Friday 30 January 2004

right words and almost right words

and words that are definitely wrong . . .

If you have ever wondered what terms such as metrosexual, flash mob, poox, man breasts, chickenability, pomosexual, butt call, salad dodger, time porn and dead cat bounce mean or where they came from, fear not.

The Word Spy is devoted to cataloging recently coined words and phrases or old words used in new ways on a regular basis. It’s a great site, filled with intrigue and laughter and plenty of terms you can learn to use to stun your friends, amaze co-workers and outright shock your family!

hat tip: Matt Burris

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Tuesday 27 January 2004

tappity tap tap

I was just chatting with my friend and fellow WaSP the lovely ms. sniffles who told me that her left shift key isn’t working on her keyboard and that this has changed her whole way of typing.

Keyboards are curious bits of technology. Keyboards get dirty, they break, they stop working, they are cheaply made, they hurt us if not properly shaped. I think it’s time we begin talking about keyboards and the true depth of trauma they cause the entire keyboard-using populace of the world.

Of course, I’ve got most things ass-backward, so instead of my keyboard traumatizing me, I tend to traumatize my keyboard. The first oddity has something to do with me – either I’m too alkaline or too acidic or something – but I type the inked letters right off of my keyboards. So most of my keyboards are almost completely letter- and symbol- less.

Another quirk with my current keyboard on my primary computer: One day I was cleaning it, and in my fight against grime, I got a little aggressive (imagine that). The u and i keys popped right off! I had to dig in the snakepit beneath my desk to find them (that’s another topic for another day), but find them I did. I snapped those keys right back on, but in the wrong order. Because I touch type, I never noticed.

So my keyboard is mostly free of visual cues, and the few that remain don’t work properly. You can imagine what anyone else using my keyboard has to say about it.

What’s up with your keyboard?

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Monday 26 January 2004

most desired things

Thanks everyone for the most wonderful birthday comments! You made my day. Keith asked:

“If you could have one present today, what would it be? (besides world peace, a winning lottery ticket, a president from the democratic party or something else unrealistic?)”

I’ve been thinking a lot about this, but I don’t know the answer (other than world peace, a winning lottery ticket and a new president). Let’s pretend he asked you and you can help me out with some ideas.

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magnificent union of digitally downloading artists

Peter Gabriel and Brian Eno are launching a new musician’s alliance that will encourage artists to share and sell their music online instead of only through record labels.

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Sunday 25 January 2004

happy molly day!

Now how arrogant is that? Hahaha. Well who cares. It’s my birthday and I’ll be arrogant if I want to (or something like that).

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Saturday 24 January 2004

kazaa kicks back

At a hideaway on an island in Vanuatu Sharmon Networks, owner of the famed file-sharing network Kazaa received news today that U.S. Federal courts will allow them to proceed with lawsuits against a number of U.S. recording studios and record companies.

Sharmon Networks contends that these companies misused the Kazaa software to invade the privacy of Kazaa users.

Somewhere, Homer Simpson is raising a beer and shouting: “DOH! ”

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Friday 23 January 2004

want your virginity back?

I’m not particularly sure I do, but since the folks at The Society for the Recapture of Virginity claim I’ll have orgasms that are 200% stronger, enjoy the taste of food more (not that I have too many problems with that), and make more money I decided to look into it. Maybe you should, too.

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Tuesday 20 January 2004

geoblogging

I’ve been spending some time looking into the geographical mapping of weblogs. It’s a simple concept, really. You add some metadata to your documents that contain your geographical coordinates. This data is then used to generate a list of other weblogs that are geographically close to you. There’s even a Movable Type plug-in to automate the process for MT users.

Go ahead and check out blogs near me.

If this is something that interests you, check out:

• GeoURL ICBM Address Server. This site will help you get set up.
• Entry Location Plugin. For Movable Type users, allows you to tag every individual post with a location.
• blizg. Cool blog index that looks for connections between weblogs, with a feature that supports ICBM.

By the way, “ICBM” isn’t an acronym. It’s a bit of jargon from back when Usenet was being mapped.

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Monday 19 January 2004

blazing light of truth (MLK Day)

“I still believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive goodwill will proclaim the rule of the land.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Nobel Acceptance, 1964

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Sunday 18 January 2004

a blue box from tiffany’s

Every girl deserves a little blue box from Tiffany’s, and today I got one!

Next week is my 41st birthday, and my brother Linus and his terrific girlfriend Hillary are in town from L.A. this weekend for a wedding. They took me out to an early birthday lunch, and gave me a beautiful Elsa Peretti bean pendant in silver.

Even more cool? As Linus and Hillary walked off into a gorgeous Tucson afternoon, I enjoyed a little secret. I knew that in his pocket, Linus had a box of his own. In that box was my maternal grandmother’s engagement ring.

So at this moment or very close to it, Linus is asking Hillary if she will be his bride. I know another bit of information too: She’s going to say yes.

So thank you Linus and Hillary, for making me so happy to know such fine people as yourselves, for being so generous in your gifts to me, and for the happy future I know will be yours together.

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Thursday 15 January 2004

slap me backhanded, oh yeah!

Sometimes you get compliments, and sometimes you get . . .

From: Jeff Richardson
To: [email protected]
Subject: I didn’t love your CSS book, but I love your website!

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Tuesday 13 January 2004

persuade me please

I’m wondering. Is content still king? How is great web content created and maintained? What do you think makes a persuasive web site?

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Monday 12 January 2004

which character said it?

“I’ve seen a lot of spinals, dude, and this guy’s a fake.”

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instead you are something

Feed the drooling dog for he lies down with thieves
find the horrible hate that has no shoulder
fix it as you would a broken sieve.
Adore addicts and brothers
as though you would a lover.

I hear you’re too tight for love
that you’re too bright and too fast and too burning.
Although you’re my friend I watch as you fall by the door
it’s not as though I’ve stopped caring.

Rage was over the other night
did I tell you that she brought a shotgun?

I turned it over to her instead
dead, dead see, Rage is now dead.
You can finally silence your relief:
Me? I’ve already got some.

Inhale deeply, now. You’ll find more peace.
You’ll learn that you could have been nothing.

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Saturday 10 January 2004

technology is . . .

“Technology is like science, only useful.”

– John Stewart

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