ACK

Ever see your initials on the back of a car and wonder if you might have a secret admirer? Luckily I have not come to that point… yet… but I found this interesting none the less. It seems I share the initials of the Nantucket Airport. This is something that deserves a road trip at some point!

Thanks to my Moorabbin friend from down under for this tidbit of useful knowledge.

Best Web 2.0 Software of 2005

Here is a very comprehensive list of the best Web 2.0 software in 2005 by Dion Hinchcliffe.

So in spirit of the holidays, here is a list of some of the best Web 2.0 software that I’ve come across so far. You may have heard of some of these, but hopefully you’ll find a few nice new Christmas presents under your Web 2.0 tree.

Many of these are new to me, so something to explore before things pick up again.

Egads and Little Fishes

During the always interesting family discussions during the holidays, one of my grandmother’s phrases came up. The intriguing part is that some of the family had heard her use the phrase readily, while other never did. But the phrase was:

egads and little fishes

Now my cousin and I came up empty on a search for this, but were directed to:

ye gods and little fishes

And that did match an interesting history:

It’s an elaboration of the older ye gods!, an exclamation that dates back at least to the seventeenth century in Britain, a way of calling on higher powers in a mock-heroic way without actually bringing the wrath of the Church down on you for blasphemy.

However, ye gods and little fishes is characteristically American, an example of the embellishment and ornamentation that was common in the inflated language of the nineteenth century.

My Google Rank

I have tried to not be too blatant with this thus far, but I might as well make a post instead of just hiding it on the About page. But one of my humble goals for starting to blog was to get myself on the top of the Google search result for my name. I know it is vain, but what blogger is not in some small way. But I also want to play around with SEO and see how things progress.

So I track with GoogleRankings, and here is my December 2005 update:

Keyword: adam karas URL Pattern: adamkaras.com
Google: Position: 10
Yahoo: Position: 21
MSN: Position: 1

Google Page Rank: 0
Number of Backlinks: 0

Keyword: “adam karas” URL Pattern: adamkaras.com
Google: Position: 10
Yahoo: Position: 20
MSN: Position: 5

Google Page Rank: 0
Number of Backlinks: 0

And as a comparison, here is November 2005:

Keyword: adam karas URL Pattern: adamkaras.com
Google: Position: 37
Yahoo: Position: 23
MSN: Position: 1

Keyword: “adam karas” URL Pattern: adamkaras.com
Google: Position: 0
Yahoo: Position: 31
MSN: Position: 9

And the first full month of this blog was October 2005:

Keyword: “adam karas” URL Pattern: adamkaras.com
Google: Position: 0
Yahoo: Position: 13
MSN: Position: 4

Bridge and Tunnel People

Manhattanites have a funny way of thinking about those not living in their borough, and a fairly condescending one at that. Think of Bridge and Tunnel people as a modern “barbarian”, for those that commute into Manhattan, which requires taking a bridge or tunnel. I have always been a Bridge and Tunnel Person, either when in Brooklyn or Jersey.

But there is some irony going on right now, and I do love good irony. With the MTA strike, myself and many other Jersey commuters have had little problem getting to the office, but the locals have a much harder time. But New Jersey Transit created a new route for the PATH, between World Trade Center downtown to 34th Street, to connect downtown with the midtown trains. The part I like is that many of those taking that line don’t realize and won’t admit they are traveling thru Jersey to get from one point to the other. I’m pretty sure they think PATH just dug a tunnel in the last couple of days.

So the trains don’t stop in the two stations in Jersey and just skip by, lest people might mingle. But I still think this counts as a Bridge or Tunnel, and adds a few more to our ranks. Long live the B&T’s!

And a nice definition from Urbandictionary:

People who live in the suburban arears of new York City (Long Island, Westchester, and also New Jersey) They invade Manhattan. They have heavy NY thick accents, are behind in fashion-they think it is still 1990. The girls have big hair and fake dark tans with long fake nails. The guys are typically guidos yet there are also guys who are 35 and still wearing their 1985 Motley Crue attire.

Everyone whos from Manhhtan hate these people. They are beneath us.

The term is a Studio 54 era hold-out:

13 December 1977, New York Times, Pg. 83:
“On the weekends, we get all the bridge and tunnel people who try to get in,” he said.

Elizabeth Fondaras, a pillar of the city’s conservative social scene, who has just told Mr. Rubell she had never tried to get into Studio 54 for fear of being rejected, asked who the bridge and tunnel people were.

“Those people from Queens and Staten Island and those places,” he said.

22 April 1981, New York Times, pg. C1:
“One Saturday night we had 36 no-shows. It’s because then you get the sort of people who don’t go regularly to restaurants and don’t know—the bridge and tunnel crowd.”

Firefox Extensions

A good chunk of my weekend was spent reinstalling windows on my laptop due to XP dying. I’m pretty sure this relates to my Toshiba Satellite overheating, like it is prone to do if the vent is at all blocked. Needless to say, I wish Mac OSX on Intel was out.

But I have been wanting to document my key Firefox extensions for Firefox 1.5:

• NoScript - Allows you to disable JavaScript by default and easily allow it on sites you trust.
• FlashBlock - Only see the flash images you want to.
• AdBlock - Easily block banner ads.
• Forecastfox - Add the weather forecast to the bottom of your browser.
• IE Tab - Sometimes websites don’t work with Firefox, so opening IE in a tab is handy.
• PDF Download - Allows to open in a new tab or download a PDF document.
• Tabbrowser Preferences - Access to tab options.
• FoxyTunes - Controls for your music player.
• SessionSaver - Saves your current tabs to view later.
• Stop-or-Reload Button - Combines the Reload and Stop buttons.
• All-in-One Gestures - Mouse customizing.
• Minimize to Tray - Sends Firefox to the task tray.
• Search Keys - Adds a number and quick key to the top Google results.

Best Coffee in Hoboken

Here is my take on the best cup of java in the Mile Square city:

Mola Coffee - The best coffee in ‘Boken with a great ambiance, free wifi, very relaxed feel and the only place to find Colombian pastries (Bunuelos etc.) in Hoboken.
(201) 659-4243
517 Washington St
Hoboken, NJ 07030 - View Map

Empire Coffee - Good place to buy coffee for your home, in whole been or ground.
(201) 216-9625
338 Bloomfield St
Hoboken, NJ 07030 - View Map

Starbucks - I’m not a big fan of the harsh Espresso Roast, but I highly recommend the Peppermint Mocha!
51 Newark St # 1
Hoboken, NJ 07030-4548 - View Map

Best Sushi in Lower Manhattan

Since I posted about the Best Sushi in Hoboken, I should mention Lower Manhattan as well. Had a very nice Spicy Roll Combo for lunch last week from Kokura, which really hit the spot, and at $13 for the 12 pieces (4 small rolls), it was a pretty decent deal for the Financial District, especially being next to Stone Street. But here are my local top favorites:

Kokura Japanese Restaurant
19 S William St
New York, NY 10004-2412 View Map
(212) 482-8888

Kyoto of Japan
76 Pearl St
New York, NY 10004-2606 View Map
(212) 363-1668

[Update Sep-06]
Had a nice Spicy Roll Combo from Kokura. Wanted to suggest the upstairs if you go during lunch, very loud downstairs during the peak.

Koodo is the next to try, thanks for the tip bpm!

Best of 2005

All sorts of goodness inside the Best of 2005 by BusinessWeek.

This year we saw Google and Yahoo! change the paradigm in search, classifieds, publishing, e-commerce, telecom, and video. We watched with awe as Apple blew apart entire distribution networks of established broadcasting and movie empires. We marveled as MySpace came from nowhere to commercialize the coziness of social networks (yet another invention by that key pioneering group, our own teenagers). We took notice when General Electric embraced design, ecology, and creativity as it set out to build a new corporate culture — and generate big profits.

And as a follow-up to my Buzzwords post, they created a nice Buzzwords 2005 Glossary.

Beginner’s Guide to SEO

A very helping and easy to read Beginner’s Guide to Search Engine Optimization, developed by SEOmoz.org. They have also created a downloadable Word version for easy printing / reference. Lots of good details.

The majority of web traffic is driven by the major commercial search engines - Yahoo!, MSN, Google & AskJeeves (although AOL gets nearly 10% of searches, their engine is powered by Google’s results). If your site cannot be found by search engines or your content cannot be put into their databases, you miss out on the incredible opportunities available to websites provided via search - people who want what you have visiting your site. Whether your site provides content, services, products or information, search engines are a primary method of navigation for almost all Internet users.