Google Reader: a retrospective

When I first heard, I admit I was furious. I don't normally set much store by interweb facilities. Sure, I enjoy Facebook for the photos, LinkedIn for the networking, Gmail/Rocketmail/Hotmail for the communications, but apart from some very light blogging and tweeting (as evidence by this neglected blog) I really could say I'm cyber-lite. I don't have such capabilities on my mobile telephone. I access the internet by a slightly more advanced version of dial-up or visit the local internet-enabled cafe (and use gallons of bandwith/electricity for a very reasonable 40p bottle of spring water). I never even text, let alone send photo messages - do you know how expensive they are?

So, when I learned that the one crucial site that I used LOADS was disappearing for no good reason, I was fuming.

I joined this petition. I grumbled to people lengthily. I was very sad. I had used my Google Reader account for as long as it had been available. I had stored there all my subscriptions to comics, blogs, job searches, news updates, etc. I thought it would last forever. I actually thought what a fun insight it would provide should I ever leave this mortal coil unexpectedly early, my nearest and dearest taking comfort in all the funny cartoons I enjoyed and serious political debate on which I kept tabs.

I knew that good ol' Google wouldn't be persuaded. Someone had mentioned the costs of keeping it alive and compared it to the revenue possible, but we GReader scamps weren't cross-posting or tweeting or blogging or promoting enough. We could have been punished another way. Make it slower. Fill it with ads. Do a YouTube and make us watch a commercial before we could get to the good stuff.

Instead there was just a steady reminder to back-up, download, collect and otherwise archive the information lovingly contained therein before the big power switch in the sky was turned off.

Resignedly I searched for alternatives. I tried Old Reader, but it didn't float my boat. I'm now using Feedly, but I'm still not convinced. I wanted more functionality for free, but maybe I'm just greedy.

I'm no longer angry. Strangely, it subsided pretty quickly. Feedly is now my go-to site after Facebook and my various email providers.

However, I'm beginning to think Google's Do No Harm promise is ringing hollow...

Technology alert!

Here comes the science bit! [hair swoosh]

Okay, I am a superbusy gal, so I like shortcuts. Digsby is a life saver - I cannot rave over it enough. It is a social media aggregator - so I can run it and it checks all my various email accounts (pop, Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo), my IMs (Yahoo, Facebook, Hotmail, Gchat) and my social networks (Twitter, Facebook updates, LinkedIn). I've also installed a widget that let's readers of this blog chat with me if I am online. However, I cannot get it to work - it constantly says connection failed, even when I am online to test the conversation function, which comes to the next bit of geekery.

Mozilla's Firefox is great, I love it, I do not want to switch to Chrome. But I am finding that some content of this blog wont work unless I use Internet Explorer - aaargh. Importantly the twittercounter widget that let's me see which twitter users have viewed my blog (as long as they sign in with twittercounter, too). Also the fancy new widgets that let readers see the most recent posts with and without thumbnails of the pages (I've installed two to see which one works best - - answer? Neither). These only work in IE. Exasperating!

Further in my trials of woe is my Twitter experience which is being hampered by a shoddy interface. I am tired of clicking home to get to a link to see all the people I am following. I am tired of having to go through all the names of the people I follow to decide which list they should be in - why not drag and drop? Why not highlight the ones you want (ctrl+-shift) and then assign the list? Why not make the whole thing EASIER?

On the bright side, I have emailed Digsby to ask them to include the ability to connect with Skype, Academia.edu, eBay messages, hi5 and friendsreunited.

I hope they hear my plea!

Tweeting with celebrities

I guess it is to do with the small world theory - that everyone is connected. The famous 6 Degrees experiment, Facebook group and book - like "Collective Dynamics of the 'Small-World' Network" that Jack was supposed to have read in 2 Days in Paris.

Feeling connected with the rest of humanity is important - unless you are a misanthrope or sociopath. So when you get on twitter and aimlessly send tweets to people who you don't know and they reply - it is fantastically exciting. Someone is voluntarily interacting with you - without any hope of meeting you (so there is no chance that they want something from you), without having been tempted by your physical appearance to engage in conversation (unless you have a saucy photo - mine's just an image of animal skin).

When it is a celebrity who tweets back, boy, is that a thrill! It first happened to me with Amber Benson (who played Tara in Buffy) - I got a Direct Message (DM), that no-one else could see - but I figured she had staff who did these for her, or they were automated (like when you follow someone a 'thank you' comes immediately) - but now I think it was really her typing real letters to communicate with me!

Then Sue George (a great writer of many genres including bisexuality) sent me an @BioGal reply for all the world to see! Since then the ball has kept rolling! Gail Porter sent me two - and then Celeb Retweet sent out her reply to me again so I am  now famous, too! Maybe they think I am one of her gal-pals! Finally (for now), I had a reply from the incomparable Dorothy Snarker (blogger and writer for AfterEllen, etc.).

I wondered briefly if I was the only one to get replies - I'm not. This article actually gives advice about how to get celebrities to reply.

I would add this advice:
*Don't spam with responses too frequently, even if they are refreshing or sage - you will look like a stalker.
*Refer to them respectfully - Mr/Miss/Mrs - you are not their friend, don't use their first name.
*Oh, and don't blog about how they have responded to you... it looks less than classy. Please see this article as evidence!

How a child misses biological parents

I wonder if children of single parents miss their 'other' parent. I wonder if two dads, or two mums, can make up for the fact that the other biological parent (of the other gender) is not known/around. What if the missing parent is the same gender as the child; can a boy raised by two lesbians feel the lack of a leading man?

What about adoptions and egg/sperm donations? Do those children ache to know the people with whom they have a genetic connection?

This article goes someway to look at the very real pain children can feel at a missing part of their life. For this little boy he remembered a father and knew his mother prevented them from seeing one another.

So do you miss what you never knew you had?

Internet memories

My first foray into the internet was my Hotmail email address. I chose a moniker that my 18 year old self thought was funny and unique and was able to get it without having to add a number on the end like so many of my peers. I even got xxxxxxxxxxxxxx@hotmail.com - whereas lately there was a request to shift to hotmail.co.uk to free up the main domain names.

I must have signed up, created profiles and gotten email addresses to about fifty sites, at a conservative count.

The blog entries here that are entitled 'Comments on other blogs' are an attempt to round these ether identities into a tidy basket. It is not easy. Three Facebook identities, three hotmail email addresses, three Gmail addresses (one of which has been taken over by my father now), a rocketmail address (Yahoo), two work addresses, two Blogger identities, Wikipedia identity and countless other identities to get access to certain features of websites (full article access, the right to post comments, etc.). These are all connections with faceless and location-unknown computer servers that have little pieces of knowledge about me in them. Together they might form a general impression of me as a person.

I rarely give my exact date of birth - I tend towards Jan 1st 1979, because that is the easiest to enter when required in the 'sign up' form. I pick some sort of play on my name - I have used about twenty, I think, some with numbers, mostly without. I might choose some hilarious question for the inevitability that I will forget the correct log in details for these infrequently used sites.

Should I know where all this knowledge is? Should I try to track it all down?

For the love of language...

Check out the Wiki article on polari, the language used by Romany and theatrical types with a huge queer slant, based on Romany and thieves' cant. How many of the words from the glossary do you use? I use LOADS! I was really surprised!

Ever wondered what would happen when the apocalypse comes, when you are really hoping for Utopia? Then utopalypse is for you! What a great word!

Too many books? Then copy this artist and make them into sculpture. The photographs are awesome...

If you have too many social media connectivity network app's then Digsby, Tweetdeck and Skimmer might be for you... I used all three, but am thinking of trying Nomee - this claims to do all the other links and SO MUCH MORE! Now, if I can get youtube, gmail, google reader, hotmail, msn messenger, facebook, LinkedIn, Hi5, Where are you now?, FriendsReunited, blogger dashboard, iGoogle, academia.edu and the other gazillion sites I meant to be a member of, then I would be sorted!

Learning to love the word cunt: a young teacher gets a lesson in language from his LGBT students

Needing help to step out of the closet? This handy-help guide is the answer.