Back with a couple things for everyone. First up, I’ll have to wonder if my laptop bag (a new one I just switched to by the way) will forever smell like vanilla, since I splashed my drink onto it. Not too much, but enough. But then the table next to me spilled their entire drink on the floor, so I feel a little better.
Anyway….
A follow up to the cello Star Wars, I like this one better by the way:
Here is the Muppabet, which reached the end, and has since ended. That’s a neat idea though, to have a set end for a blog.
The creator of TED is looking to recreate the conference once again.
I have a few friends who will love this for the pokeman reference. I have others who will love it for the gardening skills. Here is the pokerose.
When I’m out in public and can overheard a first date, I live tween using the hashtag #FirstDateEavesdropping and it’s a fun time. Andy Boyle did the same, but with a break-up
He’s out of the race, and didn’t have a chance to begin with, but I had a special type of vitriol for Herman Cain, seeing as he’s racist against the Lebanese.
Two quick questions. First, Metblogs had a massive database fail, and I’ not sure what’s going on. But I still want to write about Pittsburgh. I have two ideas, but wanted to see if anyone has a use for another unpaid Pittsburgh blogger. I occasionally get invited to special events, apparently have some kind of following and like to write sarcastically about transportation, among other local things.
Two: is YouTube really, really, slow for anyone else? I know they were hosting a lot of clips for Egypt, so I think that may have something to do with it, but it’s kind of unbearable right now.
Thanks, I should be back tomorrow or Friday with a bigger post, once I get some sleep!
Couple things to talk about. First up, what happens to you online after you die (in real life). Well, it takes a little bit of preplanning. But Lifehacker has you covered.
Philly takes the wrong side in social media, trying to tax bloggers, including taxing some more than they made from blogging. Also, people get paid to blog?! I jest, I jest. I do it for the sport of it all!
The Internet is the real revolution, as important as electricity; what we do with it is still evolving. As it moved from your desktop to your pocket, the nature of the Net changed.
Those first clause is powerful, and true. The Internet is still changing, and more importantly, changing us.
And in response to the second block quote that Sullivan pulled out: ThinkGeek has shirts that detect WiFi, are instruments and can do all kinds of things, so we’re pretty much in the future right now!
Hello everybody! Big ole update for you today, enjoy the links and all the fun things!
I saw Alice in Wonderland last week, and I enjoyed it, although the 3D was totally unnecessary, and I would suggest you save the money and see it in normal 2D. One entire section of the movie is the classic orange/blue contrast (Alice’s dress and the Mad Hatter’s hair), which was cool, but kind of overdone. And strangely enough, every singe preview before the movie was for a Disney movie. My brother and I both noticed it, I hope that does not become a trend. Disney however, did do a cool thing and pull the original Alice out of the vault for an ‘unanniversary’ release. And finally on the subject of Alice, check out what Disney did with $700,000 dollars:
The Wrap discusses the blurring of the line between news and advertising and the journalistic integrity/ad revenue debate that always rages on. Do I like te ad? Not really, I don’t think it made much use of the medium. Do I think readers realized it was an ad and knew to turn the page? Yes. Do I think it probably annoyed them? Yes. But then again, those are just my thoughts.
Queen of the Nerds, Felecia Day will return as Little Red Riding Hood on SyFy (I feel dirty just typing that). I’m very excited, hopefully it turns out well. Now to wait for The Guild season 4!
Also in nerd news, BrentalFloss’s first CD is coming out soon:
I’ve been dating someone really great for a few months, but he’s never referred to me as his girlfriend. How do I take it to another Level?
While the obvious answer is “Accomplish a story task in the boyfriend track for XP equal or greater to your next level threshold,” I get the feeling you might be hinting that you want to descend into the fetid labyrinth that festers beneath his ancient wizard’s tower. In that case the stairs are in quadrant M23, behind the Throne of the Kobold Hetman.
I know it’s been over for a while, but this is one of the coolest things to come out of the Olympics: Water usage (specifically dealing with toilet flushes) during the gold medal hockey game. Pretty awesome!
Here’s a cool video made entirely from a flatbed scanner:
I missed it (due to date and the fact it was in Washington State), but even though I’m horribly afraid of any kind of public protest, I might have gone to a protest for Pluto:
ATTENTION ALL CONCERNED CITIZENS!
A horrible injustice has occurred! Aghast astronomers, intrepid interstellar adventurers, and many others have joined forces to protest one of the darkest days in recent solar system history. Pluto—the smallest and most distant planet—has been removed from the planetary pantheon.
We refuse to bow to this outrageous decree and declare: PLUTO IS A PLANET.
It’s been stirring for a while, but here are some of the letters that have been send to the Itawamba County School Board, in response to their cancellation of prom and then trying to blame it on one of their students.
And speaking of, here is a great, great editorial piece written in response to it, here is one of my favorite paragraphs, which is a little out of context, so I would encourage you to read the whole thing:
What happens is that some Protestants cherry-pick edicts out of the Bible that support their prejudices and then, in a neat bit of mental judo, spread their arms wide and claim their religion is under attack if anyone contradicts them. “What about tolerance for ME?” they cry. It’s as if I seized a copy of the Bible and began beating someone over the head with it and, when you try to stop me, I accuse you of failing to respect my faith.
And some more old news, check out Jon Stewart discuss the Massa/Beck interview:
Cool video showcasing monsters/aliens taking profile pictures:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcbZ0v8Mpvk
Here’s an interesting article about how to put together a useful online news room, some great ideas, although I would probably pick and choose a couple of things, depending on the situation of course. And Nathan discusses some of his favorite online tools.
I saw this on Slog, and I think a couple other places, but here’s a cool video about possible future kiosks that will work with tablets:
Penguin Books is going to be releasing cloth bound, hard cover classics, the design is very old, but impressive (especially the cloth). Here is what the first and second sets will look like.
Apparently one of Tiger’s mistresses has released the contents of her text messages with him. Apparantly we already knew half of the conversation, so Slate put together their own version:
Joslyn: Sent: 04:02 PM 08/28/2009: What would you say to Carlsbad Caverns if you were there right now?
Tiger: Sent: 04:06 PM 08/28/2009: I want to be deep inside you
Joslyn: Sent: 04:12 PM 08/28/2009: LOL. I love spelunking.
And in scout news, the Girl Scouts (who are surprisingly more and more progressive, even if their paperwork or organization doesn’t really work or make any sense), even (denying and then admitting) to putting out a sex-positive, realistic pamphlet. The PR is kind of a nightmare (denying it, then making up lies, then saying that it was yours all along). And the story is at a conservative site that uses a boy scout merit badge sash by the way. And over on the other side of the gender gap, an Eagle project had to be changed from a volleyball court to bocce due to noise concerns. It doesn’t make any sense to me at all, but that is part of the process, working with the community. I will add though, that when we play bocce at camp, we are generally pretty loud, it’s because we’re having fun!
The Kill The Gays bill in Uganda debate rages on, Andrew Sullivan covers it, here’s a quote:
The anti-homosexuality bill, simply put, is a backlash. A backlash from a group that, in the long run, is losing the battle of ideas.
Even though we have been together for six years, shared a household for five and a half years, pooled our finances for five and a half years and will be celebrating our third wedding anniversary this summer, we are total strangers as far as the federal government is concerned. And if the federal government recognized our marriage, I would have been an American citizen three years ago. In fact, if I had married a longtime female friend 20 years ago, I would be a long-standing citizen right now. (Yes, a heterosexual marriage would have voided the HIV ban automatically for the past 22 years.)
What does the federal government call a legally married man who has paid taxes for twenty-two years and has a PhD, and a job? A faggot.
In college we read a book called The Influentials, and this made me think of my friend Teri, who most certainly was an influential on our campus. I’ll have to alert her to her changing status…
I don’t have anything to add to this trailer, it’s just awesome:
And finally, here’s a cool montage of movie endings:
A former boss once described me as one of the most influential bloggers in Pittsburgh. I don’t believe it, but I’ll try to let my ego take the compliment.
Here are my blogs. They all aggregate in the main blog RSS feed, or you can subscribe individually. Comment, add links, interact, but most of all, enjoy:
Easily distracted and always looking to experience new things, no matter how mundane, Mike’s writing is sometimes irreverent, oftentimes seemingly irrelevant. Mike enjoys camping, SCUBA diving, geocaching, reading, strange music, even stranger television and jumbo paper clips. Mike is a firm believer in the power of web 2.0 and runs and contributes to a multitude of websites scattered across the internet. Oh yeah, Mike sometimes writes in the third person.
Mike’s personal blog. Musings, media and lots of links. I try not to get up on my soapbox too often, nor do I recount every detail of my day, unless something especially exciting happened. Mostly, this blog is a look into how I interact with the Internet and things I find exciting.
The title is the continuation of the phrase that makes up the entire site, “Today’s mighty oak is just yesterday’s nut that held its ground.” The titles of each post come from my massive quote file and more often than not, do not have to do with the content of the post. It’s kind of my thing.
I’ll be looking at Pittsburgh Communication in this blog. Any and all communication, either coming from, or about Pittsburgh. It’s a work in progress, and for now, I’ll probably be focusing on communications coming from Pittsburgh companies, but we’ll see how it evolves.
I took the name from a combination of the Progresso soup commercials, and Pittsburgh native, Andy Warhol. And, I’d also like to make a phone from two Campbell’s soup cans and some string, just like in first grade.
Here’s the deal. One of these days, I will go back to school for my master’s and doctorate. I’ve always been fascinated with the idea of how the Internet has the ability to form and strengthen communities, bring people together, and allow us to interact in ways we would have never dreamed of a few years ago.
Even more of a work in progress than Warhol’s Phone, more of a dumping ground for some of my thoughts and ideas. I’ll be looking at a lot of ideas stemming from The Cluetrain Manifesto, Web 2.0, JoHo and all things related. It will be a strange journey, but we’ll see where it goes.
Things won’t be thought out, I may post things with very little explanation. It will be my own little sandbox to flesh out some ideas, even without the guidance of direction. It’s going to be a bumpy ride, but I’m excited.
The title comes from one of my favorite books, Clive Barker’s The Great and Secret Show. One of the ideas in the novel is how the world can be manipulated and changed, and how that power is dealt with by seemingly ordinary people. It’s the first book of a trilogy that was never finished, but I still have hope he’ll write the third book yet. Very fitting all around.
I was the (uncredited) Northeast editor of the short-lived experiment that was the Metblogs Global Conspiracy. These are the posts that I wrote. Hopefully it comes back, but in the meantime, it’s a launch pad for a much tread-on subject. Here is how the project was described:
Newspapers are dying. Journalists are being laid off by the thousands. Local news is suffering. Filling this void are citizen journalists, often people without a background in writing who have found a need and passion to report on their community. Everyone is learning as they go. Metblogs Global Conspiracy is a guide for anyone interested in the constantly evolving and shifting world of non-traditional journalism, by providing advice from writers who’ve been able to apply their life experience to local reporting, to highlighting examples of CJ’s in action around the world.
While there is no agreed upon definition of “citizen journalism,” the Global Conspiracy blog will emphasize amateur, unpaid individuals around the world who have taken efforts to report on a story or subject around them using original reporting (not simply pulling and rewording info from other media), with a focus on community news and social issues.
Purpose
To encourage and improve “citizen journalism” worldwide by highlighting good examples, discussing the issues involved, and providing tips and advice for experienced bloggers and journalists.
While the exact definition of “citizen journalism” is elusive and debatable, this blog’s focus will be on average citizens using non traditional media to gather and share news on their community or a particular social issue, with particular interest in situations where regular people were able to cover and report on a situation better, faster, or more unique way than traditional media outlets.
We’ll also be keeping an eye on these traditional outlets that are trying to co opt the methods and people who set out to do it on their own.
I started writing for Pittsburgh Metblogs in the spring of 2007. Currently, I’m the only writer, but I’m hoping to gather some more troops! I am the Pittsburgh Captain, and am happy to bribe people to write with me. Seriously, I’ll buy you drinks of the alcoholic persuasion (or, if you’re under 21, some very nice mocktails). These are being brought in behind the scenes. The powers that be over at Metblogs don’t like the writing being cross-posted, and that’s fine. I’ll keep a copy of my writing just in case, and I’ll be able to turn it on with two clicks behind the scenes here. Anyway, here’s that official description:
Metroblogging started off as a more locally focused alternative news source in Los Angeles and has turned into the largest and fastest growing network of city-specific blogs on the Web. We got sick of reading local news that was syndicated from the other side of the country, or was just repurposed national chit chat that had nothing to do with our city. We created our first blog as a throw back to the days when a local news paper focused on local issues, and you could walk down to the corner coffee shop and chat up the reporters whose column you read earlier that day. This idea didn’t stay in one city for long and before we knew it there were Metblogs in Chicago, Portland, Karachi, and Vienna. Today there are over 50 Metblogs in countries all over the world. Local politics, event reviews, lunch recommendations and ways to avoid that big traffic jam downtown. If it’s happening in our cities, we’re on it.
We are bloggers first and foremost, and we love our cities. Even the parts we hate.
A look at LGBT equality and the fight for our civil rights. As a gay man working for the Boy Scouts of America, it was a stressful time for me (student loans however, wait for no one to be repaid), and I kept a hidden blog to help release some stress and organize my thoughts. While I did what I could behind the scenes to make it a safer and more accepting place for everyone, I could only do so much.
The policy needs to change, not for me, but for the youth that are being told they aren’t worthy. Being told they aren’t equal. Being told they are broken. Institutionalized discrimination hurts children, make no mistake. I’m bolstered by the stories I’ve heard, the people I’ve worked with, and the lives people have made me a part of. And they’re all worth fighting for. I’m tired. No, I’m exhausted. But the fight for equality rages on, and I intend to help.
I hope you read along, I talk about a lot of different things and it’s a fun journey that we can make together. As a teaser, I talk about stereotypes, beer, Pride, hockey, ENDA, camp, and much, much more. I have a lot to discuss, so please, stick around, I’ll make it worth your while, I promise.
Titles of posts in this section typically (but not always) start with the word “Wherein.” I’ll try to remember to add when I originally wrote the post in the body of it somewhere. Articles signed off with “The King of Spades” were written while I was still employed by the BSA. To see my original coming out post, And truth makes a better man.
A group blog to which I am an occasional contributor. Started and staffed by my friends, following the tenant that knowledge should be free, we take a look at various political and social issues, as well as cultural. While we do deviate to professional sports, movies and other mass media, we tend to write more about more weighty topics.
My writing there is typically more long-form, with an over-abundance of footnotes, although I do break out of that mold every now and then.
