Abundance I used to rely on a website to remind me of birthdays that were coming up of family members and friends. About 5 days prior to that event, I would get an e-mail announcing it. Very useful. For some reason, the e-mails stopped coming, even though the website still seems to be operational. No worries. I set out to look for a downloadable program to remind me of birthdays.
I always like to go hunting for software. It is more like shopping, really, though I'm not planning to pay anything. Yes yes, I mainly go for "freeware", you can boo all you want. But the reason is simple: for most programs, there is freeware available. And sometimes this freeware works just as well, if not better, than the "shareware". And I simply don't wish to spend a lot of money on software that I could do perfectly without or that I could find free alternatives for.
If you turn to some software sites, such as Tucows (mirror), or Webattack, or Filebasket, you should find plenty of 'goodies'. You can either do a search on the site, or browse the several categories. But then the real task starts: picking out the one for you. The initial excitement turns into bewilderment because of the abundance. Let's go back to my project. Birthday reminder. Dozens of programs are out there. Some shareware, some freeware. Which one to pick? It takes quite some time to check each one out (I don't mean downloading it and trying it, of course, but first reading about it, "feeling" the home page, looking at screenshots...).
Everybody has a different taste. But sometimes I wonder: how many people, at one point or another, are hunting for exactly the same 'Easter egg'? I am sure there must be someone else, somewhere, who is looking for exactly the same type of birthday reminder that I am (was). What a pity that everyone goes through the same (fun, but eventually tiring) search. Oh yes, you could first visit a site like Epinions, to find out what others think. But in the end all the information and opinions will start to choke you, if you're not careful.
I should learn to cut it short. So, in short: everyone has his own preferences. There is no "universal solution". In the end, I did download a program, a nice one. But it seemed a bit too "big". The problem with a lot of programs is that they want to be 'extensive'. When you want something to remind you of birthdays, you don't need lots of bells and neon lights. So accidentally I came across this one. Very minimal, very small, but to the point and efficient. They don't come better than that.
Knives out It's about time I tell you about these 2 guys at work. Well, guys... actually I should say "wise men". They are something else. Older, true. But their insight! Their wisdom! Their ..... allness!
I look up to these men, I tell you.
One of them is about 60 years of age. He does not type anything, I don't think he knows how to. Let that NOT hamper in any way your feelings about what I am going to tell you! This man recently made a statement. I have to admit: at first I thought he was raving mad. That he was an oooooold guy protesting against the invention of the train. Or the wheel for that matter. But only after thinking deeply about what he meant did I realize that I had found my true master.... Respect!
The statement was: "Pfff Internet - all this hype! I tell you, in 10 years time nobody will even talk about Internet anymore! It will have completely died out!".
Think about it. We are dealing here with a modern-aged visionary! And imagine the nerve it must take to actually DARE to state something so bold as this! This man is unique. Basing himself solely on his complete lack of knowledge in the field and the over-all, general news items about the "internet hype", this Messiah concludes such a deep, surgically precise conclusion! Indeed, Internet is just a hype. A play-ground for children. A temporary fashion. The person I am talking about is actually using this despicable medium to send e-mails to his daughter in China. But what is an e-mail, taking seconds to convey emotions, thoughts, even pictures to the other side of the world as it were, compared to the brutal, inhuman loss of the good old-fashioned feel of a real letter? Bring back the 2-week delivery times!! Bring back the good old writing paper and quiff ! (I mean pen). Bring back the multi-euro stamps! Be gone with this swift, flashy new communication techniques!
Time for the second wizard.
Statement of the second wizard: "Pffffff Internet, nowadays kids..... they don't know who Leonardo da Vinci is anymore, they only know how to LOOK UP Leonardo da Vinci on the Internet! It's a disgrace!". Sit down. Let it sink in for a while. Of course the second wizard could not read what I am writing now, even if I sent him a mail with a link to this page. But that is beside the point. There is a lot of truth in his statement too. I mean, I remember when I was a kid. Once the doctor (old, wrinkly and crumpled) came to see my mother and noticed I was handling a calculator. He remarked "oh these calculators! this way kids really forget how to count for themselves!". Never mind the fact that I was doing calcs for a mathematics exercise. Never mind that it went much quicker that way. Never mind that the guy was a fossil. He was right, wasn't he? Why give up on the old, prehistoric habits? Why use the modern, quick, efficient ways, when you can just rely on the good old medieval techniques?
This second statement, thus, really hits the mark. Kids know how to use the Internet (after all, Internet was created 'for kids', right?), but that's all they do. Use it. What a scandal! Never mind that looking up Leonardo da Vinci also actually gives you results that might take weeks in the public library. Never mind that you can virtually (no, really) ask a school kid in Milwaukee what he/she thinks about the subject in no time, never mind that your kid has a friggin gigantic encyclopedia at his/her disposal in no time.... It's still a DISGRACE!
Internet is an evil, useless hype that is about to die. Take it, please, from these two men of the world. I believe in them. They stand for everything I believe in. And I have had the honour and privilege of being in their immediate company for about 6 years. That should count for something.
(I'm getting out of my job actually - which has nothing to do with the story told above).
Linux While listening to the newest cd of The Notwist, I write this. A few weeks ago, I saw The Notwist in concert. Groovy! (might be the wrong choice of word for their type of music though). A few years ago, the Notwist website looked different. Sober, but stylish. Also back then one could download every song of their first cd. I don't know if that is still possible, simply because I did not have the patience to browse their site. Oh it looks special enough. But the clearness of the structure has vanished. It seems to be the way things go. Flash, Java... great things. But I have a problem with 'special' sites that, in all their "specialness", make it hard to find where is what and how to get where. Maybe I should take more the time to find out. But I don't want to. Or maybe a site should have two accesses: the grand entrance and the side gate. Or an opening page with two options: "do you have time and patience for some flashy stuff?" or "just take me straight to the stuff". Or something like that.
Maybe lately I am complaining too much. Maybe I should change my state of mind a bit (a manual, anyone?).
On a side note, lately I have been digging a bit deeper into the phenomenon called Linux. I am not going to go "geeky" on you here. Anyone remotely interested in the subject and in my most humble experiences with it can go here. Cheers.
Dilemma Only recently, because of this blog, I have been using a counter. You know, a counter, this service where a little icon appears on your site. Through this icon you get to a page full of details: who visited your site? when? using what OS? from which country? how did they get to my site? and so on... Handy little thing.
After all, that is also part of being present on the World Wide Web, no? Not just the being present, but also the being read, the being noticed!
A while ago, my sister visited the blog. I saw it through the counter. I recognized the link that brought her there, and the domain of course.
But I have a problem. To start off, my system automatically rejects this procedure (thanks to the cookies settings in IE and also thanks to SpyBlocker). Why is that? Well because basically these counters gather information from you. Every time you visit a page with a counter, you are being... well... counted. It's not that your full name and address are registered, of course. But your domain, operating system, even screen resolution, the way you got to the page... are being logged.
I don't like that. I want to go and visit my favorite webcam site without every time leaving a distinct footprint! I understand very well their need to get an idea of how frequently they are being visited, but I prefer to be an anonymous visitor. Due to the way I get registered when surfing there from work, they can easily pinpoint me. Meaning that if they put a little effort in it, they can narrow me down to one of about 30 people.
Think about it.
Being a big fan of privacy, always, everywhere, this is obviously in violation with my beliefs. It is cute to suddenly notice that "hey! someone from Turkey just visited my blog!". But that's about it. This someone probably happened to be on the Blogger site and noticed the title of your blog on the left, among the "10 recently updated blogs".
So it's time to be consequent. To kick the counter out the window. To restore the safety settings of SpyBlocker. If people visit, then let people visit. They have an e-mail address if they really want to say something. Or the possibility to comment on each posting.
(I hear someone sneeringly remark "all this belgian bla bla just to cover up the fact that you are eliminating the counter out of sheer frustration for not getting hits" - to that person I say: "You do not exist").
