Bookmarklet for one-click tagging in del.icio.us

One click "read later" del.icio.us bookmarklet.

I often come across webpages that i want to read later, but I don't really have time to tag and describe each of them properly. So have a del.icio.us tag called xyzpdq (some people use 'toread' or 'to_read' or 'unread' etc.) that i use to tag pages to be read when i have more time. But even that takes longer than I want it to. I have to click on the "post to del.icio.us" bookmarklet, then click in the "tags" box, then type "xyzpdq," and then click save. Too much work. It should be easier. I mean, all I want to do is mark it to be read later, right?

I looked all over the web but couldn't find a bookmarklet that did this in a single click. Some came close, but usually required an additional click or two at least, and that's exactly what i was trying to avoid. Others automatically tagged the page with del.icio.us's suggested tags, and I don't like the idea of using tags that aren't my own or that I might disagree with.

So I've put together a bookmarklet that accomplishes my goal with ONE CLICK. I just click on it and continue working while del.icio.us does it's thing in the background. Basically, when I click on the bookmarklet, a window pops up behind the current browser window (so it doesn't get in your way), posts the page to my del.icio.us account with the 'xyzpdq' tag, and then closes the popup window a few seconds later, all without any additional input from me. I freaking love this bookmarklet!!

You can customize it by replacing xyzpdq in the code with a tag (or tags, separated by spaces) of your choice.

And you could have several of these bookmarklets if you wanted to. I often want to mark pages that I think my boyfriend, Fishy, would find interesting. So I could have a 2nd bookmarklet where I've replaced 'xyzpdq' with 'for:Fishy'sUserName'. Or with any other specific tag or tags you use frequently.

Here's a bookmarklet you can add to your toolbar (don't forget to change USERNAME to your own username):

bookmarklet

Here's the actual code snippet, broken into multiple lines for easier reading:

javascript:void(child_win=open('http://del.icio.us/api/posts/add?
tags=xyzpdq&user=USERNAME&description='+encodeURIComponent
(document.title)+'&url='+window.location.href,'delicious','toolbar=no,
width=500,height=150'));setTimeout(%22child_win.close()%22,5000);
window.replace(-1);

Understanding:

It assumes you're already logged into del.icio.us. Otherwise you should be prompted to do so.

If you have previously tagged the page, this bookmarklet will replace all of the tags for that page with the xyzpdq tag. If this is a concern to you, you can add (without the quotes) "&replace=no" right after the xyzpdq and before the word 'description', which will cause del.icio.us not to change your existing tags for that page and not to add the xyzpdq tag. I would much prefer to simply append xyzpdq onto any existing list of tags, but i can't figure out how to do that, so if anyone else does, please lemme know.

The popup window closes 5 seconds after it opens. That's just a safeguard built in to allow enough time to contact the del.icio.us server, but i've never had problems even when I didn't have the delay built-in. You can adjust the delay time by changing the number 5000 at the end of the code. (5000=5 seconds, 10000=10 seconds, 500 = a half second, etc.) Since the popup window is behind your active browser window, it really doesn't matter that it's hanging there a few seconds before disappearing.

This bookmarklet was inspired in part by the lazy sheep bookmarklet, which is worth checking out, although it really doesn't do what i wanted it to, and it has the additional disadvantage of relying on a third-party server. But I did examine the javascript when I was creating the oneclick bookmarklet

disclaimer: i do not know javascript. I pieced this together (with some additional help from Fishy) from other bookmarklets out there. I've only tested it on Firefox 1.5.0.4, but I don't see why it shouldn't work with other browsers.

I hope you find it as useful as I do!

Jamón serrano

Last night I had to go to the post office to send off some stuff I'd sold on ebay. And once i'd walked that far, I figured I might as well head down to DiBrunos and get some dinner. When i got there, my the Jamón serrano in the deli case caught my eye. (By all accounts the Jamón Iberico is infinitely better--and more expensive--but to my knowledge it's still unavailable in this country. If someone knows otherwise, LET ME KNOW!) I slyly looked in both directions, and then asked the nice man behind the counter for 5 oz., which he expertly sliced and wrapped in a nice little package for me. I took that and about 6 oz. of Garrotxa cheese home, thinking I'd have a nice little snack before dinner. By the time i got home, both the cheese and the ham were room temperature, which was perfect. I wasted no time unwrapping them. I sliced the cheese and slowly began nibbling away as I listened to Terry Gross on NPR (honestly, tho, I don't even remember who she was interviewing becuase I was so focused on the food). Every few minutes, I'd say to myself, "well, I'll just have a little more," thinking I'd save the rest for the next night when Fishy came home. (He's a picky eater, but how could you not love this stuff??) By the time I was half-way through the food, I remember thinking to myself, "Who am I kidding? I'm going to eat this whole thing." And I did. As i crumpled up the packaging the meat and cheese had come in, I was stuffed. It was definitely more than I should have eaten. But I'd do it again.

New Trance Podcast

I just started listening to a new Trance music podcast called “Trance Rotation,” and so far it’s awesome. You can google it on iTunes. (whoa. did I really just type that? more on that later.) Anyway, it’s great for blocking out the two annoying Penn co-eds sitting next to me here in the café, who are talking so loudly and quickly and non-stop that they could easily replace the actress in T-Mobile’s chatty cheerleader commercial. (well, my ER-4’s obviously don’t hurt, either.) Great music, too, if you like trance, and (thankfully) with a minumum of vocals. Hats off and much thanks to DJ Addison.

I'm listening to episode #10 now. (2 hours of music!) Here's the playlist if you're interested:

01) John O'Callaghan vs. Mike Foyle - Shipwrecked (Club Mix AvB Intro Edit)
02) Viet - Sky (Magik Muzik Remix)
03) Tim Hornsby - Protect You (Dub Mix)
04) Kyau Vs. Albert - Kiksu
05) Sunlounger - White Sand (DJ Shah's Original Mix)
06) Andain - Beautiful Things (Gabriel and Dresden Mix)
07) Jose Zamora and Damian DP ft. Paleday - Transatlantic (Andy Moor Remix)
08) Allende - Retrograde
09) David Forbes - Answers
10) Nitrous Oxide - Frozen Dreams
11) Above & Beyond vs. Andy Moor - Air For Life (Mirco de Govia Mix)
12) Sean Tyas - Pacifier
13) Emphased Reality and Spherical - Realsphere (Static Blue Remix)
14) John Askew - All or Nothing
15) Marc Dawn - Random Walk (Nu Nrg Remix)
16) Avanto - The Flute (Orkidea Remix)
17) Underworld - Born Slippy (Paul Van Dyk Mix)
18) Matt Darey - Eternity (Second Sun Mix)

Loud Bastards

In the immortal words of a good friend and colleague of mine: “You know what my problem is? I hate people.” It’s a feeling I can occasionally relate to. And by “occasionally,” I mean *right now*. I’m at La Colombe, as I am every morning, and there is a group of men next to me who are talking so loudly and so non-stop that I want to slap the living crap out of them. And to make matters worse, the group keeps growing. It started with two guys. Then someone else came in and (loudly) joined them. Then *another* guy came in and (loudly) joined them. Then one left, but not unlike cutting off the head of the hydra, he was replaced by two more. And now they are just continuing to loudly talk in a very loud--

HOLY SHIT! ANOTHER ONE!!! WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS, SOME KIND OF CONSPIRACY!!! EVEN AS I SIT HERE TYPING THIS, THEIR LARGE LOUD ANNOYING GROUP HAS JUST GROWN LARGER, LOUDER, AND MORE ANNOYING! The new guy just asked me if he could take the empty chair from my table. I politely smiled and said, “no problem,” but what I really wanted to say was, “Depends. Are you going to SHUT THE HELL UP?!” Damn my pleasant demeanor and good upbringing!

It’s not really their fault. They’re not really doing anything wrong. I mean, that doesn’t make me hate them any less, but they’re just hanging out (loudly) in a café where everyone hangs out. And the whole café is loud, but what’s annoying is the fact that they’re sitting so close to me that I can hear their individual words and sentences instead of just the generic loud hum that people generate when they’re not sitting so damned close. Also, I just can’t relate to wanting to sit in a large, loud, annoying group and talk in a loud, annoying way. I like to sit alone, or maybe with a friend, and hang out in a quiet way. I don’t understand this philosophy of, “Hey! Look! Another person who can join us and talk loudly! Hooray! The more the merrier!” As far as I’m concerned, it’s “the more, the annoyinger.” How come nobody ever sits next to me who just wants to read a book or work on their laptop? How come it’s always loud bastards?

The Day of Insects, or How I Leared to Love the Bugs

It's days like today that make me wish I had a 105mm macro lens. Sigh... one day...

I was outside a lot today, mostly because of the recent rain. I discovered that the drain spout in the front of my house was clogged, and the rain water just poured off the edge of the roof onto the porch below, no doubt damaging the wood. And my back yard flooded yesterday, which I discovered was due to the fact that the drain in my yard was clogged with all sorts of nasty gunk.

So I went out on the roof this afternoon and cleared out the spout. As I climbed back in the window, I decided to put the screens down instead of the storm windows, and let some air into the house. Well, as I lowered the screen, a whole bunch of small green spiders fell down too, maybe 10-20 of them. They were all dead. I've never seen them before, and I don't know what kind of spider they are. Here's a photo of them (click to enlarge):


I wiped them all up with some Windex and a paper towel, in case they planned on coming back to life later on and infesting my living room.

Then I went to the back yard. I never have a need to go into the back yard, especially all winter long, so it's always a mess out there, covered with leaves twigs and over grown ivy and stuff like that. And that's what usually clogs up the drain. While I was out there, I found all these red bugs on the lid to the garbage can that's been sitting out there since last July. Here are a couple photos:



Yes, they really are that red. And they were all huddled together one that one spot, leaving the rest of the lid bare. I suppose they were probably doing it for warmth. (today was the coolest it's been in a couple weeks) I don't know for sure what they are, but a few minutes on google trying variations of "red bugs" eventually brought me to Oncopeltus fasciatus, or the Large Milkweed Bug, which, if not identical, still looks remarkably similar.

While I was out in the back yard, I saw a very interesting mosquito. It had stripes. I didn't think too much of it except to note that I'd never seen a striped mosquito before. I usually think of mosquitos generically. That is to say, I don't think about there being different KINDS of mosquitos. A mosquito is a mosquito is a mosquito, right? Wrong. I googled "striped mosquito" which brought me to Aedes albopictus, aka the Asian Tiger Mosquito. Apparently it can transmit both Dengue Fever AND some forms of encephalitis. Oooh. fun. So I'm off now to catch an example of this striped mosquito. I didn't think much of it before, but now that I've read about the ATM, I'm a little concerned, so I think I should verify what kind of mosquito it is that I just saw biting me.

I'm back! (that was fast) I put on some jeans and a long-sleeve tee and I took a tupperware container outside to start looking for mosquitos. It's amazing how there's never a mosquito around when you need one. I was out there 15 or 20 minutes and still couldn't find a thing. And then I was like, "if you let me catch you and take your photo, I promise I'll let you go when I'm done." And I swear, not 5 seconds later I caught a mosquito. But I wasn't sure it was the right kind. I took it inside and looked at it in the light through the tupperware and decided that it didn't look very striped after all. But all of a sudden, there in my kitchen, was ANOTHER mosquito! I quickly got another container and a couple minutes later I had 2 mosquitos in my posession. And the second one was striped!

How ironic is that? You know that song, "Ring Them Bells," where the woman "travels 'round the world to meet the guy next door"? Well I had to wander through my back yard to catch the striped mosquito in my kitchen. But I digress...

Here are the photos of the striped mosquito, and there's not a doubt in my mind that it's the Asian Tiger Mosquito:




It's really quite beautiful. The photos don't do it justice. I really wish I'd had a good macro lens to take better photos of it.

Just so you know, I kept my end of the bargain and let both mosquitos go outside, and then I ran back in before they could swoop around and attack me.

Fishy Quote #17

"Bitter people are my people."