CogBlogged from ‘April, 2005’

Google is good. Google is great. I wish I kept better records of this, but I have vague recollections of finding some of my most favorite web discoveries at perhaps 3 links downstream of a search, or just by following a suggested link to one source and happen-stancing (random clicking) elsewhere. So I use search most often while looking for specific things, but for discovery, it is really just the first layer of yielding primary sources. It is those secondary, tertiary, (quadriary?) exploration links that lead to the hidden gems. So this morning, when I stumbled into something completely useful without it popping in a search result (and the fact I was not even looking for it initially), I am just compulsed to write it up at home before going into work, and will likely late for work. So it started with an item that popped up in a few [...]

Whew! An hour ago I finished my one hour keynote presentation for the TCC 2005 Worldwide Online Conference. They asked me to talk about the future, so I hit them with a whiplash induced thing I created, “Harry Mudd, Small Pieces, and that Not Widely Distributed Future”: I thought I had way too much in there, but by talking fast and skimming details I sprinted through 45 screens and 2 web demos in 45 minutes. I used my worn our Star Trek metaphor for how Harry Mudd and gang fooled Norman the Robot, then went through 10 rounds of technologies using a structure of the “Wired, Tired, Expired” feature of Wired Magazine, and threw in the closing bit of Small Technologies Losely Joined, and Rip, Mix, Learn. Nearly all the images were found in flickr (and duly noted by URL in the screen shots). While the entire Elluminate recorded version [...]

flickr foto The New Phone Book is Here! The New Phone Book is Here!available on my flickr Taking a cue from the quote in Steve Martin’s The Jerk, “here” is actually our recycling container. Can you believe in this age of dwindling natural resources and internet based information, that we get dumped on our door step at least 7 different phonebooks, a pile 22 inches high? I’ve not flipped trough a paper phone book in 4 years. The waste is shameful and stupid. Are there any Navin R. Johnson’s left in the world who think: The new phone book’s here! The new phone book’s here! This is the kind of spontaneous publicity I need! My name in print! That really makes somebody! Things are going to start happening to me now. I thought printed phonebooks went the way of the dodo bird.

Who is better? Yahoo or Google? How do they compare for specific searches? YaGoohoo!gle, which apparently started out as an April Fool’s joke. is now more than a joke. Via a simple, familiar search form, this site will produce a side by side search result from the big two engines. The author’s blog offers some code to embed a search form in your own sites. Here’s a comparison search for something I am familiar with….

More frivolity (blog tip of the hat to Kottke) for HTTP in tha House. You submit a URL, and the web site extracts the text, combines them into 16 lines, uses a rhyming dictionary, and pops out a series of random rap-like lyrics. Real word use? minimal. Fun and randomness? priceless. Here is the new CDB rap…. HTTP in tha House lyrics by: http://cogdogblog.com/alan/ barrett a nestor martinez http jade mcli dist maricopa says href http http jade mcli dist maricopa free karan johar simply rock and wrench and a grease gun band accessible this form publishes no comments php aglow flickr related tag solid c border right snag coffee shop which maricopa edu twitch his aa degree in computer spam for neuter solid pad edu alan archives php march bad JADE DOT MCLI DOT DIST DOT MARICOPA DOT EDU IN THA HOUSE JADE DOT MCLI DOT DIST DOT MARICOPA [...]

Although I noted yesterday that my own technical gaffs had erase all of our blog comments going back to September 2004, I did comb through the last database dump from early March 2005 and sifted out the legit comments for Sept 2004 – March 3, 2005, so the loss was the last month and a half. It was fairly trivial with BBEdit to semi-manually sift out all the spam roach poop. There were a total of 1947 rows in the comment table of the database (for about 6 blogs, mostly inactive) and out of those, I deleted 1662 spammies, easily identified by their repeated patterns, url encrusted comments, and general stench. There were sequences of more than 150 in quick succession to a dormant blog (which is now fenced off). And the captcha security code on the comment form is working like a dream, perfection, baby.

Next week, April 19-21, is the 10th annual Teaching, Colleges, Community (TCC) Worldwide Online Conference, or affectionately known as “the online conference from Hawaii where you do not get to go to Hawaii”. I’m ramping up to deliver a live keynote session on April 21 (see below). The theme this 10th anniversary year is “Looking Back Toward the Future”: Since the 1970s, the impact of educational technology has been relentless and ever changing. What can we learn from our past? What’s hot and what’s not? Where are we going? What would we like to see? Through your experiences, we ask that you remind us, guide us, and help us navigate towards the future. Join us on our 10th anniversary of the TCC Worldwide Online Conference to share your expertise, experiences and knowledge relevant to the use of information technology in learning, teaching and academic services. This event will also be [...]

Arizona may not have a reputation for producing local independent movies, but Never Been Thawed may change all that. I saw the previews a few weeks ago, and could tell it would be a riot. Yup, I going by my guy and saying it is a good movie before having seen it…. Better known (or not) as “NBT”, the movie is a mockumentary in the vein of This Is Spinal Tap. Apparently, NBT takes a look at the small worlds of sub-cultures weaving everything from th eMesa Frozen Entrée Enthusiasts Club, collectors of frozen food (more value for items never thawed, hence the name) to a punk rock turned Christian rock band (they changed every f-word to “pray”) to a pregnancy telephone counselor at the “Bill Clinton Crises Center” to a barbershop run by clowns to the No Choice coffee shop which serves anti-abortion protestors… well that’s what I’ve gleaned [...]

Yesterday I was trying to clean out a swath of comment spam on a blog we set up for one of our college’s sites, wiping directly from the database, e.g.: DELETE FROM mt_comments WHERE comment_blog_id=XX AND comment_author like “%poker%” DELETE FROM mt_comments WHERE comment_blog_id=XX AND comment_text like “%cialis%” DELETE FROM mt_comments WHERE comment_blog_id=XX AND comment_email like “%mail.ru%” It’s kind of fun watching them go wooshing down the drain in batches like that. Apparently one of my commands was a little too aggressive (where I took all out above a certain ID and forgot to restrict it to the one blog), and I’ve munged all comments since September 2004! Oh well, that’s why I have hourly database backups… Back we go into the depths of the database, armed with a wrench and a grease gun to patch things up…. Update: Gulp. My backup scripts were dying over the last 2 months. [...]

Hey! Have you heard about this new cool thing called “blogging“? Well, shucks, it looks like the folks down at Blackboard central have stumbled on to it! Innovation! Yup, with all the expertise and license bucks piled up down there, they have set up “The Blackboard Weblog” at … Blogger.com? http://www.blackboardblog.blogspot.com/ And all those Bbig Bbad Bbroad misspellings down in Bbaltimore are intentional. Bbbbbbbbbloggin’ Have fun with this one, James!