Category: Internet

Fabulous thread on Slashdot about Kermit (the file transfer protocol and application, not the Frog). I remember, back in the day (like, 1993), when using Kermit over a modem was the only way one could deal with the truly astounding line noise on the local phone lines in Charlottesville. Mind, this was over a 2400 baud modem, to which I could actually send Hayes modem codes to improve performance. Remember that? No, of course not. It was in another country, and besides, the wench is dead (Marlowe).

The other thing is, I can’t remember the name of the Macintosh program that I used Kermit over. I know there was a MacKermit, but there were other tools as well, including some that supported the long-demised Communications Toolbox. Man, those were the days.

As pointed out by Tony Pierce (see his “Nooooooo” at the bottom of the entry) and BoingBoing, BlogShares has gone the way of all websites. Seyed Razavi, BlogShares’ creator, says he came to the decision after recent technical difficulties illustrated for him that keeping the service online required an active developer and operator, and that revenues from the site were declining.

I enjoyed playing the game for a while, but recently only checked in on my portfolio once every few months.

A whole bunch of memes collided on NPR the day before Thanksgiving. Xeni Jardin of BoingBoing and Wired was on talking about phonecams and Jones Turkey and Gravy Soda, among other things. On the show, NPR plugged the SENT exhibit of phonecam art, and announced a challenge to submit your favorite phonecam pix. Needless to say, I couldn’t resist sending in a slew of my own, including some from the Museum of Glass, the iPod Autopsy, and fall in Kirkland.

Regarding the Jones Turkey and Gravy Soda, I am sorry to report that I was too slow on the draw to actually find said soda before it disappeared from the store shelves, both on line and locally. Maybe next year, if they repeat the promotion. Judging from the prices of the soda on eBay, they definitely should.

Deliberately old fashioned lead in. Did it ever strike anyone else as odd that it takes a corps of bloggers that is growing at a rate of at least 8,000 to 9,000 blogs a day to keep track of everything that’s interesting on the Internet as it comes on line? What does that say about the overall rate of growth of the Internet? If we’re the surface of the sphere, what does the inside look like?

• Kind of like this, apparently.
• Tony Pierce’s second self-published book of his blog, Blook II, is on pre-sale now. The best writing in the blogosphere, in book form, including Tony’s trip to Hell with Kurt Cobain. Get it now.
• Linux hackers get a hold of Big Mouth Billy Bass. The result? Videoconferencing through Billy Bass, coming soon.
• The quick review of Sting’s “Sacred Love” in the New York Times stops short of calling him a geezer, but it’s increasingly obvious that he’s no longer the man who wrote a song treatment of Lolita, or even name-checked General Pinochet.
• Page and Brin’s Blog: What if Google’s founders wrote a blog? Please try to ignore the fact that it’s run on a search engine optimization site, and take the endless cracks about “selling PageRank” in stride accordingly.
• Why are we nervous about expanded surveillance powers for the FBI? Um, sometimes history speaks for itself.
• Soon, we hope, there will be a survey of Virginia accents, following on the heels of the National Geographic survey of Texas accents. Maybe it will show why those who grew up in Tidewater (like me) have no particular Southern accent, while those who grow up in Richmond sound a little like Foghorn Leghorn.
• Charles Lindbergh: First dog to cross the Atlantic solo?

One of the points about “traditional” church going that always bugged me was the difficulty in reconciling logical inconsistencies in the Bible with the divinity of the text. Even among churches that don’t insist on the literal truth of the Gospel, you sometimes get people discussing the differences in the Gospel of John, for instance, from the other gospel accounts, without digging deeper as to the meaning.

Perhaps worse are the “cultural memory” versions of scriptural events, such as the placement of the birth of Christ in a wooden barn, with the magi attending, everything glowing and pretty, and a beatific, happy Mary at the center. As Real Life Preacher points out today in the introduction to what he promises will be an eight-part series about the real Christmas story, it is much more about “pain and surprise, of grace, beauty and brutality.”

RLP goes on to lay out known flaws in our received picture of the Nativity, including the aforementioned wooden barn, magi, and prettiness. The other thing, of course, that’s left out is that Mary and Joseph were scared teenagers who had to travel sixty miles during a highly advanced pregnancy. But they did it anyway. God works in mysterious ways.

After business school and a couple of years away from being a programmer, you’d think my geekiness would be dropping. Apparently not. I just took Newsweek/MSNBC’s Digital IQ quiz and scored 194, where anything greater than 110 is “nerd” level. Sigh…

I’ll be splitting my blogging attention this week with a guest stint at Greg Greene’s sidebar (full list of articles here). As the man says, I’ll be blogging lightly, like a woodpecker with a headache. So pay attention!

Moxie nails a theme that I’ve been thinking about since the fires in Southern California last month: that disasters are waiting in the wings like process servers to hit California. In her “next up for the golden state? earthquakes,” she points out, “Late fall heatwaves, fires, famine, no public transit, floods, hail, thunder and lightning storms? All in less than one month. It would seem the gods are unhappy with Los Angeles.”

Moxie lays the blame on NBC, “Gigli,” “Love, Actually,” and Paris Hilton’s video. Me? I think it’s interesting that this all started after the recall election. But it’s a good thing there aren’t volcanoes in SoCal, and it never ever snows.

Amazing post from political blogger Tacitus, describing how his honesty and maturity in confessing his depression was handled, and earned him a discharge (honorable) for medical reasons. I think this is the hardest thing to do with depression: to confess it to one’s boss.

Found via Oliver Willis: Church Sign Generator. Make your own roadside Baptist attraction:

Since there is no time, I’ll do one of these updates—which ironically take more time than a real post.

• I got an 86, which is sad since I was alive for all these songs…
• Would you like a download with those fries? How about one billion?
• Anyone know how to migrate to Movable Type from Manila? I have a sister with a blog on a website that has been inaccessible by editors a month who wants to move to a supportive host…
• How do you get yourself out of a sweetheart lifetime deal? Try the Halliburton model: gouging for your exclusive services. (Bonus: great letter from the Army over the issue.)

Good: Greg seems to have had an excellent weekend. Of course gentlemen don’t pitch woo and tell, Greg, but iChat is always on should you care to share additional details—absent names, of course. 🙂

Bad, 1: Esta’s blog is going on almost a month of being inaccessible, thanks to a problem with the server. It can be read, but you can’t post to it.

Bad, 2: Craig’s hosting provider had a hiccup and lost his blog. no backups. He has to start over again from scratch.

I was thrilled when UserLand rolled out the Spam-Free Mailto feature for Manila, which removed email addresses from my weblog’s UI and replaced them with a simple contact form. Should prevent spammers from finding me via my blog, right?

Well, except for really really dedicated spammers. I got the following mail this morning. Note the spam-free mailto features at the top.

UserLand, can we include IP address in the autogenerated mail?

Dr.Edward Thompson. [1] sent this email to you through Jarrett House North [2] regarding this page [3].

HEAD OFFICE:
EURO-AFRO SWEEPSTAKE LOTTERY NL.
BURDENSTREET 21B
1053 DS AMSTERDAM,
THE NERTHERLANDS.

FROM: THE DESK OF THE MANAGING DIRECTOR
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION PRIZE AWARD DEPT.
REF: HWS/200118308/03
BATCH: 18/203/JJS.
DATE: 31/10/2003

Attention:Sir,

WINNING NOTIFICATION

We are pleased to inform you about the release of today the 31st October, 2003 of the EURO-AFRO SWEEPSTAKE LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMMS held on the 28th Jenuary 2003, Your company name attached ticket number: 564 -75600545 – 188 with serial number 5388/02 drew the lucky numbers: 3-11-27-30-34 – 41, which consequently won the lottery in the 2nd category. You have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay out of UD$2MILLION in cash credited to file HWS/200118308/03. <snip>

I have a question to the folks in the room at the PDC Blogger BOF session: I’m as .NET platform centric as the next guy, but in what universe are Das Blog and .Text the “dominant engines” for blogging? Perhaps there’s some context missing, but I have the funny feeling that the guys in the room have forgotten that there were people blogging before the .NET framework was even released. As Chris Pirillo says, to paraphrase, we need a third blogging and syndication standard like we need another hole in the head.

Gripes aside, I would like to see a reasonable estimate of how many blogs are on Das Blog and .Text, but I’m not sure how that can be done since they, like Movable Type or GreyMatter (or Manila) hosted sites, don’t sit on central servers. Maybe Phil Wolff’s BlogCount has some insight about how to do this?