Swap the TweetDeck’s!
http://tinyurl.com/9tzkjy
There are very many Twitter applications out these days, the Twitter API is, undoubtedly, one of the major reasons for its popularity. And believe you me, there is a crap load of popularity! TweetDeck is one of the larger of Twitter apps, aeshetically, at least. But I like that, as a late user of Twitterific (and Twhirl, and Spaz, and Google Desktop, and Digsby), I did not feel as centralized. TweetDeck is an Adobe Air application, its layout is a series of very useful columns that can be moved around horizontally; All Friends, Group, Replies, Direct Messages, Search, Favorites, TwitScoop and 12seconds. As well as a vertically expanding Tweet section with a very nice TwitPic integration and a TinyURL-esque service as well… with more than enough URL shrinkers to your service.
I find it to be a very clean layout and for me, someone with a second monitor, it is very nice to have it maximized all the time. As a recent adopter of TwitPic , I found the integration fantastic, as well as how simple it is to follow your own conversations in the Replies column. But more than anything, I love the use of the TwitScoop column; as a blogger (talented or non) it is a fast way to see what the general Twitosphere is currently interested in.
And the great part about this all is that, by the time you read this there will be a new one out, just as damn good.
Blackouts, and the retardation thereof
http://tinyurl.com/3lcuq3
A good friend of mine made a thread about this video in a forum I regular, advertising this cause, backing those whining about the apparent breach of their respective First Ammendments with the new YouTube rules. Do I agree with them? Of course not. Do I like watching people swear and rant? Yes! But with as much passion as that, I also believe these user blackouts are as pointless and effective as online petitions and the recent Facebook blackout. On the posted video, one of the more prominent ‘points’ being ranted about is an apparent obstruction of the American First Ammendment;
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Which is rather hilarious, kids trying to act political and intelligent while, at the same time, ignoring the entire idea that YouTube is a company. And by being a company, YouTube is, in the same breath, not a government. And by being a company, it can make its own rules as long as they do not break other rules. But really, why the big fuss? Yes, the new rules are pretty crappy, but as did Twitter, YouTube spawned an innumerable amount of copies. And as with Twitter, those copies have spawned into an incredible niche market, and although the better once (Pownce getting Ackbar’d) haven’t always taken off as well. But seriously kids, this is the damn Internet, if you don’t like it you can go do it yourself. If you can’t get through these new rules, make yourself another one.
X-men Origins: Wolverine
http://tinyurl.com/42axgv
“Mr. Jackman, what do you think of the Wolverine Origins movie rumors?” asked a reporter, who’s name has now been forgotten.
“What do I think? Hell, I started them.”
X-men Origins: Wolverine
This is a transcription of an interview, by whom, on what and when I do not remember, and I am most certain that is not exactly how it went, come on, it was years ago! But I digress, how it was said does not matter because, as has been well known for ages before, and was reminded by featured video, it is really coming. And my nerdboner is, quite appropriately, as stiff as a damn Adamantium claw.
I do admit, I never noticed much of Hugh Jackman before his role in the first X-men movie. I liked that movie a fair bit and I thought he did the role very well (although a bit tall for Logan) but still left a final judgment on his talents until I saw his latter films. And I really do damn like the dude.
So what do we get in this sucker? What did these unadulterated 2:23 of pure nergasm give us?
As a child, Logan was named James Howlett, he lived in a mansion in Alberta, Canada, with two parents (John and Elizabeth Howlett), his unnamed grandfather and an adoptee named Rose. Before his birth, is parents begot another son, John II, who died early on due to a sickness. James was also a very sickly child, but managed to survive his earliest years. James’ parents also employed Thomas Logan and his son, “Dog”, as gardeners. In the first scene of this trailer, James (Wolverine) is shown seeing his father, John, being shot dead by Thomas Logan (0:15); it is when crying over his fathers body (0:17) that his powers evolve right into the chest of Thomas Logan (1:38). What you don’t see is that it is right in front of Thomas’ son, Dog, thus enticing a years long grudge towards James.
This has been out for years, anyone following that paragraph properly is, presumably, a Wolverine fan, and anyone who is as thus has probably already read that stuff up.
One of the, if not the very, most popular co-star in this movie would be Gambit, Remmie LeBeau (1:30) - bitches love him. But through analyzing this trailer astutely (and the cast listing) we have a young Storm (1:53) and, who I believe to be, Emma Frost (1:57). Although not the clearest shot, Deadpool can also be seen doing a flippy-flip (1:56).
IMDb is handy, but not the most accurate of souces. Although Storm is in the trailer, she is not in the cast records, but a younger Scott Summers is cast by a certain Tom Pocock. Storm and Cyclops were two of the original X-men (along with Iceman, Angel and Beast), so seeing two of them cast in the same movie is too coincidental to not mean anything more. With this in mind, there is a high chance that cameos of other members will show up as well.
The real, REAL Santa
http://tinyurl.com/6awmsd
For many a year I dreamt of being the jerkwad dad who never told his son that Santa was real, and through the years little Andrew Jr. would enlighten his friends as to their parents infamous ruse. But then I started looking into his history and may I be the first to admit my folly.
Ironically, one of the more common names of this fat-man, Saint Nicholas, is actually, although unbenownst to most, his real name. His real real name. Not the real name of the fictional character with a fictional biography, but the real name of a real man that was probably not really that fat. Saint Nick was, before his death and Sainthood, but a small town pastor who would, under the secrecy of the night and but one man, delivered gifts to those in need. An example of such deeds would be payment of the now (mostly) defunkt practice of a womans ‘dowry’; he would leave a bag of gold in the windows of needy wives, paying for the marriage and thusly, out of servanthood to her new family. It was after his death and upon his Sainthood that December 6 was dubbed after himself; Saint Nicholas Day.
Winter Solstice consists of two words, neither of which I can promise your familiarity with; Winter and Solstice. Winter, in this case, means winter, a season commonly associated with swearing, black ice, swearing at black ice and snow. And swearing at snow. Solstice, when in the scientific context, descends from two Latin-language particles, sol “sun”, and -stitium, “stoppage”. In the more common and astronomical sense, it is but when the sun does not go over the horizons, it ’stops’ at either coast. This “stoppage” was thought of as the sun dieing, and because the sun is generally a big deal people made an equally big deal about it. Of those deal makers — the Vikings, those of both myth and lore, in an attempt to appease the Sun back from dormancy, would fatten up their oldest man with layers and layers of cloth (hint hint) and make sure he was fed and his thirsts quenched (hint hint v2) by every household. They believed that doing so would end the -stitium state of their beloved sol.
Back in the day, there was a man named Constantine — but this one wasn’t named John. Be it an attempt to convenience-ize Christian conversion, or just an attempt to unify an empire, Constantine sought to blend Christian and pagan traditions. At that time, two prominent pagan winter festivals were celebrated. The first, starting on December 17 and lasting seven days, honored Saturn, the Roman god of agriculture. The second, starting on December 25 and lasting through January 1, commemorated the birth of Mithras, the Persian god of light. Constantine merged many of the traditions from these festivals with the Nativity story in the Bible and Christmas was born. From its beginning, Christmas was a holiday (or holy day), gifts were exchanged, families and friends gathered to feast, and a birth was celebrated; just like in the Roman and Persian festivities.
North American is but a collection of European countries with some South American and Eastern thrown in near the north. With immigration comes externally rooted culture, so in the past few generations, Christmas traditions have combined with those of other cultures. Last winter I had a tasty Yule log for desert, except made of chocolate and various liquerious substances. Back in the day, something I learned but recently, the Yule log was burned and feasted around for the same purpose as the Viking fat-man, except in attempt to appease Thor, the god of Thunder.
And Thor is just da
mn cool.
Attack of the Clones
http://tinyurl.com/6ca7lv
The micro-blogging world seems in a bit of an upheaval since the announcement by Leah Culver about the Perma Ackbar’ring of Pownce. Currently, I am only following 79 users on Twitter, and even still I have already heard of a few cases of ex-Pownce users planning on picking up where Pownce left off by creating yet another micro-blogging service. Are there not enough already? And with the maturity and popularity of the lacroni.ca platform, why would anyone bother on writing their own? I mean, how long did it take for Twitter to get it right, in at least the areas of stability?
A good 80% of Pownce users I have asked the question to confessed they came across that website because Kevin Rose said so. As imaginary as those numbers may be, Pownce started off with a lot going for it; namely the first half of the partnership between Kevin Rose and Leah Culver, and in the ever-expansive (and ever-cramped) world of micro-blogging, it needed the help.
Off the top of my head; Rejaw, Jaiku, Plurk, Identi.ca, Tumblr, Brightkite, kwippy, Yammer, Koornk and Utterli come to mind, and that is ignoring those of current mention already. And I am more positive than Pamela Anderson is of Hepatitis C that there are an innumerable amount still out there. That is a lot, and that is why Pownce needed that extra bit of something to stick out in the crowd, something that mattered before anyone mattered looking into the threading and UI design. But that is the same thing with the until-recently exlusive IM programs (Yahoo!, AIM, MSN, ICQ, etc) as their exclusivity was replaced by programs like Pidgin and Adium, but I digress. For the same reason certain people used one program over the other, certain communities revolved around certain micro-blogging services, so the most popular ones were, in itself, more reason to join. Community websites are the epitome of snowball effect usage.
As much a fan of Pownce as I was, I find it idiocy to even deny the fact that Pownce was heavily inspired by Twitter, in some places seen as a clone. The thing about clones is that there are a lot of them, so why are people insisting that Pownce needs to be rebuilt? I mentioned an excess of 10 similar programs and to me, Twitter and Tumblr prudently and with a few tweaks within the system, does all but replaced my Pownce account.
As Pownce used the popularity of Kevin and Leah, ex-Pownce users and next-Pownce owners are banking on the popularity of Pownce in itself, but will that be enough? Even within the geek-niche market that Pownce was originally marketted to, few of those users were exlusive Pownce users. And within that few, even fewer were within the motive to write their own service, and an even fewer within that fewer-few will bother and try to use anything but a laconi.ca engine.
Although I deem near-any attempts at this pitiful and hopeless, the need to replace a more media based micro-blogging service may come to some really nice things. Already I am talking to friends about creating a modified form of Twitter or using laconi.ca to write my own.
Why? The same thing we do every night Pinky, try to take over the world!
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