Blog Or Webpage, Which is Better?

INDEED!

Which is Better?
(I'll be using a lot of Initials in this piece, but I'll try to define it in the latest terms)

IMHO (which means: In My Humble Opinion) the Blog (which came from: Web Log, but turned into something else) Wins every time.
In fact, most Webpages are really Blogs in disguise.

What has caused this change in expression? The answer is CMS better known as Content Management Systems (meaning programs), which can be reduced to the terms: Content Formatters. Which is an extension of CSS Cascading Style Sheets, a way of easily changing the Look of a Webpage. CSS was the door opener, and the shift from static webpages that just sat there (and didn't draw much attention) to dynamic webpages (also called: Web 2.0), which bounce and dance all over the place. (some, Admittedly to the point of distraction--too much going on).

I believe that next to video (aka YouTubing), flash animation ( an Adobe program) has become the new king of the web.

Okay, what does CMS programs give you?

Headers, footers, sidebars (right columns,left columns or both), themes to coordinate styles and colors.

After Months on the "Injured List", I'm Back!

Went to Barnes and Noble on Saturday. You know, Christmas shopping. I headed straight to the magazine rack and looked for my Linux Favorites. Grabbed the December issue of Linux Format and Linux Pro Magazine. Found a nice comfortable chair and scanned thru the mags casually. Both of these magazines come with DVD's chock-full of Open Source goodies. Both of thses magazines are British publications and aside from the fact that the prices in the ads are listed in british pounds, they could just as easily been published here in the states. Linux Format is the more polished of the two, but I've growned to appreciate the longer in-depth articles in Linux Pro, but that's just a matter of taste.

Added Newsgator from CNet.com to the TWSTW blog.

The Wonders of IMDB

The Atomic Cafe (1982)

Goodnight, My Love (1972) (TV)

Richard Boone (I)
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0095524/

Biography for
Kurt Russell (I)
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000621/bio

Michael Parks (I)
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0662981/

Full cast and crew for
"Then Came Bronson" (1969)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063955/fullcredits#cast

Harlan Ellison
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0255196/

Biography for
Eli Wallachhttp://www.imdb.com/name/nm0908919/bio

Eli Wallach Filmography
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0908919/

All these links represent some of Grist for the Mill you can Glean from the Wonderful online site called: IMDB (Internet Movie Database).

Next to Google, I go to IMDB.COM constantly. A forgotten feature of IMDB is that it also shows when a searched movie title will next appear on TV.

As a sidenote: My Open Sources Blog has a detailed explanation of Beagle searcher and the value RSS feeds.

Podcast Central Listing

Podcasts have nothing to do with iPods.

I listen to them on my Sony PSP (Playstation Portable) thank you.

There is no mystery about my favorite, it's Leo Laporte's TWiT.TV podcasts. I'll update my list of Favs here on TWSTW's blog.

Here we go: (The green highlighted text is the Link.)

NPR (National Public Radio) podcasts: For Louie.
http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_detail.php?siteId=4819382

TWiT (This Week in Tech) podcast: The Master of Podcasting, Leo Laporte, who just won Blogcast of the year award from xxx, at a ceremony in Vegas. He aslo gave the Keynote Address.
http://twit.tv/twit

SECURITY Now! podcast with Steve Gibson. Yeah, that Steve Gibson. I remember seeing him at OCTUG (Orange County Trs-80 User Group) some 20 plus years ago.
http://twit.tv/sn

FLOSS Weekly podcast. Free Libre Open Source Software has done interviews with several heavyweights of the Linux community, including Miguel De Icaza of GNOME and Mono fame, and the creator of Python, the Great Dane, Guido Van Rossum.
http://twit.tv/FLOSS

MACBREAK Weekly podcast. Not just because of the iPod, the Mac should be on every tech's "what's happening in the Mac World." radar.
http://twit.tv/mbw

The GILLMORE Gang podcast. Here because the hosts have been on TWiT many times.
http://gillmorgang.podshow.com/

Revision 3:DIGGNATION podcast with Kevin Rose, owner of both Revision 3 and Digg.com, and formally from TechTV.
http://revision3.com/diggnation
ROCKETBOOM Daily podcast with Joanne Colan, a girl that talks tech.
http://www.rocketboom.com/vlog/

SCOBLE Show podcast with Robert Scoble. Also a regular Twit.
http://www.podtech.net/scobleshow/

DL.TV podcast Robert Herren (the Photoshop and Video Guru) and Roger Chang (the Digital Camera Lab Rat) from the TechTV show. Formally hosted by Patrick Norton and Roger Chang. Patrick has moved over to Systm Video podcasts.
http://dl.tv/

REVISION3/SYSTM podcasts with Patrick Norton and Jim Louderback also from TechTV show. Previously hosted by TechTV alumni Kevin Rose.
http://revision3.com/systm/

REVISION3/TEKZILLA podcast with Patrick Norton (Sarah Lane subs) and Jessica Corbin. Yep, also from TechTV.
http://revision3.com/tekzilla/ladies
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Here's Three Picks from Louie:

Remember Route 66?

The Past IS Prologue. Or as Spock would say: Remember. ..."Old Time Radio."

http://www.otr.net/

If you're going to be fanatical about something, here's a good place to start:

http://fanaticalapathy.com/

Thanks Bro.
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Okay that about it for NOW, more coming Real-Soon-Now...

Later, Wingman.

Working with Xara Extreme for Linux

A new port of Xara Extreme for Linux shows some real promise.

Check out this simple Icon I created with it for my favorite CMS Drupal.

What Better Way To Save the World: My Blogs

MY BLOGGER BLOGS:
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http://koolhunter2.blogspot.com/ aka koolhunter2
http://mediacircus2.blogspot.com/ aka Media Circus 2
http://tvjeebees.blogspot.com/ aka TVjeebees
http://theletterselo.blogspot.com/ aka Written by ELO
http://psphardwired.blogspot.com/ aka PSP On Steroids
http://vistavectors.blogspot.com/ aka Vista Vectors
http://mycordiunnot.blogspot.com/ aka mass media course correction
http://thursdaysave.blogspot.com/ aka thursday we save the world
http://elosblog.blogspot.com/ aka dospossos

http://paintbucketontario.blogspot.com/ aka paint bucket blog

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things:

A man of many interests is, in my opinion, and interesting man. Yeah, you can quote me... Okay, here's the heavily culled list:

Favorite CPU: AMD/AMD-64
http://www.amd.com/us-en/

Favorite Graphic Card: Nvidia
http://www.nvidia.com/page/home.html

Favorite OS: Ubuntu Linux 6.06
http://www.ubuntu.com/

Favorite Browser: Firefox
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

Favorite Browser Plugin: Firebug
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1843

Favorite Web Sites:
Freshmeat.net
http://freshmeat.net/

RefDesk.com
http://www.refdesk.com/

Fav Sections On Refdesk are:
On This Day In History
Site of The Day
Picture of the Day
Top US Newspapers

Daily Rotation.com
http://www.dailyrotation.com/

IMDB (Internet Movie Database)
http://www.imdb.com/

KernelTrap.com
http://kerneltrap.org/

Engadget.com
http://www.engadget.com/


Favorite Magazines:
Linux Format (uk)
http://www.linuxformat.co.uk/

Linux Journal
http://www.linuxjournal.com/

Favorite Podcasts:

TWiT.TV with Leo Laporte & Friends
http://www.twit.tv/

BUZZ Out LOUD
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-11455_7-6457370-1.html

Okay, that's it for now.

Stay Tuned.
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Sunday, I saved the World

Took off Fedora Core 6 and installed openSUSE 10.2.

Yeah, I'm fickled. But I started with SuSE way before Novell bought them. And before the "deal" with microsoft.

And since I'm running Windows Vista on my Laptop, I figured I should have the latest Linux Distro with "WOW" too!

I'm coming to the conclusion that the "Desktop" may not matter anymore. And as the inventor of a very smart sorting technique called: ' baysean sort' (whose name I can't remember right now) recently said: Windows is dead...Google has won.

Well, maybe not quite THAT far, but since the greater part of our current computing lives revolves around "Web 2.0." and AJAX this and AJAX that, it's getting closer to the truth all the time.

When my wife, who knows nothing about Windows OR Linux, does just fine 'thank you' clicking on the Firefox or KDETV icons and away she goes. Accessing the web is really all anyone really needs. And Google is the Top Dog there and getting Bigger all-the-time.

Anyway, I'm back up and running.

A few more personalization more and I'll feel right at home.

TWSTW:The Early Years: Part One

From the PCjr, and the CoCo, to the shiny new Acer with Windows Vista. Time passes as the historians and science fiction writers like to remind us. And technologically speaking that is true at an even faster rate.

Part One:

I started My computer history using a borrowed Radio Shack TRS-80. My brothers started with commodores and later atari's. In time, I inherited my brother's PCjr., when he turned to the IBM-XT.


My First purchased computer was the TRS Color Computer for $540 plus tax (with my Radio Shack discount, of course). It had 16k of memory, Level 2 Basic and the infamous "chiclet keyboard".

It connected to a TV, like the Amiga and Atari. Used a cassette recorder for Data, and a Cartridge Rom for commercial programs, most from Radio Shack. I subscribed to a cassette-based magazine dedicated to the CoCo, and received a monthly cassette of programs to use on the CoCo. The magazine was called Chromasette.

Level 2 Basic was pretty simple, but not really a programming language.

On thursday's, which was my day off work, we would meet at Charlie's and "natter" about science fiction (Hour 25 KPFK), and of course, computers. Charlie, Louie, Robert, Me and sometimes Charlie's daughter: Anathea. We basically learned Basic and a little assembly that way.

Hundreds of hours later, keying in data statements from Compute! or some other 'Personal Computer' magazine. We'd either have a nice running program or a hunt for the miss-typed data statement.

On Thursday's, we'd find and "fix" the ills of the world, at least until next thursday.

In time we found Borland's "Turbo Pascal 3.0" for about $30 to $50 dollars, and began coding with blocks of code called procedures. This was the big leagues and it was affordable.


This was the First True IDE for a compiler. See the Wikipedia Site on Turbo Pascal.


End of Part One: The Early Years of TWSTW (Thursdays We Saved The World.).

Goodbye Kurt.

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut

Another very gifted writer has passed away, Kurt Vonnegut Jr..
I somehow have an affinity for Canadians (or canadian pseudo-emigres) and I don't know why.

On my various blogs I've mentioned a couple of others that have "made sense" to me. Marshal Mcluan, because the Media IS the Message, and William Gibson because Machines Will someday have a Soul (the soul of their creator).

Player Piano, a story by Vonnegut, is a phrase I like alot. Today's version of that idea (to me) is the iPod. And Vonnegut had some of his Best stories turned into some interesting movies that were quirky, yet thought provoking.

Movies like Slaughterhouse-five, Mother Night and Breakfast of Champions.

One of his short story collections was titled: Welcome to the Monkey House.

*** A personal pastiche of Kurt.

I don't know if all that's true. Parts of it most certaintly are, but not all. I can still hear the piano playing in the background, and nobody is touching the keys.

The song sounds familiar but I know for a fact I've never heard it before. Must be a primordial memory.

Maybe a musical shadow that passed over me in my youth.

Just like Kurt.
***

"It Don't Matter To Me..."

Yeah, another lyric from an old song starts another Blog. But this time it IS different. It fits the topic of dicussion.

It doesn't matter to me (right now) that my graphics card hasn't been set up right under Red Hat's Fedora Core 6. I mean the 3D WOW stuff, that is similar to the Vista WOW stuff.

Of course, I'm not taking Red Hat to court over it either. Unlike the lady that is sueing Microsoft for Not delivering the "WOW" that the ADs promised.

It doesn't matter to me because I didn't shell out a couple of hundred bucks to be snookered by PR again.

So the Compiz window manager with AIGLX effects don't work with my Nvidia Card, yet.

Big Deal.

I'm pretty happy with Zod (FC6), upgrading easily from FC5. And I'm on kernel 2.6.20-1.2933fc6(i686) and GNU C Library version 2.5 (stable) with Desktop Environment GNOME 2.16.

Yet, even SMOOTH upgrades can be a pain in the you-know-what. But that IS the price of computing on the Edge. And my cost of upgrade was the price of Linux User & Developer magazine which came WITH the DVD.


And because of the magazines with DVD's, I've got my choice of a half-a-dozen other Live Distros to play around with.

Yeah, in Linux Land, life Is Good.

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Movers and Shakers

Coming soon: Motion Detection on Cell Phones? Why not?

Check out the CNET story here.

Looks like AT&T and the Apple Iphone (coming in June) will be the first motion phone in the states.

And speaking of Apple, Scobelizer Raves about the AppleTV here.

And finally, Broadcom, a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, today announced a new dual-channel AVC/MPEG-4/VC- 1/MPEG-2 video decoder system-on-a-chip (SoC) designed in a 65 nanometer process. The new high-performance video decoder SoC is being demonstrated at this week's CableLabs Winter Conference, and provides leading-edge functionality and performance when compared to existing set-top box (STB) solutions currently available.

Details of the Press Release can be found here.

Self Indulgence Is OK in My Book

A place keeper of Sorts:
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MY BLOGS: Web Addresses:
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Media Circus 2 44 posts

Mass Media Course Correction 39 posts

Written by ELO 14 posts

Dos Possos 9 posts

PSP On Steroids 4 posts

The Painting on The Wall 3 posts

thursday we save the world 3 posts

Koolhunter2 3 posts ==========================================================================
MY WEB PAGES:
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Media Circus 2 http://mediacircus2.com/
(yes, there was a MC1)

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Coming soon My AI assisted Web Search Portal:

Koolhunter.com

A Mime is Not a Terrible Thing To Waste,
but Bandwidth IS
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New Technology, Old Idea...

Want to know what it was like "Saving the World On Thursday" meetings?

Check out Leo Laporte's TWIT Podcast. Except for being better funded and the Tech Natterers talking by webphone from different locations, it's us, 20 plus years ago.

And, like us, the TWITs don't have an AX to Grind.

They shoot from the Hip-Pointers (yeah, most of them are Old, like us).

We would Chat (face to face) about the current state of technology.

I was an Insider, working at the Shack, from the TRS-80 model 1 to the model 4. We met in Chuck's Living Room and took turns on his computer which started as the Commodore and then Atari and finally the IBM PC.

I remember typing in lines and lines of Data from current PC magazines and cursing when we got a number or two wrong.

Chuck's daughter cut her computer teeth there too. I mention that because she now takes care of Sun's Microsystems Web Site.

My son, is the creator of the Homebrew (Lua Player based) game PSP Duck Hunt, and PSP Missile Command (Youtube video here).


So the torch Has been passed to a new generation.

Besides computer Chat we also watched various videos. Mostly Science Fiction or Comedy. Lucas, Spielberg and Kubrick all expanded our universe view.

This Blog is a tip of the Hat to the Past and a starting point to a recreation of those "Good Times" using the current technology. By using a computer with internet connection, we can meet again "On Thursdays", via Webphones and a Streaming Podcast.

Our efforts in doing this will be discussed and explained here.

Stay tuned.

Base Camp Revisited:

Thursdays:
Back in the early 80's, me and my brothers would meet in a secure site and ponder the world of computers. We worked on machines of the day and quickly saw that THIS was something special. We programmed in Basic and Turbo Pascal 3.0 on the IBM PC, The Commodore, Atari, the IBM PCjr and even Radio Shack's COCO (The Color Computer). We read a lot of SCI-FI stuff and listened to Hour 25 on KPFK, which had a great host Mike Hodal and had lots of Science Fiction writers on the show.

This Site is dedicated to all the "Good Vibrations" created by those digital and analog moments.

We'll talk about copying data statements from magazines like "Compute!" and cassette based magazines like CoCo's Chromasette based in Goleta, CA. For "Old Timers", The Color Computer link above (in green) will lead you to the machines of that Era.

See you NEXT Thursday.