Finding News Feeds

Ok, so there are tools to help me find news feeds. I've played with them for a bit, but I'm probably not going to be using them very much. Information overload - if I want to know something, I prefer to go out and look for it, rather than having the trough of knowledge fill itself automatically.

I've looked at Merlin before, never saw much that I was interested in reading about. Most of the content doesn't seem to be targeted at me... and the way my work schedule tends to happen I don't feel drawn into any particular virtual community other than the one that grasps its claws through the bars of my email client.

Just an observation

Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but the cacophony of browser windows that open between my email, blogger account, 23 Things Blog and the subsequent instruction pages is quite confusing. I'm largely making this post because I found this window first, still looking for the description of what I'm supposed to be doing next...

#8 Make Life Really Simple with RSS and a News Reader

RSS I don't mind so much. I've played with it in the past, but I've never found much use for it. Quite frankly, I'm so inundated and overloaded with information that finding a way to drag *more* in to me automatically is nowhere near a priority for me. Most of the places that seem to push RSS are in fact the places where it is the least useful: sites that have a very high flow rate of content. No, I don't need to have every headline from every news site presented to me every morning.

Where RSS, in my opinion, really shines, is when there are a fair number of *very* low traffic information sources that you would like to be able to keep an eye on, but not have to visit all the time. RSS would let you amalgamate that into a nicely sized bundle of up-to-date information and save you time and energy.

Following the instructions for this particular thing however... adding 10 feeds alone sticks you with over 100 individual articles to browse through that I don't have any particular interest in, but still feel obligated to peruse.

I just don't see the benefit in spamming myself in this manner. On the other hand, getting Dilbert automatically is awesome. I was not aware that Dilbert had an RSS feed. One comic a day is a perfect RSS rate as far as I'm concerned.

Technology

Something technology related.

When did technology become equal to electronics? All the examples were purely electronic or internet based, but technology is a larger subject than that. Lets talk about sanitation, or medical research, or space travel. Antibiotics are pretty cool, even though we are reducing their effectiveness through overuse. Advances in farming techniques are also going to become increasingly important if we expect to reasonably feed our growing numbers. If you think the hoops that nations jump through to obtain *oil* are nasty, just wait until the needed commodity is food instead.

Oh wait, an iPhone! Shiny What was I saying?

Mashups

Mappr seemed neat... if I could get it to work. The curse of these sort of third-party applications is that they magnify any slow attributes of the underlying service via calling its features many, many times. I can click on things on the map, but it isn't allowing me to zoom in on photos or see any of the details. (Loading tags...)

Its a goose

Its a goose
Originally uploaded by eliesrl

I've been spotted by the enemy.

Geese

Geese
Originally uploaded by eliesrl

Camera phone takes decent pictures. Notice the tight, military formation of these geese, they are obviously on their way to destroy some particular objective. That can't be good for any of us in the long run, be warned.

Duck Stretching

Duck Stretching
Originally uploaded by eliesrl

He had a long swim, had to stretch out that leg there.

I hate the internet

I absolutely despise the invasive nature of the sign-ins at these websites required in order to complete the 23 things. I already have accounts with some of these people - which I don't want to combine with this program. In my attempts to keep them seperate, I keep getting logged out of one system and into another and asked to give out all sorts of personal information that I don't think they have any business having - including such things as my name, D.O.B. and so forth. It is none of their business, and is a prime reason why I do *not* have an inclination to use any of this fancy smanchy web 2.0 stuff.

Being able to upload pictures lazily on Flikr is *not* worth my personal information, ever. Being pulled into a whole network of sites (You can now do all this with your Yahoo/MSN/Google ID, and we can track you constantly as an individual advertising target!) freaks me out, and I don't even consider myself particularly paranoid.

Would you also like to hate these companies and what they do? I suggest this book.

End of rant.

Easiet Habit

I would have to say that habit 7 1/2, Play, is the easiest of the listed habits for me. I don't think all of the others are necessary applicable, they seem very structured in their approach to learning (with the exception of the learning-from-your-challenges one). In general they seem to be written for the 'learning on purpose' crowd, of which I cannot claim to be a member. I don't learn well in a structured environment... I very much hated school as a child.

Test Post 1

This is a test post.