"Murphy was an optimist!"
August Challenge – Getting Things Done August 16, 2006 10:34 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : August Challenge, Cathy, Daily Life
I highly recommend my web host. The way it reports statistics in the user control panel is a little weak. I have full access to the server logs and could process them through Webtrends for detailed reporting but it should be easier. I have been procrastinating on installing PhpMyVisites for my wife. Little procrastinations hang over your head and become huge burdens. I finally have a nice statistics report package in place for my wife to monitor her sites!
Can you meet The August Challenge?
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Olga Goes Down August 16, 2006 7:14 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Of Interest, Politics, Touchy SubjectsOn July 15 I said it was coming. Tom Maszerowski shows us it is here!
OLGA.net, The On-Line Guitar Archive has been served a take-down notice from the NMPA and MPA (whatever the hell they are) referencing the DMCA as grounds. OLGA’s crime: making text files with the chords of songs available for download. How this violates the DMCA beats me. [Source]
For those that have have never visited OLGA, it has been around for ages and is an incredible resource for aspiring musicians. For all practical purposes, it is an education site more than anything else. Regular people interpret, not copy, songs showing the guitar chord changes, riffs and lyrics. The site has inspired me to buy CDs by the artists so that I had the actual music to play along as I learned the song.
This is an atrocity in the name of a lawyer pocketing some dough because the idea that OLGA deprives any artist of revenue is ridiculous. OLGA is a easy target to set a legal precedence in order to tackle the sites that actually make a profit from selling lyrics online.
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LOST nears and so do the spoilers August 16, 2006 2:33 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Lost, Of Interest, TV / MoviesHello LOST fans! If this site is to be believed, they have juicy spoilers! So, if you don’t want to see what is coming in Season 3, do not click this link.
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Mac Converts August 16, 2006 10:08 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Hardware, TechnologyI want a Macbook Pro! Microsoft likes them and so does this guy.
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The USA Does Not Do World’s Fairs Anymore August 16, 2006 9:52 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Politics, Touchy Subjects, United States, World PoliticsThere was a World’s Fair in New Orleans in 1984. That was the last US participation. In 2002, the USA had its membership in the Bureau of International Expositions (BIE – the sanctioning body of the World’s Fair) withdrawn due to non-allocation of funds by Congress. Can you say war funding? The US quietly becomes more egocentric and disconnected from the world. I know I as a citizen did not realize until today that we, as a country, no longer participate in the World’s Fair which dates back to 1851. Way to be a world leader!
Look for further discussion at Atomic Tumor.
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In Space August 16, 2006 8:55 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Science, TechnologyMoon Crashes and distant places.
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A new hobby? Parkour August 16, 2006 8:52 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Exercise, Health, Of InterestMe thinks I have to try Parkour aka PK.
Parkour (often abbreviated PK) is a physical discipline of French origin in which participants attempt to pass obstacles in the fastest and most direct manner possible, using skills such as jumping, vaulting and climbing, or the more specific parkour moves. The obstacles can be anything in one’s environment, so parkour is often practiced in urban areas because of many suitable public structures, such as buildings, rails, and walls. [Source]
See also: A much longer description of Parkour. Wikipedia also has a detailed explanation.
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What is up Google’s sleeve? Photo searches? August 16, 2006 8:11 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Software, TechnologyGoogle, which just launched its free Wifi wireless Internet service in Mountain View but denies plans to create a national free Wifi network, has purchased a photo recognition company.
We’ve been working to make Picasa (Google’s free photo-organizing software) even better when it comes to searching for your own photos—to make finding them be as easy as finding stuff on the web. Luckily we’ve found some people who share this goal, and are excited that the Neven Vision team is now part of Google. [Source]
This means that in the future Picasa will not only search your harddrive for pictures but will classify them for you. Perhaps it will recognize all the pictures with granny in them and automatically label them "grandmother" and so forth.
In other Google news, they have released to beta the first major revamp of Blogger since its aquisition from Pyra Labs in 2003. (oops. That article is from May 10, 2004 Thank you Jonathan Hickman for point it out.) I still hate blogger and advise against using their service due to poor business practices. I was burned by Blogger and lost much writing and advise that you blog using WordPress on a hosted solution. I will happily help anyone setup their very own WordPress blog.
India has begun blocking Blogger and others such as Typepad. India following in China’s footsteps?
Update: The striked reference above may have been a typo in the date. C|Net has the same information with an August 15, 2006 publishing date. So, strike the strike. See also Update aims for friendlier Blogger (which they won’t achieve unless they have fixed their customer service issues). From the horse’s mouth at Blogger Buzz with an August 14, 2006 publishing date.
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Our changing universe, er..galaxy August 16, 2006 7:36 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Science, Technology, Touchy Subjects1 comment so far
