Monday, October 22, 2007
What's in a Name?
Now that I'm thinking of moving my blog to Word Press, I can't stop thinking about it. More specifically, I can't stop trying to think of a name for it. While I could use Filter & Splice, I discovered that both words are so common online that the site name really doesn't stand out. (And I thought I was being so cute. At least it comes out on top of a Google search when you type in "Filter & Splice.") I've considered using my name for a blog, but the trouble is that there are rafters full of Mary Warners out there, so the name is taken. I could take a pseudonym, something creative and distinctive, but that's not me. I don't want to add the complication. Besides, I like my name.
The internet practically begs for made up words or interesting combinations of words. Joanne, who readers will remember from the Poppy Seed Heart blog, has recently started a blog called Bebellyboo. Very cute. And unique. I need to come up with a name like that, but not like that. One that shows my personality. Ideally, the name will be whimsical, but easy to spell and easy to remember. It's a tall order, which is why I'm racking my brain.
Random starting points for the name - something bird-related, something that uses my initials, a name that uses other letters in my name, something related to Dave Matthews Band (I know, that's lame), something writing-related, something related to creativity, something curvy. I'm also quite fond of the "quite contrary" part of "Mary, Mary, quite contrary." This used to be recited at me when I was a kid, especially by my seventh grade English teacher, which I never minded. Probably because I rather like be contrary, but not always.
I've tried out the following possibilities using my initials by Googling them and checking the number of hits:
mewbird - lots of hits, already taken by some jazz dude
trarybird - no hits
mewzba - no hits
mewsba - no hits (I keep wanting to type the "s" rather than the "z," though I like the "z" better)
zamew - this hit on a Polish guy who makes gantries
snickmew - like the sound of snick
mewzla - one hit
maelwa - 3 hits
melwa - 2860 hits
Suggestions, anyone? This is making me crazy.
The internet practically begs for made up words or interesting combinations of words. Joanne, who readers will remember from the Poppy Seed Heart blog, has recently started a blog called Bebellyboo. Very cute. And unique. I need to come up with a name like that, but not like that. One that shows my personality. Ideally, the name will be whimsical, but easy to spell and easy to remember. It's a tall order, which is why I'm racking my brain.
Random starting points for the name - something bird-related, something that uses my initials, a name that uses other letters in my name, something related to Dave Matthews Band (I know, that's lame), something writing-related, something related to creativity, something curvy. I'm also quite fond of the "quite contrary" part of "Mary, Mary, quite contrary." This used to be recited at me when I was a kid, especially by my seventh grade English teacher, which I never minded. Probably because I rather like be contrary, but not always.
I've tried out the following possibilities using my initials by Googling them and checking the number of hits:
mewbird - lots of hits, already taken by some jazz dude
trarybird - no hits
mewzba - no hits
mewsba - no hits (I keep wanting to type the "s" rather than the "z," though I like the "z" better)
zamew - this hit on a Polish guy who makes gantries
snickmew - like the sound of snick
mewzla - one hit
maelwa - 3 hits
melwa - 2860 hits
Suggestions, anyone? This is making me crazy.
Labels: bebellyboo, birds, blog, dave matthews band, filter and splice, google, mary warner, name, poppy seed heart, word press
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Google Analytics
So, then, I'm thinking of switching my blog over to Word Press. While there are certain features of this here Blogger Google blog I like (the easy ability to upload photos and change the template), I don't like that I can't get statistics on the readership. Word Press has the reader stats built into the blogger dashboard. There is a way to get the stats on this Blogger blog, but to do so I'd have to sign up for Google Analytics. It's a free service for blogs that get less than 5 million page views per month and I know I fall well within that category, so that isn't the problem. The problem is that, according to the Terms of Service, Google can change the terms of service at any time, which means it can start charging for the service, but the kicker is that Google doesn't have to notify anyone of the change in the Terms of Service. The onus for doing this is placed with the user, not the company. I don't know about you, but rushing off to check the latest Terms of Service for Google Analytics hardly tops my list of things to do while on the internet. You know, whenever credit card companies or banks change their terms of service, they are legally bound to contact their customers and allow them to opt out. Why is Google not taking the lead on this in the online realm? Why is it not notifying users when its Terms of Service change? Google sure as heck asks for our email addresses often enough. It know where to find us.
Labels: blog, blogger, google, google analytics, terms of service, word press
Sunday, October 07, 2007
Google Alerts
A person recently met introduced me to Google Alerts. I couldn't figure out how certain people rarely named in this blog somehow had discovered practically instantaneously how they'd been named and had dropped by to leave comments. Spooky, let me tell you. Google Alerts was the answer. It allows you to type in search terms to keep track of and spits back mentions of those search terms via email. You need to have a Google account to manage your alerts. You can choose where you want Google to search (blogs, news, comprehensive search) and how often you want to get alerts (as they happen, daily, weekly). I've found several good articles on the Dave Matthews Band this way. Also, in a move that looks like high vanity, I have a Google Alert on my name. What generally appears in my alert is my blog posts, but this morning I found a newspaper article by another writer named Mary Warner.
Labels: blog, dave matthews band, dmb, google, google alerts
Monday, June 25, 2007
That's Soooo 2000
I've got my new issue of Wired magazine, working my way through it cover-to-cover. That doesn't mean I'm necessarily reading every little thing, but I like to work front-to-back so I don't miss something. The cover image/article is of Transformers - as in the "more than meets the eye" type. I didn't get into these as a kid, so haven't read the article yet. My son went right to it, though - first thing read. I was more interested in the the mapping article "The Whole Earth, Cataloged: How Google Maps is changing the way we see the world" by Evan Ratliff and "Dispatches From the Hyperlocal Future" by Bruce Sterling.
Wired is relentlessly future-seeking, which makes me breathless and frustrated. Can't keep up! Can't . . . keeeeeep. . . up! Part of what makes me feel this way is how Wired's articles talk about what happened a mere seven years ago as if it was ancient history. For example, did you know that the Captcha (those squiggly letters/numbers that you have to type in periodically when doing web work in order to foil spambots) was invented by Luis von Ahn in 2000? Luis von Ahn has moved on to figuring out how to teach computers how to recognize beauty. (See the article "The Human Advantage" by Clive Thompson.) Seems like the Captcha has been around a while, but seven years is nothing in human history. Of course, this notion of three, five, seven years ago being ancient history is not Wired's fault. It's the nature of technology that is warping our sense of time. Wired simply reflects that. (What does irritate me about Wired is its habit of amplifying how incredibly backwards people are if they don't keep up or don't know what every abbreviation means. Where is their online glossary when you need one?)
What astounds me is that human creativity in general has ramped up to that same dizzying speed as technology. Think about how many books are produced per year now as opposed to in the 1800s. The classics from the 1800s are classics because they didn't have as much competition. We have thousands of Ansel Adams, what with digital photography, millions of publishers with blogging (although a good share of those aren't worth the 0's and 1's they're written with), and how many gazillions of movie producers with YouTube. There is simply no way the human mind - a single human mind - can track everything. We simply have to do our best and forget the rest.
Wired is relentlessly future-seeking, which makes me breathless and frustrated. Can't keep up! Can't . . . keeeeeep. . . up! Part of what makes me feel this way is how Wired's articles talk about what happened a mere seven years ago as if it was ancient history. For example, did you know that the Captcha (those squiggly letters/numbers that you have to type in periodically when doing web work in order to foil spambots) was invented by Luis von Ahn in 2000? Luis von Ahn has moved on to figuring out how to teach computers how to recognize beauty. (See the article "The Human Advantage" by Clive Thompson.) Seems like the Captcha has been around a while, but seven years is nothing in human history. Of course, this notion of three, five, seven years ago being ancient history is not Wired's fault. It's the nature of technology that is warping our sense of time. Wired simply reflects that. (What does irritate me about Wired is its habit of amplifying how incredibly backwards people are if they don't keep up or don't know what every abbreviation means. Where is their online glossary when you need one?)
What astounds me is that human creativity in general has ramped up to that same dizzying speed as technology. Think about how many books are produced per year now as opposed to in the 1800s. The classics from the 1800s are classics because they didn't have as much competition. We have thousands of Ansel Adams, what with digital photography, millions of publishers with blogging (although a good share of those aren't worth the 0's and 1's they're written with), and how many gazillions of movie producers with YouTube. There is simply no way the human mind - a single human mind - can track everything. We simply have to do our best and forget the rest.
Labels: ansel adams, books, captchas, creativity, frustration, google, history, luis von ahn, maps, photography, technology, time, wired magazine, youtube
Friday, April 06, 2007
Leaving Passwords to Heirs
If you inhabit the online world, you've probably accumulated a few user names and passwords to your various accounts - email, blogs, news aggregators, online stores, etc. We've all been told not to leave these things laying around, make sure they're secure. So, what happens to these things when you die? I have a gmail account in which I keep quite a bit of past personal correspondence. That's a personal archive, akin to written letters of the past. If I were to keep my user name and password to myself, this personal correspondence would be lost when I die. My suggestion? Keep your user names and passwords secure, of course, but come up with a way to give this information to your heirs upon your death. Be sure to choose someone you trust. After all, Google's not going to be providing anyone with paper copies of their emails any time soon.
Labels: april fool's, archive, blog, email, google, heirs, internet, letters, passwords
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Isn't This Telling?
I found this little article on Boing Boing. Basically, it says that if you Google "African Ingenuity," Google asks you if you're sure you don't mean "American Ingenuity." Do I smell bias here? I believe so.
Labels: africa, america, bias, boing boing, google, ingenuity
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Comments, please!
I discovered last night that I had a few more blog readers than I thought. Incredibly cool! I really appreciate all of you readers out there & am glad you make the time to drop by. I also found out that some of my readers want to leave comments, but don't seem to be able to. I've checked all my comment posting settings, which I've tried to keep as open as possible, and found that they are set to accept comments from everyone, whether you have a Blogger or Google account or not. I'd like to check this to be sure it's working, so for those of you reading, can you send a brief comment (one word will do) to see if it posts? If you don't have a Blogger or Google account, try to send a message via the Anonymous setting. If it doesn't post & you know one of my email addresses, drop me a line and let me know. Thanks much! :)
Oops! I forgot. I have a link to my blog email account along the lefthand column of the blog. Just scroll down 'til you see the word "Email" in gray. When you roll over it with the arrow, it'll turn green. Just click the link & send an email if your comment doesn't go through. Ta-ta!
Oops! I forgot. I have a link to my blog email account along the lefthand column of the blog. Just scroll down 'til you see the word "Email" in gray. When you roll over it with the arrow, it'll turn green. Just click the link & send an email if your comment doesn't go through. Ta-ta!
Labels: blog, blogger, comments, google, readers
