ShowMeBlog

Blogging before 2003

  I been doing a blog for a long time.  In fact I been doing one since 1982!  I know many people say that blogging began in 1995.  They are wrong.  I know they are wrong on that information.
  I could just be the father and inventor of blogging.  Whip that smile off your face buddy!  Smile
  There was a web site that listed the inventor of blogging.  I left a comment on the site and one of the readers of the comment went to ShowMeBlog and checked it out and then he posted a comment that I was not telling the truth because he saw that I started blogging using TypePad in 2003.
  I also had a blog review site do a review of my blog and in the review the guy said that I said I had been online since 1982.  He said the same thing…that I was using TypePad and began blogging in 2003.
  I do not understand how they can not see that I was around and blogging before there was a TypePad, before there was a LiveJournal.  Hell, I was blogging  before there was a world wide web.
  I had to write my own software at first.  I did not use it very long because other people started to write software.

  By the way just before I started using TypePad, 2003, to host my blog I used LiveJournal.  If you want to read my blog before 2003 you will have to go to HowardNet on LiveJournal.  
   I also had a blog on Xanga and it began 12/28/2002.

  I started doing the LiveJournal blog on 06/04/2000.  I made 1,278 post to the site and 242 comments were left on the site.
  The important thing to keep in mind is that I was blogging before there was a TypePad, LiveJournal or even the world wide web.

ShowMeBlog Mobile

  A friend said the best link for this blog is:

http://winksite.mobi/xhtml/ms_bl.cfm?susid=5934

  It strips off all images and all sidebar stuff so you just get the blog entries.

 
  If you can not remember the URL above remember you can use:
www.showmeblog.mobi 

  The other day when we had the power problems I found out later that my problem was when we lost power my connect to my external USB hard drive was lost.  I store some of the data for the email program and data for other programs on that external drive.  When I notice I had no drive D and fixed it then my problems went away.
  Thank God, no more power problems.
  I hope you all are going to have a good 4th of July.  It looks like it is going to be off and on rain here in the Miami (FL) area.  They may get the fireworks off between storms but if you go to an outdoor fireworks show I think your going to get wet.
  If you are shooting off your own fireworks please please use care.
  One night I was working security at a hospital and a patient came into the ER.  He was about 6 years old.  His father shot off a bottle rocket and it hit the boy in the eye and put out his eye.  It was so sad.  The father was very upset and sad.  So please use care.  Be safe and sound.

  I am broke and I am just going to stay at home and watch TV.  I may see if there is any streaming video from some site.

The Disposable Film Festival

Disposable Film Fest '09 Promo from Disposable Film Festival on Vimeo.

  This seems like a great idea. 
Their site is:  The Disposable Film Festival

The deadline for 2010 is August 31, 2009.  They are going to have prizes.  Submission must be under 10 minutes.  Details at their site. 
  I will post the winners here on ShowMeBlog and Howard’s Notebook when they announce them.  It looks like it will be fun.

mobiReady

  I found a neat site called mobiReady.

 
    You can check a page or a site and see how they score a site on how well it will display on a mobile device.
     Now I have been told that ShowMeBlog shows up very well on smart phones.  I know it looks good on my cell phone.  So I did the check and they report that ShowMeBlog will “definitely display very poorly on a mobile phone.” They rate for Readiness, Size, Estimated Cost and Estimated Speed. 

    I then checked Howard’s Notebook and it was about the same as ShowMeBlog.  It had a Score of .92, Size of 298.82k and Speed of 1.58s on WiFi and 3G speed of 17.60s.  Now the GPRS speed was 74.44s.
   I had never checked Howard’s Notebook on my cell phone which is 3G but I have never seen a 3G connection with it.  It loaded pretty fast but it was still loading things but I could view the page.
  So I am not sure how correct the mobiReady site is with their testing.  But they look like a neat site.
  Since so many people are doing stuff on their iPhones and other devices I will be looking to see what I can do to improve my two sites.

The SysOp Next Door

Joe Taibi made a comment about your note "BBS: The Documentary Photos":

“I do remember you're doing something very similar and it was for that very reason i contacted you first when looking for people to join us in the Fidonet thing! I was a user of your BBS for some time before jumping in and doing it as well. By some time meaning a few months since we all know how fanatical we all were back then once we got the bug. And damnit I know you were blogging in the early 80's cause that's what Howard's NOTEBOOK was! A blog! Your Blog! But no one had coined that stupid bastardization of phrases yet! lol”

  If it is not in Wikipedia it is not true.  Smile
I use Wikipedia all the time to look up information.  I guess I need to get someone to enter the information into Wikipedia.
  I wish I had saved old messages and data that would be great.  I wish my memory was better.  I wish the guy that made “BBS: The Documentary” would post my two and a half hour interview.  He started posting some of the interviews with people on the Internet archive site but I guess he got tired of doing it.  It has to be a major amount of work because he interviewed over 200 people.
  If you watch his documentary you will see that many of the people he interviewed still had their old computers, BBS software and all sorts of things saved.  I have nothing.
  My mind is a  blank right now but the guy in Belton that was running the FidoNet hub there at the last…He owned a computer shop..I heard he died.  He was a nice guy but I did not hear about his death until later.  I think he was part of the Fido net wars that seemed to go on later.  You started up the Fidonet thing in KC but later toward the end, I think, there was some real fighting going on.  I was not part of it.  I just wanted the feeds and did not get into the fighting. 
  Jason Scott, creator of the documentary, asked me about FidoNet.  He had some stories about it.  It seems the fighting was taking place not just in KC but all over the United States. 
  There was a lot going on that I did not know about…I was sort of in my own little world and that was Howard’s Notebook. 
  Do you remember “The Sysop Next Door” series of stories that was posted on Howard’s Notebook and that many other BBS picked up and re-printed?  You do know who the author was?  After all these years it can be told.

I should be nude

  This is National Nude Weekend and I should be out at Haulover Beach and be nude.  I been at home all weekend watching WordCamp on the computer.  I am watching it live via uStream. 

“Over 250 bloggers and new media types from all over the Dallas/Fort Worth area and as far away as Germany made our first WordCamp a smashing success in March, 2008. Capitalizing on the energy and excitement of the event, we formed the Dallas/Ft. Worth Area WordPress Meetup Group that has since grown to include nearly 200 members and is the 2nd largest WordPress Meetup group in the world!

This year, we’re moving WordCamp to the Richardson, Texas campus of the University of Texas at Dallas where we expect to have upwards of 300 attendees. The cost for the two day event is only $30 and you’ll get an official WordCamp Dallas 2009 t-shirt and be provided lunch both days. Check out our scheduled speakers, get signed up, follow us on Twitter (hash tag #wcdfw09), and come join us!”

  They are having an excellent event.  They only charge $30.00 for the event.  
  I have learned a few things and got some good ideas.  Plus they were showing the new WordPress upgrade and so I installed it. 

BBS: The Documentary – Part 1 Baud

“The BBS Documentary by Jason Scott Licensed under Creative Commons Description: The BBS documentary part 1 baud [at lower resolution) In the Summer of 2001, Jason Scott, a computer historian (and proprietor of the textfiles.com history site) wondered if anyone had made a film about these BBSes. They hadn't, so he decided he would. Four years, thousands of miles of travelling, and over 200 interviews later, "BBS: The Documentary", a mini-series of 8 episodes about the history of the BBS, is now available. Spanning 3 DVDs and totalling five and a half hours, this documentary is actually eight documentaries about different aspects of this important story in the annals of computer history. * Baud introduces the story of the beginning of the BBS, including interviews with Ward Christensen and Randy Suess, who used a snowstorm as an inspiration to change the world. Among the features of this documentary: * 5 and a half hours of episodes * Over 80 minutes of bonus footage * Commentary Tracks and Statements by Jason Scott * Easter Eggs * Subtitles on all Episodes and Footage * Region-Free DVDS (Play them anywhere) * No Copy Protection, CSS or Macrovision * Licensed under Creative Commons * DVD-ROM Section with: o Thousands of photos o Additional audio interviews o Speeches by Jason Scott and guests”

  This video is 38 minutes long just so you will know.  It is only part 1 of the documentary.

BBS: The Documentary Photos

  Jason Scott made “BBS: The Documentary” between July of 2001 to December of 2004.  He filmed it using a Canon XL-1.  He visited 30 states and one Canadian province.  He shot roughly 250 hours of video.  He interviewed 205 people.
  I was one of the people that he interviewed.  He came to Texas and took over 2 hours of video of me.  Of course only a very little of that shows up in the documentary. 
  One day that entire video will be on the Internet so after I am long gone someone can do research and use that interview and they can check and get information from the other entire 204 interviews.
  Jason Scott made a great documentary but he also has saved the history of bulletin board systems and created a great database of information that will be long after we all gone.

  He also took 11 photos when he interviewed me with a digital camera.  I do not think I have ever posted them all.  You may have seen a few of them.  I think it is about time for you to see them all.

 

View Full Album

FTC plans to monitor blogs for claims, payments

“Savvy consumers often go online for independent consumer reviews of products and services, scouring through comments from everyday Joes and Janes to help them find a gem or shun a lemon.

What some fail to realize, though, is that such reviews can be tainted: Many bloggers have accepted perks such as free laptops, trips to Europe, $500 gift cards or even thousands of dollars for a 200-word post. Bloggers vary in how they disclose such freebies, if they do so at all.

The practice has grown to the degree that the Federal Trade Commission is paying attention. New guidelines, expected to be approved late this summer with possible modifications, would clarify that the agency can go after bloggers — as well as the companies that compensate them — for any false claims or failure to disclose conflicts of interest.

It would be the first time the FTC tries to patrol systematically what bloggers say and do online. The common practice of posting a graphical ad or a link to an online retailer — and getting commissions for any sales from it — would be enough to trigger oversight..”.  Yahoo! Tech

  I am not sure that the FTC needs to be patrolling and monitoring blogs.  On the other hand I do not make $800.00 a month from my blog.  In fact I do not make $80.00 a month.  In fact…well you get the idea.
  I am not sure on this subject.  If you go to a blog and you think it is just some personal blog and the blog talks about food or medication and they are getting paid to recommend those items that might be very important for you to know that the blogger is getting paid.

The Social Media Guide

  A guy found me via Twitter and set up to follow me and so I checked to see who it was and I looked at his tweets and everyone of them was something I was interested in and so I set up to follow him on Twitter. 
  I then checked out his blog:   The Social Media Guide.

“Using Social Media to help you connect to Social Networks: Twitter, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, MySpace, YouTube using new media.”

  He has a pretty neat site.  That is one reason I was messing with Facebook he sells you how do some stuff with Facebook.