March 20th, 2006
Links galore
Links, links, links.
If you’ve found the new icons at the end (or in the beginning of, depending which theme you’re using), they’re there for a few different reasons. Let me quickly guide you through them.
= del.icio.us. This is a free service provided by Yahoo!, enabling people to store and share bookmarks, that can be reached from any web-browser by logging in. Recently, del.icio.us enabled private bookmarks, which can only be seen by you. del.icio.us helps you to find other interesting bookmarks due to tagging.
= digg.com. “[...] a technology news website that combines social bookmarking, blogging, RSS, and non-hierarchical editorial control.” People have shown that even though it’s fairly easy to tweak digg-results, most users are fair and geeky, which is good enough for me. By “digging” a story, you say others deserve to note it.
= Newsvine. I started beta-testing it in January, and I still use it; that URL describes the site well, but in short, it’s a news-site that’s edited and where signed-in users can publish, i.e. seed, their own news. The ones I’ve seeded are found here. This icon is for seeding news at that site.
= co.mments, a site for people to track comments they make on different sites. Doesn’t require registration (but is recommended, especially if you want to track them from more than one computer), is free, works well but currently has a limitation.
Speaking of new stuff on the site, the sidebar now gives you this link, which is a surefire way to send me an audio-message, providing you’ve got a microphone. Free and nice, if you don’t wish to Skype me.
On with the linking show!
Only new songs so there can be new ring-tones? Check this new track from Arctic Monkeys, played solo by the front-man because their bass-player had problems.
You want to send the monkeys anonymous e-mail saying you love them? Learn how, but don’t tell your fascist government I taught you how.
Microsoft gives you free software (which requires validating your installation of Windows) for Windows Media Encoder 9; could be interesting, I haven’t tried.
Did you think Weather Underground helped to change things? Well, this is an article courtesy of the Los Angeles Times on very interesting facts about the US government and the FBI, that were learned and shared by people who broke into an FBI-office 35 years ago; freedom is still a very dear thing to hold on to for all it’s worth, and very easy to lose in this age. Talk about an illegal action that helped free very valuable information! From the article:
Found among the Media documents was a new word, “COINTELPRO,” short for the FBI’s “secret counterintelligence program,” created to investigate and disrupt dissident political groups in the U.S. Under these programs, beginning in 1956, the bureau worked to “enhance the paranoia endemic in these circles,” as one COINTELPRO memo put it, “to get the point across there is an FBI agent behind every mailbox.”
Also very interesting:
For instance, agents sought to persuade Martin Luther King Jr. to kill himself just before he received the Nobel Prize. They sent him a composite tape made from bugs planted illegally in his hotel rooms when he was entertaining women other than his wife — and threatened to make it public. “King, there is one thing left for you to do. You know what it is,” FBI operatives wrote in their anonymous letter.
Let me rephrase that: the FBI tried to get Martin Luther King to commit suicide, which is documented – by the FBI themselves. Wonderful. And I think most people wouldn’t believe this if they were shown the facts.
Speaking of the US government, this interesting article, courtesy of Wired Magazine, shows that the USA could produce biomass to replace 1/3 of their national need of petroleum. If they go for it, three things will happen: 1) the USA will be well on its way to replace dangerous fossil fuels (which will run dry in a relatively short while anyway), 2) it’s only 2/3 likely that they’ll invade other countries for fake reasons again…maybe and 3) Dick Cheney and the other political shareholders in Halliburton will have to look elsewhere for big wins. Hm. Likely? Remember the words of Rush Limbaugh: “The American people have no voice with their government. You can rape us.” What an unsatisfied customer.
Speaking of governments that should use funding for better things, England are probably going to use more money to get kids to learn phonics. One in four English children leaves primary school unable to read and write at the required level for their age.
I would like to learn where to get a Guinness surger other than at Tescos, which don’t exist in Sweden. Ultrasonics turn a can of Guinness into the type you’re served in the pub. Check that link and see the video. Just cut out the closet homosexuals in the film and you’ll get the picture.
Yes, I’m still running 30 Boxes, and here’s a great guide on how to download your calendar-appointments and read them in a standalone calendar – offline. Magic!
Speaking of guides, here’s an interesting comparison between Ubuntu, Windows and OSX. Although I think the author consciously leaves Edubuntu out when discussing software for schools, it’s still a very interesting discussion. By the way, Ubuntu now has its own media center, called Ubuntu Center, which is under development, but looks fine so far.
Speaking of which, the next version of MS Windows will be Windows Vista, as loads of geeks know. Microsoft says you’ve gotta have 512MB RAM installed to make your computer run it, but 1GB RAM is recommended. But there’s more on how Vista handles memory, bringing superfetch to the pagefile-table. Read on. This might be the flag for ordering 8GB RAM at once.
