angrykeyboarder

“Yahoo! Betrayed ‘My Husband’!”

FAIRFAX, Virginia (Wired News) — Early one Sunday morning in 2002, a phone rings in Yu Ling’s Beijing duplex. She’s cleaning upstairs; her son is asleep, while downstairs, her husband, Wang Xiaoning, is on the computer. Wang writes about politics, anonymously e-mailing his online e-journals to a group of Yahoo users. He’s been having problems with his Yahoo service recently. He thinks it’s a technical issue. This is the day he learns he’s wrong…….

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Google doesn't always get it right

I love Google. It's a great service.  And at one time all they were known for was search. And as far as I was concerned, that was a good thing.

At one time all Yahoo! was known for was a (very good) directory.  Not search, but a directory.  They still have the directory but they practically keep it a secret.  Why? Because Google is best known as the place for Internet search. Yahoo! would rather people use Yahoo! instead (perfectly understandable).

But I digress....

Both Yahoo! and Google have mostly great services that are unrelated to what they're best known for (that being Internet Search).  But sometimes they do get it wrong.

This is about one of the ways Google got it wrong and in a very big way.

Once upon a time there was an awesome website known as DejaNews.com.  Their sole purpose was to provide a web interface to Usenet Newsgroups. You could read them and post to them via the site.  But the best feature was the archive.  They had archives going back for years.  It was a very handy way to research stuff (or a great way to dig up dirt on that jerk in the newsgroup you frequent).

DejaNews fell on hard times and changed their name to Deja.com.  They began offering reviews. Consumers could post reviews of things much like you'd see on a site like Epinions.  But at least the Usenet service remained in tact as everyone was accustomed to.

Well that wasn't enough to save Deja.com and they were acquired by Google.  And that was the beginning of Google Groups.

The best Google Groups has ever been was at the very beginning, before they decided messing up a good thing was a good idea.

You can still access all newsgroups today via Google Groups. You can search them back even farther than Deja ever could.  You can post to newsgroups.

The problem is, they've mixed malling lists with newsgroups and call everything "Google Groups".  You really have dig hard to find a Usenet-only search(?). In fact, the last time I tried it I was unsuccessful and gave up. They insist on mixing all the mailing lists...er groups with Usenet.

I don't mind the mailing lists.  Yahoo! Groups is the same thing. But at least Yahoo! doesn't throw Usenet into the mix and imply it's all the same.

I even have a few of my own Google Groups that I use for personal/private invite-only lists.  They're very good at that.  But Usenet?  They suck.  And it's really too bad. Because I've not found anything better.

I'm not one to post to newsgroups from the web. I use a newsreader. But I do search groups from time to time. Google makes it far more difficult than it has to be.

Now they have "new and improved" Google Groups (which is in beta).  And it is better than before. But the Usenet aspect is the same. It still sucks.

Sometimes these sites listen to the consumer and make improvements (albeit by word of mouth - just try to actually reach someone at Google or Yahoo!...).  Perhaps one day Google will bring back a decent web-based Usenet interface.  One as good as or better than the old DejaNews.

One can only hope...

Should I Do It?

I like eBay.  I'm not an addict like some are, but it's a cool place to shop.   I've found several things there I couldn't find elsewhere.

Two of my prized possessions from there included the Original Broadway Cast Recording of Promises, Promises. At the time I'd bid for it it was out of print and the copy on eBay was Brand New (I didn't want used).

I don't remember what I paid for it, but it wasn't obscenely expensive.  I guess I should have waited another 6 months or so. Because after Jerry Orbach (a/k/a: Lennie Briscoe of Law & Order) died they re-released the album as he was in the orginal cast. His being in the csst, plus a few other (at the time) more obscure theatre stars and the Burt Bachrach/Hal David score are what got me interested.

Another time, I happened upon an old copy of Architectural Digest. Now this is not a magazine I normally read.  I in fact, I'd never read it at all.  But this particular edition featured tours of Broadway Stars/Composers homes (including Stephen Sondheim).  I thought that was cool, so I bid on it.  I set my maximum bid at $20.00 and was the winner.  I paid $17.00.

Now I'm contemplating something else on eBay.  I can't decide if I should go for it or not.

What do you think?

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Just where have you been? ;-)

If you just happen to be one of the billions of people on the Internets that have strangely yet to add angrykeyboarder.com to their bookmarks, well then, my friend,you have indeed missed out.  ;-)

What have you missing?  Not much really.  However, it's most useful purpose for the foreseeable future, is to provide you, the cyber-friend/buddy/acquaintance/hottie/cutie/cool-person/geek/Linux-freak with a myriad of ways to keep up on my fascinating life and interests. In addition, you would have found a real, honest-to-god email address (and by that I mean it's not free-web mail).

Also, you would find all of my Instant Messenger addresses (listed, in order of preference, of course).

Now since you are reading this, you do know that you were already just a few mouse clicks away from this information, regardless of what I chose to put in this post, right? ;-)

However, I've found some people (to my utter "shock") had no idea how easily this information was obtainable from from linkx right here in this blog! It's not unique to me either.  Thousands upon thousands of other bloggers (perhaps, just like you?), provide this information in the same manner.  They too, have the same experience as I.  People STILL can't find their email address and/or web site info...

Well because I care about you, dear reader, I'm here to make your life incredibly easy when it comes to getting "vital" information about me. Information, that I very much want you to have and utilize.

Or you could just blow this off and move on. But hopefully you'll read on..

So without further adieu, here is what I simply copied and pasted from angrykeyboarder.com.

Fire up those address books, bookmak managers, instant messagers and so on!

                                                                         

Email: angrykeyboarder AT angrykeyboarder DOT com       Instant Message me:       Yahoo!: angrykeyboarder       MSN: angrykeyboarder@hotmail.com*       ICQ: 277439129       AIM: angrykeyboarder       GoogleTalk: angrykeyboarder@gmail.com              Jabber: angrykeyboarder@myjabber.net                                    *Note regarding my MSN/Hotmail address:       Please do not use it for an email contact.  I no longer use Hotmail. I would change it but I have so many MSN messenger friends that it would be rather cumbersome.        If you do send email to my Hotmail address, it could be weeks before I ever see it.  If I do see it, I'll likely ignore it or write back asking you to re-send to my regular address.   Thank you for your understanding and cooperation                                                                       This post powered by:	I'm all over the web:              My LiveJournal       My Xanga Blog       My Yahoo! 360°       My deviantArt Site       My MySpace.com Site       (I have a blog there too)       My Multiply.com Site* My       My Friendster Site*       My Friendster Blog       My Hipstir Site*        If that's not enough, then....  ;-)              My /. Profile              My CNET.com profile (with links to my stuff and my reviews)       My Download.com profile (with links to my software reviews)        And if you're really really bored, then click here.        *Requires email address to request to add me.  Use the email address I've provided on this page.

The Death of Usenet

(at least as I once knew it)..

The overwhelming majority of you who are reading this now probably have no clue as to what I'm writing about here.  That in and of itself is probably the biggest reason why Usenet (a/k/a: "Usenet Newsgroups", NetNews" or simply "Newsgroups") is dying.

When I first discovered the Internet (in 1994), the World Wide Web was just starting to take off.  So text-based services like Gopher and WAIS were quite popular.

And then, there was Usenet.

Some of you who don't know Usenet may be actually familiar with it via Google Groups. Although Google (much to my disdain) does one hell of a job of masking the fact that Usenet even exists (in part because they chose to mix Usenet feeds with Mailing List feeds).

Many of us "Old Timers" long for the early days of  Google Groups.  It was a much more unuseable service then.  They had just acquired DejaNews and thus, Google Groups was born.

A number of "Old-timers" on Usenet are also unhappy with Google because it does such a good job at hiding the fact that people are posting to newsgroups.  The end result being that "newbies" have no clue as to Usenet customs and etiquette, thus disrupting a lot of the groups they post to.

This has only been made worse by the fact that two of the largest providers of  Usenet (MSN and later AOL) discontinued regular access.

AOL discontinued access early this year.  I just learned this today (I need to get out more) and that's what inspired what you are now reading.

When AOL first offered Usenet access the result was much like what has happened with Google Groups.  A lot of clueless people irritating the masses of old-timers.

This is not to say that all users of AOL (and certainly not Google) are clueless. However, they are both widely popular services. The sheer numbers of users combined with ease of access was bound to bring masses of clueless people with them.

One of the nice things about Google Groups is the fact that it archives most all newsgroup posts going back for over a decade (well before Google even existed).   I found my very first newsgroup post there (from 1994), archived for eternity. ;-)

I'd love to share that post with you, but unfortunatly back then, I was somewhat clueless myself and used my real name online.  Several years and a number of flame wars and online psycho encounters later, I abandoned that practice.

As a side note, part of my inspiration for my "angrykeyboarder" moniker was due to the fact that I've gotten so good at pissing people off over the years.

But I digress.......

Usenet (for me) is still a great way to communicate.  And unlike web-based forums and bulletin boards, you can keep much better track of posts, thread them easily and even save them to your hard drive.  It's not as "sexy" as the web, but for what amounts to text-based discussion, it's far more efficient.  And unlike mailing lists, it's very simple to "subscribe" and "unsubscribe".  And when it comes to high-volume, high volume mailing lists can overwhelm your mail server or just your mailbox and therefore be more difficult to manage.

Since newsgroups are accessed via a different server than your email, that problem doesn't exist.

I have to admit though, in recent years my use of newsgroups has plummeted due to the popularity of web based discussion as well as blogging/journaling.   There are only so many hours in a day (even for people like me, with no life and nothing else to do but be online all day).

In any event, I still think newsgroups have their place and I hope that the remaining big ISPs that carry them, keep carrying them.  Thankfully,  my provider (Cox.net) still does.

If you've made it this far and want to know more about Usenet.  My beloved Wikipedia has a good article on it and good links for more information.

To read it right, don't use Google.  Use regular newsreader software.  There are some excellent ones out there. They come in all shapes and sizes.  The most popular (but not quite as good) ones are integrated with email programs.  You may have one of these now and not realize it offers Usenet access.  Among them are Mozilla Thunderbird,  The Mozilla Suite and *cough*Microsoft Outlook Express*cough.

Check it out.

And thanks for humoring me by making it to this sentence.

Let's Get Ready to Ramble!

I had my final visit with my Physical Therapist (for my finger injury) this past Thursday.
I ran out of Effexor and went into nasty-ass Withdrawal. I'd forgotten the Rx was refillable. LOL. When I finally figured that out (after two days). I called in a refill and my Mom picked it up for me (the world was spinning too much for me to drive).

14 hours later I was "back to normal" (whatever that means).

The chair I spend most of my time in (and paid too much for last December) literally broke. Two of the legs broke off. The thing started mysteriously tilting about a week ago and as the days went by the tilt progressed even more. I couldn't figure out where it was tilting. It hadn't occorred to me to check the legs.

Finally it just started tilting very quickly last night and the next thing I knew, my fat ass was on the floor.

Speaking of fat, I guess I was too fat for it. LOL

Actually it was a pretty flimsy chair. I didn't realize that until I borrowed my mom's chair while I await the arrival of a replacement.

When I bought this chair I had only been looking at the "task/secretarial" style as my Mom had talked me out of getting what I really wanted.

What I wanted was more like an "executive" style.  Basically like the one I'd had for years that I abandoned in Atlanta.

Well now I'm getting what I want. In fact it's even nicer than the chair I left in Atlanta.  If you're interested, click here to see it.  It's supposed to be delivered sometime on Tuesday.

I'm still enjoying having Linux on my hard drive (finally!) although it would be nice to have both of my hard drives usable. Right now I've got a boot partition on my first hard drive and everything else on my 2nd. This is a waste of about 98% of my space on the first drive and there's nothing I can do about it. I still can't install Windows at all (unless I go back to my old configuration which then won't let me install Linux....

I figured I'm due for one or two more calls to my PC maker's tech support, but I hate calling and I figured I'd just enjoy the fun of having Linux installed (since that was the biggest part of my goal) for a while before tacking the rest. I still expect that they may have to send somebody out to do some work inside the box. I'm sure as hell not doing it. LOL

OH speaking of Linux, I've got a few sreenshots of my recent desktop (and some past ones) up on deviantArt.  My current one (in two incarnations) is here and here, if you're interested.

I've not seen my therapist in weeks. I don't know if/when I'll go back to her. We kind of hit a brick wall. Her goal is to get me out and about and I've never been one to do that (even when I'm "well"). Going to/from work doesn't count.

I do think I'll give school a try though, because it's the only way I'll ever stand a chance of getting a job in the IT field when the time comes to look for a job.

I've had it with the travel industry and call centers. If I went back to that, you might hear about me on the evening news at some point...

I've been rather depressed on and off lately. The future seems bleak. I have no interest in much of anything outside of being at my computer. It's a great escape I suppose. I won't tell you when I last showered.

Y'know it's funny, in the past when I've gotten this bad, I've fallen hard for someone I met online and it's helped me cope (a few times I'd meet the person, more often I wouldn't and it would just end for one reason or other).

I'd "met" someone online about 2 years ago (not long after my ex told me it was over).

I'd really hit it off with this new found friend online.  We talked on the phone several times over a period of many months.

Then my situation changed because I was forced to move to Phoenix and living with my Mom made 95% of my private life pubic so it pretty much killed my romance.

But besides that, I when I got here, I felt beaten and defeated. "They won". I fought for months to avoid leaving Atlanta, but when I was about to be homeless I had no choice.

But the whole experience left me a beaten man and I just didn't care about anything anymore, including romance.

So the relationship quickly withered and died. It's just as well, I'm such a mess right now that I need to get my head on straight. I told my therapist I need to learn to relate to people in general before I attempt another romance. She agreed.

And for months now, I've just been apathetic. Heck, I've not even been the horny bastard I typically am. I don't know if it's the medication, the depression or both. Of course living with my mom kindo cramps my style, but I don't know if I'd feel much different if I were alone.

In any event, I'm just kinda coasting along here. Perhaps if/when I start school the daily routine will help me get back on track. I hope so, because nothing else I can think of off hand could.

I don't really know how schedules work, but I'd like to go to one of the community colleges here.  I suppose I'd be looking at Winter (or maybe Spring?).

The Mental Health Clinic I go go can help me out with this stuff and they may also pay for all or a portion of it. I'm not fully clear on it, but they do pay for "voc rehab" so we'll see.

I've not really checked into any of this yet.  I figure I'd do so by the end of the year.

Well I've babbled long enough now.

OK kids.

I'm outta here (for the moment).