Please, Don't... No, Go Ahead!

TweetDeck is a popular Twitter client. I use it. And Phil Windley has included it in his Top Ten List of Valuable Web Sites and Services ("makes twitter easier to manage/use").

TweetDeck is an Adobe AIR desktop Flex application.

Wait a minute. Doesn't AIR *hurt* the web? Hmm.

Oh, right. AIR is simply a cross-platform application runtime with useful capabilities for running from and working with the web. Imagine.

Analysis Patterns and Contradictory Observations

I enjoyed _Analysis Patterns_ when Martin Fowler wrote that. Wow, it's
been 16 years. I found the book fascinating by discussing conceptual
topics, notdesigns. I really enjoy learning about all the various
worlds in which software is applied.

Martin recently wrote an update on "observations"...

http://martinfowler.com/bliki/ContradictoryObservations.html

Interesting problems are hardly ever simple. Finding simplifying
patterns and (relatively) simple solutions to complex problems is
fascinating.

As this article points out, "simplifying" can mean finding the essence
of what is important without being "simplistic".