Odd things - on the Internet?? Shirley, you jest!
A few shouts and PSAs to begin. I've been told that 395 is a nightmare parking lot coming into the District north from Springfield. In other news, fire is hot. Film at 11.
Also, lots of birthday cuddles and kisses to still_asking! And a fine thank you to flashneko for sending me the DVD of An Evening with Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder, which I received a matter of hours before hopping the plane to Montréal (will gladly pay for shipping!), to debboamerik for a fine, lovely evening of watching the Nationals get clubbed like baby seals at the hands of the Dodgers last week, and to she and my lovely daughter papertigers - who I will call back, really really really - for taking Kid-2 this afternoon and doing kid-like things to her.
Now then, some other stuff...namely online matters.
It appears that most folks are not leaving LJ, but the idea of a fork has some modest support. The fact that most people have particular services they are unwilling to give up does give me an idea about how to manage online services that The Exchange, my company, could offer. Through RSS feeds and Web scraping, it might be possible to provide customers with a highly customizable online resource - something that combines the best features of LJ, WikiWikiWeb, IRC/AIM, file sharing, and other similar content; all in a (very) secure format. Not exactly a new idea, and not the principal focus of my new company, but it's gotten me to percolate some ideas at the back of my mind. With some imagination, and enough input from similarly creative types, I feel I could offer online content in a novel, secure, and friendly way, and make money doing so. Thinking, thinking, thinking.*
So, 'nuff'a'dat, for now. On to other things online.
Every so often, I scribble down, in my handy-dandy (ding!) notebook the various Web addresses which are blasted at me from advertising signs and TV and radio commercials, particularly if they appear to be something other than the latest corporate stooge attempt to sell toothpaste. Lately I've gotten some interesting ones. This one was showing in little animated shorts at baggage carousels in the U.S. airports in place of actual, useful announcements which would assist travellers in getting where they're going - talk about a captive audience! The airlines, surprise surprise, want their taxes cut, 'cause it just ain't fair, darn it...a prospect that I would have more sympathy with if we didn't have to deal with USAirways over the past weekend in the way that we did. Appears to be yet another corporate industry which is crying out in emulation of dinosaurs after the meteors hit ground. I'm going to try to remember, when I am running my company, that in most cases, adaptation is preferable to death. Again, my perception is that those who operate these large businesses are not very adept thinkers, particularly in the realm of imagination...
Jury's still out on this "graduate school" which I saw looming in an ad on the Metro, featuring a launched missile morphing into a pencil. (That they thought to begin with that image may be a good sign, or a bad one.) It appears to be a way of ensuring that the ideas of the many do not reach the few. Here's another way.
By far the most interesting one I've written down recently is Neurocam International, which I found through a rambling search of Wikipedia. Here's their article on them**. My take is that it's an ARG, albeit a well-financed one. It would be interesting to talk to these guys; they are apparently covering their tracks well.
* Speaking o'which, I will be opening a Wiki in the near future...partly for asmaida, but also to serve as my personal sandbox for the various nutty things I wish to share for public idea surgery.
** While there, follow the link to the May Day Mystery at the bottom of the page. It's a bit alarming to research a mystery with a highly conspiratorial bent and find in the accompanying graphic - a representation of one of the "May Day" ads, which appeared in 1988 - that the office building you are currently sitting in is mentioned by mailing address as having been "penetrated".
Also, lots of birthday cuddles and kisses to still_asking! And a fine thank you to flashneko for sending me the DVD of An Evening with Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder, which I received a matter of hours before hopping the plane to Montréal (will gladly pay for shipping!), to debboamerik for a fine, lovely evening of watching the Nationals get clubbed like baby seals at the hands of the Dodgers last week, and to she and my lovely daughter papertigers - who I will call back, really really really - for taking Kid-2 this afternoon and doing kid-like things to her.
Now then, some other stuff...namely online matters.
It appears that most folks are not leaving LJ, but the idea of a fork has some modest support. The fact that most people have particular services they are unwilling to give up does give me an idea about how to manage online services that The Exchange, my company, could offer. Through RSS feeds and Web scraping, it might be possible to provide customers with a highly customizable online resource - something that combines the best features of LJ, WikiWikiWeb, IRC/AIM, file sharing, and other similar content; all in a (very) secure format. Not exactly a new idea, and not the principal focus of my new company, but it's gotten me to percolate some ideas at the back of my mind. With some imagination, and enough input from similarly creative types, I feel I could offer online content in a novel, secure, and friendly way, and make money doing so. Thinking, thinking, thinking.*
So, 'nuff'a'dat, for now. On to other things online.
Every so often, I scribble down, in my handy-dandy (ding!) notebook the various Web addresses which are blasted at me from advertising signs and TV and radio commercials, particularly if they appear to be something other than the latest corporate stooge attempt to sell toothpaste. Lately I've gotten some interesting ones. This one was showing in little animated shorts at baggage carousels in the U.S. airports in place of actual, useful announcements which would assist travellers in getting where they're going - talk about a captive audience! The airlines, surprise surprise, want their taxes cut, 'cause it just ain't fair, darn it...a prospect that I would have more sympathy with if we didn't have to deal with USAirways over the past weekend in the way that we did. Appears to be yet another corporate industry which is crying out in emulation of dinosaurs after the meteors hit ground. I'm going to try to remember, when I am running my company, that in most cases, adaptation is preferable to death. Again, my perception is that those who operate these large businesses are not very adept thinkers, particularly in the realm of imagination...
Jury's still out on this "graduate school" which I saw looming in an ad on the Metro, featuring a launched missile morphing into a pencil. (That they thought to begin with that image may be a good sign, or a bad one.) It appears to be a way of ensuring that the ideas of the many do not reach the few. Here's another way.
By far the most interesting one I've written down recently is Neurocam International, which I found through a rambling search of Wikipedia. Here's their article on them**. My take is that it's an ARG, albeit a well-financed one. It would be interesting to talk to these guys; they are apparently covering their tracks well.
* Speaking o'which, I will be opening a Wiki in the near future...partly for asmaida, but also to serve as my personal sandbox for the various nutty things I wish to share for public idea surgery.
** While there, follow the link to the May Day Mystery at the bottom of the page. It's a bit alarming to research a mystery with a highly conspiratorial bent and find in the accompanying graphic - a representation of one of the "May Day" ads, which appeared in 1988 - that the office building you are currently sitting in is mentioned by mailing address as having been "penetrated".