Archived entries for web
Where to Buy Zoot Shoes
For triathlon junkies, Zoot shoes are known for standing up to any type of punishment. Beyond that, the Zoot mens recovery sandal and Zoot womens recovery sandal help your feet heal after the grueling ordeal that is a modern triathlon. Based in Hawaii, home of the Lavaman, Ironman 70.3 and Hawaii triathlons, Zoot Running Shoes are favorites with triathletes across the country. Now you can order online from a new CT running shoe store, Manchester Running Company. Click here to visit now!
Fresh Fall Links
The past few days and months have been a whirlwind of activity. I prefer understatement, so I’ll just provide some links that you absolutely shouldn’t miss, and you click on them. Deal?
- My friend Dan wrote a terrific article about canvassing in New Hampshire.
- Dinky won a Fat Cat photo contest, giving me an excuse to meet some interesting people who know a lot about Springfield and Hartford politics.
- I’ve been taking a lot of pictures.
- I’ve gone sailing in Newport.
- I’ve joined a stock club.
- I tried my hand at knitting in Connecticut.
- I’ve been reading a bunch of books.
- I’ve become a regular at my local Manchester pub.
- I’ve been writing in my Field Notes.
- I’ve been meeting a lot of new people and realizing how much all of my older friends mean to me.
My First 3 Firefox 3 Tweaks
I’m a bona fide Firefox fan (I also like a little alliteration). Ever since installing Firefox way back in 2005, I’ve loved the tabbed browsing, sane handling of CSS and overall vibe of the community. In all of those departments, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer compares unfavorably. One of the greatest things about Firefox is how open it is to tweaks, allowing users to customize almost everything about it. Here are the first three tweaks I made after downloading Firefox 3:
1. Shrinking the Back Button
I’m pretty handy with the mouse, so I don’t need such a big target for a Back button. I found a good, simple guide for shrinking the back button on Lifehacker. It gives me a little more real estate, which I desperately need since I only have two monitors at work (damn you Canz!)
2. Searching the Content of a Page by Just Typing
Frequently, the need arises to find some text on a page, be it code, mentions of my name, or the word “tickets.” Going to Tools –> Options –> Advanced –> General, then checking the box next to “Search for text when I start typing” lets me skip the step where I have to go to Edit –> Find on Page. On the downside, I had to shut it off to be able to enter text in some fields, including this one.
3. Google Results Page Instead of Feeling Lucky in the Address Bar
If you type a keyword into the address bar and hit Enter, Firefox will take you to the first Google result by default. I do Google searches frequently, and the search results pages (SERPs) are of interest to me, since I want to know where I’m ranking. To change this, I simply typed “about:config” into the address bar, promised Firefox not to be naughty, and searched for the keyword. URL switch. I right-clicked, selected “Modify” and changed the URL from:
http://www.google.com/search? ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q=
to
http://www.google.com/search? ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=navclient&q=\
And that’s it! What tweaks have you made? Leave a comment.
Just Enough PHP To Be Dangerous
I’m no computer programmer, despite how useful it would be to know a programming language or two. Since what I do is almost exclusively online, PHP would make the most sense. As it stands, I have just enough PHP knowledge to be dangerous, which is exactly how I like it. Somehow, when you learn something the ‘right’ way, it stifles a lot of creative tendencies. Maybe it’s because you’re overwhelmed with new knowledge or maybe you overlook some simple applications in light of more interesting capabilities. My limited PHP education allowed me to avoid those traps, which led me to the fun and useful application of MadLibs.
Try My Madlib – It’s unstyled and raw, but fun.
Some of you may be questioning the utility of MadLibs. In fact, they can be excellent sources of content generation, with keywords remaining as the constants and various arrays of surrounding filler text making articles unique. Of course, I’m not advocating this type of SPAM, but I’m certainly not the first one to think of it.
At a basic level, it helps reinforce some basic PHP principles, such as defining variables, using the echo tag and building an interactive web page that works. Got your own madlib? Link it up in the comments. They’re nofollowed, but my legions of readers are sure to click through.