This past week I finally got around to organizing yet another part of my life. This time it was my internet bookmarks; not the browser bookmarks as I had done that previously but more specifically the once I had on del.icio.us. I noticed in December that his site was often down and remains so! This is very odd for one of the most popular sites of the 2.0 web. They also disabled the export function with a note saying it put too much strain on their servers!!
Luckily for me, I’m all about backups. Backups save your life and I’ll express this to my own kids with the same enthusiasm Steve Ballmer did about development to his Microsoft employees: Backups, backups, backups, backups, backups…..backups, backups backups backups! And so I had a backup of my bookmarks I downloaded in the summer of 2016. I’m very glad I did this seeing as the website rarely works and we cannot download our bookmarks now!
This made me realize that those bookmarking sites are pretty worthless in the long term since they one day might just stop working and *poof* all your bookmarks gone. Instead, what you want to do is use a web clipper like Evernote. For me, I prefer to do everything in house and want to physically own my data and so Synology’s Note Station is now my one-and-only when it comes to saving webpages. By using a web clipper you can save the actual content instead of just a bookmark. Websites disappear, get put back behind paywalls such as subscription sites and/or change their content. For me, I had a lot of articles from the New York Times that I could only access with a subscription. Luckily they have a .99 trial subscription which I’m taking advantage of: I click on the old bookmarks that take me to my saved NY Times articles and then use the Note Station web clipper chrome extension to save the article.
And so I spent about three hours on Friday clicking on my bookmarks and then web clipping the articles into Note Station. Now the data and articles are mine and I no longer need to worry about not being able to access them.
For me, there are a couple of reasons I like to save articles. The best reason is that some articles are simply outstanding in that they teach me something extremely valuable. My favorites are history and religion and I love coming across a good article that offers such extraordinary insight that I’ll remember it forever and want to reference it again should the subject come up. The other is politics: the main enjoyment I get out of these is it is a point in time, it won’t last and I’ll be able to look back on them at some point in the future and remember how things were. One of the biggest were about the Iraq war and WMD that turned out to a be a very big lie. Here was a nation putting out *propaganda?* and the main reason for going to war turned out to be a lie. It is interesting to look back on the articles and see just how wrong everyone was. For me, I wrote about my opposition to the war and I was right about it all being a lie at the time which I’m pretty proud of.
Anyway, I just realized that I could easily put all my bookmarks from del.icio.us here and thought I should do so just for the sake of getting it into this overall journal of my life.
My list of del.icio.us bookmarks:
My del.icio.us URL: https://delicious.com/elmateo33
A coastal town’s long and stormy relationship with El Nino
Messages from yurei and yokai—Koizumi Yakumo and Inoue Enryo on yokai
How Traveling Abroad In Your Twenties Will Ruin Your Life — Life Tips. — Medium
The Earthquake That Will Devastate Seattle – The New Yorker
Vietnam 40 years on: how a communist victory gave way to capitalist corruption | News | The Guardian
Would you want to live in Pacifica? – SFGate
A splendid city — but who even has a minute to notice? – San Francisco Chronicle
BBC News – Not in front of the telly: Warning over ‘listening’ TV
BBC News – Angry US middle classes feel the squeeze
Create Your Very Own False Memories by Lying on Facebook | Smart News | Smithsonian
FBI’s PARM Program Reveals Uneasy U.S. Relations With Linguists – Atlantic Mobile
Families suspect SEAL Team 6 crash was inside job on worst day in Afghanistan – Washington Times
BBC – Earth – Why is there something rather than nothing?
Japan struggles to keep up as China woos international students | The Japan Times
Happiness and wealth: No one is rich or happy because we always want more.
Putting Time In Perspective | Wait But Why
The Fermi Paradox – Wait But Why
41 Reasons Studying Abroad In Spain Ruins You For Life
Getting to the heart of Murasaki’s ‘Tale of Genji’ | The Japan Times
Language study: Johnson: What is a foreign language worth? | The Economist
The Strange Case of Barrett Brown | The Nation
The Meaning of Life – NYTimes.com
BBC News – 1066 and all those baby names
Daughters tell stories of ‘war brides’ despised back home and in the U.S. | The Japan Times
Confidence men and their masquerade – Al Jazeera English
BBC – Capital – Are young workers brats or brilliant?
Secret Service Prostitution Scandal: One Year Later | People & Politics | Washingtonian
A handy San Francisco guide to waiting in lines – San Francisco Chronicle
BBC News – The dark side of the white, polar world
Has Next Tuesday Already Happened? : 13.7: Cosmos And Culture : NPR
A Guide to In-Game Memorials – Guides – Wowhead
Surrender had lasting impact on many Japanese after war’s end | The Japan Times
Andy Puddicombe: All it takes is 10 mindful minutes | Talk Video | TED.com
The black hole at the birth of the Universe — ScienceDaily
Diary of an Israeli war – Al Jazeera English
Will Japan’s youth go to war because a pretty girl told them to? – Al Jazeera English
Trypophobia Is A Real, Terrifying Thing, And You Definitely Have It
From the archive: The Serbs and the Hapsburgs | The Economist
Japan’s gambit in WWI set stage for a dark future | The Japan Times
Language study: Johnson: What is a foreign language worth? | The Economist
Japan inked: Should the country reclaim its tattoo culture? | The Japan Times
Ashkenazi names: The etymology of the most common Jewish surnames.
English purism: Johnson: What might have been | The Economist
Russian Mother Takes Magical Pictures of Her Two Kids With Animals On Her Farm | Bored Panda
The most viewed news stories of 2013 | The Japan Times
Charity is not a substitute for justice – Al Jazeera English
Your Ancestors Didn’t Sleep Like You – SlumberWise
The ghouls who played on the Japanese mind – The Japan Times
A Reader’s War : The New Yorker
10 Reasons Why 2013 Will Be The Year You Quit Your Job | TechCrunch
25 Places That Look Not Normal, But Are Actually Real
After tragedy in Conn., have we finally had enough?
Why I Am Not A Christian, by Bertrand Russell
Palestine: What should everyone know about Palestine? – Quora
BBC News – Japan and blood types: Does it determine personality?
The Conservative Mind – NYTimes.com
After Qaddafi | Foreign Affairs
USA TODAY – Will We Be The First Martians.
Whoa, Dude, Are We Inside a Computer Right Now? | VICE
Leaders’ Message of Equality Is Challenged by Vietnam’s Growing Gap – NYTimes.com
At R.N.C., Romney Hailed as Regular Guy by Woman with Horse in Olympics : The New Yorker
The National Security Agency’s Domestic Spying Program – NYTimes.com
Dreaming of a World Without Intellectuals – The Chronicle Review – The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Story of Steve Jobs: An Inspiration or a Cautionary Tale? | Wired Business | Wired.com
A Brief History of Money – IEEE Spectrum
Who’s Very Important? – NYTimes.com
Environmental Alarmism, Then and Now | Foreign Affairs
Class Struggle in Vietnam: From the Colonial Yoke to Wage Slavery for Global Capital | libcom.org
The Un-Education of a Nation: Where We Went Wrong – Forbes
This U.S. summer is ‘what global warming looks like’
Rolling Stone Mobile – News – Culture: The Sharp, Sudden Decline of America’s Middle Class
America’s Shameful Human Rights Record – NYTimes.com
This Column Is Not Sponsored by Anyone – NYTimes.com
Fables of Wealth – NYTimes.com
Thinking can undermine religious faith, study finds – latimes.com
THE DAILY STAR :: News :: International :: Panetta hails ‘important’ deal on Marines in Japan
The danger of Twitter, Facebook politics – CNN.com
Elaine Pagels on the Book of Revelation : The New Yorker
Elaine Pagels on the Book of Revelation : The New Yorker
BBC News – Park Romney: Why he turned against the Mormon church
World’s best tourists | CNNGo.com
Please Stop Apologizing – NYTimes.com
Churches and politicians should stay in their own lanes, say Americans – CSMonitor.com
No One Asked Their Names | Common Dreams
The Benefits of Bilingualism – NYTimes.com
The West’s self-licking ice cream cones – Opinion – Al Jazeera English
Newseum – Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus
La sonrisa del vencido, ms que una novela negra, es un drama realista
Great book!!
Three Months After the Twin Tragedies Hit Japan | PRI’s The World
The Idea of Germany, From Tacitus to Hitler
The Idea of Germany, From Tacitus to Hitler
AAUP: The Professors, The Press, The Think Tanks—And Their Problems
Public opinion, therefore, is shaped in response to people’s “maps” or “images” of the world and not to the world itself. Mass political consciousness does not pertain to the factual “environment” but to an intermediary “pseudo-environment.”
The Great Japan Earthquake of 1923 | History & Archaeology | Smithsonian Magazine
BBC News – Who, What, Why: How do you get a coat of arms?
How Slavery Really Ended in America – NYTimes.com
What Happens in Vagueness Stays in Vagueness by Clark Whelton – City Journal
Tim Footman: Not every farang male comes to Bangkok for sleaze | CNNGo.com
The Japanese Could Teach Us a Thing or Two – NYTimes.com
John Dominic Crossan’s ‘blasphemous’ portrait of Jesus – CNN.com
What Conservatives Really Want | George Lakoff
A Guide: How Not To Say Stupid Stuff About Egypt | Sarthanapalos
Wallflowers at the Revolution – NYTimes.com
Vive la Différence – NYTimes.com
That’s Political Entertainment! | Politics | Vanity Fair
Dr. Douglas Fields: Rudeness Is a Neurotoxin
Accuracy in names: Sixty years of Orwellian spin | The Economist
Is America on the path to ‘permanent war’? – CNN.com
Ted Koppel: Olbermann, O’Reilly and the death of real news
The youth vote: Out with the olds | The Economist
Japan Goes From Dynamic to Disheartened – NYTimes.com
Wieseltier: Intellectual Elites Should Opine Less | The New Republic
What Your Smartphone Says About You – Digits – WSJ
Why Thinking About Nothing Is So Hard | The Atlantic Wire
Japanese Men Take Virtual Girlfriends on Real Date Nights – Speakeasy – WSJ
Does Your Language Shape How You Think? – NYTimes.com
Building a Nation of Know-Nothings – NYTimes.com
Worldwide, Muslims bemused by mosque controversy – latimes.com
Op-Ed Contributor – Japan and the Ancient Art of Shrugging – NYTimes.com
Banyan: They have returned | The Economist
Got Medieval: Professor Newt’s Distorted History Lesson
Eat, Pray, Love, Leave: Orientalism Still Big Onscreen : NPR
Book Review – The German Genius – By Peter Watson – NYTimes.com
Can WikiLeaks Help Save Lives? | CommonDreams.org
Are all rich people now liberals? – By James Ledbetter – Slate Magazine
Peggy Noonan: We Pay Them to Be Rude to Us
Reagan insider: GOP destroyed economy Paul B. Farrell – MarketWatch
BBC News – Fifa investigates North Korea World Cup abuse claims
The Economist Markets to the Sophisticated – NYTimes.com
Consumers Find Ways to Spend Less and Find Happiness – NYTimes.com
Op-Ed Columnist – The Fat Lady Has Sung – NYTimes.com
Online games in China: A hundred million happy geeks | The Economist
2010/08/07 05:35 – WSJ: English Gets The Last Word In Japan
Op-Ed Columnist – The Summoned Self – NYTimes.com
Is Google Making Us Stupid? – Magazine – The Atlantic
Learning a Language From an Expert on the Web – NYTimes.com
Op-Ed Columnist – A Sin and a Shame – NYTimes.com
More Job-Seekers Hitch Ride on Asian Economy – NYTimes.com
Reuters AlertNet – Vietnam’s Danang starts small to adapt to climate change
Companies Wringing Huge Profits From Job Cuts – NYTimes.com
Op-Ed Columnist – We’re Gonna Be Sorry – NYTimes.com
SPEAK AMERICAN – Fun lesson in language
Does Language Influence Culture? – WSJ.com
Op-Ed Columnist – What 7 Republicans Could Do for America – NYTimes.com
The real numbers on illegal immigration: newyorker.com
The Unpolitical Animal : The New Yorker
Examining the exotic ins and outs of marrying a foreigner | The Japan Times Online
