I learned today about a feature in Gmail that allows you to “tag” your email address when you give it to someone or submit it somewhere online. If I were to sign up for a mailing list or service, and I want to know if they might be giving away my address to spammers, I just enter my address as john+goaheadandspammeasshole@example.com. Whenever I receive an email to that address and it didn’t come from the service or site that I gave it to, I know that the address was “leaked”. I can then make a Gmail filter that catches all messages sent to john+goaheadandspammeasshole@example.com that will mark those messages as spam or simply label them appropriately.

You can also use the “+tagword” to help you sort different categories of emails. For example, I might submit john+bills@example.com” as my phone service address or for online purchases. It makes it easier later on to sort the types of email I get.

Thanks again Google for not being evil.

More tips here. http://www.google.com/mail/help/tips.html

Mirrored from notetoself.net.

P050809PS-0297, originally uploaded by The Official White House Photostream.

.. but we all know our Pres is a Reformed Pastafarian and knows the true way is that of the ninja.

- Touched by His Noodly Appendage

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Tim Minchin is my current favorite musician. … or comedian. cultural commentator?? He understands how insignificant we are and at the same time how important it is that we use our reasoning powers to figure this all out instead of creating a fantasy explanation and then judging others for not having the “faith” you do. /veryshortrant

just youtube him.

Mirrored from notetoself.net.

Marty has been making beautiful bikes here in Boston, and now he has a beautiful video to prove it. Go to the Vimeo site to see it in HD.

Geekhouse Movie from Geekhouse Bikes on Vimeo.

Mirrored from notetoself.net.

I’m riding to NYC for the JoCo show and taking the BoltBus which has wifi access. It technically does connect, but I also tried using my iPhone 3G tethering through PDA-Net. Here are the speedtest.net results.

• BoltBus
  
• iPhone 3G tethering
  

There’s a college girl behind me who has been going on for at least an hour on her cell with a friend about how she doesn’t like the way the jeans she bought last year look anymore, so she needs new ones. She’s not taking clues from the people around that we really don’t care. … ahh, someone just said it directly. Thank you.

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At work, we have shiny new laptops. Yeah! …. except that they’re locked down and audited. Lame. Even if I carry my laptop with me and use it off-hours, all my surfing and installations are still restricted and subject to company policy and review. Bummer.

Using the instructions at pendrivelinux.com, I quickly set up a persistent Ubuntu installation. It lives on my 8gig pico drive and just uses the laptop resources to run without writing anything to the laptop harddrive. It found all the drivers and was online and usable immediately after booting. It even has built-in drivers for my new Wacom tablet that works perfectly with GIMP. The default LiveCD setup is not secure, so I disabled the default no-login user and created my own account and added remote login and a few other customizations like auto-mounting to my home file server via SSH. Now, I can just put this tiny USB drive into any PC and boot into my own interface.

I went a step further to protect my browsing security and set up Squid proxy using my home Ubuntu server so that all my web traffic will be directly between my machines as far as any local firewall can tell. Using that, I can access anything that my personal server can access and do so without being restricted by local network blacklisting.

My latest addition to this setup was to use the Dropbox service to give me direct, local access to all my recent or frequently used files AND give me a persistent Firefox profile across all my machines (PC, Mac, and Ubuntu). That part is pretty cool. This synchronizes my plugins, cookies, passwords and sessions. I close Firefox at home, then I open it to the same tabs at work, preserving session logins.

Aight, I should either be doing homework or doing something about my geek addiction.

Mirrored from notetoself.net.

i’m trying to cut back on the reposting, but this is good enough.

Mirrored from notetoself.net.

I found this site through a tekzilla tip. This couple makes simple introductory video guides to concepts like RSS, Wikis, and Zombies. I like their style. They win.

• RSS

• Wikis

• Zombies

Mirrored from notetoself.net.

i’m sitting at my desk at work, going through my OS. it occurred to me that i continually go through “waves” of refreshing my computers with a clean start … to building my options with tools and interesting applications … and trying out new file management methods … until, eventually, i have an annoyingly cluttered mess, and i need to refresh again.

looks just like what happens in my room.

i imagine that it possibly happened in some of my past relationships too. (ponder ponder)

so, my thought branched to something i consciously decided several years ago when considering my personal state and what i wanted in life. i determined that i lacked one thing i needed more than anything else, confidence. my personality was “nice” but lame without confidence, and that disabled my interactions with others. i wanted to be recognized with more respect, to have the attitude that could get me whatever else i wanted. ……. fast forward, and i have it, and it’s good for me even if i may occasionally come across as an asshole.

then, now what? … what’s the next step that i choose and begin to build? i looked through my files again and my cluttered room and my hobbies and my many unpolished skills, and i instantly knew i needed focus. i know a little about alot, and i’m all for that, but i’m deciding to shift now towards fewer, more concentrated paths. what are these going to be? i have an idea, and i’m watching with all of this in mind. this will be the end of this cycle of the wave. clean out and refresh.

::EDIT::

Read the rest of this entry »

Mirrored from notetoself.net.

I spent a few hours getting to know Wordpress better and why it wasn’t sending out emails to let me know when people reply. It is obviously very important that Bryan and I know immediately when we comment on each other’s blogs. I won’t pretend that my blog is anything other than a venue for my egotistical projections of myself and that I need constant reminders of my value to Bryan via messages to my iPhone. (I still like typing that) my iPhone. my …

Bryan, I guess it’s my turn to come visit.

Mirrored from notetoself.net.

I don’t have a Mac server. 
I wanted to use Mac’s Time Machine to backup my laptop without buying Time Capsule or manually connecting an external drive every time. 
I have an extra PC that is running Ubuntu as my file server. 

… ::searches Google:: …

oh hai, this lets me do backups automatically.  woop! 

http://www.kremalicious.com/2008/06/ubuntu-as-mac-file-server-and-time-machine-volume/

Mirrored from notetoself.net.

i’m helping Sean Stevens build a “sustainable sound system” powered by bikes. we’re through the prototype stage, and it’s working very well.

do you have whole or partial bikes or parts we can use? (stationary excercise bikes could work too)

sean’s ‘need’ list:

* some bike chains (perhaps 8 or equivilent, multi speed style (not bmx))
* rear wheels with sprockets (6-8)
* multispeed bike frames with pedals/cranks/front sprockets
* Some bike shift cable stuff/shifters if possible

so far, and without much effort, we’re powering a huge subwoofer and stereo set through some DC motors, capacitors and car amplifiers. the next step is to add several bike stations that can withstand the woods and crazy burners in the woods. depending on how it works, we might scale this for a huge sustainable sound stage for burning man. sean plans to refine and release his schematics for public use.

Originally published at notetoself.net. Please leave any comments there.

mmm, eating habanero fudge…. good pain. http://tinyurl.com/6nd83v

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i suddenly have a cat., originally uploaded by gobikey.

i haven’t paid much attention to cats, but this one is cool. he definitely wants attention, but he’s pulling it off without seeming too needy.

Originally published at notetoself.net. Please leave any comments there.

between firefly and burning man, i’m heading somewhere up in northeastern europe with mischa, probably lithuania. i’m going over my vacation time. guess that means i just don’t get paid for the extra time. whatev. suck it!

Originally published at notetoself.net. Please leave any comments there.

scul is 13 today. we’re starting to grow hair and look at girls.

Originally published at notetoself.net. Please leave any comments there.

….when i wake up and realize i actually can’t fly.

(and i was getting so good at it)

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rofl

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stolen from bz

radiohead created a contest to remix their song “nude”. it’s 6/8 time, so standard 4/4 cookie cutters = fail.

this version is sexy. (give it a minute to get past the modem solo)

Big Ideas (Don’t get any) from 1030 on Vimeo.

Originally published at notetoself.net. Please leave any comments there.

glass on glass action, originally uploaded by gobikey.

i visited pete in seattle (with bryan who came up from cali) over the past weekend plus a few days. it was so …. testosterone filled. we ate way too much bacon and drank beer constantly. i feel a bit lethargic after that, but i’m back to my bike (which was still parked at the airport), and my blood is degreasing itself now.

i got to meet another old friend while in seattle. becky hoppins was one of my teen talent festival friends for several years, and then….. we’re saying hi again when we’re 30. it just happens like that without any planning i guess.

Originally published at notetoself.net. Please leave any comments there.