Thought Patterns

There be power in 'em.

Was cruising folkses blogs today and visited Irysangel (aka Jill Myles). She has a post up titled "LiveJournal Hivemind, help!" With a title like that, I just had to see what she wanted (although I am not part of the LiveJournal Hivemind, fer shur)

As folks helped her out, they gave links to various sites and I am just droolin' like mad!

Synonyms24.com - whoa, dudes. "Welcome to synonyms24.com. This is a collection of more than 100 000 english synonyms. You can search for english synonyms by typing in a word above or by browsing through the synonyms." How cool is that? I had fun there, looking up various words, following thoughts and concepts along the way. Awesome.

The Phrontistery, Compendium of Lost Words - "Welcome to the Compendium of Lost Words, a component of The Phrontistery. The Compendium lists over 400 of the rarest modern English words - in fact, ones that have been entirely absent from the Internet, including all online dictionaries, until now. By revealing the existence of these words online, I do not necessarily promote their revival, but I do encourage an appreciation of the flexibility of English vocabulary. In theory, the Compendium will be the only web page on which each of these words occurs in its proper English context." You must check out this site. The words are just amazing. And you can use a few and people think you actually know something! Seriously, though, some of these will be perfect for this one character I have. Be sure to check out the links in the sidebar.

I always use WordWeb to get the meaning of a word and possible synonyms. Now, though, if I am not quite happy with the results, I can hop over to the Synonyms24 site.

What a woman!

Renee Bess is a writer also with Regal Crest. She, Jane V, and myself were part of the first RCE Blog Tour. I got to meet Renee at the Golden Crown Literary Society (GCLS) conferences and was impressed with her voice, both written and spoken.

Renee writes of one minority (black lesbians) and I write of another (disabled lesbians). It is a risk writing either one but so far, both have been embraced by the lesbian community.

The first time Renee and I met was online. We were to be part of a panel at the GCLS con - The Other. I said in an email (sent to the other panelists and the moderator) that I was the token crip. Later, Renee told me she thought I meant I was the token gang member. We've been friends ever since.

At any rate, Renee has been featured on a website and has a wonderful essay about writing as a black lesbian about black lesbians.

The last installment is up!

Part 5 - Renee Bess' site
Part 4 - Andi M's site
Part 3 - Jane Vollbrecht's site
Part 2 - right here!
Part 1 - Sandra Barret's site

So, what did ya'll think of this Blog Tour thing?

The final installment of the first Regal Crest Enterprises Authors' Blog Tour!

You can find it at Andi Marquette's LiveJournal (author of upcoming novel, "Land of Entrapment").

You can find the prior three at:
http://www.sandrabarret.com/tour.html
http://paulaoffutt.com/blog/archives/2007/12/03/rce-blog-tour-2/
http://www.janevollbrecht.com/news.htm

Also, check out the RCE Authors' Forum. It is quiet over there so jump in and ask questions and/or comment!

As always, I am constantly looking for the perfect keyboard. Since my laptop's monitor died and I am stuck at a desk (vs where ever), my research into them has dropped to minimal effort.

But today I see an article about the "new" keyboards out there. LiveScience.com has a video article (short and sweet) about the different ergonomic keyboards out there.

The video article mentions a several keyboards. I'm not sure on the spelling of the last two and will be looking them up in a minute.

Kinesis Advantage
Goldtouch
Kinesis Freestyle (check out the YouTube video)
Safetype (the site has sound come on when you first load the page so be aware and don't jump out of your skin like I did!)
G-tech (also has sound! and has more annoying sounds as you move the cursor across a link. annoying)
das keyboard (not sure why this one was included in the article….)
Saitech - couldn't find the keyboard on their site. Again, not sure why this one was listed in terms of ergonomics
I-tech

Another site, speedingcomputer.com, had a listing of "25 Coolest (and most unconventional) keyboards" almost all the keyboards above, plus several others. The most intriguing are the AlphaGrip and the Combimouse.

I find myself drawn, still, to the Kinesis Advantage and to their new Freestyle. I like that the Freestyle can come with a 20" cord between the two sections. I don't like that I have to buy all these accessories to make it at an angle or curved.

From Wired News:

Netscape Browser to Die a Quiet Death in February 2008
By Michael Calore

The browser that started it all is going the way of the dodo.

Tom Drapeau, AOL's director of the Netscape brand, announced in a blog post Friday that AOL will cease development on all Netscape web browsers on February 1, 2008. The company will continue to support the current version of the browser, Netscape 9, by releasing patches or security fixes until that date. After February 1, all development will stop.

Drapeau recommends that anyone running a Netscape-branded browser make the switch to Mozilla Firefox, the open-source browser upon which the last few versions of Netscape have been based.

(snip)

Originally released in 1994 during the nascent days of the web, Netscape Navigator was the underdog contender in the "browser wars" of the late 1990s, when it faced stiff competition from Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser. Even though Netscape championed web standards and was first to market with dozens of new features, Internet Explorer shipped on the desktop of every new Windows computer. So while Microsoft continued to enjoy the larger market share, Netscape, which needed to be downloaded and installed, lagged behind. This issue was central to the United States' anti-trust case against Microsoft.

Eventually, AOL purchased the Netscape Communications Corporation in 1999 and released its browser code as the open-source Mozilla project.

(link to full article)

In the comments of the article, Asa Dozer, who is quoted in the article, says this:

"Eventually, AOL purchased the Netscape Communications Corporation in 1999 and released its browser code as the open-source Mozilla project."
Not quite. Netscape released the source code and created the Mozilla project before AOL was even considering acquiring Netscape (April 1998).
- A
Posted by: Asa Dotzler | Dec 28, 2007 4:05:40 PM

And another comment later:

Asa beat me to the punch. get it right Wired… the Mozilla Project was started before the acquisition by AOL was started. I believe it is what saved the Idea of what Netscape was and what FireFox is now. We dreaded it when Netscape was taken over by AOL, but were happy and safe in the fact that the Code was out there and would live on and grow with how the users wanted it. the Real Browser lives on…… ans as for people calling it the Underdog… it always kicked IE's Arse… hands down… and like Alan, I to always waited anxiously for the next version to release, and laughed as IE tried to keep up…

Posted by: Angus | Dec 28, 2007 9:09:29 PM

I've been using Firefox for a while now. I was an avid Netscape (loved the integrated email and browser!) user for years. Then it was bought by AOL. But by then I was using Mozilla for a while until Firefox came out. I highly recommend using Firefox as opposed to IE. I hate sites that are not compliant and must be viewed by IE or webmasters who say "Best viewd with IE". Snort. Best get a better webmaster.

Linkage:

Mozilla Foundation:

Firefox (browser)
Thunderbird (email)
Sunbird (calendar)
MiniMo (portable browser)
Other projects

The latest installment of the RCE blog tour is ready!

This time it is at Jane Vollbrecht's site: http://www.janevollbrecht.com/news.htm

Catch them all:
First Stop: http://www.sandrabarret.com/tour.html
Second Stop: http://paulaoffutt.com/blog/ - 12/3/2007
Third Stop: http://www.janevollbrecht.com - 12/17/2007
Fourth Stop: http://www.myspace.com/fiestaroad - 12/31/2007
Fifth Stop: http://www.reneebess.com - 1/14/2008

The RCE Blog Tour is displaying the interviews of Paula Offutt, Jane Vollbrecht, and Renee Bess by showing parts of the interviews at various websites. And while on the subject of RCE Authors, be sure to check out the RCE Authors' Forum!