Weblog Tipping Point

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I’ve received a link in the weblog tip chain from Andrew, which works like so:

  1. Choose three or more bloggers you admire and link to them.
  2. List three reasons why you admire each one
  3. Add one tip for each blogger.

Here’s a random selection of three out of the many writers (sorry, I still refuse to use the word “blogger” too gratuitously) I link to:

Locusts and Honey. (1) Lots of insight into the world of Methodist weblogs. While I was in Baltimore, I regulary attended at Old Otterbein UMC for a time, and am still fascinated by UMC history. (2) Art! Ever since he highlighted Christ in the Wilderness, I’ve regularly checked in on him for more “Sermons on Canvas” and art-related stuff. Having a painter for a girlfriend is a factor. (3) Caption Contests. Tip: Break out of the 19th Century Neoclassical movement and try checking out some Middle Ages stuff. You ever visit DC, I’ll take you through the National Gallery’s Early Renaissance wing.

I Am Sparticus. (1) Sparticus (real name Mark) often writes on Christianity-oriented topics with a pithy sense of wit. I gain from many of his posts a unique perspective on aspects of faith which I would otherwise take for granted. Like how many Reformed Points various theologians are worth. (2) This pithy wit is often applied to other things, not necessarily faith-oriented, like how to take a MySpace photo. (3) Seeing photos of him and friends at pubs gives me some perspective on just how out of touch with Scripture and real life teetotalling prohiBaptists are. Tip: No more pubs! Know ye not the dangers of strong drink, oh ye alcoholic Britons!

Talk With the Preacher. (1) As the woman Baptist Pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Downtown DC, she has a thoughtful response to those who say women can’t be pastors. (2) She regularly has coffee with our pastor at First Baptist DC to talk about lectionary stuff. See, there they are. (3) The Marble System. Tip: Please go ahead and cite your Scriptural proof texts for women as ministers. Bullet-pointed proof text verses are the Baptist conversational currency!

Those of you linked, go right ahead and follow the “tipping point” instructions. I’ll wait here while you do that. Tipping Point Honorable Mentions also go out to: Internet Monk, Real Live Preacher, Sacra Doctrina, OKCalvin, Dispatches from Outland, Cre8d Design, El Caballo Muerto, Novum Testamentum and Mosaic Life, WallJM, and all the rest of you.

Bain Searcher

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Hey, I’m curious. Who’s the person at Bain and Co. Management Consultants who just googled me at least three times, once for “brownpau” and then twice for my full name? Is there someone I know at Bain, or does something in my weblog directly affect one of their clients? I’m guessing that since the first search was for “brownpau,” it’s someone who knows me from online rather than from real life, and only searched for me by name after finding it on my site.

Stickam

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Stickam. One might be tempted to dismiss it at first glance as just a video-enabled Myspace clone for emo teens with webcams; but looking past that you’ll find a fairly robust and platform-independent Flash-based webcam broadcast and videoconferencing app. There’s a profile page with an embedabble Flash viewer, a full screen personal conference popup with privacy options, group video chat rooms, and hosted galleries for photo, video and audio content. Is this the dawn of Cam Whoring 2.0? Oh, and see if you can catch the Pissed-Off Caveman, actually a webcam pointed at a Robot Chimpanzee Head all day.

As an example, here’s my Stickam conference page (which right now just shows my cat, as I’m not at home). The cool part is that it’s streaming, it’s live, and I didn’t need to set up a cam server or even download software to do it. It’s all running from a browser window.

[crossposted to Metafilter]

Update: I have left Stickam and switched to uStream.
Update: As of February 2013, Stickam has shut down.

Pandora Sitting Up

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Here’s something you don’t get to see everyday: Pandora, actually sitting up rather than lying down:

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The reason she’s so intent is because I had just fed her a bit of medium rare steak, and was slicing off another piece at that moment.

Hurry Poop

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These words of wisdom were scrawled on MrMoonPie’s refrigerator:

Sometimes you just can't hurry poop.

In response I heartily suggest the mixing of a shot of espresso* into a bowl of quick cook oatmeal**. Believe me when I tell you that it will most definitely hurry poop.

* Caffeine can stimulate accelerated peristalsis in the digestive tract, so that your intestines push out more waste faster. Doctors, back me up on this.

** Oatmeal is loaded with fiber, which, as you may know, makes you poop.

Moth in Cup

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I have no idea how this moth got into my room, but it flew up right up to my left arm, slow and calm as you please — so I trapped it in a plastic cup, and got this photo before letting it out the window.

Mayon Building up to Explosive Eruption?

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Before anything else, kudos to Estan for the amazing photos of the lava flows currently pouring down the slopes of Mayon Volcano:

(Mt. Mayon eruption, uploaded by estan.)

Mayon Volcano has been undergoing an effusive eruption in recent weeks, with lava flowing down its slopes into the surrounding area since mid-July. Ash columns emerging from the cone have now prompted PHIVOLCS to go to Alert Level 4, meaning an explosive eruption is imminent, and evacuation of the nearby population has begun.

News items on the situation from Inquirer, Sun Star, BBC. I really like this photo showing the locals watching lava right where it’s flowing into the danger zone. Trust Pinoys to go rushing to a dangerous lava flow to make usi (rubberneck).

And here’s a lovely news gem from Fox: Mayon Volcano is in Indonesia!

Fox News Messes Up Mayon Volcano's Location

Yes, the Associated Press text says “Philippines,” and any Filipino will tell you that it’s in the Philippines, and a simple glance at the news will tell you the same; but somehow whoever adds the headlines and categorizes incoming wire stories wasn’t paying attention and gave it that headline and filed it under Indonesia. Way to go, Fox News! (Mark noticed too.)

Update: After several hours, Fox finally corrected the headline. Our long national nightmare is over.

DC Metafilter Meetup

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Jessamyn was in DC for a visit, so local MeFites got together for a meetup at Palace of Wonders Argonaut on H St NE. (Palace of Wonders turned out to be closed, so Argonaut served as backup venue. Careful clicking, the sites are Flash-based with sound.)

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The last photo is in the back of MrMoonPie and EvilTiff’s car, of me and hugsnkisses just after I discovered that she is actually nedrichards’ sibling, a fact which tickled me pink. It’s a Small Web After All. What were we doing in the back seat of the car? Well, riding to the Metro, of course. That’s all.

More photos here. I must say, Metafilter users are remarkably photogenic. Fun day, fun company, fun meetup, and so-so calamari. We now close the weekend with this video of MrMoonPie transitioning from a robotlike dance (?) to a one-handed demonstration of the Numa Numa.

Pandora With Halo

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Yeah, yeah, I know, five days in a row with nothing but linklog. I’ve been rather busy, and will probably continue to be swamped all summer. But just to break the flood of linklog posts for now, I offer you this photo of Pandora with a saintly halo:

Pandora With Halo

(It’s the lamp shining on the wall at the far end of the room behind her. But doesn’t she look beatific?)

Line Numbers in TextWrangler

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My text editor of choice on Mac OS X is TextWrangler. For free, TextWrangler gives you a basic text editor with all the standard functions, plus a robust set of extra features: syntax highlighting, FTP/SFTP editing, and loads of internet-smart text manipulation features like email quoting and unquoting, and the magical Zap Gremlins.

I had just one major annoyance with TextWrangler when I began using it: the profound hidden-ness of a Line Numbers gutter. First-time TextWrangler users with no BBEdit experience will search the standard Preferences panel and View menu in vain for a “Show Line Numbers” option. Rather, one must hunt for the somewhat less intuitive dialog under Edit > Text Options to find “Line Numbers” as first in a series of “Display” checkboxes. Alternatively, as illustrated above, the “Text Options” button in the toolbar (a cryptic set of UI elements which tell you nothing about themselves till you roll over for a tooltip) drops down a menu which includes a Line Numbers toggle. The option does not persist to the next session.