Thursday, July 09, 2009
When United Declines Your Claim
Saturday, June 13, 2009
The Book Seer
The Book Seer
Entertaining. Tell it what book you just finished reading (assuming, of course, that you liked the book) and it will tell you what amazon.com and LibraryThing think you should read next (assuming, of course, that you want to read something similar).
posted by Sal Towse at 11:13 AM|
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Entertaining. Tell it what book you just finished reading (assuming, of course, that you liked the book) and it will tell you what amazon.com and LibraryThing think you should read next (assuming, of course, that you want to read something similar).
posted by Sal Towse at 11:13 AM|
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Monday, June 08, 2009
When the Thrill of Blogging Is Gone ...
When the Thrill of Blogging Is Gone ... - by Douglas Quenqua
Interesting article. You must register w/ NYTimes.com to read.
[snippet]
Like Mrs. Nichols, many people start blogs with lofty aspirations — to build an audience and leave their day job, to land a book deal, or simply to share their genius with the world. Getting started is easy, since all it takes to maintain a blog is a little time and inspiration. So why do blogs have a higher failure rate than restaurants?
According to a 2008 survey by Technorati, which runs a search engine for blogs, only 7.4 million out of the 133 million blogs the company tracks had been updated in the past 120 days. That translates to 95 percent of blogs being essentially abandoned, left to lie fallow on the Web, where they become public remnants of a dream — or at least an ambition — unfulfilled.
Judging from conversations with retired bloggers, many of the orphans were cast aside by people who had assumed that once they started blogging, the world would beat a path to their digital door.
posted by Sal Towse at 2:49 PM||
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Interesting article. You must register w/ NYTimes.com to read.
[snippet]
Like Mrs. Nichols, many people start blogs with lofty aspirations — to build an audience and leave their day job, to land a book deal, or simply to share their genius with the world. Getting started is easy, since all it takes to maintain a blog is a little time and inspiration. So why do blogs have a higher failure rate than restaurants?
According to a 2008 survey by Technorati, which runs a search engine for blogs, only 7.4 million out of the 133 million blogs the company tracks had been updated in the past 120 days. That translates to 95 percent of blogs being essentially abandoned, left to lie fallow on the Web, where they become public remnants of a dream — or at least an ambition — unfulfilled.
Judging from conversations with retired bloggers, many of the orphans were cast aside by people who had assumed that once they started blogging, the world would beat a path to their digital door.
posted by Sal Towse at 2:49 PM|
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Thursday, May 14, 2009
An explanation as I see it of the Twitter @reply problem
For those who don't know (and if you aren't Twitter users, why should you? And if you are Twitter users but don't care, why should you?), Twitter changed their way of handling @ replies a day or so ago and all Hell broke loose in the Twitterverse.
[What follows may seem gibberish to those who don't use Twitter]
RT @parislemon Twitter: The Dog Ate Our Homework http://tcrn.ch/1xr [Biz explains @ replies change]
Someone who reads my Twitterfeed read the post above and wrote
I still don't get it. ...
My reply:
Imagine you can turn on/off whether you'll see the @replies of someone you =do= follow to someone whose Twitterfeed you =don't= follow.
If your switch is OFF and I @reply to my brother, you'd never know. However, some people (3% of the Twitterverse we're told) like to see @replies even if they don't know the person the @reply is directed to because ... well, because they get curious and go check that person's Twitterfeed and find new interesting people. (Sometimes....)
Twitter designed their software so that each time someone made an @reply, Twitter was spinning through their followers list to see which followers wanted to see @replies for people they didn't already follow, so they could show them the @reply.
That's fine for thee and me, but imagine what happened when Ashton Kutcher made an @reply. Twitter was spinning through each of his million + followers to see who wanted to see the @reply.
Ooopsie! Fail whale!...
Bad design. Badbadbadbad.
so, is it fixed?
Not fixed. Will never be fixed. Can't be fixed, actually, because the underlying design is flawed.
If their design is such that they have to loop through a linked list of all the folks who follow TwittererA to decide who does and who doesn't get notified of an @reply, they have something that just can't be scaled to an Ashton Kutcher level.
Right now it sounds like Twitter is trying to come up with something else that will give some of the functionality the upset cohort is upset about losing.
They've already implemented a simple partial fix. If a person is posting an @reply but not using the [reply] button to do so (i.e. they're typing @username rather than clicking the [reply] button) the @post will go to all the Twitterer's followers. Maybe that will be serendipitous enough.
Maybe not.
Sounds like whoever designed the @reply part of the code never imagined there'd be multiple users with over a million followers. "In your dreams, guys." Well, some times dreams come true.
posted by Sal Towse at 11:01 PM||
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[What follows may seem gibberish to those who don't use Twitter]
RT @parislemon Twitter: The Dog Ate Our Homework http://tcrn.ch/1xr [Biz explains @ replies change]
Someone who reads my Twitterfeed read the post above and wrote
I still don't get it. ...
My reply:
Imagine you can turn on/off whether you'll see the @replies of someone you =do= follow to someone whose Twitterfeed you =don't= follow.
If your switch is OFF and I @reply to my brother, you'd never know. However, some people (3% of the Twitterverse we're told) like to see @replies even if they don't know the person the @reply is directed to because ... well, because they get curious and go check that person's Twitterfeed and find new interesting people. (Sometimes....)
Twitter designed their software so that each time someone made an @reply, Twitter was spinning through their followers list to see which followers wanted to see @replies for people they didn't already follow, so they could show them the @reply.
That's fine for thee and me, but imagine what happened when Ashton Kutcher made an @reply. Twitter was spinning through each of his million + followers to see who wanted to see the @reply.
Ooopsie! Fail whale!...
Bad design. Badbadbadbad.
so, is it fixed?
Not fixed. Will never be fixed. Can't be fixed, actually, because the underlying design is flawed.
If their design is such that they have to loop through a linked list of all the folks who follow TwittererA to decide who does and who doesn't get notified of an @reply, they have something that just can't be scaled to an Ashton Kutcher level.
Right now it sounds like Twitter is trying to come up with something else that will give some of the functionality the upset cohort is upset about losing.
They've already implemented a simple partial fix. If a person is posting an @reply but not using the [reply] button to do so (i.e. they're typing @username rather than clicking the [reply] button) the @post will go to all the Twitterer's followers. Maybe that will be serendipitous enough.
Maybe not.
Sounds like whoever designed the @reply part of the code never imagined there'd be multiple users with over a million followers. "In your dreams, guys." Well, some times dreams come true.
Labels: twitter software, web2.0
posted by Sal Towse at 11:01 PM|
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Thursday, April 09, 2009
Los Angeles Times Staff: Fake News Story 'Embarrassing and Demoralizing'
Los Angeles Times Staff: Fake News Story 'Embarrassing and Demoralizing' - Peter Kafka
Newspapers are losing money. What to do? What to do? What to do?
Think outside the box. Revisit the dominant paradigm. Make people pay for online content. Make people pay for premium content. Make people pay more for subscriptions. Only put premium content in paper version. Cut the newsroom staff. Stop home delivery. Stop the presses and go 100% online.
Sell ad space on Page One?
The LATimes ad was clearly marked as such. It was below the fold. I =do= have some understanding about the uproar from staff, but ...
How will papers survive as papers? Would you rather the LATimes fold than sell clearly marked ad space on Page One?
Any ideas for our friends in the daily paper business?
According to the article: UPDATE: I'm told publisher Eddy Hartenstein is supposed to be addressing the staff this afternoon.
posted by Sal Towse at 3:10 PM||
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Newspapers are losing money. What to do? What to do? What to do?
Think outside the box. Revisit the dominant paradigm. Make people pay for online content. Make people pay for premium content. Make people pay more for subscriptions. Only put premium content in paper version. Cut the newsroom staff. Stop home delivery. Stop the presses and go 100% online.
Sell ad space on Page One?
The LATimes ad was clearly marked as such. It was below the fold. I =do= have some understanding about the uproar from staff, but ...
How will papers survive as papers? Would you rather the LATimes fold than sell clearly marked ad space on Page One?
Any ideas for our friends in the daily paper business?
According to the article: UPDATE: I'm told publisher Eddy Hartenstein is supposed to be addressing the staff this afternoon.
Labels: advertising, news, web2.0, writing
posted by Sal Towse at 3:10 PM|
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Sunday, March 01, 2009
Other classic, and annoying, Facebook types
As a follow-on to Peter Harlaub's
The 9 types of Facebook friends
which the Chron ran last Sunday, today they ran
Other classic, and annoying, Facebook types
e.g.
Probably the two most annoying types of FB friends I'd add to the list: "The Infected" - seems to exist on Facebook to propagate memes (make lists and tag others) and share their quiz results. "The Activist" - almost every day they invite you to join a new cause, sign a petition, or send you a "lil green patch" request. They occasionally inspire the urge to explain why you don't believe in a cause or how you feel their demands are a bit unrealistic, which you refrain from indulging.
- Sarah Lockhar, Oakland
:-)
posted by Sal Towse at 9:16 PM||
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The 9 types of Facebook friends
which the Chron ran last Sunday, today they ran
Other classic, and annoying, Facebook types
e.g.
Probably the two most annoying types of FB friends I'd add to the list: "The Infected" - seems to exist on Facebook to propagate memes (make lists and tag others) and share their quiz results. "The Activist" - almost every day they invite you to join a new cause, sign a petition, or send you a "lil green patch" request. They occasionally inspire the urge to explain why you don't believe in a cause or how you feel their demands are a bit unrealistic, which you refrain from indulging.
- Sarah Lockhar, Oakland
:-)
Labels: life, news, San Francisco, web2.0
posted by Sal Towse at 9:16 PM|
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Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Plinky | Your web enabler since 2009.
Plinky | Your web enabler since 2009.
I don't get it.
Here is a list of their prompts so far.
Good luck to them.
posted by Sal Towse at 2:51 PM||
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I don't get it.
Here is a list of their prompts so far.
Good luck to them.
Labels: web2.0
posted by Sal Towse at 2:51 PM|
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Saturday, January 24, 2009
Daily Dish's twitterfeed
I find Daily Dish interesting and all. Decided I'd follow Sullivan's tweets.
But after returning to my new DailyDish-enabled twitterstream, I realized Sullivan tweets for each and every post he makes on Daily Dish and was swamping all the other content I keep an eye on.
Fifteen seconds after adding a "follow," I removed it.
Perhaps some sort of protocol for apps like tweets? Don't post so much that the other folks you're sharing virtual space with are overwhelmed? Not too many, not too few, just right?
Or am I just a fud and a dud and not a with-it happenin' person?
Could be.
posted by Sal Towse at 1:26 PM||
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But after returning to my new DailyDish-enabled twitterstream, I realized Sullivan tweets for each and every post he makes on Daily Dish and was swamping all the other content I keep an eye on.
Fifteen seconds after adding a "follow," I removed it.
Perhaps some sort of protocol for apps like tweets? Don't post so much that the other folks you're sharing virtual space with are overwhelmed? Not too many, not too few, just right?
Or am I just a fud and a dud and not a with-it happenin' person?
Could be.
posted by Sal Towse at 1:26 PM|
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Wednesday, January 14, 2009
eightmaps -- oh, my Prop 8
eightmaps
A mashup of pro-Prop8 donations and Google maps.
Want to know if your neighbors donated to the Yes-On-Prop8 campaign? Here's your click.
(None of my neighbors donated according to this site, but then I live in a very not-Republican sector of town ...)
(Oh. Here's a student who donated $500 to the yes-on-8 campaign. Gosh. I wish I'd had that kind of money when I was a student.)
posted by Sal Towse at 11:00 PM||
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A mashup of pro-Prop8 donations and Google maps.
Want to know if your neighbors donated to the Yes-On-Prop8 campaign? Here's your click.
(None of my neighbors donated according to this site, but then I live in a very not-Republican sector of town ...)
(Oh. Here's a student who donated $500 to the yes-on-8 campaign. Gosh. I wish I'd had that kind of money when I was a student.)
Labels: election2008, mashup, web2.0
posted by Sal Towse at 11:00 PM|
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Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Spinning
Spinning, a blog.
The thing ^H^H^H One of the things I find fascinating about the Web is all the things I find fascinating and stash away in a links folder or delicious or a Web page or a post and then forget all about and never return to.
Too many fascinating things.
With delicious, though, if I click to save a link to a page I've found interesting and I've already saved a link to that page, delicious lets me know.
I came across Susan Marie Rose Maciog Gibb's blog from somewhere else earlier today and found the first post or two interesting enough that I clicked on her "about" page. I found her self-description and the items that were used to categorize her self and her life interesting. So I saved a link in delicious.
I then went back to the blog and read back a ways and said, that's interesting. I'll keep a link.
When I clicked to save a link in delicious, delicious told me I'd already saved a link: 05-Jun-2007.
I must've liked it then.
I've never been back since. (That I remember.)
How did I find it eighteen months ago?
Ah, the Web.
posted by Sal Towse at 12:30 PM||
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The thing ^H^H^H One of the things I find fascinating about the Web is all the things I find fascinating and stash away in a links folder or delicious or a Web page or a post and then forget all about and never return to.
Too many fascinating things.
With delicious, though, if I click to save a link to a page I've found interesting and I've already saved a link to that page, delicious lets me know.
I came across Susan Marie Rose Maciog Gibb's blog from somewhere else earlier today and found the first post or two interesting enough that I clicked on her "about" page. I found her self-description and the items that were used to categorize her self and her life interesting. So I saved a link in delicious.
I then went back to the blog and read back a ways and said, that's interesting. I'll keep a link.
When I clicked to save a link in delicious, delicious told me I'd already saved a link: 05-Jun-2007.
I must've liked it then.
I've never been back since. (That I remember.)
How did I find it eighteen months ago?
Ah, the Web.
Labels: blog, life, URL, web2.0
posted by Sal Towse at 12:30 PM|
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Monday, December 29, 2008
dm fail! on Twitter
dm fail! Messages from folks who accidentally post a tweet when they meant to DM.
e.g. Dude, you left your hemorrhoid cream and herpes medications over at my place again!
Real or faked? Does it matter?
Update:Twitter is tweaking their code so that people who are DMing can use either D or DM as the abbreviation for direct messaging.
No more dm fail. Alas.
posted by Sal Towse at 2:48 PM||
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e.g. Dude, you left your hemorrhoid cream and herpes medications over at my place again!
Real or faked? Does it matter?
Update:Twitter is tweaking their code so that people who are DMing can use either D or DM as the abbreviation for direct messaging.
No more dm fail. Alas.
posted by Sal Towse at 2:48 PM|
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Sunday, December 28, 2008
CUTE THINGS FALLING ASLEEP
Yes, there actually is a Web site called CUTE THINGS FALLING ASLEEP.
Found via CuteOverload.
Specifically ... this post.
And why was I over at CuteOverload? Well because Jessamyn was tweeting that her Mom had never seen CuteOverload, and I said outloud (in a two-person office) that not everyone's Mom has seen CuteOverload. And his nibs was all, "What's CuteOverload?" and things went from there to there to there.
So there.
posted by Sal Towse at 4:06 PM||
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Found via CuteOverload.
Specifically ... this post.
And why was I over at CuteOverload? Well because Jessamyn was tweeting that her Mom had never seen CuteOverload, and I said outloud (in a two-person office) that not everyone's Mom has seen CuteOverload. And his nibs was all, "What's CuteOverload?" and things went from there to there to there.
So there.
Labels: blog, fun, URL, web2.0
posted by Sal Towse at 4:06 PM|
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Friday, December 26, 2008
Underage Facebook party busted
Underage Facebook party busted
Remember what we say kids. Nothing is private on the internet. If you don’t want the cops to come to your house don’t post it on Facebook.
Parents, don't let your children grow up to do stupid things and crow about it on Facebook.
But, oldkins can be clueless too. The husband of a woman in Sheffield, UK, murdered her after she posted on her Facebook page that she was leaving him. The husband of another woman, this one from Croydon, near London, murdered her after she changed her Facebook status to "single" a couple days after the husband moved out. Stabbed to death.
Both women were, obviously, married to unstable, abusing men. Both were murdered after they unthinkingly used Facebook to tell the world they were (or soon would be) well-rid of their husbands. They must've already known what sort of creepoid jerks their husbands were and that they might react to the public exposure.
Watch what you post to Facebook, folks young and old. Word has a way of getting 'round.
Update: Keep your illegal/dumb stuff off YouTube too.
posted by Sal Towse at 11:40 AM||
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Remember what we say kids. Nothing is private on the internet. If you don’t want the cops to come to your house don’t post it on Facebook.
Parents, don't let your children grow up to do stupid things and crow about it on Facebook.
But, oldkins can be clueless too. The husband of a woman in Sheffield, UK, murdered her after she posted on her Facebook page that she was leaving him. The husband of another woman, this one from Croydon, near London, murdered her after she changed her Facebook status to "single" a couple days after the husband moved out. Stabbed to death.
Both women were, obviously, married to unstable, abusing men. Both were murdered after they unthinkingly used Facebook to tell the world they were (or soon would be) well-rid of their husbands. They must've already known what sort of creepoid jerks their husbands were and that they might react to the public exposure.
Watch what you post to Facebook, folks young and old. Word has a way of getting 'round.
Update: Keep your illegal/dumb stuff off YouTube too.
posted by Sal Towse at 11:40 AM|
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Raising a Gamer? Employers Turning Down World of Warcraft Players
Raising a Gamer? Employers Turning Down World of Warcraft Players
A word to the wise ... don't tell your employer or co-workers that you are a Tauren shaman known as GoldenRabbitsoul. Don't mention allakhazam.com. Pretend you spend your evenings knitting and your weekends hiking in local parks.
posted by Sal Towse at 11:32 AM||
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A word to the wise ... don't tell your employer or co-workers that you are a Tauren shaman known as GoldenRabbitsoul. Don't mention allakhazam.com. Pretend you spend your evenings knitting and your weekends hiking in local parks.
posted by Sal Towse at 11:32 AM|
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Monday, December 01, 2008
The Pownce Blog -- Goodbye Pownce, Hello Six Apart
The Pownce Blog -- Goodbye Pownce, Hello Six Apart
Pownce is closing down effective December 15th. They've added an export function so you can download all your messages. Leah Culver and Mike Malone are joining the engineering team at Six Apart, and bringing the Pownce technology along with them.
[via a tweet from Laughing Squid]
posted by Sal Towse at 1:16 PM||
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Pownce is closing down effective December 15th. They've added an export function so you can download all your messages. Leah Culver and Mike Malone are joining the engineering team at Six Apart, and bringing the Pownce technology along with them.
[via a tweet from Laughing Squid]
Labels: app, technology, web2.0
posted by Sal Towse at 1:16 PM|
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Friday, November 28, 2008
Mumbai/Bombay - Twitter Search
Mumbai/Bombay - Twitter Search
... ongoing news and commentary on what's happening in Mumbai/Bombay via tweets, some direct from India.
Also links to news articles and useful information and, as always with the Web, some wasted space and very stoopid people.
posted by Sal Towse at 12:26 PM||
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... ongoing news and commentary on what's happening in Mumbai/Bombay via tweets, some direct from India.
Also links to news articles and useful information and, as always with the Web, some wasted space and very stoopid people.
posted by Sal Towse at 12:26 PM|
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Tuesday, November 25, 2008
12 Great Tales of De-Friending
My peeps-who-tweet list grows and shrinks, depending on how full my twitterstream is.
Most people who are taken off the list are stored instead on MyDelicious with a /twitterfeed/ tag so that I can get to them and catch up on their tweets but not necessarily wade through five hundred tweets (total) every day. I mean, there was usually a reason they made my twitterfeed list in the first place.
Is it their fault they post in spurts and every four hours I can look forward to a series of nine tweets?
Well, yes it is their fault, which is why they're now a MyDelicious twitterfeed link rather than on my "real" twitterfeed. (Note to whoever may be fussing about me moving you off my twitterfeed: Unless your initials are TO, the aforementioned burst-tweeter isn't you.)
Facebook, though, seems more easily controlled. I can look at someone's updates or not. The updates from X don't overwhelm the updates from Y. I don't think I've ever defriended anyone at LinkedIn either. I did completely bail out of Friendster soon after the friends of friends of friends began including people I wouldn't want to have coffee with.
This article on de-friending brings up many issues but #6 ("De-friending can regress mature women into a high school gossip mob") takes the cake.
posted by Sal Towse at 6:54 PM||
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Most people who are taken off the list are stored instead on MyDelicious with a /twitterfeed/ tag so that I can get to them and catch up on their tweets but not necessarily wade through five hundred tweets (total) every day. I mean, there was usually a reason they made my twitterfeed list in the first place.
Is it their fault they post in spurts and every four hours I can look forward to a series of nine tweets?
Well, yes it is their fault, which is why they're now a MyDelicious twitterfeed link rather than on my "real" twitterfeed. (Note to whoever may be fussing about me moving you off my twitterfeed: Unless your initials are TO, the aforementioned burst-tweeter isn't you.)
Facebook, though, seems more easily controlled. I can look at someone's updates or not. The updates from X don't overwhelm the updates from Y. I don't think I've ever defriended anyone at LinkedIn either. I did completely bail out of Friendster soon after the friends of friends of friends began including people I wouldn't want to have coffee with.
This article on de-friending brings up many issues but #6 ("De-friending can regress mature women into a high school gossip mob") takes the cake.
Labels: life, social networking, twitter, web2.0
posted by Sal Towse at 6:54 PM|
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Second Life affair ends in divorce - CNN.com
Second Life affair ends in divorce - CNN.com
Pollard and Taylor met in an internet chat room, got married in RL and in SL in 2005, and then ...
[husband] Pollard admitted having an online relationship with a "girl in America" but denied wrongdoing. "We weren't even having cyber sex or anything like that, we were just chatting and hanging out together," he told the Western Morning News.
[wife] Taylor is now in a new relationship with a man she met in the online roleplaying game World of Warcraft.
Be careful out there, folks! The online world can splash over into this one with nary a warning.
[via HMB @ unlibrarian]
posted by Sal Towse at 2:45 PM||
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Pollard and Taylor met in an internet chat room, got married in RL and in SL in 2005, and then ...
[husband] Pollard admitted having an online relationship with a "girl in America" but denied wrongdoing. "We weren't even having cyber sex or anything like that, we were just chatting and hanging out together," he told the Western Morning News.
[wife] Taylor is now in a new relationship with a man she met in the online roleplaying game World of Warcraft.
Be careful out there, folks! The online world can splash over into this one with nary a warning.
[via HMB @ unlibrarian]
posted by Sal Towse at 2:45 PM|
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Tuesday, November 18, 2008
LIFE photo archive hosted by Google
LIFE photo archive hosted by Google
Search millions of photographs from the LIFE photo archive, stretching from the 1750s to today. Most were never published and are now available for the first time through the joint work of LIFE and Google.
[via Scott Beale @ laughing squid]
posted by Sal Towse at 7:28 PM||
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Search millions of photographs from the LIFE photo archive, stretching from the 1750s to today. Most were never published and are now available for the first time through the joint work of LIFE and Google.
[via Scott Beale @ laughing squid]
Labels: history, photographs, URL, web2.0
posted by Sal Towse at 7:28 PM|
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Thursday, November 13, 2008
Pin the Tail -- Patterns, Land Use
Pin the Tail -- Patterns, Land Use
Interesting blog post from Sophia Travis @ Pin the Tail comparing red/blue voting patterns in the south for the 2008 presidential election and cotton production in the same region in 1860.
What does this mean? All those old plantation owners' heirs and assigns are Democrats?
[via tweet fr Tim O'Reilly]
posted by Sal Towse at 1:13 PM||
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Interesting blog post from Sophia Travis @ Pin the Tail comparing red/blue voting patterns in the south for the 2008 presidential election and cotton production in the same region in 1860.
What does this mean? All those old plantation owners' heirs and assigns are Democrats?
[via tweet fr Tim O'Reilly]
Labels: election2008, mashup, web2.0
posted by Sal Towse at 1:13 PM|
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Wednesday, November 12, 2008
flickr and guesswheresf
I stash photos on flickr -- not all the photos I take, obviously, but some. My "pro" account expired today and I need to get around to renewing.
"pro" accounts cost $24.95/yr and a subscription gets you an infinite archive of photos, infinite uploads, infinite ... and the free version gets you a far scaled down version, but enough to see why you might want to spend $24.95/yr for the complete deal.
The time I spend roaming around on flickr, looking at other people's photographs (oooh, look at all the photos labeled 'Lake Baikal') is a joy and an education, but most of my time on flickr is spent in one of their interest groups called GuessWhereSF in which the members (1213 at last count) upload photos taken within the city limits and the other members guess where the picture was taken.
I am amazed at the esoteric knowledge of the city and its back alleys some of these folks have. The group also has handy helpful tools like a list of "unfound" photos for those who are looking for the challenge of identifying a photograph that has so far gone unidentified and a comment searcher so you avoid, as much as possible, uploading a picture of somewhere that's been photographed and uploaded ten times before. (Search for the street name of the place you took a picture of for the best results.)
Pictures that show up again and again and again eventually are nominated for "Hall of Fame" status. Scrolling through the Hall of Fame is a primer into how different photographers can photograph the identical location with widely varied results.
Fun? You betcha.
Like this: Sleepy lion. 3690 Washington @ Spruce, uploaded a day or so ago. (The address was added after the location was identified.) (Identified in like two minutes, I'll have you know. Sheesh.) Comments follow.
Read the rules before playing!
posted by Sal Towse at 5:30 PM||
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"pro" accounts cost $24.95/yr and a subscription gets you an infinite archive of photos, infinite uploads, infinite ... and the free version gets you a far scaled down version, but enough to see why you might want to spend $24.95/yr for the complete deal.
The time I spend roaming around on flickr, looking at other people's photographs (oooh, look at all the photos labeled 'Lake Baikal') is a joy and an education, but most of my time on flickr is spent in one of their interest groups called GuessWhereSF in which the members (1213 at last count) upload photos taken within the city limits and the other members guess where the picture was taken.
I am amazed at the esoteric knowledge of the city and its back alleys some of these folks have. The group also has handy helpful tools like a list of "unfound" photos for those who are looking for the challenge of identifying a photograph that has so far gone unidentified and a comment searcher so you avoid, as much as possible, uploading a picture of somewhere that's been photographed and uploaded ten times before. (Search for the street name of the place you took a picture of for the best results.)
Pictures that show up again and again and again eventually are nominated for "Hall of Fame" status. Scrolling through the Hall of Fame is a primer into how different photographers can photograph the identical location with widely varied results.
Fun? You betcha.
Like this: Sleepy lion. 3690 Washington @ Spruce, uploaded a day or so ago. (The address was added after the location was identified.) (Identified in like two minutes, I'll have you know. Sheesh.) Comments follow.
Read the rules before playing!
Labels: flickr, photographs, San Francisco, web2.0
posted by Sal Towse at 5:30 PM|
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my Twitterank is 14.52!
As it says over there >>>>> my Twitterank is 14.52! (that tweet, btw, was generated automatically by Twitterrank and was a surprise to me) and before you get all like wow! Sal's Twitterank is 14.52! realize that the larger the number, the more tweet you are.
So, me ... not so much.
[n.b. to get a Twitterank, you have to giveup your twitter name and twitter pwd. Not a good idea if you use name/pwd elsewhere OR if you don't plan to change your twitter pwd in the next hot minute.]
posted by Sal Towse at 5:20 PM||
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So, me ... not so much.
[n.b. to get a Twitterank, you have to giveup your twitter name and twitter pwd. Not a good idea if you use name/pwd elsewhere OR if you don't plan to change your twitter pwd in the next hot minute.]
posted by Sal Towse at 5:20 PM|
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Tuesday, November 11, 2008
The Library in the New Age
The Library in the New Age
by Robert Darnton. (The New York Review of Books. 12 Jun 2008)
Late on this. Just saw a May 2008 link from Robert Berkman's friendfeed.
The article concludes, Meanwhile, I say: shore up the library. Stock it with printed matter. Reinforce its reading rooms. But don't think of it as a warehouse or a museum. While dispensing books, most research libraries operate as nerve centers for transmitting electronic impulses. They acquire data sets, maintain digital repositories, provide access to e-journals, and orchestrate information systems that reach deep into laboratories as well as studies. Many of them are sharing their intellectual wealth with the rest of the world by permitting Google to digitize their printed collections. Therefore, I also say: long live Google, but don't count on it living long enough to replace that venerable building with the Corinthian columns. As a citadel of learning and as a platform for adventure on the Internet, the research library still deserves to stand at the center of the campus, preserving the past and accumulating energy for the future.
Darnton also says (and I concur, oh, how I concur), Information has never been stable. That may be a truism, but it bears pondering. It could serve as a corrective to the belief that the speedup in technological change has catapulted us into a new age, in which information has spun completely out of control. I would argue that the new information technology should force us to rethink the notion of information itself. It should not be understood as if it took the form of hard facts or nuggets of reality ready to be quarried out of newspapers, archives, and libraries, but rather as messages that are constantly being reshaped in the process of transmission. Instead of firmly fixed documents, we must deal with multiple, mutable texts. By studying them skeptically on our computer screens, we can learn how to read our daily newspaper more effectively—and even how to appreciate old books.
Don't trust the newspapers. Don't trust books. For heaven's sake, don't trust blogs or online news sources or the story that a friend of a friend told your best friend.
Believe, but believe with healthy skepticism because the more I read and the more I know, the more I know what I read is at least twenty percent balderdash and another twenty percent complete fraud. (And despite her protestations to the contrary, the great great whatever great aunt did not trace his nibs' family roots back to Lady Godiva and beyond.)
posted by Sal Towse at 12:53 PM||
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by Robert Darnton. (The New York Review of Books. 12 Jun 2008)
Late on this. Just saw a May 2008 link from Robert Berkman's friendfeed.
The article concludes, Meanwhile, I say: shore up the library. Stock it with printed matter. Reinforce its reading rooms. But don't think of it as a warehouse or a museum. While dispensing books, most research libraries operate as nerve centers for transmitting electronic impulses. They acquire data sets, maintain digital repositories, provide access to e-journals, and orchestrate information systems that reach deep into laboratories as well as studies. Many of them are sharing their intellectual wealth with the rest of the world by permitting Google to digitize their printed collections. Therefore, I also say: long live Google, but don't count on it living long enough to replace that venerable building with the Corinthian columns. As a citadel of learning and as a platform for adventure on the Internet, the research library still deserves to stand at the center of the campus, preserving the past and accumulating energy for the future.
Darnton also says (and I concur, oh, how I concur), Information has never been stable. That may be a truism, but it bears pondering. It could serve as a corrective to the belief that the speedup in technological change has catapulted us into a new age, in which information has spun completely out of control. I would argue that the new information technology should force us to rethink the notion of information itself. It should not be understood as if it took the form of hard facts or nuggets of reality ready to be quarried out of newspapers, archives, and libraries, but rather as messages that are constantly being reshaped in the process of transmission. Instead of firmly fixed documents, we must deal with multiple, mutable texts. By studying them skeptically on our computer screens, we can learn how to read our daily newspaper more effectively—and even how to appreciate old books.
Don't trust the newspapers. Don't trust books. For heaven's sake, don't trust blogs or online news sources or the story that a friend of a friend told your best friend.
Believe, but believe with healthy skepticism because the more I read and the more I know, the more I know what I read is at least twenty percent balderdash and another twenty percent complete fraud. (And despite her protestations to the contrary, the great great whatever great aunt did not trace his nibs' family roots back to Lady Godiva and beyond.)
Labels: history, information, libraries, web2.0
posted by Sal Towse at 12:53 PM|
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Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Singing skull
Singing skull [MAKE magazine blog post on the project]
And a vid of the actual skull singing!
Some people have waaaaay too much time on their hands.
[via a tweet from Make Magazine]
posted by Sal Towse at 4:50 PM||
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And a vid of the actual skull singing!
Some people have waaaaay too much time on their hands.
[via a tweet from Make Magazine]
Labels: craft, culture, web2.0, yikes
posted by Sal Towse at 4:50 PM|
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Linkbait: what it is, tips & tricks
Linkbait: what it is, tips & tricks
A round-up article. Blog? Care about SEO? Much? Huiskes' article on Linkbait is a good overview w/ tips & tricks.
posted by Sal Towse at 4:39 PM||
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A round-up article. Blog? Care about SEO? Much? Huiskes' article on Linkbait is a good overview w/ tips & tricks.
Labels: blog, technology, web2.0
posted by Sal Towse at 4:39 PM|
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Monday, October 27, 2008
MTV MUSIC - I Want My MTV
MTV MUSIC - I Want My MTV
MTVmusic.com, a very clean, very simple, good looking site full of music videos and only music videos. Lots of older, classic stuff, too, like one of our favorites, Dire Straits' "Money For Nothing."
The site looks good and, in our limited testing, works great. And like Hulu, MTV also (smartly) lets you embed their videos on your blog, MySpace or Facebook profile, Tumblr, etc. (see below). It also has the requisite "social" functions like comments, rating up/down, etc.
[via Huffington Post]
posted by Sal Towse at 6:59 PM||
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MTVmusic.com, a very clean, very simple, good looking site full of music videos and only music videos. Lots of older, classic stuff, too, like one of our favorites, Dire Straits' "Money For Nothing."
The site looks good and, in our limited testing, works great. And like Hulu, MTV also (smartly) lets you embed their videos on your blog, MySpace or Facebook profile, Tumblr, etc. (see below). It also has the requisite "social" functions like comments, rating up/down, etc.
[via Huffington Post]
posted by Sal Towse at 6:59 PM|
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Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Coinkadinktricity
I follow 214 blogs with bloglines.com.
Sure ... I said, "Follow." but in real life I go away for three weeks and come back and see someone's posted seventy-eight blog entries in the interim and it takes me a while to get up to speed. ... if ever.
And then there are people whose blogs I really like who update every six weeks or so, durn 'em.
And then there are people whose blogs I like but I really should move them over to my delicious.com bookmarks because I just don't keep up, even though I'd like to in theory. I've been doing that bit by bit.
Usually when I get back from away, I catch up on the easy pickings (people who haven't posted much) and then I start in on the people for whom I have a backlog of a hundred or more posts to catch up on.
One section of my bloglines setup is a collection of blogs of people I've met on misc.writing or close thereto. Tonight I noticed the following on the list of unread posts for the blogs in that list:
# Alan 's Google Reader (118)
# DebbieOhi - Inkygirl: Daily Diversions (119)
# Deck: Cyber Curmudgeon (118)
# Kemnitzer/Peeking into the rock (118)
We're talking twenty-six blogs in that subset, peeples, and four of the twenty-six blogs have either 118 or 119 blog posts waiting to be read.
Weird.
posted by Sal Towse at 9:59 PM||
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Sure ... I said, "Follow." but in real life I go away for three weeks and come back and see someone's posted seventy-eight blog entries in the interim and it takes me a while to get up to speed. ... if ever.
And then there are people whose blogs I really like who update every six weeks or so, durn 'em.
And then there are people whose blogs I like but I really should move them over to my delicious.com bookmarks because I just don't keep up, even though I'd like to in theory. I've been doing that bit by bit.
Usually when I get back from away, I catch up on the easy pickings (people who haven't posted much) and then I start in on the people for whom I have a backlog of a hundred or more posts to catch up on.
One section of my bloglines setup is a collection of blogs of people I've met on misc.writing or close thereto. Tonight I noticed the following on the list of unread posts for the blogs in that list:
# Alan 's Google Reader (118)
# DebbieOhi - Inkygirl: Daily Diversions (119)
# Deck: Cyber Curmudgeon (118)
# Kemnitzer/Peeking into the rock (118)
We're talking twenty-six blogs in that subset, peeples, and four of the twenty-six blogs have either 118 or 119 blog posts waiting to be read.
Weird.
posted by Sal Towse at 9:59 PM|
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Saturday, August 23, 2008
Follow up on "The Omnivore's Hundred" list
Follow up on The Omnivore's Hundred list post.
K asked,
Where on the list are: head cheese, Rocky Mtn.Oysters, Finnan haddi?
I've eaten head cheese and Finnan haddie.
Mom used to make Finnan haddie when we were young. Not one of my faves at the time. Didn't like her Swedish meatballs either. Maybe I would now.
She used to make Grandma Towse's goulash -- which is not really goulash by any stretch of the imagination -- and humored me by letting me have the macaroni and the ground beef and the tomatoes separate on my plate. She then tossed the ingredients together for the goulash for the rest of the family. For some reason, I liked the ingredients fine apart but I thought that goulash was awful.
Note: this is the singular instance I can recall of Mom making anything special for anyone not much liking what she was making for dinner. I think it was because I wasn't asking her to go much out of her way -- just give me the separate ingredients before you mix them all together.
Had Kobe beef as part of a Dissident Chef dinner over at Crush Pad last night.
Earlier this week, after his nibs had seen my list, he said I'd already eaten both Kobe beef and horse.
"Really?" I said. "Horse?"
"Yes," he answered. "Well, =I= had it in France and I don't think I've been there without you."
Maybe so. I have a mind like a sieve.
I meet your head cheese, Rocky Mtn.Oysters, Finnan haddie and raise you:
and I'll stop there.
posted by Sal Towse at 5:18 PM||
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K asked,
Where on the list are: head cheese, Rocky Mtn.Oysters, Finnan haddi?
I've eaten head cheese and Finnan haddie.
Mom used to make Finnan haddie when we were young. Not one of my faves at the time. Didn't like her Swedish meatballs either. Maybe I would now.
She used to make Grandma Towse's goulash -- which is not really goulash by any stretch of the imagination -- and humored me by letting me have the macaroni and the ground beef and the tomatoes separate on my plate. She then tossed the ingredients together for the goulash for the rest of the family. For some reason, I liked the ingredients fine apart but I thought that goulash was awful.
Note: this is the singular instance I can recall of Mom making anything special for anyone not much liking what she was making for dinner. I think it was because I wasn't asking her to go much out of her way -- just give me the separate ingredients before you mix them all together.
Had Kobe beef as part of a Dissident Chef dinner over at Crush Pad last night.
Earlier this week, after his nibs had seen my list, he said I'd already eaten both Kobe beef and horse.
"Really?" I said. "Horse?"
"Yes," he answered. "Well, =I= had it in France and I don't think I've been there without you."
Maybe so. I have a mind like a sieve.
I meet your head cheese, Rocky Mtn.Oysters, Finnan haddie and raise you:
- tongue (beef tongue is soul food for his nibs)
- pork or lamb kidney (kidneys of any sort. I like them. his nibs doesn't.)
- tarasun (Buryat 'vodka' distilled from soured milk)
- fiddle-leaf ferns
- yak (We passed on a chance to eat yak eyeballs.)
- Retsina
- chicken feet
- scrapple
- tripe or menudo
and I'll stop there.
posted by Sal Towse at 5:18 PM|
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Friday, August 22, 2008
My American Prayer and musical stops along the way
My American Prayer is a Web site to promote the pro-Obama Dave-Stewart-and-Seth-Dalton-directed video (with a cast of thousands, including Joan Baez, Whoopi Goldberg, and Barry Manilow) called My American Prayer.
Wandering away from there I found there's also the new "Yes We Can" video (a musical video with no connection to Will.i.am's classic) out from Maria Muldaur and Bonnie Raitt. Recorded at Studio D Recording in Sausalito.
Count down to November.
Joan Baez, Whoopi Goldberg, and Barry Manilow?!?!! Yipes!
posted by Sal Towse at 12:11 PM||
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Wandering away from there I found there's also the new "Yes We Can" video (a musical video with no connection to Will.i.am's classic) out from Maria Muldaur and Bonnie Raitt. Recorded at Studio D Recording in Sausalito.
Count down to November.
Joan Baez, Whoopi Goldberg, and Barry Manilow?!?!! Yipes!
Labels: music, politics, web2.0
posted by Sal Towse at 12:11 PM|
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Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Beautiful soup, so rich and so green, bubbling in the soup tureen
via Paula -- foodie stuff, which originated over at Andrew Wheeler's Very Good Taste.
I so seldom do these things ... but this appealed. I'd never have seen it but for Paula. Thanks, Paula!
The Omnivore's Hundred
Below is a list of 100 things that I think every good omnivore should have tried at least once in their life. The list includes fine food, strange food, everyday food and even some pretty bad food - but a good omnivore should really try it all.
1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you've eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.
1. Venison
2. Nettle tea (no ... yak butter tea though)
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile (not that I remember. ...)
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp (not that I remember. ...)
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes - I don't recommend Maui pineapple wine.
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream - My sister made THE BEST coffee ice cream for the family BBQ on Sunday. Yum.
21. Heirloom tomatoes The Dissident Chef prepared a 10-11 course dinner a week or so ago that had tomatoes in every course. Loads of heirloom tomatoes.
22. Fresh wild berries - used to pick them at my grandparents' farm
23. Foie gras -- Paula says, "cruelty!!" but I say, "Yum." PETA and other folks are really aiming to get rid of all meat animals including chickens, who have a much worse life than the geese, but they start with foie gras. Because most people don't eat it, they don't care if it's banned. If they'd started with the Sunday roast chicken, they'd've been stomped out of business.
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper (Raw? No.)
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar (I haven't had that many cigars in my lifetime, let alone big fat ones.)
37. Clotted cream tea -- Clotted cream. Ym. With scones to spread it on and jam and tea? Dbl-ym.
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects -- Grilled grasshoppers in Yunnan, iirc. I used to put chocolate covered insects in my dad's stocking back when I played Santa.
43. Phaal
44. Goat's milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46.Fugu - I don't play Russian roulette either.
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55.McDonald's Big Mac Meal - don't like the oversized soda
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini - I've had so few martinis in my lifetime. Never a dirty one.
58. Beer above 8% ABV - La Trappe Quadrupel (Koningshoeven) is 10%ABV and my beer of choice at La Trappe restaurant on Columbus Ave, North Beach, SF.
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads - his nibs wooed me with home-cooked sweetbreads
63. Kaolin (not that I remember. ...)
64. Currywurst
65. Durian - saw some yesterday in Chinatown. $1.09/lb. Some day ...
66. Frogs' legs - when I was very young I used to go to the pond with my grandfather to catch the frogs for frogs' legs.
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain - comfort food from the days in Brazil
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu - I believe this was the firewater we picked up in a market in remote Yunnan
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini - how could you stop at Harry's Bar in Venice and not indulge?
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict - I judge hotel restaurants by how good their Eggs Benedict are at breakfast. (Eggs Benedict at breakfast, Reuben sandwich at lunch. If a hotel restaurant can provide both of those flawlessly, I'm there.)
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant - cheating really. We went to a Penfold's event at the French Laundry and the tasting menu was what we got. We usually opt for the tasting menu at Manresa (two-Michelin-stars).
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse (not that I remember. ...) I've had cuy, though.
90. Criollo chocolate (don't know)
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake -- tastes like chicken!
posted by Sal Towse at 1:25 PM||
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I so seldom do these things ... but this appealed. I'd never have seen it but for Paula. Thanks, Paula!
The Omnivore's Hundred
Below is a list of 100 things that I think every good omnivore should have tried at least once in their life. The list includes fine food, strange food, everyday food and even some pretty bad food - but a good omnivore should really try it all.
1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you've eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.
1. Venison
2. Nettle tea (no ... yak butter tea though)
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile (not that I remember. ...)
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp (not that I remember. ...)
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes - I don't recommend Maui pineapple wine.
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream - My sister made THE BEST coffee ice cream for the family BBQ on Sunday. Yum.
21. Heirloom tomatoes The Dissident Chef prepared a 10-11 course dinner a week or so ago that had tomatoes in every course. Loads of heirloom tomatoes.
22. Fresh wild berries - used to pick them at my grandparents' farm
23. Foie gras -- Paula says, "cruelty!!" but I say, "Yum." PETA and other folks are really aiming to get rid of all meat animals including chickens, who have a much worse life than the geese, but they start with foie gras. Because most people don't eat it, they don't care if it's banned. If they'd started with the Sunday roast chicken, they'd've been stomped out of business.
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper (Raw? No.)
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar (I haven't had that many cigars in my lifetime, let alone big fat ones.)
37. Clotted cream tea -- Clotted cream. Ym. With scones to spread it on and jam and tea? Dbl-ym.
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects -- Grilled grasshoppers in Yunnan, iirc. I used to put chocolate covered insects in my dad's stocking back when I played Santa.
43. Phaal
44. Goat's milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46.
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55.
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini - I've had so few martinis in my lifetime. Never a dirty one.
58. Beer above 8% ABV - La Trappe Quadrupel (Koningshoeven) is 10%ABV and my beer of choice at La Trappe restaurant on Columbus Ave, North Beach, SF.
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads - his nibs wooed me with home-cooked sweetbreads
63. Kaolin (not that I remember. ...)
64. Currywurst
65. Durian - saw some yesterday in Chinatown. $1.09/lb. Some day ...
66. Frogs' legs - when I was very young I used to go to the pond with my grandfather to catch the frogs for frogs' legs.
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain - comfort food from the days in Brazil
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu - I believe this was the firewater we picked up in a market in remote Yunnan
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini - how could you stop at Harry's Bar in Venice and not indulge?
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict - I judge hotel restaurants by how good their Eggs Benedict are at breakfast. (Eggs Benedict at breakfast, Reuben sandwich at lunch. If a hotel restaurant can provide both of those flawlessly, I'm there.)
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant - cheating really. We went to a Penfold's event at the French Laundry and the tasting menu was what we got. We usually opt for the tasting menu at Manresa (two-Michelin-stars).
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse (not that I remember. ...) I've had cuy, though.
90. Criollo chocolate (don't know)
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake -- tastes like chicken!
posted by Sal Towse at 1:25 PM|
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John Cleese -- available 24/7
John Cleese's Cleeseblog
John Cleese on Twitter
John Cleese on friendfeed
John Cleese ning
John Cleese podcasts
... A taste of Cleese. [via laughingsquid]
posted by Sal Towse at 7:41 AM||
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John Cleese on Twitter
John Cleese on friendfeed
John Cleese ning
John Cleese podcasts
... A taste of Cleese. [via laughingsquid]
Labels: culture, people, web2.0
posted by Sal Towse at 7:41 AM|
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Monday, August 18, 2008
FORA.tv - Videos Covering Today's Top Social, Political, and Tech Issues
FORA.tv - Videos Covering Today's Top Social, Political, and Tech Issues
FORA.tv is advertising for unpaid interns on CraigsList.
Toddled off to see what's up with that. I'd seen a stack of FORA.tv lit over at the Commonwealth Club offices on Saturday.
Long Now talks. Aspen Institute talks. Commonwealth Club talks. ...
Here's a Roger Rosenblatt interview with Amy Tan at the Chautauqua Institution on July 10, 2008. The interview is broken out in sections. If you only want to hear Tan speak on "Writer's Memory" you can click straight to the spot.
E.L. Doctorow on the Problematic Nature of Writing Novels
The indexing is superb. You can select one of the broad subject ranges and then one of the sub-sections. You can search for subjects. You can find all videos from the Hoover Institution.
Brilliant stuff.
posted by Sal Towse at 1:09 PM||
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FORA.tv is advertising for unpaid interns on CraigsList.
Toddled off to see what's up with that. I'd seen a stack of FORA.tv lit over at the Commonwealth Club offices on Saturday.
Long Now talks. Aspen Institute talks. Commonwealth Club talks. ...
Here's a Roger Rosenblatt interview with Amy Tan at the Chautauqua Institution on July 10, 2008. The interview is broken out in sections. If you only want to hear Tan speak on "Writer's Memory" you can click straight to the spot.
E.L. Doctorow on the Problematic Nature of Writing Novels
The indexing is superb. You can select one of the broad subject ranges and then one of the sub-sections. You can search for subjects. You can find all videos from the Hoover Institution.
Brilliant stuff.
Labels: culture, media, politics, video, web2.0, writing
posted by Sal Towse at 1:09 PM|
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Sunday, August 10, 2008
new video: "Republicans and military men on John McCain"
This election has the internet (columns, blogs, newsgroups, sites, videos, commentary, Web2.0 electioneering) playing a huge part, for those who use the internet.
And even for those who don't, if they read the papers or watch TV.
McCain's ad comparing Obama to Paris and Britney didn't have much play in paid air time, but it was on the Web getting a zillion views and MSM picked it up and talked about it and wondered about it and speculated about it and suddenly a fairly small media budget got a factor of n more traction than it would otherwise.
But it's not just the videos produced by professionals and paid for by campaigns or major political parties. I am stunned by the brilliance of some of the non-campaign videos that are popping up. (And stupefied by the webisodes that were shot of John Edwards and paid for by his campaign, but that's another story. ...)
The younger nib grew up making videos and belonging to movie/video clubs and competing in movie/video competitions from his teen years as did many of the Y generation.
Those years of practice show up when professionals donate their work to the cause: will.i.am's Obama 'Yes, we can' video and Paris for President.
Those years of practice show up too in the amateur videos made for YouTube distribution.
This morning I came across a link to "Republicans and military men on John McCain" in the comments tail of a Huffington post. Visuals. Captures. Background music. Amazing work from someone who seems to be the same age as the younger nib.
Director: Aaron Hodgins Davis, Skidmore. Uploaded 31Jul2008.
posted by Sal Towse at 11:47 AM||
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And even for those who don't, if they read the papers or watch TV.
McCain's ad comparing Obama to Paris and Britney didn't have much play in paid air time, but it was on the Web getting a zillion views and MSM picked it up and talked about it and wondered about it and speculated about it and suddenly a fairly small media budget got a factor of n more traction than it would otherwise.
But it's not just the videos produced by professionals and paid for by campaigns or major political parties. I am stunned by the brilliance of some of the non-campaign videos that are popping up. (And stupefied by the webisodes that were shot of John Edwards and paid for by his campaign, but that's another story. ...)
The younger nib grew up making videos and belonging to movie/video clubs and competing in movie/video competitions from his teen years as did many of the Y generation.
Those years of practice show up when professionals donate their work to the cause: will.i.am's Obama 'Yes, we can' video and Paris for President.
Those years of practice show up too in the amateur videos made for YouTube distribution.
This morning I came across a link to "Republicans and military men on John McCain" in the comments tail of a Huffington post. Visuals. Captures. Background music. Amazing work from someone who seems to be the same age as the younger nib.
Director: Aaron Hodgins Davis, Skidmore. Uploaded 31Jul2008.
Labels: politics, video, web2.0
posted by Sal Towse at 11:47 AM|
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Saturday, August 09, 2008
Found at Looney's -- Matt's video
Watch Matt do his silly dance around the world from Thimpu to Timbuktu to the Giant's Causeway to Rio.
Like Looney, I'd never seen this before, although it's one of those viral things that swept the Web three years back. Where was I? Obviously not where Matt was filming his clips.
Looney said this was a happy vid and it is, but it also made me tear up a bit. All those places. All those people. Every one linked by Matt Harding and his silly dance.
Update: I figured what the tearing up was about. Matt and his dance reminds me of the younger nib, who will be "away" until June 2010 -- dancing, like Matt, with people he meets along the way.
Update2: An earlier Where the Hell is Matt? and another.
Labels: life, travel, web2.0, webstuff
posted by Sal Towse at 2:36 AM|
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Thursday, August 07, 2008
Twitter StreamGraphs
Twitter StreamGraphs
Oooh. Pretty! Then take one of the ribbons and click on it.
Say, search for "Obama" and click on "jobs" and see how the ribbon runs through it, what the tweets say, &c. and forth.
If you check "towse" (why would you?), you can see tweets I've deleted and re-written and you can get a feel for just how compul^H^H^H^Hnscientious I am.
posted by Sal Towse at 10:00 AM||
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Oooh. Pretty! Then take one of the ribbons and click on it.
Say, search for "Obama" and click on "jobs" and see how the ribbon runs through it, what the tweets say, &c. and forth.
If you check "towse" (why would you?), you can see tweets I've deleted and re-written and you can get a feel for just how compul^H^H^H^Hnscientious I am.
Labels: timewaster, web2.0
posted by Sal Towse at 10:00 AM|
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Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Twitterholic: Who are these people?
Saturday, June 07, 2008
For those who say, "Sal, your Facebook presence is lame. ...
LAME!"
Well, you're right.
(Or as Heather said last month, "you don't use facebook")
Well. No. Not much. Guilty as charged.
I'm doing the Facebook thing because the younger nib pushed and Sue Hough pushed and others, well, you know who you are.
Facebook'd I now be.
But, all the poking and gifting and wall writing and all ... Well. I'm a geezer here, folks. I have a hard enough time keeping up with blogs and newsgroups and e-mail.
Bear with me.
I did manage to write on Hana's wall tonight. (And send Hana and Aarti friends' requests today ... um. yesterday.)
Do you know how many Aarti Singhs there are on Facebook? Aarti had said, "Sign up!" eons ago. Today I finally had the time to go through all the Aarti Singhs on Facebook and find those that were or might be relatively local and then go through all *their* friends lists until I found one who had friends I recognized (Hi, Hana!) in her friends list.
Bingo.
posted by Sal Towse at 12:17 AM||
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Well, you're right.
(Or as Heather said last month, "you don't use facebook")
Well. No. Not much. Guilty as charged.
I'm doing the Facebook thing because the younger nib pushed and Sue Hough pushed and others, well, you know who you are.
Facebook'd I now be.
But, all the poking and gifting and wall writing and all ... Well. I'm a geezer here, folks. I have a hard enough time keeping up with blogs and newsgroups and e-mail.
Bear with me.
I did manage to write on Hana's wall tonight. (And send Hana and Aarti friends' requests today ... um. yesterday.)
Do you know how many Aarti Singhs there are on Facebook? Aarti had said, "Sign up!" eons ago. Today I finally had the time to go through all the Aarti Singhs on Facebook and find those that were or might be relatively local and then go through all *their* friends lists until I found one who had friends I recognized (Hi, Hana!) in her friends list.
Bingo.
Labels: Facebook, life, web2.0
posted by Sal Towse at 12:17 AM|
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Friday, May 23, 2008
Twitter / Ev: Note: Before joining a mob,...
Twitter / Evan Williams: Note: Before joining a mob, you might want to check if everything they're saying/assuming is true.
Ah. I'm getting a glimmer of what this cryptic tweet was all about.
What a world.
posted by Sal Towse at 5:17 PM||
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Ah. I'm getting a glimmer of what this cryptic tweet was all about.
What a world.
Labels: web2.0
posted by Sal Towse at 5:17 PM|
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Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Twitter Saves Man From Egyptian Justice
Twitter Saves Man From Egyptian Justice
Way to get publicity for twitter, Ev.
posted by Sal Towse at 2:58 PM||
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Way to get publicity for twitter, Ev.
posted by Sal Towse at 2:58 PM|
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Saturday, December 01, 2007
Fluther: What is Fluther?
Friday, October 19, 2007
Flickr: The Guess Where SF Pool
Great fun at Flickr that I've been missing out on. Folks post an unlabeled picture taken anywhere in San Francisco and other folks guess where the picture was taken.
A really interesting collection of photos of San Francisco.
Flickr: The Guess Where SF Pool
Thanks, Anna
posted by Sal Towse at 3:58 PM||
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A really interesting collection of photos of San Francisco.
Flickr: The Guess Where SF Pool
Thanks, Anna
Labels: photographs, San Francisco, web2.0
posted by Sal Towse at 3:58 PM|
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Thursday, July 12, 2007
Jimbo Wales at the Commonwealth Club. Wedn. 18 July 6 p.m. checkin
Jimbo Wales at the Commonwealth Club
Founder, Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation and Wikia
[...]
"Come hear Wales talk about what's next on his agenda, his opinions on the politics of the Internet and his thoughts on the accuracy of Wikipedia posts."
6:00 p.m., Check-in | 6:30 p.m., Program
7:30 p.m., Wine and Hors d'oeuvres Reception
Club office, 595 Market St., 2nd Floor, San Francisco
$12 for Members
$20 for Non-Members
$7 for Students (with valid ID)
posted by Sal Towse at 4:46 PM||
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Founder, Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation and Wikia
[...]
"Come hear Wales talk about what's next on his agenda, his opinions on the politics of the Internet and his thoughts on the accuracy of Wikipedia posts."
6:00 p.m., Check-in | 6:30 p.m., Program
7:30 p.m., Wine and Hors d'oeuvres Reception
Club office, 595 Market St., 2nd Floor, San Francisco
$12 for Members
$20 for Non-Members
$7 for Students (with valid ID)
Labels: culture, information, San Francisco, web2.0, webstuff
posted by Sal Towse at 4:46 PM|
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Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Added del.icio.us cloud tag
Added my del.icio.us cloud tag over in the righthand sidebar 'cause I think it's purty.
(Yes, I know that tag clouds have been called the new mullet, but I like having it there. Of course my blog-based cloud tag means that even your grandma has one and it might be time to take yours off your site.)
Most of the bookmarks I imported from Firefox to del.icio.us are still in the "needs to be looked at before they're added" stage but I decided 500+ were enough to make a decent tag cloud.
total links @ del.icio.us: 3509 links (and counting).
"still need to be looked at": 2970+
Some of those links go back to April 1995, back when Yahoo! was just a wonderful collection of links on akebono.stanford.edu, back when I was thrilled to watch the cam pointed at the Trojan Room coffee pot at Cambridge.
Eventually almost all the links will be available on del.icio.us, but it'll take some time. I'm checking each link to see if it still works and still goes somewhere I care about, adding tags, &c. and so on.
What an exciting life I lead.
posted by Sal Towse at 6:17 PM||
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(Yes, I know that tag clouds have been called the new mullet, but I like having it there. Of course my blog-based cloud tag means that even your grandma has one and it might be time to take yours off your site.)
Most of the bookmarks I imported from Firefox to del.icio.us are still in the "needs to be looked at before they're added" stage but I decided 500+ were enough to make a decent tag cloud.
total links @ del.icio.us: 3509 links (and counting).
"still need to be looked at": 2970+
Some of those links go back to April 1995, back when Yahoo! was just a wonderful collection of links on akebono.stanford.edu, back when I was thrilled to watch the cam pointed at the Trojan Room coffee pot at Cambridge.
Eventually almost all the links will be available on del.icio.us, but it'll take some time. I'm checking each link to see if it still works and still goes somewhere I care about, adding tags, &c. and so on.
What an exciting life I lead.
posted by Sal Towse at 6:17 PM|
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: views from the Hill
Bertold Brecht:
Everything changes. You can make
A fresh start with your final breath.
But what has happened has happened. And the water
You once poured into the wine cannot be
Drained off again.
Everything changes. You can make
A fresh start with your final breath.
But what has happened has happened. And the water
You once poured into the wine cannot be
Drained off again.
