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Thoughts: A Gentleman in Moscow

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A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

"This book joins the ranks of my all-time favourites. When I first picked this up, it was simply because the cover intrigued me. It was a black and white photo of a man looking out from a balcony." -christine.ity 

• • • christine.ity

 

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Gopher the Publicity

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SundialToo much time has passed since we last shined (shone?) the BlogDogIt spotlight on a worthy internet destination but, as luck would have it, someone from the mysterious world of the fringe internet has seen fit to mention our sister site, InfinitelyRemote.com, as a prime example of the treasure trove of internet goodness that may be had when touring the obscure realm  of gopherspace [end run-on sentence here]

Below is a republishing of a thoughtfully written article about the simpler, side of internet life. This guy might really be on-to something here...
 

            

   
           On Gopher by Patrick

Via: The Mantelpiece

Written with: iPad | Logitech Keys-to-go Keyboard | Notes | iPadOS 15

(Some secondary writing on iPhone XR/touchscreen keyboard)

I think I did something good last week,in a way that's expanded my optimism about alternative ways of using the internet!

[Forgive me if I make any technical errors in the below; I’m passionate about computers and the old internet, but I’m far from an expert. If you are an expert on archaic networking terminology, please accept my outpouring of sincere love for the fruits of your personal interest as apologies for my ineptitude!!!]

So I’ve been messing around with a vintage 2001 iMac G3 for a while now (yes…computers released in the early 2000s are “vintage” now… the_future_is_now_old_man.jpg). I bought it a month or two ago, and had a lot of fun simply exploring Mac OS 9 and loading images onto its beautiful CRT screen. Unfortunately, I was clueless about how to actually mount disk images, a required step in order to install most of the abandonware available for free download online; special thanks to Macintosh Repository and Macintosh Garden! I finally made a breakthrough when I located MR’s FAQ section and figured out how to do it, but that’s not what this post is about.

Now that I was using the iMac more regularly, I also spent more time in Classilla, the most recently-updated (to my knowledge) web browser for classic Mac OS. It actually received its final official update just last year. While exploring Floodgap’s website (they host the servers for Classilla’s front page, and may have been involved in its development? I can’t remember, sorry), I found a door to a whole “new” realm of the internet: Gopher.

Please continue reading →

 

 

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Introducing: Glitch N. Matrix

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I am pleased to announce the addition of a brand new domain in the DeBurger Photo Image & Design empire: GlitchyMatrix.com

The following is the "About" section from my new blog:

Glitch N. MatrixThroughout my life I have experienced instances of utter weirdness; from Déjà vu and prophetic dreams to bizarre observations and unexplained occurrences. It was after experiencing a very obvious “glitch in the matrix” moment that I felt compelled to investigate the availability of the domain name glitchinthematrix dot com… it was taken (no surprise.) That was actually a good thing because it lead me to grab-up GlitchyMatrix.com (a much pithier option I feel.)

I am excited to venture into this creation and have chosen the moniker “Glitch N. Matrix” with which to present content on this site. Apologies to Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck for choosing his visage (flipped) to stand for my Mr. Matrix – I am quite uncertain why I chose to do so

The internet is chock-full of reports of the strange, bizarre and inexplicable. It is my intention to seek out examples of this Glitchy Matrix in which we live to share them with readers. I will gladly accept story submissions and suggestions and hope to one day make GlitchyMatrix.com a “go-to” source for reports of glitches in the matrix.

From the category: Personal Reflections

Shaken

It is a timeworn cliché to ask the question, “where were you when the lights went out?”; this being ostensibly a reference to the legendary Northeast Blackout of 1965. So too, are many folks prompted to recall events of three years prior to that catastrophe, when plied with the question, “where were you when Kennedy was shot?” We who were alive during those occurrences may (or may not) be able to offer solid alibis for our whereabouts and activities at the time, but when an apparent Glitch in the Matrix occurs in conjunction with a major event, the moment will be forever etched in your consciousness. This is my story of just such a moment…

Dancing PeopleSeveral years ago I was given the gift of a really nice earthenware coffee mug that featured embossed, silhouetted figures of people dancing – in a petroglyphic motif – about its circumference. It was an uplifting graphic that added buoyancy to its substantial heft. This mug became my constant companion as I would transport my “wake-up juice” on my daily three mile commute to the photo lab at which I was employed.

I recall one day, while heading off to work, I stopped momentarily to tie my shoe; using my truck’s bumper to prop up my foot for the task. It was not until I was walking into work, and rounding the back of the truck that I noticed the coffee cup setting where I left it – on the rear bumper – without so much as a drop missing from it’s precious cargo. I tell you this anecdote to illustrate why I had taken to thinking of this item as “my lucky cup.”

This talismanic status was to be a short-lived manifestation however, for not long after the mug’s demonstration of its amazing survival skills, it met its match in the form of the concrete sidewalk just outside my home’s front gate. My house at the time had a chain-link fence and a front gate that I would routinely pass through; performing the action of unlatching, opening, closing and latching. One fateful morning as I was turning to close the gate, my prized earthenware work of art tumbled from my grasp and fell (seemingly in slow motion) to the pavement below – shattering into countless small pieces. At the time I could not fathom the forces that would cause me to subject my inanimate friend to such an awful fate but could not dwell on the matter as I was off to work.

When I arrived at the lab a crowd of fellow employees were gathering around a large central work table where the manager was setting up a television. “What’s going on?” I inquired to the dazed and confused looking assembly…

The timing was just about right. The explanation was clear. Tuesday, September 11, 2001. 8:46:40: Flight 11 crashes into the north face of the North Tower (1 WTC) of the World Trade Center, between floors 93 and 99.

Norman Vincent Peale“This is a dynamic and mysterious universe and human life is, no doubt, conditioned by imponderables of which we are only dimly aware. People sometimes say, “the strangest coincidence happened.” Coincidences may seem strange, but they are never a result of caprice. They are orderly laws in the spiritual life of man. They affect and influence our lives profoundly. These so-called imponderables are so important that you should become spiritually sensitized to them. Indeed, the more spiritually minded you become the more acute your contact will be with these behind-the-scenes forces. By being alive to them through insight, instruction, and illumination, you can make your way past errors and mistakes on which, were you less spiritually sensitive, you might often stumble.”

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/coincidence

  • Norman Vincent Peale, Stay Alive All Your Life

Have you ever experienced a glitch that seemed related to a remote event? Tell us about it in the comments below.

 Please add GlitchyMatrix.com to your blog visitation rotation,
I hope to have great fun over there and hope you decide to join me.

 

 

 

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Some Old New Friends

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Friends & Partners

In searching out some digitized text from "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy to insert into an article I was working on over at The Vestibule I was rewarded with the complete volume of the work. This exercise also served to introduce a very interesting, international, collaborative project between individuals in the United States of America and Russia and the Newly Independent States: Friends & Partners.

The sum of human wisdom is not contained in any one language, and no single language is capable of expressing all forms and degrees of human comprehension. - Ezra Pound The website is certainly dated and its home page serves to celebrate the sites 20th anniversary (which occurred January 19, 2014.) It is unfortunate that this (obviously monumental) labor of love has stagnated in its development. However, it is found none-the-less worthy of those glowing rays of attention bestowed by the BlogDogIt Spotlight.

As luck would have it we have made our discovery in time to congratulate this web service on 25 years of contribution to the world wide body of knowledge. 

Born on January 19, 1994, Friends and Partners is one of the first Internet services developed jointly by citizens of the United States and Russia. Resulting from a chance meeting on the Internet (you can read our story here), it is but one of many examples of how the Internet, itself rooted in the Cold War separating our nations, can provide an effective means of bringing us together.

About the authors . . . We are Natasha Bulashova, of Pushchino Russia, and Greg Cole of Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. Our careers in information science led to our chance meeting via the Internet and to our discovery that despite cultural differences, a steep language barrier, and the misunderstandings upon which we were raised, we can become good friends. It is our greatest hope that this server will help others do the same. 

Please Note: Many of the links offered on the Friends & Partners web site are broken due to age and attrition but a great deal of valuable resources and entertaining content are still available to those willing to do a bit of cyber-exploration (you know who you are.)

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Ahead to the Past

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In The Spotlight

Ad RollerThanks to the BlogDogIt Friendly Ad Roller ™ I was reminded of Half and Half, the blog and brainchild of "half wit. half wisdom. a whole lot of nonsense."® Megan Lake (A.K.A. @meg_lago to her twits.) When her linky popped up randomly today I took the bait and decided to visit one of my preferred internet destinations.

I have to admit to disappointment however, when I discovered there had not been an entry made since two-nought-sixteen. Not exactly the end of the world because there is plenty of prose from her prolific pen - enough to profit even persistent perusers such as myself.

Meg and MickeyWondering what Meg was up to nowadays, I flew on over to twitter to check for life-signs. Encouraged to find tweets originating from within a fortnight I decided to explore some more and saw she was now listing her internet address as MeganKLake.com It was through this website I learned rather than abandoning her creative side she had instead put it to great effect as Senior Copywriter for the prestigious AMP Agency in Boston.

An investigation of the portfolio presented on her new website reveiled a somewhat less wry application of Meg-arts but I found it to be an enjoyable look into the future of Meg Lago's past. So it turns out that around the time she was walking away from the Half and Half she was walking into the World of Play-Doh. In typical BlogDogIt form I would like to wish Play-Doh an extreemly belated but sincere Happy 60th Anniversary and officialy / finally join in the celebration of "World Play-Doh Day!" (September 16)

Watch the following video short and tell me honestly you did not see this in Meg's Future ;)

  Source: https://videopress.com/v/N0mHwKfh 


Play-Doh tasked us with generating buzz around World Play-Doh Day. We interviewed kids from all over the world and asked them what they thought the future would look like, then we created it in Play-Doh, wrote a cohesive story and launched it on the brand’s 60th anniversary on September 16, 2016.

- Megan Lake [meganklake.com/playdoh/]


You never know what the future may hold; these kids may actually have it right. That Megan kid certainly did.

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Long Drives & Sunday Mornings

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It has been far too long since I put this BlogDogIt Spotlight to work  - well, lo and behold - my internet explorations have struck gold once again!

I am a flake of stardust in this vast universe.On January 2 of this year I first encountered the enchanting blogging voice of Christine Asuncion emanating from her blog entitled "By My Two Feet." In the midst of exploring the content therein, I discovered she had only just posted an article with the heading "parting with bymytwofeet" in which she explained how she had exhausted the space allotted to this free wordpress blog and had to close-up shop. At the conclusion of this goodbye message was a casual mention that she will now be blogging at her new site which she is calling "Christine.ity"
~ Thank Goodness!

Regular explorers of BlogDogIt will recognize Christine.ity from the fact that we have been featuring her site via RSS in the margins of our "masodo's musings" topic area, so as to never miss a post from this self-described "flake of stardust."  Among the many qualities she owns in respect to her blogging persona is the fact that, "I take my playlist seriously" So in true BlogDogIt fashion we encourage you all to join Christine in this regard:

Christine.ity's all golden playlist

Enjoy!

 Link to playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYU4MB6l0CvU1iQtPS4bMIUUKa4iKF3lP 


Wouldn't it be nice if someone with marginal hacking skills could somehow convert these youtube videos into mp3 files so those of us with mp3 players could take these tunes out into the world to experience these songs in a more natural habitat? And if only that collection could be downloaded in a group; say in a zip file? That would be very handy. And what if everyone that downloaded this mix would get to know these artist even better and support them in their pursits - that would be totally awesome! #SupportIndieMusic

A Package Deal


Get to know Christine yourself:

https://christineity.wordpress.com/
https://amateureye.wordpress.com/
https://bymytwofeet.wordpress.com/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtWFXBmXzkMj57bFXxX49uQ/


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Hacking For Fun And Profit

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Welcome to BlogDogItIt has long been my intent to continue running BlogDogIt.com on the Geeklog CMS platform; doing my best to utilize existing features and plug-ins to keep this place on the cutting edge. Not too long ago though, I waxed poetic over my wishing to do something with the platform that - to my knowledge - had never been done with Geeklog. (See:Getting Geeky With IT)

I am pleased to report that after having submitted my work to
Geeklog.net, I was informed by them that my modification - which I have named "RSS Last Post" -  has been accepted and added to their official downloads section under the heading "Add-ons" subcategory "Hacks."

RSS Last Post download page

Get only the latest post from your favorite blogs.
Display in side block or static page.

A great deal of my blogging efforts revolve around promoting others' blogs. For many years I would use the Geeklog Portal Blocks to share their RSS feeds. I soon got the idea to attempt to extract a remote site's latest post and feature it in a static page or block and set about cobbling together this hack. In addition to showing the last post for the blog it also gets the website's logo and link if supplied to their feed (some do, some don't.)

Click the image above to visit the RSS Last Post download page and download the ZIP file - chocked full of tasty PHP Soup. Look around BlogDogIt for several examples of this hack in action.

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Iluminating the Oblivion State

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Oblivion State

Space may be the "final frontier" but that does not mean you have to be an astronaut to scratch your exploring itch. You can climb a mountain if you have one handy or tromp off into the woods and attempt to get lost in nature (if she'll have you.) But if exploration is what you crave, take a tip from Dorothy: "If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own backyard..."

BlogDogIt is pleased to shine this (long-overdue) spotlight into the fascinating diversion of Urban Exploration and invite you to experience the Oblivion State. Oblivion State exists as an online forum for like-minded individuals to share their experiences in this most visually stimulating, awe inspiring, often melancholical quest for some really "big game" images.

Wherever humanity attempts to improve their condition the true impact of these endeavors is often best displayed in the urbanized areas their cities and towns. Begin your expedition here in the comfort of your internet browser (no tetanus shot required.) Think about those astounding sights you pass on a daily basis; those of which you have become numb to the beauty they possess. Open your eyes to the Oblivion State... 

Enjoy!

 Click On The Image To Visit Source Article

All images sourced from http://www.oblivionstate.com/ and remain copyrighted to the photographer with all rights reserved. Used Without Permission - I am hoping your visit to their website will get me off the hook.

Featured Explorers:

[] MiaroDigital [] Ferox [] Andy [] urbexosaurus []
[]
The Amateur Wanderer  [] eyevolve [] jones-y-gog []
[] skeleton key [] hamtagger [] mookster []

 


Be sure to catch my first contribution to Oblivion State:
Impressionists View: Riverside Amusement Park (circa 1979)


 

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Touched By Wrays of Sunshine

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Wrays Of Sunshine

Brianna Wray - Interdisciplinary Artist

Brianna Wray - Interdisciplinary ArtistI have been keeping an eye on this lady for a couple of years now and feel the time is right for shining the BlogDogIt Spotlight her way. As a self-described interdisciplinary artist, Bri - I hope I can call her that - has her hands in many media of self expression.

With a flair for the upbeat she imparts through her art those properties we all associate with sunshine. With warmth she illuminates her world, highlighting the colorful nature of her creativity. Like those rays of sunlight we have all seen breaking through a sky filled with clouds Brianna breaks through the internet with a fresh and honest presence; a truly spirited artist and skilled internet artisan worthy of attentive patronage.

"...I’d like my work to contribute to fond memories and reflect the world around us in a whimsical way."
-- Brianna Wray -
[Artist Statement]

On the WraysOfSunshine.com website Brianna has interviewed several of her local compatriots in the art world - gain insight into her love of art as she celebrates others who are driven to create. Perhaps one of the best introductions to Brianna Wray herself is in the form of this video self-portrait; Brianna: Wray of Sunshine - Final Project for Art360: 30:60:90: Identity & the Moving Image.

Enjoy!

The Video: https://youtu.be/eNl6j3B69AQ

Now how could you not want to learn more about this
ray of sunshine named Wray? 
Her linkage:

Wrays of Sunshine Wordpress
YouTube
Instagram
Facebook

 

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