New Kid on the Block

A new internet search site Cuil (http:www.cuil.com) has lauched. They claim to have indexed 3x's the number of pages as google and 10x's as many as live.com.  Impressive numbers, but I'm not sure they have it just right yet.

First off, they have some dead links... yea i'm not talking about their search results... i'm talking about pages off thier "information" section http://www.cuil.com/info/ of the cuil website... oops is right guys! If you want people to think you got your shit together and that you can compete with Google... probably should have your site figured out and locked down... and I don't know... working, before you launch.

Secondly, I'm not sure if this is some cool feature of the search, but they have what seems like mostly random images associated with their search results. Like... why is there a photo of direction on how to hook up a washing machine (or what looks like a photo of a dog sled race) associated with a dead link to what is supposed to be an Eve Online mining guide (an online video game)? ahhh what?

Thirdly, I have no idea how the results are ranked... or how current they are. Maybe this is a function of my Google paradigm... but I like to know how results are ranked in relation to each other. So is the result at the top of the 2nd column more relevant then the 2nd result in the 1st column? If not then why is the 5th most relevant item pushed off the page, while the 10th most relevant sits at the top just to the right of the #1 result? I'm not saying its bad... but it is confusing, because I don't know what is going on.

Fourthly, and this is mostly a personal thing. Even though they have indexed 3x's the number of articles they seem to be missing a few. Namely, THIS website. A quick search on Google for "schwerzler" puts this site: Schwerzler.com at the top of the search results. Cuil doesn't even have schwerzler.com IN its search results.... I mean come on... it is IN the domain name. Rest assured I like being the #1 search result for Schwerzler on google, but I don't need to be #1... I do however expect to be included in the results for schwerzler. Maybe in the 121,617,892,992 (as of 11:24 AM July 28th, 2008) pages they have indexed has not brought them to schwerzler.com yet... but Google found us... and ranked us highly relevant to people looking for information about "schwerzler".... just sayin.

The site claims that Cuil does search in a new and exciting way... but i'm not sure how they expose that to the user, and the site being unable to provide the information is not helping much either.

Hopefully they will adjust after the release and we will see some cool new search technology coming from Cuil... they seem to have some talented people, now lets see what they can do.

Sorry!

Partially because of my own negligence and partially because of a failing of the "auto renew" feature of the Go Daddy domain registration/renewal system the domain schwerzler.com lapsed and I supposed technically was not owned by me for a few days.

Some of you may have noticed a page similar to the one attached saying the site was parked "free of charge" by Go Daddy.

Apologies to anyone who may have been inconvenienced by the interruption. Once discovered on Monday morning the sittuation was fixed ASAP.

It still leaves a bad taste in my mouth however, GoDaddy didn't notify me that my account was expiring, nor that it had expired, nor that the auto renewal did not work for some reason (probably because I'd long since cancelled the credit card I used to originally register the account), nor that they had pointed my domain to one of their "make Go Daddy money via our advertising landing page" sites.

It is not entirely their fault, I should have been more diligent in making sure the domain was renewed, but at the same time... some communication would have been a nice touch, given that they contact me constantly for "upgrading" my account anyway... UGH.

A break from the norm.

A friend linked in a website on twitter and I've spent a great deal of time lost in it this morning. It is contageous, and it is spreading to the people around me.

It is a touching chronicle of a mans relationship with his father. Not only that it has an interesting navigation method.

I highly recomend you check it out!

http://www.dayswithmyfather.com

ICHC FTW!

I haven't had bacon in TOO long...
more cat pictures

CUTE!

more cat pictures

Cool Acrobatics

Be Warned

Sound Transit announced its 15 year plan. Take a look <a href="http://seattletransitblog.com/2008/07/10/the-15-year-plan-that-will-knock-your-socks-off/">here</a>.

This posting serves as fair warning, that if this makes it on the ballot and the citizens in the Sound Transit voting district vote this down.... I'm seriously going to consider moving to Vancouver.

People know we need transit! They KNOW we need solutions that will serve this area for generations, not just for the next decade. They KNOW that the trend of living in the suburbs (which are getting further away from the city centers) and working in the city is not a good permanent solution.  This connects Northgate to the already underway UW light rail. It connects the east side (Bellevue first, then Redmond) to the nearly complete mainline. This eventually punches rail all the way down to FEDERAL WAY (I honestly didn't expect to see this on the ballot this year) which is WAY close to Tacoma.

You could live in a denser urban setting in Northgate (or federal way) and be commuting to Redmond with little or no troubles.

This is a great plan... and if it comes up for voting... unless you are strongly opposed (not even on the fence) about supporting transit, then you should probably vote for it.

DO IT OR I'LL PUNCH YOU IN THE WIENER!

Beautiful Nature desktop images

Smashing Magazine consistently amazes me with thier collection of "free" cool stuff. This time it is Nature Wallpapers

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/07/11/50-remarkable-nature-wallpapers/

Rick Astley'ed

iPhone 3g Rundown

Ars Technica has a nice rundown of the new iPhone 3g compared to the old. For those interested here is the link:

http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/iphone3g-review.ars

Fiest on Sesame Street

Umbrealla @ subpop

Umbrealla @ subpop, originally uploaded by Plecebo.

FUN!

It still hurts.

It happens every time I go on the fucking site... GOD DAMN IT!

It is the exact reason I have avoided going to mySpace since January. I had given it up. However, there is a little app for the iPhone that allows you to easily keep up with myspace in just a few clicks. At first I promised I wouldn't go to the site... then I installed the app and promised I wouldn't look, then I looked and it happened again. I HATE IT!.

Its not even anything specific that gets me upset... but just the act of looking sets me off. I don't know why I do it... but I've done it again, and some how it still fucks me up every time I do it. :(

*sigh*

I hesitate to even mention anything, because it seems like such a minor thing, but I figure if I can't vent on my own blog then where can I vent?

By all accounts today was a great day! Then this one thing happens and its like none of that matters. The fact that I'm happier then I have been in a long time (maybe ever). That I have lots of really wonderful things going on in my life, the fact that I'm doing good things with my life and I love who I am... all out the window because of some bullshit on myspace.

UGH! It really pisses me off. Then I think about "why is it pissing you off so much" and that inevitably ends in a spiral of self hate...

Fuck IT! I'm going to watch my favorite movie and self medicate for a while...

This is bullshit and I need to figure out how to stop it!

Day 0.5

After half a day or so with my new iPhone I think it is safe to say that I really like it. Having been without my old phone for the past 2 weeks it was nice to have a working phone that I didn't buy for $9.95 at a drugstore (it served its purpose). It seems like they have vastly improved on lots of the already cool features of the phone, as well as having done some user research and targeted the things that bothered people about iPhone 1.0. I like all the main stuff that you may or may not have heard on the news like:

• GPS: Seriously when you are outside it is pretty accurate. It could tell which side of the street I was on LOL.
• App Store: This is just a great feature, and one they probably should have released a while ago. I think this will almost defenitely keep me from Jailbreaking my phone this time.
• 3G Network: I seem to get pretty good coverage around my house and Seattle in general, which is something I was concerned about. The network is fast. And 3G sounds cooler then EDGE :D
  There are more from the list of "standards" that people always say. But there are also small things like the new plastic back rather then metal. I know what you are thinking "What plastic > metal?!?!?" I was sceptical too, but the plastic back sticks in your hand much better, and when you are using apps like this. in which you basically pretend your phone is a light saber and wing it around to create the cool sound effects, you want your phone to not go anyplace. We learned from the Wii that people swinging things will break expensive electronics... imagine winging your iPhone into your TV :( sad times. I'm sure I will come up with more stuff I really like, this is just the beginning. P.S. I'm still not thrilled about the way that launch day went... reports from Bellevue put people STILL in line at the Bellevue apple store well into the night.

Summer Cat

Summer Cat, originally uploaded by lulu.photo.

reminds me of yoda. I miss him :(

I get no satisfaction!

So due to the fact that my old iphone touchscreen cracked a few weeks ago, I decided I should get a 3g iphone on the day it comes out (July 11, 2008... or today). It was supposed to go down like this. You go to the store, buy your phone, they activate it in the store, and you walk out amazed at how easy and smooth the machines aptitude for having you open your wallet and taking your money.

Oh if only it were that easy.

Wait in line for 2.5 hours (glad I didn't arrive after 6:30... the people shortly behind me were not garunteed the phone they wanted.

They can't activate in the store... not a huge deal, you will just have to activate at home. But you can't walk out of the store and marvel at the greatness of the 3g technology :(.

Get it home... plug it in and away you go... er no wait... somethings wrong :(. It won't activate.... seems funky. Freak out for a minute, then start checking message boards and see that it is a common problem.

So it appears that apple underestimated the demand that all these iphone activations had on its network... right?

Simple bullshit. Apple is a company who VERY tightly controls when and how many items are sold. They knew EXACTLY (to the precise number) of iPhones that would be activated today. They knew EXACTLY how the load was going to be... that there were going to be hundreds of thousands of activations from 8-9am as each timezone reached the coveted 3g moment.

They dropped the ball.... I feel lied to.

Backgrounds for Webdesign

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/07/09/textures-and-patterns-design-showcase/

Aero vs. Compiz

The Arboretum at Night

The Arboretum at Night, originally uploaded by Cap'n Surly.

Cool Night Shots of the Arboretum

Rad

Look at these extremely talented belly dancers. Thanks for sharing Sara

More from Progressive Oregon

Oregon has a measure making its way through the legislative process to legalize the sale of marijuana to adults 21+

Good?

http://feeds.gothamistllc.com/click.phdo?i=840df7813ee9cc869abda15659021074

Zangief

The wonderful art of Penny Arcade strikes again, this time rendering in full detail the hilarity of the Zangief patch.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/2008/07/09/street-fighter/

This is nuts

This is nuts.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/norfolk/7496923.stm

WTF? Katchup as a major vegetable source

The NYT has an article on the top 5 foods worth purchasing organic versions of, you know if you had to choose. It is pretty crazy to think that many people get a significant portion of thier veggie intake from Katchup, but it put the condiment at #4 on the NYT list.

 4. Ketchup: For some families, ketchup accounts for a large part of the household vegetable intake. About 75 percent of tomato consumption is in the form of processed tomatoes, including juice, tomato paste and ketchup. Notably, recent research has shown organic ketchup has about double the antioxidants of conventional ketchup.

 Full article here: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/22/five-easy-ways-to-go-organic/

Create an emergency recovery disk

Linux.com has an article up detailing how you can create your own recovery disk from an ubuntu 8.04 cd.

http://www.linux.com/feature/137524

This is a great tool for anyone who does support and has gotten those calls late at night calls.  "I lost it! My computers brain is dead." followed by eyerolls.

Vintage Seattle

The site Vintage Seattle has up a great panorama of Seattle in 1907. It is really fun to see the skyline pre-skyscrapers and to think what our great city was like back in 1907 (Denny hill... stolen by aliens). http://www.vintageseattle.org/2008/07/02/seattle-panorama-o-rama-no-3/

Pipes FTW!

This is just wicked cool technology, and an extremely fun UI. Though nothing immediate pops to mind I am SURE I can find cool ways to use this!
http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/

 Check out the video/mini demo here: http://www.jumpcut.com/fullscreen?id=F4396574585311DC87A2000423CF0184&type=clip