Last week I decided to challenge the host of the Fresh Ubuntu Podcast to a race to see who could get 50 followers on Twitter first.
Of course, I was too late. I looked and saw he had 52 to my paltry following of 48. So, I did what any trailing contender would do – change the rules! So I said “let’s race to 100!”
Today we’re at 53:59. The math is simple: Harlem’s pulling ahead. Obviously I’ll have to come up with some sort of campaign promises or something to claim the lead. Linux on every desktop! A penguin in every pot! No laptop left behind! Universal backup coverage!
Follow me on Twitter!
Google's Concerned for My Health
This morning, after reinstalling WordPress because I was getting some odd behavior after the latest upgrade, I hit my blog and was greeted with the image you see at right. I have to wonder if this is a coincidence, or if Google’s indexing the content Twitter badge, where I’ve been bemoaning my poor health these last few days, led to them recommending some nasal sprays. Even though it makes perfect sense when you think about it, I find it a little creepy when Google “knows” I’m sick and is recommending solutions.
Easy, No-Mess, Air-Popped Popcorn
I love popcorn. I mean I love popcorn. Popcorn is to me as spinach is to Popeye, you get me? Air-popped with butter is the best, but kettle-popped is good too. I don’t really care for movie theater popcorn or microwave, but it’ll do in a pinch. But I digress – on to the main event!More…
As I said, air-popped ‘corn is the best, but the thing I don’t like about it is, no matter how big a bowl I use, some kernels always end up flying out on the counter, on the floor, into the sink, etc. What’s worse, having to dig up that episode of Mythbusters to see if the “3-second rule” really works, or if it’s worth trying to grab that one that went into the sink, which invariably ends up soggy… eww… soggy popcorn… But I digress, again!
Solution! Get a medium-sized paper bag, and hold it under the mouth of the popper while the corn is being ejected. The bag will catch all of the kernels, and even if some of them pop while in the bag, they have a much harder time escaping than they would from a bowl.
Safety note: I would not use a small bag, or totally suffocate the popper. I don’t know how hot these things can get, or if they could hit 451?F, but why take the chance? Also, don’t use a plastic bag. Even if the air doesn’t melt it, an unpopped kernel or two surely could.
UPDATE: If you cut a flap in one of the sides of the bag, you can stand it up straight under the spout, instead of having to hold the bag in place.
Happy popping!
So… do you think Gawker is hiring? I think I could be an occasional Lifehacker correspondent.
New Chair – Gaiam Balance Ball Office Chair!
My new Gaiam Balance Ball Chair
Jim Cramer's "Stay Mad for Life" – Part One
Despite Amazon’s best efforts to delay our Christmas festivities, one of the presents I received was a copy of Jim Cramer‘s “Stay May For Life
I’ve decided to share some of the highlights of his book as I read through it.
In chapter two, he mentions three important things:
- Create a budget for daily, monthly, and annual expenses.
Okay, so far, I’m with him on this. Although I’ve rarely budgeted my personal expenses, putting together a budget is something I’ve wanted to do for a while now, so this seems as good an excuse as any. - Carry health insurance.
This is also a timely piece of advice. Given that we are seeing another double-digit (18%) increase in health insurance premiums this year, I asked my wife to investigate alternatives such as self-funding insurance or a health savings account. Unfortunately, it appears that the best course of action is to pay somewhere around $800/mo. for health insurance, with a $10,000 deductible. Crisis? Maybe. Ridiculous? Definitely. - Carry no balances on credit cards.
This one’s a no-brainer for me. I can remember once in my life when I carried balances on a credit card intentionally, and that was to get me into college when I showed up to find that financial aid hadn’t come through as planned. I paid them off within a year, but other than that, I am well aware that carrying 20%+ interest rates for a short-term cash loan is insane. If you need short-term loans, seek out your local credit union. I know, (from experience, as I’m a member of my local credit union‘s board of directors) that they are there to help you.
Assuming the book continues to hold my attention, I’ll post updates as I read through it.
All I Want For Christmas
Alright, fiends and family have asked what I want for Christmas, so here goes:
- A KTrakcycle conversion kit. Unlikely I’ll get this, as the wife thinks it’s expensive and dangerous
- A Nokia n810
or
- an Asus EEE PC (the bigger model with 8G flash drive).
- Marvel Heroscape Expansion Set. Heck, just about any Heroscape stuff would be fine, since we don’t have any yet.
- A new Camelback – a big one with room for accessories and mountain bike parts.
- Learning Python, 3rd edition.
- Gift certificates to Amazon, Borders, Best Buy, EMS, and World of Warcraft Gift Cards always welcome.
- World peace.
Social Networking – Friend and Follow Everyone?
I’ve noticed a few “web-celebs” have a tendency to “friend” and “follow” everyone who “friends” and “follows” them. My first impression remains: what can anyone do with all that chatter?
For example, Robert Scoble, an “A-List blogger,” claims he follows everyone that follows him. He’s got 5,000 friends in Facebook (the current limit), and is following 6,946 (at the time of this writing) people on Twitter. Author J.C. Hutchins has 741 followers and is following 745.
I can’t imagine what that’s like. I suppose since I review my Twitter and Facebook feeds via RSS, my method simply would not work, and I’d miss, well almost everything. From a “snapshot in time” perspective, these guys’ method may be more interesting, but if your motive is more like mine, to actually track everything that goes into your feed, it’s practically impossible to manage the sheer volume of noise that is going to be flying through that stream.
So, just for kicks, I am following more of the folks who follow me on Twitter. If I end up not following you after a period of time, I apologize in advance. I’m sure it’s not because the content of your feed is boring, I just don’t have the time to track it all (and play World of Warcraft). Okay, maybe it’s because it was a tiny bit boring, but please don’t assume that. Besides, it’s hard to compete with World of Warcraft.
No Comment?
I haven’t gotten any comments on the blog lately, other than the spam that Akismet’s been catching, but I have been getting comments via Facebook, Twitter, and email. Ted Roche was kind enough to point out that registration was turned off on my site. I’d totally forgotten that I shut off comments months ago because of all the spam, and never turned them back on after installing Akisment. So, comments are open once again.
Let’s hear it, people! What do you have to say?
People Do Not Listen
I have blogged in the past about how people do not know how to use voicemail, but I feel the need to revise this. “People are stupid.” A bit harsh. “People do not listen.” Yes, that’s better.
Okay, here’s the deal: last night, we got a voicemail to our customer service line at Paradigm. It was from a person who was checking on a job application… to be a flight attendant.
Okay, so maybe there’s some wiggle room here. After all, our voicemail greeting does not explicitly say “we are information technology consultants,” but then again, nobody would listen if it did. But if you’re given a choice of “current clients who need technical support,” and “you are not yet a client and have questions about our services,” do either of those remotely sound like a place where you’d send a job application to be a flight attendant?
One Blog to Rule Them All?
I’ve been wrestling with the idea of breaking my blog up into separate blogs based on categories, instead of one monolithic mashup of tech, rants, and local politics. I can’t decide.