So the other day, I did something I hadn't done for quite a while. I watched a TV show.
I don't have cable, but back when I did, I enjoyed watching "The Simpsons" and "King of the Hill". Both of those shows are still on the air, but nowadays, if I want to watch them, or any other network TV show, I log in to hulu.com. I don't do this often, for much the same reason that I don't pay for cable, but last Tuesday, I fired up the laptop, and my wife and I lounged around watching the best hour of animated evening programming the FOX network has to offer.
The episode of "The Simpsons" we watched was one of the most recent, entitled "Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words". If you want to watch it without spoilers, just click below:
The episode centered on Lisa's love for, and obsession with, crossword puzzles, specifically the New York Times crossword, and it had Lisa qualifying for the finals in the national crossword championship. Homer accompanied her to the tournament and won a lot of money betting on her until betting against her, and benefitting from her loss, in the last round.
One specific puzzle was featured in the episode, a complicated bit of enigmatology (yes, that's a word) commissioned by a fictional character with a message (or two) concealed within it. Several days after watching the episode I found my mind going back to the puzzle used within the episode, which featured fleeting close ups of actual puzzle grid and clues, and it occurred to me... They actually created a puzzle specifically for this episode of "The Simpsons"!
I wondered idly, "what if I went back and watched that episode and paused it on the puzzle close ups? What crazy inside jokes would be contained in the clues and answers? Leave it to the Simpsons staff to concoct an entire 140-clue crossword puzzle only to flash it partially on the screen for a few brief seconds. I have attempted to build a crossword or two, and it is really freaking hard, but then again... so is writing and animating a hugely successful prime-time sitcom, and I can't do that either.
Anyway, less than a week after watching the episode, the fabulous folks at Netflix and the U.S. Postal Service brought me "Wordplay", the (2006?) Documentary about.... The New York Times Crossword Puzzle, and its associated annual tournament! I had added "Wordplay" to my Netflix "queue" about a year ago, along with over a hundred others, and it coincidentally showed up just after I watched this puzzle-centric "Simpsons" episode. It was a good movie, highlighting both the hardcore puzzle-solvers, with whom you and I can not possibly relate, as well as casual puzzle devotees like Jon Stewart, Bill Clinton, and The Indigo Girls. I learned from the movie that "intercoastal" is an anagram for "altercations", a fact which I promptly forgot, and which bugged me until I had to re-work it out for myself.
After watching that movie, you really want to pick up a Times crossword and hop to it. At least, you do if you are Me, and thus a Giant Nerd. I had a less-than-half-solved Sunday puzzle lying on my dining room table, and as the wife and I were getting ready for bed, I picked it up and figured I would re-attack it with my newly energized brain. I got a bit done, and then I came to the clue "Loses on Purpose". Ordinarily my mind would have skipped to "Folds", "Dives", or "Flops", but I knew that the answer was "Diets" ("loses on purpose", geddit?), because I had recently seen that clue used in another puzzle. Or Had I? I idly mused about where I had seen that clue before, and I realized I hadn't seen it in print; I had HEARD it. Heard it in the voice of Lisa Simpson, less than a week ago! Which meant that Lisa had been doing .... Waitaminute! Could it be?
I checked the upper-left-to-lower-right diagonal and found, sure enough, the "secret message" encoded in the supposedly fictional puzzle featured in one of the two TV shows I had happened to watch in the last several months. Then, as my wife and I reeled at the improbability of that (we had both watched the episode together in exactly the same spot where we were now solving the puzzle together), I remembered the other secret message. The one spelled out in the inital letters of each clue. Sure enough, there it was. Threaded throughout every single clue in the puzzle, and helping to explain why some of them were so oddly worded, was a message from one fictional character to another with NO REFERENCE MADE TO IT ANYWHERE IN THE PUZZLE. The only way any solver could have noticed this message (without being autistic or severely OCD) was to watch the episode of "The Simpsons" in which a yellow-skinned Will Shortz explains where it is. This is the ultimate example of an "easter egg" within a puzzle, and I just happened to have found it.
I still haven't finished the puzzle, though, and likely won't. It is an incredibly difficult one, even for a Sunday Times puzzle, and I believe this is due, in large part, to the crazy clues Mr. Reagle (The puzzle's constructor) had to find which started with the right letters for the hidden message.
Now if you will excuse me, I must go grab this week's Sunday Times, and get started. Happy Holiday Weekend to all, just in case I don't post again before then.
Showing posts with label Fun With Internets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fun With Internets. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
One More Thing
Slightly related to the previous post, here is a cartoon that has been very appropriate for my life lately.
http://www.xkcd.com/386/
Having internet connectivity at home is half blessing, half curse.
As with all of the xkcd cartoons, let your mouse cursor linger over the cartoon for an additional punch line. They are usually twice as funny as what is actually printed.
http://www.xkcd.com/386/
Having internet connectivity at home is half blessing, half curse.
As with all of the xkcd cartoons, let your mouse cursor linger over the cartoon for an additional punch line. They are usually twice as funny as what is actually printed.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Food News You CAN Use!
Hey, Nature and/or Food Lovers!
Got A Bottle of White Vinegar around? You know, the stuff that smells really, well... vinegary, and is useful for all sorts of things, from flavorizing your potato chips, to cleaning your sink, to creating life-like science-fair volcano models? (with the help of its partner-in-fizz, Baking Soda)
Well, before you douse your next bag of Ruffles in the stuff (and its partner-in-flavor, Salt)*, you might want to think about this...
Your bottle of White Vinegar might be made from PETROLEUM! (A-Bubbling Crude - Black Gold, Texas Tea!) That's right, the same stuff your plastic sunglasses, new sweatshirt, and Hefty bags are made out of. The same stuff powering your lawnmower, your friend's new pickup truck, and your next-door-neighbor's Lear Jet. (Or maybe your neighbor's pickup, and your friend's jet, I don't know your particular situation.)
Heck, your vinegar may be made from the same stuff your vinegar BOTTLE is made of. Run out of vinegar? Just melt down the bottle, and use that! (OK, the TDBotD fleet-o'-lawyers made me add DO NOT actually attempt to consume a melted plastic bottle; that part was a joke)
But the petroleum based vinegar thing may not be a joke. My Bestest Blog-friends over at Tiny Choices came upon this freakish news, and being the upstanding citizens they are, instantly shared it with the world, or at least the portion of the world that reads Tiny Choices. (Judging from their comments section, it's quite a few more people than read this stuff that I post here!)
Here's the Thing: I don't eat, nor have I ever eaten, Vinegar, and what's more, I dislike the taste and smell of vinegar so much that I stay away from foods made with vinegar. That means I don't eat any salad dressings (unless you count Cheese and Bacon!),and I don't eat pickles or ketchup, either. It's like a part of me knew all along that this stuff was made from petrochemicals. The fumey, wafty smell was my first clue, I think.
Not all vinegars are this way. Heinz brand White Vinegar explicitly states on the label that it is from all-natural (vegetable) sources. But that's the expensive name-brand stuff; You can bet that the stuff they are using at the ConglomoCorp food factory, the stuff that comes in 55-gallon drums, is probably the cheapest stuff they can get, which, up to this point has been the stuff derived from dead T-rexes.
But - Dead T-rexes, as you may have heard, are getting a lot harder to come by these days, and subsequently a lot more expensive ($130/barrel already?). So the bright side of this is: As oil prices continue to soar, It makes food more expensive, BUT it also may force big Food Manufacturers to start making more of our food out of actual food!
* Yeah, Anna, I'm talkin' to you!
photo by JillDoughtie
Got A Bottle of White Vinegar around? You know, the stuff that smells really, well... vinegary, and is useful for all sorts of things, from flavorizing your potato chips, to cleaning your sink, to creating life-like science-fair volcano models? (with the help of its partner-in-fizz, Baking Soda)Well, before you douse your next bag of Ruffles in the stuff (and its partner-in-flavor, Salt)*, you might want to think about this...
Your bottle of White Vinegar might be made from PETROLEUM! (A-Bubbling Crude - Black Gold, Texas Tea!) That's right, the same stuff your plastic sunglasses, new sweatshirt, and Hefty bags are made out of. The same stuff powering your lawnmower, your friend's new pickup truck, and your next-door-neighbor's Lear Jet. (Or maybe your neighbor's pickup, and your friend's jet, I don't know your particular situation.)
Heck, your vinegar may be made from the same stuff your vinegar BOTTLE is made of. Run out of vinegar? Just melt down the bottle, and use that! (OK, the TDBotD fleet-o'-lawyers made me add DO NOT actually attempt to consume a melted plastic bottle; that part was a joke)
But the petroleum based vinegar thing may not be a joke. My Bestest Blog-friends over at Tiny Choices came upon this freakish news, and being the upstanding citizens they are, instantly shared it with the world, or at least the portion of the world that reads Tiny Choices. (Judging from their comments section, it's quite a few more people than read this stuff that I post here!)
Here's the Thing: I don't eat, nor have I ever eaten, Vinegar, and what's more, I dislike the taste and smell of vinegar so much that I stay away from foods made with vinegar. That means I don't eat any salad dressings (unless you count Cheese and Bacon!),and I don't eat pickles or ketchup, either. It's like a part of me knew all along that this stuff was made from petrochemicals. The fumey, wafty smell was my first clue, I think.
Not all vinegars are this way. Heinz brand White Vinegar explicitly states on the label that it is from all-natural (vegetable) sources. But that's the expensive name-brand stuff; You can bet that the stuff they are using at the ConglomoCorp food factory, the stuff that comes in 55-gallon drums, is probably the cheapest stuff they can get, which, up to this point has been the stuff derived from dead T-rexes.
But - Dead T-rexes, as you may have heard, are getting a lot harder to come by these days, and subsequently a lot more expensive ($130/barrel already?). So the bright side of this is: As oil prices continue to soar, It makes food more expensive, BUT it also may force big Food Manufacturers to start making more of our food out of actual food!
* Yeah, Anna, I'm talkin' to you!
photo by JillDoughtie
Saturday, March 29, 2008
The Mixtape is Dead... Viva La Mixtape!
For those of you who liked the idea of checking out the artists in my previous post on "Girl Singers", but who didn't want to spend an hour and a half clicking each individual YouTube link to see/hear them all, I have compiled an imeem Playlist with all the ones mentioned, plus a few from the comments left by you readers. (Sorry, Brian, but your suggestion, and mine, were both too uptempo to make the cut)
Previous attempts at "embedding" imeem playlists on this page have had mixed results*. Many of the songs may appear as 30-second samples if you play the playlist from this page. If this is the case go to imeem, get a membership (it's free!), then play the playlist. Don't forget to make me your friend once you sign up! You can then send me songs you think I would like, see what I've been listening to lately, and make your own playlists, too!
One of the songs on the playlist is Ingrid Michaelson's "Breakable", which is about the fragility of human hearts and bones, and was playing in the background as I wrote about celebrating my Painiversary** I thought it was nice, so I included it here, separate from the playlist.
*The "Rain" related playlist I put up in advance of my flight to San Diego this January abridged Alanis Morrisette's "Ironic", omitting the mention of "rain on your wedding day", but including the part about the man dying in a plane crash**.
**Now That's Ironic (don'cha think?)
Previous attempts at "embedding" imeem playlists on this page have had mixed results*. Many of the songs may appear as 30-second samples if you play the playlist from this page. If this is the case go to imeem, get a membership (it's free!), then play the playlist. Don't forget to make me your friend once you sign up! You can then send me songs you think I would like, see what I've been listening to lately, and make your own playlists, too!
One of the songs on the playlist is Ingrid Michaelson's "Breakable", which is about the fragility of human hearts and bones, and was playing in the background as I wrote about celebrating my Painiversary** I thought it was nice, so I included it here, separate from the playlist.
*The "Rain" related playlist I put up in advance of my flight to San Diego this January abridged Alanis Morrisette's "Ironic", omitting the mention of "rain on your wedding day", but including the part about the man dying in a plane crash**.
**Now That's Ironic (don'cha think?)
Monday, March 24, 2008
123 Book Meme
I have been tagged! Art, over at his own blog, "Tagged" me with a "Meme" Way back on the 8th of this month, right before my old Sony went to that big Circuit City in The Sky. Does getting "Tagged with a meme" hurt, you might ask? No (at least not usually!) What that means is that I have basically been handed the Blogospheric Equivalent of an E-Mail Chain Letter, with instructions to forward it along.
While I NEVER pass along email forwards (So don't even try it!), I don't mind getting tagged, because it saves me the effort of thinking about something to write. So here, without much further ado, is the 123 book meme.
I blog from the airport, so the nearest book was the Biography of Mercury Astronaut Scott Carpenter, "For Spacious Skies", written by himself, and his daughter, Kris Stoever.
There Ya Go... Wanna play? The Comments section is wide open...
While I NEVER pass along email forwards (So don't even try it!), I don't mind getting tagged, because it saves me the effort of thinking about something to write. So here, without much further ado, is the 123 book meme.
- Quick - Grab the nearest book. Go ahead, I'll wait!
- Does it have at least 123 pages? If Not, grab the next nearest book, until you get one with 123 pages or more.
- Find page 123. go PAST the first 5 sentences, and post the next three sentences.
- Then "Tag" 3-5 people to do the same thing. I'm gonna take the Art approach (the Artistic/Artful approach?) to tagging, and say if you feel like doing this, then consider yourself "Tagged"!
I blog from the airport, so the nearest book was the Biography of Mercury Astronaut Scott Carpenter, "For Spacious Skies", written by himself, and his daughter, Kris Stoever.
There Ya Go... Wanna play? The Comments section is wide open...
Monday, March 10, 2008
Two Charities, and a Software Parable.
I said when I started this that I dreaded starting a "regular" feature, because of the likelihood that it would actually be a rather irregularly occurring feature. Sometimes I hate being right.
My 5th featured charity is arguably not a charity. However they do a lot of good in the world, and they give stuff away for free, which is pretty charitable, if you ask me. My 52 dollars for LAST week (actually it was 32 Euros, which worked out to just over $50) went to OpenOffice.Org , a community based, free and open-source alternative to Microsoft's suite of Office Software Products.
I have been using OpenOffice's Word Processing and Spreadsheet products for years now, but I had been using the outdated version of both, up until last month, when I upgraded to their Version 2.3, which works even better than the old version, which I was plenty happy with anyway. The new version's file format is compatible with Google Documents and Zoho Writer, both of which I use occasionally. They are all interoperable with the "Brand Name" programs, so if your boss sends you an Excel-formatted spreadsheet, you can open it, edit it, and save it (as an Excel-formatted document, if you wish) with the OpenOffice software.
If you have a computer with no Office Productivity Software, and you don't want to shell out the $400 (YIKES!) for the standard full version of Microsoft's flagship Office suite, visit OpenOffice.org, and get a spreadsheet program. Or a Word Processor, or a Presentation program. (Think "Powerpoint") Or a Vector graphics program, a la CorelDraw. Or a Database Front-end program, for whatever the heck you might need that for. I only have the first two, but they are all available, and they are all free. No strings attached, no catches, no gimmicks, they won't sell your e-mail address and demographic information to Nigerian e-mail scammers... It's Just FREE. Period. The Nicest Price of All.
But Free Software, in the case of OpenOffice and other organizations like them, means more than just "Doesn't Cost Money". Free Software is also Free in the sense of "Unconfined", "Unbound", or "Uncaged". It has to do with who is allowed to tinker with the software.
Say you buy two software products, let's say MP3 Player Programs, for $50 each. One of the Programs is By ConGlomoSoft, and the other is by WizzleSoft. They both come in a slick cardboard box, they both are on the same shelf at the mall electronics store. They both cost 50 bucks, and they both play MP3's on your computer, and let you organize playlists and libraries and all that good stuff. Maybe they do some other stuff too, because 50 bucks is a serious ripoff for a program that only plays MP3's. But I'm keepin' it simple here, OK? So bear with me.
There is one major difference between the two products, though. The WizzleSoft product comes with, either packaged in the box or made available in some other way, the Source Code for the program. OK, Non Geeks, think of the source code as a book manuscript, printed on paper, in a ring binder, double spaced. The main thing you are after, though, the thing that will actually run on your computer, is the Binary form of the program. Think of the Binary as a book-on-CD, an audio recording of the book.
The ConGlomoSoft product is distributed in Binary form only. You don't have access to the source code. They wrote the program the way they wanted it, recorded it, and sold you the result. To go back to our book metaphor, they say "You don't need to see how the words are spelled, or how things are punctuated, to enjoy the book! Just sit back and listen to the story, the way we wrote it."
The first problem with this is, what if they made a mistake? What if in our book, the hero's name is "Biff" at the beginning of the book, but then it switches to "Boff", halfway through the book? How Distracting! If you you had the book manuscript, you could get out a little bottle of White-out, and a pen, and fix the Boffs, so they match the Biffs! Or Change the Biffs to Boffs! or change ALL the Biffs AND Boffs to Steves! You have the Manuscript, It's yours; go crazy! If you don't like the way Biff/Boff/Steve slays the Dragon, Change it! You might need a lot more white-out, but you can do whatever you like! You have the manuscript. You can add little doodles in the margins, or add in steamy sex scenes, or whatever you want! It's yours!
To complete our analogy, though, you have a friend name Jonny Compiler, who is a professional voice actor. To get the Book-on-CD (That's the Binary, remember?), you hand your new, altered manuscript to Mr. Compiler, and he records you a new Binary Recording of the book, only without the distracting Biff-Boffery that the original writers accidentally included. Then when you play it again, later, the book will play the way you want it to, because your changes are still there.
If you only got the binary in the first place (from ConGlomoSoft), you are stuck with any biffboffery you get, because you can't edit the CD, like you can the manuscript.
Probably, you don't want to change your software right away though. Probably your MP3 playing software works just fine. You add songs, you play songs, all's well in the world.
Until some jerk goes and invents HIGH DEFINITION MP3's.
Immediately, everyone stops using regular, Boring "Low Def" MP3's overnight. Now all the new songs you get come in this new format, and a few months later you now have a mix of 20% HD-MP3's, and 80% regular MP3's.
ConGlomoSoft has a new $100 program that plays both formats, but wouldn't it be great if you could just "tweak" the software you had, and not have to move all your song libraries and preferences and everything over to a new program? This one works pretty well, and you know it, and like it (and it's already been paid for), so why not see if your friend, the computer genius down in Apartment F-30, can modify your program to be able to read the new HD-MP3's.
Well, if you have the source code, he might. But without it, you're screwed. Your ConGlomoSoft program is unmodifiable in it's binary form, and even if you had acquired the source code from somewhere, it turns out it is Copyright-protected, and if you modify it, in any way, you are breaking the law! Legally, the only way you can update your ConGlomoSoft program, is to buy the new version from them.
Your WizzleSoft program, however, is not copyrighted, but "copylefted", under something called the GNU General Public License (GPL, for short). The reason you got the source code for free with your WizzleSoft program, is because the GPL said they had to! When you acquired the program it came with a set of rights, and a set of responsibilities.
The rights included are free access to the source code, and rights to modify the program however you want. So if your Buddy in Apt. F-30 can tweak your program to accept the new format, you have the right to do it! You also have the right to give him a copy of the new program for his troubles! You even have the right to SELL copies of your new, Super MP3 Player to other people!
BUT... You are legally required to give them the same chance you got. You are NOT allowed to build your new program based on the hard work of the folks at WizzleSoft, and then get all Gollum-My-Preciouss about it. You have to share the source code to your new work, and include a copy of the GPL with each new copy. Then when SUPER-High definition MP3's come out a year later, your customers don't end up in the same bind that ConGlomoCorp's junky Copyrighted program left you in.
So Last week's 32 Euros went to OpenOffice.Org, and this week, my 52 bucks goes to the Free Software Foundation.(FSF, for short) The FSF fights against the ConGlomoSofts of the world when they try to restrict and control software to protect their interests.
Chances are Really Good that you are benefiting from some form of free, community developed software right now, while you are reading this. Are you using Mozilla Firefox? That's Free Software, under a GPL license. Are you using a Mac from this decade? At the core of OS X is a bit of Free Software called Darwin, which is distributed under Apple's own Public Source License.
The ConGlomoSoft-type companies out there can afford really good lawyers, and current patent and copyright laws allow them to get away with some pretty heavy-handed stuff. As more and more of our world goes digital, the fights over File-sharing, copy-protection, and a host of other issues are going to be fought and re-fought, with more and more at stake. A contribution to the Free Software Foundation helps ensure that someone in the fight is looking out for us consumers.
My 5th featured charity is arguably not a charity. However they do a lot of good in the world, and they give stuff away for free, which is pretty charitable, if you ask me. My 52 dollars for LAST week (actually it was 32 Euros, which worked out to just over $50) went to OpenOffice.Org , a community based, free and open-source alternative to Microsoft's suite of Office Software Products.
I have been using OpenOffice's Word Processing and Spreadsheet products for years now, but I had been using the outdated version of both, up until last month, when I upgraded to their Version 2.3, which works even better than the old version, which I was plenty happy with anyway. The new version's file format is compatible with Google Documents and Zoho Writer, both of which I use occasionally. They are all interoperable with the "Brand Name" programs, so if your boss sends you an Excel-formatted spreadsheet, you can open it, edit it, and save it (as an Excel-formatted document, if you wish) with the OpenOffice software.
If you have a computer with no Office Productivity Software, and you don't want to shell out the $400 (YIKES!) for the standard full version of Microsoft's flagship Office suite, visit OpenOffice.org, and get a spreadsheet program. Or a Word Processor, or a Presentation program. (Think "Powerpoint") Or a Vector graphics program, a la CorelDraw. Or a Database Front-end program, for whatever the heck you might need that for. I only have the first two, but they are all available, and they are all free. No strings attached, no catches, no gimmicks, they won't sell your e-mail address and demographic information to Nigerian e-mail scammers... It's Just FREE. Period. The Nicest Price of All.
But Free Software, in the case of OpenOffice and other organizations like them, means more than just "Doesn't Cost Money". Free Software is also Free in the sense of "Unconfined", "Unbound", or "Uncaged". It has to do with who is allowed to tinker with the software.
Say you buy two software products, let's say MP3 Player Programs, for $50 each. One of the Programs is By ConGlomoSoft, and the other is by WizzleSoft. They both come in a slick cardboard box, they both are on the same shelf at the mall electronics store. They both cost 50 bucks, and they both play MP3's on your computer, and let you organize playlists and libraries and all that good stuff. Maybe they do some other stuff too, because 50 bucks is a serious ripoff for a program that only plays MP3's. But I'm keepin' it simple here, OK? So bear with me.
There is one major difference between the two products, though. The WizzleSoft product comes with, either packaged in the box or made available in some other way, the Source Code for the program. OK, Non Geeks, think of the source code as a book manuscript, printed on paper, in a ring binder, double spaced. The main thing you are after, though, the thing that will actually run on your computer, is the Binary form of the program. Think of the Binary as a book-on-CD, an audio recording of the book.
The ConGlomoSoft product is distributed in Binary form only. You don't have access to the source code. They wrote the program the way they wanted it, recorded it, and sold you the result. To go back to our book metaphor, they say "You don't need to see how the words are spelled, or how things are punctuated, to enjoy the book! Just sit back and listen to the story, the way we wrote it."
The first problem with this is, what if they made a mistake? What if in our book, the hero's name is "Biff" at the beginning of the book, but then it switches to "Boff", halfway through the book? How Distracting! If you you had the book manuscript, you could get out a little bottle of White-out, and a pen, and fix the Boffs, so they match the Biffs! Or Change the Biffs to Boffs! or change ALL the Biffs AND Boffs to Steves! You have the Manuscript, It's yours; go crazy! If you don't like the way Biff/Boff/Steve slays the Dragon, Change it! You might need a lot more white-out, but you can do whatever you like! You have the manuscript. You can add little doodles in the margins, or add in steamy sex scenes, or whatever you want! It's yours!
To complete our analogy, though, you have a friend name Jonny Compiler, who is a professional voice actor. To get the Book-on-CD (That's the Binary, remember?), you hand your new, altered manuscript to Mr. Compiler, and he records you a new Binary Recording of the book, only without the distracting Biff-Boffery that the original writers accidentally included. Then when you play it again, later, the book will play the way you want it to, because your changes are still there.
If you only got the binary in the first place (from ConGlomoSoft), you are stuck with any biffboffery you get, because you can't edit the CD, like you can the manuscript.
Probably, you don't want to change your software right away though. Probably your MP3 playing software works just fine. You add songs, you play songs, all's well in the world.
Until some jerk goes and invents HIGH DEFINITION MP3's.
Immediately, everyone stops using regular, Boring "Low Def" MP3's overnight. Now all the new songs you get come in this new format, and a few months later you now have a mix of 20% HD-MP3's, and 80% regular MP3's.
ConGlomoSoft has a new $100 program that plays both formats, but wouldn't it be great if you could just "tweak" the software you had, and not have to move all your song libraries and preferences and everything over to a new program? This one works pretty well, and you know it, and like it (and it's already been paid for), so why not see if your friend, the computer genius down in Apartment F-30, can modify your program to be able to read the new HD-MP3's.
Well, if you have the source code, he might. But without it, you're screwed. Your ConGlomoSoft program is unmodifiable in it's binary form, and even if you had acquired the source code from somewhere, it turns out it is Copyright-protected, and if you modify it, in any way, you are breaking the law! Legally, the only way you can update your ConGlomoSoft program, is to buy the new version from them.
Your WizzleSoft program, however, is not copyrighted, but "copylefted", under something called the GNU General Public License (GPL, for short). The reason you got the source code for free with your WizzleSoft program, is because the GPL said they had to! When you acquired the program it came with a set of rights, and a set of responsibilities.
The rights included are free access to the source code, and rights to modify the program however you want. So if your Buddy in Apt. F-30 can tweak your program to accept the new format, you have the right to do it! You also have the right to give him a copy of the new program for his troubles! You even have the right to SELL copies of your new, Super MP3 Player to other people!
BUT... You are legally required to give them the same chance you got. You are NOT allowed to build your new program based on the hard work of the folks at WizzleSoft, and then get all Gollum-My-Preciouss about it. You have to share the source code to your new work, and include a copy of the GPL with each new copy. Then when SUPER-High definition MP3's come out a year later, your customers don't end up in the same bind that ConGlomoCorp's junky Copyrighted program left you in.
So Last week's 32 Euros went to OpenOffice.Org, and this week, my 52 bucks goes to the Free Software Foundation.(FSF, for short) The FSF fights against the ConGlomoSofts of the world when they try to restrict and control software to protect their interests.
Chances are Really Good that you are benefiting from some form of free, community developed software right now, while you are reading this. Are you using Mozilla Firefox? That's Free Software, under a GPL license. Are you using a Mac from this decade? At the core of OS X is a bit of Free Software called Darwin, which is distributed under Apple's own Public Source License.
The ConGlomoSoft-type companies out there can afford really good lawyers, and current patent and copyright laws allow them to get away with some pretty heavy-handed stuff. As more and more of our world goes digital, the fights over File-sharing, copy-protection, and a host of other issues are going to be fought and re-fought, with more and more at stake. A contribution to the Free Software Foundation helps ensure that someone in the fight is looking out for us consumers.
Friday, March 7, 2008
My "Friday 5": Real-People Songs.
Over at Art's Strange World, Art has a recurring feature called the Friday 5, where he thinks of some list of five things and challenges his readers to post their own additions to the list.
Lately, the lists have been Songs tied together by some common theme. Songs featuring Cadillacs, Cars (excluding Cadillacs), States, Cities, Years, Heaven and Hell, and this week, People.
I've been playing along, and having fun. It reminds me of my old college buddy, Corey Fager, who was very proud of his semi-encyclopedic knowledge of rock music. He would challenge a group of his friends to throw out a word at random, and he would see how quickly he could respond with a line from a song. I think I stumped him once with the word "penguin", but he was rarely stumped for long.
Anyway, today's challenge over at Art's blog was songs based on or mentioning real people. Living or dead, important or obscure; if they made it into a song, they are fair game.
Here's My 5...
I will throw the comments section open to those of you who have any to add. What's your 5? Bonus Points for Obscurity!
For an extra challenge, try a sub-theme: All Women? People Not Mentioned In The Song's Title? All Minorities? All Still Living? All Non-Americans? All Children? All Elderly? All Villains? Give it a shot! You might just use up your whole Friday, and bring the Weekend on even sooner.
Lately, the lists have been Songs tied together by some common theme. Songs featuring Cadillacs, Cars (excluding Cadillacs), States, Cities, Years, Heaven and Hell, and this week, People.
I've been playing along, and having fun. It reminds me of my old college buddy, Corey Fager, who was very proud of his semi-encyclopedic knowledge of rock music. He would challenge a group of his friends to throw out a word at random, and he would see how quickly he could respond with a line from a song. I think I stumped him once with the word "penguin", but he was rarely stumped for long.
Anyway, today's challenge over at Art's blog was songs based on or mentioning real people. Living or dead, important or obscure; if they made it into a song, they are fair game.
Here's My 5...
- James K. Polk by They Might be Giants. (Highly Edu-taining!)
- Mandelbrot Set by Johnathon Coulton. (Even More Edu-taining. Warning: Strong language.)
- Frank Sinatra by Cake.
- Mrs. Robinson by Simon + Garfunkel, and others.(Mrs. Robinson may not be real, but Joe DiMaggio is.)
- Candle In The Wind by Elton John. (about either Marilyn Monroe, or Princess Diana, depending on the version)
I will throw the comments section open to those of you who have any to add. What's your 5? Bonus Points for Obscurity!
For an extra challenge, try a sub-theme: All Women? People Not Mentioned In The Song's Title? All Minorities? All Still Living? All Non-Americans? All Children? All Elderly? All Villains? Give it a shot! You might just use up your whole Friday, and bring the Weekend on even sooner.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
I Am Officially a BlogStar!
My Buddies over at Tiny Choices found my post about Newspaper Seed-Starter Pots interesting enough to expand on, and they did what I forgot to do. Link to instructions for making them! So, without Further Ado,
How To Make A Newspaper Seed-Starter Pot.
When I tried to access this page this morning, I was greeted with an error message saying that the page had exceeded its data transfer limit, or something, so if it doesn't work, fret not. I will try to put up my own pictorial step-by-step instructions soon.
Also, I got a nod from Mama Bird over at Surely You Nest, who found my Tiny Choices Interview to be inspiring!
And, I engaged Peter Sagal, playwright, author, and host of NPR's News Quiz "WaitWait, Don't Tell Me", in a conversation about movies that are "fractally bad". He makes some great points, but I am afraid we will just have to agree to disagree about "Unbreakable". Read the comments to get my take. Also, if you have a few minutes to be entertained, follow the link on his post to the video for "Mandelbrot Set". It amused me.
How To Make A Newspaper Seed-Starter Pot.
When I tried to access this page this morning, I was greeted with an error message saying that the page had exceeded its data transfer limit, or something, so if it doesn't work, fret not. I will try to put up my own pictorial step-by-step instructions soon.
Also, I got a nod from Mama Bird over at Surely You Nest, who found my Tiny Choices Interview to be inspiring!
And, I engaged Peter Sagal, playwright, author, and host of NPR's News Quiz "WaitWait, Don't Tell Me", in a conversation about movies that are "fractally bad". He makes some great points, but I am afraid we will just have to agree to disagree about "Unbreakable". Read the comments to get my take. Also, if you have a few minutes to be entertained, follow the link on his post to the video for "Mandelbrot Set". It amused me.
Am I Dumping Flickr, Or Has Flickr Dumped Me?
Either way, We are through!
My attempts to upload my pictures to flickr have proven futile. Since flickr doesn't want my images, I am sending my unpaid business to Google's picasa, instead. I used to have picasa on my PC, but it did a bit of a wierd-out on me when I got to reorganizing my filing system, and creeped me out. That is a long boring story, and unlike many other long, boring stories, I won't tell it here.
The point is, I am back with picasa, flickr, and no, you can't have back your sweater, you gave it to me, and I am keeping it, along with the mixtape you made me. But don't expect me to just jump back into your arms, flickr - not after this.
Three separate times, I tried to upload my SharPei pictures, and thrice you rejected them. I downloaded your fancy "uploadr" program (or tried to, rather), and couldn't even get it installed without being told I lacked a required driver. Will I ever have enough drivers for you? Why won't you just tell me what driver I need, or where to get it? Why the emotional distance?
Oh well. I won't say it's goodbye forever, flickr. The truth is, I've been burned by picasa, too. But picasa's version 2.7 is looking, mighty improved. If you go do some improving, too, then maybe you can win me back. But you are going to have to woo me, flickr, you are going to have to woo me big time.
My attempts to upload my pictures to flickr have proven futile. Since flickr doesn't want my images, I am sending my unpaid business to Google's picasa, instead. I used to have picasa on my PC, but it did a bit of a wierd-out on me when I got to reorganizing my filing system, and creeped me out. That is a long boring story, and unlike many other long, boring stories, I won't tell it here.
The point is, I am back with picasa, flickr, and no, you can't have back your sweater, you gave it to me, and I am keeping it, along with the mixtape you made me. But don't expect me to just jump back into your arms, flickr - not after this.
Three separate times, I tried to upload my SharPei pictures, and thrice you rejected them. I downloaded your fancy "uploadr" program (or tried to, rather), and couldn't even get it installed without being told I lacked a required driver. Will I ever have enough drivers for you? Why won't you just tell me what driver I need, or where to get it? Why the emotional distance?
Oh well. I won't say it's goodbye forever, flickr. The truth is, I've been burned by picasa, too. But picasa's version 2.7 is looking, mighty improved. If you go do some improving, too, then maybe you can win me back. But you are going to have to woo me, flickr, you are going to have to woo me big time.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Success! Followed quickly by Failure.
My Altoids Tin of Goodness has been Found!
My lovely and wonderful wife did a little tidying-up around the house in preparation for company coming over, and found the Altoids tin I keep some of my pocket sized technology in.
I carry a flash drive, a micro-SD memory card reader, and a pair of cellphone-compatible earbuds around, and to protect them from unhealthy interaction with car keys, coins, ink pens, and lint, I keep them in a little metal box that used to hold some Curiously Strong Mints dipped in Dark Chocolate. I have the best smelling Flash Drive in town!
The problem is, when I take the headphones out of the tin for some reason, like to use them, the other two items clank around like crazy, making a huge racket at the slightest of jostles. When this starts happening, my Altoids tin gets to live somewhere other than my pocket for a while. For the last two weeks(?) I have had the headphones, but not the rest of the tin. This made me sad, because My memory card was FULL, full I tell you, and I couldn't take any new pictures without replacing some older ones.
So now I am here ready to upload pictures, finally, but flickr's uploader is not working. This is my second flickr frustration post in a very short period of time. I don't know what gives, but be on the lookout for a massive photodump this week.
I got pictures of puppy dogs, pictures of the wintry wonderland that was my yard a few weeks ago, and some random one-off pictures I've been meaning to get around to. If flickr doesn't get its act together, I'll have to use picasa, I guess.
My lovely and wonderful wife did a little tidying-up around the house in preparation for company coming over, and found the Altoids tin I keep some of my pocket sized technology in.
I carry a flash drive, a micro-SD memory card reader, and a pair of cellphone-compatible earbuds around, and to protect them from unhealthy interaction with car keys, coins, ink pens, and lint, I keep them in a little metal box that used to hold some Curiously Strong Mints dipped in Dark Chocolate. I have the best smelling Flash Drive in town!
The problem is, when I take the headphones out of the tin for some reason, like to use them, the other two items clank around like crazy, making a huge racket at the slightest of jostles. When this starts happening, my Altoids tin gets to live somewhere other than my pocket for a while. For the last two weeks(?) I have had the headphones, but not the rest of the tin. This made me sad, because My memory card was FULL, full I tell you, and I couldn't take any new pictures without replacing some older ones.
So now I am here ready to upload pictures, finally, but flickr's uploader is not working. This is my second flickr frustration post in a very short period of time. I don't know what gives, but be on the lookout for a massive photodump this week.
I got pictures of puppy dogs, pictures of the wintry wonderland that was my yard a few weeks ago, and some random one-off pictures I've been meaning to get around to. If flickr doesn't get its act together, I'll have to use picasa, I guess.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
SeaWorld Vacation Pictures on Flickr.
Have you ever wanted to bash your computer into little tiny pieces, set those pieces on fire, put out the fire by urinating on it, feed the charred, urine-soaked ashes to a rabid jackal, then light the jackal-poo on fire and fling it into the ocean, then invent a time machine so you can go back in time to join yourself in destroying it all over again?
That's kinda how I feel right now. I am in a library, so not only did I not bash my computer into bits, but I also refrained from unloading my fury in any other outward manifestation. But if Fist-and-Teeth clenching were an Olympic sport, I would be in contention for the gold medal right about now.
Besides, I don't even know where to find a Rabid Jackal at this time of the day.
I just uploaded 37 photos of my San Diego Vacation to Flickr, and spent at least 45 minutes (that I should have been sleeping) titling, filing, tagging, and describing them in my typically verbose fashion. I dislike looking through other people's pictures when they are all titled things like DSC234000005, DSC234000006, DSC234000007, Etc, And I try to put some effort into presentation if I am going to bother to post them on the web.
Then when I hit the "Save This Batch" Button at the end of this incredibly long labor of love, My 7 year old laptop got a bad case of Alzheimer's, forgot what it was doing, forgot it was a computer, forgot it was connected to the internet, briefly wondered what it was,if not a computer, and decided it was probably a 7-pound rectangular paving stone, and behaved accordingly. It froze up so solid, I couldn't even turn it off.
I couldn't bring myself to RE-title and RE-caption every picture, so...
Here's your stinking pictures! Sorry they aren't captioned or titled. I did RE-tag them, and I will make the attempt to further describe them some time soon, after I have cooled off a bit.
All VacationPhotos
SeaWorld Photos
Bahia Resort Photos
Mission Beach Photos
That's kinda how I feel right now. I am in a library, so not only did I not bash my computer into bits, but I also refrained from unloading my fury in any other outward manifestation. But if Fist-and-Teeth clenching were an Olympic sport, I would be in contention for the gold medal right about now.
Besides, I don't even know where to find a Rabid Jackal at this time of the day.
I just uploaded 37 photos of my San Diego Vacation to Flickr, and spent at least 45 minutes (that I should have been sleeping) titling, filing, tagging, and describing them in my typically verbose fashion. I dislike looking through other people's pictures when they are all titled things like DSC234000005, DSC234000006, DSC234000007, Etc, And I try to put some effort into presentation if I am going to bother to post them on the web.
Then when I hit the "Save This Batch" Button at the end of this incredibly long labor of love, My 7 year old laptop got a bad case of Alzheimer's, forgot what it was doing, forgot it was a computer, forgot it was connected to the internet, briefly wondered what it was,if not a computer, and decided it was probably a 7-pound rectangular paving stone, and behaved accordingly. It froze up so solid, I couldn't even turn it off.
I couldn't bring myself to RE-title and RE-caption every picture, so...
Here's your stinking pictures! Sorry they aren't captioned or titled. I did RE-tag them, and I will make the attempt to further describe them some time soon, after I have cooled off a bit.
All VacationPhotos
SeaWorld Photos
Bahia Resort Photos
Mission Beach Photos
Sunday, February 10, 2008
An Open Letter To MySpace's "Tom".
Seriously Dude,
How long could it possibly take to come up with your "Fancy New" rich-text editor? I have friends with blogs on your Adver-splosion of a site, and every time I have left a comment, for the last several months, I have seen your lame apology for the absence of a rich-text editor.
Oh really? Are you? Well it better be really fancy when it finally gets here, because you have been "working on" it for months! 1000 monkeys locked in a room with 1000 typewriters could have come up with a few good options by now!
Or maybe that is your strategy? By "working on" it, do you mean you currently have monkeys in a room with typewriters, and we should all just wait for that to pan out? Because if a high school senior can hack the iPhone inside of 8 weeks (and now without even touching the hardware), and folks can counterfeit the "counterfeit-proof 20" within a week, then I am thinking you have not done such a good job of hiring coders.
If you had provided the right 12 year-old with a free linux distribution and a steady paycheck, he could have carved an advertisement for Classmates.com into the face of the moon with a laser by now! Their website would still suck, but every 30 days, when we turned our faces to the sky on a clear night we would be able to see two yearbook photos from the 1960's, above the words:
Get Cracking, Tom! Your site is owned by Rupert Freaking Murdoch, for crying out loud! Borrow a couple thousand bucks, and give me a button for Italic Font, and a button for Bold Font. That's all I'm asking. Now hop to it.
Your "Friend" (but then, who isn't?),
Frank.
How long could it possibly take to come up with your "Fancy New" rich-text editor? I have friends with blogs on your Adver-splosion of a site, and every time I have left a comment, for the last several months, I have seen your lame apology for the absence of a rich-text editor.
The rich-text editor is currently disabled. We're working on a fancy new one.
Oh really? Are you? Well it better be really fancy when it finally gets here, because you have been "working on" it for months! 1000 monkeys locked in a room with 1000 typewriters could have come up with a few good options by now!
Or maybe that is your strategy? By "working on" it, do you mean you currently have monkeys in a room with typewriters, and we should all just wait for that to pan out? Because if a high school senior can hack the iPhone inside of 8 weeks (and now without even touching the hardware), and folks can counterfeit the "counterfeit-proof 20" within a week, then I am thinking you have not done such a good job of hiring coders.
If you had provided the right 12 year-old with a free linux distribution and a steady paycheck, he could have carved an advertisement for Classmates.com into the face of the moon with a laser by now! Their website would still suck, but every 30 days, when we turned our faces to the sky on a clear night we would be able to see two yearbook photos from the 1960's, above the words:
"She Married Him!??" - brought to you by MySpace.com's Lunar Ad Project. See http://myspace.com/lunarads for details.
Get Cracking, Tom! Your site is owned by Rupert Freaking Murdoch, for crying out loud! Borrow a couple thousand bucks, and give me a button for Italic Font, and a button for Bold Font. That's all I'm asking. Now hop to it.
Your "Friend" (but then, who isn't?),
Frank.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Improv Everywhere: They Cause Scenes.
A Roving Band of performing artists known as "Improv Everywhere" staged this scene in Grand Central Station. It seems that they do this sort of thing all the time, and have done similar stunts in Best Buy and Home Depot stores. But you can film things more obviously in a tourist location than you can in a retail location, so this one got better cinematography. I would love to have been there when this stunt began. It is surreal.
Friday, February 1, 2008
My Interview at TinyChoices.Com
One of the Blogs I regularly read is Tiny Choices, which is a great little blog about being more conscientious consumers, and the reason I will soon own a pack of Bamboo Sporks. They not only have some great ideas about the Stuff we buy, but they also have some really great Ideas on how to structure a blog, some of which I will probably steal some day.
One of these Ideas is a simple, recurring Interview that anyone can respond to, which they post a version of once a week. (on Friday) The questions are always the same, but the participants' answers vary, so it is always fresh, and a nice little read before the weekend.
I took the Tiny Choices Interview, and my turn in the Enviro-Limelight came today, when I Checked in to find my name in the headline of a blog which wasn't this one!
So, to all my readers: go check out my interview, (and leave a comment, if you have anything to add) and check the rest of the site while you're there! You might learn something! And if you like that kind of thing, go ahead and subscribe while you are over there!
And to all Tiny Choices' readers: Welcome to The Daily Blog of the Day! I hope you enjoy the totally random hodgepodge of info-cational edu-tainment assembled here. Like Seinfeld, this blog is about Nothing. Unlike Seinfeld, this blog is virtually unheard of by anyone. But if you like what you see, then hey.. Why not subscribe (by RSS or by e-mail) while you're here? And yes, Jenn and Karina, that goes for you!
One of these Ideas is a simple, recurring Interview that anyone can respond to, which they post a version of once a week. (on Friday) The questions are always the same, but the participants' answers vary, so it is always fresh, and a nice little read before the weekend.
I took the Tiny Choices Interview, and my turn in the Enviro-Limelight came today, when I Checked in to find my name in the headline of a blog which wasn't this one!
So, to all my readers: go check out my interview, (and leave a comment, if you have anything to add) and check the rest of the site while you're there! You might learn something! And if you like that kind of thing, go ahead and subscribe while you are over there!
And to all Tiny Choices' readers: Welcome to The Daily Blog of the Day! I hope you enjoy the totally random hodgepodge of info-cational edu-tainment assembled here. Like Seinfeld, this blog is about Nothing. Unlike Seinfeld, this blog is virtually unheard of by anyone. But if you like what you see, then hey.. Why not subscribe (by RSS or by e-mail) while you're here? And yes, Jenn and Karina, that goes for you!
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
A List, For Your Perusal
I didn't just stop blogging for a while there last week. I stopped looking at my stats, too. so when I first checked back in I was surprised to find these results. For convenience I have grouped them by type. There are a few oddball terms in there, that I will have to explore further. For now, make of this chart what you will.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Amazingly Cool Resources, Part 4 of 5 - imeem
Amazingly Cool Resource #4: imeem
I just dicovered imeem about a week ago, and I am in love! I told you in the last installment of StumbleUpon, which lets you discover new websites by building a profile of what stuff you like, and serving up more of that kind of stuff. Well imeem is kind of like that, but for music. And video too, but I mostly use the music side of things.
I like a lot of music, but I am (as has been mentioned in other posts) a cheapskate tightwad. I don't like to pay for music, and I don't particularly like having to sneak around like a Drug Dealer looking for a place to "Score" music for free.
imeem is a great resource for anyone who works (or plays) next to a computer much of the day. If you don't want to spend much time, just log in (you do need an account), type the name of the artist that has captured your fancy lately into the searchbar (make sure you select a "music" search,as opposed to an "Everything" search), and get a list of imeem's songs by that artist (more or less). With the click of one button, you can make a playlist out of all those songs, which pops up in a streaming music player a separate window. You can look through that list, and un-check song you don't want to hear.You can minimize that window, leaving it in the background where it will play the songs you want to hear, with no interruptions, for as long as you want. Kicks Radio's Butt, Hands Down.
If you do want to spend a little more time cruising through the tunes, there is a little button (actually there are 3) up at the top Righ..no Left side of the screen, that functions just like StumbleUpon's "Stumble" button. Based on the songs you have rated previously, the "discover" button will take you to a new page, where a fresh song awaits your rating. If you like the song, you can choose to play the next "Related" song, or click the "dicover" button to get another tune.
There is a lot that can be done to improve the site's navigation, and their "help" page is kind of a joke, but the main features of the site, playlist building and music discovery, are worth a look. And of course, the system works a lot better if you have friends in your network who actively share music. Since plugging in
Amazingly Cool Resource #4½: hulu
One thing that really annoys me lately is the people who respond to my blog with "You must have too much time on your hands!" or "You need a hobby!" or some other snarky comment implying that time spent in front of my computer screen is time wasted. Anybody who can tell me how Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell are getting along nowadays, or why, in their opinion, the last "Project Runway" contestant should never have been treated like that, or what happened on the last 114 episodes of "24", doesn't have the right to tell me about wasting time online.
We make time for what we like, whether that be playing in the park with our kids, reading the New York Times every day, Building a Full Size Replica of Chewbacca out of Legos, Reading the last 70 James Patterson Novels, or organizing and maintaining our "Hubcaps of the World" Collection. One thing I spend a lot of time doing lately is blogging- Researching things, Sharing my thoughts about the world, and Trying (occasionally desperately, and mostly ineffectively) to foster a sense of interactivity and community amongst my various readers.
One thing I haven't spent ANY time on is watching TV. Not that I am holier than thou or anything, I just live in an area that is too far away from both Nashville and Chattanooga to get decent reception with bunny ears, and am too big a ... you guessed it! Too big a cheapskate tightwad to pony up for Satellite or Cable TV. (Maybe I should have called this series Amazingly Cool Resources for Cheapskate Tightwads!)
Anyway, As of a couple of days ago, I got my "Invite" to the "Private Beta" launch of Hulu.com, the upcoming joint venture from NBC and Fox, to bring "Made For the Airwaves" content to the YouTube crowd. While I haven't watched much TV for the last few years, it has not been for lack of shows I wanted to see. "Heroes", as readers of this blog could probably guess, is something I really wanted to see, and I got really sick of being in the dark as I heard America talk about "Lost", and "24" as well. The "Reality" TV, like the aforementioned Project Runway and American Idol, I could Pass on, but there is actually a lot of TV programming that I would like to catch up on.
Now that it is available to me, on demand and practically commercial free, on Hulu, my only problem is prioritizing what shows to watch first. I have one episode each of "The Simpsons" and "The Office" under my belt and only 4,000 more episodes to go. Now I can waste my time like a real American, and get the social approval I so desperately desire!
(that last sentence was intended sarcastically. Just so you know.)
I just dicovered imeem about a week ago, and I am in love! I told you in the last installment of StumbleUpon, which lets you discover new websites by building a profile of what stuff you like, and serving up more of that kind of stuff. Well imeem is kind of like that, but for music. And video too, but I mostly use the music side of things.
I like a lot of music, but I am (as has been mentioned in other posts) a cheapskate tightwad. I don't like to pay for music, and I don't particularly like having to sneak around like a Drug Dealer looking for a place to "Score" music for free.
imeem is a great resource for anyone who works (or plays) next to a computer much of the day. If you don't want to spend much time, just log in (you do need an account), type the name of the artist that has captured your fancy lately into the searchbar (make sure you select a "music" search,as opposed to an "Everything" search), and get a list of imeem's songs by that artist (more or less). With the click of one button, you can make a playlist out of all those songs, which pops up in a streaming music player a separate window. You can look through that list, and un-check song you don't want to hear.You can minimize that window, leaving it in the background where it will play the songs you want to hear, with no interruptions, for as long as you want. Kicks Radio's Butt, Hands Down.
If you do want to spend a little more time cruising through the tunes, there is a little button (actually there are 3) up at the top Righ..no Left side of the screen, that functions just like StumbleUpon's "Stumble" button. Based on the songs you have rated previously, the "discover" button will take you to a new page, where a fresh song awaits your rating. If you like the song, you can choose to play the next "Related" song, or click the "dicover" button to get another tune.
There is a lot that can be done to improve the site's navigation, and their "help" page is kind of a joke, but the main features of the site, playlist building and music discovery, are worth a look. And of course, the system works a lot better if you have friends in your network who actively share music. Since plugging in
Amazingly Cool Resource #4½: hulu
One thing that really annoys me lately is the people who respond to my blog with "You must have too much time on your hands!" or "You need a hobby!" or some other snarky comment implying that time spent in front of my computer screen is time wasted. Anybody who can tell me how Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell are getting along nowadays, or why, in their opinion, the last "Project Runway" contestant should never have been treated like that, or what happened on the last 114 episodes of "24", doesn't have the right to tell me about wasting time online.
We make time for what we like, whether that be playing in the park with our kids, reading the New York Times every day, Building a Full Size Replica of Chewbacca out of Legos, Reading the last 70 James Patterson Novels, or organizing and maintaining our "Hubcaps of the World" Collection. One thing I spend a lot of time doing lately is blogging- Researching things, Sharing my thoughts about the world, and Trying (occasionally desperately, and mostly ineffectively) to foster a sense of interactivity and community amongst my various readers.
One thing I haven't spent ANY time on is watching TV. Not that I am holier than thou or anything, I just live in an area that is too far away from both Nashville and Chattanooga to get decent reception with bunny ears, and am too big a ... you guessed it! Too big a cheapskate tightwad to pony up for Satellite or Cable TV. (Maybe I should have called this series Amazingly Cool Resources for Cheapskate Tightwads!)
Anyway, As of a couple of days ago, I got my "Invite" to the "Private Beta" launch of Hulu.com, the upcoming joint venture from NBC and Fox, to bring "Made For the Airwaves" content to the YouTube crowd. While I haven't watched much TV for the last few years, it has not been for lack of shows I wanted to see. "Heroes", as readers of this blog could probably guess, is something I really wanted to see, and I got really sick of being in the dark as I heard America talk about "Lost", and "24" as well. The "Reality" TV, like the aforementioned Project Runway and American Idol, I could Pass on, but there is actually a lot of TV programming that I would like to catch up on.
Now that it is available to me, on demand and practically commercial free, on Hulu, my only problem is prioritizing what shows to watch first. I have one episode each of "The Simpsons" and "The Office" under my belt and only 4,000 more episodes to go. Now I can waste my time like a real American, and get the social approval I so desperately desire!
(that last sentence was intended sarcastically. Just so you know.)
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Amazingly Cool Resources, Part 3 of 5 - StumbleUpon
Amazingly Cool Resource #3: StumbleUpon
I have been using StumbleUpon for quite a while now. I don't know where exactly I heard about it, but If I remember who introduced me to it, then I owe them a big Kiss.
StumbleUpon, or just "SU" if you are in a hurry, is sort of a social network, but it is more a vehicle for cruising the web. When the World Wide Web was young, the time spent online was equated with time spent "Channel Surfing", on Cable or Satellite TV. "Surfing" channels was flitting from one channel to another, with no idea what was next.
But "Surfing The Web", as the activity came to be called (because "Reading the Web" just didn't seem to fit the bill), was unlike it's telvision counterpart, in that while you were flitting from one page to another, you weren't doing it randomly, just to "see what else is on". You were following a link to specific content you (hopefully) wanted to see. Outside of some themed "Web Rings" (anyone remember them?), you didn't have the option of idly "Flipping the Channel" to "see what else is on".
Until StumbleUpon.
StumbleUpon has a slightly higher bar for entry than other social networks, because it asks you to install a toolbar on your own personal computer. If you use a PC at the Public Library to check your MySpace, or your Facebook, or your Email, then StumbleUpon is going to be useless, because it only works on computers with the toolbar installed.
However if you cross that initial obstacle, then you can enjoy a personalized selection of internet goodness, specially tailored to your interests, and served up to you at literally the click of a button.
That Button is the "Stumble" Button, and a single click on it will take you to a random website listed among one of the "interests" you selected when setting up your account.There are scores, if not hundreds of topics, so your first stumble could take you to a page on anything from Parenting, to Astronomy, to Coin Collecting, to Anime, to Gardening, to Ferrets, to Christianity, to Jazz.
If you love the page you landed on, then click the little Tivo-like "Thumbs up" button next to the stumble button. SU will send you more pages like that in the future. Then you can surf from that site as you ordinarily would, and when you find yourself bored, hit the Stumble Button to "See what else is on". If you don't like the site, a thumbs-down will send you soaring off to some other site.
Stumble upon works by taking the sites you have indicated you liked, finding others who liked them, and finding what else they liked. You don't have to "Friend" them to benefit from their input into the system. But you can. If you find people whose interests line up closely with your own, then you can add them as friends, and "Stumble" through only sites that they, in particular have liked.
There are a lot of other features, but there honestly don't need to be. Their one main feature is enough to keep you informed and/or entertained (possibly even "info-tained") for as long as your body can physically stand to sit in front of a computer. Or Longer.
I have been using StumbleUpon for quite a while now. I don't know where exactly I heard about it, but If I remember who introduced me to it, then I owe them a big Kiss.
StumbleUpon, or just "SU" if you are in a hurry, is sort of a social network, but it is more a vehicle for cruising the web. When the World Wide Web was young, the time spent online was equated with time spent "Channel Surfing", on Cable or Satellite TV. "Surfing" channels was flitting from one channel to another, with no idea what was next.
But "Surfing The Web", as the activity came to be called (because "Reading the Web" just didn't seem to fit the bill), was unlike it's telvision counterpart, in that while you were flitting from one page to another, you weren't doing it randomly, just to "see what else is on". You were following a link to specific content you (hopefully) wanted to see. Outside of some themed "Web Rings" (anyone remember them?), you didn't have the option of idly "Flipping the Channel" to "see what else is on".
Until StumbleUpon.
StumbleUpon has a slightly higher bar for entry than other social networks, because it asks you to install a toolbar on your own personal computer. If you use a PC at the Public Library to check your MySpace, or your Facebook, or your Email, then StumbleUpon is going to be useless, because it only works on computers with the toolbar installed.
However if you cross that initial obstacle, then you can enjoy a personalized selection of internet goodness, specially tailored to your interests, and served up to you at literally the click of a button.
That Button is the "Stumble" Button, and a single click on it will take you to a random website listed among one of the "interests" you selected when setting up your account.There are scores, if not hundreds of topics, so your first stumble could take you to a page on anything from Parenting, to Astronomy, to Coin Collecting, to Anime, to Gardening, to Ferrets, to Christianity, to Jazz.
If you love the page you landed on, then click the little Tivo-like "Thumbs up" button next to the stumble button. SU will send you more pages like that in the future. Then you can surf from that site as you ordinarily would, and when you find yourself bored, hit the Stumble Button to "See what else is on". If you don't like the site, a thumbs-down will send you soaring off to some other site.
Stumble upon works by taking the sites you have indicated you liked, finding others who liked them, and finding what else they liked. You don't have to "Friend" them to benefit from their input into the system. But you can. If you find people whose interests line up closely with your own, then you can add them as friends, and "Stumble" through only sites that they, in particular have liked.
There are a lot of other features, but there honestly don't need to be. Their one main feature is enough to keep you informed and/or entertained (possibly even "info-tained") for as long as your body can physically stand to sit in front of a computer. Or Longer.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Amazingly Cool Resources, Part 2 of 5 - Callwave
Amazingly Cool Resource #2:Callwave
I heard a story on NPR several months ago featuring one of the personal pet peeves of one of their reporters. This reporter hated having to sit through the recorded voice which tells you that So-and-so is currently unavailable, and that to leave a message you may start speaking after the tone, and if you would like to send this person a numeric page (has any one in the history of cellphones ever left a numeric page?), then you may enter it using the keypad, and oh, yes, one more thing that I need to tell you before I let you get on with leaving your message, when you are finished leaving your message (which you would already be finished with if we weren't still instructing you), you may hang up (Ah, ah! Didn't say "Simon Says Hang Up!") or press 1 for more options.
Like you possibly need more options. The only option you want at this point is the option to make this recorded operator lady Shut Up, so you can leave your message, which is quite likely shorter than the instructions that the phone company felt you needed in order to leave it! It's Leaving a message! It's not Rocket Surgery! I can figure out how to hang up after I am finished all by myself! Geez! And you know what else? I can also dress myself and go to the potty like a big kid! (most of the time.)
So imagine my surprise when I called my brother the other day, and got A very brief message telling me that he was unavailable and to leave A message after the tone, followed immediately by the Tone! I was in shock! I was expecting Ms. Recorded Operator-Bot to read me "Voicemail For Dummies", but all of a sudden it's Message Time? Wow!
I asked if he had changed to a new cellular carrier, because I had previously been using the same Network (America's Most Reliable one, if their Ads are to be believed), and if he had changed carriers ,then I wouldn't get to use my IN™ Minutes to talk to him anymore. But No! he hadn't changed networks, just voicemail services. Apparently you can do that!
He told me he was using a service called Callwave, which not only gave his callers a gloriously brief message, but afforded him a host of other benefits as well, and told me to go check out their website. So I did, and now I will never go back. Callwave is as much a leap ahead of Standard-issue Voicemail as Voicemail itself was to the Cassette Tape Answering Machine.
Now when i get a call (or more precisely, when I miss a call), callwave takes a message for me. They store the message on their servers, where I can log on and hear it from my computer's speakers
Or, If I am on the go, I can check from my phone handset, just like with the standard issue system.
OR, if I am really on the go, or in a meeting, or at a movie, or otherwise occupied, I don't even have to raise the handset to my ear. I can READ your message. Yes, you heard me right... or rather, Read me right! Callwave's Voice recognition software creates a transcript of the call, and Text Messages it to me. (you can set the account so that you get transcripts either by Email, or TXT, or both. Useful if you get charged per-Text.)
The voice recognition software is not perfect, and leads to some funny garble in the message, especially the beginnings and endings of the call, where people tend to speak fast, and not directly into the phone. I haven't got a text message yet from this service that hasn't contained some level of garble. However, all of the transcripts that I have received have been understandable. You get the gist. As a matter of fact, the name of this Technology is "GIST"
The service is free, and not even supported by ads, although you can upgrade to a "Pro" Account if you are a power user.
I heard a story on NPR several months ago featuring one of the personal pet peeves of one of their reporters. This reporter hated having to sit through the recorded voice which tells you that So-and-so is currently unavailable, and that to leave a message you may start speaking after the tone, and if you would like to send this person a numeric page (has any one in the history of cellphones ever left a numeric page?), then you may enter it using the keypad, and oh, yes, one more thing that I need to tell you before I let you get on with leaving your message, when you are finished leaving your message (which you would already be finished with if we weren't still instructing you), you may hang up (Ah, ah! Didn't say "Simon Says Hang Up!") or press 1 for more options.
Like you possibly need more options. The only option you want at this point is the option to make this recorded operator lady Shut Up, so you can leave your message, which is quite likely shorter than the instructions that the phone company felt you needed in order to leave it! It's Leaving a message! It's not Rocket Surgery! I can figure out how to hang up after I am finished all by myself! Geez! And you know what else? I can also dress myself and go to the potty like a big kid! (most of the time.)
So imagine my surprise when I called my brother the other day, and got A very brief message telling me that he was unavailable and to leave A message after the tone, followed immediately by the Tone! I was in shock! I was expecting Ms. Recorded Operator-Bot to read me "Voicemail For Dummies", but all of a sudden it's Message Time? Wow!
I asked if he had changed to a new cellular carrier, because I had previously been using the same Network (America's Most Reliable one, if their Ads are to be believed), and if he had changed carriers ,then I wouldn't get to use my IN™ Minutes to talk to him anymore. But No! he hadn't changed networks, just voicemail services. Apparently you can do that!
He told me he was using a service called Callwave, which not only gave his callers a gloriously brief message, but afforded him a host of other benefits as well, and told me to go check out their website. So I did, and now I will never go back. Callwave is as much a leap ahead of Standard-issue Voicemail as Voicemail itself was to the Cassette Tape Answering Machine.
Now when i get a call (or more precisely, when I miss a call), callwave takes a message for me. They store the message on their servers, where I can log on and hear it from my computer's speakers
Or, If I am on the go, I can check from my phone handset, just like with the standard issue system.
OR, if I am really on the go, or in a meeting, or at a movie, or otherwise occupied, I don't even have to raise the handset to my ear. I can READ your message. Yes, you heard me right... or rather, Read me right! Callwave's Voice recognition software creates a transcript of the call, and Text Messages it to me. (you can set the account so that you get transcripts either by Email, or TXT, or both. Useful if you get charged per-Text.)
The voice recognition software is not perfect, and leads to some funny garble in the message, especially the beginnings and endings of the call, where people tend to speak fast, and not directly into the phone. I haven't got a text message yet from this service that hasn't contained some level of garble. However, all of the transcripts that I have received have been understandable. You get the gist. As a matter of fact, the name of this Technology is "GIST"
The service is free, and not even supported by ads, although you can upgrade to a "Pro" Account if you are a power user.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Amazingly Cool Resources, Part 1 of 5
I started to call this series "5 great web resources I use" but they aren't all web resources. One is a phone resource, and the other is a hybrid phone/web resource. Not all of these resources will be for everybody, but everybody should be able to benefit from at least one.
Amazingly Cool Resource #1:GOOG-411
I used this one just yesterday, and thought it would fit in with the other resources I wanted to talk about. If you are like me (and I hope for your sake you aren't!), then you enjoy the convenience of being able to grab your cellphone whereever and whenever you happen to be, and get the phone number to anyplace you want to call SIMPLY by dialing a 4, followed by a 1, and another 1.
But, if you are like me (again, sorry if you are), you also are a cheapskate tightwad who hates to fork over $1.99 to your phone company every time you do this.
Enter Goog-411, the search engine for your phone. Instead of dialing your old "Pay per call" info service, just add a "1-800-GOOG" before the "411" You will get roughly the same amount of service as you get from your current directory service (although without a human as backup), only for Free! And Franky Likes Free! It's his favorite price!
If you know the City and the name of the place you are trying to reach, and don't have too much trouble "pronounciating" words clearly, Then give it a try next time you don't have a phone book on hand.
Tune in next time, blogfans, for Amazingly Cool Resource #2 - Callwave!
Amazingly Cool Resource #1:GOOG-411
I used this one just yesterday, and thought it would fit in with the other resources I wanted to talk about. If you are like me (and I hope for your sake you aren't!), then you enjoy the convenience of being able to grab your cellphone whereever and whenever you happen to be, and get the phone number to anyplace you want to call SIMPLY by dialing a 4, followed by a 1, and another 1.
But, if you are like me (again, sorry if you are), you also are a cheapskate tightwad who hates to fork over $1.99 to your phone company every time you do this.
Enter Goog-411, the search engine for your phone. Instead of dialing your old "Pay per call" info service, just add a "1-800-GOOG" before the "411" You will get roughly the same amount of service as you get from your current directory service (although without a human as backup), only for Free! And Franky Likes Free! It's his favorite price!
If you know the City and the name of the place you are trying to reach, and don't have too much trouble "pronounciating" words clearly, Then give it a try next time you don't have a phone book on hand.
Tune in next time, blogfans, for Amazingly Cool Resource #2 - Callwave!
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Flickr-y Goodness!
Hey, readers!
I finally posted my pictures of the 1.21 Gigawatt Thanksmas Illumination, and they're not very good, but They are up on my Flickr account tagged as "gigawatt". Clicky the linky for slideshowy goodness.
But wait! There's more! While I was uploading stuff, I created a group! It is called "The Daily Flickr Group of the Day", and if you go join, then you can submit your own pictures of stuff that you think would be of interest to me, and of course, the Intellectual Elite that read this fine blog. Then we can all leave little comments all over your picture and tell you how awesome you are for posting such amazing awesomeness! Doesn't that sound like something cool? Yeah, I thought so. Once I figure out how to use it, I will post more, but consider this your first "Heads-up".
I finally posted my pictures of the 1.21 Gigawatt Thanksmas Illumination, and they're not very good, but They are up on my Flickr account tagged as "gigawatt". Clicky the linky for slideshowy goodness.
But wait! There's more! While I was uploading stuff, I created a group! It is called "The Daily Flickr Group of the Day", and if you go join, then you can submit your own pictures of stuff that you think would be of interest to me, and of course, the Intellectual Elite that read this fine blog. Then we can all leave little comments all over your picture and tell you how awesome you are for posting such amazing awesomeness! Doesn't that sound like something cool? Yeah, I thought so. Once I figure out how to use it, I will post more, but consider this your first "Heads-up".
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