Michael Gracie

ReadWriteWeb posted a handy list of Yahoo! Pipes, particular for those who need to filter their morass of social services feeds. Note for the newbie: you can build off the pipes in the lists, essentially customizing them to your own specifications before you subscribe. Utilizing a shared pipe also reduces the need for programming skills, something raw pipe building kind of requires.

I use the Yahoo! Pipes service simply to translate the feed (see bottom) from this blog. Additional note: if you are a Wordpress & Feedburner user, and are also using the convenient Feedsmith plugin, you’ll need to make a quick mod to said plugin. Look near the bottom of the Feedburner_Feedsmith_Plugin.php file for the agent redirects:

if (!preg_match("/feedburner|feedvalidator|pipes/i", $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'])) {
add_action(’template_redirect’, ‘ol_feed_redirect’);
add_action(’init’,'ol_check_url’);
}

See how I’ve added “|pipes” at the end of the preg_match search string? Add the same, and the plugin will ignore the redirect for requests from Yahoo! Pipes so you can use your pre-processed feed at pipes.yahoo.com. It works nicely here, proving any joker can do it .

Rough schedule today, hence the laziness

• Doing what I couldn’t with TotJot, and sounds just as nice - TotSpot. The company is presently in private beta, which is something we didn’t do at TotJot - our engineering arm built a solid, extensible platform and then we decided to go the PR consulting route (despite having PR experience on the team already). Bad move (along with overbuilding the backend infrastructure before having a real user base), but the concept is still bright, and I wish TotSpot all the best. Mashable is presently handing out some invites.
• What has eight letters, begins with an “F”, and may turn out to be a very useful web utility? No, not Facebook…Freebase. I tinkered with Freebase some time ago, and now Alex Isgold has an update on the open database platform.

And last but certainly not least…

• Democracy sans justice - A kindergarten teacher allows their students to vote an autistic classmate out of the room. Worse - it wasn’t done by secret ballot - the child was forced to stand in front of the classroom while this public humiliation took place. Even worse - the teacher admitted the case, yet has been placed in an “administrative position.” I wouldn’t let my dog within 50 miles of this teacher.

How many coats of stripper does it take to get to the primer on a Tootsie Roll pop?

A bike, first left in storage and then propped in a corner, became a weekend project. The thought was change the look, shed a pound or two, and make it a little more comfortable for its out-of-shape owner. And that’s precisely what happened.

Sans parts, Complete Powder Coating and Paint of Denver did a fine job on the preliminary looks. What was once team red paint (and too many decals) became very plain satin black. The folks at Complete were the upfront choice for the job because they were the only ones who asked questions like “does it have a swingarm?” and “have you already removed the bottom bracket and headset cups?” I felt even more comfortable when dropping it off - there were bike frames everywhere. Regardless, they did a great job - the finish is exactly how I wanted it, and the added satin clear coat they put on assures me it’ll be a long time before I see metal via flying rock chip.

There was no way I was going to pay for refinishing and not throw in a few updates. This bike is aluminum, and the tubing is big. Hence, it is very stiff and the hands feel it. So, out went the freshly powder coated aluminum bars (and the forged stem), and on went carbon fiber. I chose a Ritchey Carbon WCS married to a Race Race Next fat bar, and capped it off with Ritchey TruGrips. In addition, no control panel of this magnitude of excellence should be attached to the frame by anything stock, so I replaced the previous headset with a Chris King NoThreadSet [stem and bars were provided by the kind folks at Pedal Pushers, and the headset was had via Performance Bike - both at great deals]. Beyond feeling much lighter and absorbing much of the “hand shock”, it looks pretty cool staring down at all that black weave (and the fork brace is already carbon fiber, so it blends in nicely). The bothersome (to me) shift indicators were removed, and I am looking for some plastic caps to replace the holes presently covered by everyone’s favorite patch all, duct tape.

Second to last, but certainly not least…the SPD pedals (which I never could get out of easily) were replaced with Crank Brothers Ti Eggbeaters [thanks to Bicycle Source US], and as I am in no rush to repair flats I swapped the otherwise very nice Specialized quick releases with bolt-on Control Tech titanium skewers [from Universal Cycles]. Very last…tubes are gone, and NoTubes rim strips and goop take their place. I’ve also permanently removed the bottle cage and pump - I’m rolling with Camelback and CO2 from here on out.

It looks the part, and while I never bothered weighing components the setup clearly feels like it’s shed a few inches. Now I am going to put a hitch of some sort on this puppy and use it to tow a pontoon boat into the mountains, since recession has hit fly fishing .

Read more »

I’m not sure if The Associated Press is now a subsidiary of the National Association of Realtors, but their headlines sure make them seem that way…

Home sales unexpectedly rise in April :

Sales of new homes rose in April for the first time in six months although the unexpected increase still left activity near the lowest level in 17 years.

The headline should have said…

“Home sales ‘unexpectedly’ revised downward for March so April’s look much better, and we hope the NAR will stop telling their members that the housing decline is entirely the fault of the press”

The downward revision / “this month’s great” game has been going on for some time.

UPDATE: Even easier - New Home Sales Fall 42%.

Like a linkfest link barrage, only post-nap

• George Soros says it’s an oil bubble; he could have been nice enough to comment here, instead of going straight to the mainstream media. Still, speculation is rampant.
• Jerome Kerviel didn’t act alone? Once again, no surprise here.
• Giving away your product, while praying, should not be part of your business plan’s executive summary. If that’s your strategy, then bury the praying part in notes to the projections (nobody ever looks at those).

It’s cloudy/gloomy out…good weather for more napping.

UPDATE: If you decided to sleep too, there’s now more on the oil speculation bit here.

Noting if you drive 65 mph the whole way, you save a lot of gas

I spent Sunday night out. Green Mountain Reservoir was the spot, and casting double streamers into the Corey’s Slough (named after the joker who discovered it) runout was the game plan. Arrived, set up the tent, and then took the dog for a walk-n-fish. Caught 30+ 20+ little guys before realizing I didn’t forget my camera (it was tucked away in the vest - very unlike me to be prepared).

Finally caught some decent pics as the sun went down (and before the pup and I struggled back down to the fishing hole in the dark to knock off a few more rainbows).

House for a night - a green tent deserves Green Mountain Dam

Losing light - but we’ll fish some more anyway

Dog sees squirrel - dog frozen in his tracks, as he knows he is outmatched

Better than the city, and used less than half a tank to get there and back. But, it was windy as hell all night, and raining when I woke up. Combine that with a tired shoulder from double-hauling tandem streamers for four hours, on a six-weight, and it’s definitely going to be an afternoon nap day.

UPDATE: Heh…camping gear on sale! I don’t need any more gear in that department, and I’m not buying into the survivalist bit either. Nevertheless, I have been reading the SAS Survival Handbook: How to Survive in the Wild, in Any Climate, on Land or at Sea to brush up on the multi-night skills, and there’s certainly a lot of fun information within.

Via (where else) but The New York Times:

Today our beta version of Times Reader for the Mac becomes available. The beta is free for all registered members of NYTimes.com to download and try.

From perusal of the comments, most are none too happy about installing the Microsoft Silverlight plugin in order to make this “reader” work.

Silverlight or no Silverlight, I won’t be installing this application either. I already have a news reader, and it works just fine. Should Marc Andreessen continue the New York Times deathwatch?

UPDATE: The Alley Insider is unimpressed as well.

UPDATE 2: The plugin is a problem anyway.

Via Moldy Chum:

The American Fly Fishing Trade Association (AFFTA) announced today that it has hired Gary Berlin as the trade association’s president. A former human resources manager and Area/District Wildlife Manager for the Colorado Division of Wildlife and the recent head of the International Hunter Education Association, Berlin brings nearly thirty years of experience in the outdoor arena as well as proven non-profit association leadership skills. He received a Bachelor’s degree in Natural Resource Management from Mesa College in Grand Junction, CO and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Colorado in Denver. Berlin, a lifelong Colorado resident, will begin his tenure on July 1 and will be establishing a new permanent home for AFFTA in the greater Denver area.

Good place for a fly fishing trade association [Denver] if I do say so myself. Does this mean manufacturers will soon be selling cheap fly rods by Colorado’s gold medal waters?