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## Tuesday, 02 August, 2005

### State Of The Blogosphere

In the time it takes you to read this post, about five new blogs will have been created (one per second). That, according to State of the Blogosphere.

Permalink | Posted in Blogs & Blogging @2:10pm | Comments (0)

### Fridge Foto

Refrigerator voyeurism: Photo of your Fridge. It's a simple concept:

> We want you to send in your picture of your fridge.

So far, only 11 contributions. This one seems to contain nothing but beer:

Permalink | Posted in General @2:07pm | Comments (3)

### World Processor

Some interesting view of the planet: World Processor.

> Worldprocessor is an ongoing project that started in 1988. Currently there are over 300 different globes.

There are hundreds of these globes. This one depicts TV ownership:

Permalink | Posted in General @2:00pm | Comments (0)

### Easy Hotel

Staying in London? Need a no-frills hotel? Try this: Capsule hotels come to Europe.

> Rooms, splashed with the easyHotel.com logo and the ubiquitous orange livery, come in three sizes: small, very small and tiny. Mr Haji-Ioannou proudly boasted yesterday that they were Europe's smallest hotel rooms.

> Officially, they range from 60 sq ft to 80 sq ft but the Guardian's tape measure puts the smallest rooms at 49 sq ft, with a 7ft-high ceiling and a 14 sq ft en suite pod, cramming in a shower, sink and toilet. Room to swing a cat, there is not. Nor are there windows. In keeping with the easyEthos, such frills are ditched in favour of value for money.

From the easyHotel FAQ:

- Is there a laundrette or facilities for washing clothes? No
- Is there a telephone available in the room / hotel? No
- Can I store my bicycle within the hotel? No
- Can I buy alchohol at the hotel? No
- Is there a mini-bar in the room? No
- Is there a gym in the hotel? No
- Is there a swimming pool in the hotel? No
- Can I hang my clothes up in the room? There are two coat hooks in each room.
- Do I need to bring my own soap, shampoo, etc? Soap is provided - anything else you will need to bring.
- Are there electric razor sockets in the rooms? No
- Do the rooms contain hair dryers? No
- Are safety deposit boxes available? No
- Are, extra beds, cots, or cribs available? No
- Are adjoining rooms available? No
- Is there a lift inside the building? No

Permalink | Posted in General @1:44pm | Comments (8)

### African Hair

Photos of African hairstyles? Some old, some more recent. This is from 1950:

(via Jaf Project)

Permalink | Posted in General @12:06pm | Comments (2)

### A Career In CSI

Need a new career? Here are two books to help you get started in the world of Crime Scene Investigation.

- The Complete Idiot's Guide to Criminal Investigation
- Forensics For Dummies

Permalink | Posted in Books @11:59am | Comments (4)

### Oh Donald!

TV was a lot different back then: That Girl.

> This popular Marlo Thomas situation comedy debuted on ABC on September 8, 1966, and ran for five seasons until September 10, 1971. Focusing on the exploits of actress and model Ann Marie, who leaves the comforts of her parents' home in Brewster, NY, to make it big in the Big Apple. this sitcom was the first to revolve around the life of an independent young woman.

> But although Ann Marie was the prototype for a liberated female character, she was in fact quite dependent upon two men in her life: her boyfriend Donald Hollinger (Ted Bessell) and her father Lou Marie (Lew Parker).

Permalink | Posted in Movies & TV @11:55am | Comments (0)

### The Cost To Live Well

At Forbes: What It Costs To Live Well In The U.S.

> How much does a family of four need to earn per year to live the upper-middle-class American dream? Forbes.com looks at a major metro region in each of the 50 states and estimates such expenses as primary and secondary homes, private education, taxes, utilities and more, to find out what it costs to live the good life.

The most expensive, not surprisingly, is New York City. The least expensive is Wichita, Kansas.

Permalink | Posted in General @11:51am | Comments (7)

### My New Laptop

I guess the preferred term these days is "notebook computer," but I still call it a laptop. In any case, it arrived yesterday. It's a Dell Inspiron 700m.

I spent about two hours removing all of the excess crap that's installed on it. I thought I got it all, but when I booted it this morning, I was greeted with an advertisement featuring Scott Cook, from QuickBooks. The three buttons to click were: "See How Simple," "Watch the Video," and "Get Started Now." Nothing that says, "Forget it, you ignorant moron."

My initial impression is that I paid $1,100 for a box full of software and online service advertising. That computer is just packed with trial versions, and as you go through the set-up screens there's a sales pitch at every opportunity. The worst is the Norton crap -- it's like a damn virus. It kept popping up, trying to scare me.

Here's a list of just some of the unwanted stuff that that I had to get rid of: AOL, Earthlink, Symantec, Norton, Get Hi-Speed Internet, Word Perfect Office, MSN, QuickBooks, Dell Web Cybercoach, MusicMatch Jukebox, Real Player, PaintShop, MS PhotoStory, Windows MovieMaker, and probably more that I forgot about.

I installed Firefox (with AdBlock), Irfanview, WinAmp, MS FrontPage 2002, Excel 2003, and Word 2003. That's my primary list of everyday software -- and probably all that I'll need on this laptop. I got my custom blogging system set up on FrontPage, so now, no matter where I'm at, I'm able to update this blog, delete comments, and ban IP addresses.

If I had to rely on the built-in keyboard and touchpad to do all of that installing and uninstalling, I'd still be at it. Rather, I plugged in a wireless USB keyboard and mouse, and that made the job bearable. I absolutely hate that touchpad. I'm sure it gets easier with practice, but I plan to pack an optical mouse. Regardless of how much I practice on the tiny keyboard, I will never get good at it. So I've resigned myself to two-finger typing.

The widescreen display is amazing, especially after I specified the ClearType option. It's 10.5" x 6.5", and displays at 1280 x 800 resolution. I took it outside, and after I cranked up the brightness it was very legible. I watched part of a movie, and it looked great. The built-in speakers are terrible though, so headphones are required if you want to listen to music or a movie. I ordered a pair of very cheap Kensington noise-canceling headphones. Those are probably good enough for what I need.

It works great with our wireless network. I went out to the pool, and it still showed "excellent" signal strength. I bought an upgraded battery (plus a spare). When fully-charged, it's supposedly good for five hours -- which probably means 3-4 hours.

Overall, I'm happy with it. It's just a shame Dell has to load it up with so much garbage. I pity the poor novice user who buys a computer and doesn't know how to get rid of all the garbage on it. Most of them probably think this stuff is useful, and actually believe that anti-virus software must be installed.

Permalink | Posted in Internet & Computers @8:43am | Comments (30)

### Products For Revenge

Three pages of Revenge Products. For example:

Only $9.00 for a bottle of Liquid Roadkill. I haven't seen it that cheap in a long time.

Permalink | Posted in Products @8:05am | Comments (8)

### Collaborative Music

This is Sound Project 1: Music For Car Commercials.

> In January of 2005 I invited a bunch on frends to join a virtual band. We would start with a track and pass it on to a member, who after editing and adding would pass it on to the next member. The musicians were asked to bend, fold add and have fun, take the music to there creative place. The only rule was that we would all use Apple's Computer Garage Band, an application that has been shipping with all Macintoshs for the last 2 years.

As far as I can tell, this has nothing to do with cars or commercials. You can download seven MP3 tracks and hear for yourself.

(via PCL Link Dump)

Permalink | Posted in Music @8:02am | Comments (0)

### Interestingness At Flickr

This is a hot link today: Explore Flickr.

> Flickr labs have been hard at work creating a way to show you some of the most awesome photos on Flickr. We like to call it interestingness.

And what exactly is Interestingness?

> There are lots of things that make a photo 'interesting' (or not) in the Flickr. Where the clickthroughs are coming from; who comments on it and when; who marks it as a favorite; its tags and many more things which are constantly changing. Interestingness changes over time, as more and more fantastic photos and stories are added to Flickr.

If you like to look at good photos, you can spend the rest of the day browing at Flickr.

Permalink | Posted in Visual Arts @7:42am | Comments (0)

### Fixing Microsoft's Grammar

One man's crusade: Operation Correct Microsoft's Grammar. The problem is on their Passport sign-in page:

> Underneath the Password box there is a small link which reads "Forgot your password?"

> This is grammatically incorrect.

> "Forgot" is the wrong form of the verb "to forget". What they are thinking is "Have you forgot your password?" which any English teacher would most definitely mark incorrect.

> The link should read [Have you] "Forgotten your password?" or maybe [Did you] "Forget your password?" or perhaps "I forgot my password".

He notified Microsoft, and received a response about two weeks ago. But it hasn't been fixed yet. Given the way Microsoft works, I figure a change like that will take about 12-18 months.

Permalink | Posted in Internet & Computers @7:40am | Comments (22)

### Making A Big Deal Out Of Shaving

From the New York Times: Are Men Ready for the 5-Step, 10-Minute Shave?

> ANGELO RAGAZA used to shave in less than three minutes, which was all the time he was willing to devote to a chore he considered a nuisance. He washed, applied a dollop of shave gel and with a couple dozen brisk strokes of a disposable razor, scraped his face clean. But that was before a friend gave him a luxurious shaving kit as a gift.

> For the past few weeks Mr. Ragaza, a magazine editor in Manhattan, has been stretching out his shaving ritual to almost 10 minutes. He starts by moisturizing with a citrus-scented preshave oil, then applies a frothy swirl of foaming shaving cream with a badger-hair brush. Then, after shaving as usual, he gives himself a final soothing pat with after-shave lotion.

Wus. If it takes more than 90 second to shave your face, you're doing something wrong.

Permalink | Posted in General @7:33am | Comments (21)

### Vintage Baseball

No $10 million contracts here. Baseball as it was intended to be played: New Hampshire Granite Vintage Baseball Club.

> We are a non-profit organization attempting to educate the public on vintage base ball by re-creating the game in an open-air museum... We are comprised of 12 ballists from all over New England. Our talent range is from former Little League to former Professional Players and a mix from every level in between.

> We play base ball according to the rules and etiquette of the 1880's. Our hard playing style in conjunction with respect of our opponents makes for a great day of base ball.

Permalink | Posted in Sports @7:30am | Comments (3)

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Original content Copyright 2005, John Walkenbach

Coming to you from Tucson, Arizona (USA)