A Peculiar Blog

Anybody remember Thoof? Well, it won’t be too long before most people answer that question with “What’s a Thoof?”. In fact, in spite of the fact that when I first started using it Thoof was a very busy site, busy enough to keep it’s servers running on turbo boost most of the time.

More than once, the little Thoof badges they wanted people to put on articles submitted to their service would hold up a page because they were timing out instead of loading. I suppose in retrospect, that is probably one of the first signs of it’s impending doom.

I got to where I was using the service less and less. They had made it more complicated and involved to submit a story to them. I realize that they had to do something to combat spam but it got so bad that it just wasn’t worth the effort anymore. Another reason is the results I got from the site in terms of traffic.

When I first started using thoof it produced a reasonable amount of traffic, at least, enough to be easily noticeable on Statcounter when I would look at where hits were coming from. Somewhere about four to six months ago traffic coming from Thoof dropped low enough that I never saw it in Statcounter anymore.

Another problem with Thoof is that the content, in spite of their best efforts, went to hell. The last time I was on the site there was very little of interest in amid the posts about nude pics of this or that celebrity and suchlike.

So I guess it shouldn’t have been much of a surprise when, out of morbid curiosity, I went to look to see if there was anything worth bothering with. When I typed thoof.com into my browser I was actually surprised to see that it’s been redirected to reddit.com.

Doing some looking around I found “Another Personalized News Site Bites The Dust” on TechCrunch that pretty much qualifies as Thoof’s eulogy.

So, If you’ve got those “Thoof This” buttons and widgets on your site or blog it’s time to take them down. Thoof is no more.

Technorati Tags: digg clone, ian clarke, news site, thoof, personalized news

… You just have to do something for yourself. With all the stuff that’s gone on in our house this last month I have to say that we definitely deserve a vacation from the hassles. Two hospital stays just this month, several more doctor visits and very nearly a third hospital stay not only leave you behind on everything, it also leaves your nerves frazzled to the max.

The thing to do is take some action that shuts off the source of stress and problems for a while. Maybe take a trip to Branson Missouri and catch some of the shows. For example I know my wife would particularly enjoy the shows because she’s familiar with a lot of the musicians and really enjoys their music.

Kids and almost anyone in the younger set would enjoy a the rides and attractions. Say what you like, but I personally would be interested in trying my hand at miniature golf. I might even get really wild and decide to check out the regular golf courses (and maybe learn how to play? I dunno.) Oh, yeah, the Go Kart Track also looks like it’d be a bunch of fun.

And now back to your regularly scheduled real life …

Technorati Tags: branson, vacation, shows, attractions, rides, music

The US Attorney General is proposing new guidelines that could, according to Senators Dick Durbin of Illinois, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, these new rules would permit the FBI to use “a variety of intrusive investigative techniques with no evidence of possible wrongdoing”.

These proposed rules would let the FBI get away with a LOT more than it is now. Especially when you factor in how much they usually go beyond their legal limitations. All of a sudden it means that the folks wearing tinfoil hats saying that there is listening devices planted in their shower faucets might not be sounding to far-fetched after all.

The part about this that is actually kinda disturbing is that apparently there’s no oversight to this kind of thing. No congressional or judicial approval is required, which means that once again the executive branch is pretty much doing anything it pleases, regardless of little things like the unconstitutionality of a lot of what it wants to do.

It’s time something is done not only to stop things like this but also to repeal a lot of what has already been done. This issue of the current proposed Attorney General’s guidelines is only the latest in a series of things that need to be stopped or un-done. Another example is the Patriot Act and the Homeland Security act which I believe are loaded with a whole raft of unconstitutional law and should be repealed or struck down.

Technorati Tags: search and seizure, unconstitutional, violation of rights, fbi, government snooping, violation of privacy, domestic spying, bush administration, attorney general

This has got to be one of the funniest things to come out of the 2008 Olympics.

Imagine going to the trouble and expense of making all of the travel arrangements, getting a passport and flying all the way to China to attend the Olympic games. You are expecting to relax and take it easy while you watch all of your favorite events when all of a sudden, during the opening ceremonies, there it is.

Obviously one of the things you were looking forward to on this trip was going a few weeks without seeing it. Yet there it is in all of it’s living blue and white horror, the Blue Screen Of Death, projected on the ceiling of the Bird’s Nest as Li Ning was making his virtual run around the top of the stadium on his way to light the torch.

It seems that the Chinese officials in charge of the technology behind the opening ceremonies decided to use Windows XP on the computers used to control the display. Somewhere along the line somebody saw evidence of this and managed to snap a picture that showed up on Gizmodo

An extra touch to the punchline is that reportedly, Bill Gates was there. I wonder if he saw it.

Technorati Tags: error message, opening ceremonies, bsod, olympic error, bill gates, windows, blue screen

The International Olympic Committee filed a copyright infringement claim against YouTube recently to get them to pull a video that was made by Students for a Free Tibet which shows that under Chinese rule Tibetan monks need to be sure to get fresh term life insurance quotes and make sure that they’re covered because it just isn’t safe to be a Tibetan monk under Chinese rule.

The video that they wanted pulled was of a protest the Students for a Free Tibet in which they projected a video on the Chinese consulate in New York City and holding a candlelight vigil. It also featured an image of the five Olympic rings as handcuffs. (probably because supporting the Olympics in China isn’t very far away from telling China that what they’re doing is ok … which it isn’t.)

The video they projected on the consulate building showed monks being arrested including some footage of bloody, injured monks. Stuff like this is part of the reasons that it would have been a great idea for civilized nations to boycott the Olympics in protest of China’s human rights violations.

The fact that the IOC went so far as to file copyright infringement against YouTube for hosting the video makes it clear that they either approve of or don’t care about the massive injustices being perpetrated by China on the Tibetan people.

NYC Chinese Consulate Projection Action 08.07.08 from Students for a Free Tibet on Vimeo.

Technorati Tags: china, protest, free tibet, tibet, video, olympics, youtube

There’s a really interesting bit over at Scientific American about, of all things, Invisibility. It seems that scientists have made a lot of progress in coming up with materials that bend light around them making them effectively invisible.

It’s a long way from any kind of practical application since they’re talking about stuff that’s only a molecule or two thick so you don’t have to be prepared to stick Dymo labels on invisible people / things that you have or run into so that you’ll know what’s where.

Instead, they’re actually talking about using this technology to do things like build microscopes with optics powerful enough to see a live virus. Of course, they also don’t bother to elaborate even a little bit about just HOW an invisible or “cloaked” material would accomplish this.

Personally, I can’t see it.

Technorati Tags: invisibility, nanowires, cloak, technology

Joe Public had a problem. He’d been working what seemed like non-stop for months. That big project at the office had taken over his life, even to the point where he was spending most of his time at home working. Nights and weekends blurred into workdays as he dealt with one problem after another. Finally the project was finished and Joe wasted no time in putting in for that two week vacation he didn’t take the year before.

Jane Public was thrilled to find out that not only had Joe finally gotten some vacation time but that he’d suggested getting away from home for a while “just in case the boss calls with an emergency”. They started tossing a few ideas around and checking out vacation listings online. After a while they ran across a search result offering a family beach vacation. They nearly tripped over each other trying to click on New Jersey amusement parks.

They soon found themselves looking at the Morey’s Piers website. Looking around, they found that this site offered just about everything needed for a New Jersey Vacation. The website even has a page listing Wildwood, New Jersey Hotels and Motels

They knew that the kids would love the place because and the 100 plus rides and attractions. Surely there would be something for everybody to enjoy. When they looked over the pricing they found a page that gave details about Morey’s Piers weekly specials. The specials included things like “Magical Mondays”, where they would be celebrating their fortieth year by picking a guest at random and giving them randomly prizes which could be anything from wristband upgrades, free food and games to special amenities and party packages.

It wasn’t long before the Public’s had booked their vacation and begun to make their travel plans. They knew they were in for a great time with no office business to take it over on them.

Technorati Tags: wildwood new jersey, amusement parks, family beach vacation, new jersey, family vacation, beach vacation, new jersey vacation

A lot of people seem to think that Obama has the best shot at winning, but there’s a CBS news article that raises some questions about that. Notably there’s seven factors that could individually or together serve to put a damper on Obama’s run for the White House.

1. The Race Issue. Everybody want’s to say it ain’t so, but let’s face it, for a lot of voters race is and always has been an issue. You’ve got the first ever black candidate for president that has a shot at winning. There’s a lot of people who will vote for him just because of that fact. There’s also a lot of people who will vote against him just because of that fact. Exactly which way that influence ends up going is anybody’s guess.

2. Virgina is apparently an iffy situation for Obama. According to the article, his chances there are probably right around 50 / 50. Not exactly a commanding lead.

3. Michigan is another state that while Obama is still ahead by a few points in the polls, there’s issues brewing that could easily tip things in favor of McCain.

4. The Economy. While McCain is quoted as admitting that he “never understood economics”, there’s a long standing trend that voters angry over an issue tend to be a help for Democrats and voters that are afraid because of an issue tend to help Republicans. If the economy continues to worsen, McCain could end up winning on that issue in spite of his stated lack of understanding. (at least so say the political experts)

5. The “Ross Perot” effect. Bill Clinton would not have been elected if Ross Perot had not gotten 19 percent of the vote in 1992. Apparently there isn’t (at this point) any independent candidate that’s likely to pull much in the way of votes. ‘Course if there were, which side would most of them come from?

6. It seems that for the Democrats, since 1960 getting to the White House has meant “accommodating only southern whites with border-state strength”, which isn’t going to be enough for Obama.

7. The article talks about people liking to keep the government divided but I think it’s more a matter of balance in that a lot of people will tend to vote Republican if the Democrats control Congress and vice versa.

Technorati Tags: votes, reasons for concern, obama, issues, presidential campaign

I’m always interested in a good deal and VistaPrint is a good one. Their site features just about any kind of print job you can name. From custom stationary to business cards (and business card holders of course). Speaking of business cards, VistaPrint is famous for it’s free business card offers.

They also feature Letterhead design and printing, custom check printing, Brochures and a whole mess of other Creative Services. And then there were Car Magnets, which you can use the coupon code “CarDoor25″ to get 25% off Car Door Magnets

For those of you that don’t recognize the term, car magnets are those magnetic signs that a lot of businesses and some individuals will attach to their car doors so that they can get some advertising mileage out of their regular driving around. It’s the kind of thing that helps build name recognition which is always important in an advertising campaign whether you’re promoting Joe’s plumbing, your favorite political candidate or whatever your pet cause is.

The great thing about magnetic car signs is that they’re not permanent. For example a pizza shop can have delivery drivers attach one to each side of their car and that will count for quite a bit of free advertising as people see those signs everywhere the delivery driver goes. You can tell when the calls start coming in where people tell you that they got the number off the sign on the driver’s car.

Technorati Tags: magnetic signs, printing, signs, website, business cards, car magnets

Audacity is a digital audio editor. It allows you to edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3, WAV or AIFF audio files. You can do cool tricks like change the speed or pitch of a recording. Want to know what you’d sound like as a chipmunk? Audacity can help you find out.

You can also use it to convert tapes and records into digital recordings that you can then burn to CD. It can also import and export a variety of file formats. (except of course proprietary or restricted file formats such as WMA and AAC)

Technorati Tags: convert file, sound editor, edit sound files, import file, free software, freeware