In the spirit of anarcho-capitalist-warm-fuzzy-anti-establishment (alright so that’s pushing it) consciousness expansion and technological empowerment, I am proud to announce the foundation of a series of meeting guaranteed to satiate your curiosity, tittilate your senses, and delight your sense of accomplishment. It’s an offshoot of NH Media Makers geared towards creating a fun learning environment for new technlogies.
The Time:Sunday, October 5th 11am to 1pm - Date and Time unconfirmed! Watch this post for changes!
Meeting will officially start at 11:30 to give everyone time to mingle and get settled. Meeting may end earlier or run later than 1pm. Let me know if there are any conflicts here!
The Goal: To provide an open, informal, and comfortable learning environment for anyone who is interested in “new media”, specifically internet-based forms of media, and the systems and tools which make the newest forms of media run, Macs, Windows PCs, and *nix-based systems. If you don’t know the first thing about Macs, Windows PCs or what *nix even is, it’s ok. If using the formatting tools on your email program are intimidating, or if the term “formtatting tools” leaves you at a loss for words, that’s ok too.
Meeting #1: Intro to Blogging
This is for the person who says to themselves “I want to get my writing published on the internet, and I want it to look professional and attractive.” Or “How do I write things to put up on the internet?” Or “What the heck is a blog?”
For this meeting, I can and will personally commit to going over the basics of Wordpress, since I am most familiar with that. I will also go over some HTML 101 topics, which is critical for writers who wish to publish on the internet. I am looking for help for people who want to talk about other platforms, TypePad, Drupal, etc etc.
The only requirement for attending is a desire to learn more about computers and the internet. The requirement for presenting is to have something you want to share with others. That’s absolutely it.
Of course we’ll do our best to stick to one topic per meeting, to give all attendees the best introduction and help on each of the billion topics as possible.
I am also looking for is people who want to learn! Tell everybody and their brother who has ever wanted to publish something to the internet. Come find out how to run your very own blog, and help us decide what the most enticing topic of conversation is for the next meetup!
Future ideas include:
HTML and CSS 101 - Don’t even know what CSS stands for? That’s ok! Learn the basics of HTML, XHTML and CSS, and get reference resources and practice ideas.
Video meeting - From the basics of using your webcam to slap a video up on YouTube, to putting together or participating in a web series.
Photography meeting - Photophiles share their favorite techniques, tips, and equipment recommendations. Figure out how to share your work, get noticed, and enjoy photography more.
Podcast/audio meeting - Wonder what a podcast is? Want to know how to listen to them, even if you don’t have an iPod? Want to learn how to make audio to distribute via “podcast” or the internet? We’ll go over all that good stuff!
Image editing - Ever wonder how the captions get on all those lolcats? Want to crop a photo so you can email it? There are all kinds of easy ways to edit images, and lots of folks to share their favorite techniques.
M$ Alternatives - Don’t want to pay for licenses for the Inext generation of Microsoft Office or Outlook? That new version of AIM really making your computer choke? There are alternatives, and best of all… they’re 100% FREE.
TV Alternatives - Don’t throw away your television, but do figure out how to make your home network, internet-based content and your TV circumvent your pricey cable bill.
Windows 101 - Learn more about the system you might have been working with for years. What to turn off, what to keep on, how to maintain and support one of the most popular OSes in the world for the best possible experience.
Mac 101 - Learn what it takes to make the most out of a system known for it’s sleek, artful presentation. It’s not just for artists and college students! Come see the real thing and learn how enjoyable and approachable the Mac OS can be.
Linux 101 - No neckbeard required. It’s an open-source (community supported), lean, mean operating system. Linux may run some your favorite sites, but it can run your home computer in ways you might not have expected.
And that’s really just the list of topics I came up with in a short amount of time. There are probably a few dozen that could take up several meetings to cover the basics! Of course no one has to attend ALL meetings, and I’d encourage everyone to follow their passion and speak their mind. These meetings are meant for you, for me, and for anyone else who wants to attend. As I learned from the GI Joe cartoon: Knowing is half the battle. If you’re fighting with your concerns that you just “don’t get” computers, or code, or a specific kind of tech, it’s OK! Bring your questions, bring your lack of experience. We’re here to share!
So please, comment, email, tell a friend. We’ll be here, and we’d love to see you, too.
Note: I’d love to be able to webcast or record the instruction part of the session for future reference, anybody interested in helping with that, email me.
A portion of that song references a classic Three Stooges bit of which I knew nothing! I didn’t grow up in a household that really appreciated The Three Stooges, and so was never really exposed to some of the comedic gems they were responsible for creating.
Here, for your enjoyment, is a short bit of theirs which is titled (on the YouTube page where I found it) “Slowly I Turned”. Or perhaps more appropriately… Niagra Falls!
Within the video, a friendly older gentleman wishes to share a neat experiment and a metaphor with the audience. The experiment involves taking a regular pickle of fairly decent size, skewering either end with metal forks, hanging it from a safely grounded sling, and hooking up electrical clips to the forks. When the wire with the clips is plugged into a source of electricity (in this case a wall socket, as evidenced by the standard US plug on one end), we can see that electricity is conducted through the pickle to create a complete circuit. With the lights off, you can watch one end of the pickle glow and spark like a fourth of july sparkler as seen through frosted glass.
It is at this point which Grandpa John - that’s this older fellow’s stage name I’d assume - wishes to really make his metaphor. His goal was to demonstrate that by introducing the power of Christ in the life of any average person, that person will glow (figuratively) with the power and light of God.
Needless to say, the BoingBoing commenters had a field day with this somewhat dubious analogy.
My favorite comment: “Pickle! Pickle! burning bright,
Between the forks of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?” ~ chriss1519
Later on…
Gia-tan HA. take that expensive, wasteful floor washing kits and mops! Entire kitchen floor cleaned with one clorox wipe and my foot!
Gia-tan toes: best for getting into corners since the jesus pickle invented them
Then Mathiasx mentioned a song called Handlebars by a band called Flobots (which is absolutely amazing, by the by), which in turn reminded me of a song called Jesus Grow a Handlebar Moustache for Me by a band called Pataphysics. Bringing things somewhat full circle. Quite a reach for synchronicity, but without the original Jesus Pickle video from earlier, the odds of my remembering the Pataphysics’ song to make mention of it would have been significantly lessened.
Pataphysics - Jesus Grow a Handlebar Moustache for Me
So, my brother recently released a short film into the wilds of the YouTube. It’s a brief exploration of one character’s struggle with insomnia and the memories that occupy his mind while he desperately seeks sleep. The audio and editing is a bit choppy, but as described in the short editorial at the end of the film, this was pretty much a completely “off the cuff” (improv) production. I feel like this rough cut could be honed into a really interesting small film with some more serious focus on dialogue and better control over the cuts and lighting. I felt both Eddie and Sammi did well in portraying their impromptu characters, and with the previously suggested refinement to dialogue could really make the intended exchange pretty intense.
He was very self-effacing about the whole thing but I really think it was a decent rough cut. Be sure to pop by the YouTube page and let him know what you thought about the film - good, bad or indifferent - because no film maker can grow or improve without feedback.
Looks can be very tricksome indeed. Take this juicy hentai clip below. At least, that’s what it looks like, right? I assure you, it’s actually quite innocuous, and rather laughable. (And I also promise it’s not a rickroll. You have my word.)
There are a lot of clips like this on youtube, and a few that are genuinely somewhat perverted. There are also a lot of annoying edits with flashing and sped up music and general obnoxiousness. Poke around for a little while some time (when you aren’t at work, just to be safe). Some of these “hentai” clips might actually be funny enough to watch.
Hilarious, low budget short film that’s part of a YouTube contest called Sketchies. It’s a second round entry and these guys are pretty polished. Additionally, I lol’d! Visit the creators at Last-Pictures.com.
If you liked this, and you haven’t seen them yet, check out The Lonely Island. Episode 1 nearly made me choke laughing. I found out about The Lonely Island the same day I first visited TorsoPants. There’s an easter egg (one of many) somewhere on the site linking to it, I can’t remember where it is, so you’ll have to find it yourself.
This guy is AWESOME! Amy might not agree (and my apologies for ganking your series title for this) but I have to say that this is some of the most amusing and amazing nerd rap I’ve heard in a while. Why is it nerd rap? Well, watch for yourself.
Ignoring his awkward posing, this is by far the best lyrical treatment I could think of to describe the role of design in SEO. Everything he puts forth here is exactly correct, from clear navigation, use of standards, browser testing, and a clear call to action.
The SEO Rapper has it right, and even though you may feel like this is perhaps in the same league as the anti-drug rapping of the 80s-90s (yo yo, kids don’t do drugs, stay in schoo’, be respec-ful of your parents, ’cause no one likes a fool!), those who are new to the whole “SEO” thing might want to pay attention. For those who have had an education on the subject already, you’ll definitely get a kick out of this approach to the core concepts of search marketing.
Props to antifuchs in #ectomo for pointing this out to me.
More on this later, honest. There’s so much in this set of clips to ruminate over. I am not in 100% agreement with Runyon on these matters. I am also rather obstinate when I choose to be.
I’d be interested to see how this test really works. I should check my log files for some kind of crawler. The results came back surprisingly fast, given the amount of pages here (especially when you take into account the tags and categories). I’m inclined to say that this percentage is probably fairly accurate, but I strongly question the method by which the data was obtained.
I mean, what exactly constitutes cussing? Which words count? There is of course Carlin’s Seven Words You Can’t Say on Television, but there are so many other words that are considered cuss words by various groups of people.
Oh well. Point is, we here at RKNet aren’t afraid to fuckin’ curse once in a while when we damn well feel like it. Without further ado, I give you Carlin’s 7 Words. 10 minutes of unabashed linguistic analysis.
Some kids play in the sandbox. We play in the.... litterbox??? The RKNet staff is pleased that you decided to stop by. Currently this is a multi-author project, with a rotating cast of totally kooky characters. Contact giania [at symbol] gmail [dot] com if you'd like to play here too.
