Today I thought I’d post a tip on how to get one of those cute little square pictures of yourself that show up with your comment in any blog or forum.
Because it’s reallyeasy to do, and it’s so much nicer to see a face instead of a computer-generated icon or a blank spot alongside your comment.
What is a gravatar?
A gravatar, or globally recognized avatar, is quite simply an image that follows you from site to site appearing beside your name when you do things. Avatars help identify your posts on blogs and web forums, or on any site.
Here’s all you do:
Visit http://en.gravatar.com and sign up – it’s free. All you need is your email address.
Once you’ve signed up, you upload your avatar image by following the instructions to browse your hard drive and locate the image you want to use.
Then use the little resize doo-hickey (that’s a technical term) to drag the arrows to select the area of the image you want to use for your gravatar. I used the entire image I uploaded because I’d already cropped and trimmed it in Photoshop. But you don’t have to do that, you can select any part of an image you upload.
Soon after you’ll start seeing it on gravatar-enabled sites (like this one)!
You can associate the image with multiple email addresses if you want to.
You can also go back to your account and change your image any time you feel like it. Like if you get a better hairdo, for instance. Or a facelift.
Twitter Gravatar Tip
Note that this gravatar service does not apply to Twitter.
In Twitter, you simply go to your account Settings link, then click on the Picture tab. Then use the “Browse” button to search your hard drive and locate the image you want to use for your Twitter account. Best to use a 72 dpi image or Twitter seems to get confused.
One of my regular activities is to track the editorial staff comings and goings at print publications to which I submit news releases (pu-leeese don’t call them press releases) thus I’m sure to send our clients’ news to the right person.
So today I was updating my contacts at Diesel & Gas Turbine Worldwide to add the recent change of Publisher & Editor, to Sheila Gailloreto. And thanks to her “Publisher’s Column” in the March 2009 issue, I learned about the Baltic Dry Index.
“As I was completing some research for an article published within these pages, I stumbled across a link for the Baltic Dry Index …
Referred to as one of the ‘purest leading indicators of economic activity’ … the Baltic Dry Index or BDI number, issued daily by the London-based Baltic Exchange, ‘measures the demand to move raw materials and precursors to production as well as the supply of ships available to move this cargo’.”
As Ms. Gailloreto points out in her column, there is no speculation involved in this index. It bears repeating that it’s considered one of the purest leading indicators of economic activity. Continue reading … »
Like many others, I recently started an account on Twitter and have a lot of questions about how Twitter works. Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been researching everything Twitter and I have some resources I’d like to share with my family and friends (old and new). Continue reading … »
Thanks to a recent article in the print edition of The Wall Street Journal, I learned about Xobni, a great new plugin for Outlook that enables you to “find people, email and attachments instantly”.
According to a quote from Newsweek on Xobni’s home page, “Bill Gates called Xobni the next generation of social networking.” Curious, I HAD to give it a go.
Inbox spelled backwards, Xobni (pronounced “zob-nee” in their videos) downloads quickly and once installed the first thing it does is analyze all your email folders. That can take a few minutes, depending on how many emails you have filed there, but while you wait the installer entertains you with interesting facts. Such as, the average user has 30,000 emails in their Outlook. Yikes.
Then Xobni adds a sidebar panel on the right side of your Outlook window. And here’s what’s in the sidebar: Xobni has analyzed all your communications and sorted them by correspondent.
Update: quite a number of folks have arrived at these pages searching for a butter tart recipe, so I’m reposting and opening comments to get your feedback. Enjoy!
As I’ve recently mentioned, Butter Tarts are a quintessentially Canadian dessert. They are rich gooey, tasty little mini pie confections that should be savored with care – you might need a plate or napkin to catch the drips. For even gooier tarts, substitute 1/2 cup corn syrup or maple syrup for half the brown sugar. I’m not great at making pastry so I use refrigerated pie crust – no apologies to purists. My Mom’s version is my favorite, but here’s another version to try. Continue reading … »
Update: quite a number of folks have arrived at these pages searching for a butter tart recipe since I originally posted it in October 2007. So I’m re-posting and opening comments to get your feedback. Enjoy!
This is my Mom’s butter tart recipe, although she makes her own incredible pie pastry and I take the short-cut of ready-to-bake pie crust from the supermarket.
These are also known as Taffy Tarts. Some of us like raisins and or chopped nuts in our butter tarts, some of us don’t – try both ways. Runny, sticky, sweet, delicious. Makes 12-15 tarts. See the “Next Best Canadian Butter Tarts” posting for a pastry recipe if you don’t have your own.
1 cup raisins
2 T butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg, well beaten
1/4 cup corn syrup
1 pkg ready-to-bake pie crust
1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. In a heat-proof bowl, pour boiling water over raisins to plump them up, then drain well.
3. Add remaining ingredients and stir mixture well.
4. Gently unroll refrigerated pie crust pastry per box directions; using a 3″ round cookie cutter (or the rim of a large drinking glass), cut out pastry disks. Gently press scraps together and roll to flatten and cut remaining disks.
5. Line regular muffin cups with pastry and spoon in about 1 T filling, pastry should be no more than two-thirds full. Warning: do not overfill, these will boil over and make it difficult to loosen the tart from the pan.
6. Bake for 12-15 minutes until pastry begins to look golden. Cool in pans, loosen and remove to wire racks.
As I’ve recently mentioned, Butter Tarts are a quintessentially Canadian dessert. They are rich gooey, tasty little mini pie confections that should be savored with care – you might need a plate or napkin to catch the drips. For even gooier tarts, substitute 1/2 cup corn syrup or maple syrup for half the brown sugar. I’m not great at making pastry so I use refrigerated pie crust – no apologies to purists. My Mom’s version, “Best Canadian Butter Tarts” is my favorite, but here’s another version to try.
Pastry
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cold shortening or butter, cut into cubes
1/2 tsp salt
2 T cold water, or
(1 pkg ready-to-bake pie crust; remove from refrigerator 15 minutes before use)
Filling
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup each: raisins, chopped walnuts
DIRECTIONS
Scratch Pastry:
In food processor, combine flour, shortening or butter, salt, with on/off pulses until crumbly. Gradually add water, just until ball forms. (Add up to 1 T more water if dough is too dry.) Turn onto work surface, press together to form ball, flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic, chill 30 min.
Filling:
In medium bowl, beat together butter, brown sugar and egg until light. Add vanilla, salt. Stir in raisins, walnuts.
Pillsbury:
Remove each disk from wrap, unfold pastry, remove top sheet of plastic and gently flatten folds with fingers. Using cookie cutter, cut into 3-inch circles and line muffin cups. Fill each cup no more than 2/3 full (about 1 T filling). Makes 12-15 medium tarts.
Pastry:
Roll out dough on lightly floured surface to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut into 3-inch circles and line muffin cups. Fill each cup no more than 2/3 full (about 1 T filling). Makes 12-15 medium tarts.
Bake at 375°F for 13-15 minutes or until pastry is golden. Cool in pans, remove and store in air-tight container.
This is my Mom’s butter tart recipe, although she makes her own incredible pie pastry and I take the short-cut of ready-to-bake pie crust from the supermarket.
These are also known as Taffy Tarts. Some of us like raisins and or chopped nuts in our butter tarts, some of us don’t – try both ways. Runny, sticky, sweet, delicious. Makes 12-15 tarts. See the “Next Best Canadian Butter Tarts” posting for a pastry recipe if you don’t have your own.
1 cup raisins
2 T butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg, well beaten
1/4 cup corn syrup
1 pkg ready-to-bake pie crust
1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. In a heat-proof bowl, pour boiling water over raisins to plump them up, then drain well.
3. Add remaining ingredients and stir mixture well.
4. Gently unroll refrigerated pie crust pastry per box directions; using a 3″ round cookie cutter (or the rim of a large drinking glass), cut out pastry disks. Gently press scraps together and roll to flatten and cut remaining disks.
5. Line regular muffin cups with pastry and spoon in about 1 T filling, pastry should be no more than two-thirds full. Warning: do not overfill, these will boil over and make it difficult to loosen the tart from the pan.
6. Bake for 12-15 minutes until pastry begins to look golden. Cool in pans, loosen and remove to wire racks.
This coming Monday, October 8th – Columbus Day here in the U.S. – is Canadian Thanksgiving. As a Canadian, I think the Fall harvest makes perfect timing for giving thanks – thanks for our family and all our daily blessings.
Canadians celebrate this holiday with basically the same traditions as Americans. After all, as my wonderful late father, Eric McComb, always told us: “We’re all North Americans.” Continue reading … »
Recent Comments