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What’s Up Joe Duck?

JoeDuck — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 04:13:58 +0000

It’s always annoying when folks say how busy they are when – almost always – - they are involved in many hours per day of unnecessary TV watching, Facebooking, gaming, making your own hair gel, hobbies, gardening, etc. Nothing wrong with all those things but it’s not the same as “being busy” doing things you MUST do because of work and other “essential” committments.

That said, I think I’m into the “busy” realm now with more projects than I can possibly complete for some time. It’s been a good motivator for me, but it’s a little intimidating too.

Here are some of them:

Retire USA Retirement Information. This is a big project with four other partners where we’ll showcase retirement options in all 50 states. States and cities are online and I’m building the connections to the 5000+ category records now. We’ve had an Oregon retirement website for some time and a retirement blog for some time but will be revamping that soon to include more information from more writers and many experts in retirement.

US History, US History Blog, Online Highways Travel, Travel and History. These are the sites managed mostly by my business partner but with some input by me, especially at our two travel blogs US History and Travel and History. I LOVE travel blogging and wish I had even more time to travel and blog, but blogging is playing mostly a weak supporting role in my internet projects. I still need to get my Vietnam trip of Feb 2011 integrated into Online Highways as well as create more opportunities for small businesses at the site.

House Remodel. My son Ben and I bought a house for him to live in when he leaves home. It was a good “REO” post foreclosure deal but it needs a huge amount of work to become a great place. We’ll get some contractor help but do a lot of the work ourselves. After a few days of pulling up flooring I’m sure glad they invented Ibuprofen.

The QuickAid.com Airport Information Directory. This project started me off over ten years ago as an internet entrepreneur. I bought the website and data from another company and revamped it to include advertising. However after good initial success I fell victim to Google’s changing algorithms. They seem to be liking QuickAid again so I’ll be posting to that blog more often and revamping some of the old content about airports all over the world.

AirportCityCodes.com This is my Airport Codes database of Airports and world airport code and airline code information that also needs some attention.

Twitter. @JoeDuck I still love twitter but not quite sure how to use it to business advantage. I’m setting up individual accounts for many of my websites, but it’s hard to keep engaged with them all.

…. to be continued …

CES 2012 please … wait … for …. me!

JoeDuck — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:51:21 +0000

Well I should be reporting live from CES 2012 right now rather than the Medford Oregon Airport where fog kept me from leaving yesterday for CES Las Vegas, the world’s premier consumer electronics show held every January.

I was supposed to be reporting live over at our Retirement blog from this morning’s keynote at the Silvers Summit, the CES Venue for the intersection of retirement and technology.

If I DO ever manage to get out – we’re not going to make our new 9:15am departure – I’ll have a lot of new pictures and technology content a several of the blogs:

CES 2012 at Technology Report will be the main tech reporting from the conference.

CES 2012 at the Retire USA Retirement Blog will feature some of the technology of special interest to those over 50. Over 50 is hardly a “senior” in my view, but that’s the cutoff for AARP and the Silvers Summit. In fact I think we need a new name for those of us over 50 and I don’t think “seniors” or even “silvers” is really the right angle here. What’s next, the “Ripe” generation?

I’ll also be posting a bit at Las Vegas Blog, LasVegas1. I’m staying downtown at the Golden Gate Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas’ oldest venue at One Fremont Street. Looking forward to the history as well as the relaxed feel of the downtown area, which has undergone a fair amount of rennovation and remodelling over the past decade in an effort by the downtown hotels to capture some of the shiny luster of the strip, which has been ”the” Las Vegas for most tourists for some time now.

Census RSS test

JoeDuck — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 17:07:05 +0000

U.S. Census Bureau News – 2010 Census

http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/2010_census/

Recent news releases on 2010 Census from the U.S. Census Bureau.

en-us

Contact the Public Information Office for further information.

Thu, 26 May 2011 15:22:27 -0500
Thu, 26 May 2011 15:22:27 -0500

http://www.movabletype.org/?v=4.25

http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss

Media Advisory – Census Bureau to Hold Webinar Prior to Release of 2010 Census Summary File 1 for States

What: The U.S. Census Bureau will hold a media webinar prior to the state-by-state releases of the 2010 Census Summary File 1 in June through August. Reporters will learn about the topics to be released in the summary file, how the release process will work and how to access the …

http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/2010_census/cb11-cn148.html

Thu, 26 May 2011 15:22:27 -0500

2010 Census Shows Nation’s Population is Aging

Seven States Have Median Age Over 40 The U.S. Census Bureau released today a 2010 Census brief on our nation’s changing age and sex composition that shows the nation grew older while the male population grew faster than the female population over the last decade. According to Age and Sex …

http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/2010_census/cb11-cn147.html

Thu, 26 May 2011 14:44:41 -0500

2010 Census Shows Nation’s Hispanic Population Grew Four Times Faster Than Total U.S. Population

Mexicans are Largest Hispanic Group Nationwide and in 40 States The U.S. Census Bureau today released a 2010 Census brief on the nation’s Hispanic population, which shows the Hispanic population increased by 15.2 million between 2000 and 2010 and accounted for more than half of the total U.S. population increase …

http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/2010_census/cb11-cn146.html

Thu, 26 May 2011 12:41:51 -0500

Censo del 2010 muestra un crecimiento cuatro veces mayor en la población hispana que en la población total de Estados Unidos

Los mexicanos son el grupo hispano más grande a nivel nacional y en 40 estados La Oficina del Censo publicó hoy un informe del Censo del 2010 sobre la población hispana en los Estados Unidos que muestra un aumento en la población hispana de 15.2 millones entre el 2000 y …

http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/2010_census/cb11-cn146sp.html

Thu, 26 May 2011 12:38:14 -0500

Census Bureau Releases 2010 Census Demographic Profiles for the United States, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont and Virginia

The U.S. Census Bureau today released the Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010 for the United States, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont and Virginia. The demographic profiles provide 2010 Census data on age and sex distributions, race, Hispanic or …

http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/2010_census/cb11-cn144.html

Thu, 26 May 2011 00:01:00 -0500

Google Chromebook Computer

JoeDuck — Wed, 11 May 2011 19:36:18 +0000

Google just announced a new computing platform called “Chromebook” that looks very promising. Working with partners Samsung and Acer, the new computers will optimize the computing experience for the web, taking advantage of Google’s Android operating system, the Google Chrome browser, gmail, Google documents, Google maps, and the many other great web-centric products Google has cooked up since they began their amazing online journey from obscure search engine to online advertising juggernaut.

More about Google Chromebook at Technology Report

Official Google Blog: A new kind of computer: Chromebook

Intro to Chromebook

Stop calling me a climate skeptic just because I don’t believe in alarmism!

JoeDuck — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 20:48:37 +0000

*scroll DOWN to skip to the summary*

I’m REALLY getting tired of so many friends and family calling me a global warming skeptic because 1. I am NOT a global warming skeptic and 2. It distracts from the important debate over warming which is how much it will impact our lives. There are really only two kinds of Global Warming Skeptics. The first challenge the fact that the earth, on average, has been warming up a bit. These folks are generally just stupid or stupidly adhering to the rants of people who are stupid, like Glenn Beck. The earth is, on average over the last century, warming up. Not much mind you – most estimates put the warming in the range of a degree C over the last century, but clearly the earth is warming up a bit.

There is a second kind of global warming skeptic who believes that humans are not the cause of the observed warming. FYI my misguided friends … I am NOT in that camp either! However a lot of bright folks are in that camp and are often scientifically challenging the idea that the observed warming of the last century is caused by human generated greenhouse gasses or “GHCs”. CO2 is usually cited as the main GHC culprit but there are several others like methane that are likely to play a role in observed warming. GHCs are considered the main cause of the small observed warming if, like me, you believe the warming is caused by human activity. So, I’m not THAT kind of skeptic either! Some excellent skeptical discussion of warming is at Climate Audit, the smartest of the “skeptic” blogs, and the counterpoint to Real Climate, the smartest of the blogs that discuss the science behind global warming. Several key players in the Climate Debate post at RealClimate, many are distinuished NASA scientists. I’d urge caution interpreting information from other places and even from these “very smart” blogs. The comments at all blogs tend to be much more biased (often to the point of blatant stupidity) than the posts, which even at advocacy blogs are often somewhat informative if you keep away from the personal or ego-driven junk.

Many blogs in the warming discussion take the form of advocating either for alarmism or skepticism rather than trying to review the science and the logical actions suggested by that science. I’m particularly not fond of Joe Romm’s ridiculous ”Climate Progress” which is mostly a constant attack on even well-informed skepticism and dissent from the climate alarmist “party line”. He seems to immediately ban even well reasoned dissenters from the comments, leaving … a fools pool of alarmist nonsense and political advocacy. Anthony Watts “Watts Up With That” is, IMHO, smarter and far more balanced than Climate Progress but is still pretty darn “skeptical”, tending to feature information that supports a skeptical view rather than promoting a more balanced perspective.

Summary: I AM NOT A DAMN Climate SKEPTIC! However I am not worried much about global warming. It’s impact so far has been trivial and it appears it will remain trivial, especially when we compare the likely impacts with current ongoing catastrophic conditions in much of the developing world, where water, disease, and poverty run rampant. Let’s fix that stuff first, since we can actually have an impact in that arena, and fast.

P.S. No, I have NOT changed my view about this, you just weren’t listening … See?

CES 2011 Party List … Begins!

JoeDuck — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 01:15:59 +0000

CES 2011 Party UPDATES HERE

CES Party List for Technology Report’s
* CES 2011 Coverage *

IMPORTANT: Almost all the parties at CES are “Invitation Only” and the procedure varies from party to party. Bloggers and Press folks can often score invitations by contacting the party sponsors, but don’t just show up and expect to get in.

Some of the best parties are announced at the last minute or somewhat secretly to those attending press conferences or other sponsor events. Those probably won’t make it to any of the party lists.

CES Parties on Tuesday Jan 4th

5 – 8pm CES Unveiled at the Venetian Ballroom

7 – 10 pm Start-Up Debut at the House of Blues Foundation Room, Mandalay Bay Casino. For Registered Media startupdebut@gmail.com.

CES Parties on Wednesday January 5

7 – 10pm Pepcom Digital Experience! Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas

7:30pm Audi at the Palms Ghost Bar

7:30 – 11 p.m GigaByte Room Marco Polo 707, Venetian Hotel

CES Parties on Thursday January 6

6 – 8pm NPD Reception – Bellagio (Client Invitation Only)

6 – 10pm Showstoppers – Wynn, Lafitte Ballroom (Invite only)

7 – 9pm Wired Party

7 – 10pm: Mashable Awards – New York, New York Hotel and Cirque du Soleil Zumanity
(Open to all, tickets $32 and up)

8:30 – 10 pm iHollywood Reception – www.cesihf.eventbrite.com

Friday January 7, 2011

4 – 7pm Official 2011 CES Tweet Up. Las Vegas Hilton Space Quest Lounge

6:00 PM – 8:00 PM: FashionWare Show/KAPi Awards – Fashion Show Mall (Invite Only)

5:30 – 8:30 pm It Won’t Stay in Vegas Blogger Party – Atomic Museum, 755 E. Flamingo.

6:30 – 9:30 pm NetShelter CES Mixer – LAVO Nightclub at The Palazzo.
Register here

CES Parties on Saturday, January 8

5 p.m – midnight Xtremesystems Party - Pole Position Raceway, 4175 S. Arville Road.

Sources for this list include Party Sponsor Contacts + CESPartyList.com + Karen Thomas PR Party List. BE SURE to confirm your invitations as many parties won’t allow people to “drop in” without an invitation. Yep, that includes you!

USA3 Web

JoeDuck — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 21:15:08 +0000

Sites created with Godaddy’s content creator routine:

004Travel.com | 2Alabama.com |

Got Travel? Travel Blogs and Travel Bloggers, Unite!

JoeDuck — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 15:12:48 +0000

For some time (100,000 years in internet dog years), I’ve wanted to collect *all* the travel blogs in one spot and organize them by destination. That’s not happening … yet … but I’m very happy to see so many great folks online blogging travel now as well as many lists of bloggers popping up.

An interesting issue in finding the holy grail of travel information is whether people would rather hear from *travelers* or from *locals*. I used to lean to the former – ie I wanted to hear from other folks who had visited a place to get the best information, but it’s become clear to me now that the best source for travel information are well informed local folks – ideally those who are in the travel industry and therefore familiar with a lot of attractions, hotels, restaurants, history, customs, etc. An example for Oregon is … me.

I worked in the travel industry for many years and I know a *lot* about Oregon, especially Southern Oregon. Unfortunately there are not very many people blogging “local travel” from a local perspective. Ironically pretty much all the travel writing blog folks (including me) are so busy talking about their own trips out and about, they are not writing much about their local places – the kind of information that would be simply wonderful if you were to visit a place.

So … my challenge to travel bloggers is to write a few posts about things to see and do in your own neck of the woods. Let me know if you do and I’ll be happy to feature it prominently at our heavy traffic site ”Travel and History”. Please include a bit of history in the travelogue if you can.

Here are some from some cool traveling folks:

Blogs/ Travelers list from Traveling Teri:

Blogroll from Travel Answer Man John Van Kirk:

From Elliot.org

Alaska TravelGram
Almost Fearless
Anders Meanders
Arthur Frommer
Brave New Traveler
Consumerist
Evan Sparks
Everett Potter
ExpertCruiser
Flight Wisdom
Gadling
Hidden Travel Gems
Hotel Blogs by Guillaume Thevenot
HotelChatter
Intelligent Travel
Jaunted
Jeanne Leblanc
LLWorldTour
Marriott on the Move
MaxaBlog
Online Travel Review
Peter Greenberg
PlaneBuzz
Rick Seaney
Roads Less Traveled
Safe Cruise
Ship Critic blog
Southwest Airlines
T2Impact
The BOOT
The Cruise Log
The Daily Traveler
The Practical Nomad
This Just In…..
Tim Leffel’s Cheapest Destinations
Towers and Tarmacs
Travel Babel
Travel Gear Blog
Travel Log
Travel Maven blog
Travel Post
Travel Rants
Traveler 2.0
Traveler’s Check
Tripinator – Travel 2.0
Tripso
Upgrade: travel better
USA Today’s Hotel Hotsheet
World Hum
WSJ.com: The Middle Seat Terminal

Add Flickr Photos to WordPress Blog

JoeDuck — Fri, 21 May 2010 08:23:51 +0000

I think I’ve blogged this problem before, but given how great it is to post Flickr photos to a blog (even those from others with credit automatically linked), I think I need to repeat this. My problem after setting up a new blog was not to to this:

In WordPress dashboard under Settings > Writing > Remote Publishing be sure to check both Atom Publishing Protocol and XML-RPC

Which blogging services does Flickr support?

We currently support the following blogs:

Atom Enabled Blogs
Blogger *
LiveJournal
Manila
Meta Weblog API Enabled Blogs
Movable Type**
Typepad
Vox
WordPress***

*Note: In 2007 Blogger moved to a Google ID based login procedure. If you have blog which was supported under the email login schema, you’ll need to delete the existing blog entry in your blog settings and generate a new one. Then you’ll be asked to confirm your Blogsettings on Blogger. Also, at this time, only one Google ID is supported for each Flickr account for Blogger. If you have more than one Blogger blog, they’ll all need to be associated with the same Google ID.

**Note: If you use a Movable Type v4 blog, you don’t use your normal password to log in. When you edit your user account on your blog host, there’s an option called Web Services Password, with an option to reveal it (it’s an MD5-type hash), and you should use that as the password for the configuration on Flickr, not your normal password.

***Note: If you use a WordPress self-hosted blog, in your WordPress dashboard under Settings > Writing > Remote Publishing be sure to check both Atom Publishing Protocol and XML-RPC. Then, in your settings on Flickr for that blog, enter your WordPress API Endpoint; for example: yourdomainame.com/xmlrpc.php

Google Social Circle

JoeDuck — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:05:40 +0000

Google labs is testing a very interesting new feature within the Google search results which lists and ranks content from people that have connections to your own social networks, websites, blogs, etc. It’s called Google Social Circle and I think this approach has a lot of potential…

More to come at Technology Report