For all you Multiply users out there.
If you've been using Multiply as storage for your high resolution photos and deleting them from your hard disk with no other back-up, I suggest you start downloading them again now and back them up elsewhere.
I finally changed my Multiply header image a few weeks ago because the first one was too big—I couldn't see my own navigation buttons. Soon after, I discovered that the ad zapper installed in our company web server stopped zapping it. I wrote about this small problem back in February (read 'This ad zapped.').
So, of course, I wondered why the software zapped the first one but not the new one. And I realized that it was just because of the file name. The first header image was named hah_banner.jpg and because I didn't want to overwrite the original file, I named the second one happyathome.jpg. The realization: the software automatically zaps all external images with the word "banner" in its file name!
I love these "Ah-hah!" moments.
I discovered City Daily Photo after I'd been a semi-regular reader of Paris Daily Photo for several months. I wasn't minding all the stuff outside the main blog, which is why I missed this wonderful website earlier.
And wonderful it is! It's a portal, a collection of blogs around the world. Each blogger's "mission": to post a photo of their city every day. Last I checked, there were more than 600 blogs registered (though probably less than 600 cities, since some cities are represented by more than one blogger).
The quality of the photos vary. There are professional photographers in there, and their photos are magnificent. The serious hobbyists' are fantastic too. Then there are the ordinary folks who just want to share about their corner of the world. And I've discovered that it is to this last group that I am usually attracted to.
I try to visit at least three places a day, whatever thumbnail catches my eye. Sometimes, it's because the photography is excellent, but more often than not, I visit—not the artistic shots or close-ups of flowers and pets—but the ones who actually show a piece of their city. I especially love the ones who bother telling stories, the story of the statue, house, bridge or ship—the stories of their cities. I've always loved stories.
Thank you, Joel, for introducing me to Ferry Halim's beautiful games in Orisinal.
http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal
Just a word of warning: Right click on the link and open it in another window rather than in a tab. The Flash games resize the window, which is bothersome when you're browsing other sites.
The National Geographic Photo of the Day widget is one of my favorite widgets. I love National Geographic's photos! Click on INFO, and it tells you what the image is and who the photographer is. From the info panel, you can get to the Photo of the Day archive and even download a wallpaper of the image. Click on ENLARGE, and it brings you to the National Geographic website where a large image is displayed and the explanation is a bit longer.
This widget is available for web pages and the Mac Dashboard.
Blooks LLC started an experiment on April 10, 2008 to find out how long it would take to get a million blogs listed on the Million Blog List. It's a DIY and Scout's Honor kind of thing because you have to list your own blog/s. Just for the heck of it, I listed mine.
http://manila-photos.blogspot.com/
Since I actually spend more time outside the house than in it, I decided to start yet another blog: My Manila.
I will begin taking our point-and-shoot digicam every time I go out and take pictures of the Manila I experience everyday. This is not going to be the exotic or historic Manila that the Department of Tourism would like to promote, with its 19th century historical sites, glorious Manila Bay sunsets, or modern office buildings and hotels. I hope to be able to take pictures of those too, but this will mostly be pictures of the roads I walk, shops and theaters I frequent, homes I visit, and whatever else I see along the way.
I hope you like my Manila. Despite its many flaws, I do.
Zero. Zip. Zilch.
The last TV series I watched regularly were E.R., Friends and X-Files. If I do get to watch new series, it's because my brother-in-law would lend me DVDs—none of which I asked for and which I'd finish in a week so I got my life back immediately (though I did enjoy them: 24, Heroes, Dr. Who, Rome).
We don't have cable TV either. When it first became available here, it was just too expensive and we weren't willing to shell out that much for it. It's gotten much cheaper now, of course, but we still haven't subscribed. We're probably the last hold-outs. My husband feels the lack during baseball season, but contents himself with various websites and blogs. I know I'll enjoy Discovery Channel, National Geographic and the DIY and cooking shows, but there are always books and the world wide web.
Not getting cable was (and continues to be) a conscious decision. We both acknowledge that we have addictive personalities and if we have cable, we know that we will easily get glued to the boob tube again. Gone will be the reading, writing, performances and crafts. Things which we both feel make our life tremendously richer. So, no cable TV.
I hope we can continue to resist the temptation.
The illustration above is from Trash Your TV! When you're ready to do so, this is the place to go.
http://images.google.com/
Here's another very useful, specialized search tool from Google—this time for images. It's been there forever, and most of you probably know about it already, so this post is for those who have not heard of it or used it yet. I don't think I need to explain what it's for.
www.glamexchange.com
I've never been much for browsing fashion blogs or sites (or fashion magazines, for that matter). When I was younger, yes. But now, they just don't talk to me anymore, and they make me feel old, fat, ugly and poor.
Then a girl friend put up Glam Exchange (the source of yesterday's silver bath recipe), and now I'm hooked again. Aside from the fact that she's a very good writer and that she chooses the most luscious images, Glam Exchange's choice of topics is as quirky as the woman behind it. Take those high-fashion designers for example. Instead of just showcasing the new season's designs, she greets you during the Chinese New Year with Marc Jacobs' whiskered shoes, shows you the beautiful Prada video "Trembled Blossoms" and only mentions the bag and shoes in passing, and features the New York fashion show "FutureFashion" because many of the designers in the show made extensive use of the Philippine fabric piña.
All fashion is Glam Exchange's purview. Accessories, of course. Jewelry, yes, including a piece about how you can have yourself made into a diamond after cremation. Even bling for gadgets—laptops, cellphones, iPods and their ilk—because they are now part of our over-all look after all.
Have I started surfing fashion sites and buying fashion magazines again because of Glam Exchange? Have I become a shopaholic? No. My fashionable girl friend is probably despairing of me…
That bit of text started popping up in all of the websites I was viewing at work two weeks ago. At first I thought that something was wrong with my Firefox or my computer, then I saw it on a colleague's screen while she was checking her email. They weren't showing up at home though, so being who I am, I Googled the entire phrase.
Okay, so now I know that it's caused by an ad-zapping program installed on the web server. So our networking guys installed it without telling us. Fine. It actually makes web surfing faster because the pages don't need to wait for ads to load from ad servers. But does it really have to identify my Multiply header image as an ad?!!
http://blogsearch.google.com/
I discovered this search engine only last week, and it seems that I've had my head in the sand because a girl friend told me that it has been around for about a year already.
Aside from just searching blogs, what makes it different from the regular Google search—and what makes it wonderfully useful to me—is its sort by date function. You can even choose to display posts published only during the last hour, 12 hours, last day, past week, past month, or any range of your choosing. Or even a particular date, if you remember that but not the title or url of the post.
So what's it for?
I don't know about other people, but for me, this is particularly useful for reviews—of shows, movies and performances that I'm thinking of watching, or of books that I'm thinking of reading or buying. Sure, there are experts out there, but I'd also like to know what the blogger-on-the-street thinks. Google Blog Search will also help when I'm looking for the results of a particular game—games too obscure to be televised or written about in the national dailies.
Of course, you can also use it to find out if anyone's been writing about you.
P.S.
I took this screen shot soon after I posted the "Cat's Meow" video. So, of course, it was right on top when I blog-searched for the Philippine Madrigal Singers.
The web comic book of a friend of a friend begins tomorrow, January 21.
I don't know Hai, the artist. Neither do I know what the story's about, nor the frequency and duration of the serialization. But I visited the site and the teaser graphic—the book cover—caught me (SF&F's my favorite genre) so now, I've the site bookmarked so I can check it everyday. I sure hope I won't get disappointed!
Fun! I was surfing Blogger's Blogs of Note earlier this week and one of them was the Santa Claus Blog: Periodic Updates From North Pole, Inc. Chairman & CEO Santa Claus. The entry I read said that he and Mrs. Claus were off to a vacation in Maui and that when he comes back, he'll be negotiating with the CEOs of toy companies (for supplies) and with various governments (air space issues). So I left Santa a note, wishing him an enjoyable vacation, good luck with the negotiations, and reminding him to visit the Philippines more often this year. And dear, dear Santa emailed me back!
I grew up with that tag line, and I think it really must have brainwashed me because now, Hallmark e-cards are the only ones I send to family and friends abroad. They have e-cards for every occasion, every milestone, and "just because." There are traditional and classic designs, cartoons, graphic illustrations, beautiful photos—and many of them are interactive.
Uh-oh. I think I've caught the glitter bug.
When I started this blog, I promised myself that I am not going to use glitter graphics, either on my site or my friends' and family's. Sigh. I guess it was inevitable, though. I have glitter glue, glitter gel pens, loose glitter, glittery embossing powder. So what's a few glitter graphics for the web?
If I leave some on your site, however, feel free to delete them. Just as I delete those on my site every now and then. They tend to make loading slow, and I just hate it when the thing's hosted in Photobucket and the "bandwidth is exceeded."
One of my nieces sent me a message from Popular Front's SnowDays, saying that she made a snowflake for me there. So I went to the website to look for it and ended up doing one of my own! It was fun! Try it, for a relaxing half hour.
Today is Human Rights Day.
And Human Rights Day 2007 starts a year-long commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Yeah, right.
Visit Human Rights Web for comprehensive lists of human rights resources on the web.
I just want to share with you my favorite website for everything about the home: Better Homes and Gardens. Anything about decorating, remodeling, food & recipes, gardening, holidays, health, family & crafts. Slide shows, blogs, articles from both experts and "just" writers, how-to's. In a lot of ways, the website's so much better than the printed magazines because it's searchable, it's more media-rich (the photographs alone will make you drool, and I'm not just talking about the food pictures), and there are tools that they can offer only on the web, like their "Color" applications—you can try out color combinations for rooms and house exteriors on the site before you actually go out and buy the paint. Plus, they have tons of email newsletters available, not just from BH&G, but other magazines from the Meredith Corporation, so there are some about parenting, travel, health & beauty, even agriculture. Right now, I'm subscribed to six (I don't get to read all every week, though). I can just get lost for hours in their site—planning, dreaming.
Enjoy!
