General Chat Thread

[EdZ]

True, but even without anything to prevent Javascript running Disqus has the nasty habit of causing the page view to jump around as it loads due to there being no non-dymanic HTML fallback version loaded in place first. Depending on the connection, it can take some time after the rest of the page has loaded for comments to appear (and if set to dynamically load on scrolling down, this is even more annoying), and on poor connections you can end up having to refresh an entire page to convince the comment section to load correctly. This later issue is mostly a problem on mobile devices.

 

[onlyabloke]

I'm just curious. Right now my website is run off of Tumblr. Which I like, it's a great platform that allows content to get in front of the eyes of 150 Million and counting users. The biggest issue is getting that content tagged enough that it's searchable on the Tumblr platform. Tumblr also doesn't really allow for much SEO unless you're a coding guru and can implement it in the theme code (which I'm not), and also doesn't allow much in the way of tracking.

Just trying to consider my options as I'm planning on buying a second domain name soon. So I don't know if I want to stay on tumblr or if I want to move it somewhere else.

 

[PlayfulPhoenix]

Just trying to consider my options as I'm planning on buying a second domain name soon. So I don't know if I want to stay on tumblr or if I want to move it somewhere else.

I've personally always advocated for owning the platform you put your content on. You control it, you actually own your content, Tumbler can't die tomorrow and pull your content away from the world, etc.

Any blogging or web hosting platform works, and it's never been cheaper to do.

 

[onlyabloke]

The SEO isn't terrible I guess. I just googled a couple of terms (bloke photography, bloke visuals etc) and all my links came back.

Creating a tagline is probably the hardest part though. Realized the one I have doesn't look that great on google. That and I've been having second thoughts about the theme but so far I haven't found any that I like.

 

[GuilleAcoustic]

Started to learn Japanese by myself in the 2001, but the lack of time was fatal and I couldn't remember things I knew a week before.

Since I'm spending a month at hospital, I took my Japanese book with me:

I learnt many words through anime and my ears really got accustomed to the point of being able to separate each words. Knowing very basic grammatical rules help too.

But the most important, as with all language, is your commitment to it. You must work on a regular basis, even if it is only 15 minutes a day. Doing it before going to bed is the best time, as your brain will remember it better.

 

[jeshikat]

For such a small forum there are an awful lot of people here learning Japanese

So I've made a thread for it so we can collect tips and guides in one place instead of scattered throughout this thread: https://smallformfactor.net/forum/threads/the-learning-japanese-thread.832/

 

[onlyabloke]

Just spent the last five hours sifting through the hundreds of tumblr themes to find one to my liking. The one I had was nice but felt...cluttered.

Seeing as how I'm more focused on generating traffic to posts than I am looking nifty, I settled for a more blog style approach.

Looks decent. We'll see what happens. When I get my new URL I'll probably start the blog over. I messed this one up by creating a subblog under a main one and there's no way to make it the primary.

 

[EdZ]

Huh. In a rare case of if-it's-too-good-to-be-true-it-just-might-be-true-anyway, the listing for 1kg of 23°C fine-encapsulated phase-change material actually WAS for a 1kg bag, even though it was priced for (and pictured as) a 100g sample container.
It's a real interesting material to handle: it feels comfortably cool to the touch, and stays cool for quite some time until the PCM has absorbed enough energy to melt. To turn it into a wearable form, I'd probably need to suspend the powder in a conductive liquid or gel to conduct heat throughout the volume (rather than just the surface). I was looking into DIY welding of Neoprene for a more advanced active coolant garment, so this might make a nice test project.

 

[onlyabloke]

Huh. In a rare case of if-it's-too-good-to-be-true-it-just-might-be-true-anyway, the listing for 1kg of 23°C fine-encapsulated phase-change material actually WAS for a 1kg bag, even though it was priced for (and pictured as) a 100g sample container.
It's a real interesting material to handle: it feels comfortably cool to the touch, and stays cool for quite some time until the PCM has absorbed enough energy to melt. To turn it into a wearable form, I'd probably need to suspect the powder in a conductive liquid or gel to conduct heat throughout the volume (rather than just the surface). I was looking into DIY welding of Neoprene for a more advanced active coolant garment, so this might make a nice test project.

Yeah, see, I'm just going to nod my head and act like I knew what you said.

Might as well have been Russian....

 

[onlyabloke]

Question folks.

I did some thinking about my site and whatnot today and realized my photography page was becoming saturated with photos and stories from Japan. I figured instead of doing all of that on my photography blog, that I start a second blog and post nothing but Japanese photos and stories I have.

Should I post photos/stories whenever I get around to it, or should I designate days like Mon/Weds/Fri? or something like that.

 

[jeshikat]

I guess you already decided http://memoriesoftokyo.tumblr.com/

 

[onlyabloke]

I guess you already decided http://memoriesoftokyo.tumblr.com/

Nah that's just the intro post so if someone finds it already it's not a blank page lol.

 

[jeshikat]

Gotcha. Well if the plan is to make a book about it, then it makes sense to have a dedicated site for it as a companion to the book.

 

[onlyabloke]

Yeah, went ahead and started it. Also think I'm going to do Mon/Weds/Fri for posting just to keep it consistent. Hoping this doesn't flop and it wasn't all for naught lol

Did go and buy the domains for it though, so now I own three domains. Two are being used, one is being used as a forwarding domain. Not sure if I'm going to renew that one or not.

 

[veryrarium]

@onlyabloke So you were traveling in Japan in 2013...did you encounter a TV crew at Narita Airport who were looking for visitors to interview and to possibly get a permission from to follow along on their trip? I'm specifically talking about this popular TV show in Japan.

 

[onlyabloke]

@onlyabloke So you were traveling in Japan in 2013...did you encounter a TV crew at Narita Airport who were looking for visitors to interview and to possibly get a permission from to follow along on their trip? I'm specifically talking about this popular TV show in Japan.

I did not lol And even if I did I'm willing to bet "Because the Military sent me" isn't an answer they'd want lmao

 

[Soul_Est]

Anyone ever use Disqus? Thinking about adding it to my blog or changing where my blog is hosted altogether.

That is a good idea. I currently am looking into archiving much of my blogging work into a single entity running on Jekyll (jekyllrb.com). I already have one running on it, so I just need to add the rest of the content. You can also add disqus and piwik if you so choose. I host my site on Heroku as they allow for Jeykll plugins where Github does not.

Question folks.

I did some thinking about my site and whatnot today and realized my photography page was becoming saturated with photos and stories from Japan. I figured instead of doing all of that on my photography blog, that I start a second blog and post nothing but Japanese photos and stories I have.

Should I post photos/stories whenever I get around to it, or should I designate days like Mon/Weds/Fri? or something like that.

It depends. If you believe the split is necessary, then split the content between blogs. That is what I did over time. Now, due to having lost some of that work due to WordPress upgrades (they are almost as bad as Windows 10) or the site that I worked for closing down, I need to keep my content close.

 

[jØrd]

so, this just became a thing

http://arstechnica.com/cars/2016/08/china-has-built-a-crazy-elevated-bus-that-straddles-traffic/

 

[BirdofPrey]

Oh, someone finally actually built one.
Intriguing.

 

[Soul_Est]

so, this just became a thing

http://arstechnica.com/cars/2016/08/china-has-built-a-crazy-elevated-bus-that-straddles-traffic/

Very interesting.