spiderplanet (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
spiderplanet) wrote2009-12-29 07:40 pm
spiderplanet) wrote2009-12-29 07:40 pm
About Google Reader
This blog exists primarily because I hate Facebook. I hate their stupid interface, I hate their tri-annual changing of 'privacy settings,' I hate their lack of threaded comments, and I hate their inability to allow more than one link per update.
Because it sucks so very much, I think that I will try to use Facebook less in the future. This thing that you're reading right here is my public pseudo-blog.
http://spiderplanet.dreamwidth.org/
A feed of this blog is easy to get, via whatever not-stupid aggregate method you enjoy. I have made the settings so that anyone can comment, either anonymously or through OpenID. The link can be added via an RSS feed to another blogging site like Livejournal, or to Google Reader.
Google Reader is made of win, but many of you already knew that. I have recently fallen in love with Google Reader, it is the coolest free thing I've found this year.
It's like a newspaper, but with a better funnies section. It's like a newspaper, but with stories that I'm interested in. It's like a news paper, but with news.
When I first started using GR a few weeks ago, I added CNN to the news feed because I believed that I should follow at least one traditionally "legitimate" news source. The Google Reader description says "CNN.com delivers up-to-the-minute news and information on the latest top stories, weather, entertainment, politics and more."
Let's just call it "Entertainment and more."
Within the last twenty four hours, of thirty two stories, there have been three stories about Charlie Sheen. I do not believe that Charlie Sheen represents more than nine percent of all worthwhile news.
Beyond celebrity news, there's another twenty percent that's either fluff, or someone's dumbass opinion. CNN does cover "real" news too, of course. Some of you may recall that they were the ones to clear up the complexities of that extremely important Waffle Shortage of '09!
I dropped CNN today, and added CommonDreams, which is neither mind-numbingly tedious nor pointless. I've also got BBC's news feed, so I think I'm fine on the "legitimate" news front.
On a more positive, and much less newsworthy note - Here are some of the nifty things I've found via Google Reader so far.
From Lifehacker, there's Calculate the Cost of Your Drink.
From Make Magazine, there are some breathtakingly cool costume ideas. LEGO minifig group costume.
PZ Myers ran a spot on commentary article today, called The Powerlessness of Pink.
Boing Boing posted a link to Blueprints of the Eiffel Tower
And finally, iO9 has something that may not be for everyone but I'll share anyway. Though I have no issue with it, I'm not into slash fiction. Even still, there is so much brilliance in this creation that I need to share it just for the impressive display of technical skill. Someone has gone to quite a bit of trouble re-editing Zachary Quinto's reading of the movie novelization into Spork! An Erotic Love Story.
Now that I've shared my recommendations, I look forward to hearing what you'd suggest that I add in Google Reader.
To sum up in more or less reverse order; Google Reader, Google Reader, Google Reader, love, love, kisses, Google Reader, hugs, CNN Blows goats.
Because it sucks so very much, I think that I will try to use Facebook less in the future. This thing that you're reading right here is my public pseudo-blog.
http://spiderplanet.dreamwidth.org/
A feed of this blog is easy to get, via whatever not-stupid aggregate method you enjoy. I have made the settings so that anyone can comment, either anonymously or through OpenID. The link can be added via an RSS feed to another blogging site like Livejournal, or to Google Reader.
Google Reader is made of win, but many of you already knew that. I have recently fallen in love with Google Reader, it is the coolest free thing I've found this year.
It's like a newspaper, but with a better funnies section. It's like a newspaper, but with stories that I'm interested in. It's like a news paper, but with news.
When I first started using GR a few weeks ago, I added CNN to the news feed because I believed that I should follow at least one traditionally "legitimate" news source. The Google Reader description says "CNN.com delivers up-to-the-minute news and information on the latest top stories, weather, entertainment, politics and more."
Let's just call it "Entertainment and more."
Within the last twenty four hours, of thirty two stories, there have been three stories about Charlie Sheen. I do not believe that Charlie Sheen represents more than nine percent of all worthwhile news.
Beyond celebrity news, there's another twenty percent that's either fluff, or someone's dumbass opinion. CNN does cover "real" news too, of course. Some of you may recall that they were the ones to clear up the complexities of that extremely important Waffle Shortage of '09!
I dropped CNN today, and added CommonDreams, which is neither mind-numbingly tedious nor pointless. I've also got BBC's news feed, so I think I'm fine on the "legitimate" news front.
On a more positive, and much less newsworthy note - Here are some of the nifty things I've found via Google Reader so far.
From Lifehacker, there's Calculate the Cost of Your Drink.
From Make Magazine, there are some breathtakingly cool costume ideas. LEGO minifig group costume.
PZ Myers ran a spot on commentary article today, called The Powerlessness of Pink.
Boing Boing posted a link to Blueprints of the Eiffel Tower
And finally, iO9 has something that may not be for everyone but I'll share anyway. Though I have no issue with it, I'm not into slash fiction. Even still, there is so much brilliance in this creation that I need to share it just for the impressive display of technical skill. Someone has gone to quite a bit of trouble re-editing Zachary Quinto's reading of the movie novelization into Spork! An Erotic Love Story.
Now that I've shared my recommendations, I look forward to hearing what you'd suggest that I add in Google Reader.
To sum up in more or less reverse order; Google Reader, Google Reader, Google Reader, love, love, kisses, Google Reader, hugs, CNN Blows goats.