Category: Announcements

Public service, alerts, and information that just needs to be known

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The Internet’s Lowest Common Denominator

I have reduced the Internet!

To consume all knowledge on the Internet, you only need four sites:

That’s all you need! Granted, there are some sites that make the Internet a little more fun. Hundreds. For instance, Facebook has some value in that, "don’t make me think" kind of prime time comedy hour thing. Seesmic is a great aggregator for viewing your social networks in a single place. For getting links and news, the only aggregator ever needed (and this is huge geek crack so if you have no self-control stay away from it!) is Popurls. That’s about it. Sure, you should look in on Flickr once in a while but nothing else is really needed. Of course, there’s some utilitarian stuff like banking and travel sites but really…the Internet has come down to 4 sites. You’re welcome.

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Switching Spam Filters

I have been a huge Spam Karma fan for years but the open source community does not seem to be taking the ball and running with it.

As of January 1st, 2009, I am no longer developing, maintaining or supporting Spam Karma. If you want to contribute to its code or download the latest GPL release, you can check out the code repository, over at Google Code. [Source, unknowngenius.com]

So I’m switching to Akismet. The last time I tried Akismet, I had many false positives. That is, it reported real comments as spam. With Spam Karma, I had almost zero false positives for all the years I used it. If you try to leave a comment and it fails or doesn’t show up, just contact me.

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Air America is gone

Announced today at AirAmerica.com:

It is with the greatest regret, on behalf of our Board, that we must announce that Air America Media is ceasing its live programming operations as of this afternoon, and that the Company will file soon under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code to carry out an orderly winding-down of the business. … Air America Radio launched in April, 2004. [Source, AirAmerica]

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Grand Central No More

I was fortunate to receive an early invite to Grand Central. Unfortunately, this meant when it became Google Voice, I was stuck with my number unless I paid $10 which is fine because by the time I found out about the $10 I’m sure any number I’d want was taken. I also never took advantage of Grand Central for reasons I won’t get into. I am now very comfortable with Google Voice and am being to direct more of my calls through it.

If you used Grand Central, your old messages have remained available but that ends December 31st.

Dear GrandCentral User (djuggler):

We’re writing to let you know that we will be closing down the GrandCentral website as of December 31, 2009. Get your messages while you can (if you want them).

All GrandCentral accounts were upgraded to Google Voice earlier this year, but since that time, you’ve still been able to log-in to your GrandCentral account and listen to old messages there. You will no longer be able to log-in to your GrandCentral account after December 31. Because of this, we strongly suggest downloading any messages or contacts that you want to keep before December 31.

We suggest you take action now to download any information you want to keep.

– The Google Voice Team

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My last juggling performance with my brother was 15 years ago

The 20th Knoxville Kuumba Festival begins tonight at 5pm. The last time my brother and I did a juggling performance on stage was at Kuumba Festival roughly 15 years ago (I may be off a year more or less). I was wounded at the time with a splinted finger so much of the performance for me was done with one hand. They had a camera crew but didn’t start filming until the end of our performance. So if it’s truly been 15 years, does this mean my brother and I need a reunion tour? Or do we have to wait another 5 years?

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Can you donate some antlers?

The Center for Peace is in need of some new antlers for their sweat lodges. The Center for Peace is located in Seymour, TN and people travel from all over to visit.

We offer many opportunities, such as: Visionary Dances; Sweat Lodges; Fire Ceremonies; chanting/drumming gatherings; young people’s ceremonies and activities; Core Shamanism; Huna Shamanism; Vision Quests; teachings on drumming and working with fire; workshops on various topics such as numerology, fire walking, Druidic traditions, sound healing and chanting, shamanic studies, and many more; initiation ceremonies; supporting ceremonies in the local, regional, and international communities; and a safe, family-like environment to grow in. [Source, CenterforPeace.us]

If you have a set of antlers that could be used to say pick up a football and move it and are willing to donate them, they would be very useful to the Center for Peace.

I personally have attended several sweat lodges at the Center for Peace. Mostly recognized as a Native American tradition, non-Indian sweat lodges can be found in the fifth century BC. My personal experience has been that a sweat lodge is a ritual of spiritual cleansing not limited to a particular belief system or religion. The attendees has always been a diverse crowd religiously as well as professionally. I have met artisans, lawyers, philosophers, educators, land developers, environmental activists and others at the sweats. I believe the Center for Peace is yet another East TN treasure that few may know about. If you are so inclined, I highly encourage you to experience an activity at the Center for Peace.

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Jumpcut.com shutting down!

I had a bothersome email this morning alerting me that Jumpcut is closing its doors. Why was this bothersome? Mainly because I didn’t know what Jumpcut was nor did I realize I had an account…but sure enough I do!

Jumpcut is a place to make movies and interact with people. This is your personal home, where you can work with your stuff and see activity that is related to you. As you upload and interact with Jumpcut, it will fill up nicely. [Source, Jumpcut]

Here’s the email:

Dear Jumpcut user,

After careful consideration, we will be officially closing the Jumpcut.com site on June 15, 2009. This was a difficult decision to make, but it’s part of the ongoing prioritization efforts at Yahoo!

We have released a software utility that allows you to download the movies you created on Jumpcut to your computer. As well, you can now download your original assets. Please visit the download page at http://www.jumpcut.com/myhome/?subnav=download to get started.

Once you download your movies, you may choose to upload them to another site such as Flickr, which allows video uploads for short videos (90 seconds or less). You can find out more here: http://flickr.com/explore/video

Thanks for being a part of Jumpcut.

The Jumpcut Team

Read about Jumpcut.com’s history on Wikipedia.

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Knoxville Overground Social Mixer Tomorrow!

Tomorrow night let’s all get together in Market Square to checkout Knoxville Overground’s latest and have some real life social time.

Tomorrow on Wednesday March 25th at 7pm, Knoxville Overground will host a social mixer at 35 Market Square as well as provide tours of the 5,000 sq. ft. facility it hopes to convert into a micro-enterprise development center within the next few months.

Remember, downtown parking garages are free at 6pm (although someone recently commented that had changed to 7pm..unverified). For for information about the social mixer and tour, e-mail knoxvilleoverground@gmail.com. See more at KnoxViews.

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Seeking Next Project

I am coming to the end of a project and have an opening in my schedule. My strengths are programming in PHP, ColdFusion, JavaScript and jQuery, CSS, and HTML. I most frequently work with MySQL or MS SQL but can work on most database platforms. Code I write validates and is W3C compliant. I can also write Section 508 compliant code. I carry a project from concept to production as project manager, independent developer, and/or project team member. In addition to custom original code, I work well with open source projects and APIs. I usually telecommute but am not adverse to working onsite or traveling. I am not an artist and typically hire a graphic artist to provide the design for each project. I enjoy WordPress customizations (but have not done custom work to either Reality Me or Domestic Psychology). Please send referrals or inquiries to jugger@gmail.com or call +1-865-898-7189. Thank you!

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Latest Internet Nuisance

This morning I received an email from two people who don’t normally send me email. Both emails were almost identical and inexplicable. One was sent to me while the other revealed the 87 or so email addresses it was sent to and appears to have been sent through gmail. I presume a worm, trojan or virus is sending this message to people’s complete address books. If you get one of these, you may want to let the send (not the entire mailing list) know that they need to scan their computer. Click more to see the email. Continue reading Latest Internet Nuisance

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Why yes I have heroes! And one is coming to Knoxville!

My heroes and role models center around comedians. The list of influences is huge including Red Fox, Steve Martin, Bill Cosby, Rick Moranis, Dave Thomas…hold on…basically the SCTV and Saturday Night Live casts. I can narrow the list to four people: Gene Wilder, Richard Pryor, Bill Murray, and Robin Williams. When I was around twelve years old, Robin Williams got me in a bunch of trouble when I did his "moisture heat seeking missile" routine that involved a lot of pelvic gyrations for some guests my parents were entertaining. I had no idea what I was doing or saying. The guests were rolling on the floor and my father was fuming. That was my first Carlos Mencia lesson: don’t perform other people’s material.

Robin Williams is coming to Knoxville on April 11th to the Civic Auditorium! There’s even a VIP Meet & Greet package available! Well, he may be coming to Knoxville. His doctor has advised him to skip four Florida scheduled shows due to recent heart surgery.

On August 20, 2007, Williams’ elder brother, Robert Todd Williams, died of complications from heart surgery performed a month earlier. [Source, Wikipedia, Robin Williams]

I wish I was still participating in the Red Cross’ FAST program or that I could justify a ticket. Maybe Robin Williams wants to give himself an intermission during the show and would like a juggler to come on stage with him!