Tag/label cloud trimmed to a more manageable size now.

I have reduced the number of label/tags in my animated tag/label cloud.

How to add characters to the animated label/tag cloud

How to add more characters to WP-Cumulus

The label/tag cloud widget is too cluttered, for now.

The label/tag cloud widget is too cluttered at the moment, but I wanted to see how far I could push the widget before it got too busy and confusing.

I will slim down the number of labels in the widget tomorrow.

For now I will bask in the ordered chaos that I have created.

100% bug free becomes 100bug free in the label/tag cloud widget.

"100% bug free" becomes "100bug free" in the label/tag cloud widget.

I do analyze a problem to the nth degree and I am long winded.

However, after experimenting with data, I do solve the mystery in the end...a little like Sherlock Holmes 2.0.

I can use a label that is #1, but I can't use a label that is 100%

It appears that after experimenting with symbols ($, #, *, %) and numbers (1, 2, 3, 4) that the label/tag cloud widget will allow $, #, and *, but not %. It will allow numbers.

So I can put in labels that are say something is the "#1 team" or worth "$100."

But I can't say, for example, that this label/tag cloud working in Blogger is "100% bug free."

What about symbols and numbers in the label/tag cloud widget?

So what about symbols ($, #, *, %) and numbers (1, 2, 3, 4)?

Let's experiment.

According to Blogger, an error occurred when I first tried to publish this post. The ampersand (&), exclamation point (!), and "at" symbol (@) cannot be used in the labels.

And it's just not 's, it's contractions too that don't work in the label/tag cloud widget

So no "can't" in the labels. And no "don't" or "didn't" either. And forget about "huntin'" and "fishin," although I would probably not use those as labels.

However, this goes against the basic idea of folksonomies.

See Daniel Pink's New York Times article for more information on folksonomy.

Yep, this Label/Tag Cloud widget hates apostrophes

I tested the Label/Tag Cloud with three new apostrophe words and word phrases. It looks like whenever I use an apostrophe in the label, the animated label/tag cloud loses the words.

This means that I can't use apostrophes in labels, which means that the tags will not be possessive.

Also, it means that I will only be able to select some labels to be shown in the cloud widget. I will not be able to have the widget use all the labels. This means more management of the widget on my part.

Bug found in Label/Tag Cloud working with Blogger

For some reason, the Label/Tag Cloud does not like label's with apostrophes.

For example, when I add "Hell's Kitchen Flea Market" as a label on my blog and select that as a label to be used in the label/tag cloud, the cloud goes away. The words in the cloud go away.

I am going to try other labels with apostrophes to see if it is a true bug or just an isolated group of words or word. Or if it truly is an apostrophe related bug.

Animated Label/Tag Cloud

I have added an Animated Label/Tag Cloud to my blog. It is an experiment like the Shelfari idea.

It may go away, it may stay.

Currently, I am allowing all labels to show, but as I go back in my blog and create labels/tags on my posts (will see how far back I go), I will probably show selected labels/tags.

Maybe this will be a smart way to highlight previous posts without having to use a conventional search box.

If you want to animate the label/tag cloud, then just mouse over the element. Also, if you would like to explore the post that are identified by the labels/tags in the cloud, then just mouse click on that specific label/tag.

If you want to add this to your Blogger blog, then go to Blogumus: a flash animated label cloud for Blogger!

Items from the MOMA Design Store: Dinghy Drainstopper

Not the best designed object. The boat didn't float right out of the box as the instructions indicated. I had to manipulate the folds of the boat to make it float upright, by giving it more bottom surface area so that the boat wouldn't tip over.

The boat is made of plastic with a section of the world map printed on it. The section of the map of my boat was Africa and included Morocco and Burkina Faso. Places that I have visited.

Missed one of the thrift store books

When I got up to the register to pay for my books at the thrift store, apparently there was a special on small paperbacks. If I bought 4 small paperbacks, I would get them for $1.00 a piece instead of $1.49 each. I only had three, so I went and got a fourth book, shown above, that I was on the fence about buying.

I once tried to read Tolstoy's War and Peace, but I couldn't get through it. This book is his earlier work and is much shorter than War and Peace, so maybe I'll be able to get through it.

Thrift store books from Unique Thrift Store

I know that e-books are gaining in popularity. However, I still like reading paper books. One of the best ways that I have found to buy books is to go to thrift stores. Unique Thrift Store, which has a location in Falls Church, Virginia, has a decent supply of books. They have several topical sections such as romance, travel, and health; but the sections that I look under for books are literature, fiction, and non-fiction.

The picture above is of the titles from my last stop at the thrift store:

• Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller
• Maggie, A Girl of the Streets and Other New York Writings by Stephen Crane
• The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
• The Great Mysteries of Edgar Allan Poe by Edgar Allan Poe
• The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories by Ernest Hemingway
• Hard Times by Charles Dickens
• The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne
• The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
• Fire by Sebastian Junger
• The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B and Back Again) by Andy Warhol
• Everyday Life in Traditional Japan by Charles J. Dunn
• In the Wake of the Plague: The Black Death and the World it Made by Norman F. Cantor
  

After I have finished the book, I can keep it without fear of file corruption or obsolescence which has the potential to occur with an e-book. Barring fire or mold, a paper book, if well treated, will outlast me. Also, I can send a paper book to a friend to read which is something that e-books are currently very limited to do in this capacity.

In addition, the books that I bought averaged $1.49 each. As an example, the version of The Snows of Kilimanjaro and other stories by Ernest Hemingway that I bought at the thrift store for $1.49 is available for purchase as a paperback at Amazon.com for $11.20, a hardback at Amazon.com for $16.50 and a Kindle version at Amazon.com for $10.99.

Items from the MOMA Design Store: Banana Bunker

I bought this item at the MOMA Design Store.

Here is the link at the MOMA Store for the Banana Bunker.

Here is the website for the Banana Bunker.

Items from the MOMA Design Store: Gorilla Eraser

My sister said to make sure to erase with the gorilla's butt first.

I got this eraser at the MOMA Design Store.

Items from the MOMA Design Store: Spherical Ice Cube Tray

Open the two parts of the tray. Fill the bottom part with water. Press the top part down on the bottom part until the two part come together. Fill the tray with more water through the tiny holes in the top part. Freeze the tray. Spherical ice cubes!

I got this at the MOMA Design Store.

This CONSTRUCTION project is an alcohol and drug free work place.

I would hope so. I wouldn't want to be the construction worker who works with an on-the-job drunk and coked-up bulldozer driver.

In honor of the death of the Flip Camera, I give you Kaleidescope Flip Camera video footage

Why Cisco's Flip flopped in the camera business

QR Codes in the Library: The Presentation

QR Codes in Libraries

Check out this QR Code. It is the QR code for this blog post.
I am giving a presentation on QR codes it is AWESOME!

Architecture and Design at the MOMA

Anyone want to buy a pink elephant?

A pink elephant for sale from Olde Good Things at the Brooklyn Flea at Bishop Louglin Memorial High School in Ft. Greene.

Lil Devil at the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market

The Hell's Kitchen Flea Market was smaller than I expected. It looks like real estate developers have taken over some of the space previously used by the flea market. I didn't really see anything that I wanted to buy. I also went to the Antique Garage, where I had been before. However, the prices for things were higher than I expected to buy them for, but then I remembered New York flea market prices.

A container for my nuts

I found this tin of the Lancaster Salted Nut Co., Lancaster, PA at the Shen-Valley Flea Market.

Saraka for Constipation

I found this tin at the Shen-Valley Flea Market.

Anthodite at Skyline Caverns

Skyline Caverns have one of the rare instances of Anthodite.

Large Bonsai

The sign "LARGE BONSAI" made me think of JUMBO SHRIMP.

Are there suppose to be large bonsai? Just because a plant is in a shallow bowl with gravel, a small amount of turf and a rock with a saying on it, does that make it a bonsai?

These are just small plants in shallow bowls. Some of them may look like fake bonsai in that they are made to look like they have had their growth stunted, but that is the type of plant that it is (See the leafy plant in between the two palms.

According to Wikipedia, bonsai literally translates to plantings in tray. So if we take the definition of bonsai literally then these are bonsai, but there is none of the bonsai aesthetics in the growing of these plants.

Also, the sign says "easy care." Isn't the point of the bonsai to make an art form of cultivating and caring for the plant? In other words, the care and cultivation of a bonsai should take some effort and concern.

Recycled Newspaper Vase

I bought this for $3 at the Arlington Civitans first Saturday of the month flea market.

This was the first flea market of the season which runs from April to November.

I have found this item on-line, but it looks like it is sold out.