Flickr:
I like to entertain myself by typing random words into your search engine and seeing what comes up.
I know: blows GTD all to hell. But it is interesting to see what is out there.
Anyway, the search function has been busted all day.
Gonna be back soon?
Thanks!
Month: June 2005
Fisher Space Pen and other Friday Night Madness
Ok, I caved. Purple Metallic and Black Matte.
I am slave to fashion.
Damn they feel good on Moleskine paper.
Damn you Merlin.
Ok, you’re not the only one…but you can take it…and it’s hard to tag Joi Ito with the blame — he moves around too much!
Maybe I should blame Parmet again…nah! He turned me onto the G2s.
Hey! David! You owe us an updated “What’s in your bag?” photo with the Waterfield!
California Schools Again
Back in March I commented on some things that Dave Winer said about California Schools. [here]
The main point of the discussion was that the California Public School system is in a near third-world state (with apologies to the oppressed in the third-world) due to the short-sightedness and greed that grew out of Proposition 13.
Today, Tom Foremski chimes in with pretty much the same point. [here]
It is shocking to me that the world’s sixth largest economy can have a public education system that is the shame of the nation. When I explain to people in Massachusetts, when they complain about schools here, that teachers have to ask parents to supply paper towels and toilet paper, they are shocked.
California has a beautiful veneer over a core that is disintegrating and changing rapidly. This morning, I heard a story on NPR [link to follow later] about a South LA school torn apart by racial conflict — latinos against blacks. Many will chalk this up as a city issue, one unique to LA. It’s not. The latino population of California is growing, and the public school system is failing these children.
What to do?
It comes down to one thing — avarice. Until the people of California can overcome their greed, the children of California will wallow in a public education system that is the shame of the industrialized world.
Bad Managers and How to Deal With Them
Having worked for the world’s absolutely worst manager — legal reasons prevent me from releasing details — I can sympathize.
Scott Berkun has some great advice for those who think that their manager is really awful. Sometimes, it’s not as bad as it seems, and something can be done.
Leon at Lifehack adds to this by telling us how to turn around a conversation.
More Stupid Trackback and Comment Spammers
Ok, started to notice a dramtic and sudden increase in traffic to my site yesterday. Turns out that all of these folks were headed to the same place at this host:
/index.php?disp=stats
So, when I checked this out, they were all indicating referrals from the usual illicit medication and adult sites.
<sigh> More trackback and comment spam.
Now, I know that this page exists in b2evolution, and it is a way for visitors to view my traffic stats. However, a link to this page does not exist in my main display page. The only link to my stats is to my StatCounter stats.
Enter mod_rewite.
A simple rule disposes with these morons.
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} disp=stats
RewriteRule ^.*$ http://www.pierzchala.com:9080/ [R,L,NS]
Please do not attempt to load the redirected URL; you will get nothing. NADA! That port is set to be dropped by iptables, effectively hanging the client end as it attempts to make a TCP connection.
/sbin/iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -i eth0 -s 0/0 --dport 9080 -j DROP
I use iptables to handle a lot of these morons. As the only people who view this page are infected with some virus or spyware, then I feel no shame in tying up their systems.
Moleskine: The Sensual Paper
Pen glides across paper, silently. Simple meeting notes are an act of pleasure. No resistance to ideas; paper begging me for more, more.
What do I write?
What is worthy of this paper?
Gel ink glistens on the page. The page is waiting, wanting more.
The idea.
A fury of writing. Paper absorbing words, a glistening trail of thought left behind as ideas move forward, a mind empties onto the paper.
Oh, the paper.
Then, like an impatient lover, I must wait for the ink to dry. Eager for the next page, ideas flowing forward, tide unstoppable.
All for this paper, this sensual paper.
Moleskine.
Robert Scoble: The George Hamilton of Blogging
I came up with the pithy, off-the-cuff remark about Scoble this morning, referring to him as the George Hamilton of Blogging.
Every week, he pops up at the latest hip conference, hanging with all the “right” people, saying all the cool things.
How’s your tan, Robert?
TECHNORATI: Scoble, Microsoft, George Hamilton, blogstar, blogs