David Dallas' New Mixtape

Not much to post about this week, but this is awesome. If you happen to be Kiwi or Aussie and enjoy hip hop, then it's highly likely that you've heard of David Dallas, a.k.a Con Psy, front man of Frontline. He's got a new mixtape out that he's releasing a track a day over at his site, DavidDallas.co.nz. So check it out, it's pretty cool.

Knock, Knock

Who's there?
Dinosaur Comics
Dinosaur Comics who?
No, no, that's it. Just Dinosaur Comics.
Oh ok, come on in.
Thanks. I don't suppose I could trouble you for a glass of water?
Oh, of course. Would you like some iced tea instead? I just made a jug.
Oh that'd be delightful.
...
...

Oh, where were we? That's right, I was going to tell you about Dinosaur Comics. It's entirely possible that you've heard of it/them before, as it has/they have been around for a while now. Absolutely hilarious. It's the same art every for every comic, only the dialogue is changed. You may be thinking that it would get old fast, but it doesn't. The writing is so fabulous that it makes up for the lack of change in art. No, it doesn't just make up for it, it makes the lack of change in the art make sense. You just have to read a few of these to get the idea.

So, if you aren't hip to the world of web comics, then Dinosaur Comics is a great entry point.

For some more comedic web comics, check out Xkcd. Also funny, but can be slightly esoteric at times (just slightly).

For a slightly more serious web comic, yet also funny as well, Questionable Content is great. Great art, great writing, and a great story.

So yeah, those are just a few to get you started. I'm sure you'll become as addicted as I am. And if not, then I suppose you have more of a life than I do.

Gone Phishing

If you have an email address, you've probably had a few emails from scammers. If you believe you haven't, then I'm sorry to inform you that you won't be receiving any money from that Nigerian prince who decided to gift you his inheritance because he heard about your philanthropic nature.

And if you have an email address, then it's likely you've received an email or two from phishers. Phishers send you to phishing sites to get you to give them your personal information. They replicate other big sites, such as banks, ebay, paypal etc, ask you to enter your username and password, and do what they want with the information.

Slashdot had a post about an article over at Help Net Security that interviewed two security researchers who infiltrated the "secret underworld" of phishers and scammers. It's a really interesting read, so I suggest you check it out.

The Journey of a Blog Post

I've been on a bit of a blog kick lately, as in reading and writing about blogs and blogging. Anyway, I came across this post on boing boing that linked to a post from Wired about what happens to your post once you hit "publish". It's got a cool flash graphic that explains it all, and it's really quite interesting. Check it out.

What do I Expect from this Blog?

So another post inspired by Kim's post. This time it answers the meme question, and hopefully much quicker as I'm really tired right now, but I'm trying to keep up my goal of making a post a day for a month or so.

Okay, first off, lets get back to the beginning. Here is where the original meme started.

Terry, the originator of the meme, points out that the question itself, while similar on the surface to "Why do I blog?", is a bit different.

You might blog for many reasons, everything from personal expression to monetization. But if those are your reasons then how do you measure if you’ve met them? If on any given day only 2% of the blogosphere produces posts, what unmet expectations are causing the other 98% to sit dormant?

So with that in mind, I'll try to answer.

By keeping this blog, I expect my writing to improve. I think this may be a recent development, but I'm definitely aware that I'd like to be able to better convey my thoughts, whether that be succinctly or with more detail. So I expect by continuing to write, that this will improve.

I expect people to enjoy reading this blog. This relates partly to my previous post about why I blog. To entertain. Therefore it is my expectation that people should enjoy it. If they don't, then I'm failing to meet my expectations.

I expect to get comments. Again this relates back to my previous post. It was definitely a bad start to the day today (but it ended up being okay ;)). If I don't get comments, then no one's enjoying it enough to reply, and I'm failing my expectations.

I do expect this blog to take some time to get some readership. I've only JUST reopened it, so it'll take a while before anything to happen, IF anything happens :D

That's about it really. I don't expect to make any money from it. I don't expect to change peoples lives. I just expect this blog to give back what I put into it, I suppose.

Now, per the rules I'm supposed to choose 5 people to tag:

So here are the rules:

1. Answer the question, “What do you expect from your blog?” and try to be as specific as possible. Avoid warm-fuzzy answers unless that really is your thing. Link back to the blog who tagged you so your readers can check others’ answers.
2. Tag at least five bloggers with the same question.

I'll take Cmae, Meredith, Chris Maples, Marshy and... Urban Chick. If you don't feel like participating, then I completely understand. Or if you weren't tagged, and you want to do it anyway, then by all means go ahead. I did :D