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so this is how I could finally thwart the deer (without harming them)
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beautifully simple design made from essentially garbage
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Hell of a costume OH YEAH
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New Creative Commons movie!
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October 2006
October 31, 2006
Crap I love: Zombie Pumpkins
I've never used stencils to create a design on a pumpkin before, but after I watched a friend do it the other day while my freehand pumpkin came out looking like crap, I realized it was worth the time and effort, and wasn't too difficult.
I searched all over last night for good designs and I have to say Zombie Pumpkins wins hands down on stencil design quality. There's a paypal access thing (you can pay whatever you feel like from $2 on up for unlimited access for this halloween season) but after I chipped in a fiver, I got a password and could print anything I wanted. The site also has loads of helpful tips.
This was my first stencil, done in about 15 minutes:
and I was happy with the results. Then I tried something more difficult. It took about 45min and a lot more patience:
I can't say enough good things about Zombie Pumpkins. They have loads of cool designs and they're easy enough to follow that anyone could do them.
October 30, 2006
October 29, 2006
October 28, 2006
October 27, 2006
October 26, 2006
Brilliant, clever hack for apartment dwellers
I love this. If I always went out of the same door (like in an apartment), this would be a lifesaver.
October 25, 2006
October 24, 2006
October 21, 2006
October 20, 2006
Misadventures in Copyright
Last year I moved into a new house with a big backyard, but the yard faces directly south, so it bakes in the summertime. I decided to find a local architect to help build a small shade patio off the back, and in the process I learned a lot about how far-reaching copyright law hits everyday people.
- After meeting with an architect, I was asked to get the plans for the house from the city building department, to use as reference. I drove down and requested them at the desk, and they said they wouldn't give them to me as a homeowner -- the builder of the house had to request them (I assume, because of copyright, so I won't go build a duplicate house on my own?).
- I met up with the builder later that day, since he was building another house in the city. He was surprised and slightly annoyed he had to do this, so he called the department and told them to go ahead and let me see the plans to get copies made.
- The next day the City lets me pick them up, but says I must return them by 5pm the following day (or I guess they turn into a pumpkin?).
- I go to a large local copy shop, drop off the plans, they say they'll be done in two hours.
- 1 hour and 55 minutes later, I get a call saying they can't make the copies, due to copyright. I'm told I need written (verbal isn't good enough) permission from the architecture firm mentioned on the plans before they would copy them. My only other choice is to come in and retrieve the plans.
- I scour the yellow pages online and no one else in the city has a large copier for house blueprint plans. I notice the plans have a paragraph-sized copyright notice/license on the side saying you are liable for $40,000 in damages if found copying them and the plans are only for one house built. There are also hand-stamped "COPYRIGHT" stamps on each drawing, on every page.
- I tell this story to my architect, who says she'd be happy to take the plans to the same copy shop that refused them, since they let her make any copies she needs.
As the owner of a home, of course I don't "own" the design used to build it, but I don't see why the city, the builder, the copier shop, and the original architecture firm all had to stand in my way before I could see the plans. To know where and how many windows are on the back wall before planning new construction off those walls sure seems like a legitimate use of plans that shouldn't impede on copyright, but that's the state of copyright matters today.
October 19, 2006
October 18, 2006
October 17, 2006
October 14, 2006
October 13, 2006
October 12, 2006
October 11, 2006
October 10, 2006
Crap I Love: Muck Boots
This past summer, I finally started using Quicken and running a budget to see where all my money was going. The most important thing I learned was that I wasted a lot of money buying lame junk I didn't need so I stopped. I cut back on spending but realized I still buy stuff that works well and should probably write up a few reviews of the best stuff. I was kicking around the idea of doing an entire site devoted to these reviews, but instead, I'll just make a category ("Crap I love") for this and do them occasionally on this blog. Now on with the review.
Muck Boots (Hoser Mid)
"Gardening" is a misnomer. It's hard work -- yard work. And doing work for hours is no fun if you're not comfortable. This year I knew I'd be doing a ton of work converting my weed-filled blank backyard into an attractive multi-use outdoor space. So I splurged on good tools and good clothing, knowing I'd be spending many hours using both. Part of that was getting some Muck Boots, in this case, I got what they call the "Hoser Mid" (heh heh).
Muck Boots are kind of expensive, starting at around $50 for low-top clog things and going up to around $100 for knee-high boots. The gardening versions have nice soft soles that curve with your feet and the higher sides are made of neoprene like a wetsuit, so if you get them wet, you'll stay warm.
In the past, I've worn cheap plastic/rubber industrial knee-high boots you can get for $20 at a hardware store, and I have the blisters to show for it. I was never comfortable in the cheap boots because they had no arch and never quite fit right. The interior of those boots was like a radial tire and would quickly cause hotspots on my ankles. I hated wearing them and only reserved them for times it was really muddy and I had short chores to do.
Contrasting it with the Muck Boots, these things are like the Air Jordans of gardening shoes. I actually look forward to wearing them because they remind me of a really comfy pair of Merrell slip-ons I have. The arch is high and since the boots are soft, they bend easy with my feet and ankles so I never get blisters or pain. The bottom half of the boots are rubberized and after spending the last four months moving several tons of soil, bark, and gravel, I haven't seen any tears or even much wearing down.
If you dread yard work but need to do a lot of it, I implore you to give Muck Boots a try. Check out the whole line on their site and especially the gardening section. Since I'm in a rainy part of the country, the scrub or hoser boots were key and have worked out great, but I'm sure the lower ones would work just as well in a dry climate.
October 09, 2006
On Blogging, On Gawker, On Dethroner: An Interview with Joel Johnson
A week or so ago, I ran into Dethroner in my web surfing and I was instantly hooked. There was attitude, great original tips, pointers to cool stuff I hadn't seen anywhere else, and there was tons of it. I soon realized it was written by one of my favorite writers, longtime former editor of Gizmodo, Joel Johnson.
I knew he took off from Gawker Media recently and I wanted to know more about what he was working on these days and how he was finding the time and motivation to do Dethroner, so I chatted him up a couple days ago to get the scoop. Joel didn't mind that I wanted to publish it directly from our chat, so here it follows.
If you haven't checked out Dethroner, by all means add the feed to your reader and follow along. For me it hits just the right spot between fashion maven and sports jock, between fine wine and homemade beer, and between step-by-step tutorials and basic tips. I can already tell the site is going to go far and anyone looking to support themselves by blogging should take notice because this is exactly how it is done.
Matt Haughey: What prompted you to start dethroner?
Joel Johnson: A couple of stand-out reasons: I really wanted a place that I could archive a lot of the little bits of wisdom that come into play as a man, but in a way that actually encouraged interaction and even dissent from other guys. Also, I wanted to see if it were possible for a single writer to run a quasi-professional, daily-updated site and actually make a living at it.
MH: It clearly looks like something you should be doing professionally. Are you ok with it making nothing at first? How long do you project until it starts paying for your time writing it?
JJ: I better be okay with it, because there's no real projection of when I might actually turn a profit. I'm sort of internally budgeted about six months, but there's no math behind that. My needs are pretty modest, though; It'd be nice if it paid my rent, but there's a lot of satisfaction in just starting my own little micro-business, even if it's never going to be anything more than what it is right now.
In fact, I sort of hope it doesn't get super-big.... well, maybe not ever, but not for a while. I like things when they're small and just getting started.
MH: So how do you find the motivation for it? I know lots of people (myself included) that might leave a professional writing gig with a book, blog, or magazine and say "fuck this mere pittance they're paying me, I'll do it on my own, and it'll be better, and I'll have complete control and make way more money" but then they can never muster the energy to even begin. This is why I wanted to talk to you -- you have come out of the gate just killing it! And I can't imagine what it takes to muster up that kind of productivity and motivation.
JJ: See, that's so funny to me, because I feel like I'm just barely puttering along.
MH: Really? I signed up to read the feed and I'm amazed by how much original content is popping up every day. It's almost too much, but it's useful and good.
JJ: I've come to realize that I'm a pretty fast writer, which helps. I also am extremely self-critical, so if I don't get six posts up a day I feel like I'm a horrible person.
Also, the more you blog, the better and faster you get. (Which applies to all writing, sure, but so much of what is important about blogging is just getting it out there and worrying about polish later. Or never.)
Suffice it to say, I'm glad to hear that you're not feeling like it's lacking!
MH: Do you want to talk about Gawker at all? How and why did you leave Gizmodo, and what else are you doing these days?
JJ: Sure, it's no big secret. I actually left Gizmodo (and Gawker Media) about a year ago, having pretty much lathered myself into a minor psychic meltdown. I was writing 20 to 30 posts a day, on average, plus managing a couple of interns and fielding public relations calls and emails. I hadn't taken a vacation in a year-and-a-half. When I finally did, I didn't really feel like coming back, so after a couple of weeks I threw in the towel.
Then Lock and Nick enticed me with a low-pressure job starting The Consumerist a few months later, which was a site I'd always wanted to do. (Bad customer service crawls up my urethra and lays eggs in my scrotal justice sack.) Then I ended up getting promoted to Executive Editor, Technology, running Kotaku, Lifehacker, Consumerist, and - yes - Gizmodo. After a few months of that I just sort of realized I didn't like working at Gawker, for various reasons. So I quit.
(Geez, this is getting epic.)
So now! I'm spending most of my mornings working on Dethroner and my afternoons working for Wired as a consultant.
MH: That's awesome. I spent the summer working on a talk about Pro Blogging for a Living and talking to friends about how they could do it and I always need good examples of great writers with good ideas that can create a business from thin air, and Dethroner looks perfect for that.
Also, I like that most of your content is original, it's not just a shopping guide or links, it's like "here's how to use these things and feed yourself and clothe yourself and be a better person."
JJ: I feel pretty strongly that people are missing the whole fucking point of blogs and micro-publishing.
MH: That's what I hammered Nick and Lock on whenever we talked about Lifehacker -- that it was pointless as a link blog to cool stuff, that it should be a source of new information instead.
JJ: Gawker, god love them, is part of the problem, because everybody thinks you need to grow your site into some huge vertical behemoth. But if you talk to Nick, even he will remind you that Gawker.com and Gizmodo.com started out as little niche sites, not magazine fighters.
I started Dethroner with a $20/month hosted plan, a logo I made in 15 minutes in Illustrator, and a free CMS. Granted, I've got a lot of blogging experience, but nothing I'm doing is rocket science. It all boils down to just putting up good content on a consistent basis, but nevertheless people think you need VC and an ad campaign and press releases and all this other horseshit just to start a professional blog these days.
(When obviously all you need is a really high horse.)
MH: Yep. That's what I keep telling people, that you can do this on the side at first if you're passionate about it and have the motivation to write everyday and that taking money is rarely necessary. Thanks for taking the time to talk.
JJ: Thanks for the encouraging words. I'm glad you're enjoying it.
October 08, 2006
October 07, 2006
October 06, 2006
October 05, 2006
October 04, 2006
Top 10 Reasons Why Your 5 Tips About 7 Cutting-Edge Technologies will annoy me
Seriously, the top of digg, delicious, reddit, and every other link aggregator seems to be clogged with Lists of Vital Things You Should Know.
After seeing dozens of them fly by every single day, I'm starting to think it's just lazy headline writing that gets promoted up thanks to our nanosecond attention-span RSS readin' latte drinkin' ruby on rails codin' getting things done task managin' nerd culture.
Cool it with the lists. Feel free to use real paragraphs and explain stuff. I have time.
