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ME AND OPHELIA

Saturday, January 31, 2004

 
WEBLOGS AND WIKIS COURSE
At Bemidju State University, Minnesota, USA

Yesterday, University student Sara Lundin's blog Downward Facing Life appeared in my list at Technorati. Here's what I found when I visited her blog:

"So, I found this really cool blog today. It is Me and Ophelia, and there is some very interesting information. I really enjoy the political commentary and the links to other websites with information. It is also important to note that the information is presented in a fairly non-biased manner, with the facts being available for public consumption."

Sara's blog is mostly for a course entitled "Weblogs and Wikis," which is an experimental writing course taught by Associate Professor M C Morgan in the Department of English at Bemidji State University. She blogs about her classmates Sean at Froyd's Rants and Erin of SweetandSourGoth, their Writing Class and other snippets, like a really great idea for re-using all of those tea bags that you find around your house (check out 8 Ways to Reuse Infused Tea Leaves and the rest of this nice site), and says Interweave Press puts out a large number of knitting and spinning books, which she loves.

Good luck to everyone on the Weblogs and Wikis Weblog course. Thanks for the kind mention Sara. Email anytime. I'm always here :)
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BLOG GIVES HOMELESS MAN A GLOBAL READERSHIP
As he struggles to leave the streets

On visiting Sara's Blogs and Wikis Daybook, I discovered this this post by student Mary Otieno:

"The Homeless Guy is a must read. People out there are doing serious work with their blogspots. I don't like reading long entries, but this one just grubbed my attention. The story of Barbieux is so intriginly sad and how he started his weblog. Since not everyone visits my blog, I have posted it in the daybook for everyone to read. Please read it."

Mary's right. It is a fascinating story. Kevin Barbieux, 31, is a mild-mannered veteran of the streets with a blog named The Homeless Guy that receives hundreds of visits a day from people around the the world. Read Kevin's FAQ.

# posted by Ingrid @ 1/31/2004  
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BARGAINS AT EBAY
Search for misspelled goods

Here are 5 of the 10 things we didn't know this time last week:

1) Cunning bargain hunters are roaming Ebay looking for misspelled goods which attract hardly any bids because they don't turn up in text searches. One man bought three Compaq laptops at a pittance simply by asking for "Compacts" instead.

2) Pets will be eligible for frequent flier points on Japanese airline JAL from March. The points will be exchangeable for cage rentals on board, as well as gifts.

3) The man who invented Ctrl+Alt+Delete retired on Friday. David Bradley, 55, spent five minutes writing the computer code that has helped bail out millions of PC users, while working for IBM in the 1980s. "I may have invented it, but Bill Gates made it famous," Bradley said.

4) 70% of mobile phone owners in the UK have pre-pay models.

5) Bill Clinton sent just two e-mails while he was president. Of the two Mr Clinton sent, one was a test to see if the president could push an e-mail button. The other was addressed to astronaut-turned-politician John Glenn. Mr Glenn has the distinction of being the first American to orbit the Earth and the only person to receive an e-mail written by Mr Clinton when he was in office (see Full story).