My new wheels

My new ride.  Hell on wheels at 25MPH. So much fun.

gigapan: GigaPan allows users to upload, share, and explore brilliant gigapixel+ panoramas from around the globe.

gigapan: GigaPan allows users to upload, share, and explore brilliant gigapixel+ panoramas from around the globe.

Ever wish you could do more with your digital camera? Here's a site that should fire up your imagination. Contribute your images and create a gigapixel panorama. You can also view panoramas on Google Earth. This is truly awesome technology.

A beautiful case mod

This is perhaps the most fantastic, beautiful and envy-worthy case mod I've ever come across. About all I know about it is that is was built in Europe, it's a water-cooled PC in the steampunk style. I'm in desperate geek-love with this machine. If anyone can read the source forum entry and can add any more info on this work of tech art, please do.

Tired guy and fat cat

I thought I'd post a couple of shots from the somewhat more organized cottage. Speaking of images, check out http://play.blogger.com/. You can watch real-time as images are uploaded to Blogger accounts. It's rather fascinating.

New haircut but need a shave:


A few of the jazz CDs I've unpacked:


A novel way to store the classical CDs:





Fat cat by herself:

Two songs for Maryjane

She wanted me to hear this one;







and I wanted her to hear this one;







To round out this Incubus moment, here's one we both understand;

Freedom for the Internet

Today I offer Henry Rollins, as profane and angry as George, with a different slant on the topic. Language Warning; profane and opinionated.

Who Owns You?

George Carlin is a hero of mine. Not because he's smarter than everyone else, not because he's more successful than everyone else. Carlin, like Lenny Bruce before him, has the courage and insight to say the things we don't want to hear, to tie together the threads of thought we're often too distracted by daily life to put together ourselves. Carlin says what ought to be said, what needs to be said, whether we want to hear it or not. He presents the alternative view to the news broadcasts, the television commercials, the pronouncements from the government. His is the clear vision of the common man. And nowhere does he cut to the quick deeper than in the following video from one of his concerts. Be warned, Carlin's routine contains many words you won't want your children to hear, and quite a few obscenities as well. Carlin's objective has always been to make people think for themselves. I hope this video causes you to think.

Everything Old is New Again

A very good friend of mine inspired me to read back through this blog today, and I happened across this entry, created 3 years ago to the month. Amazing. I find myself in nearly the same position once again.

My Mom is currently in the hospital and soon to be living in an assisted-care facility, so I'm being forced to consider moving, which will entail finding a new job as well. Since I moved her in with me 3 years ago, her retirement pay has gone toward offsetting the rent here. That support is ending, as we need to divert funds to her care now. The pay I receive, while above minimum wage, is insufficient to allow me to rent another place in the ridiculously expensive city.

I hope this doesn't become a habit; every three years having to post that I'm soon to be homeless and unemployed.

These are times that try men's souls, as it were. If I were ever to doubt my atheistic conclusions, days like this provide the opportunity. How nice it would be to think that some super-being would swoop in and make everything better. How comforting it would be to dump all my problems in the cosmic lap of this being and expect him to fix them. But I'm not tempted at all. Reality may not be all that comforting or pleasant, but it is reality. I will muddle through this current situation much as I always have, depending on myself and my friends and family to find a resolution. No guarantees, no promises, no hope in mythical beings. I can only be determined and thankful for the help I get.

The Internet Crash of 2007

The Onion outdoes CNN...

Follow your dream

There are people who don’t always fit into society as smoothly as others. They are the ignored, the passed-by, the unimportant. Those are seldom attributes they assign themselves; they’re assigned by others.

But then there are those who have found the nugget of value within themselves. Paul Potts is one of those. He’s not especially attractive. He got bullied in school. He could easily have become bitter, disillusioned and withdrawn. Instead he uncovered a talent, an absolutely beautiful voice, and despite being a mobile-phone salesman, he gathered up the courage to risk humiliation by sharing his ability with the world. And the world is better off for that.

Please allow yourself to enjoy this too short video, and let it encourage you to follow your own dream.

Blogged with Flock

Computer Dominoes

A different kind of computer crash...

Weemee

Oliver kicks back

 
In two short months, Oliver has adapted to his new home admirably. He already has a favorite chair and a favorite blanket. It doesn't appear he finds KPBS mentally stimulating.

Penguin Pete's Blog - 10 Signs you've been using Firefox too long...

Penguin Pete's Blog - 10 Signs you've been using Firefox too long...
Penguin Pete offers the following 10 signs you've been using Firefox too long...

1. You sit right next to a window but you still just look at your ForecastFox icon to see what it's like outside.

2. You fumble with the TV remote for a minute before remembering that you can't open another channel in a new tab.

3. Everybody else says "Google it" now, but in addition you can also Yahoo it, Wiki it, and eBay it.

4. Your sole measure of a celebrity's popularity is whether they appear on Stumble-Upon.

5. You have to think hard to remember what a pop-up or a banner ad looks like.

6. You think Debian should have backed down on the whole Iceweasel thing.

7. Your distaste for Internet Explorer has branched into an irrational phobia of the letter 'e'.

8. You message your spouse through ChatZilla to find out what's for dinner instead of just going upstairs.

9. A web page without CSS looks naked to you.

10. Your spelling used to be terrible until version 2.0 came out.

I refuse to say how many and which of those apply to me, but it's more than one.

Blogger's Blues

I guess for some geeks, nothing could be more depressing, more disheartening, than to do everything they can think of to increase their blog's audience and interest - submitting site maps to Google, studying SEO tips, posting every 13 minutes - and then see a Google Alert for blogs return a result like the following;

First post- why blog?
ProgressiveU.org - San Mateo,CA,USA
My name is Kaylen and this is my first blog. I'm going to write about WHY I made this blog, and why I am planning on writing in it each day. ...

It makes me just want to slash my wrists.

Well, not me...I meant the hypothetical blogger I mentioned above.

Blogging for bloggers

I've been reading a lot of comments from internet pundits lately predicting that 2007 will be the year that blogging will reach its zenith in popularity.

The blogging phenomenon is set to peak in 2007, according to technology predictions by analysts Gartner.
The analysts said that during the middle of next year the number of blogs will level out at about 100 million.
The firm has said that 200 million people have already stopped writing their blogs.

BBC News

Since I'm notoriously oblivious to most trends, I'm choosing to ignore this one as well. While I might agree that the number of quality personal blogs may level off or even decrease in the near future, I think we're going to see an increase in the number of companies that embrace the blogging ethic to create a relationship with their customers and the public at large.

To help empower bloggers, I'm creating a forum for both personal and professional bloggers that will offer resources and support. Check it out and join up. Share your knowledge and pick up some hints, learn more about customizing your site and how to provide quality content. Any type of blogger using any platform/software is welcome. Bloggers need community, too.

Bloggers-exchange.com forum. Let me know what you think.

Test results

My test post went well, as did the switch over from the old Blogger to the new Googlfied Blogger. So I guess I'm ready to resurrect this, my oldest and original blog.

I'm a huge fan of the blog concept. Blogs are the first realizations of a true world democracy. Whether that is for good or ill still isn't known. So far I perceive the positives as outweighing any negative aspects.

I don't expect that the Chinese government, perhaps even our own, would agree with my statement. But that in itself is encouraging. Governments are legitimate only as far as they pay attention to the needs of their citizens. Now, the citizens have a way to let their needs, concerns and attitudes be heard. The internet could very well be the impetus for a worldwide democratic revolution. No longer do groups of people have to suffer in silence. On the web, every voice has an equal chance of being heard.

Even yours.

This is a test

This is a test of the new Blogger system. Had this been a real post, there would have been interesting content.

Useful Dead Technologies || kuro5hin.org

Sometimes I feel like a ludite. Even though my house is full of electronic gizmos, there are times I regret not having the sturdy, dependable hardware of the 50's. So when I read what mcgrew published over at Kuor5hin,Useful Dead Technologies || kuro5hin.org, I had to chuckle. I guess I'm not the only curmudgeon around here. What's really amazing is some of the feedback he got. Whew...That's why you never have a conversation like this in a bar.

Serial blog killer

I just killed off "Weakly Whirled News" and I intend to also kill "News and Reviews" before the evening's out. I had to hesitate when it came time to hit the "Delete this blog?" button. Killing off content that sometimes took a day or two to perfect is really difficult. For a writer, it's a little like killing off a child, though the state looks much more kindly on killing a blog. But I really need to limit my blogging to just the two that I originally wanted to have, so the dross needed to be culled. Hmmm, maybe I'm a serial culler...