The [tag]2007 NFL Draft[/tag] has proven to be quite interesting. With the choice of [tag]JaMarcus Russell[/tag] as the overall No. 1 pretty much a done deal going in, it was the situation of [tag]Brady Quinn[/tag] that provided the most drama in the first round. Watching his reaction as selection after selection was made without his name being called, you had to feel for the guy. The Dolphins selection was especially surprising, and his expression said it all. “Wow” is exactly what I said when that happened. It was actually kind of funny to watch Cam Cameron (coach of Miami) getting booed by Dolphins fans at a booster draft party.

For my beloved Giants, it pretty much went by the numbers. Seems like the front office did try to trade up to make earlier picks. But as seems to be their philosophy under Jerry Reese, they did not want to give up much. Consequently they were part of no trades (unlike the Raiders, Browns and other teams that desperately need to show something to their fans) and selected [tag]Aaron Ross[/tag] at Cornerback with pick 20. If you followed the [tag]G-Men[/tag] last year, you know that CB was a big hole in the defense. So you can’t complain too much about that pick, especially since 2 other (and higher rated) CB’s were taken earlier (including one by the Jets). But the (inexplicable) release of Luke Petitgout in the off-season has not been addressed. Knowing how badly Eli needs his protection (he is most definitely NOT good under pressure), you would think Tackle would be the most pressing need. And there is nothing out there in free agency. Let’s hope the Giants find a diamond in the rough of the remaining rounds.

And maybe this shows my inexperience in understanding the NFL, but why is [tag]Troy Smith[/tag] rated so low on everyone’s draft boards (I think Mel Kiper has him as a 6th round pick)? He is the friggin’ 2006 [tag]Heisman Tropy[/tag] winner, for crying out loud. Doesn’t that mean he was the best player in college football last year, ahead of Russell, Quinn and everyone else? I just don’t get it. Is he being (unfairly) judged on his lack of a good performance in the bowl game? That makes no sense. I don’t know him, but I kind of wish he gets selected by a good team that gives him a chance to prove everyone wrong, a la Colston and the most famous late rounder, Tom Brady.

[tags]New York Giants, Eli Manning[/tags]

[tag]Microsoft[/tag] recently started the [tag]i’m initiative[/tag], in which a portion of the advertising revenue of the [tag]Windows Live Messenger[/tag] program is donated to some worthwhile [tag]charitable causes[/tag]. While the choice of organizations is pretty limited, it has some pretty good ones in there, like the [tag]American Red Cross[/tag] and the [tag]National AIDS Fund[/tag]. I personally chose [tag]UNICEF[/tag].

Setting it up is pretty easy, as all you need to do is go into your Messenger options (you need at least version 8.1) and add some text beginning with an asterisk next to your display name. So for UNICEF, you need to add “*unicef” next to your name. It really is that simple, and you can get the code by launching your messenger window and clicking on the “i’m” tab.

I really like that some of these technologies that we all use so much, and that get so much advertising revenue from our daily use, are giving back to our community. It is such a simple way for all of us to contribute. And I think it is a brilliant way to gain a bigger market share, since people fundamentally want to do some good and will support services that they feel give back. Recent articles have highlighted Silicon Valley startups that recognize this desire and are funding technologies that help the environment, or help certain causes. I for one will be using Messenger a lot more than Google Chat from now on. And I look forward to advertising juggernauts like [tag]Google[/tag] adopting these initiatives into their model. Glad to see that the charitable mindset of Bill Gates is actually making its way into the money machine that is Microsoft.

At the end of tonight’s “[tag]Idol Gives Back[/tag]” show, the six finalists sang a beautiful song that [tag]Bono[/tag] composed just for this show. Called “[tag]American Prayer[/tag]“, it expressed the hope and prayers that all of us who support the [tag]ONE campaign[/tag] hold in our hearts. Bono’s own appearance on the show helped to put a fitting emphasis on the message of the show. Hopefully this will mobilize people to get involved. Judging by the fact that the ONE website is having problems right now (seems to be down), I would judge that the show has succeeded in driving people to the web site.

I am not an [tag]American Idol[/tag] fan. I can’t buy into it. Any show that gets more votes than the presidential elections just feels wrong. It feeds into the inane thirst that we have for pseudo-celebrity and 15-minute phenomena.

So it felt like an unholy alliance when I received an email from [tag]ONE.org[/tag] about it joining forces with American Idol for a “special” show. Nonetheless, I am down with anything that the ONE campaign does. So I decided I would check it out. And I have to say that so far, the “[tag]Idol Gives Back[/tag]” show is pretty awesome. One of the main things that the [tag]ONE campaign[/tag] does is try to put celebrity power to good use in eliminating poverty. And it is a touch of brilliance to convert a regular Idol episode into an amazing fund-raising telethon. Leveraging the captive audience that they knew Idol would get is a master stroke. Imagine, if every voter just accompanied their vote with a donation of just $1, Idol would raise $32 million.

And the show so far is pretty amazing. The “Staying Alive” song that had all the celebrities lip-syncing and dancing is great. And when Ellen said that she was going to donate $100,000 and challenged all the “rich” people watching to match her, I wanted to stand up and applaud.

It is still going on, and I am riveted to my seat…

[tags]Eliminate poverty[/tags]

Last weekend T and I were out in the East Village. As we walked to the subway, we saw what some creative vandal had done to a [tag]stop signal[/tag], making it look like it was giving us the finger. Only in NYC would you see something like this.

[tags]Only in New York[/tags]

I’m back home after spending a few days in Vegas for a user group conference. While everything there was business as usual, I did feel a little subdued. The [tag]VT tragedy[/tag] in of itself would be a reason to not be fully there mentally. But what actually is more disturbing, and occupying my thoughts is the things about us that the tragedy is revealing. Why is this week any more of a reason to be grieving? Shouldn’t we be grieving every day for the hundreds dying in [tag]Iraq[/tag], American or Iraqi, military or civilian? What of the thousands dying in [tag]Darfur[/tag] and other parts of Africa?

And the politicization of the tragedy is in full flow, with the [tag]pro-gun[/tag] and [tag]anti-gun[/tag] lobby’s both trying to use it as a way to prove their point. Why can’t we use this to have a smart [tag]gun control debate[/tag]? Personal views should not matter; the people on both sides of the debate need to realize that something is broken, and they need to get together and talk rationally. I can buy into the assumption that the [tag]second amendment[/tag] is needed, and that people should have the right to bear arms. Let the woman living on a farm in the middle of rural nowhere, miles from the nearest police station, have a gun to protect herself from intruders in the middle of the night. But what kind of place do you live in that you need an assault rifle, or an AK-47 to protect yourself? If that is what you need, MOVE! Be reasonable people! A car is not a lethal weapon (by intent), yet it is harder to get a license to drive than it is to get a gun that allows you to kill 30 people in one minute. And if you are caught slightly drunk in a car, you get screwed. But you can handle guns and beer at the same time, with no consequences. Doesn’t that point out something fundamentally insane about the situation?

The pro-gun people are all up in arms (pun intended) because they believe that their civil rights are under attack. Yet these same people support this president as he continues to undermine the fundamental [tag]civil liberties[/tag] of all Americans with his [tag]wire-tapping[/tag] programs, his “[tag]detention without trial[/tag]” policies, and his [tag]pro-torture[/tag] stance. Why do people not catch something like that, but see even the slightest mention of gun control (not banning of guns, not outlawing of guns) as unacceptable.

Iraq, Virginia Tech, New Orleans, (the list goes on) all point to one thing – the inability of the people in this country to get a [tag]civil dialogue[/tag] going anymore. And the media has to take so much blame for it. Everything must be sensationalized. Polarized parties makes for great drama and sells, but does not provide space for progress. Everything simply descends into a shouting match. What we need is for more people to tell the politicians they elect that they want them representing their views, and not those of the vocal fringe or lobbyists.

It was great to see the mayors of New York City, Jersey City, Newark and Boston come together again this past week to continue their fight against illegal guns. The [tag]Mayors Against Illegal Guns[/tag] Coalition is one of the best chances of something substantial actually happening, so please get behind it. Urge your mayor to join the campaign.

The [tag]Virginia Tech Massacre[/tag] is a tragedy that exposes some of the real failings of the state of our society today. A day after the [tag]deadliest shooting spree[/tag] in US history, it is all people are talking about it. Yet with all the talk, are the real questions being asked? The desensitization of our society is so extreme, that it takes the killing of “innocent” students on a suburban campus to get us talking about violence. The hundreds dying daily in Iraq, the thousands being killed in Darfur and other African nations, none of that serves to remind us that we have a problem with violence? In a time when the US Army is putting weapons in the hands of criminals because of low army enrollment, what kind of society can we expect, if not one where people believe that they are entitled to take a gun into their hands?

And why is no one talking about the real issue – the lack of effective [tag]gun control laws[/tag]? If this country was not so obsessed with violence and guns, it would not make it so easy for a student who is barely allowed to get into bars to get their hands on the kind of weapon that allows a lone gunman to mow down 30 people before getting stopped. I have heard a parade of psychiatrists talking about what could have motivated this killer, and what should have been detected. But the fact is that no amount of effort will allow us to get into the heads of people (do we want to live in a ‘[tag]Minority Report[/tag]‘ society?). What I want to hear is a concrete plan that will prevent people from getting their hands on guns so easily. I don’t care how many crazies there are in the world; if they can’t get their hands of an [tag]assault weapon[/tag], they won’t be able to do this much damage.

And everyone is so quick to jump to conclusions and cures. I just heard Jeanine Pirro say that the National Guard, the ATF and the FBI should have been involved as soon as the first set of killings were identified. On what basis? Two people killed in a room in what looked like a domestic dispute? If you mobilize the army every time there is a domestic dispute, the army would be constantly roaming the streets of our largest cities. And what National Guard anyway? Aren’t they all in Iraq thanks to our bumbling leaders?

My heart bleeds, and all I hear is talk…

There was an article in the New York Times today that talks about the pressure being put on [tag]China[/tag] finally starting to pay off. China has a vulnerable spot because of the Olympic Games being hosted in Beijing next year. Realizing that China is extremely proud and PR-sensitive because of their desire to turn the games into a showcase for China, celebrity activists have tried to link the genocide in [tag]Darfur[/tag] to China in the hope that it will spur some action. Most notably, [tag]Mia Farrow[/tag] labeled the Olympics the “Genocide Olympics”.

So it was good to see the Chinese send a senior official to Sudan who toured the Darfur region and, most importantly, urged the Sudanese government to allow [tag]UN peacekeeping[/tag] forces in. Hopefully this is something that will lead to some action by the Sudanese.

Having set up my blog in [tag]technorati[/tag], one of the things I felt like doing was putting a [tag]tag cloud[/tag] on my page. A tag cloud is a special way of displaying the [tag]tags[/tag] that you are using on your site. It displays them in variable sizes, with the more often used tags being bigger and therefore more prominent. It is a neat way of visually communicating almost instantly what you are talking about most, and I had seen a number of blogs sport a tag cloud. So I decided that I must have one.

The tag cloud on technorati was a simple javascript to put into my sidebar. Alas, it didn’t work for me. The code gives absolutely no control over it’s appearance, and I couldn’t use a stylesheet to style it. Also, the width seemed to not work properly. The result was an ugly white block of text, one tag per line, that looked horrible. So that came off in a hurry.

I then proceeded to search for tag clouds. I found a really neat one at “Warping On“. But it said it required [tag]Wordpress widgets[/tag]. Having no idea what that is, I proceeded to research that. Turns out that widgets is a neat little plugin from a group at Automattic that allows you to put dynamic content into your sidebar. But to use it, your theme has to be widget-enabled or widget-ready. Looking at their instructions, I got a little daunted. I am still not comfortable with the whole theme coding thing, and having just spent so much time perfecting the skin of my blog, I wasn’t about to rip it up again. So that killed that idea.

As of now, I still haven’t found a good way of getting a tag cloud onto my blog easily. We’ll see how it goes.

[tags]Tech, Web 2.0, Blog customization, Blog skinning[/tags]

I figured that the best way to get my blog out there was to become part of the tagged blog universe. For that, I started to explore various [tag]blog search engines[/tag] and [tag]folksonomy[/tag] websites. Without a doubt, the best known one out there is [tag]Technorati[/tag]. I was already part of that world with my professional blog. So I decided to add “Demerzel’s Echoes” to the Technorati universe and get started [tag]tag[/tag]ging.

Claiming my blog on Technorati

The first thing I noticed was that there was no way for me to create a chinese wall between my professional blog and my personal blog. If I claimed my personal blog using the same account I used to claim my professional blog, they would get linked, and people would be able to cross-over. Not what I want. If someone makes an effort, they could figure out a link between the two, but I don’t want to make it easy for someone. So I ended up creating a new account on Technorati. Not ideal, but manageable.

Wordpress Technorati plugins for Tagging

Claiming my blog was really easy. The harder part was figuring out how to get the tags into my post. I started searching through the Wordpress plugin codex to find a way to integrate Technorati with my blog. There are a large number of choices, but the documentation is a little hard to digest. The information you get from the codex page is never enough, and you have to go to the plugin page to (hopefully) understand the detail of the plugin. Even that is not always good enough. In the end, I installed the “[tag]Simple Tags[/tag]” plugin. Installing the plugin and following some instructions to customize the toolbar for writing a post means I can now easily tag words in my post by simply selecting the text and clicking on a button. The only caveat: I have to switch from the WYSIWYG visual mode to the code mode to get the tag buttons. Still not what I wanted, but close enough. Once I had that installed, I was up and tagging in no time.

Favorite Me!

Adding the “Add to Technorati Favorites” widget to the sidebar was a breeze, thanks to code that the Technorati website provided. I decided to modify what they gave me by replacing their default image with an icon and text link to keep the look and feel of my “Subscribe” box consistent.

[tags]Tech, Web 2.0, Blog customization, Blog skinning[/tags]