May 2006 Posts

Amazon Prime

May 31, 2006 1 Comment

So, I was placing an order last night at Amazon.com and I saw an offer for a free 3 month trial of Amazon Prime. Why not? For those that don’t know Amazon Prime is Amazon.com’s $79 a year program that entitles you to free 2 day shipping and $3.99 overnight shipping. Also, there is no $25 minimum to reach. I believe it only applies to items that already qualified for that $25 free shipping, but I’m not sure.

Anyway, I’m a big fan of Amazon.com and I have spent a bunch of money there. Good prices, good service, quick shipping. I will most likely cancel the Amazon Prime subscription after the trial expires, just because I’m a patient person and don’t mind waiting those extra couple days. But, who knows, maybe in the future I can justify it. Seems like it would be a very good deal for some people.

So, what was I buying? Well, I am on a quest to make my podcast’s sound better. At first, I was looking to get better software. But, I consulted some more with Cameron and he introduced me to the GIGO principle. Garbage In, Garbage Out (lol). He said that improving my equipment would definitely get me better sound. So, I asked him what he’s got (an old promo he did for one of TPN’s shows sounds better than any podcast I’ve ever done) and basically mirrored his setup. This includes a Shure SM58S Vocal Microphone and a Behringer UB1002 Eurorack UB1002 Mixer. I also picked up a Shure S41E Microphone Desk Stand.

In support of a pair of New York Yankees bloggers that I’ve gotten to know a little bit, Alex and Steve, I’ve been planning to buy both of their books (going to send Steve’s to… well, Steve for him to sign for me). So, I went ahead and bought those. They are Stepping Up: The Story of All-Star Curt Flood and His Fight for Baseball Players’ Rights and The Baseball Same Game: Finding Comparable Players From The National Pastime.

Finally, I bit the bullet and bought the first season of 24 on DVD. I started watching it midway through the fourth season and haven’t missed an episode, yet. My brother started watching it with me midway through the fifth season. So, we’re both going to start fresh and watch each season 1 by 1 overtime. Yay.

Web 2.0 Conference Service Mark Stuff

May 31, 2006 No Comments

If you happened to see the big hubbub about CMP (O’Reilly’s conference partner) trademarking Web 2.0… oh wait, no one trademarked Web 2.0! Although that’s what some people were led to believe. Anyway, I didn’t really get into the issue. Read the post linked to above, read an O’Reilly response, knew what I was looking at and that’s about it.

Tim O’Reilly responded today basically confirming what my own thoughts were. Funny, my reaction was about the same as Jeremy Zawodny’s, which he mentioned in a comment on the O’Reilly post:

After 3 minutes worth of reading, I shook my head and said (out loud–to my cats, I think) “I can’t believe everyone is being so stupid.”

Mr. O’Reilly says:

I used to bristle when members of the mainstream press wagged their fingers at the unprofessionalism of bloggers. I looked around at all the bloggers who are, to my mind, practicing great journalism, and wrote off the MSM criticism as fear of the new medium. But now I’m not so sure. The flap about the Web 2.0 Conference trademark has shaken my faith in the collective intelligence of the blogosphere. Of all the hundreds of people who commented on this issue, only a few touched base to do a bit of fact checking. The New York Times, by contrast, was all over doing due-diligence. They talked to everyone they could get their hands on before publishing their story.

While I admit that the cease-and-desist letter to IT@Cork was a faux pas, the blogosphere response and especially the comments on Sara’s posts to the Radar blog have been appalling both in their tone (even to the point of one comment, which Marc Hedlund deleted in my absence, implying that I’m a child molester!) and in their lack of any fact checking. …

It’s not a surprise because I have to deal with it myself and have seen it first hand, but I will always consider it crazy that so many people love to simply go against someone because they are a big(ger) company, or an authority, etc. People can be really stupid. To the point where it’s “cool” to rail against anything large or powerful. That is lame. Folks, don’t be cool – be right. I mean, this is literally how this was spun by some:

“Big bad corporation O’Reilly trademarks Web 2.0 and threatens small non profit.”

I mean, come on. Crazy. Now, as far as blogging is concerned, I have a few people writing for my sites as bloggers and I tell them that blogging is a responsibility. I tell them that they have a responsibility to me, to themselves, to our readers and to the people they are talking about. That responsibility must be taken seriously and dealt with with the utmost respect. Unfortunately, not everyone handles it that way.

Portable Air Conditioners

May 30, 2006 2 Comments

I work in on the second floor in my bedroom in my parent’s house. I live in New England, so a majority of the time, the temperature in this room is fine. However, right now (and for a few months) out of the year, it gets very hot up here where it is uncomfortable to work. The outside temperature combined with the second floor combined with the computer and monitors running just makes it very warm. I have a strong fan, but… it’s just so hot. So, seeing as I spend so much time here and I have some money to spend on such a thing, I decided that I’d like to get some kind of air conditioner for this room.

At first, I considered window air conditioners. But, we have vinyl windows and all of that stuff seems rather awkward to me. So, I am looking at getting a good portable air conditioner (not one of those evaporative air “coolers”, etc., but a portable air conditioner. They are more expensive, but it seems like less of a hastle (just feed an exaust tube out the window with a window kit of some sort that seals off the open part of the window – no screwing into the window, etc., I don’t think? (still trying to figure it all out, lol)) and less potential to damage a house I don’t own. If anyone has any particular advice in this area, I’d be interested in hearing it.

I’m hoping to keep it under $400. Hard finding much in the way of reviews for these things.

Google AdSense Violation Spam

May 29, 2006 29 Comments

First time I’ve ever received one of these:

Hi!

You probably have daughter/s, neighbors, sweet nieces
and nephews who are doing this stuff so why not try
helping me?

Actually the task is simple, it is just the usual stuff
done in the internet… browse… click…browse…
click… so on.

My daughter has tied up with Google to enhance the sites.
Please don’t fail to CLICK the ADS to better monitor the
sites. She also wanted to know if the appearance of her
webpage is fine and pleasant to the eye and if the links
and ADS are working properly or bug/s need to be fixed.

These are the sites:

PLEASE CLICK HERE-1

CLICK HERE SITE-2

CLICK HERE SITE-3

CLICK HERE SITE-4

CLICK HERE SITE-5

CLICK HERE SITE-6

Though you might be interested in some of the programs
for your future reference as it is also informative.

Clicking the Site Map will also bring you to a new link
and new information that might interest you.

I may return favors for you someday!

Sincerely,

Maria Sandra

P.S.
For your comments and suggestions, just hit REPLY
with the subject COMMENTS and give me some inputs.

To better monitor the sites? You’ve gotta be freaking kidding me. All of the click here links are linked to different sites using tinyurl.com. An example of one. I reported them.

Warp Forest

May 27, 2006 No Comments

Pretty fun game.

Via Jordan Running.

Audio Recording Software

May 24, 2006 3 Comments

Right now, when I record a show, this is what I do (basically):

– Record all of my solo audio in Audacity. My entire show is broken up into paragraphs that I read and stop at the end of each (and stop the recording).
– Import my interview(s) done with Skype, any ads/promos and the network intro.
– Line those all up and cut the mouse click sound from the end of all of the solo pieces. This involves lot of dragging, dropping and highlighting. I also listen to the entire show, making sure that it allow flows as it should (i.e., no awkward pauses, etc.).
– Export as a .wav. Open the .wav in Audacity.
– Use noise removal. Export as .wav. Open .wav in Wavepad.
– Use automatic gain control. Export as .wav. Open .wav in Audacity.
– Export as .mp3. Open .mp3 in Windows Media Player.
– Open Advanced Tag Editor and set the basic show related notes. Close all programs.

And I’m done. Honestly, this takes some time and it doesn’t even sound that great to me. So, I am thinking of getting some better software – investing a bit. Cameron (who runs TPN), recommended Adobe Audition. It looks like it would run me about $330. I am thinking about it and may very well do it, but I thought I’d throw up an entry asking for thoughts here first.

Takeover by Jay-Z

May 24, 2006 No Comments

I really like the song “Takeover” by Jay-Z. But, the final verse is my favorite:

A wise man told me, don’t argue with fools
‘Cause people from a distance can’t tell who is who
So, stop with that childish s***, n**** I’m grown
Please leave it alone, don’t throw rocks at the throne
Do not bark up that tree, that tree will fall on you
I don’t know why your advisors ain’t forewarn you
Please, not Jay, he’s not for play
I don’t slack a minute, all that thug rappin’ and gimmicks
I will end it, all that yappin’ be finished
You are not deep, you made your bed – now sleep
Don’t make me expose you to them folks that don’t know you
N****, I know you well, all the stolen jewels
Twinkletoes, you breakin’ my heart
You can’t f*** with me – go play somewhere, I’m busy
And all you other cats throwin; shots at Jigga
You only get half a bar – f*** y’all n*****

Awesome.

KarateForums.com: Five Years Online

May 21, 2006 1 Comment

KF has been online for five years today. I feel old.

I got dugg!

May 17, 2006 2 Comments

Wow!

I got dugg for the first time! It feels cool because I didn’t do it myself, pay anyone to do it, etc. etc. etc. Totally natural, nothing to do with it. Not making me any extra money (at all), but traffic is also nice and it’s cool to see one of my sites on digg.

Chinese

May 16, 2006 No Comments

Do I happen to have any friends who can write in Chinese? I’m trying to communicate with someone and, well, Babelfish might not be cutting it. Not sure if any of my friends could, so I thought I’d post here and if anyone does, please let me know. Thanks. :)