Thursday, November 18, 2010
Make Easy Photo Collages with Picasa
Sorry if I'm sounding like an ad for Google lately (they're not paying me...trust me), but I decided I want to make a photo collage of people who inspire me. Having a Windows machine, naturally unfriendly to every interesting even remotely "art" or design-y sort of project (so Apple says) I fired up Picasa, Google's free photo editing/organization software. It has a handy built in collage feature, with very Mac-like polished results. Once in collage creation mode, it's fairly easy to select which pictures you'd like to include from your library (Picasa automatically scans your hard drive for photos and indexes them). From there you have a lot of control over how you'd like the photos to appear. I went with the "Picture Pile" mode, which, coincidentally, "looks like a pile of scattered pictures". Here's what I came up with:
I realize it's very andro-and-white-centered, and I recognize those limitations. Also, I don't necessarily agree with the philosophies or actions of everyone depicted. I selected them, rather quickly and off the top of my head, because they are people whose genius I respect and whose ability to be super-productive and work very hard at what they do with more or less successful results I wish to emulate. Who would be in your inspiring photo collage? Have a great Thursday everyone!
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Holiday Stuff-I-Want List Sharing Simplified
Inspired by Lifehacker's post on holiday shopping simplified
, I decided to help my family out and create a Christmas list of things I want this year in Google Docs. I put links to the specific items I wanted, "shared" it through Google Docs and gave everyone editing privileges, and at the top instructed my family to write "purchased" after each item they bought to eliminate duplicate gifts. I know this might take away the surprise element a bit, but you could also tell your family and friends that you won't look at the document until after the holidays.
This all sounds a little narcissistic, but every year my family never really knows what to get me, so this eases their anxiety and makes them feel special in buying something I really want, and also ensures that I actually do get the things I want. It's also handy because many of the recurring items (Netflix gift subscriptions, magazine subscriptions, etc.) can be reused for next year's list as well, saving time and effort for the next go around. It would also be a good idea in the email you send sharing the link to ask for ideas about what your family and friends want you to get them, so even if they aren't as organized and helpful as you are, you'll still have some ideas. :)
I submitted this as a "tip" to Lifehacker, but I doubt it will ever see the light of day, so I thought I'd share it here. Let's all get out there and stimulate the economy! Woooo!
This all sounds a little narcissistic, but every year my family never really knows what to get me, so this eases their anxiety and makes them feel special in buying something I really want, and also ensures that I actually do get the things I want. It's also handy because many of the recurring items (Netflix gift subscriptions, magazine subscriptions, etc.) can be reused for next year's list as well, saving time and effort for the next go around. It would also be a good idea in the email you send sharing the link to ask for ideas about what your family and friends want you to get them, so even if they aren't as organized and helpful as you are, you'll still have some ideas. :)
I submitted this as a "tip" to Lifehacker, but I doubt it will ever see the light of day, so I thought I'd share it here. Let's all get out there and stimulate the economy! Woooo!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Sundry Items
Sorry to be so long in writing, friends. National Novel Writing Month has consumed me these past few weeks. It's going okay, thanks for asking! Who knew that writing a novel would be so hard!!! Well it is. That's about all I have to say about that.
In other news, starting listening to Pink Floyd's The Wall album again after a reprieve. Great album or greatest album?
Finally, in the midst of some frustration with Apple. My iPod Touch battery is no longer holding a charge. If this was the only issue I was facing right now, it wouldn't be so bad. However, it's something like the straw that broke the camel's back. As an aside - can that really happen? How many cases of camel's backs being broken due to too much straw have been reported? How many people come in contact with camels frequently enough for that metaphor to work? I can't even remember the last time I saw a camel in a zoo. Anyways...turns out there are 99 pages of the Apple Support Forum Topic : Low battery life on iPod touch after installing iOS4. Thousands of people are having this issue, and yet Apple is doing nothing about it. Yet they had a big "announcement" today: the Beatles are now on iTunes. Oh really? You mean THE Beatles? Great, this is just what we need right now. Instead of fixing serious issues with your hardware and software, Apple, you give us the Beatles. Don't get me wrong - I love the Beatles. They singlehandedly taught me how to appreciate good music and to know what good music sounds like. I was obsessed with them. They'll always be the greatest band of all time, I don't care what anyone says. But for all the teenyboppers who are going to download them and shoot them up the iTunes top ten list, I have this to say: throw out your stupid iPod (unless it's the shuffle or nano or something...of my three ipods the cheap little one without a screen is BY FAR the most reliable of the bunch), beg your overindulgent parents to buy you a record player (fine, get one with a USB output; the equipment won't be as good but whatever works) and buy the Beatles on vinyl, buy some good headphones, and listen to the Beatles how they were meant to be listened to. All that compression is like compressing your soul, man. Seriously, just do it.
In other news, starting listening to Pink Floyd's The Wall album again after a reprieve. Great album or greatest album?
Finally, in the midst of some frustration with Apple. My iPod Touch battery is no longer holding a charge. If this was the only issue I was facing right now, it wouldn't be so bad. However, it's something like the straw that broke the camel's back. As an aside - can that really happen? How many cases of camel's backs being broken due to too much straw have been reported? How many people come in contact with camels frequently enough for that metaphor to work? I can't even remember the last time I saw a camel in a zoo. Anyways...turns out there are 99 pages of the Apple Support Forum Topic : Low battery life on iPod touch after installing iOS4. Thousands of people are having this issue, and yet Apple is doing nothing about it. Yet they had a big "announcement" today: the Beatles are now on iTunes. Oh really? You mean THE Beatles? Great, this is just what we need right now. Instead of fixing serious issues with your hardware and software, Apple, you give us the Beatles. Don't get me wrong - I love the Beatles. They singlehandedly taught me how to appreciate good music and to know what good music sounds like. I was obsessed with them. They'll always be the greatest band of all time, I don't care what anyone says. But for all the teenyboppers who are going to download them and shoot them up the iTunes top ten list, I have this to say: throw out your stupid iPod (unless it's the shuffle or nano or something...of my three ipods the cheap little one without a screen is BY FAR the most reliable of the bunch), beg your overindulgent parents to buy you a record player (fine, get one with a USB output; the equipment won't be as good but whatever works) and buy the Beatles on vinyl, buy some good headphones, and listen to the Beatles how they were meant to be listened to. All that compression is like compressing your soul, man. Seriously, just do it.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Drink, Drank, Think!
A sad news story caught my eye: "A 23-year-old British man died after ingesting two spoonfuls of caffeine powder that had the same potency as 70 cans of energy drinks." 70! I can't believe Monster hasn't already developed an energy drink that has the potency of 70 energy drinks. Now they can't because it would just be insensitive!
As if that wasn't bad enough, he washed down the powder with an energy drink! I think it's clear that the whole "extreme" movement of "extreme" dudes drinking "extreme" drinks has gone far enough. Yes, I have enjoyed the rare Red Bull from time to time, but I just don't get the whole culture where you have to get so juiced on stimulants to do the things you probably wouldn't do without them in the first place. What kind of civil society is based on people running around buzzed out of their gourd, driving motorcycles over rows and rows of school buses? Who got all those buses to park like that anyway? Is there even a school nearby?
Of course, on the other end of the spectrum are things like "Drank," which is designed to "Slow Your Roll." It's billed as an "EXTREME RELAXATION dietary supplement." Chill out man. You need some "Drank!"
Whatever happened to the Golden Mean, where we just drink things that hydrate us and don't keep us up for days or put us to sleep in seconds? Water is delicious, and if you make coffee strong enough, it's pretty EXTREME. I wish you all the best wishes on sane beverage choices.
P.S. DON'T GET ME STARTED ON THE NEW GATORADE G SERIES - I WILL NEITHER PRIME NOR RECOVER.
As if that wasn't bad enough, he washed down the powder with an energy drink! I think it's clear that the whole "extreme" movement of "extreme" dudes drinking "extreme" drinks has gone far enough. Yes, I have enjoyed the rare Red Bull from time to time, but I just don't get the whole culture where you have to get so juiced on stimulants to do the things you probably wouldn't do without them in the first place. What kind of civil society is based on people running around buzzed out of their gourd, driving motorcycles over rows and rows of school buses? Who got all those buses to park like that anyway? Is there even a school nearby?
Of course, on the other end of the spectrum are things like "Drank," which is designed to "Slow Your Roll." It's billed as an "EXTREME RELAXATION dietary supplement." Chill out man. You need some "Drank!"
Whatever happened to the Golden Mean, where we just drink things that hydrate us and don't keep us up for days or put us to sleep in seconds? Water is delicious, and if you make coffee strong enough, it's pretty EXTREME. I wish you all the best wishes on sane beverage choices.
P.S. DON'T GET ME STARTED ON THE NEW GATORADE G SERIES - I WILL NEITHER PRIME NOR RECOVER.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Where are you, Honest Abe?
Sorry for the long absence, BLOGOSPHERE. I've been out doing non-computer things, or if I've been doing computer things, it hasn't been blogging. Hopefully you've been other things too besides missing my blog posts!
Well, my funemployment saga continues. It seems like so much is happening but nothing much is happening at all. I've mainly been feeding at the trough of continual enjoyment that is Netflix instant streaming. Starting Ken Burns' The Civil War was one of the best decisions I've made in a long time. It's been really helpful, actually, in understanding the South better. It's both comforting and disturbing to know that some things never change. The documentary also has me wishing that Abraham Lincoln was alive today. Something tells me he would figure out a way to get us out of some of the messes we've made for ourselves.
I either forgot or never knew that Lincoln did some extremely controversial things, like suspending habeas corpus, in order to preserve the Union. While I would never actually endorse curtailing civil liberties, it's interesting that in spite of the drastic measures he took, Lincoln is still considered the greatest President in our nation's history. What exactly was his genius? Did he know that he could get away with such things if he succeeded in the bigger picture? Is his brand of pragmatism something to be emulated or abhorred? What good are individual rules if they cause the whole system to fall apart, thus abrogating the rules themselves anyway?
I wish I was independently wealthy, because I would love to study the philosophy of law. It seems to me that on a basic level, laws should be designed to protect us from the malicious actions of other individuals or larger entities. On the flip-side, this means that any exercise of law that does not reasonably serve the purpose of "protecting" us, in whatever sense that is defined, is a misuse of law. The word REASONABLY is operative. I spent three Springs in my sweatbox of a dorm room in a 200-year old building that still had the heat on even though it was almost 90 degrees in my room, because NJ state law was trying to "protect" me from an abusive landlord. Anyways, I'm no law student, but it seems to me that philosophical pragmatism and the philosophy of law need to be in ever-closer dialogue, as we face problems for which we have no clear "precedent".
Well, my funemployment saga continues. It seems like so much is happening but nothing much is happening at all. I've mainly been feeding at the trough of continual enjoyment that is Netflix instant streaming. Starting Ken Burns' The Civil War was one of the best decisions I've made in a long time. It's been really helpful, actually, in understanding the South better. It's both comforting and disturbing to know that some things never change. The documentary also has me wishing that Abraham Lincoln was alive today. Something tells me he would figure out a way to get us out of some of the messes we've made for ourselves.
I either forgot or never knew that Lincoln did some extremely controversial things, like suspending habeas corpus, in order to preserve the Union. While I would never actually endorse curtailing civil liberties, it's interesting that in spite of the drastic measures he took, Lincoln is still considered the greatest President in our nation's history. What exactly was his genius? Did he know that he could get away with such things if he succeeded in the bigger picture? Is his brand of pragmatism something to be emulated or abhorred? What good are individual rules if they cause the whole system to fall apart, thus abrogating the rules themselves anyway?
I wish I was independently wealthy, because I would love to study the philosophy of law. It seems to me that on a basic level, laws should be designed to protect us from the malicious actions of other individuals or larger entities. On the flip-side, this means that any exercise of law that does not reasonably serve the purpose of "protecting" us, in whatever sense that is defined, is a misuse of law. The word REASONABLY is operative. I spent three Springs in my sweatbox of a dorm room in a 200-year old building that still had the heat on even though it was almost 90 degrees in my room, because NJ state law was trying to "protect" me from an abusive landlord. Anyways, I'm no law student, but it seems to me that philosophical pragmatism and the philosophy of law need to be in ever-closer dialogue, as we face problems for which we have no clear "precedent".
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