MacManX.com » Noteworthy

Blog Less, Live More

James — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 01:22:15 +0000

I would like to think of this post as a New Year’s Resolution, a very important resolution which will eventually contradict itself. In 2008, I’ll be focusing less on my blog and decreasing my overall online activities in order to effectively “live more.” How will this contradict itself? Well, by living more, I will have far more experiences and opinions to share on this blog. Isn’t that funny? A resolution to decrease blog activity may actually result in increased blog activity.

2007 has been a great year. Sarah and I began planning our wedding this year and we’ll have the final plans next month, I have a new full-time job that pays very well and is only five minutes from my house, I got an iPhone, and I just received a gift card specifically intended for the purchase of a Wii (no, I haven’t been able to find one yet). But, enough about me!

So, how did 2007 fare for MacManX.com? Thanks to Joen’s outstanding work on Fauna, I was finally able to release Frost 1.0, “a cool and refreshing style” for Fauna. I also launched Program Notes (fka Music Program Notes), an exciting new resource for ensemble directors, educators, students, and anyone else with a general interest in music and stage history.

2007 also saw some cut-backs and major changes to MacManX.com. The Favored Freeware list has been scaled back to about a quarter of its size. The previous list included all of the freeware applications that I have ever used, which produced quite a few duplicates (applications which served the same purpose) and dead links, and therefore caused a lot of confusion. This new list only features freeware applications which I have used in the last few months. Along the same lines, the Blogroll Dive has been discontinued to make way for more individual postings, which will be more frequent and far less confusing than the link dump that the Blogroll Dive became. Speaking of cut-backs, Program Notes was accepted by (and moved to) Wikia just three months ago, which has dramatically decreased my bandwidth usage and average server load, and brought my operating costs of Program Notes down to zero.

As for the major changes, I am proud to say that most noticeable change at MacManX.com would be the removal of AdSense and Text Link Ads. Despite the slight drop in income, I am happy to see them go.

If I had to pick my favorite post of 2007, it would definitely be Save the Environment for Free. “For just minutes a day, you can improve the quality of the environment for yourself and everyone around you who is, or whoever will be, living on our green Earth.” That’s right I said “minutes,” not dollars or cents, “just minutes a day.”

Unfortunately, 2007 also saw a dramatic decrease in comments. In fact, you’ll noticed that all but one of the MacManX.com posts linked to today have absolutely no comments. I hope that by putting a more personal spin on MacManX.com, more people will be willing to share their comments and opinions. Only time will tell.

So, with all of that said, I bid farewell to 2007 and greet 2008 with open arms. I’m looking forward to blogging less and living more in order to blog more. Still confused? I have to admit, starting the New Year off with a contradictory resolution may not be the best of plans, but at least I’ll be enjoying more of life outside the internet. As for the predicted increase in blog activity, we’ll just have to see how 2008 plays out.

Frost 1.0

James — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 08:18:33 +0000

Joen released Fauna 1.0 on Tuesday. This is the final release of Fauna (excluding bug fixes, of course) and is packed with several noteworthy improvements, including compatibility with WordPress 2.3 (including the new tagging system), a new print stylesheet, and support for the new gravatar plugin, Easy Gravatars.

Due to a few small changes made since the last release candidate, Frost required a very small update to keep it consistent with the current default style, and I am proud to say that Frost 1.0 is now available for anyone looking to add a different style to Fauna 1.0.

Frost is “a cool and refreshing style” for Fauna, inspired by frost, ice, snow, and winter in general. If you’re looking to make a change to your blog’s theme, try Frost today!

Goodbye Text Link Ads!

James — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 06:56:15 +0000

I am proud to report that MacManX.com is now free of AdSense and Text Link Ads. The decision to remove AdSense was very easy, as the multiple banners that were displayed throughout this blog were vastly outperformed by the single text link advertisement in my sidebar, though the unexplained termination of some of my friends’ accounts, including Jim’s, also weighed in on my decision to leave AdSense behind. This really was nothing more than your classic “this isn’t working for me” decision. On the other hand, Text Link Ads was performing quite well, and covered MacManX.com’s hosting charges. So, why did I decide to leave Text Link Ads behind?

(...)
Read the rest of Goodbye Text Link Ads! (600 words)

Save the Environment for Free

James — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 07:07:25 +0000

You’ve probably heard it all before, “For just pennies a day . . . For a one-time donation of . . . With your annual membership . . .” Well, I’m going to say something a little bit different today.

For just minutes a day, you can improve the quality of the environment for yourself and everyone around you who is, or whoever will be, living on our green Earth. That’s right, I said “For just minutes a day . . .” In fact, I sponsor the protection of 82.8 square feet of rain forest and wilderness land, and the removal of 5 pounds of CO2 from our atmosphere, every day for only two minutes of my time. Would you like to know how?

Every night, I visit EcologyFund.com and click every red button to save a total 64 square feet of rain forest and wilderness land and remove 4 pounds of CO2 from the atmosphere. I then visit The Rainforest Site and click the large green button to save 11.4 square feet of rain forest land. Following that, I visit Race for the Rainforest to save 7.4 square feet of either rainforest land, marine wetland, or American prairie, and Race to Stop Global Warming to remove 1 more pound of CO2 from the atmosphere.

That’s right, by following this routine, you too can sponsor the protection of 82.8 square feet of rain forest and wilderness land, and the removal of 5 pounds of CO2 from our atmosphere, every day for only two minutes of your time. That’s a total of 30,222 square feet (almost 3/4 of an acre) and 1,825 pounds (almost a ton) every year!

That’s a lot of green, but why not throw some blue in for good measure? For just a few additional seconds, you can also sponsor the protection of the world’s oceans by visiting Race for the Oceans.

Want to do more to save the environment? Then please consider making donations to The Nature Conservancy, The Conservation Fund, World Wildlife Fund, National Wildlife Federation, The Sierra Club Foundation, and Oceana.

Music Program Notes Has Moved

James — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 07:01:59 +0000

I am proud to announce that Music Program Notes has been accepted by Wikia, which brings our cost of operations down to zero and exposes our database to Wikia’s large user community! Because of this, I have decided to re-title the database as simply Program Notes, to accommodate program notes for both music and stage productions.

The move started a few days ago when I inquired about the possibility of moving our database to Wikia. Not too long after, Angela Beesley responded to not only say that it was possible, but that she had also created a new wiki for us at Wikia and had safely transfered the entire contents of Music Program Notes to this new wiki. Just a few emails later, Angela had changed the title of the wiki to “Program Notes” and answered numerous questions regarding the configuration of my new wiki at Wikia. Thanks, Angela!

So, without further ado, please visit the new Program Notes database at Wikia and contribute whatever you can. And, if you know any relatives, friends, or acquaintances who can help, please ask them to contribute too.

Frost: Release Candidate 2

James — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 15:35:25 +0000

Yesterday, Joen and the rest of the talented contributers behind Fauna released a second release candidate. This near-final release of Fauna is packed with several noteworthy improvements, including compatibility with WordPress 2.1 and 2.2, an all-new simplified options page, and Fauna-specific widgets. Due to some of the changes made since Fauna’s first release candidate, Frost required a small update to retain its compatibility, and I am proud to say that Frost RC2 is now available for anyone looking to add a different style to Fauna RC2.

Frost is “a cool and refreshing style” for Fauna, inspired by frost, ice, snow, and winter in general. If you’re looking to make a change to your blog’s theme, try Frost today!

Presenting: Music Program Notes!

James — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 02:37:07 +0000

I am proud to present Music Program Notes, an exciting new resource for ensemble directors, music educators, students, and anyone else with a general interest in music history!

Program notes are short paragraphs or essays providing details about a composition and its composer, and can usually be found in a program accompanying the performance of the composition. They often provide historical notes about the time period, the composer’s thoughts behind the composition, and sometimes a critic’s interpretation in order to establish a setting or capture the audience’s imagination.

Several program note resources exist today, both online and in print. These resources; however, are typically designed for one genre, one ensemble type, or contributed to by one author. Music Program Notes is a free, volunteer-powered, collaborative database of program notes for all genres and ensemble types, and anyone is welcome to contribute or use the program notes in our database for any non-commercial or educational purpose.

Music Program Notes opened silently to 7 select individuals on March 30th. In the 23 days since then, we have accumulated program notes for 68 compositions and are anticipating rapid growth now that the database is open to the public.

Update: Music Program notes has moved and is now titled Program Notes.

Frost: Release Candidate

James — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 07:49:24 +0000

The talented team behind Fauna recently released a near-final Fauna release candidate, packed with several bug fixes, code optimizations, overall improvements, and new features. Due to the massive amount of welcomed changes, Frost required a small update to retain its compatibility with Fauna. After a very easy-going update process, and a few bug/typo fixes, I am proud to say that Frost RC is now available for anyone looking to add a different shade of colors to Fauna RC.

Frost is “a cool and refreshing style” for Fauna, inspired by frost, ice, snow, and winter in general. If you’re looking to make a change to your blog’s theme, try Frost today!

Enter Splash Panel

James — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 01:51:20 +0000

Splash Panel, created by Khaled of Broken Kode fame, is a blog dedicated to reviewing only the best graphic novels and I am overjoyed to announce that Khaled has chosen me to be Splash Panel’s first staff writer! I have been a fan of comics for as long as I can remember and a collector of graphic novels for about ten years. This new opportunity at Splash Panel will allow me to share my opinions on some of the best works of literary fiction, regardless of form. My first review will be published shortly, but don’t let that stop you from reading the rest of Splash Panel’s excellent reviews.

Presenting: Frost!

James — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 07:05:03 +0000

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am proud to present my first custom theme style, Frost! Frost is “a cool and refreshing style” for Fauna, inspired by frost, ice, snow, and winter in general. If you’re looking to make a change to your blog’s theme, try Frost today!