FriendFeed

I have begun to play around with FriendFeed and have added it to my Facebook page and most recently to this blog. Does anybody else use FriendFeed? I like how it allows all of my content that I place elsewhere to be placed within it, but I’m still not sure if this is good or bad. For instance, some content is really only for some eyes. If you’re my friend, and you’re internet savvy, then you’re likely connected to me on one of these social media networks. But FriendFeed allows me to broadcast my activity on these sites here on other pages … and I’m not sure if that’s what I want. Hmmm….

Link-o-rama

HYPER-LOCAL
Respect for Craig Washington : http://harriscountycriminaljustice.blogspot.com/2009/07/craig-washington.html

“When the spindletop stops” : http://swamplot.com/when-the-spindletop-stops/2009-07-20/

HPD to driver: Lemme look at your weiner : http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2009/07/weinermobile_cops_houston.php

Hand it over: Texas Watchdog wins fight for Houston open records : http://www.texaswatchdog.org/2009/07/texas-watchdog-wins-another-open-records-battle-with-the-city-of-houston/

Tony Diaz vs. Houston Press, concerning “Ask a Mexican” : http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2009/07/ask_a_mexican_column.php

I’m so glad we have lawyers, the be-all, end-all solution to any problem : http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/casey/6540583.html

Downtown Rosenberg photo planned : http://www.fbherald.com/articles/2009/07/22/news/doc4a67849c12e81383824996.txt

Texas Watchdog reviews what happened to bill in the Texas Lege that they had an interest in : http://www.texaswatchdog.org/2009/07/confidential-sources-beer-ethics-forms-heres-a-wrap-on-how-the-bills-texas-watchdog-highlighted-fared-in-the-legislature/

Food not bombs and the Houston Public Library : http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2009/07/food_not_bombs.php

Grapes on the Brazos returns : http://www.fbherald.com/articles/2009/07/18/news/doc4a60b8d29a7df005288327.txt

MEDIA
Google to newspapers: “Don’t want us to index your work? Fine. It’s easy. Here’s how.” : http://www.internetevolution.com/author.asp?section_id=697&doc_id=179357

Why Wikipedia photos suck : http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/07/20/0044240/Why-the-Photos-On-Wikipedia-Are-So-Bad

A cable TV employee trolls and tells Jeff Jarvis he is “not a VIP … (or) a good customer” and that he should “wait for (his) turn to get help like everyone else.” : http://www.buzzmachine.com/2009/07/19/cablevision-sucks-2/#comment-398310

Leaving journalism is healthy : http://www.johntemple.net/2009/07/pulitzers-lost-what-cost-third-in.html

Evan Smith to leave Texas Monthly : http://uhjournalism.wordpress.com/2009/07/18/a-texas-version-of-politico/

MUSIC
Free MP3 “Say Please” – Monsters of Folk : http://monstersoffolk.com/

Animal Collective samples The Grateful Dead : http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2009/07/animal-collective-1.html

Kings of Convenience MP3 : http://stereogum.com/archives/mp3/new-kings-of-convenience-mrs-cold_079891.html

Something to do July 31 : http://www.fortbendnow.com/2009/07/23/39155

Elaine Greer at Sugar Hill : http://indiehouston.org/houston-music-concerts/elaine-greer-and-the-tontons-on-sugar-hill-live/

Neko on LexGo : http://www.kentucky.com/lexgo/music/story/866961.html

Goodbye, DRM : http://torrentfreak.com/drm-is-dead-riaa-says-090719/

ART
Is art still art if it’s broken into several pieces : http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/arts/theater/6534250.html

GEEK + TECH
More CSS tricks : http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/07/20/50-new-css-techniques-for-your-next-web-design/

A List Apart: The Inclusion Principle : http://www.alistapart.com/articles/the-inclusion-principle/

Web Accessibility in Mind’s Quick Reference guide : http://webaim.org/resources/quickref/

What’s not to like about liking : http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/20/people-are-using-google-reader-likes-but-some-hate-it-and-its-flawed/

Can’t use the web? Could it be your phone? : http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/how_usable_is_the_mobile_web.php

Dear Digg: if the ad looks like the content, people will stop coming back to look for the content : http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/20/digg-user-voted-ads-in-the-wild-mmmmm-ihop/

Free alternatives to Photoshop : http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/free_alternatives_to_photoshop_with_all_the_bells.php

Web standards open curriculum : http://interact.webstandards.org/

Yahoo can now serve as a basic site aggregator : http://lifehacker.com/5319388/yahoo-tweaks-its-homepage-allows-content-from-all-over-the-web

The latest Google Wave hype : http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/21/google-wave-begins-to-swell-with-developers-wider-release-this-september/

R.I.P. iPod? : http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/21/the-ipod-as-we-know-it-is-dying/

Unless Google buys this, it will never catch on : http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/this_message_will_self-destruct_new_tool_makes_online_postings_vanish.php

Blog eye candy : http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/07/22/50-new-beautiful-blog-designs/

The Facebookization of Yahoo! : http://www.allfacebook.com/2009/07/facebookization-of-yahoo/

Upload photos to Facebook via e-mail : http://lifehacker.com/5321149/quickly-upload-photos-and-video-to-facebook-via-email

Remember the Task is an AdobeAIR ware for Remember The Milk : http://www.jashsayani.com/my-softwares/remember-the-task/

RECREATIONAL READING
Help this dude collect One. Million. Giraffes. : http://olahelland.net/giraffes/

The mystery of grave 449 : http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/07/21/arlington_secrets/index.html

Just because the Baptists do not believe the same as I do doesn’t mean they should be condemned; Christ warned about such stone throwing in Scripture. : http://trueslant.com/loucarlozo/2009/07/21/jimmy-carter-leaving-the-southern-baptists-yes-and-this-ones-for-the-ladies/

Sacha Baron Cohen is Sarah : http://www.salon.com/comics/boll/2009/07/23/boll/index.html

“Many companies miss the garbled, unpunctuated non-English market segment …” : http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Support-Should-Never-Be-Necessary.aspx

Finally! A cat lady documentary : http://laughingsquid.com/cat-ladies-a-documentary-that-explores-the-real-story-behind-crazy-cat-ladies/

BuckyBalls! : http://laughingsquid.com/zoomdoggle-buckyballs-a-highly-addictive-toy-made-of-super-magnetic-tiny-metal-balls/

Resentment (and vodka) : http://locacrazywriter.blogspot.com/2009/07/part-1-vodka-is-only-thing-that-gets.html

GARDENING
Attract hummingbirds : http://www.chron.com/commons/persona.html?newspaperUserId=plantwoman&plckPersonaPage=BlogViewPost&plckUserId=plantwoman&plckPostId=Blog%3aplantwomanPost%3a63fa497e-e6d9-4a00-bf93-a1327130d2c4&plckController=PersonaBlog&plckScript=personaScript&plckElementId=personaDest

GWI Annual Honor Roll : http://martagon.blogspot.com/2009/07/annuals-gwi-honor-roll.html

How to grow tomatoes : http://planetgreen.discovery.com/home-garden/comprehensive-guide-growing-tomatoes.html

Fight leaf spot and mildew on my zinnias, already : http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/organic/msg0505002713722.html

Compost made easy : http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/2006-10-01/Compost-Made-Easy.aspx

Herb organizer/herb garden, my frog would love this : http://lifehacker.com/5311492/turn-a-shoe-organizer-into-a-vertical-herb-garden

NEWS
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Police Report : http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0723092gates1.html

Kodak vs. Samsung

For Father’s Day, the love of my life gave me a Kodak EasyShare C813 – that was on sale, she was sure to note – and I am thrilled. Even though just a few minutes ago I finally took it out of its open-proof packaging and put it to work.

In the meanwhile, I bet she’s either been thinking to herself:

A.) He’s not really thrilled with the gift

B.) He’s secretly planning to return it, get the cash and land himself two adult Frontosas.

C.) He loves it. He just doesn’t wanna let on he expects such great gifts.

D.) I shoulda boughta Coach purse for myself, instead.

Well, no matter what she was thinking, the answer is “C” and here is a test run of the new camera vs. the camera I already have – yet, as she so tenderly noted: “Everytime you use the damn thing, you say how much you hate it.”

Let’s take a look …

s7302834mod.jpg

The first Samsung shot.

100_0001mod.jpg

The first Kodak shot.

Yup. Hands down, the new one’s better. And, it doesn’t take several seconds to try to auto focus and decide if it wants to shoot or not. Hooray!

Linkpost 05.17.08

Been surfing a lot lately. Here’s what I’ve been reading up on.

Web standards | Here’s the rationale behind the push for Web standards, the main reason I need to learn more about CSS.

Wired.com on Google Friend Connect | Betsy Schiffman wrote an article which alerted me to Google Friend Connect, an attempt by the Web giant to offer code to Web folk like me to allow us to integrate social networking Web sites into our own Site. Imagine being on my page and having MySpace or Facebook controls at your fingertips. Not quite sure what it is yet, as it hasn’t been released, but I asked to be notified by Big Brother Google when it happens.

Google Docs | In the meantime, I should probably take a look at Google Docs sometime.

Snap. I just trademarked my face. | Oh, wait, that was Apple. Ha.

RSS on iPod | Now, that looks like an interesting concept.

iPod customization, et. al | More food for thought.

Free audiobooks? | More for the iPod.

Free classic audio books | iPod geek.

I need a new Word Press theme.

Word Press theme # 1 | I have grown tired of my theme, so here’s a bunch more to look at.

Word Press theme # 2

Word Press theme # 3

Word Press theme # 4

Word Press theme # 5

Word Press theme # 6

LifeHacker.com | I need to RSS this.

Braintied.com | Where did it go?

A Web mystery | Pawel Ciszewski: an entrepreneur or a Web site killer?

Schipul.com | A good Houston Web company.

Tendenci content management | Schipul’s content management system.

Creative Leak | An interesting art community, created by a lead designer at Schipul.

Leila Dallal | My friend, Leila, is an artist. Here is some promo material

Black-Eyed Susan | The official drink of the Preakness. It’s good. But two parts sweet and sour, not three – please. It’s good frozen, too.

Sabai Thai Cafe | Kim suggests this place for dinner.