Jonathan Dobres

Blog Archive

• Remembering Professor David I. Mostofsky

  Dec. 27 2021

  A personal remembrance of a good man.

• shutter bugged

  Sep. 22 2019

  With the iPhone 11, Apple makes a change that permanently ruins its camera.

• Autumn at Mount Auburn Cemetery

  Nov. 4 2018

  Gorgeous autumn colors at one of New England’s historic sites.

• algorithmic art: random circle packing

  Apr. 1 2018

  Packing a canvas with non-overlapping circles is easy, until it isn’t. Herein, we learn the difference between an easy solution and a fast solution.

• compound inequalities in R

  Feb. 10 2018

  It’s surprisingly easy to create a set of custom comparison operators that mimic compound inequality formulas, which can potentially save you some typing and make your code more readable. Let’s have a look at the R features that make this possible.

• the pleasures and pitfalls of data visualization with maps

  Sep. 7 2015

  Maps make for some fun data visualizations, but should be used with care. Here I investigate several different ways of mapping and visualizing the same dataset.

• understanding ggplot: an example

  Aug. 17 2015

  In which we learn some of the inner secrets of Hadley Wickham’s venerable R package.

• the first 90%

  Dec. 9 2014

  So you want to be a data analyst, huh?

• the tardis top ten: human nature / the family of blood

  Jul. 27 2014

  In which we learn about the Time Lord’s true nature by way of the human being he might have been.

• the tardis top ten: vincent and the doctor

  Jun. 27 2014

  Doctor Who gets mushy as it attempts to answer the question, “Why art?”

• the tardis top ten: the end of the world

  Jun. 16 2014

  I invite the internet’s rage and kick off a personal Top Ten list of Doctor Who episodes with ‘The End of the World’.

• clear cache, then refresh

  May. 16 2014

  There comes a time in every young man’s life when he must tear his website down to its foundations and rebuild it from scratch. Fun!

• lcd scrub

  Mar. 13 2012

  A tool I created to help with monitor burn-in and other “stuck pixel” issues. Now with a twist ending!

• a quick note on smartphone data

  Sep. 22 2011

  A quick exercise in how to improve your data visualizations.

• how i learned to type: a personal timeline

  Jun. 13 2011

  The long and winding road of how I learned to type.

• obviously

  Jun. 2 2011

  What a quantum space hole does to your brain, and why it makes for a great game.

• all about the weathah

  May. 20 2011

  A semi-exhaustive look at Boston’s weather.

• probability for the common dungeon master

  Mar. 16 2011

  Did you know that “dice” and “data” share the same Latin root? You’ll learn a lot more than that after reading this post.

• the 3d wasteland

  Mar. 15 2011

  3D is nothing but the vast wasteland of 2011.

• child's play and a bit about data visualization

  Jan. 4 2011

  The prides and pitfalls of data visualization.

• classification images and perceptual learning

  Dec. 20 2010

  A Science-to-English explanation of my first-ever publication.

• the amazing thing

  Oct. 20 2010

  On how to communicate clearly, and the reason I do what I do.

• start your mornings with b. f. skinner

  Mar. 4 2010

  Skinner gets a bad rap these days, but there’s no denying that the man was on to something.

• keep calm and carry on

  Feb. 19 2010

  Buyer beware. Always check the typography.

• having two eyes is vastly overrated

  Feb. 16 2010

  You’d think posts about vision science would be less rare on this site, given that it’s my job.

• first-person tetris

  Jan. 25 2010

  An old game with a fresh twist.

• an acquired skill

  Jan. 19 2010

  Light the torches. Move the stick up and to the left to go in. Who says video games can’t teach you anything?

• child's play 2009: conclusion

  Jan. 11 2010

  In which my statistical prowess in confirmed, and hearts are warmed.

• a small thanksgiving miracle

  Dec. 1 2009

  Nothing says Thanksgiving quite like swine flu, am I right, folks?

• the man who knew too much

  Jul. 20 2009

  Alan Turing didn’t build machines because he was gay. He built them because he was Spock.

• mega man 9

  May. 21 2009

  Mega Man 9, like all great games, builds a complex experience out of a simple premise. Jump, shoot, die. Repeat until enlightenment is achieved.

• a marathon tale

  Apr. 21 2009

  A slice of the Boston Marathon, as told through Photoshop.

• make with the bubbles

  Mar. 23 2009

  Some new wallpapers.

• let's run

  Dec. 3 2008

  My annual attempt at fund raising.

• upstaged

  Sep. 17 2008

  I bow to your superior comedic timing.

• the other man of steel

  Jul. 9 2008

  Ultimate X-Men, Colossus, Northstar, and the pros and cons of each.

• between the panels

  Jul. 8 2008

  My renewed obsession with the X-Men unleashes a torrent of buried memories.

• a wallpaper and the story of a boy and a turtle

  Jul. 7 2008

  The story of two tools for programmatically generated art, and where the two meet.

• the mighty mouse

  Nov. 28 2007

  The trials and tribulations of Apple’s Mighty Mouse

• beating the game

  Nov. 27 2007

  On the difference between fantasy fulfillment and videogames.

• crazy science fridays: neutrality

  Jul. 6 2007

  Zeldman has some interesting thoughts on the neutral option often seen in opinion scales. Here’s my fifty cents.

• perceptual difficulties

  Jul. 5 2007

  Reclusive rocker Sly Stone in a recent, rare public appearance.

• remembrances of mr. wizard

  Jun. 13 2007

  Don Herbert, better known as TV’s Mr. Wizard, passed away yesterday at the age of 89.

• murderball

  Apr. 30 2007

  Murderball just might be the best documentary ever.

• amateur musings on information design

  Apr. 27 2007

  A brief summary of the Jabbour NYC subway map, and some thoughts on Boston.

• right when i think i'm out, they pull me back in

  Apr. 16 2007

  A visual announcement.

• the most special special effects

  Feb. 19 2007

  Some kids dreamed of being astronauts. Me? I wanted to work for Industrial Light and Magic.

• dear champagne colored sedan

  Jan. 3 2007

  A letter to an inanimate object.

• child's play

  Dec. 19 2006

  Sorry, no summary. Read it in full.

• itunes, cover flow, and nostalgia

  Sep. 15 2006

  iTunes adds a surprisingly powerful new feature to its already impressive arsenal of awesome tools.

• a quick trip to washington

  Aug. 28 2006

  A trip to Washington yields mediocre photos and lasting impressions.

• the receiving of monuments

  May. 17 2006

  In this episode, Jon receives a very special award.

• pattern matching

  Jan. 7 2006

  Retrievr!

• magic!

  Jun. 16 2003

  An old Magic: the Gathering project is rediscovered.

• rise of the machines

  Dec. 18 2002

  Games you can play with the Internet.