Halfway Thru July With More Half-baked Questions and Under-Done Answers.

Q: What Internet innovation or enhancement would you like to see implemented?
A: I’m on a lot of sites such as Flickr, Twitter, Youtube, Boardgame Geeks, CNN, weather, on and on. I go to these sites every day. But they are all over the place. This site doesn’t display well in Safari, but looks fabulous in Firefox. This site doesn’t automatically refresh periodically. That site has a partial interface to this other site, but it’s not “robust”. I want to be able to have specific information from all my daily sites in one spot. Actually, I want that spot to be my desktop. What ever happened to Microsoft’s Active Desktop? You could basically put a web page right on your desktop. That’s what I want. I want Active Desktop and then I want all my sites to have open APIs that are easily programmable — maybe a universal API. I want the functionality to have bits and pieces from each of my daily websites on my desktop — including my chat engines like MSN and Yahoo, fully customizable. I want the ability to decide which content, how much of it, how often it is accessed, and how it looks — all under my control — and all on my desktop. [I know that there are some "almost-but-no" software bits out there. Digsby is trying, but it's actually just an extra application and isn't very customizable yet (also sort of buggy). Yoono is too limited and not flexible enough. And Xobni is enabled through your Microsoft Outlook which is not want I want.]

Q: Have you ever taught a pet bird to talk, sing, or do a trick?
A: “Hello my baby! Hello my dolly! …” Oh, sorry… I went “away” for a minute. I didn’t specifically, but I did have one parakeet learn to do some amazing things. I used to have a little blue parakeet in a cage hanging from the ceiling between my kitchen and living room. My first cat Gwendolyn “adored” the bird — if you get my drift. When I went to work, I always left the radio on so that it would sound like someone was home. One Sunday morning I was sitting in the kitchen nook and I could hear the radio — this low-key background drone of musical notes mixed with announcer-talk. I got up and walked over to the radio absentmindedly and turned it off — except it was already off. It was then I realized the sound was coming from the bird cage. Months and months of daily background radio had taught the little fellow to make noises like a low-volume radio. Another event, occurred under similar circumstances. I was having dinner and reading a book at the kitchen nook and I kept hearing Gwendolyn (my cat) meowing. Without looking up, I was talking to her “What?”, “What does my girl want?” She kept meowing and I finally tore myself away from the book to deal with her persistence. All I saw was the little blue guy looking down at me through the bars of his cage. Our eyes met. “Meow!” he said. “Meow!”. Gwendolyn was fast asleep in the bedroom.

Q: What upcoming video game are you most looking forward to?
A: Well, in my dreams I can’t wait for the Elder Scrolls V to come out. But darkness covers my hopes like dirty canvas over a pile of shit… um, or something like that (but more poetic). Bethesda promised that they would begin Elder Scrolls V as soon as they had put Fallout 3 to bed. But years later they still seem to be doing content for Fallout 3 and talking about a possible Fallout 3 MMOG and the only information I find regarding Elder Scrolls V is two years old and on defunct fan sites. So, I guess I will state that I am really looking forward to Diablo 3 and hope that Blizzard doesn’t screw it up. Originally, I thought Diablo 1 was stupid — until I played it — then I loved it as I did Diablo 2 and almost every Diablo-like clone thereafter. I hope they stay true to the original style. Judging by the screen shots, they seem to be.

Q: Seen any sad movies lately?
A: Yeah. The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus was sad — not the movie by itself; but the fact that Heath Ledger died right in the middle of the making of the movie. It affected my ultimate level of emotion throughout the entire movie. It was very sad that such a fine actor and person died so young. It was clever, however, how they edited the film to insert Johnny Depp, Colin Ferrall, and Jude Law into the movie — removing Heath Ledger from the movie about half way through, without actually removing him from the movie. Life is too short no matter how long you live, no?

Q: Roses or Orchids?
A: Dahlias. I understand that roses are the symbol of love and beauty, and orchids a very expensive symbol of love and beauty. Rose bushes and orchid plants both provide gorgeous blooms. However, they are both extremely hard to plant and care for — orchids particularly being temperamental and touchy. Dahlias, on the other hand are extremely easy to care for. Many summers past, I used to just throw them into the ground, water every few days or so, and bam! — a yard of blooms — gigantic blooms. Not only gigantic, but also varied in color, shape, and size. I never had to prune, fertilize, or beg them to grow. At the end of the season, I simply walked away — having harvested scores of bouquets with little effort (if you ignore that hideous giant green spider incident). Dahlias sort of provide a cross-over between roses and orchids. They are more colorful than orchids (like roses), but they are more varied in shape and size (like orchids). And when it comes to cost and care — they are simply way easier than roses and orchids.

July 16, 2010 Tags: About Me Posted in: Potpourri for $400