January 2005

Pundits, Diarists, and Egoists

January 30, 2005

In a speech she gave last summer in Vienna, Mena Trott, co-founder of the Movable Type Publishing Platform (which powers this blog), divided bloggers into three distinct groups: the pundits, the diarists and the egoists.… I'd venture to guess that unless you password protect your weblog or publish a weblog local to your own hard drive, you will most likely … Read more.

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Visual Thesaurus Version 3

January 29, 2005

One of my favorite online references, Visual Thesaurus, has just been upgraded to version 3, which now includes audio pronunciations, spell checking, and enhanced printing. While it used to be free, it's still available for a limited number of searches before they require you to pay. Just type in a word, and the visual thesaurus will show a diagram with … Read more.

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From Windows Sounds to Song

January 24, 2005

There is a great tradition of visual artists using "found" objects to create new masterpieces, be they sculpture, collage, or mixed media. Musicians, too, have mixed a variety of elements into new compositions—bird songs, environmental noise, samples of other recordings. Now, someone who goes by the name Clown Staples has created a song using only the very basic Sound Recorder … Read more.

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No More Gmail Accounts to Give

January 21, 2005

The response to my Gmail account giveaway was more enthusiastic than I had expected. Google refreshed my supply, and I still ran out. For those of you who are just starting with Gmail, you might want to visit Jim Barr's collection of Gmail tips. … Read more.

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How Are We Doing?

January 19, 2005

One of the utterances from service personnel that I find most irritating—along with the ubiquitous "Can I help who's next?"—is the question, How are we doing? It's as if they're asking how they themselves are doing, too. How should I know how they're doing? My standard response to such effrontery is, "We're fine. How are we?" Unfortunately, that kind of … Read more.

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Machiavelli Rice

January 19, 2005

Oh my. Condi "Machiavelli" Rice made it through the first round of confirmation hearings, as expected. Here's one reponse to a question about Iraq that upset me a bit, as quoted by CNN, "I know enough about history to stand back and recognize that you judge decisions not in the moment, but how it all adds up," [Rice] said. "It's … Read more.

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MSN Encourages the Scenic Route

January 18, 2005

A friend at work showed me this map that MSN generated based on a request for directions from one city in Norway to another. MSN has him going from Haugesund (Rogaland, Norway) to England on a ferry, down to London and across to Dover, through the "chunnel," out into France and up to Belgium, into The Netherlands and across to … Read more.

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GMail Account Giveaway

January 15, 2005

I still have four GMail accounts available for anyone who would like one. Just request it through the comment form of this entry, and I'll send you the invite. If you haven't heard about it yet, GMail is a cool web-based email program that Google has been beta testing for the past year or so. It gives you a full … Read more.

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Call Free with Skype

January 12, 2005

Though Skype has been on my radar for quite a while, I haven't been motivated enough to try it out. But after reading an article on Neville Hobson's blog about it, I thought I should bite the bullet and give the program a whirl. Skype is an internet telephony program based on peer-to-peer (p2p) technology that allows people to communicate … Read more.

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Extraction

January 10, 2005

This morning I went to the oral surgeon to have my four wisdom teeth pulled. The procedure was painless because they knocked me out with some general anaesthesia. The last time I had general anaesthesia, 15 years ago for a knee injury, I woke up crying and mumbling, "I don't want to die, I don't want to die." I felt … Read more.

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Google Labs

January 5, 2005

Watching the 60 Minutes report on Google the other night reminded me of how much I love the nifty little tools that they keep churning out. Here are a few that I think are particularly cool: Google Suggest: As you type, Google will offer suggestions. Use the arrow keys to navigate the results. I love this feature. And I can't … Read more.

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Favorite Music of 2004

January 1, 2005

Unlike most 2004 music lists, this one isn't limited to albums that were released during the year. Instead, it's merely a list of the albums I listened to the most, the tunes that got me through my days, the songs that accompanied me on the bus ride home from work. I wouldn't even call these the "best" albums of the … Read more.

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Bill Mallonee Turns Fifty

January 1, 2005

Bill Mallonee—singer, songwriter, poet, prophet, and former frontman for Vigilantes of Love—turns 50 today. Even though he started his music career about 15 years later than most other popular musicians, he has pursued it with such intensity and integrity that he has managed to release at least fifteen albums and has amassed a substantial cult following, all with little or … Read more.

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January 2005

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