Archiving my Twitter, Facebook and other social network activity
Why great ideas come when you aren’t trying
According to this study, it’s not just taking a break while working on a problem, but taking a break to do something else, as long as it’s something that lets your mind wander.
On a related note, this reminds me of an article I read while back on how the lure of a smartphone can cut down on creative downtime. It’s hard to zone out if you’re catching up on Facebook during your break.
Shotwell is getting more annoying all the time. For example: it assumes you’re importing from a pure camera, so if you plug in, say, a smartphone, it offers to import every single image on the device. Including your web browser cache. That’s helpful.
But the latest: It strips out timezone data?!?! I uploaded a whole batch of eclipse photos dated tomorrow. At least Flickr lets me fix it with two clicks for the whole set.
Clouds are rising, but still well below the sun. Can't see Catalina anymore.
Eclipse watch: Clouds started rolling in toward the west, so I headed up into the hills. There's a ton of people up here! Now as long as the wind doesn't blow my pinhole camera over the cliff…
Those things that “everyone knows?” Not everyone knows them. Some people are finding out about them for the first time.
The Poky Little Puppy has become unstuck in time.
Elevator doors open. Somewhere out of view to the right, a woman with a German accent shouts, “Run!” Another woman runs past the elevator trying not to drop a paper plate with a slice of pizza. Elevator doors close.
I think I just heard the original Schnitzelbank song on KUSC. No mention of Wakko’s head.
Because, really, who *wouldn’t* want a singing cook pot that exclaims things like, “Oh, the nutrients!”
Food for thought: applying the human brain's limits on meaningful relationships (Dunbar's number, aka the Monkeysphere) to social media.
Yes, I think that’s hail clattering against the windows. I don’t think I’ll be walking to lunch today. It’s probably not much colder outside than the in cafe downstairs, but the cafe won’t be as wet. And it’s less likely that something will fall on my head.
—
Wow. That one was close enough to rattle windows and set off car alarms.
Always remember: your public information really is public, and even if no one creepy is looking for you specifically, there’s always a possibility they could be looking for someone like you. (Remember the “please rob me” site that reposted location-enabled tweets?)
Be sure you understand your privacy settings, especially with anything that tells the world where you are right now.
I'm rarely impressed by those “If so-and-so had written X” jokes that simply plug in plot points or character traits from one of their well-known works. It's lazy, and it implies that authors are only capable of creating one type of story. If you're going to do something like that, take 20 minutes to think about some of their other work and pick out some common elements. 20 minutes on Wikipedia, folks – that can't be asking too much.
Facebook opposes the practice of prospective employers asking for your password.
“As a user, you shouldn’t be forced to share your private information and communications just to get a job. And as the friend of a user, you shouldn’t have to worry that your private information or communications will be revealed to someone you don’t know and didn’t intend to share with just because that user is looking for a job.”
Still trying to figure out how “Stand your ground” translates to “Pursue and attack,” and now Geraldo Rivera (remember him?) chimes in with “He asked for it! Look what he was wearing!” WTF?
I’m constantly astonished at how slow Facebook’s Android app is. If it can’t load my news feed while *waiting for an elevator*, something’s wrong with it. (And that’s when GPS is off. If GPS is on, it sits even longer trying to figure out where I am, even though it doesn’t actually need the location info.)
Google+ and UberSocial (a third-party Twitter app) are both a lot faster to load content, AND they can both sync in the background, so there’s at least something for me to read more or less instantly. Facebook does have a “refresh interval,” but as near as I can tell it doesn’t do anything, or maybe it’s the interval for checking notifications.
/rant
WonderCon Day 2 photos are up. A lot busier today, but still nowhere near San Diego levels
I had an enjoyable day at WonderCon today, though my shoulders felt like they were going to fall off since I was carrying around some rather large books. It was a good balance of autograph hunt, bargain hunt, sightseeing, costume spotting and events, with a lot going on but not too many people to move.
First batch of photos is up on Flickr.
