April 3, 2007
PARDON THE INTERRUPTION
Some of you may have noticed a disappearing story yesterday regarding NYC's plans to protect itself from nuclear attack. That's not coming back, but it's not for national security reasons and you can still read it elsewhere. The new job as Weekend Editor at Gothamist is going very well, I think. I'm having a lot of fun doing it. I'll also be doing some things for the site during the week as well, like the end-of-day wrap-up post titled Extra, Extra. This will feature stories that the staff didn't get around to during the day or stories I think warrant inclusion at a one-line level. I'll also be contributing full posts during the week if the Gothamist finds itself short ten fingers, or if I, again, see something that seems particularly interesting for the site. I'll still be posting regularly at Lexiphane.com, and also the least I can do is post links to my other work. Come on over and see what's happening. Without further ado, the links:
Extra Extra - 4/3/07
Starbucks in Hot Water With Labor Advocates
I almost got in trouble with this one for relying on the NYTimes to correctly identify a union.
Extra, Extra - 4/2/07
We Need More Cowbell AND Frying Pan
I take a look at an article on some of the finer Mets and Yankees superfans. If you don't understand what the title means, you must watch this.
Keeping NYC Nuke Free
Designed the graphic myself.
Extra, Extra - 4/1/07
"What A Dangerous Man"
A look at the Daily News' labor intensive dirt digging article on "31-Shot Cop" Michael Oliver.
No Cabinet Post For Mrs. Giuliani
Rudy Giuliani backtracks on saying his wife will be too involved with his administration and some more on the former Mayor's Kerik problems.
Brooklyn's Black Gold
Why is oil coming out of the ground at a Williamsburg construction site?
Bloomberg's Billions
He's not just the mayor, he's the richest New Yorker!
Boardwalk Bulletin
A quick rundown of opening-day activities at Coney Island's boardwalk and perhaps its last.
Church To Hotel: Stick With Chocolate Bunnies
Some people don't like the idea of a naked Jesus rendered in chocolate hung in a hotel gallery, and a lot people hate those people. Lotta love in the Comments section in my debut.
Posted by Lexiphane at 7:35 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
March 6, 2007
READING WITH COMPREHENSION
As an aid to readers of Lexiphane.com, I recently added some code to the site that makes it "AnswerTips" enabled.
AnswerTipsTM are small information bubbles that define any word when double-clicked. An AnswerTips-enabled site or blog means visitors get fast facts on 4 million topics provided by Answers.com when they double-click on any word, without opening a new browser or following outbound links. AnswerTips deliver instant definitions, explanations and facts including biographies, tech terms, geography, pop culture and much more.
Go ahead; click on some words you'd like to clarify or find more about (highlight multiple-word terms before clicking). What's a camera obscura? Where is Formosa? What are the ingredients in a Rob Roy cocktail? Let me know what you think about the new addition. I'm always trying to add small things that make your visits to Lexiphane.com more enjoyable.
Posted by Lexiphane at 2:10 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
February 24, 2007
MAN OVER MACHINE: LEXIPHANE.COM RETURNS
Sometime between 7th Grade and 8th Grade, Shop Class became Technology. In 7th Grade, I took Wood Shop and made a pen holder that was essentially a sanded block of wood with a piece of acrylic glued to it and a pen receptacle screwed on to the top. 8th Grade was supposed to be Metal Shop, but instead it was replaced with Technology. Our teacher that year had been teaching metal shop for approximately 30 years and seemed alternately bemused and resentful that after three decades of successfully keeping kids from maiming themselves with power tools and soldering guns, he was now supposed to teach a new curriculum: Technology.
"What is Technology?"
That is what he would ask over and over again, sitting at his desk and gesturing to the word on the chalkboard behind him without looking at it. Then he would lean back in his creaky chair and click-clack his dentures with half-closed eyes. At first, the class assumed that he was looking for some type of definitive answer. After about two weeks of the question repeated with vague assertions punctuated by long contemplative silences, we realized it was more of a rhetorical question: one posed to stimulate a Socratic exploration of the concept of tools and knowledge from the dawn of man and through the ages. Either that, or our teacher was simply marking time in 40 minute increments until he could retire at the end of the year without cracking his Technology class guidebook. I don't think we wound up making anything in Metal Shop--sorry, Technology class--that year.
That was about 20 years ago, but my old teacher's question came to mind recently, over and over again, as I wrestled with a crashed site, database corruption, platform upgrades, and a configuration labrynth that I was beginning to suspect had no actual exit. I now know what technology is though. Technology is a huge pain in my ass. I'm sure my somnolent metal shop teacher would agree.
Nonetheless it is here with us to stay. And this morning I made it my bitch. Sorry for the weeks offline. I hope regular readers will return to the site and continue to enjoy frequent updates to Lexiphane.com. I'd like to extend special thanks to my brother Tom for offering guidance and practical assistance throughout my tech travails.
Tagged:Posted by Lexiphane at 12:55 PM | Comments (0)
January 29, 2007
LEXIMAP
This is a little experiment I'm conducting. Below is the LexiMap, dotted with NYC landmarks that I think are interesting. Scroll over the pointers for explanations of what the landmarks are and go ahead and contribute your own landmark via the link provided. If I find it to be accurate and consistent with this map's theme, I'll add it to the LexiMap and credit your contribution.
The LexiMap
(powered by GoogleMaps)
Posted by Lexiphane at 2:05 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 16, 2007
YOUR TWO CENTS (AND NAME) HERE
While I'm sure many of you are content to read Lexiphane.com passively, I bet there at least a few visitors who come across a piece of news, article, different site, or some item of interest and thinks to themself "I wonder what Lexiphane would make of this? I wonder if he's even seen it? How can I bring this to his attention?" Or maybe you'd just like to offer a little extra content to readers of this site by pointing out something on the Internet yourself. Now you can!
Del.icio.us is a bookmarking site where one can save the location of a site with the touch of a browser button. Your selections are saved in perpetuity to go back and reference at your leisure. With a little cutting and pasting (it was very technical), I recently managed to add an RSS feed to Lexiphane.com's del.icio.us page. Do you see it over there in the right sidebar, just below the flickr photos? (If not, try looking on the homepage). Readers can now add their own bookmarks to the pages of Lexiphane.com in that very space.
The process is fairly simple. If one is not already registered with del.icio.us, register with the service here. It should take all of two minutes and will leave you with a 'post to del.icio.us' bookmark and 'my del.icio.us' bookmark in your browser's toolbar. Now when one is browsing around the Internet and you find something that looks like Lexiphane.com and/or its readers would be interested in, just hit that 'post to del.icio.us' button. Add your two cents as to what you have to say about the site and enter for:lexiphane in the tags field. It's that easy.
Fair warning: this new feature is not completely automated, so your link may take a few hours to appear on the site. It is also moderated by yours truly. Links deemed to be excessively pornographic, obscene, embarrassing, or inappropriate will not be greenlit. Frivolity, on the other hand, is welcomed.
Tagged:Posted by Lexiphane at 7:20 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 10, 2007
LEXIFLICKR
(Flickr montage courtesy of Erik Kastner)
Beginning today, I am happy to introduce some flickr functionality to Lexiphane.com. Over to the right, one can see a new addition to our sidebar called Lexiflickr. Thanks to a handy little HTML plug-in that was fairly easy to put together at the flickr site, Lexiphane.com will now display a regularly changing stream of photos directly from flickr. If you'd like to see your photos in that space, just assign your pictures the flickr tag "lexiphane". All photos with the lexiphane tag can be viewed here.
Tagged:
Posted by Lexiphane at 9:08 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 19, 2006
PAST DUE DATES
The past three entries were all written before the weekend and scheduled to appear on an intermittent basis to keep regular readers entertained while I was away. Thus explains the ambiguous lack of a timely nature for the last few entries' subjects. Hopefully nothing calamitous, fortuitous or otherwise newsworthy has happened since early Saturday morning. Those looking for more up-to-date items should visit one of my favorite sites: Gothamist.com. The -Ist kids are always on the ball. The Gothamist site's Xmas party is where I'll be this evening so a decent plug in return for some free food and drink seems totally fair. Fresh Lexiphane fare should be on the way tomorrow along with--hopefully--some good holiday photos.
Tagged:Posted by Lexiphane at 3:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 15, 2006
IN ABSENTIA
I'll be away from the computer the next few days, as I tend to some holiday-related matters: people I have to see, parties I have to plan and execute, and invitations to events I need to attend. Not wanting to leave any regular readers out in the cold, I'm ante-dating some entries to appear over the weekend and early next week. Don't say I never did anything for you.
Tagged:Posted by Lexiphane at 11:59 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
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- PARDON THE INTERRUPTION
- READING WITH COMPREHENSION
- MAN OVER MACHINE: LEXIPHANE.COM RETURNS
- LEXIMAP
- YOUR TWO CENTS (AND NAME) HERE
- LEXIFLICKR
- PAST DUE DATES
- IN ABSENTIA
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