog via BoingBoing.

Aviator

Megan Taylor — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 19:20:36 +0000

Trying on aviator goggles at the Air and Space Museum in DC.

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Dalek dress

Megan Taylor — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 11:40:26 +0000

Beautiful Dalek dress by Somevelvetmorning via BoingBoing

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Put my CodeYear progress up on GitHub to motivate myself to stick with it

Megan Taylor — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 21:16:59 +0000

Put my CodeYear progress up on GitHub to motivate myself to stick with it: megantaylor/codeyear.

Step by step: how to start in a data journalist role | Online Journalism Blog

Megan Taylor — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 11:30:34 +0000

Step by step: how to start in a data journalist role | Online Journalism Blog.