Entries from March 2009
Really. She is actually a genius.
Living with her is ALWAYS highly entertaining, but sometimes she kicks it up another notch and comes up with something that impresses the ever loving shit out of me.
Well here’s the latest: I’ve been a HUGE Firefox fan now for awhile because of their fabulous assortment of useful applications called addons. Nevertheless, once I have a set of them all configured to do what I need and want, I’m then pretty conservative about changing anything. I’m happy. I’m good. Don’t need anything ‘new’.
I have my desktop & Firefox all configured with my addons. She has her own. We’re widely different in taste as to where we put our icons and shortcuts, et cetera.
Today we got onto the subject of computing and sharing our most recent understandings in the realms of technology when I ran across an addon SHE has that I’D missed.
It’s a Firefox addon for managing passwords called sxipper.
I never paid ANY attention to password managers due to my aforementioned conservatism as regards to needing/wanting anything “new” once I have everything I think I need. And I’ve always kept a bit of trepidation in there as well for online security concerns.
“So what’s sxipper? ” I ask. She tells me “it’s awesome”. I’m not really convinced. I go to their download/about page, where I can circle around it and sniff at it without committing myself to anything in any big hurry.
HUH !
This actually looks pretty COOL. Does about 50 things more than I ever might have expected and has all of the security aspects NEATLY taken care of.
What the heck. I’ll give it a go. ( One of the very BEST aspects of Firefox is the utter speed in which you can install, test, and then like/not like an addon and either keep it or uninstall it ! ) Just amazing. From the moment you hit “Add to Firefox” to the moment you can then use the addon is SECONDS. The same is true for uninstall. So this makes Firefox eminently cool.
I’m not even going to try to describe how cool sxipper is. Too much to say and they do it better anyway, so just take a second to go here and read up, and then amaze yourself by quickly trying it.
Me? I’m going to go kiss her. She’s such a genius.
Categories: Technology
Tagged: artist, bookmarks, firefox, Technology, tools
I’ve shared a lot of good times with many of you at The Fort Harrison’s beautiful poolside, and many of you have also heard the story of The Rolling Stones’ visit to Clearwater and where they had their inspiration for (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction. For you who haven’t:
[ "Keith Richards states that he came up with the guitar riff for the song in his sleep, waking up in the middle of the night, recording
the riff and the words "I can't get no satisfaction" on a cassette recorder and promptly falling back to sleep. He would later describe
the tape as: "two minutes of 'Satisfaction' and 40 minutes of me snoring." He and Jagger finished writing the song at the Jack Tar Harrison
in Clearwater, Florida, in May 1965. ] wikipedia
Being an habitue of the Pavilion by the Pool, I dutifully clipped the news article confirming the story when the the Stone’s played Tampa in the 90’s.
A friend of mine had the honor this week of being the first guest of the Fort Harrison’s newly restored Presidential Suite and shared photos of the poolside.
So I happily shared them with a few other friends and was searching online just now for some historical images to compare them with. — When I fell over backwards in amazement ! As luck/fate/fortune or really-good-karma would have it, Ray Connolly of the UK Daily Mail just published these two photos.
I believe that no one in the U.S. has seen these photos before ! I haven’t ! (SOURCE ARTICLE)
Wow! Any of you visiting the FH years ago before renovations will recall the web strap furniture and the tables there in these shots. So YOU may well have spent time in those very chairs !
Me, I’m certain I’ve moved them before.
Powered by ScribeFire.
Categories: Life is a Game
I was just sitting here in the studio, painting and enjoying some classic Neal Young when it occurred to me that I’ve always listened to music when I work.
It’s a funny thing, but I can look at something I painted years ago and remember the music. It works the other way too — Play me a cut from one of your favorites and I’ll have an instant recall of what I was painting or carving at the time !
If you enjoy music and want to kick your studio time into overdrive then try out this combination:
Download the free Winamp Music player at http://www.winamp.com/ .
You’ll see there’s a browser link to SHOUTcast Radio where you can pull up literally thousands of stations.
Get the Firefox browser and its slick FoxyTunes add on. Add a great set of speakers (or a wireless headset) and you can carve tikis to a Polynesian beat or paint to the Stones.
Powered by ScribeFire.
Categories: Excellent Tools for Artists
If you do any blogging and love Firefox the next cool thing to use as an add on is Scribefire !
Any time you’re ready to post to your blog you just tap on the Scribefire icon in your toolbar
and you get an editor page instantly. You can post directly to your blog, edit posts, and preview
your work right from your browser window while running any other applications you like.
Powered by ScribeFire.
Categories: Excellent Tools for Artists
I have a wonderful place to work that is out on the “edge” of civilization – away from the bustle of city life, yet close enough to acquire provisions when I need them.
Or so I thought.
I took a new commission a couple of days ago for some straightforward calligraphy – hand lettered wedding invitations and found I wanted some new ink.
Piece of cake, right? So I go over to the local Office Supply to pick up a bottle of ink. My longtime favorite — Higgins Black Magic.
Well. Guess what? You can get probably 100 different varieties of ink for your printer. Another 100 or so varieties of ink cartridges for pens. Stamp pad refills.
But a bottle of ink ? NO. This apparently became an “Artist Supply” when we weren’t looking. A specialty item.
So while I can sit out here in the woods and blog anywhere in the universe, post my latest carving on eBay or share a live video chat with a client in L.A. , that bottle of India Ink is a bit longer drive away than I’d thought.
Next time it’s Dick Blick !
Categories: Life in the Woods
This post isn’t really about art, per se, but I had to mention it, as it was a creative attempt at phishing.
As an artist I check my clients’ comm lines several times a day to be certain I’m not keeping anyone waiting for an answer from me.
So I keep up on Facebook and LinkedIn, my website, my blogs and my email.
Sometimes my email is entertaining.
Yesterday some “guy” named “Patrick Chan” emailed me about a proposal that he had for me. I responded that I’m always open for proposals – (heck, sometimes these come back as real people with real ideas ).
Well the shoe dropped today.
“Patrick” apparently has deposits from a deceased Hossan Hassan, who, as fate would have it, was accidentally killed in a bomb blast during the war leaving NO NAMED BENEFICARY and if I will please give him all of the neccessary legal formalities regarding myself and my accounts he is going to see to it that all of that money gets shared with me !
Frankly, I was touched at my sudden good fortune.
But here’s the really creative part - to prove that this is really so cool, he sent me photos of all the money !!
See ?
Suitcase
Stacks of bills
And to think, here I was working when all this can be mine simply by providing a convenient path for it to reach me.
Touching. Never been offered the suitcase full of money until now.
Categories: Life in the Woods
