Using RSS (Really Simple Syndication)

Hi all,

I have set up and been experimenting with a RSS feel to simplify the blogs and other web sites that I tend to try and keep track of. It seems that the process takes away a lot of the click here, and remember how to get there, and get past all of their advertisements and instead just provides you with the articles, and other core data that you go to your chosen sites for.

While I was learning the basics I found that several of the “converted” track 80-some feeds a day. The thought made my head hurt, but the reality is that I will probably be just as “engaged” as soon as I get my favorites linked.

The reality is that this is a positive change regarding my “surfing” habits, but the word change always transports me through fits of rebellion, memories of coffee-table-surfing, and basic heel-digging. I don’t suffer change quietly, politely, or well — just ask my family.

As a new couple, we had been in our home for more than a year, I was pregnant with Wyatt, and had been spending a lot of time on “my section of the couch.” Because I could see and be involved in the family flow, but did not have to “move my girth” to do so,” and I had a direct shot to the stairs and the bathroom, which being pregnant I did frequently, and fast.  Anyway, I got up one morning to find that my husband had placed my favorite coffee table where my couch spot had been (evidently he had rearranged the entire living room, but I was pregnant and – alas- not that observant at the time). The coffee table was a heavy, flat surfaced, 3 foot by 6 foot, and solid oak, and as it was in my spot, I settled myself on it, got comfortable, and went on being pregnant, until about two weeks later, when still laying on my coffee table, hubby quietly went berserk.

Hubby had had it, evidently he had watched me and waited for me to shift to the couch, but I never did. So finally he announced that I needed to get up, and he moved me, and my coffee table, out of the way (with me protesting that it was fine where it was — after all, I was use to it), and put the couch and other furniture back where it had been.

Yes that was more than 30 years ago, but we still don’t move the furniture. So when a new piece comes home, we take the time to put it where it should be at the start. I never have liked wandering in the dark and having my toes find a “freshly moved item” — it is just nasty. — (Honest I am not stuck in my ways, but they do fit rather nice, so I don’t see the need to change them often.)

So now that you have a smattering of how I feel about change, you can understand that for me to declare that I am willing to give the RSS method a try is really something. My poor toes are quivering though, can you blame them?

The RSS aggregator that I am trying out is called Bloglines and can be found at http://www.bloglines.com/   Give it a look.

Flickr and del.icio.us and easing the toil of work

I have spent the last day or so playing with Flickr and del.icio.us and here is what I have to report. Flickr, which may not end up my “most favorite” of web tools, should ease some of my beading explanations. What I mean is that once a photo is uploaded, I can post it’s link on the blog so fellow beaders can “see what I mean.”

The following link http://www.flickr.com/help/blogging/#55 walks one through the posting to a blog process. To experience a bit of Flickr, check out my moose 11 post or click here. http://www.flickr.com/photos/alaskanbeader/sets/72157602151479428/

Last spring Dee, my good friend, fellow beader, and the photographer for my last pattern book Pristine’s Beaded Beauties; Wolves, Bats and Other Critters of Travel, and I took a set of how to do peyote stitch beading photos. Flickr may be a way to offer them to you. I will be looking into the details soon, I promise. (You see the photos are sitting in a computer about 20 feet way from me, but that 20 feet is not an easily surfed distance. — It is going to take some intentional effort, a lot of remembering, and a bit of learning.)

And now for del.icio.us — http://del.icio.us/ I am offering you the link to the site, because as a researcher at heart, I feel that I will be spending considerable time with this web tool. It is structured like the brainstorming webs that we were taught in school by the “strange” teachers. It is nearly like a game of whispered telephone tag, but where you see it in print, the distortion is minimal, and the wandering is great. While I do not yet specifically have “a” useful site from del.icio.us I am itching to get back and do a through web search on a string of search words that I have been developing for my new book. And just so you know that I haven’t forgotten that this is my beading blog, “Know you know why I don’t always get as much beading done as I would like, I wander off and get lost in thought.”

But the following article will show you Berk’s study on laughter Activating the Immune System — so go laugh it up folks.

http://www.holisticonline.com/Humor_Therapy/humor_therapy_benefits.htm

moose11

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moose11,
originally uploaded by AlaskanBeader.

This is one of 12 photos in my SSW set “Alaskan Moose goes to Lunch” if you haven’t had a good chuckle today, I recommend the set. Especially if you are not the waiter.

Wikis as a way to learn stiches and more

Hi all, I had the opportunity today to play around with creating and posting to a couple of Wikis. In particular, I posted a Wikipedia page about the Alaskanbeader at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Alaskanbeader and while the post may not be stunning, what it could do for our beading community is. For example here is a link http://www.pristines-beads.com/howto.php to the How-To section of our website which explains such thrilling things as length of thread, needle size, to knot or not, etc. And here is a link on  peyote stitch http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peyotestitch.  The neat thing about a Wiki, is that you the beader reading this blog just though, “Oh she should have included a link to how to do brick stitch.” Or something similar. Well, if this were a Wiki, you could just tap “edit this page” and insert what you had to share. This could be a great way to collect some of the old stitches before the few beaders that still know them are gone.

While I do not feel that my current knowledge base is officially up to crawling yet, as far as competently operating a Wiki, and truly understanding the pro’s and con’s of a wiki “room” over a blog, I am continuing to sort the details out. Like most of us, my Wiki experience has been primarily with Wikipedia, and while it may not always be perfect on insider details, the editability of the Wiki format makes adding to the collected body of knowledge nearly as easy as sending a neatly typed email. –  Yes I know that CAN BE excruciating, but I am hyped, so I am ignoring those realities. Tonight folks the glass is at least half  FULL. –

Reviewing previously recommended blog sites

The general idea of the blog site http://www.thethinkingblog.com seems to be that of a “stream of consciousness intended to be succinct and thought provoking.” I like the blog because while diverse, it appears to value the growth and self improvement processes of its contributors.

What I don’t like about this blog, (and many others) is that you will come across a bit of swearing here and there. It is not that I am a prude, or that I never swear myself, but rather that I view swearing as a declaration by the swearer that they are too dumb (at the swearing moment) to know what else to say. I see swearing as a glitch in the minds flow of intelligence, and do my best to avoid routine glitchers, because of how easily I, this imperfect human, can join them.

As with most blogs of any substantial posting duration, the need for improvement often comes in the form of “how does a newby to this blog find a good wave to surf? I commend the blog master for addressing this in the following post: http://www.thethinkingblog.com/2007/05/most-thoughts-all-time-posts-roundup.html

Okay, my second recommended site http://the-bead-place.com/beading-blog seems to operate under the idea of providing a community forum for beaders country, if not world, wide of learning, information, and inspiration. And having been in the beading community for more than two decades I understand that this is no small accomplishment. A secondary, element is that is seems to be providing beaders a way to hook up with other beaders in their physical areas.

I like that the Admin seems to frequently post quality information on a variety of mediums, crystals, pearls, stones, etc. But I am not particularly fond of the impression of “this is all there is to know on the subject” that the reader comes away with.

Improvement could be made by offering a “list of sites” or that goods and information are available through rather than, just the one. The Admin posts impress me as stated facts, and are not seemingly conducive to comment. They feel more like lectures than  conversation at times. To see what I mean check out this “good Lecture” http://the-bead-place.com/beading-blog/?p=25

Moving on to the last of my three recommended sites  http://www.slashfood.com

The site seems to be a place to come together over good food ideas and directions and while there being able to connect to anything else that may interest, kind of like gathering at a comfortable kitchen table, with good friends and good coffee.

I like that the recipes range from real cooking with old fashioned ingredients  http://www.slashfood.com/2007/09/11/a-delicious-40-year-old-recipe-for-broiled-eggplant/

to the more modern “cool whip” when it fits  http://www.slashfood.com/2007/09/21/heavenly-fruit-trifle

and yes even the unique

http://www.slashfood.com/2007/09/11/wasp-crackers-are-creating-a-buzz/

I am not fond of how much hunting and pecking it is taking me to find specific recipes, and am hoping that experience with the site will get me over some of these difficulties.

An improvement I would suggest would be a recipe list of previously posted recipes.

But so far, my most interesting post is the wasp crackers.  http://www.slashfood.com/2007/09/11/wasp-crackers-are-creating-a-buzz/

take a look or be left without the buzz.  — Joan

Blogging and Journalism

The question of  “Are bloggers journalists?” brings to mind the Andy Kapp comic strip in which Flo and a friend determined that everyone was good for something, even Andy — who was a good “bad example.” Personally I believe that bloggers are people willing to actively share their thoughts, which does not make, or preclude, them from being journalists.

For example when my son Wyatt began searching for a career path he shied away from Computer Science, even though his backside was clearly stamped “Geek” at birth. He explained that he did not want a degree, or career in a “tool” but instead in a field. he likened the computer in Computer Science to a hammer. And he did not want to have a degree in hammer science, but rather to have the skills to be a Carpenter (or some other then still elusive skills for an equally elusive field).

I see blogs in a similar light. Therefore in response to the question “Are bloggers journalists?” I offer the following:

Bloggers do not become Journalists with a capital J just by blogging. But may, or may not, choose to use their blog “tool” in a balanced, fair and articulate manner which may ultimately and rightfully earn them the status, and designation of Journalist.

Is this good or bad? Well, as I see it, it is neither, just merely the way it is, as is the balancing process of life — which continues to tile our life path to come with the materials at hand; often resulting in tiles that do not encourage long term dwelling, but rather prompt forward movement — to prevent sinking.

And as for bloggers having the same rights and protections as newspaper and television reporters, yes absolutely IF they routinely use their “Blog tool” journalisitically, but not if they do not uphold the journalistic standard, after all owning or swinging a hammer does not necessarily make one a carpenter.

Three Blogs worth a visit

Here are three links to blogs that I thought would benefit the creativeness in my fellow beaders as they have for me.

http://www.thethinkingblog.com

This blog is an eclectic mix ultimately designed to make your brain active and happy — both things I strive for when preparing to bead my new creations.

http://www.the-bead-place.com/beading-blog/

This blog is full of beaders sharing their creations and their ideas on what helps them be creative, and more.

http://www.slashfood.com/

There are some great recipes here for the real eaters of the world. A Subclub if you will of the beading world. The blog seems to have both old and new recipes available, so you are not just stuck with being told to open these two cans and mix them together.

Enjoy, and if anybody is brave enough to try the wasp cookies at slashfood, please let us know how it goes.

Introduction

I am the Alaskanbeader, and I am currently taking a course to enhance or, more realistically, create my web communication skills. I have taught for the University of Alaska Fairbanks and its affiliates in various capacities for more than 30 years. Additionally I own the brick and mortar beadstore Pristine’s in Fairbanks, Alaska. The stores website is at http://www.pristinesbeads.com and with approximately 1200 pages of beads, books, and other bead goodies available to you it is well worth a visit. Also available through the website are my most current two bead books Pristine’s Beaded Alive: A Natural Beginning and Pristine’s Beaded Beauties: Wolves, Bats and Other Critters of Travel, both of which are also available through http://www.amazon.com

A third publication of mine Adolescent Transitional Suicide is currently at a national publisher and expected to be on the market in early 2008.

My next research project on Adolescent Suicide is just beginning to emerge and seems to be focusing on 1st and 2nd order change, balance, logic, habit, and social reform issues, so you can see why in my real world I BEAD! — It keeps me, and those around me, in balance.