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	<title>The Tater Blog &#187; distractions</title>
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		<title>Word clouds</title>
		<link>http://www.thetaters.com/blog/2010/04/09/word-clouds/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thetaters.com/blog/2010/04/09/word-clouds/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 10 Apr 2010 02:28:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Craig</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[distractions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lifehacker]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thetaters.com/blog/?p=277</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[OK, this is pretty cool. I read a posting over at Lifehacker about Tagxedo, a webapp for generating word clouds. These have been around for awhile &#8211; another popular one is Wordle. Basically, a word cloud creates a graphic representation of the words entered into it, either by typing, copying &#38; pasting, or just pointing [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>OK, this is pretty cool. I read a posting over at <a href="http://lifehacker.com/5513364/tagxedo-generates-stunning-custom-word-clouds" target="_blank">Lifehacker</a> about <a href="http://www.tagxedo.com/app.html" target="_blank">Tagxedo</a>, a webapp for generating word clouds. These have been around for awhile &#8211; another popular one is <a href="http://www.wordle.net/" target="_blank">Wordle</a>. Basically, a word cloud creates a graphic representation of the words entered into it, either by typing, copying &amp; pasting, or just pointing it to a URL on the web. In the <strong>Tags</strong> section of this blog you can see a similar idea, but no where near as fun to look at!</p>
<p><a href="http://www.thetaters.com/images/wordle word cloud large.gif" target="_blank"><img class="alignleft" style="margin: 15px;" title="wordle" src="http://www.thetaters.com/images/wordle word cloud.gif" alt="" width="150" height="100" /></a>The idea is that the more a word shows up in the text, the larger its word cloud equivalent will be. So, for example, <a href="http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/1884426/Tater_blog" target="_blank">in this shot</a> I simply input the address of this blog. Since most of the postings on the main page currently have to do with <strong>menagerie</strong> as well as several about our <strong>TWIRL radio</strong> shows, these terms stand out.</p>
<p>Over at Tugxedo, I put in the same address, and <a href="http://www.thetaters.com/images/Tagxedo cloud.jpg" target="_blank">got slightly different results</a>. Among other things, it looks like the<a href="http://www.thetaters.com/images/Tagxedo cloud.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="alignright" style="margin: 15px; border: 0pt none;" title="tagxedo link" src="http://www.thetaters.com/images/T_tagxedo.png" alt="" width="100" height="100" /></a> Tugxedo one picks up the names of the post authors (most of which are me!), so that shows up larger. And every time you try, you get <a href="http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/1884459/Taters_wordle2" target="_blank">different results</a>.</p>
<p>Anyway, it&#8217;s fun to play with. Tagxedo lets you save the results as a file. Wordle only appears to let you upload to their gallery, but either way it&#8217;s better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, innit?</p>
<p>The wonders of a Friday night with no show&#8230;</p>
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		<title>Distractions</title>
		<link>http://www.thetaters.com/blog/2009/05/12/distractions/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thetaters.com/blog/2009/05/12/distractions/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 May 2009 10:46:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Craig</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Craig]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[CD]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[distractions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[recording]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tools]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thetaters.com/blog/?p=176</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[No matter how many hours or years I spend on the computer, mostly online, I&#8217;m still always surprised at how many hours and years I can spend on the computer, mostly online. I get very easily distracted and before I know it I&#8217;m 12 more tabs away from what I was originally reading or working [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>No matter how many hours or years I spend on the computer, mostly online, I&#8217;m still always surprised at how many hours and years I can spend on the computer, mostly online. I get very easily distracted and before I know it I&#8217;m 12 more tabs away from what I was originally reading or working on.  I love tabbed browsers, but they have their cost!</p>
<p>Recently found 2 tools that may help a lot if I can remember to use them. <strong><a href="http://lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability/" target="_blank">Readability</a></strong> is a tool that removes pretty much all but the text on a web page, and formats it to your liking for easy reading. Try it and see if it doesn&#8217;t help!</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://quietube.com/" target="_blank">Quietube</a></strong> does a similar thing for videos. Just use the bookmark while you&#8217;re on a YouTube page, and it will show you the video without all the rest of the page behind it. Granted, if you&#8217;re out just browsing for things to look at or listen to, or are in an exploring mode, these tools will be at cross purposes, but if there&#8217;s something you want to concentrate on, they are great!</p>
<h2>Song clip</h2>
<p>Here&#8217;s another clip from an early mix for the new CD. This one, Lonely Like That, is one of the quieter songs on the CD, and features guest-<strong><a href="http://grandsons.com/index.shtml" target="_blank">Grandson</a></strong> Alan MacEwen on trumpet.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/y5ic8nz1f3" target="_blank">Lonely Like That (early mix, clip)</a></strong></p>
<p>We&#8217;re in the mixing  stages now, with almost all recording finished. As always, time and money are slowing things down &#8211; never enough of either  &#8211; but it&#8217;s coming together. Thanks very much to the folks who have made donations  toward the completion of this behemoth &#8211; I hope you&#8217;ll love the results! We&#8217;re looking  at a few fund-raising opportunities to help finish the thing up, so I&#8217;ll let you  know about that as soon as I figure it out!</p>
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