CircleCount helps you better understand Google+

2013-06-19 03:28:20 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

The fate of the world rests in his tiny... yellow... hands. 

:-D

2013-06-18 12:52:57 (11 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

So I check back in every so often to see if Google has gotten around to fixing stuff like removing the extra step they added for me to get to my pages or fixing the comment disappearance problem. And instead I find that they've gone and screwed my pages up so badly that I struggle just to find a post I've just made. 

I totally get the online services need to have dynamic growth in order to improve and stay relevant. And I understand that sometimes it's a process of one step back, two steps forward. But I'm still searching for any steps forward and I keep stumbling upon more steps back. 

I miss hanging here. But every time I try to come back, I get so frustrated trying to do stuff that now takes more steps to do that I've actually started hanging out on FB a bit more instead. And I hate Facebook. 

2013-06-18 12:47:47 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Have you noticed that in the past few years the train has been sounding louder and longer than ever before when passing through town? It's not the city's fault, but some train regulators somewhere who probably only think of trains as passing way out on the fringes of town. They should come spend a night in Old Town to get a sense of what their rules have done for our train-embedded community. Let's hope the senators can make some leeway. 

2013-06-17 16:10:55 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

I think it was in this community that there was some talk about a hackerspace, wasn't it? There's going to be a mini maker faire in Loveland in October. 

2013-06-15 22:37:40 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

We've got a bunch of hyssop going gangbusters in the front yard. I just saw that the flowers can be made into tea. I was hoping for suggestions on what to do with the leaves. Anyone have a good hyssop recipe? 

2013-06-13 13:37:20 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

A Silicon Valley startup is taking on CDN giants such as Akamai with technology it promises will mean Web pages load twice as fast. Brace yourself for the term "nanovisor."

2013-06-05 01:30:23 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

I was looking for a nice picture that included a rounded castle door when I came across this post. I think it's absolutely brilliant. The haphazard look of the cottage is wonderfully rendered. So I thought I'd share. :-) I'm inspired to build something castle-y now. 

2013-06-05 01:03:19 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

In this post I blather on a bit about Adam Grant's post -- which was very good. 

2013-06-01 13:06:26 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

I'm heading down to Denver Comic Con today. The thing I'm looking forward to most?... The Lego builds by CoWLUG. :-)

2013-05-31 22:45:47 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

I'm breaking my G+ silence to post this because it is incredibly awesome. It's a bit long, but well worth it.

"Violence is never ever a choice that a man should make." - Patrick Stewart

2013-05-25 01:03:17 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

I got a little teary eyed today. This is why. 

2013-05-23 19:32:03 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Have I said lately how much I hate the new +Google+ ? The notifications tab drives me absolutely insane. I keep overscrolling and losing notifications. And several times now I've overscrolled after having written a whole bunch of comment only to lose the comment when the notification window snaps shut. AAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH! What a great way to shut down conversation. I find myself hanging out on G+ about half as much as I used to before the change. :-P If you're going to make it harder for me to do everything, then why should I stick around? Maybe it's time to go back to focusing on blogging. 

Oh, double grrrr. Somehow Google added one of the pages I follow to the "to" section and the only way to remove it is to click on the "browse people" icon, then select the people you've added, then deselect, then hit done. Four steps to do what yous... more »

2013-05-23 15:27:25 (1 comments, 3 reshares, 7 +1s)

2013-05-23 01:20:49 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

I finally bought our tickets to +Denver Comic Con. I've never been to anything like it before. Will I be ostracized if I'm not all cosplay-ed up? 

2013-05-22 23:01:51 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Made In A Free World: GHANA is here! 

With your help, we will rescue five children from the fishing industry on Lake Volta and put them on a path to freedom.
 
At this moment, there’s an estimated 7,000 – 10,000 children trapped in slavery on the lake. These children, some of which are as young as five years old, are forced to work up to 17 hours a day. They do not receive any money and are given minimal food.
 
With our partner Challenging Heights, we are breaking this system of slavery. Over the next 40 days we will raise money to rescue, rehabilitate, and reintegrate five kids. 

We can’t do this without your support. Share this project with your friends and consider making a contribution today. Your donation will change lives.

www.madeinafreeworld.com/ghana

2013-05-22 04:22:10 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 2 +1s)

I'm embarking on a new project. This is the introduction to the book I'm hoping to write. 

2013-05-20 13:16:45 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Adironack Chairs

Hey FoCo Peeps, I'd like to buy some adirondack chairs for our front porch. But I'm not sure where to look. Any suggestions on who might carry them? I don't want cheap plastic chairs. I'd like some solidly built wooden ones. There's apparently a dude down in Broomfield that hand crafts them, but I don't want to drive down there and I don't want to pay for shipping. I'm hoping to find somewhere local that sells nice ones. Thoughts?

2013-05-19 20:14:16 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Streetmosphere is running a Kickstarter campaign and it looks like they might not bring in the dough they were hoping for. They say that if they can't do it, we won't have any Streetmosphere music downtown in August. 

Their rewards aren't stellar as far as Kickstarter campaigns go. (Best ever? The Cows vs. Pigs Lego heads campaign that just ended recently. I don't think I've ever seen a Kickstarter campaign that was quick so awesome, and I've seen some great ones. Anyway. Just sayin'.) BUT what Streetmosphere offers to Fort Collins is totally awesome in its own right. So supporting the cause might be reward enough. 

I've supported these folks because I love walking downtown and hearing music and seeing magicians and watching dance performances everywhere I go. That's totally cool. Please consider supporting these guys and pass the word on to folksi... more »

2013-05-19 20:09:44 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Fort Collins has started a website that they're calling the "Idea Lab." I can't say it's entirely intuitive to use, but once you get the hang of it, it's workable. And I appreciate the fact that the city is trying to get citizens involved in sharing ideas with one another. 

They just started a new topic theme (I don't really get how the theme thingies work. They come. Then they go. And I don't know if you can ever get back to them once they're gone. But at least while they're up, I try to add my 2 cents.) on their new development review page on the city website. I think it's a great step toward getting community involvement/input in city growth. 

So I'm posting this link here ... well first, because the Idea Lab page asked me if I wanted to share my post somewhere and I thought, sure, what the heck. I'll post it to the FCc... more »

2013-05-16 18:18:35 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

I finally found one thing I like about the new G+. When I go to my pages page, I no longer have to click "more" to see the rest of my pages. They open as I scroll. That's soooo much nicer. 

One step forward, twelve steps back. At least we're moving, I suppose. 

2013-05-16 13:16:05 (12 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

I wish things would stop popping out at me on +Google+. It feels like no matter where I move my mouse, it activates something popping up or sliding out or moving over. I go to click on something and something else will slide out and cover it up. So I mouse away, mouse back to try again and once again it gets covered up. Grrrrrrrr. How do I lock things into place so that they stop moving around on me? The only thing that SHOULD be moving is my stream, as new posts arrive. (And that's the only thing that's not moving on its own.) Oi Vey!

2013-05-15 23:45:47 (6 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

* sigh *

OK, how do I turn the frickin' hangout column off? I don't do hangouts. They're not my thing. I'd rather have white space there than a bunch of anonymous headshots, which is what I'm seeing right now. :-P

2013-05-13 15:04:47 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Happy Dog

May 7th on the dirt bike trails.

2013-05-12 19:45:12 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

This is for +Nathan Dunn, who is doing a paper on GMO's, and for anyone else that likes John Stewart and/or distrusts Monsanto... and congress.

2013-05-10 13:22:42 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

The Ride of Silence

The Ride of Silence, honoring those who have been killed or injured while biking, promoting bicycle safety, and to encourage folks to share the road, will take place in Fort Collins on May 15, at 7pm. Event information is posted to FB. (Hopefully the link below will get you there, even though it just says "Facebook" as the title. :-P  )

Here's a link to the route: http://goo.gl/maps/jTQqv

They're asking that folks show up 15 minutes early. 

And just as a side note, you'll notice folks commenting in another language on the FB event page. I don't read Mongolian, but I'd be willing to bet that that's the language. About 4 years ago a 9th grader was biking to school when she was struck and killed by a motorist that apparently never even saw her. Her family had moved here from Mongolia because they wantedto... more »

2013-05-09 23:38:27 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

The police have just sent out a fraud alert for Fort Collins residents. I suspect anyone that's capable of using Google+ half way decently is smart enough to figure out that these situations are all rather fishy. But if you have an older parent or relative in town that might fall prey to something like this, you might want to forward on the link. Better safe than sorry. ('specially if it's your inheritance that they're going to be giving away to some shyster.) 

2013-05-09 23:34:09 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 1 +1s)

Longmont is gearing up for it's big Lego-extravaganza. I'm looking forward to it. 

2013-05-09 15:56:24 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 2 +1s)

Streetmosphere is short on money this year. They're running a Kickstarter campaign to help raise funds. I can't say the rewards through Kickstarter are all that exciting, but I do appreciate the musicians on the street all summer. So I suppose the project itself is the reward. 

2013-05-09 15:45:05 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Shining lights

2013-05-08 19:54:01 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Fort Collins and Northern Colorado folks, keep a lookout for this gal. She's been missing since Saturday. She was last seen just north of Old Town at the Cinco de Mayo celebration at the Northside Aztlan Center.

***MISSING***
This is my baby sister. her name is Rosisela Silerio. She is 14yrs old. She went missing Saturday. She was last seen at Northside for the Cinco De Mayo festival! We have contacted the police and have her in as a runaway child! We don't know if she ran away! Please fb, any information on her location or who she is with, please contact the Fort Collins police Department or myself at (970)-682-8808! This is very important, she has medical condition. ***Please, Share this picture so more people can help with her location!*** 

2013-05-08 15:52:46 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Limited Edition Too

In honor of the fact that May is Historic Preservation Month, it seems appropriate to have another round of Limited Edition photos showcasing some of our beautiful Old Town, Fort Collins houses. Included in this batch is a small farm house on Myrtle (that used to be part of a larger farm located on Mulberry), the landmark Montezuma Fuller house, and some classic examples of 1950's modernist achitecture.

2013-05-07 15:09:00 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

This is definitely not garbage as it's our LEGO Movie Competition Pick of the Week! You'll see what we mean! 

Get involved now at http://Rebrick.LEGO.com/LEGOMovie 

2013-05-07 15:08:37 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

This is definitely not garbage as it's our LEGO Movie Competition Pick of the Week! You'll see what we mean! 

Get involved now at http://Rebrick.LEGO.com/LEGOMovie 

2013-05-07 14:44:05 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

This is, hands down, without a doubt, the best advertising I've ever seen.

Zachary Quinto vs. Leonard Nimoy: "The Challenge"

2013-05-07 13:15:35 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Heart breaking story, but a rather funny interview. Charles, you crack me up. 

2013-05-06 13:08:46 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Big Bang Theory / Dalek Mash-Up

Now, if we can just get Kaley Cuoco to sing it! ;-)

http://www.gimmicktees.com/2013/05/daleks-and-dark-side.html

#doctorwho   #dalek   #bigbangtheory   #softkitty  

2013-05-04 22:46:47 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

One of my girls has played this song, oh, I don't know, maybe 20 or 30 times already today. I liked it the first few times she's played it (in the past). But by the 3rd time today, it was already enough for me. 

Mumford and Sons also play a cover of Simon & Garfunkels' The Boxer, which I try to sing along to. Not allowed. The moment I start singing Anna gets all huffy. She doesn't want me to "mess up" a Mumford and Sons song. Go figure. 

2013-05-04 17:31:35 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 2 +1s)

"People of various personality types don't merely rely on different brain regions. They use their brains in fundamentally different ways."  -- Dario Nardi, Ph.D. in his book Neuroscience of Personality: Brain Savvy Insights for All Types of People.

2013-05-04 17:14:50 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

2013-05-03 16:05:33 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

I would totes go see Walking Dead the Musical on Broadway.

2013-05-03 13:31:43 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

LEGO Architecture: Microscale Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia is a museum in Istanbul (Turkey) that was formerly a Mosque and before that a church. It has quite a storied history as you can see from the wikipedia page ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Sophia ).

This microscale reproduction of the museum is an excellent bit of work by David Frank and while he's taken a few small liberties in the color scheme he has managed to include all the key architectural elements.

He's also done some great work repurposing LEGO pieces. The biggest example being the use of a LEGO Star Wars planet as the dome itself.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fraslund/8703805170/in/photostream

2013-05-03 00:20:48 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

My poor tulips.

2013-05-02 21:45:45 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Homes in Old Town are bound up into the fabric of Old Town's history. They represent the wealth, the creativity, the determination, the simplicity and the dreams of Fort Collins' earliest residents.

2013-05-01 23:57:52 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

The latest edition of the Fort Collins Neighborhood News is out. Here are some highlights.

Free Household Hazardous Waste Collection : Saturday, June 1, from 9 AM to 3 PM, at the southwest parking lot of Fort Collins Youth Activity Center near Foothills Mall (415 E. Monroe St.).

Register for Emergency Notifications : To get emergency calls or text notifications on your cell phone, work phone, web-based phone or personal email, register today at leta911.org

Changes to Animal Control Enforcement Take Effect May 1 : Beginning May 1, several animal control ordinances will be civil infractions rather than criminal misdemeanors. This means if you are found in violation of one of the ordinances, you will get a civil citation with an immediate fine. This includes code violations like: animal at large (off-leash), animal disturbance (barking dog), animal waste... more »

2013-05-01 14:17:43 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

I think i under estimated the amount of VERY heavy snow. Maybe 7 or 8 inches. Injured back last friday and after shoveling i can barely move.

Snow on trees is what makes this snowfall most dangerous. I'm really surprised i have't seen downed branches.

2013-05-01 13:19:23 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

We woke up to 5 inches of snow this morning and it's still coming down. The kids have a snow day. 

What kind of erratic weather patterns are you seeing in your neck of the woods? ... or is it just us? 

2013-04-30 22:15:56 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

2013-04-30 22:08:24 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

I just picked up some Rolle Bolle last week at Wilbur's. I like it. It's a light beer - nice for summer. 

2013-04-30 13:08:06 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

After several days of temps in the high 70s (25ish C), they're now calling for snow again. 

Whatever happened to rain? Has that been abolished in Colorado or something? I can't even remember the last time we had rain. 

2013-04-29 20:36:18 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 0 +1s)

San Francisco Festivals

I'm trying to plan our next trip to San Francisco. We want to travel some time between mid-June and the end of July. Since we can pretty much go any time, I figured I'd look for up festivals and other events that we might want to attend while we're there and plan our trip accordingly. 

... Needless to say (see photo), I've decided that I might be better off looking up what festivals in Fort Collins we don't want to miss and plan around those. It's much easier finding family-friendly, fun events in the Beer, Bikes and Bands town than it is in the Rainbow City. Not that these guys don't look absolutely mahvelous in their balloon puffs.