Category Archives: Uncategorized

Most Useful Google Tool, Google Alerts

(I know.  I know.  Google Search is the _most_ useful.)

This isn’t anything new, as it’s been out for a long while, but here we have probably the only tool from Google that actually saves more time than it helps to waste when it comes to scouring the net for the interesting information you seek.

From the Google Alerts FAQ :  "1. Google Alerts are emails automatically sent to  you when there are new Google results for your search terms."

Because Google is always crawling the web, it usually knows about new information before you do, so it compares what it finds with what you want to know and emails you accordingly. (The one downside being that it will email you the same information more than once if it finds it on more than one web page.  So it’s best, for busier topics, to receive updates no more than once per day, to eliminate the spam effect.)

This seems like the Google tool that goes most unnoticed, and I’m baffled as to why.  I can only think that maybe people don’t know about it.  But it’s easy to use (as you can see from the picture,) you fill in your regularly searched terms, select the type (I usually go with Comprehensive, but you can get more specific,) tell it how often you want to hear about new results, and where you want those results emailed.  It’s too good to be true, but it is true.

I have a handful of terms I want to know about as soon as Google finds them.  Here are my top two:  1) Most important to me is my name.  I want to know where and why my name is on the Internet, in case it’s somewhere it shouldn’t be;  2) I want any and all news having to do with the ship my brother is currently calling home.  (He doesn’t really call it home, but he’s living on it for quite a while.)  He’s in the Navy and I want to know as much as I can about anything having to do with his ship’s status.

If you’re not already using it, check it out.  Google Alerts — Enjoy it with your breakfast!

Walking The Path That Is Your Life

Roughly eight years ago, I wrote a letter to a close friend complaining about the amount of time it takes to grow old and sit back to enjoy all the nonsense a person has to live through, should he live long enough to look back upon his life. I was complaining about always wanting to get to the next stage in my life so I could get to the next step beyond that. I told her, “I’m always doing what’s needed to get to the next place in my life, so I can get to the next step and start working toward the place after that. I just don’t get it. So I want to hurry up and grow old so I can be done with it all.” (Silliness, I know.) The whole process of _achieving this so I could work toward that_ seemed absurd, whatever _that_ might actually be when it arrived. Why couldn’t I just enjoy what I was going through and not worry about whatever was supposed to happen after? I didn’t have a name for this, nor did I think too much about what the idea meant. I only knew that it had been driving me crazy for years and finally I had to tell someone. So I did.

All these years later, last week, I come across the post Not Being a Real Person: The #1 Self-Development Anti-Hack by Clay Collins over at The Growing Life . Clay, in his first four bullet points, managed to sum up everything I was trying to say many years ago, and he did a much better job of delivering the message altogether, coining the term “stepping stone lives” to describe what I was trying to convey. He says, “We spend the majority of our waking hours working for goals that are merely stepping stones to other goals.” He goes on to say all sorts of things about being a real or an unreal person, but you can read his article for those details. You don’t need me to re-write the entire thing for you.

I hadn’t given much thought to my idea since I’d written my letter all those years ago until reading Clay’s post, which prompted me again to start examining the life of stone-stepping. If you step not from stone to stone, how do you get from there to here? Do you hop randomly to whichever stone is nearest? Or most convenient?  Without giving away too much, I never wanted to be a real person.  At least not once I’d decided that most of what other people do is mostly for what I consider to be ridiculous reasons.  At the same time, I don’t think it’s possible to avoid living a stepping stone life.

Sure, it can get pretty boring and a person can feel very trapped living a so-called stepping stone life, but no one can live a life that involves no stepping. You’re always going, moving, growing. You step with your family. You step with your friends. You step alone. You step out. You step in life. You step in shit. You get the idea.  And you get to decide whether you step to the tune of what the rest of the world around you is doing, or whether you step to the tune that’s playing in your head.  (Assuming you have a tune in your head, and it’s different from what’s being pushed through, or down, your throat.)

I stated back then in my letter that I wasn’t going to do it anymore (work for the thing beyond the thing that’s supposed to be next just so I can look back at it), and I would go with the flow – but apparently not till after I finished college, which was a real process for me and another stepping stone – whatever it may have turned to.  It’s turned to this.  Me sitting here writing to you about a letter I wrote many many moons ago.

Posting Schedule

Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.  This will be our aim, but from time to time I’m sure I’ll miss a post.  Returning home late Sunday from an unplanned trip to Half Moon Bay and San Francisco helped me realize this.  (As if I couldn’t figure it out on my own, I required a spur-of-the-moment vacation.)  As it is…  If I do post outside this regular schedule, then that’s just a little something extra for all of us, but let’s not expect too much of that.

###

I’ll leave you with one of my favorite Sunday morning reads — Post Secret.  “PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people email in their secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard.” The site owner selects a variety of Secrets which are newly posted every Sunday.  This is the only feed I read during the weekend, and I’ll usually come across at least one Secret that gives me something to ponder away the day, or at least over coffee.  Enjoy.

New 140-Character Platform, identi.ca

The latest and maybe-not-so greatest (yet) micro-blogging tool identi.ca is up and running, and wants you to answer the question, “What’s Up?”.  It feels very new, which it is, and I’ll have to experiment with it a bit more before I can fully conclude as to whether or not I’ll make the leap away from Twitter.  Twitter, by the way, is slowly driving me crazy with all its whale fail screens and seemingly random removal of features.  (A whale fail screen is what you see when Twitter is not functioning correctly.  Not quite as bad as the infamous BSOD, but definitely up there.)

Really quick:

What I do like:

  • Laconica, OpenMicroBlogging  (HUGE)
  • OpenID support, which I use
  • Layout similar to Twitter’s (unlike Plurk, which is difficult to read)

What I don’t like:

  • Early stage software, missing features
  • No Search, how to find Twitter followers
  • Getting auto-logged out

What identi.ca needs right away:

  • SMS support
  • Desktop Client (maybe Twhirl will add it)

Check identi.ca out for yourself, if you’re into that sort of thing.  If not, keep on keepin’ on with your current 140-character service.

Free Album From Rhapsody MP3 Store

Too good to be true, but it is true.  The credit must be used by midnight Pacific time, July 4, 2008.  And you must sign up for an account.  So head on over and get yourself a free album from Rhapsody MP3 store.  (Offer good up to $10, and you must sign up with a credit card.)  I purchased Whiskeytown’s album Pneumonia at a 256kbs quality level.  So far there seems to be no nasty DRM issues.

Thanks to Mr. Lambino for sharing this news via email.

Enjoy!

Laughter Ahead, Leave Your Milk At The Door

I’m an active RSS subscriber, using Google Reader to keep up with some one hundred differnent feeds, and of those hundred I have about fifteen to twenty web comics that I follow.  (I actively add and remove feeds based on the creators’ upkeep and my reaction to the content.)  I took some time and thought about all the comics I read (in the feed reader and elsewhere) and I came up with my top ten web comics, which I’ve listed here for you.

Some of these aren’t for everyone, which is to say they may not be work safe (NWS), and may cover material with which you’re unfamiliar.  Don’t be alarmed.  Find a quiet spot in your home and read through some of their previous entries until you get what’s going on.

Honorable Mention to Decorum .  I enjoyed some chuckles from this comic, but it hasn’t been updated in a while, so I can’t rank it.  Hopefully the author will return when school starts up in the Fall.

10.PennyArcade! — One of two on the list that makes any attempt to actually draw a comic that doesn’t involve stick figures.  These guys lean heavily toward the gaming community, so a lot of their stuff doesn’t make sense if you don’t follow the geeked-out gamer crowd’s love for role playing.  The artists/writers are creative, and maintain a blog that often helps explain what is going on in the comic.

9. Indexed — If ever a real world were to exist, Jessica Hagy would be the one to provide the social commentary.  Her comics are clear, direct, short, and spot on.  A mathematician’s true love.  They also love her over at the freakonomics blog .

8. Buttersafe — I won’t try to explain this one, you’ll just have to check it out.  I will say that it gets a lower ranking because it’s only updated twice a week (Tuesday and Thursday) even though there are two contributors.  Just a little left of bizarre.

7. Manic Deranged & Pictures for Sad Children — I don’t like throwing in a tie, but I want to get both these comics on the list.  Sometimes they’re both too far out there to make you laugh, even if you get the joke.  (It’s just nice to know there are some creative and crazy people out there.)  These are questionable for work, but not if you work with people who won’t get the jokes.

6. The WAREHOUSE — This is right in there with those ranked number seven, except it’s just a tad more clever and the posts are regular.  You can count on them to show up, and if I had to count laughs, I’d say this one has made me chuckle more often, so it’s earned its spot here.

5. Savage Chickens — Long time favorite.  Drawn on standard-size post-it note paper.  (He’s in there with Hugh MacLeod – business cards, and Jessica Hagy – Index Cards.  Maybe one day I’ll finally get my napkin-art up and running.)  Completely work safe, and posted everyday.  Worth a spot in your feed reader.

4. A Softer World — I can never tell if this one is real.  It’s neither full-blown art drawings nor stick figures.  No. It’s photography with words.  Very well put together, and shockingly frightening.  This one isn’t afraid to write the words so many others think but never share.

3. Cyanide and Happiness — This is not one you can show at work.  EVER.  It’s actually the only one on the list blocked at my day job.  Which is to say, it goes out of its way to be offensive and crude.  I won’t try to explain it, you’ll just have to click through.

2. Questionable Content — This is the other comic on the list that draws anything more than a few stick lines and loose colors.  It’s also the only comic on the list that actually has a story line.  Strange.  It’s better than PennyArcade! (obviously).  I still need to read some of the older posts to catch up with the full story, but I’ve been reading long enough to get most of the jokes.  (This one requires more effort on your part than all the others.)

And, of course, it goes without saying

1. xkcd.com — "A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language."  Let’s not forget physics and computer science.  The only stick-figure comic that requires my having to visit wikipedia on occasion to get a punchline.  It’s as educational as it is humorous.

Any comics I’m missing?  What’s your favorite?

California Bans Hands-Free Driving, Effective July 1st

I think it means you’re no longer allowed to drive and use the mobile phone at the same time _unless_ you have one of those fancy hands-free devices which is, supposedly, meant to keep you from becoming too distracted from the high-priority task of safely operating the vehicle for which you’re sitting behind the wheel.  Imagine that!  Safety first?  The nerve of these California law makers.  How dare they pass SB1613.

Seriously, though, the powers at hand have made a weak attempt to improve the safety for Californians on the road.  “Why?”, you ask.  How bout this:

  • The base fine for the FIRST offense is $20 and $50 for subsequent convictions. With the addition of penalty assessments, the fines can be more than triple the base fine amount. Egads, batman!  More than triple?  What’s that, like $75?  Ha!  $20 is laughable for a first offense.  Not to mention, what are the odds you’ll get hit twice with this charge?  Hardly a deterrent.
  • The new law does not prohibit dialing, but drivers are strongly urged not to dial while driving. “Strongly urged”?  It would seem more attention is required to dial than to talk.
  • The law does not specifically prohibit [text messaging], but an officer can pull over and issue a citation to a driver of any age if, in the officer’s opinion, the driver was distracted and not operating the vehicle safely. Sending text messages while driving is unsafe at any speed and is strongly discouraged.  Again with the “strongly urged.”  I don’t get it.  Does anyone actually care about safety on the road?

This is all equivalent to having done nothing.  Someone should tell these law-makers that mobile computing is growing, it’s growing fast, and it’s going to be in all our cars via our cell phones.  Anyone who can sell you something on the Internet is trying to figure out how to sell it to you on your phone.  Forget about talking, text messaging is more distracting while driving.  (Who has time to watch the road when he’s busy replying to @JustinLL on Twitter?)  And tomorrow’s drivers are the biggest users, as they’re the ones growing up with 24/7 interconnection to mobile friends and marketers.

I hope local law enforcement agencies come out strong enforcing the law and its penalties.  However, it’s also bothersome that valuable resources are being wasted dealing with this issue.

On a similar note, SB33, which prevents drivers under the age of 18 from using a cell phone at all, also goes into effect July 1, 2008.

Read more about both new laws at the California DMV’s frequently asked questions.

Drive Safely.  It’s usually the other driver’s fault.

Ricky Berger’s First Album

CD Release Party & Ice Cream Social

Nichole, I, and that other guy, arrived promptly at twelve after seven and made our way to Revolution Wines behind Bricka Bracka after first paying cover for the Ice Cream Social and purchasing featured artist Ricky Berger’s CD , which would be autographed later in the show.  The three of us enjoyed a reasonably-priced flight that consisted of seven different wines from Sacramento’s Urban Winery.  (My favorite was the 2006 Clarksburg Syrah.)

The wine and company was nice, but it was not the reason we left the house.  We attended the night’s event to show our support for local music artist Ricky Berger who released her debut album "Ricky Berger’s First Album" to family and friends.  As we waited patiently in line to enter the venue, we had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with Ricky’s grandmother — a sure sign that we truly had shown up for a family event, as Ricky’s grandmother shared family stories.  (Ricky’s father graduated from my Alma Mater, Cal Poly, and studied Engineering.)

Ricky Berger's First Album Cover

Ricky performed songs from her recently released CD as well as tracks she’s planning for her second album.  (Always think sequel, baby!)  I enjoyed Love Junkie most, but it didn’t make the first album so I’m looking forward to Ricky’s next release and keeping fingers crossed that she includes it.  The released CD itself is a treat with, perhaps the most touching song, Okle My Dokle , which brought tears to concert-goers’ eyes as she made a heartfelt dedication to her late grandfather.

That other guy @JoshGZ and I purchased copies of Ricky’s first album.  It comes loaded with eleven tracks and the video "If" (watch it below.)

Special thanks to Leatherby’s Family Creamery .  Your delicious dessert complimented the night.

What’s A Pogo From AT&T

Project Pogo ?  More like "why the heck?"  This is the new browser from AT&T, and I can’t figure out what’s going on here.  Perhaps just maybe I’m that dense.  (I’ll take it, if you can throw it.)  Why, I say, do we need another web browser?  Especially one that is so closely tied to that of FireFox ?  I’ve been using the product for over a week now (at home and in the office,) and I haven’t been able to see a reason to switch from my already favorite browser to this new beast.

I will say that it leaves a much smaller footprint on my machines, but I’m going to have to attribute that to Pogo’s lack of support for the many addons I have installed with FireFox.  I need these plugins.  (Wait till I tell you about SocialBrowse.  It’s good stuff.)  I really do need them.  And perhaps, just maybe, they do work in Pogo.  But what, or why, is my excuse for figuring out how to make them work?

Pogo’s big selling point is that its tabs are 3D.  3-what?  Exactly.  I don’t need larger tabs eating up my screenspace.  I can work them just fine in FireFox, and if I was really having trouble I would install the ColorfulTabs addon .  (It changes the colors of your browser tabs.)  It’s safe to say that I’m not having trouble.

Final words, the broswer isn’t bad, but it’s not great.  There’s no reason to switch to it from your current browser.  It’s nice, new, and clean.  But so is your current setup.  I’m sure.