Every time I see an email with one or more of these little buggers the hackles on the back of my neck go up and I want to scream.

In fact just one of them makes my skin crawl, but if someone repeats that key stroke then I’m nearly fit to burst. I just don’t get it. One exclamation mark does the job. It shows me that there is energy in the sentence and that I should give it more emphasis when reading. However, when someone responds to an email (and I get this a lot at work) with a “Thanks!!!” what in Odin’s beard am I supposed to do with that? Is this person really so animated with gratitude that they are dancing around the room in yellow dungarees like some demented kids TV show host?

It is up there with people SHOUTING IN EMAILS. I hate that too. Those people are all bastards.

Furthermore, (wow this is something of a rant now) I can’t abide messages that I get from people written in TXT-speak. I can barely understand those messages, is it really so much effort to write a whole word. What the fuck do you people have against vowels anyway?

I’ll go back in my box now. Clearly something has upset me. Cant imagine what.

Thanks for listening!!!!!!!!!

Technorati Tags: blogging, rant

Yep, that’s it I’m lazy. I was reading James Moran’s blog the other day (well this day in fact if you must know) and he pointed me to the rather wonderful http://phillbarron.wordpress.com/.  Never heard of Phill Barron, I guess he is a writer of some kind but he does hit several nails on the head with a very large hammer. In a very entertaining and sweary way.

Most often potential writers do not become fully fledged writing writers because they are a) mediocre or b) lazy or c) both. That was the edited highlights, he also emntioned something about whining and bitching and, oh go and read it yourself.

Writing, like any other profession is hard work. I have a day job, that is hard work… why would any other job that people pay you for be any easier. I mean that is why they pay you for work. If it were easy you would probably do it for free… and then starve.

So what does this mean for me? Nothing much I guess because I’m far too lazy to work at something for some potential pay-off that I might get at some point in some possible future. Perhaps I should rant and swear more in my blog posts? Or even posting somthing would be good. I guess there is always Twitter.  Although sometimes 140 characters can be a little difficult to fill…

Image source: work the thing

Technorati Tags: blogging, rant, writing

I’ll see how it progresses but I’m happy with it so far.

nnwbeta.com beta releases of NetNewsWire/Mac NetNewsWire 3.2 beta

NetNewsWire 3.2b6 syncs with Google Reader, adds a new Send to Instapaper command, and shows off a brand-new app icon by RogueSheep.

Those features are, not coincidentally, among the top feature requests.

It’s still a beta, though: it’s unfinished software, with bugs — known and unknown — and incomplete features. We say this not to scare you off but to inform. NetNewsWire has a seven-year-long tradition of doing public betas because we know there are lots of folks who like to help — and we appreciate the help.

Download
NetNewsWire 3.2b6 (4.5 MB)

Requires Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard).

Before running, it’s a very good idea to back up your current NetNewsWire preferences and data, in case you have to go back. They’re here:

[home folder]/Library/Application Support/NetNewsWire/ [home folder]/Library/Preferences/com.ranchero.NetNewsWire.plist The main point of 3.2 This is supposed to be a minor upgrade. And it is, largel [From nnwbeta.com: NetNewsWire 3.2 beta]

Technorati Tags: blogging, online

I’m trying it out for a while, I don’t get so many comments on the site so I figured if I try to make it easier for people then more may come.

Have you integrated JS-Kit on your site? Let me know your experience with it in the comments.

Integrating Comments into Blogger and WordPress @ JS-Kit Blog.

Technorati Tags: blogging, internet, review

Technorati no more like me

So I probably did a silly thing. Well in fact I think that the problem was that I did nothing for too long. I used to have this blog registered with Technorati in order to increase visbility. That was years ago. It didn’t seem to do much but that was more to do with the infrequency of my blogging I suspect. As I have got older I have become more lazy in this respect.

Anyway, it seems that Technorati have removed my blog. The URL has apparently been flagged in their systems. Why does this happen? A quick search on their site will tell you:

Q: Getting the “This URL has been flagged by our systems” message immediately?

1. A: If the system will not allow the blog claim to go further than the first step, then your blog has been flagged for review.

   In this case, please submit a support ticket from our Support Contact Form with Support Type “Claiming” and Concerning “I cannot claim my blog, it gives me an error message immediately” so that we may be able to review your blog.

2. A: Check that you are attempting to claim a blog.

   Technorati does not support claiming a feed Please claim the URL of the blog the feed is associated to.

   Technorati does not support claiming a static webpage. Example: If you are attempting to claim a front page that contains a collection of blog, you will need to claim each blog individually.

   Note that a blog is indicated by:

   • Posts listed in historical chronological order
   • Permalinks for each post
   • Original Content
   • Posts structured with date, title, body, and footer that includes author and usually comments

Thanks for the helpful description of a blog BTW, that will help me in the future.

I have been updating the site albeit in a lazy fashion via the superb Twitter Tools plug in from Alex King. I post to Twitter and then once a week Twitter Tools bundles them all up into one weekly post of stuff that I have been doing that week. It’s mostly gibberish but it is (mostly) original gibberish. However, I suspect that it may be this that is causing the problem. I have written to Technorati to ask them why my blog is under review. My other site http//:thecontrast.net is listed even though it is not technically a blog (I’ll probably get that one withdrawn too now). Strange, days, indeed.

The good thing about it is that it has prompted me to write a 500 word blog post about the happening. I’m sure if only more things happened to me then I would write more. I’ll keep you updated on the progress. I’m interested to see how it turns out.

Follow me on Twitter, they don’t mind my nonsense.

Edit: A few hours later and Technorati support get back to me (via this post would you believe – see below). The problem is now fixed and I know that at least one real person has read my blog today.
Technorati Profile

Technorati Tags: blogging, internet

It looks like a feature rich editor. I edited an existing page on this website earlier and it was a bit painful I have to say. I’m pretty sure that was because I had no idea what I was doing.

So anyhoo, you can add pictures from Flickr like the one of La Sagrada Famillia embedded in this post. But it seems that you have to go into the code and change it if you want the text to wrap nicely. I guess that is not such a hardship, I’m sure there is a way around it.

It is also possible to add links to Amazon if you want to try to sell stuff like this one “Perfect Disguise: Introducing the Contrast” (The Contrast) you have the option to add a link or an image or both. If you are an associate then you can also add you id and they few pennies that you make from the links will go straight to your account. I like this function it has to be said especially as this module has not been migrated to Drupal 6 yet.

It is also possible to import a track from iTunes and other places although I am not sure how yet…

All this and loads more… at $17.95 it it is something of a steal. I might take advantage of the weak dollar and get a copy.

Technorati Tags: blogging, ecto