Bad Google! Bad Google!

I can't believe the changes Google made to the iGoogle front page. Oh, it's so bad!

I'm not alone in my opinion. And really, Google should know better than to add so much chrome to their famously simple interface, and add it in a way that it can't get removed by users who don't want it. Didn't they just release a new browser with the ironic name Chrome. 

In software lingo, "chrome" refers to the borders, frames, toolbars, etc an application or website uses... and Google's Chrome browser has almost none of it. The new iGoogle interface, on the other hand, is positively dripping with it. It's a chrome infection and it needs to go!

I hope they undo it. I really, really hope they undo it.

I'm A Winner!

How cool - I just won a little contest on Andy Nulman's blog, in which people were challenged to stack books together in such a way as to make the titles say something interesting.

Click on the link above to see my winning entry...

Hack The Debate

I actually came across this show called Hack The Debate (on Al Gore's Current TV channel) during the VP debate, and for inexcusable reasons failed to blog about it sooner, but I figured it's better late than never, right?

Anyway, the idea behind Hack The Debate is that during the live debate, Twitter users send in tweets which are then displayed at the bottom of the screen in real-time, under the talking heads of the candidates.

How cool is that? I found it fascinating.

It's like watching the debate with a couple dozen of your snarkiest friends. Well, some of the comments were kinda dumb and/or obvious, but some were pretty doggone insightful and funny. For example, this is where I first encountered the name "Caribou Barbie" (and they weren't talking about Senator Biden).

And on a completely different topic, what's the implication of sites like Twitter and Current doing away with the "www" part of their URL? Their addresses are simply twitter.com and current.com - no www needed. Is this a new way to indicate you're an insider, a cutting-edge netizen who's too cool for the dub-dub-dub? (and does anyone even say netizen anymore?). Or is it simply a recent realization that if every address begins with www, then we don't really need to use it anywhere?

I'd like to think I'm keeping up with this whole interweb thing, but gosh, there's a lot to keep up with!

Rev Run Rocks

A while back, Kim and I saw a few episodes of Run's House, staring Joey Simmons, aka Run from Run DMC (best rap group ever). Run's House is a reality show, with cameras following him and his family around the house... but it's not the typical reality show. In a Nulman-esque Pow! moment, viewers discover that Run is now "Rev Run," having been ordained a few years ago.

Kim and I happened to catch part of an interview Run gave recently (with Glenn Beck, I think?), and he told the most amazing story about riding in the back of a limo with Kid Rock... and giving him communion.

Apparently Mr. Rock said "I've done a lot of thing in the back of a limo, but taking communion isn't one of them." Well, now he's done that too. I think that's fantastic.

I don't know much about Rev Run's theology or doctrine... but I can see what he believes by the way he lives. He doesn't have a church where people gather each Sunday morning to hear a sermon. He has a show on MTV, where people across the country can see him live his life and try to love his family and his neighbors, etc...

Frankly, that's the kind of Christian I'd like to be. 

Complications

I have a huge list of books I want to read, and (like everyone) precious little time to read for pleasure (plus, I fall asleep if I try to read in bed at night). So, I've developed a philosophy that says "If I can put a book down, I will." Life's too short and my reading time too limited to spend on books that don't really grab my attentions.

This means I don't finish a lot of the books I start. I'm cool with that. But every once in a while I pick up a book that completely grabs me, and I discover I'm able to make all kinds of time to read it. The Omnivore's Dilemma was like that. I'm in the middle of another captivating book right now, titled Complications.

It's by a surgeon named Atul Gawande, and it's amazing. I've got very little tolerance for blood and guts, but even his descriptions of the mechanisms involved with vomiting are amazing. He's part poet-philosopher, part medical doctor (and is also a 2006 MacArthur Fellow). I loved his description of what makes a good surgeon, which I think applies to any sort of professional excellence.

I started the book just a few days ago, and I'm already 1/2 way through it. That's some kind of record for me. I can't recommend the book highly enough.

Follow Me!

Just added a cool new feature to this blog - the Followers list! One simple click and you can be an official Follower of The Dan Ward Blog, with all the rights and priviledges thereof...

DIY Television Technology

Our local NBC station is currently in a contract dispute with Time Warner, the only cable provider in my area. That means the cable company does not carry NBC at the moment, so no Chuck, Heroes or The Office.

We kept thinking the contract thing would get resolved, but it still hasn't. So, last Monday, 15 minutes before Chuck started, Kim suggested we rig up an antenna and see if we could get the broadcast signal in time to see everyone's favorite nerd/spy. 

I looked at the back of the tv, had no idea what to do, then ran to Google and searched for instructions on making an antenna. I found this 3 minute video, watched it, tracked down the necessary parts, made it and plugged it in with minutes to spare. It works great - we get a perfectly clear signal.

How cool is that! I went from knowing nothing about building an antenna, to actually building it (out of a coaxial cable and a soup can) and using it. 

I said to Kim "it's not just an antenna - it's a can-tenna..." To which she replied, "No, it's a Dan-tenna."

The Desert

Continuing the "Buy Dan's Books" month theme, today I'll write about The Desert: Stories of Emerging Faith.

The Desert is a collection of happy little stories about hope, faith, joy and love. It is the most explicitly theological thing I've ever written, and it's also probably the funniest. I don't think you need to be a Christian to enjoy it, but frankly it's hard for me to know for sure about that. 

I'm an engineer, not a theologian or pastor, so in a sense I'm writing outside my areas of expertise. On the other hand, I'm a human and a Christian, which is its own kind of credential. In any case, it was a fun little experiment and I'm really happy with how it came out.

In fact, I'd say all my books are experiments. Each one is an attempt to understand something about the world, through the process of expressing that emerging understanding. 

Yeah, that sounds like malarky to me too. Let me try again - writing helps me figure out what I think about things. Ah, that sounds better.

Stories from The Desert have been used at three different churches (that I'm aware of). As with all my other books, you can flip through the whole thing online at Silly Hat Press, and of course you can buy a copy for your very own self while you're there. You might even want to buy a copy to give as a gift - it's that kind of book. I hope you enjoy it.

Fit is Go!

I hardly ever watch commecials on tv, thanks to my DVR. It just makes so much sense to record something and start watching it 15 minutes after the broadcast starts, skipping past the commercials and still finishing at the usual time.

But as we were zipping past commercials, this one caught our eye, so we went back and watched it. It's an ad for the Honda Fit, and it makes it look so cool. It was kind of fun to see an ad and feel a sense of identification with the zippy, hot little machine being featured.