Blog

Simply Recipes, which used to live at elise.com/recipes/, now has it’s own domain SimplyRecipes.com. It also has a slightly updated design, information architecture, and more. One thing I did like was that when the update was announced, they had taken steps to make sure that everyone’s feed subscription didn’t go stale. However, I don’t like […]

Continue ▻

An excellent title for this list. My wife Eliza’s iPhone photos always turn out better than mine – but, that’s ok. She must follow these rules more closely than I do without even realizing it. Meg Pickard shares some helpful tips on getting the best quality iPhone shots. Source: How to squeeze decent photos out […]

Continue ▻

I take all theories, especially LOST theories, with a healthy-sized grain of salt. I’ve read theories, especially just before the beginning of Season Two, that I thought were too incredibly detailed not to be the real thing. They all turned out to be duds. As we’re finishing up the second-to-last season of LOST, I’m guessing […]

Continue ▻

I’m all for advertising on the Web. But lately it seems that the content to ad ratio isn’t in favor of us readers. So, Arc90 is taking matters into their own hands. They’ve created a simple bookmarklet (or a small piece of JavaScript that you run by clicking on a bookmark in your browser) called Readability. In […]

Continue ▻

I just finished reading Stephen Fry’s thoughtful essay and strategy regarding Retweeting. If you are a Twitter user (like me) I suggest you give it a read. Most of us do not have 296,000 followers as Steven Fry does (as of this writing), but we do have a responsibility for what we Retweet, link to, […]

Continue ▻

Before I reveal a few of the photos that I took during our Photo walk this past Sunday in Scranton, Pennsylvania – I wanted to post an update to how it turned out, and perhaps some thoughts about having another one and what I’d do differently. Sameer, Chris, Eliza and I were the only people […]

Continue ▻

This coming via Justin Blanton who says "mind == blown" after linking to a fish with a transparent head.   The fish, Macropinna microstoma or barrel eyes, is a bit of an oddity.  Most fish have their eyes on the sides of the head, giving them a much better view of the things going on around […]

Continue ▻

Who owns this relatively small set of islands and reefs found halfway between South Korea and Japan? This has been in dispute for centuries. I find this most recent post by The Big Picture fascinating. "Isolated, tiny and desolate, The Liancourt Rocks are the center of an international dispute that dates back to the 15th […]

Continue ▻

In fact, it could be argued that Atlantis was ever lost at all – but that isn’t why I’m writing this post. How awesome is this blog post from Google? A few weeks ago (and I’m just getting the chance to read this now) there was some rumors being spread around the Interwebs that some […]

Continue ▻

[ad#Adsense: Horiz 468] Since there seems to be a lot of people having this same issue and not a lot being said about solving the issue, I thought I’d write a quick post to document the process of fixing this problem. I’ve owned an Airport Extreme for awhile and, just this weekend, out of the […]

Continue ▻

Photo: My friend Sameer on a Photo walk of sorts in Carbondale, PA. Something I’ve wanted to do for some time was to have a Photo walk in Scranton, PA. I would like to have one in Carbondale some time in the near future, but I think we’ll get more support in the Scranton area […]

Continue ▻

Every now and then I experience a 500 Error when trying to access and older post. I really have yet to figure out what is causing this problem but it seems to happen only on old posts. Really old posts. Posts at least 2 or 3 years old. Mainly the posts that I imported from […]

Continue ▻

For some reason I have only been drinking water from these glass cups. They are perfect for drinking water.

Continue ▻

Let me just start off by saying that I think this is excellent in every way. Shaquille O’Neal, the star Center from the NBA, is on Twitter and actually uses it aright. This you may have known already, but if you aren’t one of his 225,000 and counting followers yet, now you know and maybe […]

Continue ▻

For the past several weeks we’ve been interviewing for various positions at Viddler. We’ve gone through several resumes, conducted a few interviews, probed referrals for information about the interviewees, sent follow-up questions, and generally debated the fate of our would-be potential new team members for what seems like weeks. This is an interesting process on […]

Continue ▻

If the camera model and the film type don’t mean too much to you – don’t worry. All you need to know is that my friend Albert Yee has managed to take some fantastic photos with his new toy, the Canon Canonet G-III QL17. Source: 400TX and QL17. Photoset: Canonet G-III QL17 400TX.

Continue ▻

I’m a little late to the game in mentioning this application – as it has made its rounds around the Mac-Web a while back – but I’d be remiss if I didn’t take a moment to link to it and let you know my thoughts. Right? I’m a tagging freak. I believe tags are the […]

Continue ▻

New York is easily one of my favorite cities. The last time I was there I had the privilege of eating some really delicious Thai food, drink at an authentic Irish Pub, and scarf down 4,000 calories worth of White House burgers. Where else can you do that? The Thai food that we had was […]

Continue ▻

Nearly every browser has "hidden" preferences. Options that you can set by running a command, editing a file, or changing an entry here or there. The Safari 4 Beta, which has only been out for a few days, is no different. Caius, of Random Genius, recently published some of these hidden preferences including: A way […]

Continue ▻

As most of you know I have struggled with my weight ever since reaching adulthood. The reasons for my weight gain are vast but one of the more significant reasons is the fact that I work at a desk all day. That is, I sit all day. Even though I play basketball, try to jog […]

Continue ▻

Jason Kottke recently linked to a photo essay on the making of these authentic Japanese blades. After looking through the photo essay, while my jaw progressively lowered itself to the carpet, I strolled over to the Web site for CHROMA Cutlery’s Haiku Knives. Eliza, you have my permission to buy me an entire set of […]

Continue ▻

Yesterday, February 23rd, I did a lot of driving. I attended the February Viddler Board Meeting in Springfield, New Jersey. To go to a board meeting in New Jersey I end up being away from home for a little over ten hours. That includes 6 hours of driving, about 3 and a half hours for […]

Continue ▻

Date taken: February 22, 2004 Clifford, Pennsylvania Five years ago today: Eliza and I went to look at an apartment in the rural village of Clifford, Pennsylvania. It was a small, two bedroom, one bath place that was the perfect downsize for us at the time. It wasn’t too long before Eliza longed for a […]

Continue ▻

Last Thursday, not Friday, Owen JJ. Stone, also known as Ohdoctah, interviewed me for his Friend-up Friday series. Well, now it is Friday. And he has put the video online. It is about 10 minutes long but the last few minutes are probably my favorite. The word association game he plays was really fun and […]

Continue ▻

I have a confession to make. I only watched the first twenty-five minutes of No Reservations – Philippines on Monday. Why? Because I was tired after playing many hours of basketball. Why else? Because I didn’t think the episode was any good. So I shut it off. Went to bed. And awoke the next morning […]

Continue ▻

"Why can’t I lose any weight?" or "Why am I fat?" Two questions that have no doubt crossed your mind, in one form or another, in your life. Well, this blog attempts to answer them for us. Source: This is why you’re fat. Via: Justin Blanton.

Continue ▻

Date taken: February 17, 2004 On a Mac. Five years ago today: I had a video chat with Chris Clark while he was still in Perth, Australia. Now he’s somewhere in Canada or the US-west coast I think. I believe Chris was my first (!) video chat on a Macintosh but I could be mistaken. […]

Continue ▻

A fantastic site written by Howard Hall and entirely Haiku. Source: (non-breaking-space).

Continue ▻

An excellent example of why I’m happy I did this experiment – here is a tutorial from Jesse J. Anderson on how to make seamless grunge textures using Photoshop. What I appreciate the most about Jesse’s tutorial is the step-by-step detail that is given. A lot of tutorials, that I’ve come across for similar things, […]

Continue ▻

A few minutes ago I asked for everyone to please @cdevroe me their blog URL on Twitter. Here’s why. After a few years of Twitter use I’ve found that, through trial and error, to keep a signal vs. noise balance and keeping the value of Twitter high enough for me to keep using it  – […]

Continue ▻

We all have our obsessions. Wine. TV. Guinness on draught. The Internet. Photography. Traveling. Religion. Books. Anything composed or performed by Jack White. LOST. Art. Wall calendars. Star Wars. The warm underbelly of our cats. It doesn’t matter what it is that you obsess over, what haunts your dreams, what you put down in your journal every single day, […]

Continue ▻

Dean J. Robinson, the developer behind what is easily the best iPhone web application for Twitter, recently gave us a glimpse of what we should expect from the next version of Hahlo. He lists ten things we should know about the next version – and here are three that I’m really looking forward to. Better […]

Continue ▻

[ad#Adsense: Horiz 468] I remember one of my favorite activities while in the fourth grade was playing Oregon Trail – on a Macintosh – whenever possible. It forced you to make choices, to read, to do math, to learn a little about geography and the limits of what humans can be asked to do. Oregon […]

Continue ▻

I’ve seen these types of videos tons of times – but since owning a Jeep it really brings home the level of patience and skill that these drivers exhibit by pushing the limits to what the structures of their Jeep’s can handle. Four-wheelin’, off roading, or just rock climbing – no matter what you call […]

Continue ▻

Date taken: February 7, 2004 Rockaway, New Jersey Five years ago today: Eliza and I went to New Jersey to see Peter Z. (our nephew) and Melanie (my sister-in-law) at the Rockaway Mall. It would be the first of a few trips that we’ve taken to meet them there. Partially because we’re always excited to […]

Continue ▻

Date taken: February 4, 2004 Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania Five years ago today: I used to teach a short-lived class in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania at a small computer store. The class typically consisted of basic software instructions like Microsoft Word, Excel, and Outlook training. We also covered some larger topics like the Internet and eBay. For a few […]

Continue ▻

[viddler id-bc1c1d46 h-346 w-540] I had the privilege of cooking the dish for episode 7 of Eat Weird. I chose to make mussels over linguini, a very simple meal that anyone could make in their home kitchens and with any budget, because even though Chris tries to focus on things that are much more "weird" […]

Continue ▻

Before a dinner with some family at my mother-in-law’s this weekend I had the chance to walk around her backyard, which just happens to be a very large field with two streams and a small tree covered hill on it, and take a few photos. Here are some that I am choosing to share.

Continue ▻

For this episode of No Reservations I thought I’d jot down some notes while I watched the episode. So here they are, in order as they happened while I watched the show, and without any editing. The opening sequence comparing the states of mind of areas like Los Angeles to the fact that Chicago is […]

Continue ▻

Date taken: February 3, 2004 Carbondale, Pennsylvania. Five years ago today: This photo was taken just outside our home in Carbondale, Pennsylvania. We then lived in a house on Wyoming Avenue that had no off-street parking and no yard. It did have an above ground pool that we only seldom used. This lamp, which was […]

Continue ▻

PITTSBURGH, PA – November 2007 World Champions once again. The above is a reprise of a photo I took in November 2007 while at the worst Monday Night Football game ever – against the Miami Dolphins. It was taken from just about the furthest seat you could possibly purchase at the stadium, was one of the […]

Continue ▻

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS Though I can count, on one hand, the number of times I’ve been to Chicago – I know that I don’t particularly care for the city. It may have to do with the bad experiences I had there – I mean, I did see a few million dollars slip through my fingers during […]

Continue ▻

Last night, somewhere between the hours of 2:00am and 4:00am (yes, I was awake, lying in bed, watching TV) I watched an incredibly good documentary on PBS called THE ATOM SMASHERS which is part of the Independent Lens series. Being a fan of science, I found this documentary very educational and entertaining and it helped […]

Continue ▻

Although someone had suggested the best video settings for uploading a screencast to Viddler we have managed to put together a document explaining how to encode the best quality video for Viddler. Which, screencast or not, the rules apply for both really. So if you’re looking to get the best quality video out of Viddler’s […]

Continue ▻

My drive home from Viddler HQ in Bethlehem, PA takes me over the northeastern-most tip of the Pocono Mountains – an area called Pocono Summit. During my drive home last Thursday I remarked that "The snow covered pine trees at the top of Mt. Pocono really deserve to be photographed." I consider this an opportunity […]

Continue ▻

I’m not that much of an artist. But, I don’t believe I need to be in order to enjoy drawing, painting, or crafting. Sure, I’d love to be naturally talented and be able to just place my pencil on the paper and spew out great works of art – but I’m not, so I can’t. […]

Continue ▻

I’m not sure how I managed to forget Fresh Air, my favorite audio podcast over the last few years, in my Best of 2008 list – but I’m mentioning it now – and I will be sure to add it to my Best of 2009 list. Terry Gross, the host of Fresh Air, is an […]

Continue ▻

Roger Ebert is hitting a stride on his blog. He began blogging not too long ago. Well, in the world of blogging it wasn’t that long ago. It isn’t like he hasn’t been writing for longer than I’ve been breathing – he just hasn’t been blogging as long as I have. So take that Roger! […]

Continue ▻

THE AZORES Being on an island is somewhat of a unique experience. Most of the places I’ve traveled have all had a cultural impact that slowly spiraled out from its epicenter. On an island, however, it always seems like the aftershocks go in the opposite direction — from the outside, in. The ways and influence […]

Continue ▻