Kicking Us When We’re Down

It was announced in March, but in the hubbub over Reader (sob), I overlooked it (I certainly didn’t see a notice for it like others did). The horrible news is…TweetDeck is being canceled. Murdered, if you will. I assume because it’s something I like. Also because they can’t really make money on advertising when people go through the desktop app, but like I care about that.

In all fairness, it’s not being completely taken away—in exactly one week, I might add. It will still be available as a web service, much like all the aggregators I’ve been reviewing over the past month. But I used the desktop version, amusing since I also posted how I didn’t like desktop readers. I just think it’s different with Twitter. I like to check it, well, a lot, and I’m often online at the same time. For whatever reason, I prefer to keep my TweetDeck separate from my online stuff.

Right now I’m not sure what I’m going to do. I could go with the online version of TweetDeck, even if I really don’t want to. I could also switch to another desktop app, of which there are painfully few. There’s one called MetroTwit, which isn’t terrible, but it starts up very slowly for me. This might be my computer, which isn’t exactly high tech. Either way, I’m not sure I’d like to put up with this every time I open the dang thing. However, it’s also a pretty nice app. It shows my new mentions/messages when I open it, I was easily able to customize it similar to my TweetDeck set up in the few ways it wasn’t already a close copy, and most importantly, I’m able to send a tweet by hitting enter. Yes, that is very important to me.

So I’m caught between the online TweetDeck and MetroTwit. They’re pretty neck and neck right now. I’ll have to muse on this some more.

Hey. This is serious business.

The Reader, part 5

It is 5, right? My God, I’ve been doing this for a solid month? It might be time to start wrapping this up… 

Anyway, the readers I’ve focused on for the past four entries I’ve spent time using, but there are also quite a few that I dismissed right away as not workable for whatever reason. So here’s the rundown on some of the other aggregators out there.

NewsBlur

---“Due to overwhelming demand, free accounts are now suspended.” That’s adorable. They actually think people are going to pay for a freaking aggregator (it did look nice from what I saw in the free sample, though).

Bloglines

---Since it’s run by Net Vibes, it’s basically a clone of their system. So it’s good to use if for some reason you don’t like the name Net Vibes.

Good Noows

---Made for following news stories in topics like science or even comics, but not really for personal blogs. Also, I hate the name.

Feedlooks

---Got rave reviews…then completely shut down.

Feed Show

---I couldn’t actually get it to work. Not very sophisticated from what I saw.

News Alloy

---Have to resubscribe to every single feed I want to follow. No thanks.

Reeder

---For Apple products only, so I can’t use it.

RSSOwl

---A downloadable program you use. Not really what I’m looking for.

Rssminer

---The site is broken so I can’t really review it. Honestly, with a tagline like “yet another feed reader”, I wouldn’t expect much.

RSS Reader

---Another download. Pass.

FeedDemon

---Yet another download. However, this is supposed to be one of the best, so if you’re willing to try it, I’d expect it to be good.

Language of Confusion: -vented

Have I done this suffix before? One of these days, I’m going to have to make a list of all the words I’ve etymologized (wait...that’s a word?) so I can keep track of what I’ve done. But I’ll probably end up playing video games instead. Anyway, here’s vent.

Vent

First showed up as a verb in the fourteenth century and a noun in the sixteenth. Comes from the Old French eventer and the Vulgar Latin exventare, a mix of ex- (out) and ventus, wind. Interestingly enough, it is not related to the words with the suffix -vent. It’s here just because.

Event

Showed up in the late sixteenth century. Came from the Middle French event and classical Latin eventus (same meaning) which itself comes from evenire, to occur. Evenire is a mix of the prefix ex- (just like vent used to be) and venire, to come, which is also the origin word for venue.

Invent

Showed up in the late fifteenth century. Invention actually came first, but both can be traced to the classical Latin invenire, with basically the same definition. It’s a combination of in- (shockingly enough, it means in) and the above mentioned venire. So…to come in. I guess an invention comes inside a brain, right?

Advent

A relative latecomer, not showing up until 1742. It comes from the classical Latin adventus, again, the same meaning, although it also was specifically used in the Christian church to mean the coming of the messiah. Adventus comes from advenire, a mix of ad- (another word for to) and venire, to come, making it “come to”.

Prevent

Showed up in the early fifteenth century from the classical Latin praeventusand praevenire, anticipate. Pre- of course means before and venire…well, I’m sure you’ve gotten the point by now. Anway, it’s “to come before”.

Convent

One of the earliest -vent words, having showed up in the early thirteenth century. It was covent in Anglo-French, back to convent in Old French, and conventus in classical Latin. It comes from convenire, the origin word for convene. The prefix con- means together, making it “come together”.

Circumvent

Showed up in the mid-fifteenth century, from the classical Latin words circumventusand circumvenire. Circum- means all around, in a circle (it’s related to circus). With venire, it means “to come around in a circle”, which is a pretty good definition for circumvent.

Intervention

It showed up in the early sixteenth century from the classical Latin interventionemand intervenire. It’s a mix of inter- (between) and our friend venire. So, to come between.

Subvention

Yeah, I was shocked to hear that this was a word, too, but it’s basically another word for a grant. It showed up in the early fifteenth century, coming from the Middle French subvention and Late Latin subventionem or subvenire (to help). The sub- means “up to” in this case, so the word means “to come up to”. I guess you have to take it figuratively.

There are also words like solvent and insolvent, which come from solve, not vent, and fervent, which has a completely separate history.

TL;DR: Vent and any word related to solve aren’t related to -vent words.

Sources

Online Etymology Dictionary

Orbis Latinus

Dictionary.com

Fordham University

Back From The Dead

Just a minor post today, because I am hella pissed. They’re trying to pass CISPA again. It already passed in the US House of Representatives because they don’t give a rat’s ass about anyone who doesn’t donate money to them. I may disagree with the president about stuff but I’m glad that he’s promised to veto this bill.

Why is it that people want to protect privacy when it comes to how many guns they buy, but not literally every other piece of data about their lives, which is exactly what this bill does? I love that their reasoning is that it will protect us from future bombings and foreign hackers. It’s not a terrible goal, but come on. The language is broad enough that it’s basically a digital bypass of the fourth amendment. And you know what? That amendment is supposed to protect even an obviously guilty person from searches and seizures without a warrant. I don’t see why that doesn’t apply for the internet as well.

When new technologies arrive, laws have to adapt. Sometimes even change. But that does not mean it’s okay to violate the spirit of the law when applying it to said new technologies.

Grrr, I’m still mad. I’m going to go find a bear and fight it to the death. I’ll bring you guys soup.

The Reader, part 4

Still doing this? Still doing this. I don’t know why it’s so hard to find an exact replica of Google Reader. I also don’t know why Google Reader is dying in the first place.

Next on the list is Netvibes.

Pros

---Can connect your Facebook and Twitter, among other things.

---You can organize your lists the way you want! I missed this about Reader.

---There are a lot of options for how you view it and settings in general.

---The next button actually makes sense (one of my complaints about Feedly).

Cons

---There’s no instant transfer from Reader like other sites. It’s a bit complicated, but you can transfer them over (I’ll explain in a bit).

---Honestly, it’s a bit complex to use. I have a feeling casual computer people (like me) won’t like that so much.

Really, this one isn’t bad at all. It works, unlike FeedReader, is less complex than Pulse, and has a few bonuses on Feedly. But is it better than our reigning champion? In my opinion, no, but it’s a close second. It’s a hair too complex for my tastes. Don’t get me wrong, all those options are nice. I think if you’re a social media maven, you should definitely go with Netvibes over Feedly because of its ability to connect with your Twitter, Facebook and email. But if you only want a reader, yeah, stick with Feedly.

If you decide to go with Netvibes, here’s how you import your lists:

1. Go here and click on the link to Takeout for your data.

2. When the blocks on the right are at 100%, click Create Archive.

3. Once it’s done loading, hit Download and sign in with your password.

4. Once it’s downloaded to your computer, click it and save it somewhere you’ll remember (by default, it will most likely be under your Downloads file.

5. Go to Netvibes. Scroll down to “It’s just me” and click Get Started.

6. Sign in and pick something (Default or Social or one of those) to follow. Go to the upper right hand corner and hit Sign Up.

7. Go to “Add Content” in the upper left hand corner, then select Add a Feed.

8. Click Import, then Choose File. Go to where you saved your Takeout from Reader. Click the file, and keep going until you see an XML document that says Subscriptions. Select it, and your lists will appear on your Netvibes dashboard.

BAM!

The Language of Confusion: Make it Rain

I’m looking at the word rain this week, as well as its homophones rein and reign. It is April after all, and the rainy season. Plus it’s not like any of you can stop me.

The noun rain comes from the Old English regn, which itself comes from the proto Germanic regna. That g probably did used to be pronounced—if you don’t remember my post on silent letters, words with gn used to pronounce the g too, and in fact it’s still pronounced in other Germanic languages, like Dutch and Swedish. However, in English it was dropped just as it was with the word gnaw. It’s also worth noting that rain the verb comes from the Old English regnian, which was often shortened to just rinan, so it’s possible that spelling was simply preferred.

Reign first showed up in the early thirteenth century, first as a noun and then as a verb at the end of the century. The noun comes from the Old French reigne while the verb form is regner. Both words can be traced to the classical Latin regnum, which means rule or realm. The g actually makes sense in Latin, where it was vocalized, but like many gn words, it was just a graphical remnant of an old pronunciation.

Finally, there’s rein, as in a bridle lead. It first showed up in the early fourteenth century from the Old French rene and (most likely) the Vulgar Latin retina, a bond or check. As far as I can tell, no, it’s not related to the word for eye. That word is actually from, get this, the Greek word for tunic and totally beside the point. Retina—the Latin retina—comes from retinere, hold back, the origin word for retain, itself a mix of the prefix re-, back, and the Latin tenere, to hold. So basically, rein is retain without the two middle letters.

TL;DR: Coincidence.

Sources

Online Etymology Dictionary

Google Translate

The Guardian

 Tony Jebson’s page on the Origins of Old English 

University of Texas—Arlington 

Orbis Latinus 

Dream Weaver

Liz mentioned in one of her “What If” posts the possibility of recording dreams, something scientists are actually working on. They use MRIs to scan people’s minds when they’re asleep and then interpret it to recreate an image they were shown. It’s pretty rough, but you can kind of see what they were shown (it starts at about the 33 second mark). Someday (I’d say a decade at the very least) this could be the next app. Hook some electrodes to your head, plug the other end in your phone, and bam! You’ve got a recording of what went on in your head last night.

Part of me is like, cool! Sometimes I dream of things that I think will make awesome stories but upon waking I can’t remember what made me so fervent about them. But then another part of me remembers some of the crazy, messed up dreams I’ve had (the curse of being imaginative, I’m sure), and I’m a little less eager and a lot more OMMFG no one can see this ever.

Once the initial embarrassment passes (yes, embarrassment over this hypothetical technology sharing my future dreams) and I can start wondering about it again, I can actually start to think of how writers could use a technology like this. Most of my ideas that have turned into full-length manuscripts are nothing like the original dreams that spawned them. Would it even help me to look at a dream record? I’m leaning towards no since it seems my books get better the further away they are from the nonsensical, jumbled dreams whence they came. But still. Those dreams evoke powerful emotions. If I could study them, analyze them, maybe I could translate that better to the page and from there, draw in readers.

It’s an interesting idea. And not much else since this is all speculation on a technology that may never come into existence. It sure makes me wonder, though (anyone else notice I used a lot of parentheses in this one?).