I like the current design of tcrbang.com but after using it for the last three months I’ve come to the realization that it’s not near functional enough. Too much of something that I don’t like, maybe it’s the clicking.

So I put pencil to paper and sketched out a preliminary drawing of a new “interface” since the goal of this is to make it more web-appy.

It’s a crappy photo, I know. My phone has a crappy camera so I don’t got that going for me. And no, it’s not a Twitter rip-off but rather a rip-off of a “vertical view” email client.

All my web developments start out with pencil and paper, then move to Photoshop and finally to HTML work. It’s much easier for me to get a good feel for the layout when I’m not pushing CSS pixels. Plus, I like the feel of paper and the smell of graphite.

#tcr

Unity is the end of Ubuntu

To be perfectly clear, I am not complaining that Unity is different from traditional GNOME. I can deal with things being in a different place. I can deal with improvements that are hard to adjust to. What I can’t deal with is extra actions that make me think too much about the software; I can’t have these kinds of distractions. I’ve lost productivity because the Ubuntu UI was redesigned for the utterly stupid, leaving experienced experts like me to rot.

Similar to the author, I started the update for Xubuntu 11.10 yesterday afternoon when I got home from work, thinking nothing about it since all previous upgrades have gone without a hitch. Typically only Samba gives a peep of resistance. Again, similar to the author, installation borked near completion.

Fortunately an act of some Linux god pushed the machine to reboot and I was able to get everything back to stable state using apt-get upgrade -f afterward.

Unfortunately the default desktop is living in a weird mid-90s-Windows state where the background is a light blue. No matter what I set the background image and/or color to, it won’t stick. The various application windows seem torn between showing themselves in that fresh install Win95 theme and Xubuntu’s default.

Worse still, Thunar opens up my home directory on login and there’s this stupid on-screen keyboard pops up. I can find ZERO setting that will turn either off.

Any System Settings app changes seem to be completely ignored by whatever under-the-hood thing that went afoul. I’m about ready to just power down the machine completely and move the rsync dumps to the MacMini.

I know that I can fix these if I Google and tinker but the thing is, I’m older now and I actually want to use my computers. Gone are the days when I reformatted my HP with Win95 every six months because I had nothing else to do.

Elsewhere (and a couple weeks old):

Has Gnome 3 decided that people shouldn’t want screen savers?

#linux

I bet he could bend steel just with his mind or maybe even with that glance. A few years back, he had one look at a slab of aluminum and molded it into the MacBook Air chassis.

He really stands out on Apple’s Executive Profiles with all the other “smilies” on the page. It sort of reminds me of the “there’s one thing not like the others.”

Come to think of it, the executives aren’t really the best example of “diversity” I’ve ever seen.

#apple

Oh Crap. My Parents Joined Facebook.

So, you finally caved. You’ve accepted a friend request from your Mom, Dad, crazy Aunt Ida, and your college roommate’s newly divorced mother. Well here’s your chance to get back at them for taking away your public privacy.

Funnier than funny. My personal favorites.

#facebook

inertia writes:

And I thought,
There wasn’t anything left to say.

***
Why do I feel like every turn-on
Is a string - that just ends up being - attached?
[That it’s a privilege just to be the trailing in your wake]

But fumbling for your smile has left me with nothing but bruised knees.

***
At one point I thought you were only to be taken as prescribed
But you’re only a complication to the disease-

[an unethical remedy]

-and maybe for that reason…

…it’s purely self indulgent [inflicted] that I dote
On this compliment fishing - but we’ll save that for another day.
I can already feel the let down.

***
I have watched you under a magnifying glass and noticed:
That even the imperfections in your pores
Are products of something transcendent of my own.

***
I wait.
Feeling the air cascade beneath
My outstretched fingers
As you pass
In the hall
Without noticing
My fading countenance.

***
Knowing that if you falter it will only send me crashing.

[adieu]

#writtenword

Nobody Cares

In his very first season as coach, Parcell’s team, The New York Giants, was hit with a rash of injuries. He worried incessantly about the impact of the injuries on the team’s fortunes, as it is difficult enough to win with your best players let alone a bunch of substitutes. When his friend and mentor Raiders owner Al Davis called Parcells to check in, Parcells relayed his injury issues. Parcell’s: “Al, I am just not sure how we can win without so many of our best players. What should I do?” Davis replied…

This is good CEO, coach and just life in general advice.

#rememberthis

Google To Begin Encrypting Searches & Outbound Clicks By Default

In Google’s new system, referrer data will be blocked.

…

This will not be the case for ads. Google told me they feel advertisers need to have this additional data, and that they felt passing along the referrer data in that case was important but still meeting the balancing.

Personally, I find this confusing. If you’re going to improve privacy, don’t leave an out for your paid advertisers. Improve it for your users. But the ability to allow advertisers to still perform landing page targeting was perhaps seen as too important to drop, for now.

I just quoted the parts that I found interesting of course. 10 to 1 odds that Google will never cut their customers (advertisers) off from the referer data. That’s their revenue butter after all.

In related news: After we learned that Facebook cookies always track us, I’ve taken a harder stance with cookies in general. All are now blocked by default and I only whitelist sites that I need an account for.

#google

A sense of bewronging

Whatever happens on Quora, I have no faith that my searches on Google will be improved by anybody’s “+1,” any more than my searches have been improved by “social” whatever. Here’s why: usually I’m looking for something very specific. And often what I’m looking for is not for sale.

In most cases I use Google and Bing the way I use a dictionary: to look something up. I don’t need a “recommendation” when I just want to know how to spell “mocassin”. Stand back, everybody. I think the dictionary should have it. Thank you.

Play along or take your ball and go home.

#socialmedia

Poll: 50% of Americans — a record high — favor legal marijuana

According to a poll released by Gallup on Monday, 50% of Americans surveyed say marijuana use should be legal — up from 46% last year. This year, 46% percent said it should be illegal.

Those numbers mean that, for the first time in the poll’s 42-year-history, Americans who say that marijuana should be legal outnumber those who say it should be illegal.

It makes no difference to me, never been a fan.

#medical

4chan’s Chris Poole: Facebook & Google Are Doing It Wrong

“Google and Facebook would have you believe that you’re a mirror,” he said, “but in fact, we’re more like diamonds.” - multi-faceted. It was an appeal reminiscent of the one he gave at SXSW earlier this year, but it hit harder. Google Plus has since arrived, and Poole says it’s even worse than Facebook for the future of online identity.

It wasn’t until Facebook and Twitter came along that I ever used my real name. I’m trying to fix that now.

Elsewhere:

• Nym Wars

#paddling