Head on over and check out my blog today:    Slightly Twiggy

Thanks for the opportunity, S30P!

© Nathan Pralle for PhilosYphia, 2011. | Permalink | No comments....YET! Make one! | Subscribe RSS

Having thought about this FAR, FAR TOO MUCH — and having had to get this off of my mind so I could go back to more productive pursuits — I finally came up with this diagram that I think is pretty accurate.    So Lauri, this is for you.  See what you think and discuss amongst yourselven.

© Nathan Pralle for PhilosYphia, 2010. | Permalink | 3 little comments jumping on the bed. | Subscribe RSS

In computer programming, we call this any number of names, but it’s usually, “getting in the zone” or “going on a coding spree” or a “hackathon”.    We have the ability to get into a mode, a method of thinking and reacting, that shuts out 98% of everything else and distills your neurons down into a fine, smooth wine of design and bits and logic.   It’s a beautiful thing to be in…when it happens.

Writers talk about finding a similar comfortable spot of mental clarity and developing that into a habit for producing their prose.   It’s a shut-out against everything else for that one, sacred, glowing spot of white in the middle.

I’ve been terribly distracted and unable to silence the voices that ramble in my head all the time and so I’m finding it increasingly difficult to be at my peak performance.   Tactile things seem much more do-able at the moment and pure thought is fleeting at best and shouting crowds of bullcrap at the worst.     Whoever is driving the crazy-train in my head is certainly having fun trying to jump the tracks.

Much like the weather outside, my brain is like a blowing snowstorm, things flying this way and that, eddies of wind whipping around hidden corners and swirling in the middle of the room.    To hold onto a thought is like trying to fly a kite in a jet engine it seems.

I should have been a carpenter.

In Other News…

Despite my concentration issues at hand, on March 6th I will be guest-blogging at the ever-revealing blog Morning Erection.   To say that I’m excited about this is like saying that I like taffy a lot, and I’m a man who likes his taffy.   I’m currently planning out the piece that I will be doing there and it should be a good, fun opportunity.     Tom is a great guy and often writes a lot of varied pieces (much like this blog) that touch, inspire, and make you tilt your head sideways.

I encourage you to stop on over to Morning Erection and get a feel for what Tom’s doing and to stop over there on March 6th to see my guest post.    I’ll be sure to mention it here and on my Twitter to let you know as well.

© Nathan Pralle for PhilosYphia, 2010. | Permalink | 4 little comments jumping on the bed. | Subscribe RSS

“As technology makes machines more life-like, it is slowly turning us humans into robot-like entities, creating voids of emotion and empathy. The scary thing about this, is that we that are more and more subconsciously driven to allow this to happen.”

As many of you may know, I’ve always been extremely fascinated by the juxtaposition of  humans and technology; it is what drove me to not only get my degree in computer science but a extensive minor in philosophy and my senior research in artificial intelligence.    Several of my friends are philosophers, fans of philosophy, or psychologists.   I love to observe the interaction we have with our electronic tools and communities.

In a nutshell, Mr. Laroya annoyed me with this article.   It very much stank of, “old man on a porch shaking a cane at the damned kids” syndrome which strikes any number of the older generation when faced with the enormous social change the boom of technology has perpetrated.   He is as gruff as a weathered farmer folding his arms and stating, matter-of-factly, “Well, sir, I just prefer a handshake myself, thank you very much.”

I met my wife online in a text-only chatroom and we progressed a great deal of our relationship within it; heck, we still keep up-to-date with each other via SMS/IM during the day.   I’ve made numerous friends through my online contacts, some of which I have met in real life and continued relationships with, and some I have never seen and yet hold dear to my heart and mind.   A great deal of them I would have never met had it not been for technology.  Many of them read this blog.

It was with these thoughts in mind that I composed my response to Mr. Laroya’s article:

Because we’re so sincere when we make happy small-talk with the person in the cubicle next door and then spend our lunch break railing on them to our friends about how they have the most annoying laugh or how you can’t stand their lack of work ethic.    Because we’re so real when we show up to family gatherings, fighting in the car about in-laws and ‘your slutty cousin’ and other relatives that we really loathe but we are happy and huggy and perfect once we arrive at the doorstep.    We’re so affectionate when we invite our friends over for a party only to bait-and-switch them into a marketing opportunity for our latest at-home-sales gig or to shame them into watching the kids or pulling favors.   It’s so truthful to wine and dine our customers so they’ll forget any issues between us when the alcoholic fog covers their brain cells.

Mr. Laroya is dating himself by insisting that the Internet is removing our humanity when it’s doing nothing of the sort but merely changing up the rules and modes of the game — the score stays the same.  It’s those that lament for personal interaction over technological connections that hold us back into antiquated systems and habits for the sake of being able to shake a hand and lie to the person’s face instead of over an email.   If you are finding that digital interactions are leaving you colder than physical, then you are either not communicating using the right rules or your expectations are stuck in a different medium.

Humanity is not defined by the transportation it uses to go between us but by the content of it.    Love, affection, and caring can all be delivered personally OR digitally without loss just as hate, lies, and fear.   It is still the people at either end that make the difference in what is sent.

So, I ask of you, dear readers — what are your thoughts on technology and its effect on our interactions?     Are we finding ourselves less human and less sensitive to those on the receiving end of our technology or are we simply engaging in a new game?

© Nathan Pralle for PhilosYphia, 2010. | Permalink | 4 little comments jumping on the bed. | Subscribe RSS

Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, was recently interviewed by TechCrunch and one of the questions was about privacy and what people were willing to post online today versus when Facebook first started.   He said he views Facebook as needing to be at the leading edge of the social norm for what was considered, “private”, and to make innovations to match stride with the way people are changing their online personas and information.    He also said that the social norm has shifted and the mainstream no longer thinks of privacy as something as important anymore.

Older generations seem to have huge issues with privacy and keeping identifications and information under wraps; I have almost none of this.   Do you want to know my underwear size?   I’ll tell you.   What do I care?   Ultimately it doesn’t matter.    If that’s going to be the deciding factor on what you think about me, then so be it, we might as well get that out right now.    I just don’t see what the point is of keeping about 98% of what we have traditionally kept private as…private.

Sure, there’s plenty of things I don’t discuss with others.   I don’t talk about the things that only pass between myself and my wife and don’t belong in anyone else’s ears.   I don’t talk about family issues with just anyone.   I don’t talk about my job because I like being employed and I prefer to stay that way.

There are tons of things, however, that people get tied up about that just seem nonsense to me.    Where you work, where you went to school, what clothes you wear, what religion you have, what political party you belong to, what you do in your spare time.    What’s the point of keeping all this under wraps?

Maybe I’m just naturally trusting and open.    Maybe I have an innate sense of when to open my mouth and when to just listen.    I see the revealing of myself through the various channels available as being something inspiring and connecting.   Maybe I’m just a dolt.

Folks, what’s your take on privacy and where we are these days?   Do you feel like you are becoming less private and more open, or do you guard yourself tighter given the environment today?    Do you think this trend is good, bad, or indifferent?

© Nathan Pralle for PhilosYphia, 2010. | Permalink | 9 little comments jumping on the bed. | Subscribe RSS

I am a patient man.   I have even been occasionally marketed as, “reasonable”, although reports vary in the accuracy of such a bold statement.    I do have limits, however, as folks close to me may suggest, and I’ve identified the Top 10 Twitter Sins that should you commit them you may find me a follower no longer.

It’s nothing personal, trust; it’s simply a matter of management — I can’t possibly follow you on Twitter if you make it hard or painful for me to do so.    So here I give you:

The Top Ten Twitter Sins:

(no particular order)

1.   Over-self-promotion – Unless you are a clearly-identified business, over-promotion of yourself on Twitter is like masturbating in public.   It makes everyone uncomfortable and you’re the only one who feels good about it.    A mention here or there or touting your new blog post once or twice is fine; more than that and you need Kleenex for the cleanup.

2. Retweeting Everything – The re-tweet (RT) functionality lends a sense of community and connectivity to Twitter by showing other people some of the cool stuff you find.    This works until a person decides that everything they read is worthy of everyone else reading, which it isn’t.   It never is.    I don’t care how awesome the people are that you follow, repeating everything they say to all your followers is extremely annoying and agitating.     If we thought they were just as awesome, we’d be following them ourselves.    Don’t force us to follow by proxy because we won’t.

3.  Retweeting Instead of Replying — Hey, I get it;  you not only want to make a cute quip back to someone, but you want everyone on your list to see how clever you are, too.   And that’s fine here or there.   Doing it every time as a matter of form falls under the same umbrella as Sin #2 — if we wanted to see your repartee, we’d be following both of you.   You’re not that funny.

4.  Confusing Twitter with IM — This is a case of the right tool for the right job.    Twitter is not Instant Messaging.    IM is not Twitter.   Using Twitter to hold endless conversations with another as if it were IM causes your followers to gouge their eyes out.    “But they can’t see it when I reply, ” you say, “remember Sin #3?”    True, dear Tweep, but if I’m following BOTH of you, I can see everything passing between.    The occasional comment and snarky reply is fine — in fact, sometimes it’s great — but watching a day-long jab-fest?  No thanks.

5.  Blabbering — You know the sort, right?   The Tweep that just yaks and yaks and yaks because they are bored or they think their followers actually care that they just took a triple-S and are now sucking on a doughnut.   The rule here is minimalism, that’s why it’s limited to 140 characters — if you don’t have something interesting to say, please don’t feel the need to fill in the silence with endless tweets about the mundane.

6.  Follow-Mongering — Hey, I like followers, who doesn’t, right?   But constantly harping on how many or how few you have, or how often they reply to you, retweet you, or DM you only makes you look like a self-centered jackass.   If you’re interesting or funny or useful, you’ll be followed, and if not — you won’t!   Simple formula.   Followers gained through coercion are not quality.

7.  Tweeting the Play-by-Play — I realize that VeryImpressiveSportsTeam vs. HugeRival is a hell of a game and you wish you had an entire living room full of similarly-interested peeps to slurp nachos and cheer at every point, but the rest of us really don’t give a crap.    Want to give an update on the score or a general, overall comment?  Fine.     Going to put some indignant crap about SomePlayer and how he just got totally screwed on that play by BlindRef on Twitter?   FOUL.

8.  Confusing your Audiences — Twitter is not Facebook, nor is it Tumblr, Digg,  LinkedIn, Slashdot, IM, your blog or any other site on the Internet.   The audience you generate through Twitter is unique because the service itself generates a different type of follower than your friends/buddies/contacts on other sites.    What goes as a good status update in one place may not be great in another, so feel out your audience and give them what they enjoy, not what you are too lazy to adjust.

9.  Spoilers — If you interactively reveal the winner to SomeRealityShow, OtherBigEvent that everyone and their dog is watching, or MajorBigMovie, I will personally come over and whack you on the forehead with a tack hammer.   Not all of us watch at the same time; be courteous of those who may have DVRed it because they had to play with their kid for an evening.

10.  No Context – Tweeting or Retweeting something without context leaves your readers in the dark and confused as they search to figure out what you are even talking about.   Don’t make your tweeps work to follow you, it should be a pleasure — always enhance and improve anything you are passing on to the masses.

En Conclusion:

There’s many, many things I enjoy about Twitter — the clever folks, the funny tweets, the pictures of some guy’s wife’s cans, the poignant tweets that make me stop and think and wish I said it.    And if you are one of the folks that regularly cranks out high quality stuff like the above (especially the boobie shots), I salute you and enjoy following you terribly much.

There is, however, no need for all that great quality to be lost in the flood of crap from all the other people who doink up the network.    And some of them come out with really, really great stuff, but it’s all encased in feces and I don’t have time to sort through it all.

Keep it simple, keep it worthy, keep it relevant, keep it interesting.   Short and sweet is the mantra of Twitter and by avoiding the sins above, we’re going to have a long, long twife together.

© Nathan Pralle for PhilosYphia, 2010. | Permalink | 9 little comments jumping on the bed. | Subscribe RSS

© Nathan Pralle for PhilosYphia, 2009. | Permalink | No comments....YET! Make one! | Subscribe RSS

Whether or not climate change is taking place or not, and regardless of whether that change (if it exists) is drastic or not, we still are behooved to apply our advances in technology and industry to lessen our negative impact on the world around us.     When the industrial revolution began, factories and homes spewed completely unfiltered dirty coal smoke into the air without any concern for its impact on the world — but then again, the technology had not progressed to the point where doing something about this pollution was feasible.     And yet,  nowadays we have numerous technologies to prevent contamination of the earth and yet we do not always apply them, or we are too willing to fore go them in favor of a higher number on the corporate earnings report.

For us to possess the technology and resources to minimize our impacts and not do so is deplorable at best and downright evil at worst.   The exploitation of any resource by the human race has been generally frowned-upon by history in the past; will we be found in the future to have been apathetic about our responsibility to the planet that gave us so much?

Catastrophic climate change or fearmongering activist hype — which ever side of the battle, or area in between, that you plant yourself in this debate, the result is the same:   Should we not be doing better by the Earth since we clearly have the ability?

I think the answer by anyone involved is — or should be — a resounding, “Yes!”

© Nathan Pralle for PhilosYphia, 2009. | Permalink | One comment. One lonely comment looking for a friend. | Subscribe RSS

Lately I’ve been thinking and exploring a lot of ideas about selling yourself and making what you do into not just your résumé, but a brand.      Why should I care?   Well, it seems to me that people get further when they’re instantly associated with doing a particular thing, or they’re well-known for something, or they have a very distinct way of presenting themselves.   This is how stars on YouTube are born, celebrities make a splash, and impressive professionals leave an indelible impression on everyone they work with.

I was talking to my wife about this because we’re trying to come up with a solid representation of her crafting work as a brand that we can use to do up her website, make business cards, brochures, and generally give her something distinct that she can use over and over and everyone will know what, “Kanga Crafts” is at the end of the day.    It’s a way to make it easy to identify, easy to market, and something that will leave an impression.

Think about the most popular brands you know and how they are all-pervasive — Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Wal*Mart, and even places like Fuddruckers, while slightly offensive, are nonetheless very well-known.    It’s an imagine, right or wrong, pleasant or horrible, that everyone can bring to mind right away with just a single word, image, or mark.

But there’s a limit to it, too.    There’s plenty of marketing folks and sales folk and PR people and companies that go too far and make an impression that just stinks of ego and hubris.   They radiate “dick” thicker than musk and just choke the life out of everyone they encounter rather than enhance it.    Even in the blogosphere you hear all about SEO, high-ranking, monetization, optimization, and so forth, all with the sole intent of making a website a cash cow.    It’s why I shy away from making this an ad-driven site because even I block a lot of that content these days.

For a good example of marketing over-dick in progress, check out this video of Joel Bauer describing the marketing power of business cards.     Don’t you just want to whack him with a broomstick?  And I know it’s an act for a purpose, but at the same time, wow.

So, there’s a right way to market and brand an idea or a service and there’s definitely a wrong way.     I think for the most part I’m not marketing myself or my abilities nearly enough, and my wife and I have to figure out how to really pass off her elite crafting skills as a household name, but at the same time trying not to come across like a pompous jackass.

And you thought closing a sale looked easy.

© Nathan Pralle for PhilosYphia, 2009. | Permalink | No comments....YET! Make one! | Subscribe RSS

So, here’s the envelope as it arrived.    Note that Sam has some incredibly good handwriting:

Opening the envelope, I find two sheets of paper, one with a greeting from Sam on it, the other with my Tweet-on-Paper:

The greeting sheet reads, “Thank you for participating in Twitter on Paper.   You’re always welcome to send something* back, if you like, no obligation!    Sam Potts, Somestreet, Brooklyn, NY 11215   *of equal or lesser value, of course!”

I will definitely be sending something back to Sam, but I have to think of something really creative and good.   I want to thank him for trying something pretty novel and curious and footing the entire bill for it.

My Tweet-on-Paper:

It reads:   “Ok no kidding people — when you get your ToP, do not blog about it.   Do not spread the word in any way.  This thing is already out of hand.” and it is stamped, “Jun 8 2009“.

The rules of Twitter-on-Paper stated that requestors had to specify a tweet that Sam had made himself, because he is the only owner of his own Tweets and the only one that has the legal copyright to distribute them as he wishes.   I picked the above Tweet because it’s kinda ironic — he’s Tweeting about the very thing that I requested.    A local black hole ought to open up near here any moment…

I think I’ll go and find a suitable frame for this little piece of Internet culture — after all, who knows in 5 years where Twitter and so forth will be?

A huge thanks to Sam Potts and his curiously fun little project — I love my Twitter on Paper!

© Nathan Pralle for PhilosYphia, 2009. | Permalink | No comments....YET! Make one! | Subscribe RSS

The basic format would be something like this:    You get a subject and you have to write a blog post on your own blog about it by a certain day of the week.    Then everyone else would have until the end of the week to read and vote for the top 3 entries.   This continues for several rounds until a winner is declared.

The details of it can be worked out later, but that’s the basic idea.    Everyone contributes a dollar amount (something around $10-$20 USD) to the cause and at the end, the winner(s) get a portion (50% split up between them) and the other 50% goes to a charity.    Right now I’m thinking about the March of Dimes, but I’m open to suggestions.

The advantages are that you get ideas to write blog posts about, you get some incentive to read other blogs, and you get to meet some great people.     Disadvantages are that you’re on a bit of a schedule to get things written and read (gotta keep it moving), but most people find a rhythm that works for them and it’s not too bad.

I participated in several Blog-Offs for cancer ran by Courtney of Five Second Dance Party and had a great time, plus met a bunch of terribly interesting people.    I highly recommend it if you haven’t tried it before, and if you are a seasoned veteran, why not jump in again?

If you are interested in hearing more — NO committment yet — please leave a comment on this post or use the “Contact Me” link to drop me a line.     Hopefully we can get a good whack of people together and have a bunch of fun!

© Nathan Pralle for PhilosYphia, 2009. | Permalink | 13 little comments jumping on the bed. | Subscribe RSS

Alan Parsons Project – Eye in the Sky

Folks reading this through a feed reader will want to click through to the actual site or you won’t get the full effect.

© Nathan Pralle for PhilosYphia, 2009. | Permalink | One comment. One lonely comment looking for a friend. | Subscribe RSS

Pfffft!    I’ve got yer big time right here.     It’s about time we had our own convention for us Not Famous types!

The notoriously sweet and sassy Meghann of Waangel.com and I had an idea to form our own blogger get-together since we can never seem to make the grade for any of the others — The Not Famous Blogger Convention!    Seriously, could you imagine getting together with a bunch of the bloggers you read regularly, but that DON’T have 10 gadzillion readers?   The truly interesting people that color your reader every week and yet would get lost in a crowd at one of the larger cons?

Sure you can!   That’s why you belong at our event!

So, here’s what we’re thinking, if we can pull off this wild and crazy idea:   sometime this next winter, say, February, when the northern reaches have their bits sealed in permafrost, we’d all try to gather in some location warm, sunny, and possibly beachy (SoCal?).    Rent a location big enough to hold all of us, in or near a hotel, have some group activities and lots of social time, idea time, and relaxing time.   It’d be a combination of vacation and brainfodder for your blogstream (yes, you can bring your Twitter with you).    If we can get enough peeps, we can lobby to get some sponsors, companies to show off software/hardware and the like, and get some media exposure to advertise.    The possibilities are quite endless!

A writing session for all bloggers and then taking home a book of everyone’s writings — complete with their autographs and some face time?

Cocktail hour by a pool with your blogroll?

Tapas and Twitters?

A Blog-Off for a worthwhile charity?

Flickr Fun in the Foam?

Dinner and Dancing for all?

(Yes, we’d have Internet access.   Sheesh!)

Am I the only one that thinks this’d be awesome?   There’s tons of you I’d like to meet and bang heads with in person, and for a guy living in Iowa, winter is an excellent time to get the hell out!

Why is this different from the “big boys”?   Well, for one it’d be cheaper, more accessible and flexible, more intimate, and more relaxed.    Imagine a vacation with all of your Internet ‘family’ — that’s what we’re talking!

There’s no commitment at this point — we’re just gauging interest for now, but if you think this is something you’d be interested in hearing more about, drop a comment on here and we’ll be sure to add you to a list of peeps to contact with more information as we gather it.     We have to get a bunch of names and ideas first before we can move forward, but I think it’s possible to create a great event and a perfect get-away excuse!

Please post this on your own blog or at least pass it on to your friends and your blogroll — send it to those that you’d want to see at the convention!

The Not Famous Blogger Convention — fantasy or reality?   YOU DECIDE!

© Nathan Pralle for PhilosYphia, 2009. | Permalink | 6 little comments jumping on the bed. | Subscribe RSS

These podcasts keep me awake, interested, and fill my head with things to think about as I whiz through the boring Iowa countryside and fitfully dodge deer in my little orange Aveo. Here then is my current cadre of podcasts in case you, sweet reader, would like to fill your head with something new, too.    Click on each icon to be taken to that podcast’s website for more information and/or download availabilities.

NPR's Planet Money

By far my #1 favorite podcast EVAR. Planet Money is all about taking the complex ins-and-outs of financial news and happenings and breaking it down into chewable bits for those of us who don’t speak using phrases like, “collaterized loans” and “stock options”. In these odd economic times, PM has become my go-to for covering current news about the government’s actions and what the implications might mean. Fun, impartial, even-paced, and interesting, I look forward to each and every one. Audio only with blog backup.

Free Culinary School

Chef Jacob is interested in one thing — FOOD — and he loves to teach you how to be a gourmet chef, too! Intended for those of you who don’t know diddly squat about the culinary arts and want to learn, or those of you who like a good refresher, he starts off with the basics — knife work, stocks, sauces — and then branches out to more complex topics. Personable, interesting, and with a great website to supplement, I use this podcast to fulfill the foodie in me who will never really become a chef, but likes the idea of trying. Audio only with huge website backup.

Countdown with Keith Olbermann

Keith always tells it like it is in politics, whether the truth hurts or not. He takes me home every evening and always keeps me interested and awake. OLBERMANN! Audio or video available.

The Rachel Maddow Show

Full of wit, sarcasm, and incredulousness, Rachel makes quick brainfodder of the news of the day. Both audio and video available. (video not recommend for driving)

Midwest Teen Sex Show

What sounds like a kinky porno turns out to be a intelligent, funny, off-the-wall show produced with teenagers in mind, covering topics in sex and sexuality with funny actors/actresses, costumes, with a witty and sarcastic bent. Nikol and her cast of compatriots lead you through short shows about any number of different topics dealing with sex. Mildly NSFW, depending on the podcast. Video only.

60 Minutes

The original news program. Sometimes useful, sometimes utterly boring. I judge this one by the titles and skip those that seem snorers. Audio and/or video, but who would watch the video?

This American Life

The popular hour-long show on NPR comes in a much handier packet as a podcast. Not all shows are lovely, but some are darn intriguing — and/or creepy. TAL always seems to have an odd bent on the subjects they pursue. Audio only.

News from Lake Wobegon

For those of you who cannot stomach the entire A Prairie Home Companion, Garrison Keillor’s news from ‘up nort’ is sure to amuse, mystify, and or put you to sleep gently, depending on the day. Audio only.

President Obama's Weekly Radio Address

Everyone should listen in, just in case the Big Chief has something important to say about the state of the world. Audio only (get it — radio broadcast?)

Photography Podcast

If you are a photography buff, or simply want to take better photos, you can’t go wrong with this podcast, which is all about doing it behind a camera and making it count. Audio only with website backup.

I Want Your Sex

Mia on Top leads you through stories about her sordid sex life in the world of sex parties, BDSM, open relationships, and play acting. NSFW. Audio only.

Dilbert

Dilbert in video form..what’s not to like? Short, sweet segments about Dilbert’s live in the cube. Video only.

NPR's Car Talk

Click and Clack love to talk about cars, and I always keep a few of their podcasts on hand, just in case I want to listen about cars and car repair. Audio only (they tried, but radio just didn’t tune in on the video, ya know?)

There you have it — my current listing of podcasts! I hope some of you find something you like! If you currently listen to podcasts or other online shows, let us know what, and why!

© Nathan Pralle for PhilosYphia, 2009. | Permalink | No comments....YET! Make one! | Subscribe RSS

Twho. Twho.

I am really fazed and confused by the recent development on Twitter of everyone “auto-following” and sites that help you automatically gain OMG numbers of followers as long as you follow them all back.

Seriously, are you people BORED!?

I tweet, of course — you can click on the “T” icon on the upper right to see my stream and/or follow me if you like, but I try to hold that which I transmit to the masses to a dull roar, and if I can, keep it to something interesting. I’m not about to tell you every time I use a Kleenex because, frankly, you probably don’t givashit. And if you do, you’re creeping me out. Shoo.

I use TwitterFox for watching my own stream of followees, but I keep it trimmed down to a short, scrubby brush. If you follow me and I don’t follow you back, or only do so for a little while, it means you’re not interesting enough to bother with. Don’t take it personally, but I have enough updates to watch without hearing about how incredibly sore the third pimple on your left buttcheek is. It’s not that I don’t care — I just…don’t care.

Have you seen my Tweets?

The other part is this: I have a limited number of CPU cycles in my brain that can do something during the day, and most of those are already taken up by work, family, Facebook, personal projects, and daydreaming about a very frightened and bikinied Julia Stiles. Twitter has to slip itself in there somewhere, and if it’s inserting junk, that’s just going to gum up my gears. Not a pretty sight.

That being said, there’s a good deal of Tweeps that add and enhance my life. Here’s a brief list of those folks I follow who are truly amusing and/or informative. You might find them likewise, or they might strike you as a step above goring your own liver out with a swizzle stick. Different strokes.

• McCainBlogette – Meghan McCain, someone I’ll go into more later, but a fun-sounding gal, despite the political affiliation
• Slashdot – Keeps me from having to read the webpage just to find the few stories I care about
• wootshirt – A shirt a day of some odd incarnation
• thatgirlonline – Caitlin Hill, TheHill88 on YouTube, social youth media at its quirkiness
• planetmoney – NPR’s Planet Money, covering everything financial in real-world terms
• dooce – Mmm….psycho mommy. Heart!
• blurb – Dooce’s husband, an enigma into himself
• DMRegister – The Des Moines Register, Iowa news
• MarsRovers and CassiniSaturn – Because who doesn’t want to know all the sordid details of space probes?
• richardbranson – Mostly self-promoting, but hey…it’s some dude in a wild haircut who is richer than sin. That’s kinda neat.
• BrentSpiner – All the famous characters revealed in the man himself
• levarburton – Butterflies in the sky, they can tweet twice as high
• ComputerGeeks – Great deals on tech stuff from ComputerGeeks (geeks.com)
• wilw – Wil Wheaton’s random timelines of thinking
• BreakingNewz – The AP’s twitter feed for new news stories
• DellOutlet – Deals from Dell on whatever’s on sale that day
• thewino – Kris is inspiring to everyone, except those too dumb to read their way through her awesome writings

There’s more, of course — I’m following 93 people as of this writing — so don’t feel bad if you got left out (feel free to leave a link to yours in the commentary). Or check out my Twitter page to see who I all follow.

So….do you tweet? If so, why? If not, why not? And who do you like the best to follow if you do?

© Nathan Pralle for PhilosYphia, 2009. | Permalink | 6 little comments jumping on the bed. | Subscribe RSS

For a long time I’ve wanted to have a technical blog, one that concentrates mainly on computer programming, system administration, and so forth so I have a venue to share my knowledge and code snippets with the rest of the Internet.    Now I have one.

If you are of the technical inclination, stop on by and sign up for the RSS feed.    If you’re not technically-inclined, you’re bound to find it pretty dull and gibberish-y.    That’s ok…we’re not all computer programmers.    But if you are, you might find it useful.

© Nathan Pralle for PhilosYphia, 2009. | Permalink | One comment. One lonely comment looking for a friend. | Subscribe RSS

And no, this isn’t copied from anywhere — I really did make these up myself.   Hence the quality, but…this is what you get.  I guarantee that, unless you’ve been under a rock for the past 20 years, you’ve all heard these songs more than once.

Put your answers in a comment — if you’re lucky, I’ll dig up a prize for the person who gets the most right!

1.   The poorly-constructed building of affection, is a small location for the gathering of everyone.

2.  I am observing a couple from the vantage point of a storage room whilst desiring to exist as things rubbing in your denim pants.

3.  Dump a quantity of sucrose on my person.

4.  I offer up an invocation for the precipitation that occurs in the continent of the Sahara.

5.  I orally-embraced a female and rather enjoyed the experience.

6.  To my dismay, I have gone and performed the same action for another occurrence.

7.  This evening, I expired while being embraced by your forelimbs.

8.  In all events, spin around, spin around, spin around.

9.  Trodding upon, stepping ontop of, shattered crystalized silicon.

10.  I possess companions in areas that are not high.

11.  Leave, illumination!   Come in, evening!   Grasp my appendage, you and I are traveling to No Possibility, No Chance Area.

12.  Becoming emaciated once more in the village of the cocktails, unable to find my container of sodium chloride.

13.  You speak the most fluently when you maintain your silence.

14.  The person that desires to be in companionship with you is myself.    Far to my interior, I dream that you might think likewise.

15.  You are the thing that gives definition to my existence, you are the muse.

16.  Each inhalation you have, all motions you carry out, each one of the stable investment funds you shatter, all grins you are not truthful about, I shall be observing your person.

17.   Funds available for no expenditure, and young females belonging to myself without cost.

18.   Is there space in your schedule to hear my complaints concerning not a thing and all things at the same time.

19.   Each moment I observe you I make an attempt to conceal myself; however, when we converge I cannot release myself.   And each instance that you depart from myself, my emotions resemble a wilting stamen.

20.  All of us constructed this metopolitan area using loud, popular music.

Good luck!

© Nathan Pralle for PhilosYphia, 2009. | Permalink | 22 little comments jumping on the bed. | Subscribe RSS

Congratulations!

Pepsi Super Bowl Party Pack

Courtesy of Pepsi, Sharon has won The Ultimate Super Bowl XLIII Party Pack , consisting of a football, a beverage pail, a snack helmet, 2 key chains, 2 hats, 2 t-shirts, 5 Pepsi 24-pack coupons and 5 Frito-Lay coupons!

A big congratulations to her and thank you to everyone who entered! An amazing 632 comments were made, resulting in 651 entries total with friend referrals and blog write-ups. The random integer generator at Random.org picked out Sharon’s name from the list!

Again, congratulations to Sharon, a big thanks to Pepsi for sponsoring this contest, and thanks to Tara (TaraMetBlog.com) for giving me this opportunity. It was a ton of fun!

© Nathan Pralle for PhilosYphia, 2009. | Permalink | 4 little comments jumping on the bed. | Subscribe RSS

Do you like winning really great stuff?    Do ya?   GREAT!   Because with just a few simple steps, YOU can be entered to win The Ultimate Pepsi Super Bowl XLIII Party Pack valued at $250, shipped straight to your door in time for the Super Bowl!

Courtesy of Pepsi, the sponsor of the NFL Rookie of the Year, one of you will win a Super Bowl Party Pack consisting of the following items:

• 1 Super Bowl XLIII Football
• 1 Super Bowl XLIII Beverage Pail
• 1 Super Bowl XLIII Snack Helmet
• 2 Super Bowl XLIII Key Chains
• 2 Super Bowl XLIII Hats
• 2 Super Bowl XLIII T-shirts
• 5 Pepsi 24-Pack Coupons
• 5 Frito-Lay Coupons (Sorry, no Medifast coupons)

All for FREE, including shipping to your door!   How awesome is that?    Whether you love watching the Big Game, getting together with your friends for food, drinks, and fun, or analyzing all of the horrifically-expensive commercials, this is a great way to make the day special!   Enter now for your chance to win!

How to Enter the Contest

All entries will be numbered and then the winner will be picked out completely randomly by using the atmospheric noise random number generator at Random.org.     Here’s how you can get one or more entries for yourself:

• Make a comment on this blog entry; be sure to include a valid email address or I won’t be able to contact you if you win.   A comment is good for 1 entry.
• Refer a friend to this blog and have them make a comment — make sure they mention that you sent them!  This is good for 1 entry for your friend and 1 entry for you.
• Write a blog post, a web page, or another public posting about this blog (PhilosYphia.com) and the contest and point a link here, then come back here and post a comment with a link to your posting — this will result in 5 entries for you.

It’s just that simple — so what are you waiting for?

The contest is open through January 24th, and the winner will be announced on the 25th.    Sorry, my dear foreign friends, U.S.A. Residents only.  The winner will be contacted and, once I get your home address, Pepsi (RefreshEverything.com) will ship the entire Super Bowl Party Pack to you before the Big Game.    Then all you have to do is throw a great party!

P.S. — A big thanks to Tara (TaraMetBlog.com) for giving me this opportunity — drop by and check out her blog, she’s a heck of a gal!

© Nathan Pralle for PhilosYphia, 2009. | Permalink | 632 little comments jumping on the bed. | Subscribe RSS

Turns out that Rob, the owner and mastermind behind Bloggeries, got an iPod Nano while attending a blogging convention as a prize, but decided instead to use it to promote his website by holding a content.   True to the details of the contest, I followed the rules, used the word, “bloggeries”, in place of the phrase “blog posts”, and gave him my name via Twitter.    Some time shortly after, he informed me that I had won and sent me a beautiful iPod Nano!

So, this is to thank Rob for his cool prize and to encourage bloggers to check out his website, maybe get a blog of your own reviewed, and find some tips out for making your blogging experience better.    Thanks, Rob!

And now, on to the iPod Nano itself:

This thing is, like most of what Apple produces these days, a thing of wonder and beauty and even if you never turned it on would be something to behold and put on your coffee table for guests to Oooh and Aaaah over.   Gosh it’s pretty!    I wish I had a million bucks to bone up on a whole slew of Apple gear, just for the design factor, but I’ll settle for my meager supply of smaller items.

It is a shiny aluminum case with the only exposed plastic parts being the end caps, the screen, and the jogwheel (I think that’s what they call it?). The screen is a technological marvel, being incredibly crisp, clear, and fast — videos play extremely smoothly and you just sit and stare at how good it is. The menus and options are pretty easy to get around in, too, although I have some trouble sometimes getting it to “click” with the middle button, but I can’t tell if that’s a software or hardware issue yet.

iTunes, of course, interfaces nicely with it, although I do with there was an option to prioritize how it fills the memory of the Nano. For instance, I’d like it to first fill it with podcasts, then pictures, and then any space left over, MP3s, but I can’t seem to figure out how to make it do so.

Right now, I’m using it mostly for podcasts and pictures of my son, as I already have an iPod Shuffle for music. Podcasts work great and video ones are awesome to watch on it.

Below are pictures of my new toy. They’re not all that clear, as they were taken with my cell’s camera, but I think you’ll get the picture, so to speak. They show all the items that came with the iPod, the iPod itself nestled in its pretty little box, and the thing on edge — yes, it really is that thin! I was shocked, too.

Once again, Thanks to Rob and Bloggeries.com!   Woo!

© Nathan Pralle for PhilosYphia, 2008. | Permalink | 4 little comments jumping on the bed. | Subscribe RSS

P.S. — I would caution my readers against using Jim’s Cash Generator for supplying your main income stream — it doesn’t appear to be working out for Jim very well.

© Nathan Pralle for PhilosYphia, 2008. | Permalink | 5 little comments jumping on the bed. | Subscribe RSS

But hey, let’s be realistic. I like Mark and his blog and mine has been rather devoid of content of late so, what the hell, eh? I’ve sold out for less.

These are the all-sacred instructions (woe to those that violate the holy writ):

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find sentences 5, 6, and 7, and post them.
4. Tag five people.

1. So, what qualifies “nearest”, I wonder? For that matter, “book”? I have a notebook computer in reach — does that count? How about my scribble pad that I carry around to look like I’m important and actually give a crap at meetings? I suppose “nearest” needs to be in 3-D space (I would include 4-D, but my ability to reach back and forth in time has been hindered by my lack of temporal anomalies; damn you, Star Trek Voyager). Hrm…up, down, left, right, forward, back….ok, I guess it’ll have to be Beginning PHP and MySQL 5: From Novice to Professional by W. Jason Gilmore. I think the ‘W’ stands for ‘Wilbur’, by the way. Sounds like a fascinating read, doesn’t it? It is. Just as much as you think it is and then some.

2. Gods, exercise this early in the morning? This is a 912-page book! My arm, my beautiful arm! And I have trouble finding my butt in the morning and getting it screwed on straight…how am I supposed to find page 123? Oh, there it is…under the stapler and next to the coffee stain.

3. Considering that this is a programming book, what constitutes a sentence? Something that ends in punctuation, I’d guess. Hrm….this will be a passage to ignite your internal flame, I guarantee (not responsible for any explosion hazards you might have due to gas issues):

Not surprisingly, this function must be made available to the same scope in which usort() is being called. A particularly applicable example of where usort() comes in handy involves the ordering of American-format dates (month-day-year, as opposed to day-month-year ordering used by most other countries). Suppose that you want to sort an array of dates in ascending order: (insert large block of code that nobody gives a crap about and I’m sure as hell not going to retype).

There you have it. Points to those that can actually decipher what the above passage is talking about. Bonus points if you use it in a real-life scenario involving a gazelle and a cheap brassiere.

4. Doesn’t this step require that I have readers? Besides you, Mark. We can’t all be Mr. Popular. If you happen by this and want to give it a shot, I encourage you to knock yourself out, how’s that? Don’t call me if you have hangups.

Remember, this meme brought you by the letter Q, the number C, and my desire to commune with my pillow overwhelming my sense of goodness.

© Nathan Pralle for PhilosYphia, 2008. | Permalink | 3 little comments jumping on the bed. | Subscribe RSS

I’m rather happy with the review, all in all. One suggestion was to add more monetization to the blog (translation: advertising), but I’m pretty happy with what I have right now. I never created this blog to make any money, unlike many bloggers out there, and so I’d prefer to pick a few choice things that I really like out there (such as my phone company and ThinkGeek) and promote them instead of randomly putting my name behind anything and everything, especially when you, the reader, get slammed with more than enough advertising elsewhere. There’s just no real advantage to me to drive you all nuts, you know? (If you’re like me, you’re halfway there already!)

The other suggestion was to make posts shorter so they don’t all end up being long reads, and I’m going to try to think about that one a bit and sprinkle in some shorter posts with the longer ones. Sometimes, I get on a really good subject, I have some good points to make, and I really do think the long post is worth the time. But, I know I can ramble or wax on and your brain probably rots away at these times, so I’m going to carefully consider throwing in some shorter but still as poignant pieces from time to time.

As always, you, my reader, should feel free to leave me a suggestion about my blog in the comments on this or any other posting, or simply contact me privately to suggest or criticize. I appreciate all notions.

At any rate, thanks for the review, Chrissie and Bloggeries. You made a guy pretty happy about his work.

© Nathan Pralle for PhilosYphia, 2007. | Permalink | 7 little comments jumping on the bed. | Subscribe RSS

As is my personal rule for any twink who wants to send me a nasty letter, I’m going to post it here for everyone else to laugh at. Now, don’t get me wrong — if you write me an email and have a legitimate bitch about my blog, an argument with my viewpoints or content, or an issue — I’m not going to publicly humiliate you. However, if you resort to homosexual epitaphs to make your point, you will be labeled an asshat and strung up for all to gawk at.

Here’s the mail I received earlier today (posted as a comment):

your best friend | biteme@youblow.com | IP: 69.139.157.104
I just wanted to let you know how gay you actually are. I searched an image on google and found one I thought was pretty funny. It happened to come from your website. Yet for some reason you think I should have to ask you to link to it. As if your some brilliant person for putting some text on top of a picture of a donkey. I wasn’t profitting off of it. It was meant as a joke on a fantasy football page. Yet you felt the need to be gay enough to to replace the picture with some gay ass message. Just wanted to stop by and thank you for being such a fag.

Wow. Here’s a news bulletin: the use of the words, “gay”, “fag”, and “gay ass” don’t really hold the same weight that they used to back in the 80s when they were the nomenclature of middle school children. Today you might find more mileage out of the words, “fucky”, “shittard”, and “cockmaster”, but I don’t recommend you strain your weak braincells on the complexities of their proper usage.

Despite the fact that this letter just reeks of a wankstain in mustard-stained sweats drinking Milwaukee’s Best, I’m going to attempt to educate both this dork and my general population as to what “hotlinking” is all about and why it’s a bad thing, mmmkay? Hotlinking is when you see a graphic on someone else’s website and you use it on yours, but you don’t actually download that graphic and upload it to your site, you simply link to it from another site. The net effect of this is that the graphic is loaded from the original site every time the site you posted it on is loaded.

While the spirit of sharing on the Internet is alive and well, people who have websites pay for the bandwidth that they use. If other sites are using up bandwidth because they’re loading images off of your server, you’re going to be pretty annoyed. On top of that, when images are hotlinked, the original website that hosts the image never gets any credit for that image — nobody visits the original site, because the visitors to the hotlinking site can’t see where the images came from! All in all, it’s a Bad Thing(tm).

So, yes, the other day I implemented some code changes that detect when an image is being hotlinked and replaces it with another image. I noticed this dork’s hotlinked image (because it was loaded by his football site a lot) and knew that it would start being replaced by an alternate image. Frankly, I don’t give a wet slap if he thinks I’m a loser. The issue isn’t that I wanted credit for making the graphic, because I didn’t even make that original image. The fact was that my webserver doesn’t deserve being hit for his site’s amusement when I’m not benefitting from it. I have real visitors that deserve better.

My original hotlinking image was a bit rude, I’ll admit, but it got the point across. So, to combat the rudeness and educate the offenders, I’ve made a new graphic, which I’m posting to the right. Perhaps I can finally get into these folks’ thick skulls the problems associated with hotlinking graphics and make the world a better place by providing free education. A win-win situation, don’t you think?

© Nathan Pralle for PhilosYphia, 2007. | Permalink | 9 little comments jumping on the bed. | Subscribe RSS

What is it about reading things on paper that makes the experience so different?

I adore reading a newspaper, more for the experience of doing it than for the news itself. The slightly warming, musky scent of the newsprint, the crackle of the paper as you turn the pages, the way your eyes can drift around lazily searching for something to latch onto, the mild frustration at trying to find wherever page “A9″ ran off to — it’s an entire experience. I think for me, who has a very busy schedule most of the time, taking a few minutes to sit down and read an actual, physical paper represents either a) having the time to do so or b) making the time to do so. In college it was a great morning ritual to drink some 9-scoop coffee, read the paper, and wake up slowly. It represented a slower pace.

So, naturally, I haven’t read a physical paper in probably a year, if not longer.

I remember late nights in the Olin computer labs at Luther, listening to the “zzeeeep, zzzeeeeeeep” as ink was whacked onto a long roll, causing it to curl up and over the printer and back onto the floor to fan-fold into a neat stack. Usually this was the code for my talker (a type of chat room) which was about 10,000 lines long and would take quite awhile to print out. But once I had a project in front of me on solid deadtree, finding bugs, doing edits, and generally looking at the flow of the code was much, much easier.

I don’t do much programming on paper anymore, simply for the cost factor and for the way I program which is more interactive — make a change, see if it works, make another change — or because I do more visual programming (buttons, windows, etc.) that don’t show themselves very well in written code. But on occasion, it ends up being a handy tool to pull out of the case, dust off, and give a shot.

This is why I somewhat find the entire blogging phenomenon to be somewhat curious, because the nature of the beast practically prohibits it being printed on any sort of solid medium. (Although you can probably expect Dooce to bring out a book sometime entitled, “Months of Leta: My Child Grows Up in Blogs”.) Millions of wannabe writers out there (myself included) are whacking out entries in full digital format, never to be seen via an ink impression in their entire career.

Mind you, people have forever been reading news and magazine articles online, so it’s not a completely new form of journalism. However, you can just as easily read the Washington Post online as you can on paper, albeit a bit more updated, and yet they have a very healthy circulation of newsprint out there. There are still hundreds if not thousands of girls and boys, young and old, earning a few extra bucks by going around in the wee hours of the morning, flinging rolled-up missiles at doors, windows, and the occasional cat, so it’s clearly a healthy industry.

I wonder, then, would anyone subscribe to a printed-and-delivered “blog newspaper” that comes out daily and simply features syndicated postings from all the best bloggers out there today? It’d be like Ann Landers, but without the moronic questions and syrupy answers.

They might — just for the experience of paper.

© Nathan Pralle for PhilosYphia, 2007. | Permalink | 2 little comments jumping on the bed. | Subscribe RSS