Author Archive: meri

Finger Bindings

(No, this is not about some S&M practice you never knew I was into. Sorry. That’s a whole ‘nother blog. (KIDDING!) This is about typing. More specifically, this is about typing in text editors.) (Also, if you’re not a UNIX / vi geek, this whole post will probably mean nothing to you. You have been warned.)

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Good morning, Interwebs.

It’s a beautiful Friday outside (at least, here in the DC metro area). What fun and exciting things do you have planned for today? This weekend?

Ask LazyWeb: WordPress to Google+ integration?

Greetings, all,

I know there’s got to be a solution to my problem out there, and I know I have some WordPress geniuses reading this, so I figured I’d ask.

Whenever I post here on ESK, my posts are automatically posted to Facebook and LiveJournal. I would like to find something similar for Google+. (I’m still trying to get the hang of Google+, but it seems to be the platform of choice for some people I really like, so it’s probably worth the effort on my part.)

I have attempted to use WPGplus, without any luck. If it weren’t for the fact that I’ve seen random posts seeming to indicate that this is possible, I’d say it wasn’t, since I don’t think Google has exposed that in the API.

Thoughts?

Ask LazyWeb: Post Google-Reader world?

As you all know by now (because I’m always the last one to find out these things), Google Reader is going away. Now, I rarely use Reader directly, but all of the RSS clients I’ve used in the last couple of years have used Reader as their backends.

So now I ask you, dear Interwebs: What are you going to do after July 1st? How are you going to get your RSS fix? More importantly, how are you going to get your RSS fix across all of your devices without re-reading / re-marking articles?

My wishlist is pretty simple, I think: web interface, iDevice (iPhone, iPad) interface, ability to keep everything in sync.

It’s almost enough for me to want to set up my own RSS aggregator, which is just dumb. Save me from my own stupidity, please, and help me figure out a better solution.

PSA: Free to a home. Preferably local to DC.

(It doesn’t have to be a good home, mind. Just a home. I’m in the Ashburny area about once a week, and otherwise to be found in Maryland. I will, if given sufficient incentive, ship the damned things, but you have to convince me that you really want them. And pay for postage.)

I have an entire box of defunct (expired, likely dead, of the “oops, not as secure as you think” variety) of SecurID tokens. And, by “entire box,” I mean “around 500 of the things.”

I’ve lost my enthusiasm for my original plan for them (an insecurity blanket), given that said blanket would a) be heavier than I generally prefer for a blanket, and 2) full of corners, and 3) rattling.

If anyone has a use for them, speak up. Otherwise, they will probably go into the trash. Or recycling. Do they count as plastic? Probably not, huh? Hrmph.

And no, they’re not stolen.

Sushi in Sudbury, Friday, 2013.03.22

Your humble meri is going to be the general Massachusettsy area for a few days, and would like to invite those in the same general area to come have sushi.

Many of  you have received a Facebook invitation, but I know there are folks out there who don’t do the whole Facebook thing, so also posting this on my blog and from there, onto LiveJournal. If you didn’t receive a Facebook invite, and you’d like one, let me know.

Please RSVP by Wednesday (3/20), so I can make a reservation.

Hope to see you there!

Help me distribute free copies of Good Omens in 10 seconds or less.

As you may or may not know, I’ve been chosen as a giver for World Book Night 2013. When presented with the list of available books and asked to pick 3, I chose Fahrenheit 451, Good Omens, and The Phantom Tollbooth. The good folks at WBN have decided that I’ll be distributing copies of Good Omens.

Now, I’m not going to have a lot of time to hand out books. Just a few hours to hand out 20 books. That sounds easy, but think of all the people in public places handing things out that you simply ignore, or wave off. Now, keeping that in mind:

  • Help me come up with a way to get – and keep – the attention of people long enough to give them the spiel about the book.
  • Help me come up with a 10 second spiel to get someone to want to read the book.

Doesn’t sound too hard. Unless you’ve read the book. I mean, “A rollicking tale about an angel, a devil, a witch, the Anti-Christ, and the Apocalypse!” might scare some folks off, ya know?

So, lend a girl a hand, and help me come up with what I need to help introduce more people to the awesomeness of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.

Ask LazyWeb: Calling All Knitters…

I need input (cue Johnny 5 impression).

I have about 1,000 yards of fingering weight yarn that knits up best on US3 needles. Point me to your favorite shawl or scarf pattern that will help me use up this wonderful yarn.

PSA: What’s up, Apple?

For those of you who didn’t know it existed (like me, until a day or two ago), Apple provides a status dashboard. It covers Services, Stores, and iCloud, broken out with a reasonable amount of detail.

This might help with those, “Is it just me, or is $FOO really just broken right now?” moments. (You have those, too, right? It’s not just me? Is there a dashboard for that? Oh dear.)