stargirl-designs.com Blog

I discovered last night that Flickr stopped allowing me to post photos to this blog.  I’m not sure exactly why this happened.  I erased the link in my Flickr account and tried to re-add it.  Didn’t work.  It kept claiming that my username and password were invalid.  This despite the fact that I can obviously log in to the blog itself with them.

I started suspecting that it might have something to do with the fact that this site uses Wordpress 2.0.2.  The latest version of Wordpress is 2.6.  So, I tried to upgrade.  Well, that didn’t work.  Must be too many intermediate versions…things are hinky.  Luckily, I backed up the old version files and was able to reinstall them.  But, of course, that didn’t solve the original problem: not being able to post photos from Flickr.

The only solution I’ve been able to come up with is starting another blog.  So that’s what I’ve done.  It’s not completely set up yet, but I’m working on it.  All new posts will go there.  If I can figure out a way to migrate all the old posts here to the new blog, I will.  I might have to ask around on some Wordpress forums.  We’ll see…

I always refused to join networks like MySpace and Facebook. In my mind they’re for kids. I still feel that way about MySpace. Facebook, I’ve changed my mind about. It seems like a cool way to connect with people you know, people with common interests…although I admit I was mainly attracted by the fact that one of my favorite bands (Nine Inch Nails) recently set up a Facebook page.

Ok, I really started my page a couple of months ago at the behest of a friend, but only in the last week have I done anything with it. I’ve added personal info/interests, linked to my Twitter feed, connected to friends, joined some groups, linked to my Flickr page. Oh there’s just so much you can do, the mind boggles.

It’s almost too much, actually. And it’s another nail in the coffin of the “all-in-one” personal website (see one of my previous posts).

There was an interesting post on Wired magazine’s blog: Is the All-in-One Personal Website Headed for Extinction? I have to admit mine is rapidly (though I seriously need to update and redo it at the moment) becoming just a collection of links to my presences on other sites. Though this blog is hosted on my domain, all my photos are on Flickr, my bookmarks are on Del.icio.us, my resume is on Linked In. Heck, I’m even thinking about trying Twitter. What is the world coming to??

Google has a new web-based word processor application called Writely. The advantage of this service over something like Word is that it allows easy sharing and collaborating with other people on documents. And documents can be editted anywhere, as long as you have access to the internet.

I joined and my first project is on my late brother Neal. I’ve been wanting to write down my thoughts about his life. This will make it easy for other family members and Neal’s friends to contribute as well. At least, that’s my plan!

This is cool…this website will let you create maps showing where you’ve been:

Create your personalized map of Europe

Create your own visited states map

I may have been to a few more states but I can’t remember everything from those long cross-country car trips…

What’s funny is the travel site these come from still has some text I wrote for them WAY back on Washington DC.  We’re talking about 1997 or so.  They recruited me as their DC editor.  But I was in grad school at the time and couldn’t really devote much time to it so I had to quit.  Plus I resented it when other editors would change my stuff.  This was before the Wiki was invented, of course.

I thought this article, the 25 Worst Tech Products of All Time, from PC World was pretty funny. Number one is AOL. I never lowered myself to using their service, thankfully. Back when I was on dial-up I used Earthlink. My sister still has AOL, I’ve told her for years to get rid of them but I don’t think she ever has completely. Now, I don’t have personal experience with most of the things on the list, fortunately. But I have used RealPlayer, IE 6 (hate, hate, hate!) and Zip drives. Yep, nothing good to say about any of them.

Flickr is a big thing now. It’s an online photo sharing website. (You get an account and upload your photos for the world to see) I have my photo album on my netfirms account at the moment. I’m thinking of migrating them all over to Flickr. It’s actually similar to del.icio.us, in that whatever you save there you tag with categories and that’s how they can be seen by other people who are interested in that category.

A magazine for people who make websites: A List Apart. Hmmm, right up my alley.

I attended a very interesting seminar last night. “Emerging Standards in Web Design,” given by a web design and training firm called Antharia. The instructor, Jordan Dossett,talked about lots of great stuff. Keeping important stuff on your site “above the fold,” designing for the lowest common denominator user resolution (800×600), browser limitations, navigation, and, of course, the fact that web standards always changing.

I personally (as a user) hate Flash and have always refused to use or learn how to use it. She said a big thing now is using what’s called a “random rotate script” to create a Flash-like image that changes everytime the user changes or reload pages on a site. Which is EXACTLY what we made for the MIT CSR EPO website several years ago: two pics from Chandra in the top banner that changed with each reload. Guess I was ahead of the times on that one , although I must admit the javascript for it was implemented by one of my Harvard Extension classmates.

Funnily, Jordan turned out to be one of my sister’s pet sitting clients. She had talked to them at Antharia about doing the Pet Companions website, but it didn’t work out and I ended up taking it over. Ha! Nepotism beats talent every time! (Antharia is REALLY good)

I discovered something new yesterday. Del.icio.us It’s a “social bookmarking” site (and just about the coolest URL ever!). You register, list your favorite website, and anyone else can see your list. I like it because you can have your favorite websites at your fingertips anywhere you go, even if you don’t have your own computer with you. Now, for the social aspect, if I can just get some of my friends into it too…

Ok, like my friend Keith says, dumb title, but it fits. There is currently legislation before Congress that could change the internet as we know it in rather disturbing ways. Telecom companies (which already control our broadband access) would have the power to control what we have access to on the web. That is SO SO VERY WRONG. It would give them the power to censor whatever they feel like. What’s great about the internet right now is that anyone can have a website or a blog…you have things like Wikipedia, free to everyone to use. That could all go away if the telecoms have their way. To anyone who reads this, don’t let this happen.

I can’t really do the topic justice here but this website pretty much covers it.