This plugin is for the upcoming Phoenix version of b2evolution. It does not work in the current verion. But, if you have a pre-alpha copy of b2evolution and you want to try it, installation is easy. Just grab this file, remove the .txt from the filename, and save it in your plugins directory:

_bookmarklet2.plugin.phps

It works about like the stock plugin Bookmarklet, but it behaves more like the Movable Type bookmarklet that I'm used to. I've never liked making my post title a link, and that's what the stock plugin does. But my version puts the link in the body of the post.

This is the highlight reel I made of Friday night's high school football game. I was mostly just playing around with my new video camera. I made the music in Garage Band.

High quality quicktime file.

I upgraded my photo gallery software, customized it to match my blog and fixed the random photo block in my sidebar. Gallery 2 was released this week and it's a great step up from the version I had been using (1.4). Each album can have its own theme now, so my hostees don't have to have a gallery that looks like my blog. The upgrade went really smoothly. The new verison stores metadata in a MySQL database where the old version used files. That should improve perfomance and security. Next up: I need to upgrade the Gallery installation on Brendoman.com.

eBay Motors + Google Maps - This mashup site combines eBay Motors and Google Maps. You can find the cars listed on eBay that are close to where you live. Search by make and model and see pictures of the listed car. Created by Adam Trachtenberg.

(via Digg.com (story posted by me))

Here are the four most recent stories I liked on digg.com:

Microsoft programmer switches to Firefox (digg story)
This guy worked on the Microsoft Internet Explorer team. He helped make IE and even he is switching.

Color Perception: The most amazing optical effect in the world (digg story)
I almost couldn't believe this, so I opened my color picking program to check it. They are the same color on all three pages.

Longest Running TV Shows (digg story)
Simpsons is number eight, but they have a long way to go to catch up to Gunsmoke.

Whats that song? - Query by Humming (digg story)
I don't have much need for this since I live with Sara, the walking music encyclopedia, but it's a cool idea.

Microsoft has a hep new site: Microsoft Gadgets. "Have you ever wondered how new technologies get developed in Microsoft? Wonder how a cool idea goes from incubation to release?" MS had a totally original idea: create a web page that shows the projects that they're working on and let you try them out. They're also introducing another innovation: Microsoft Gadgets. What are Gadgets you say?

Gadgets are a new category of mini-application designed to provide information, useful lookup, or enhance an application or service on your Windows PC or the Web. Examples might include a weather gadget running on your desktop or on your homepage, an RSS Gadget that pulls in your favorite feeds, or an extension of a business application providing just-in-time status on the pulse of your business.

Amazing idea! I've never heard of anything like that before. Microsoft, where do you get these great ideas?

This is the clip of my netcam call into The Screen Savers, back before it died. You can also watch this in higher quality Quicktime here. Epilogue: Kevin Rose recommended Debian because it has a utility named apt-get that makes installing apps much easier. I ended up using Ubuntu, a distro that is based on Debian, and apt-get turned out to be one of my favorite things about Ubuntu. I haven't even bothered trying to compile a program since I switched to Ubuntu.

I'm experimenting with YouTube's embedded video player. Click on the play button to start the video. I've also added a tab at the top of the page called 'Videos'. Click on it to get a list of my videos (also embedded from YouTube.com). I really like YouTube so far. There are a couple of things that would make it even nicer. I would like to be able to choose which frame from my video becomes the thumbnail image for the video. I would also like to have some code to display the video that doesn't use the depreciated 'embed' tag. (Thanks to STK in the forums for giving me the valid code to use.) The watermark in the lower right corner bothers some people, but I don't really mind it. I still think I'll generally want to provide a direct link to a bigger, higher quality Quicktime (H.264) version of my videos for those people who want it to look nicer and to be able to save a copy on their computer. But YouTube works great for an easy, compatible way of showing videos. I would be interested to hear what people think. Do you use the high-quality version of the video, or the easy YouTube version? Do you think having the video right on my page is nice, or too much? I could also make it so that you have to click 'Read more' to see it, but since the video doesn't start loading or playing until you click the play button, I don't think that is necessary.

I'm reading Homer's Iliad, translated by Stanley Lombardo. I tried once before in college and didn't get very far, but I'm really enjoying it now. The fact that I'm not trying to read it on top of homework might have something to do with it. I'm into Book 5 now and the battle is well underway.

The story is exciting, but I think my favorite part has been the writing, the poetry. It's translated from Greek to English by Stanley Lombardo. His translations aren't strictly literal, but try to bring the words of Homer into more modern language. He came to Truman once and visited my Greek class where he taught us some things about reciting Greek. Then he did a performance that night. The way he brings the beauty of the poems into English is stunning. Here he's describing how a Greek hero slaughters a ram as part of an oath with the Trojans:

He spoke, then slashed the rams' throats
And put the gasping animals on the ground,
Their proud temper undone by whetted bronze.

I may post some more of my favorite quotes here (unless someone convinces me not to).