watch this  

I, like many other WordPress users, am now using the Kubrick template for my site instead of the default WP layout. I have every intention of customization beyond modifying the contents of the sidebar and removing the images. I hope to build something more original—is that even possible these days? In meantime, I need something that’s not such an eyesore.

Kubrick is really nice looking. A little heavy on the whitespace, but otherwise attractive. I added the del.icio.us plugin for WordPress for the little del.icio.us “clippings” and organized some of the clutter. Otherwise, it’s pretty much a stock conversion.

I now know exactly what I want for Christmas.

I’m back to considering which RSS Reader I’m going to use. I’ve been using NewsFire happily for quite some time, but it lacks two simple features I need:

1. Ability to mark a single entry as Unread. Often I will skim short posts, then go back to read longer posts once my initial scan is over. Unfortunately, with NewsFire, once I’ve viewed a post, there is no way to reset it to Unread. Although, in a recent version the ability to “flag” a message has been added. Still, I want to see that I have unread messages, not flagged ones—two different meanings.
2. Hover feedback over URLs. I’d like to know where I’m going! That one should be a gimme.

So, I am going to try NetNewsWire for one week. See, I told you I do Switches all the time…

I had every intention of spending this afternoon working on the layout of my site, updating my Firefox extensions and perhaps even taking a crack at a J2ME version of my weather code. Alas, I was thwarted by an unusually spectacular Winter’s Day. It was 60 degrees and sunny with a cloudless blue sky. So, I loaded up the new SonomaAero CD into my discman - I have no iPod - and spent the better part of my Sunday afternoon enjoying a walk.

I’m a long-time Firefox user (heck, since it was Phoenix). I even wrote some extensions [Looks like both of these are woefully out-of-date and incompatible. I’ve added them to my TODO – Ed.] So, with the 1.0 release of Thunderbird (the Mozilla family email client), my interest was piqued. For the longest time, I used webmail (Yahoo! and GMail) for my personal mail and Evolution at work (which, by the way, has excellent Exchange integration). But, recently I’ve been using Mail.app and found it perfectly usable. Like most, if not all, of Apple’s applications, it is very well integrated! Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Thunderbird. Version 1.0 lacks Address Book integration, automatic spell-checking, etc. Thunderbird’s bells-and-whistles just won’t do it for me… I already have an RSS Reader. I was going to commit to trying Thunderbird exclusively for a week, but, I’m afraid I may hold off until a later version. By the way, I do these switches all the time: KDE to Gnome, Firefox to Safari to Camino. So, maybe next time, Thunderbird.

Argh. I’ve applied this fix, but I’m still not sure if Trackbacks are working.

Updated: it seems to work on some sites, but not all?

OK. I have made lots of internal changes and fixes in my Quicksilver Weather Plugin. And, barring any major bugs, I hope that this will be it for awhile…

The main difference is that I’ve re-enabled and expanded support for METAR data. So, if your weather station has XML, great. If not, the plugin will automatically fall back to METAR, parsing as much as is available. Still, the XML is going to have more. METAR is pretty fragile and there are tons of exception cases. I also removed the option to set a cache expiry. The NOAA says one hour, so that is what it will be.

You will definitely have to relaunch QS to get the changes to take effect. You will likely have to rescan the catalog entry for “Modules” -> “Current Conditions and Forecast”. To verify, select the plugin in the Catalog page and hit the little “(i)” at the bottom. When the drawer expands, you should see checked entries for: Dew Point, Humidity, Temperature, Visibility, Weather and Winds.

Comments and suggestions are welcome. I’m going to focus on some other projects (namely my blog’s UI and layout), then I will tackle the SOAP forecast interface. Now, without further ado:

[MYWeatherPlugin-0.3.qspkg]

I have grown to enjoy and become dependent on del.icio.us. It fits into my daily regimen quite seamlessly. I already use my MyYahoo! front page as a sort of real-time, cultural zeitgeist with top stories, most popular pictures, Buzz Indexes and more. Now, the Popular feed from del.icio.us is a perfect addition to this. Though, currently, it tends to be pretty focused—probably because it most heavily used by a relatively homogeneous early-adopter crowd.

Anyway, I really see del.icio.us’s strengths in two main areas: community and personal information management. I think that these facets could be expanded or enhanced with the following additions:

1. Send a del.icio.us link: Just about every site with content has some form of “Email this Article” functionality. Similarly, it’s very common to send someone a link in IM or via email—it’s how we share our interests, pass on useful information, etc. Since I started using del.icio.us, I have always wanted to be able to send someone a link to a del.icio.us entry for link, rather than just the link itself. On one hand, it would certainly increase the visibility and popularity of del.icio.us (for better or worse). But, more importantly, it has the potential to decorate a link with meta data. For example, the meta data can indicate how popular a link is or group related content (i.e. by “tag”). Also, it will show who else is interested in the link and, more importantly, what additional meta data other users add to the link. It is somewhat like Amazon.com’s recommendation system. As far as implementation, I think some kind of “send this link” functionality could be added to both a user’s personal page and to the “Post to del.icio.us” page. The latter, so that one could add the link while simultaneously emailing it to a friend.
2. “Personal del.icio.us”: del.icio.us’s second big strength is its role as a personal information management system. Countless times, I will add something to del.icio.us at work for the sole purpose of reading it at home later. Likewise, I use del.icio.us to save important links that need to be available to me no matter where I am. Basically, it’s like a distributed, synchronized bookmarks folder. Nothing revolutionary there, these have been around for a long time. But, sometimes, this capability interferes with (or at least dilutes) the community experience of del.icio.us: do any other users really care about some esoteric or mindless link I’ve posted? Perhaps, but not always. Or, probably more importantly, what if I’m a well known Microsoft employee, do I really want the world to see all of my links to various competitor sites? What I’m proposing is a “Personal” del.icio.us that you could add to your own site (like Google Free WebSearch). You could protect it with a password or simply run it on your local webserver—it would be for your eyes (and use) only. Of course, this would require the release of the del.icio.us code. Though this sounds like an overblown bookmark manager, I think it has some applicability. One reason is that, for many, there is a synergy in using the same tool for different purposes: just look at the the popularity of products leveraging Wiki technology for personal use.

Lastly, another thought I had was whether or not one could use del.icio.us to self-promote one’s own content (albeit shamelessly). By tagging your own blog post, for example, in del.icio.us,it will show up on the del.icio.us front page. It may only be there for a short while, but it while have been on the radar nonetheless. I’m almost tempted to experiment, but it seems pretty close to clicking your own link. I wonder, though, if the del.icio.us creators have considered this.

Updated: If you’re not familiar with del.icio.us, here’s a good Beginner’s Guide and the official About page.

Are you or do you know a gamer? If so, check out this great 2004 Good Gift Game Guide (also featured at (my favorite) The Morning News). It has some really good suggestions. Though the games listed here aren’t your standards like Monopoly and Life. However, they are a welcome change, not to mention great fun and easy to learn. An excellent way to wile away a rainy weekend or Winter’s day. I especially recommend Ticket to Ride.

Here are my additional suggestions:

• Settlers of Catan. There is also a great two-player card game.
• Puerto Rico: initially challenging, but very, very fun.
• Carcassonne: this game is good for all ages.

I love this rant. But, Jeremy forgot (perhaps in the heat of passion) these two other fantastic annoyances:

1. Users who send all their messages with High Importance! That designates every email as having equally high importance, thus diluting the import of all of them. Regardless, they are usually meant to nag about something. That is High Annoyance, not High Importance.
2. Email where the body is in the Subject, e.g. Subject: Please have all of your time entered by the end of the day on Friday, Dec. 3. You know you’ve received one of those before.

But Jeremy did mention what I think is the biggest problem with email: the compulsion to respond quickly and unthinkingly. I’ve found that the best remedy for this is to just turn off your email client and set aside a particular time of day to read your mail, say once in the morning and once at the end of the day. Hey, if it’s that important—they can use a phone.