söndag 16 maj 2010

For Ronnie James Dio

I took you for granted.
You were always there,
your music an infinite well
of inspiration, joy
and life

We rock.
Yes we rock!

You will still be here
tomorrow.

For as long as the music will play

Rest in peace.

1942 - 2010 http://chum.ly/n/102f70

lördag 15 maj 2010

Operation Clean-up

I've just deleted a bunch of test posts originating from chum.ly that were not only test post (and thus completely uninteresting), but also cluttered the page with their pointless content, often hardly more than the word "test".

I hope this will give the blog a more coherent look... ;)   http://chum.ly/n/1003dd

fredag 7 maj 2010

Good God, it's Goodread!

I'm a LivingSocial user who's just fallen madly in love with  Goodreads.com - and I'm still just skimming the surface of this marvellous site...     http://chum.ly/n/ea145

tisdag 20 april 2010

TrekEarth...

...is a site "intended for travel photographs that teach us about the world". It has a definitive aura of being a serious place, even after changing to a slicker and more professional-looking layout.

I joined TrekEarth in 2003, after a friend scanned my vacation slides for me. It was the combination of being able to show off my photographic skills, together with the informative aspect - every uploaded photo should be marked or tagged with country, title, medium (color or b/w), genre (places or people), one or more categories, date taken, state, city... The list is endless and will probably put some people off. I like it, though. I'm a sucker for filling out forms almost to an anal level and actually love to fill these things out. The "note" textbox is the central and most important part of this process, though. Here you write whatever you know on the subject. Informative notes can be marked "useful" or "neutral" by other users, making it possible to advance as a writer of notes (I'm a "silver note writer" at the moment). You can also mark any posts within a discussion the same way (and with the same result), encouraging not only discussion, but also in a constructive and friendly manner.

The downside of TrekEarth is that the site only allows you to upload one photo per day, and that the specs for these photos are limited. The photo must not be larger than 800 pixels and smaller than 250 pixels, and the maximum filesize is a mere 300 kb, requiring more than just a little work before a picture is uploadable and at the same time viewable.

But overall,  www.trekearth.com remains a nice looking photography site that I feel I should use more often. Makes one wonder why I don't?     http://chum.ly/n/d222e

Social Media Day!

I proclaim today to be SMD - Social Media Day. Or, rather _tuesdays_ to be that. Recently, I've realised that I have too many things going on and to few hours to do them on. So, using Google Calendar (although I think I will soon need something that better suits my needs), I've tried to structure my week so that each day has a theme. And today is Social Media Day.

My first point of interest will be take a look at relative newcomer  www.fotopedia.com/ and long time favorite  www.trekearth.com/ - check back later tonight for a review (or reviews). http://chum.ly/n/d1552

lördag 17 april 2010

Schemes

I'm trying to organize my presence on the web by using Google Calendar. From now on, saturdays will be my "day off", while the rest of the days of the week have their preset focus.

Tomorrow will be social media day (SMD), which means this post should not be posted quite yet. But hey! Rules are meant to be broken.

And even if this won't work, It will at least give me a pretty straightforward view of how much I want to do, and how little time there is to do it.   http://chum.ly/n/d027c

söndag 4 april 2010

Sync Folders With Your USB Drive Using Allway Sync [Windows]

Sync Folders With Your USB Drive Using Allway Sync [Windows]

Posted using ShareThis

onsdag 24 mars 2010

Lancefestivalen cont'd...

It's not that I (entirely) blame the good people as www.sajtx.com for these mishaps. The events these past weeks are the only major troubles I've experienced since I started using their services in 2006. But it's a very aggravating situation, just having relaunched the site and having is pulled back offline just two hours later...

Apache is functioning normally

Yeah, right... After the server breakdown that forced me to migrate my homepage to a new server and basically start from scratch (since my last backup was two years old), recreating and reimagining the concept of Lancefestivalen, I was proud to announce the rebirth of the site a couple of days ago.

Two hours after going live, the new server "short circuited" and I was once again forced to migrate. And for a while this afternoon,  www.lancefestivalen.se was back online, with only minor losses (content created and modules installed just prior to the crash).

But now it's offline again. And the equally unsettling and reassuring message that greets me, is that "Apache is functioning normally".

Yeah, right...   http://chum.ly/n/b985a

måndag 22 mars 2010

Codename Old Galaxy

 

Elvar paused before the gate. Was he ready to meet with the ones responsible for sending his father back to the abandoned lands and - most certainly - his death? No, not really. But what choice had he? Taking a deep breath, he svung the heavy oak doors open and entered the hall of Eloon Niro and Ibfist, the two leaders of the Riders of Derik.

"I am Elvar, emissary of the Sons of Agon. I seek audience with your masters", Elvar said to the stout little man standing in front of him with a puzzled look on his face.

---

The above was written with some invaluable help from the Online Name Generator (online-generator.com/index.php). All aspiring authors or roleplayers know that one of the trickiest parts of the trade is to come up with original names for their characters. The ONG takes care of that with it's many types of name generators. And if you're not into fantasy or rpg's, you might perhaps be thinking of starting your own business?

---

Well, project "Silver Lantern" has now entered phase "Restless Limousine" and we at Greenla are excited to have come this far in the development of Dongcore. We have also signed a deal to have our product promoted by the popular R&B artist Thirsty Backpack on his North American tour this summer.

---

It might still be more fun than useful, but even so, it's inspiring and might even provide some fresh alternatives for the serious businessman...

---

Thirsty Backpack, the R&B artist, is joined by Navy Pink, Darling Yellow and BelieverBeliever on a one-off event in support of the superhero "The Lion", who was badly injured during his fight with Wildman Zutar and Audrey Darkblade. It was in the aftermath of that epic battle, that the world learned the true identity of The Lion: Ordinary schmuck Pierre Franklin.

---

Niels Gamborg has created a set of fun and harmless name generators that perhaps work best as inspirational tools. Just look at what I came up with, just by testing his site!

And apparently, there are more generators to come...       http://chum.ly/n/b6e0d

Fun timewaster

 

On  www.easystereogrambuilder.com, you can create customized, text-based stereograms and save them as .jpegs to spam your friends with. (Yeah, you can create images too, by creating black-and-white masks and uploading them, but that's a bit more work than I care to perform on a monday night.)

The stereograms work best with short texts. I'd recommend one word and big letters to get the best result, but guess it's also a matter of taste.       http://chum.ly/n/b6e07

söndag 21 mars 2010

Online again

 

For those concerned,  www.lancefestivalen.se is now back online... http://chum.ly/n/b5d04

måndag 15 mars 2010

A final desperate attempt

 

I'm currently attempting a reinstall of my hacked, robbed, raped and pillaged Drupal site. This unfortunate business (I've been attacked twice during these past two weeks, the last one being the only to really do some serious damage, though) coincides with a major server crash that had already put the site on life support while preparing to migrate it to a new server.

This wouldn't have been so catastrophic if I had been better at backing shit up. But I am who I am so my last backup dates back to - almost to the day - two years ago. Now I'm mentally preparing to reinvent my Internet self as I'm pretty sure the reinstall will fail.

If I was into meditating, this would probably be a good time for that...     http://chum.ly/n/ad563

fredag 12 mars 2010

The Hurt Locker

/marc !movies


When making a movie about an ongoing war/conflict, it's impossible to ignore the dimension of propaganda. Creating opinion. This, by default, makes any such movie the target of speculation. I even read somewhere that someone described The Hurt Locker as setting out to be an anti-war movie, but ending up the opposite.

I know the feeling. That ambivalence struck me too, especially during the final scenes. What is it Kathryn Bigelow wants to actually say with this one? Is she taking a stand, and if so, which side is she promoting?

She does a very good job in creating a mood of adrenaline-filled paranoia that remains through most of the movie, but even though this is enhanced by the lacking storyline it ultimately leads nowhere. Because whatever she wants to say, she doesn't say it loud enough. She just mumbles it.

Not that I need a message shouted at me every time I go to the movies, like it was shouted at me while watching Avatar. But I at least want to be able to define what a movie has been about after seeing it. And no, "war" isn't enough of an answer...

I wouldn't have picked this as a winner at the Oscar's. Not that I can say there were better movies nominated or so, but even if this was the best one, it didn't feel like Oscar material. Just like a standard, albeit very well made, war movie.

No more.

No less. http://chum.ly/n/a78cd

söndag 7 mars 2010

People tagging

I've just spent the afternoon tagging my daughter in hundreds of pictures - each one manually. It appears Picasa 3.6 has the same problems humans have in telling babies apart - especially siblings. Understandable as it may very well be, It's still hard on both patience and mouse...

http://chum.ly/n/a0b5e

onsdag 3 mars 2010

If you read this on "Sociala Experiment"

The stuff I post FROM chum.ly (come to think of it, all posts posted here so far) ends with a link to the original post AT chum.ly

That link won't work at the moment, since chum.ly is on "lockdown" during an intensive phase of further developing and improvement of the site.

So don't bother clicking this right now -->.. http://chum.ly/n/9aef5 .

Exploder (last verse + chorus)

/john

Below, I've pasted the last verse and chorus of the Audioslave song "Exploder". It reminds me of the theme of the movie Spartacus, painting a picture of the power of a free mind.

How many times in my lifetime have I not fought myself, perhaps even "killing" who I really was or wanted to be, to the benefit of becoming the "me" invented by those around me? How often have I succumbed to the expectations of others, just because of my appearance?

To be free is - to me - to be able to see through the walls that surround you, to hold your head high and to have no fear.



There was a man who had a face
That looked alot like me
I saw him in the mirror and
I fought him in the street
And when he turned away
I shot him in the head
Then I came to realize
I had killed myself

(chorus)
If you're free you'll never see the walls
If your head is clear you'll never free fall
If you're right you'll never fear the wrong
If your head is high you'll never fear at all.. http://chum.ly/n/9adfb .

måndag 1 mars 2010

Post from lance at CHUM.LY

/john

Thanks for that tip, johnwm, I'll try it asap.

It's shaping up to be an interesting week:

Sunday was Swine Flu-day, with fever, ache, no energy whatsoever and even some throwing up.

Monday was Accident-day. I hit my little toe on a suitcase, and now it's blue and swollen and I'm limping around the house.

Tuesday (that's today) is Otitis-day, since I woke up with a splitting pain in my right ear.

So what will tomorrow bring?

Good thing this post by email-thing worked like a charm! It sort of soothes the pain.,, ;)

Now I'm off for a four-five hour drive down to my parents-in-law, where we'll spend the week, helping them shovel snow (yeah, with a broken little toe - good luck, lance!) and playing with their dog. I'll try to report in as soon as we get there. Have a good day, chums!.. http://chum.ly/n/98d65 .

torsdag 25 februari 2010

Post from lance at CHUM.LY

/alex

"I'm not even sure I myself know how to use Chum.ly.. other than to fill up the white space with web logs..

I do though have a whole new philosophy of the web log thanks to Chum.ly.."

I think most of us are exactly where you describe above. I'm still working on my understanding of how I can use my Blogspot connection in a way that works best for me. And I think my view on social media started to change when I signed up on chum.ly - and is still changing with each day spent here... http://chum.ly/n/90ae6 .

onsdag 24 februari 2010

Post from lance at CHUM.LY

!allthingsgoogle

Going to bed now. Had intended to start reading the Richard Brautigan anthology I got for christmas, but discovered Google Books and just had to add one or two books to my collection. Now it's way too late. Again... http://chum.ly/n/8e8e9 .

Post from lance at CHUM.LY

-- Resending the second of tonight's imported blogposts from blogger. It shows that I can see my own imported posts in my timeline, but that my followers cannot see them, unless they look for them in the everywhere timeline.

Just to clear thing up: In my timeline, am I supposed to be able to see tweets, imported posts from blogger and so on from the people I follow? Or just their posts on chum.ly?

--------------

Result: The post has been sent. I now sign out as /lance and in as /lancefestivalen.

My timeline - no post
Everywhere - post appears

I now sign on as /lance again.

My timeline - post appears
Everywhere - post appears

Hmm... Gets me thinking... What am I actually supposed to see in my timeline? Am I perhaps way off, thinking that my followers should be able to see my imported blogger posts, as well as my tweets and so on?.. http://chum.ly/n/8e621 .

Result

The post has been sent. I now sign out as /lance and in as /lancefestivalen.

My timeline - no post
Everywhere - post appears

I now sign on as /lance again.

My timeline - post appears
Everywhere - post appears

Hmm... Gets me thinking... What am I actually supposed to see in my timeline? Am I perhaps way off, thinking that my followers should be able to see my imported blogger posts, as well as my tweets and so on?
First test of the evening...

tisdag 23 februari 2010

Post from lance at CHUM.LY

/johnwm

I accidentally edited my last post from 15 minutes ago, believing I was writing a new reply, so I'll resend it to make sure you get it. I really have to get some sleep... ;)

I made another attempt at getting my blogger posts to show in the 'home' timeline. I removed and reconnected my blogger account, checked both the import and share boxes - yes, even choosing another one of my blogger blogs, just to get as fresh a restart as I could.

But it still only shows in the 'everywhere' timeline when I'm logged in as lancefestivalen.

As I understand 'home', it is supposed to display all activity from me and my friends - including imported posts. Or am I wrong here?.. http://chum.ly/n/8b274 .