Twitter Causes My Site to Fail to Load (what a surprise)
I was afraid of this, and I should have known better. I believe that the Twitter pod I placed on my BlogCFC site has been preventing my site from loading. Since I updated my site this week-end, I can't be certain that the Twitter pod is the guilty party, but turning it off has certainly sped things up.
There are other Twitter widgets available, but for now I am going to do without. Perhaps I'll spend some time creating a Twitter widget in Flex for the purpose of creating an example application. We'll see.
For now, I'm going to try to keep an eye on my logs and visit my site often. If you want to follow me on Twitter, you can find me here.
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First Entry with BlogCFC, Database and Layout Updates
Greetings to you all. As you may have noticed, my blog has been dark for over a month. Although I have been extremely busy, the main reason I have not made an entry is very simply this: I hate my blog.
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Things I Didn't Know: Animated Favicons in Firefox
Today I received an email from Cirque du Soleil about their founder's involvement with an organization called the ONE DROP Foundation, so I set out to make a visit to the site.
The slogan on the ONE DROP opening screen of the site said "Fighting Poverty in the World by Ensuring Everyone Has Access to Water." I was struck with the irony that although the state of Georgia would hardly qualify as impoverished, we are having a water crisis. Perhaps this organization needs to be helping us… but that is not what this entry is about.
The ONE DROP site has a moderately interesting (yes, I have become jaded) Flash interface. But as I looked at the page, something jumped out at me: the favicon in my Firefox address bar was animating! Wow!
So, as I normally do, I tell everyone in my office about it… and of course, everyone said, "Well, Leif, Firefox has had had that functionality for a long time."
OK, I'll just shut up now and go back to hiding under my desk (and get to creating some animated favicons for Firefox).
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9 out of 10 (Male) Soccer Fans Don't Know About the (Women's) World Cup
Seriously, people. Pay attention. There is a World Cup going on right now. Yes, it's in China. Yes, matches are starting at 5:00 AM EST. And, yes, it's the women. But it's some awesome matches. See what you have missed so far?
I woke up early Tuesday morning to watch the USA v. N. Korea, which turned out to be an great match, although played in the pouring rain. Norway v. Nigeria, although not as exciting, was still fun to watch.
Now, I spent the rest of the day talking with people who have appeared to be soccer fans in the past, telling them how much I enjoyed these two matches and all I got were blank stares. Blank stares!
"You mean the World Cup qualifiers, right?"
"No, the World Cup."
"Soccer?"
"Yes, soccer. The World Cup. In China."
"The World Cup is three years out, man. They just had the World Cup in Germany last year."
"Oh, God. Could you please wake up? It's the Women's World Cup. Pay attention."
"Oh! The women. I didn't even know they were playing."
Ugh! Come on, people! Sure, it's the fourth Women's World Cup, but it's awesome soccer. I don't get it. Do soccer "fans" lose interest in great soccer in the four years between (Men's) World Cups? Or do men just not like watching women playing soccer? I do not get it.
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Upgraded to BlogCFC 5.8.001: Ray Camden is Awesome
After a lot of crazy misconfiguration on local development machines I have now officially updated to BlogCFC 5.8.001 --- I figured that I better update my server now while Ray Camden was not working on BlogCFC. That guy is way too productive, if you ask me! (Just kidding, Ray. You are awesome.)
I really love the Pod Manager. It allows me to control the "e;Pods"e; on the right side of the page.
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My Best Friend: Diane Glass 1964 - 2007
This photo is how I will always remember my best friend, Diane Glass; a beautiful, strong, spirited and wonderful person shyly staring back at me at breakfast during our visit to Istanbul several years ago.
Diane passed away this morning at 3:15 AM in her home. She was 42 years old. She had been diagnosed with Bile Duct Cancer on July 6, 2007, a fairly rare form of cancer --- the kind that when you start showing symptoms it is usually too late for any kind of effective treatment. Although she fought stubbornly, like I knew she would, the damage was already done. She was in a great deal of pain over the last few weeks and having spent time with her in the hospital I can honestly say that I am relieved that she is no longer suffering.
Anyone who has known me over the past few years knew who Diane was and what she means to me. I have been told that I would illuminate when talking about her or discussing what we did over the week-end; that is how much she has meant to me.
When we first received the news of Diane's cancer diagnosis, I started feeling sorry for myself. I felt as if I would be nothing without her there to stand by me. Later, after brushing off all the self-centered nonsense, I realized that I am more than I ever was before because someone as wonderful as Diane filled my life. And because someone as wonderful as Diane let me share what now seems like such a short part of my life with her --- a true testament to the power of quality over quantity.
Diane Glass was a United Press Syndicated Columnist appearing in some 30 or so newspapers and Web sites across the country as well as appearing here locally in Atlanta at the AJC.com (see her good-bye column here). We often debated her column topics; I was often given the honor of giving her feedback on her column before she submitted it to her editors.
Diane was a lover of nature, of stray dogs, of chocolate peanut-butter ice cream, of travel, of music and dance, and of life.
Diane was so much more than all of these things.
Good night, Diane. I'll miss you every day for the rest of my life, but I won't regret it one bit; spending the last few years with you has been my great honor and pleasure.
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Don't Be a (User Group) Hater!
I was reading the recent digg favorite blog posting "For the Record: Adobe Kuler vs COLOURlovers" and I was (momentarily) struck dumb by a comment from an individual named "urbanlatinfemale":
"Well now we won't have to worry about those pesky Adobe Ads on some pages, eh? The nerve they've got. I'll be sure to boycott the local (or not so) AUG (Adobe Users Group) in New York."
In full disclosure, let me state that I am the manager of the Adobe User Group of Atlanta and the Adobe Flash Platform User Group of Atlanta.
Adobe supports their user groups, true. But it's not like they are actually funded by Adobe. Our groups receive two packages of give aways a year (promotional items like t-shirts) and we are allowed to give away software twice a year. I have personally had to shell out hundreds of dollars a month to rent meeting spaces.
An Adobe User Group is no more an agent of Adobe Systems, Inc. than a NY Yankees fan is an agent of George Steinbrenner.
The user group in your area has been created and organized by people like me who truly love what people like you do with Adobe's products. By not participating in you local user group, for any reason, you miss out on spending time with people from your own community who could use your support. You also miss out on spending time with people from whom you could draw support and inspiration.
Sure, you have the right dislike Adobe's business practices or their products. And there are many actions that you could take to show Adobe your dismay. But protesting against Adobe by boycotting your local user group is only hurting you and everyone in your community.
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More from Turner: Adult Swim Fix
The folks at Turner have been very busy. First Cartoon Network made content available online. Then came Toonami Jetstream. Now Adult Swim has a way for you to relieve your mid-day jonesing — Adult Swim Fix.
[Warning: This site is labeled Beta. This site may not work great for everyone yet. And I think that right now it's Windows only. Sorry.]
I watched the PS3/Robot Chicken Commercial. I watched a Robot Chicken episode. I had Frisky Dingo reommended to me. As far as Frisky Dingo goes, all I can say is "Pride is a fool's fortress. Who's for Denny's." Unbelievably funny.
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Turner Broadcasting's Super Deluxe Bubble Wrap
This just came across my desk: Super Deluxe. The site is currently just a promotional gimmick that allows you to pop bubble wrap bubbles on-screen and every now and then a goofy animation pops up in an external window.
I recall the Mackerel Interactive Media's disk (Yes, children, it was delivered on a 3.5" diskette — you know, those odd looking things that you thought were drink coasters.) that had a virtual bubble wrap game on it. For those of you more obsessive, here's another version that is online. Hint: use the maniac mode to go nuts.
So, why am I talking about bubble wrap? (that is, if you've actually read this far and are not already popping bubbles) Well, Super Deluxe is a project put together by Turner Broadcasting for broadband entertainment. Since Turner and I are both in Atlanta, I thought that it might be nice to promote some local efforts. Especially when they could be huge like Super Deluxe. Think Adult Swim, only online. And naughty. It's targeted at men from the age of 18-34, but let's face facts; that's basically every man from 4-100. It's just that the kiddies can't watch it and the old farts aren't online.
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When Recruiters are Like Spammers
The person that normally answers the phone is on vacation this week so all of us at Roundbox are trying to answer the phone when it rings.
Today I had this specific experience:
me: "Roundbox Media, this is Leif."
caller: "Yes, I have some questions about Linux and Cisco Router. Can I talk to one of your managers about that?"
me: "What are your questions? Maybe I can help you."
caller: "Well, they are kind of general. Who are the managers that could help me?"
me: "If I knew what your questions were, I'd be able to direct your questions to the right person."
caller: "Could you just let me talk with a manager?"
me: "It depends on whether you can tell me what your questions are or if you are really just a IT recruiter trolling for manager's names. What are your questions?"
caller: "Uh... " <hangs up>
Sad state of affairs when a recruiting firm will hire a bunch of people (whom I could hear in the background) to call businesses to get the names of managers. Shame!
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