#5090
October 1 was the last day of 50 Songs in 90 Days. The previous day, I discovered that I'd forgotten most of the songs I'd started writing for 50/90. Some of them were in the directory I'd set up just for this year's 50/90; others were on sheets of paper hidden somewhere. All of them, of course, were unfinished: either tunes without lyrics or lyrics without tunes. I found them and posted them just in time. I'm finishing them now. Once I get all the lyrics composed, I'll start recording the demos so there will be actual songs to hear.
My 50/90 profile is here. If you're registered at 50/90 or FAWM, you can even leave comments. And I still have a lot of "zongs" (songs without comments) left to "bust"...
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
The File Sharing Controversy in Britain: Are We Americans Seeing It Wrong?
In America over the past decade, the debate has been over whether file sharing is detrimental to the music industry. Well, certainly the record and radio companies are suffering. They blame file sharing, though the evidence points more toward the corporations, sabotaging themselves through increasingly expensive mergers, acquisitions, and contracts which buried them in debt. Some musicians are taking the record companies' side, while others embrace file sharing, saying it's no more or less destructive than taping used to be. In my last two posts, it seems, I viewed the controversy over a proposed British law through my American experience. The law would ban file sharers convicted of music piracy from the Internet. Apparently there's no controversy over whether file sharing's good or bad over there: both sides agree that it's bad. What they're arguing about is whether the file sharers should be banned from the Internet. So I misconstrued the real issue. So did Perez Hilton and any other American who took sides in the British brouhaha.
On one side, you have Radiohead, who post their albums online before they release them on CD (and now on LP), plus members of Pink Floyd and Blur. They form the core of the Featured Artists Coalition. On the other, you have the British record industry, plus certain musicians who have taken it upon themselves to speak for the industry, including Lily Allen and James Blunt. On one side, you have moderates who believe that file sharing is harmful but file sharers shouldn't be given the Internet equivalent of the death penalty. On the other, you have the record industry and its corporate tools taking the extremist position that file sharing will kill the industry, and therefore file sharers should be banned — and the American record industry cartel, the RIAA, and its militant army of savage corporate lawyers add that they should be thrown in jail for decades and fined tens of thousands of dollars minimum. The issue is not whether file sharing should be tolerated, like in the US, where the two opposing positions are taken by the tech companies (for) and the record companies (against), with musicians taking one or the other extreme. In the UK, the issue is punishment: should it be lenient or draconian?
So I and my fellow Americans have been taking sides in the wrong controversy. Our controversy. We see RIAA allies Metallica and Garth Brooks attacking Napster back in 2000 whenever we hear Lily Allen making them look calm and rational in comparison. We Americans should remember, though, that the UK is not the US. Some of the rights and freedoms we take for granted here simply don't exist over there; some of them never did, which is why the American Founders and their successors established them in the first place. We were (and are) fighting against or for the RIAA over the definition of "free speech" as protected under the US Constitution; they're haggling over penalties, leaving the definition of file sharing as "piracy" unchallenged.
On one side, you have Radiohead, who post their albums online before they release them on CD (and now on LP), plus members of Pink Floyd and Blur. They form the core of the Featured Artists Coalition. On the other, you have the British record industry, plus certain musicians who have taken it upon themselves to speak for the industry, including Lily Allen and James Blunt. On one side, you have moderates who believe that file sharing is harmful but file sharers shouldn't be given the Internet equivalent of the death penalty. On the other, you have the record industry and its corporate tools taking the extremist position that file sharing will kill the industry, and therefore file sharers should be banned — and the American record industry cartel, the RIAA, and its militant army of savage corporate lawyers add that they should be thrown in jail for decades and fined tens of thousands of dollars minimum. The issue is not whether file sharing should be tolerated, like in the US, where the two opposing positions are taken by the tech companies (for) and the record companies (against), with musicians taking one or the other extreme. In the UK, the issue is punishment: should it be lenient or draconian?
So I and my fellow Americans have been taking sides in the wrong controversy. Our controversy. We see RIAA allies Metallica and Garth Brooks attacking Napster back in 2000 whenever we hear Lily Allen making them look calm and rational in comparison. We Americans should remember, though, that the UK is not the US. Some of the rights and freedoms we take for granted here simply don't exist over there; some of them never did, which is why the American Founders and their successors established them in the first place. We were (and are) fighting against or for the RIAA over the definition of "free speech" as protected under the US Constitution; they're haggling over penalties, leaving the definition of file sharing as "piracy" unchallenged.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Lily Allen, Hypocrite
Since my last post, I've discovered that British pop tart Lily Allen, who recently declared war against file sharers, calling them crooks and pirates, is herself a plagiarist! Not only did she do some unauthorized mixtapes a few years ago (which she's trying to weasel out from under), her anti-file-sharing blog itself swipes from several newspapers!
When Metallica, partly under the influence of Ayn Rand, denounced Napster and helped destroy it, some wag put their integrity up for sale on eBay. And, like I said last time, Metallica are themselves a corporation as well as a rock band. It seems Miss Allen has already sold her integrity, and of course she sold it to EMI. (Cue the Sex Pistols song now!)
One thing I forgot to mention last time, when I called her a corporate tool, is that she owns none of her music. It's all EMI's property. You see, ever since the days of Tin Pan Alley a century ago, the record companies have been the sole proprietors of recorded music. That's why Metallica had to become a corporation. If you don't own your music but rage against "piracy", you've got to be raging on the company's behalf, as the company's shill. That's why I lost all my respect for Metallica and Garth Brooks a decade ago in the first place.
She can denounce Radiohead and Pink Floyd for music piracy (i.e., stealing from the corporate overlords who actually own the music) all she wants. She can denounce me as much as she wants, for that matter. But a crusader against file sharing (as "music piracy") who herself is a plagiarist? If even Perez Hilton calls her out, I'd say Lily Allen's got herself a major integrity problem!
When Metallica, partly under the influence of Ayn Rand, denounced Napster and helped destroy it, some wag put their integrity up for sale on eBay. And, like I said last time, Metallica are themselves a corporation as well as a rock band. It seems Miss Allen has already sold her integrity, and of course she sold it to EMI. (Cue the Sex Pistols song now!)
One thing I forgot to mention last time, when I called her a corporate tool, is that she owns none of her music. It's all EMI's property. You see, ever since the days of Tin Pan Alley a century ago, the record companies have been the sole proprietors of recorded music. That's why Metallica had to become a corporation. If you don't own your music but rage against "piracy", you've got to be raging on the company's behalf, as the company's shill. That's why I lost all my respect for Metallica and Garth Brooks a decade ago in the first place.
She can denounce Radiohead and Pink Floyd for music piracy (i.e., stealing from the corporate overlords who actually own the music) all she wants. She can denounce me as much as she wants, for that matter. But a crusader against file sharing (as "music piracy") who herself is a plagiarist? If even Perez Hilton calls her out, I'd say Lily Allen's got herself a major integrity problem!
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Lily Allen Is Hot, But She's A Corporate Tool
First Metallica. Then Garth Brooks. Now British pop tart Lily Allen has declared war against everybody who trades songs online. Here's her declaration of war.
What's with these musicians who claim that file sharing will destroy their careers? Every single person who trades a song online is a pirate who must, must, MUST be punished. As if all those millions of fans using LimeWire or Kazaa are no different from illegal CD duplicators.
The record companies tell them so. They're just, so to speak, retweeting the official corporate propaganda.
Let me tell you what I learned about the record companies. Did you know that big record companies force you to pay for your contract and the like? This commenter on this article has it exactly right: "The label is basically a loan shark. They get to make a risk free investment, and prey upon artists who desperately want to be on signed band." That's the record biz in a nutshell.
At least Metallica have an excuse or two. One: they're a corporation in their own right. Two: they're followers of that fanatic for capitalism, Ayn Rand. And Garth Brooks and those other country types were pretty much embedded in the Shrub Bush dictatorship; country music tends to be a right-wing thing anyway, from the most right-wing part of America.
But Lily Allen? She's just a pop tart. The kind who lip-syncs in concert. Have you even heard of her? If you're not British, you probably haven't.
Capitalism. Don't ya love it.
Lily Allen is hot, sure. But now we know what she really is: just another corporate tool.
What's with these musicians who claim that file sharing will destroy their careers? Every single person who trades a song online is a pirate who must, must, MUST be punished. As if all those millions of fans using LimeWire or Kazaa are no different from illegal CD duplicators.
The record companies tell them so. They're just, so to speak, retweeting the official corporate propaganda.
Let me tell you what I learned about the record companies. Did you know that big record companies force you to pay for your contract and the like? This commenter on this article has it exactly right: "The label is basically a loan shark. They get to make a risk free investment, and prey upon artists who desperately want to be on signed band." That's the record biz in a nutshell.
At least Metallica have an excuse or two. One: they're a corporation in their own right. Two: they're followers of that fanatic for capitalism, Ayn Rand. And Garth Brooks and those other country types were pretty much embedded in the Shrub Bush dictatorship; country music tends to be a right-wing thing anyway, from the most right-wing part of America.
But Lily Allen? She's just a pop tart. The kind who lip-syncs in concert. Have you even heard of her? If you're not British, you probably haven't.
Capitalism. Don't ya love it.
Lily Allen is hot, sure. But now we know what she really is: just another corporate tool.
Monday, September 21, 2009
H. G. Wells Is 143 Today
This day in 1866, Herbert George Wells was born in Bromley, Kent, England. From 1895 to 1898, his first four novels were released: The Time Machine, The Island of Doctor Moreau, The Invisible Man, and The War of the Worlds. And thus science fiction was born. He isn't responsible for science fiction getting kicked out of the literary mainstream (that's mostly the fault of an increasingly narrow and dogmatic literary establishment, and partly the responsibility of pulp magazine publisher Hugo Gernsback). But he is the real founder of the genre. So, happy 143rd birthday to H.G. Wells.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
WebKit Problems, Part 2
[Note: The issue I was dealing with has been obsolete since expandable posts became an integral part of Blogger. For more information, read this post.]
You have a blog on Blogger. You modified your template(s) for expandable posts. You start in "Edit HTML" mode and then switch to the "Compose" tab; when you go back, the and tags disappear. You type them back in. When you post your entry, it works just fine in IE, Firefox, Opera, and the like. Unless your browser is based on WebKit: that means, for example, Chrome, Safari, or Konqueror. (WebKit is a superset of Konqueror's KHTML developed by Apple for Safari.) Then the entry you just posted is expanded on your blog's homepage. Which, of course, you don't want. It's as if those <span> tags never existed for WebKit browsers.
(If this post is expanded on the front page, then you won't see this line.) [Note: this no longer applies. Read the post linked at the top.]
The result: You see this text on the blog's front page! If you're using a non-WebKit browser, you won't see it till you click the link to the rest of this post (or any of its other permalinks on the front page). But if you're on the front page and you see this text, you're using a WebKit browser for sure.
But is the glitch in WebKit, or in Blogger? In any case, it shouldn't be happening.
Is this happening to your Blogger blog? Go to http://webkit.org and tell them.
You have a blog on Blogger. You modified your template(s) for expandable posts. You start in "Edit HTML" mode and then switch to the "Compose" tab; when you go back, the and tags disappear. You type them back in. When you post your entry, it works just fine in IE, Firefox, Opera, and the like. Unless your browser is based on WebKit: that means, for example, Chrome, Safari, or Konqueror. (WebKit is a superset of Konqueror's KHTML developed by Apple for Safari.) Then the entry you just posted is expanded on your blog's homepage. Which, of course, you don't want. It's as if those <span> tags never existed for WebKit browsers.
(If this post is expanded on the front page, then you won't see this line.) [Note: this no longer applies. Read the post linked at the top.]
The result: You see this text on the blog's front page! If you're using a non-WebKit browser, you won't see it till you click the link to the rest of this post (or any of its other permalinks on the front page). But if you're on the front page and you see this text, you're using a WebKit browser for sure.
But is the glitch in WebKit, or in Blogger? In any case, it shouldn't be happening.
Is this happening to your Blogger blog? Go to http://webkit.org and tell them.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
St. PUID: @Adambuckled Wins The #stpuid Thread!
I like to think of myself as a spreader of memes (it's in my official bio blurb). But I don't really know if I've actually publicly mutated one into something truly wild and crazy. @StephenAmbrose and @Adambuckled did. And they did it to #stpuid.
Yesterday, @chrispirillo posted this on Twitter:
@abacusfinch and others thought the whole idea was #stpuid in itself (also see what @BacTalan thinks). However, a whole bunch of other tweeps decided to try to give him his wish, including @Outsanity, @QKnuckles, @theqwertyblog, @steezytrina, @BuzzEdition, @Garyx24, @FredGITXM, @primatage, @geeseloverr123, @AwesomeJay, @maryland157, @absolutelytrue, @ItStartsWithUs, @katalee02, and of course @dennis_jernberg, who is also blogging about this (case in point: this entry you're reading right now, and also this one).
Then @StephenAntoine started running away with the subject. He started tweeting about things like Secure Transport Protocol User ID and St. Pucchi, Inc. designs.
But the one who won this whole #stpuid thing? @Adambuckled, who tweeted this:
I should have figured something really weird would come out of this. *grins*
The attempt to trend #stpuid died down last night, and the hashtag isn't getting much use today. But there's a lot of tweeps out there who just love #stpuid ideas. #stpuid may rise again, and even reach the top of the Twitter top ten trends list. Who knows? It's worth another try...
Yesterday, @chrispirillo posted this on Twitter:
@abacusfinch and others thought the whole idea was #stpuid in itself (also see what @BacTalan thinks). However, a whole bunch of other tweeps decided to try to give him his wish, including @Outsanity, @QKnuckles, @theqwertyblog, @steezytrina, @BuzzEdition, @Garyx24, @FredGITXM, @primatage, @geeseloverr123, @AwesomeJay, @maryland157, @absolutelytrue, @ItStartsWithUs, @katalee02, and of course @dennis_jernberg, who is also blogging about this (case in point: this entry you're reading right now, and also this one).
Then @StephenAntoine started running away with the subject. He started tweeting about things like Secure Transport Protocol User ID and St. Pucchi, Inc. designs.
But the one who won this whole #stpuid thing? @Adambuckled, who tweeted this:
I should have figured something really weird would come out of this. *grins*
The attempt to trend #stpuid died down last night, and the hashtag isn't getting much use today. But there's a lot of tweeps out there who just love #stpuid ideas. #stpuid may rise again, and even reach the top of the Twitter top ten trends list. Who knows? It's worth another try...
Retweet This Blog Post!
You've probably noticed something to the right of the text of each entry: a "retweet" button which allows those with Twitter accounts to post the title and link to the entry. And it's on not just this blog, but my project and opinion blogs as well. TweetMeme provides the service.
Most people I know find Twitter useless, but I'm one of those select few who get a lot of use out of it. I myself retweet articles and posts quite often. For those like me, I've provided the button.
Turns out that Blogger does not provide an easy way to put the button in — no Google Gadgets exist for this. I found out about this on Twitter. @cheth posted a link to his tutorial, and in it he links to TweetMeme's instructions. Instead, I Googled up "add retweet button to Blogger" and found the instructions I actually used, on this page in @virtuosoblogger's blog. I followed the instructions and inserted the code into my blogs' templates.
So that's how I managed to add that retweet button you see to the right. Who knows? I might add another such service if I deem it useful enough...
Most people I know find Twitter useless, but I'm one of those select few who get a lot of use out of it. I myself retweet articles and posts quite often. For those like me, I've provided the button.
Turns out that Blogger does not provide an easy way to put the button in — no Google Gadgets exist for this. I found out about this on Twitter. @cheth posted a link to his tutorial, and in it he links to TweetMeme's instructions. Instead, I Googled up "add retweet button to Blogger" and found the instructions I actually used, on this page in @virtuosoblogger's blog. I followed the instructions and inserted the code into my blogs' templates.
So that's how I managed to add that retweet button you see to the right. Who knows? I might add another such service if I deem it useful enough...
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Facebook Buys FriendFeed: A More Objective Look (with more links, too)
Two days ago, Facebook bought FriendFeed. I was far from the only one who was shocked; but I posted a harsh criticism in the opening to my first post on this subject. Then I followed it up with a whole bunch of relevant links. Having had two days to cool off, I'm now more able to look at it objectively. And, of course, the news is getting even more interesting.
Some of us FriendFeed users branched out to new services: in my case, these are Posterous, Streamy, and Amplifeeder (link is to the FriendFeed version rather than the ASP.NET version). There are those who believe that FriendFeed is already a dead letter. I am not one of them; I've already announced on FriendFeed that I'm sticking around for the long haul. But then, it just happens that I've got accounts with both FriendFeed and Facebook.
Most of us FriendFeed users are sticking with the service. It's not dead. Yet. The fate of Yahoo 360 (i.e., oblivion) may still be in its future, but for now it's still going strong, and both Facebook the FriendFeed founders intend to keep it going at least for the time being. Significantly, it's still being updated with new features.
Now for some of today's relevant articles (add your own in the comments):
News:
Ars Technica: Stream resistance is futile: Facebook assimilates FriendFeed
New York Daily News: So Facebook just bought FriendFeed... What is FriendFeed?
Entertainment Weekly: Facebook buys FriendFeed: Why this is a good thing
PC World: FriendFeed Buy Helps Facebook Compete With Google and Twitter
PC World: Facebook Buys FriendFeed: What Does It Mean?
Blogs:
Mark Krynsky: My Thoughts on the Current State of FriendFeed
Om Malik at GigaOm: Why Facebook Wants FriendFeed
Franklin Pettit: The Rise and Fall of FriendFeed
Louis Gray: Hi Facebook, It's Me, FriendFeed. This Relationship? It's Complicated.
Know The Network: It's Not About FriendFeed, It's About Friends — A Requiem
Alexander van Elsas: My 2 cts on Facebook buying FriendFeed
Jesse Stay: Facebook to FriendFeed: You Complete Me
My Links:
Twitter, FriendFeed, Facebook, Posterous (note: yet another blog!), deviantART (currently neglected), Flickr, Picasa, Google Reader (note: nothing shared yet),
I may make these permanent links in the "My Sites" section of the sidebar.
I am not going to mention Facebook Lite, or the new Facebook messaging API intended to take on MySpace Mail as well as webmail, or whatever. These aren't relevant to this post.
But Facebook Lite aside, what will Facebook actually do to FriendFeed? Right now, we can only wait and see...
Some of us FriendFeed users branched out to new services: in my case, these are Posterous, Streamy, and Amplifeeder (link is to the FriendFeed version rather than the ASP.NET version). There are those who believe that FriendFeed is already a dead letter. I am not one of them; I've already announced on FriendFeed that I'm sticking around for the long haul. But then, it just happens that I've got accounts with both FriendFeed and Facebook.
Most of us FriendFeed users are sticking with the service. It's not dead. Yet. The fate of Yahoo 360 (i.e., oblivion) may still be in its future, but for now it's still going strong, and both Facebook the FriendFeed founders intend to keep it going at least for the time being. Significantly, it's still being updated with new features.
Now for some of today's relevant articles (add your own in the comments):
News:
Ars Technica: Stream resistance is futile: Facebook assimilates FriendFeed
New York Daily News: So Facebook just bought FriendFeed... What is FriendFeed?
Entertainment Weekly: Facebook buys FriendFeed: Why this is a good thing
PC World: FriendFeed Buy Helps Facebook Compete With Google and Twitter
PC World: Facebook Buys FriendFeed: What Does It Mean?
Blogs:
Mark Krynsky: My Thoughts on the Current State of FriendFeed
Om Malik at GigaOm: Why Facebook Wants FriendFeed
Franklin Pettit: The Rise and Fall of FriendFeed
Louis Gray: Hi Facebook, It's Me, FriendFeed. This Relationship? It's Complicated.
Know The Network: It's Not About FriendFeed, It's About Friends — A Requiem
Alexander van Elsas: My 2 cts on Facebook buying FriendFeed
Jesse Stay: Facebook to FriendFeed: You Complete Me
My Links:
Twitter, FriendFeed, Facebook, Posterous (note: yet another blog!), deviantART (currently neglected), Flickr, Picasa, Google Reader (note: nothing shared yet),
I may make these permanent links in the "My Sites" section of the sidebar.
I am not going to mention Facebook Lite, or the new Facebook messaging API intended to take on MySpace Mail as well as webmail, or whatever. These aren't relevant to this post.
But Facebook Lite aside, what will Facebook actually do to FriendFeed? Right now, we can only wait and see...
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Reading: Infected, by Scott Sigler
Something has gotten inside you. It entered through your eyes and has lodged itself into your brain. It torments your every waking moment and turns all your dreams into nightmares. It grows and grows, feeding on your mind like the ichneumon wasp larva feeds on its caterpillar host. And now it's squirming...
You've been infected — by Infected.
Horror writer Scott Sigler is a pioneering author of podcast novels. Infected was the first of his novels to make it into print.
The movie-friendly high concept: The Andromeda Strain meets Alien. Sure enough, there's a deal to make a movie out of it. Sigler says the script is already in the works.
Some kind of pathogen is turning ordinary people into blood-crazed mass murderers. While the CIA (agent on the case: hardened veteran Dew Phillips) and the Centers for Disease Control (point woman: epidemiologist Margaret Montoya) are hot on the case, one host in particular, former football star, finds that he's been infected by who knows what. Then the triangles appear. Which turn out to be a group of parasitic organisms, of extraterrestrial origin as it turns out. And then the voices begin. And the parasites have plans...
No, I'm not revealing any spoilers.
You've been infected — by Infected.
Horror writer Scott Sigler is a pioneering author of podcast novels. Infected was the first of his novels to make it into print.
The movie-friendly high concept: The Andromeda Strain meets Alien. Sure enough, there's a deal to make a movie out of it. Sigler says the script is already in the works.
Some kind of pathogen is turning ordinary people into blood-crazed mass murderers. While the CIA (agent on the case: hardened veteran Dew Phillips) and the Centers for Disease Control (point woman: epidemiologist Margaret Montoya) are hot on the case, one host in particular, former football star, finds that he's been infected by who knows what. Then the triangles appear. Which turn out to be a group of parasitic organisms, of extraterrestrial origin as it turns out. And then the voices begin. And the parasites have plans...
No, I'm not revealing any spoilers.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Big Social Media News of the Day: Facebook Assimilates FriendFeed
Damn. Just a few days after I followed Robert Scoble from Twitter to FriendFeed, here comes Facebook to take it over. Maybe it's a good thing I have an account on both networks. However, I'm far from alone in feeling betrayed by FriendFeed's eagerness in selling out to the Borg.
So here's what I've found on the Net searching Google and TechMeme:
News:
Facebook Acquires FriendFeed (TechCrunch)
Facebook Acquires FriendFeed (Mashable)
Facebook Acquires Start-Up FriendFeed (Wall Street Journal)
Facebook Acquires FriendFeed in Play for Relevance (Fast Company)
The Facebook/FriendFeed Deal Signed Upder The Cover Of Night (TechCrunch)
Users Shocked by Facebook Acquisition (Mashable)
First Interview After Acquisition With FriendFeed and Facebook (TechCrunch)
FriendFeed Co-Founder: Facebook Acquisition Talks Began in 2007 (Mashable)
FriendFeed Office Deserted: Whole Team Already At Facebook (Mashable)
3 Key Reason Facebook Bought FriendFeed (Mashable)
Facebook Takes FriendFeed To Take On Twitter (TechCrunch)
Facebook Flips The Switch On Real-Time Search, Goes After Twitter Where It Really Hurts (TechCrunch)
Facebook in challenge to Google (BBC News)
Press Releases:
Facebook: Facebook Agrees To Acquire Sharing Service FriendFeed
FriendFeed: FriendFeed Accepts Facebook Friend Request
Blogs:
TechGeist: Facebook Acquires FriendFeed? Ya, It's No Joke
SocializeMobilize: What Does Facebook's Latest Acquisition Mean for FriendFeed, Facebook & Social Media Enthusiasts?
CNET News: The Social: Facebook Buys FriendFeed: Is this a big deal?
Robert Scoble: Oh, FriendFeed is now Facebooks's "official" R&D department! (Says Facebook's real target is Google, not Twitter.)
Ouriel Aharon: 10 random thoughts on FriendFeed acquisition by Facebook
Shawn Farner: Stabbed in the back by FriendFeed
Soap Box Included: So Much For My FriendFeed Book!
Steve Rubel: FriendFeed Should Be Facebook Labs
Michelle's Blog: Why Facebook's Acquisition of FriendFeed Is Culturally Significant
And, of course, a lot more blog entries than I can list, including this one.
It's not often that I join a social network service only to find it snatched out from under me just a few days later. It took a couple years from the time I discovered Yahoo 360° for Yahoo to shut it down. But here you go. I wasn't using Facebook much anyway, mainly to keep track of some relatives and a few friends and such. I guess I'll have to find at least one replacement for FriendFeed, like some others there are. Oh well...
So here's what I've found on the Net searching Google and TechMeme:
News:
Facebook Acquires FriendFeed (TechCrunch)
Facebook Acquires FriendFeed (Mashable)
Facebook Acquires Start-Up FriendFeed (Wall Street Journal)
Facebook Acquires FriendFeed in Play for Relevance (Fast Company)
The Facebook/FriendFeed Deal Signed Upder The Cover Of Night (TechCrunch)
Users Shocked by Facebook Acquisition (Mashable)
First Interview After Acquisition With FriendFeed and Facebook (TechCrunch)
FriendFeed Co-Founder: Facebook Acquisition Talks Began in 2007 (Mashable)
FriendFeed Office Deserted: Whole Team Already At Facebook (Mashable)
3 Key Reason Facebook Bought FriendFeed (Mashable)
Facebook Takes FriendFeed To Take On Twitter (TechCrunch)
Facebook Flips The Switch On Real-Time Search, Goes After Twitter Where It Really Hurts (TechCrunch)
Facebook in challenge to Google (BBC News)
Press Releases:
Facebook: Facebook Agrees To Acquire Sharing Service FriendFeed
FriendFeed: FriendFeed Accepts Facebook Friend Request
Blogs:
TechGeist: Facebook Acquires FriendFeed? Ya, It's No Joke
SocializeMobilize: What Does Facebook's Latest Acquisition Mean for FriendFeed, Facebook & Social Media Enthusiasts?
CNET News: The Social: Facebook Buys FriendFeed: Is this a big deal?
Robert Scoble: Oh, FriendFeed is now Facebooks's "official" R&D department! (Says Facebook's real target is Google, not Twitter.)
Ouriel Aharon: 10 random thoughts on FriendFeed acquisition by Facebook
Shawn Farner: Stabbed in the back by FriendFeed
Soap Box Included: So Much For My FriendFeed Book!
Steve Rubel: FriendFeed Should Be Facebook Labs
Michelle's Blog: Why Facebook's Acquisition of FriendFeed Is Culturally Significant
And, of course, a lot more blog entries than I can list, including this one.
It's not often that I join a social network service only to find it snatched out from under me just a few days later. It took a couple years from the time I discovered Yahoo 360° for Yahoo to shut it down. But here you go. I wasn't using Facebook much anyway, mainly to keep track of some relatives and a few friends and such. I guess I'll have to find at least one replacement for FriendFeed, like some others there are. Oh well...
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Heat Wave in the Great Northwest
I like to joke that every year the Seattle area has to suffer one 100°F day (about 38°C) every year. This year, it's no joke. Around here, we're going through an entire week above 90°, and there could be more than one 100° day ahead of us.
My problem is that I don't have, and never had, air conditioning. I could go swimming or sunbathing or find someplace indoors where it's cool. But then I have to come home to the heat. It's disrupting my sleep. I'm getting tired of it. I find myself longing for the weekend, when the weather forecasters have promised temperature dropping back to a mere 80°. As it is, the nighttime lows have risen to above 70°, and it's getting extremely uncomfortable when I can't cool down my overheated apartment.
This really shouldn't interrupt my writing, though. The heat can serve me as a convenient excuse, sure. But I've written nonstop through heat waves before, and in longhand.
Update: Seattle Times article on the heat wave: Seattle Hits 97 Today; Is 100 On The Way? If you think it's bad enough around here, it's getting even worse tomorrow — that's our 100° day! And, if the KING 5 weather forecast is correct, this heat wave ain't ending any time soon...
My problem is that I don't have, and never had, air conditioning. I could go swimming or sunbathing or find someplace indoors where it's cool. But then I have to come home to the heat. It's disrupting my sleep. I'm getting tired of it. I find myself longing for the weekend, when the weather forecasters have promised temperature dropping back to a mere 80°. As it is, the nighttime lows have risen to above 70°, and it's getting extremely uncomfortable when I can't cool down my overheated apartment.
This really shouldn't interrupt my writing, though. The heat can serve me as a convenient excuse, sure. But I've written nonstop through heat waves before, and in longhand.
Update: Seattle Times article on the heat wave: Seattle Hits 97 Today; Is 100 On The Way? If you think it's bad enough around here, it's getting even worse tomorrow — that's our 100° day! And, if the KING 5 weather forecast is correct, this heat wave ain't ending any time soon...
Blog Search 2: Following
Tonight's blog search isn't for the blogroll of this or any other of my blogs. Instead, I decided to use Blogger's "Follow" feature to follow other people's blogs. This puts them on my Blogger dashboard, where they're immediately accessible. This is more convenient than viewing one of my blogs, waiting for it to load, scrolling down, and clicking on the blogroll. Of course, I can always add some of the blogs I follow onto one of my blogrolls if I want people to read them alongside mine.
"Following" is a social-network feature that Google added to its blogging platform. Click "Follow Blog", and then you can follow a blog (at least a Blogger/BlogSpot one, or one that takes part in the "Google Friend Connect" program) just like you follow someone on, say, Twitter. This allows you to easily build up a collection of blogs that you can access from the Blogger dashboard. You won't have to bookmark every blog you come across (just the WordPress, TypePad, etc. ones ;) ), and you won't have to go on wild goose chases all over the Web.
Of course, as with my blogrolls, I'll have to take the time (several days or longer) to build up the number of blogs I follow. I've only started just now.
You might notice that I've started posting a series of cyberpunk short stories related to my proposed webmanga Spanner to my project blog. I just realized: this blog here would be the perfect place for me to post short stories unrelated to Spanner, or anything else science-fictional. I could also post poems once I start writing them again. I should also post weekly updates for Project 365 and 50 Songs in 90 Days.
And now, back to writing 2,000 words for JulNoWriMo while waiting for my apartment to cool off from the day's extreme heat...
"Following" is a social-network feature that Google added to its blogging platform. Click "Follow Blog", and then you can follow a blog (at least a Blogger/BlogSpot one, or one that takes part in the "Google Friend Connect" program) just like you follow someone on, say, Twitter. This allows you to easily build up a collection of blogs that you can access from the Blogger dashboard. You won't have to bookmark every blog you come across (just the WordPress, TypePad, etc. ones ;) ), and you won't have to go on wild goose chases all over the Web.
Of course, as with my blogrolls, I'll have to take the time (several days or longer) to build up the number of blogs I follow. I've only started just now.
You might notice that I've started posting a series of cyberpunk short stories related to my proposed webmanga Spanner to my project blog. I just realized: this blog here would be the perfect place for me to post short stories unrelated to Spanner, or anything else science-fictional. I could also post poems once I start writing them again. I should also post weekly updates for Project 365 and 50 Songs in 90 Days.
And now, back to writing 2,000 words for JulNoWriMo while waiting for my apartment to cool off from the day's extreme heat...
Friday, July 24, 2009
A WebKit Glitch in My Blogs
[Note: The issue I was dealing with has been obsolete since expandable posts became an integral part of Blogger. For more information, read this post.]
Here's an annoying bug. On the main page of my project blog, one of the entries (one of my wilder short stories) does not collapse when you view it in Chrome or Safari (or presumably Konqueror). Instead, you see the full entry, right there on the main page. You don't see that happen in either IE8 (which has its own special problems, but that's not one of 'em) or Mozilla/Gecko. When I saw it happen in Safari, I knew the problem was a glitch in WebKit.
So I made a Google search of WebKit Blogger bug. Turns out WebKit still has many bugs specifically connected to Blogger (and WordPress as well). As the bug affects both Chrome and Safari, I know neither Google nor Apple is to blame. The fault lies strictly at the WebKit project's proverbial feet. Let's home the WebKit people can squash this bug soon. I don't like having a single entry dominating the blog's entire main page.
Update 7/28/09: I checked the main page of this blog and found the same WebKit glitch doing the same thing to this post.
Here's an annoying bug. On the main page of my project blog, one of the entries (one of my wilder short stories) does not collapse when you view it in Chrome or Safari (or presumably Konqueror). Instead, you see the full entry, right there on the main page. You don't see that happen in either IE8 (which has its own special problems, but that's not one of 'em) or Mozilla/Gecko. When I saw it happen in Safari, I knew the problem was a glitch in WebKit.
So I made a Google search of WebKit Blogger bug. Turns out WebKit still has many bugs specifically connected to Blogger (and WordPress as well). As the bug affects both Chrome and Safari, I know neither Google nor Apple is to blame. The fault lies strictly at the WebKit project's proverbial feet. Let's home the WebKit people can squash this bug soon. I don't like having a single entry dominating the blog's entire main page.
Update 7/28/09: I checked the main page of this blog and found the same WebKit glitch doing the same thing to this post.
Friday, July 17, 2009
The Blog Search Finally Begins
#Bloggers
At last I have begun the long-delayed search for other people's blogs, or at least the ones I think are appropriate for my project blog. I knew it would be a long search, so I put it off for several days, which became weeks and then months, and threatened to turn into years. Then the random thought came to me that now would be the time to start it. And so I did.
It did not go perfectly, of course. Somewhere in the middle of my initial search, Windows gave me a Blue Screen Of Death and crashed randomly on one of its many bugs. (Good thing I don't use Vista!) But I rebooted and resumed the search until I found enough blogs for one day.
It isn't the end of this, of course. I still have many more blogs to find and put in the blogrolls of all my blogs. I still haven't found enough cyberpunks and cartoonists to fill my growing Spanner's World blogroll, I haven't gotten to my other blogs yet. But it's finally begun...
Back to The Space Helmet Show...
At last I have begun the long-delayed search for other people's blogs, or at least the ones I think are appropriate for my project blog. I knew it would be a long search, so I put it off for several days, which became weeks and then months, and threatened to turn into years. Then the random thought came to me that now would be the time to start it. And so I did.
It did not go perfectly, of course. Somewhere in the middle of my initial search, Windows gave me a Blue Screen Of Death and crashed randomly on one of its many bugs. (Good thing I don't use Vista!) But I rebooted and resumed the search until I found enough blogs for one day.
It isn't the end of this, of course. I still have many more blogs to find and put in the blogrolls of all my blogs. I still haven't found enough cyberpunks and cartoonists to fill my growing Spanner's World blogroll, I haven't gotten to my other blogs yet. But it's finally begun...
Back to The Space Helmet Show...
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
After a Busy Week...
#JulNo #5090 #songwriting #writers #Bloggers The second week of July '09 was surprisingly busy for me. At the end of it, though, I got my most important Internet-related business out of the way (getting rid of that archaic and extremely slow dialup connection and joining the modern world), so I can now get back to the proper business of writing. (As for those hash terms I'm now putting at the beginning of my posts: those are Twitter search terms for my Twibes. The Twibes in question are the JulNoWriMo, 50 Songs in 90 Days, Songwriting, Writers, and Bloggers Twibes respectively. That's because TwitterFeed tweets my blog posts.)
Most of my business had nothing to do with writing (novels, songs, blogs). However, I did get one short story written, added to my JulNoWriMo word count, and posted to my project blog (warning: some people may not be able to handle it, hence the many disclaimers). Now that I've finally upgraded my internet connection and immediately upgraded all the software that needed upgrading, I'll be able to return to my 50 Songs in 90 Days songs and my JulNo novel writing.
I'll be a lot more productive in the next week. First, though, I need to get some good rest. Waiting for that dialup connection kept me up at nights...
Back to The Space Helmet Show...
Most of my business had nothing to do with writing (novels, songs, blogs). However, I did get one short story written, added to my JulNoWriMo word count, and posted to my project blog (warning: some people may not be able to handle it, hence the many disclaimers). Now that I've finally upgraded my internet connection and immediately upgraded all the software that needed upgrading, I'll be able to return to my 50 Songs in 90 Days songs and my JulNo novel writing.
I'll be a lot more productive in the next week. First, though, I need to get some good rest. Waiting for that dialup connection kept me up at nights...
Back to The Space Helmet Show...
Friday, July 3, 2009
Project 365 Returns! Or, at least I started mine again...
Plaza Fountain
Originally uploaded by Dennis Jernberg
On July 1, I restarted my Project 365. That's where you take and upload at least one photo a day for a year. I carried my camera around with me, went downtown, and took this picture. Now all I need to do is keep my camera with me (and not forgetfully leave it in the house), take one picture at minimum, and upload it — every single day for the next year.
Should be easy. Actually harder than you think. In January, I stopped after only 15 days.
I used to have a blog at Photoblog as well. However, that was a bit too much when I already have my Flickr account and this here general-purpose blog, so I pretty much abandoned it. (If it's still around, it's here.) The Flickr photostream can be treated as if it were its own blog, so that's how I'm treating it. All my Project 365 photos uploaded to Flickr, from both attempts at it, are in their own photo set.
And so once again I've decided I want to do this again. I even think I'll be able to pull this off. However, back in January I wasn't able to continue Project 365 and write 65,000 words for JanNoWriMo at the same time. Can I pull it off this time while simultaneously doing not just JulNoWriMo and 50 Songs in 90 Days? We'll see. All I need to do is take one picture a day...
Back to The Space Helmet Show...
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Preparation for 50 Songs In 90 Days
On July 4, 50 Songs in 90 Days begins. I already have some songs ready for it — they're incomplete, but they're trying to jump the gun on me. As a warmup, I'm writing two songs for the pre-50/90 "song in key of D minor that contains the word 'earth'" challenge. I'll link to the MP3s so my fellow "5090ers" can hear the results, and I'll also post the lyrics and the song links to the Yahoo 50/90 mailing list.
The history behind this: After NaNoWriMo '07 (when I started writing my novel Bad Company), I found out in a Chris Baty email about February Album Writing Month, or FAWM. I signed up, but did nothing last year in either FAWM or 50/90. I had the software, mostly in Linux (Audacity, LMMS, plus various others that came with Ubuntu Studio). I realized I couldn't use them. But by the time FAWM '09 came around, I found myself in possession of a Casio WK-200 keyboard and two guitars, one acoustic and one acoustic-electric. I downloaded the open source tablature editor TuxGuitar, the windows version of LMMS, and the digital audio workstation Reaper. I already had Audacity for Windows. In mid-February I started taking guitar lessons. And the proverbial dam broke: in FAWM, you win if you write 14 songs, but I wrote 38 and recorded 24 of them, leaving a whole FAWM's worth of songs unrecorded. It wasn't until last week that I realized what it did to me: before, I was what I called a "frustrated guitarist" with manic-depressive tendencies. It was when FAWM '09 unleashed my musical creativity that my depression disappeared. Completely. I no longer even have a tendency to get depressed. The "guitar therapy" worked! (I'll explain this further in a future entry.)
I have a whole bunch of half-finished songs prepared for this year's 50/90. Some of them are fragments I programmed in TuxGuitar; others are notations on scratch paper from idly strumming one of my guitars (I now also have an electric) and coming up with chord progressions I like. Some are lyrics without music; others are music without lyrics. Why such a backlog of songs? Mainly because I've been putting my primary focus between FAWM and 50/90 on learning and practicing the guitar. I write my songs fragments and put them aside so I can return to them during 50/90. I want to make sure I play all the guitar parts when I record those songs, though the solos will probably have to come later (I'm having problems learning scales, arpeggios, etc.).
Consider this the official announcement (outside the FAWMer/5090er community) of my intent to participate in 50/90.
Back to The Space Helmet Show...
The history behind this: After NaNoWriMo '07 (when I started writing my novel Bad Company), I found out in a Chris Baty email about February Album Writing Month, or FAWM. I signed up, but did nothing last year in either FAWM or 50/90. I had the software, mostly in Linux (Audacity, LMMS, plus various others that came with Ubuntu Studio). I realized I couldn't use them. But by the time FAWM '09 came around, I found myself in possession of a Casio WK-200 keyboard and two guitars, one acoustic and one acoustic-electric. I downloaded the open source tablature editor TuxGuitar, the windows version of LMMS, and the digital audio workstation Reaper. I already had Audacity for Windows. In mid-February I started taking guitar lessons. And the proverbial dam broke: in FAWM, you win if you write 14 songs, but I wrote 38 and recorded 24 of them, leaving a whole FAWM's worth of songs unrecorded. It wasn't until last week that I realized what it did to me: before, I was what I called a "frustrated guitarist" with manic-depressive tendencies. It was when FAWM '09 unleashed my musical creativity that my depression disappeared. Completely. I no longer even have a tendency to get depressed. The "guitar therapy" worked! (I'll explain this further in a future entry.)
I have a whole bunch of half-finished songs prepared for this year's 50/90. Some of them are fragments I programmed in TuxGuitar; others are notations on scratch paper from idly strumming one of my guitars (I now also have an electric) and coming up with chord progressions I like. Some are lyrics without music; others are music without lyrics. Why such a backlog of songs? Mainly because I've been putting my primary focus between FAWM and 50/90 on learning and practicing the guitar. I write my songs fragments and put them aside so I can return to them during 50/90. I want to make sure I play all the guitar parts when I record those songs, though the solos will probably have to come later (I'm having problems learning scales, arpeggios, etc.).
Consider this the official announcement (outside the FAWMer/5090er community) of my intent to participate in 50/90.
Back to The Space Helmet Show...
Increasing My Online Presence, Part 2
Thanks to the death of Yahoo! 360 (which is why I'm no longer providing a link to it), my art blog is gone! So I'm looking for a new place to put it. I'm considering using the still unused blog I got with a My Opera account (profile still more or less empty, so no link there yet either) for that purpose. If I do, I'll let you all know.
Meanwhile, something got me out of the 50 Songs in 90 Days forums. In one word: Twitter.
I had been waiting to set up a Twitter account until I got a broadband Internet connection, as my dialup link is, as you'd expect, way too slow. But then I was reading the Twitter thread on the 50/90 forums, and I started getting that familiar feeling of being left out. So I fired up my Flock browser, activated its Twitter function, and set up my account. Then, in the Twitter help, I discovered how to put my most recent tweets into the sidebar of my blogs. (If you want to actually follow me on Twitter, click "Follow Me On Twitter" in the sidebar.) That had an Unintended Consequence...
I decided to actually post new blog entries. This is the first. I'll also post to the project blog and update my music projects blog for 50/90.
Anyway, this entry and my first tweets are really about the online presence itself: tweeting about Twitter and blogging about...well, just look at this entry's title. No profound, important, or even very social or personal stuff, really.
So I made a big step toward increasing my online presence by signing up for Twitter, and I'm also reactivating my existing presence in the form of my blogs. Maybe I should get my Flickr, Picasa, and Photoblog accounts going again as well...
Meanwhile, something got me out of the 50 Songs in 90 Days forums. In one word: Twitter.
I had been waiting to set up a Twitter account until I got a broadband Internet connection, as my dialup link is, as you'd expect, way too slow. But then I was reading the Twitter thread on the 50/90 forums, and I started getting that familiar feeling of being left out. So I fired up my Flock browser, activated its Twitter function, and set up my account. Then, in the Twitter help, I discovered how to put my most recent tweets into the sidebar of my blogs. (If you want to actually follow me on Twitter, click "Follow Me On Twitter" in the sidebar.) That had an Unintended Consequence...
I decided to actually post new blog entries. This is the first. I'll also post to the project blog and update my music projects blog for 50/90.
Anyway, this entry and my first tweets are really about the online presence itself: tweeting about Twitter and blogging about...well, just look at this entry's title. No profound, important, or even very social or personal stuff, really.
So I made a big step toward increasing my online presence by signing up for Twitter, and I'm also reactivating my existing presence in the form of my blogs. Maybe I should get my Flickr, Picasa, and Photoblog accounts going again as well...
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Yes, I Can!
Until today*, I couldn't. "I can't" was my motto and my life story. That's why I became a professional slacker in the first place. Then I realized for the first time where I got it: from the extreme difficulty I had in learning how to tie my shoes when I was three. Eventually I learned to tie my shoes, but "I can't" never left me. But then a magical thing occurred: my awareness cured my problem! I had just proved a psychological principle I was previously skeptical of: full awareness of your problem (such as my belief in my incompetence) leads to overcoming your problem. Sometimes this occurs spontaneously. This is what just happened to me: a 40-year brainlock suddenly released. Before, I couldn't because I believed I couldn't. Now, I can!
The catalyst was a book. The author is Debbie Ford, a self-help author of distinctly New Age leanings and a heavy Jungian influence. Her major subject is the psychological "shadow" as Jung described it; outside her books, she does "shadow work" in workshops. For the last several years, I'd been finding copies of The Dark Side of the Light Chasers practically every time I go to a thrift store. I picked up a copy, but I didn't really get all that much out of it. Then I found the sequel, The Secret of the Shadow, on one of my mother's living room tables, so I started reading. Then I borrowed it from her and took it home with me so I could read the whole thing. And something happened right as I was reading it. One of my "stories" — the "I can't" one — came into consciousness, origin and all. All of a sudden, it lost its power over me.
The catalyst was a book. The author is Debbie Ford, a self-help author of distinctly New Age leanings and a heavy Jungian influence. Her major subject is the psychological "shadow" as Jung described it; outside her books, she does "shadow work" in workshops. For the last several years, I'd been finding copies of The Dark Side of the Light Chasers practically every time I go to a thrift store. I picked up a copy, but I didn't really get all that much out of it. Then I found the sequel, The Secret of the Shadow, on one of my mother's living room tables, so I started reading. Then I borrowed it from her and took it home with me so I could read the whole thing. And something happened right as I was reading it. One of my "stories" — the "I can't" one — came into consciousness, origin and all. All of a sudden, it lost its power over me.
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