According to their description, “Wordle is a toy for generating ‘word clouds’ from text that you provide.” Also called a “tag cloud“, a word cloud summarizes the frequency with which certain words in a blob of text appear. Words that appear more often, are displayed larger while words that appear less often are smaller. Unlike the tag cloud for this blog (which appears in left sidebar), Wordle’s clouds are adorable. Their cloud editor is very easy to use and lets you change many aspects of the cloud. I used it to analyze the recent editorials that the Presidential candidates submitted to the New York Times about future Iraq policy.
Social bookmarking
For me, the power of the internet is in its ability to facilitate communication with other people. Thus, I have lately found myself attracted to various “social networking” websites. Most recently I’ve been experimenting with several social bookmarking sites, all of which offer free memberships.
Piano Man
…because I know my little sister will love it.
Vital Statistics
Bike odometer: 2472
Van odometer:Â 153074
Weight lost (in pounds): 0
Aches & pains: left shin (still healing)
Current reading: The Book of Totally Useless Information by Don Voorhees, My Name Is Red by Orhan Pamuk, Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy
Recent listening: News from Lake Wobegon, Fresh Air, Science Friday
Recent viewing:Â Numb3rs, Pardon the Interruption, Mo’ Better Blues, Battlestar Galactica, Doctor Who, Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte
Recent playing: Chain Factor
Recently accomplished:Â sold G4, mowed lawn, cleaned cat boxes, resolved various online purchase problems, ordered replacement LCD for Thomas, attempted to fix The Doctor (GPS), recycling, got rid of junk (bed, mower, microwave)
Imperative To Do:Â Get rid of junk (couch, vacuum cleaner), buy trailer for van, activate new Tivo, oil change for van, weeds, clean garage, moss, new muxtape, upload pictures
How To Make Spaghetti
Forcin’ a light into all those stony faces left stranded on this warm July
After a busy day cooking and cleaning on Independence Day, we’ve been a lazy bunch around here. We really enjoyed ourselves on the 4th, though, and were happy to have the company of so many people. The fireworks were fun and I think everybody was entertained. Next year I need to buy fewer ground blooms and more mortars.
Last week I started out the week by traveling to Foster City, CA, for some training at EFI headquarters. Because of the Northern California wildfires, my direct flight was cancelled and I was forced to take a flight through Seattle. By the time I arrived in Seattle, the connecting flight had been delayed and I didn’t arrive in San Francisco until 1:30. Unfortunately, my luggage (a change of clothes and my CPAP) was on another flight which did not arrive until quite later in the day. After waiting in line for at least an hour at the United luggage service counter, I left them orders to deliver the bag to my hotel after it arrived. It was eventually delivered to my hotel while I was at dinner that night.
I was glad to join my friend, Rob, for dinner both nights that I was in California. On the second night, we ate at a nice French restaurant before Rob dropped me off at SFO for my late evening flight home. There were no complications this time and the plane was only half full making it almost enjoyable.
Continue reading “Forcin’ a light into all those stony faces left stranded on this warm July”
Misheard Lyrics
I recently discovered a new phenomena (at least new to me) on YouTube called “misheard lyrics.” The idea is to take a song where the lyrics are indistinguishable and caption it with incorrect (and presumably humorous) lyrics. Because it’s a video format, it is also necessary to add visual elements which also help convey the incorrect lyrics. Here’s a classic example:
Vital Statistics
Bike odometer:Â 2472
Van odometer: 152961
Weight lost (in pounds):Â 0
Aches & pains: left shin (bumped into a fire pit)
Current reading: The Book of Totally Useless Information by Don Voorhees, My Name Is Red by Orhan Pamuk
Recent listening: Raising Sand by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, In Rainbows by Radiohead, News from Lake Wobegon, Science Friday, Fresh Air
Recent viewing: Countdown, My Life on the D List, How I Met Your Mother, WALL•E
Recent playing: Chain Factor, Rock Band (Wii)
Recently accomplished:Â cat boxes, bought clothes for business trip, paid bills, packed for two day business trip, haircut, bought new shoes for first time in 10 years, pulled dandelions
Imperative To Do: Sell G4, get rid of junk (couch, vacuum cleaner, mower), buy trailer for van, activate new Tivo, oil change for van, weeds, clean garage, mow lawn, moss, new muxtape, upload pictures
I should be asleep
I couldn’t sleep last night because I didn’t have my amazon fur throw pillows with me so I read for awhile. I noticed the flashing and thunder outside but didn’t know there were thunderbolts. We don’t get them very often here so I usually go outside to watch. Fortunately, one of my favorite photographers caught the action. Be sure to click through to see his other photos of the storm.
Sunday morning, 2 am
Somebody said they saw me, swinging the world by the tail
Bouncing over a white cloud, killing the blues
Wait? What’s that? Someone is spraying me with water.
“What the hell!?!?!”
I think I just woke up Tina. She asks me what’s going on.
“The wind blew the fly off the tent.”
Continue reading “Sunday morning, 2 am”