Part 1: The Rant

Since coming into this community of Bloggers, I have found a ton of great writers. Some of them I enjoy far greater then professional journalists. As a matter of fact, I have started to get a good part of my sports news from this blog site. That says a lot about the talent level of some of you around here, and I have to give respect where respect is due. But with respect comes a bit of responsibility. I know that I cannot stop any of the bashing going around, or the name calling, or personal arguments, but I think it is a bit disrespectful to the integrity of all of us here in the community. If you want to be taken seriously, give some respect. I know that I cannot do anything about it, but I would like everyone to think about it. This community has plenty of strong links, and we have plenty of weak links around here. Don't comment on blogs you don't respect, or are not sports related. Please, everyone, raise the level of your game. Let's talk about sports. If you want to make it personal, go to myspace. Leave this place for sports!

Although I can't stop the personal bashing, I can help raise the integrity level on a different front. Even some of my favorite bloggers are guilty of stealing bandwidth. Even though there is no law against it at this time, I feel like it is just straight up wrong. Especially when there really is no excuse for it. When using pictures for your blog entries, all you need is a URL of such pic. But what some of you don't realize is that you are stealing bandwidth by using those photos on other servers. Anyone with the basic knowledge of computers can see where that URL from your photos is from. And I am shocked at how many people don't host the pictures themselves. All it takes is someone who has authority on that server to check and see where the bandwidth is being used, and they can strip the pic from your blog entry. Then you are left with that ugly red X box on your entry.

With that said, I beg all of you to host the photos yourself. It is really easy to do, and there are plenty of FREE hosting services out there to pick from. When you host your own photos, you are not stealing bandwidth. And you are also almost guaranteed of having dedicated bandwidth for the photo, and in return your blog entries look better. (of course, some free hosting networks do have problems, so you may still not get your photos to show up 100% of the time.)

Part 2:  Host Your Own Pictures for your Blog.

AKA -  My Good Karma

That is why I am recommending Imageshack. I have been using them for well over a year and a half, and have not had any problems with them yet. They are completely free, and really easy to use. I will show you how.

1. The only thing you need is an email account. THEY DO NOT SPAM YOU! They don't sell your email address to other companies, but they may send you an email themselves every once and awhile. Go to Imageshack and sign up for an account using your email address.

2. They will send you a verification email with a link that you will have to click to activate your account. DON'T EVER ERASE THIS EMAIL. If you clean your cookies, or if they reset their software, this email is your only way back to your account. Also, once you have activated your account, and are on the screen of your own account, save it to your favorites. When you go to your account through your favorites, you won't have to sign in if you have your cookies accepted by this website.

3. Start uploading pictures. Once you have them on your account, they will give you a personal URL for that photo that you saved on their servers. This is the URL you can use in your blog entries. There is 2 different ways you can upload your pics. You can find the photos on the web, and save them to your hard drive, then upload them through browsing through their upload engine. Or if you know the original URL of a photo you want to use, you can upload that photo straight from it's original URL, without saving it on your computer. Just click URL in the upload engine and enter the URL into it. Click upload, or host, and they will take a copy of the photo and place it on their server for you to use. They will give you a complete different URL that is unique from the original, which you can use for your blog. This way, you are only using bandwidth from your own personal account, from your own dedicated space on their servers. Take a look through my blog, every single photo is on a Imageshack server. My account gets used everyday. I can proudly say that I don't steal bandwidth from anyone, or anywhere.

After you have opened your account, you can start uploading pictures. The first thing you want to do is click on 'My Images' at the top of the page, in the upper right hand corner. This will bring you to another page where your images will be stored. Then look for the 'Upload Images' on the next page.

In the middle of your account image page, you will see another tool bar. Click on 'Upload Images' to take you to another page where you will see the upload image engine. (Note= There is two upload pages. One is for uploading zip files, the other is for uploading single files. By clicking on 'My Images' then clicking on 'Upload Images' in the middle of you account page, you will get the single file image upload engine. This is the one you want.)

Once you are on the above page, you choose weather you want to upload an image from your computer by clicking the File button. This will open a menu of your own computer, where you can search for the single file, or pic, that you want to upload. If you want to upload an image from a web page, click the URL button. (Note= The URL has to be of the single picture, not the whole page of a web site. Like if you use google image search. Click on the photo, and view the picture in full size by it self. Then copy the web address from your browser, and put that address into the input field on Imageshack.) After you are done with that step, click on 'Host It.' This will begin to upload the file to their server, and place it in your account.

After the upload is complete it will take you to a page that looks something like the one I have shown above. This will list a bunch of different URL's for using the picture in different ways. The 'Direct Link' is the URL for the full size of your picture. You can use this URL, to input into your picture post tool here on your FOX blog. (Note= The Direct Link is just the URL, some of those other links have additional HTML codes attached.)

4. Do me a favor, and go there through a link on my blog. I talked to them about this blog entry, and they are most excited about having you all use their FREE service. Just as I am doing you all a favor in helping make this community a bit better, and in return making your blogs look better, if they get enough new accounts opened, they may throw me a bone.

5. After you have uploaded pictures to your account you can post them to your blog. For a great tutorial on posting pictures to your blog go to Carolyn T's blog entry to see how.

6. If you have any questions at all. Feel free to ask me. Even if you think they are dumb, I don't care. Here are a few that some of you may be scratching your heads about.

Some Questions

a) What is a URL? It is the web address that is seen in your browser at the top of your screen. Such as http://www.blahblah.com.

b) Can I use any pictures? No, but I don't know the copyright laws. Use your best judgment! But absolutely DO NOT USE THEIR SERVICE for porn. You will be caught; you will be in huge trouble if you do!

c) What does upload mean? Downloading is taking something from a server, or software, or data, and saving it to your own computer hard drive. Uploading is taking some data, etc, and saving it somewhere else from your computer. The Imageshack server is a dedicated line to the internet. Always on. 

d) WHAT?  They don't call it the World Wide Web for nothing. It is all connected in some way or another. HTML is a language (or code) to help connect it all. These blogs here are just written data, that we save on Fox's servers. They are not saved to our computers, so they can be made available 24 hours a day. FOX does not allow us to save (host) pictures to their servers. (Besides the one single graphic that is used for our avatars) I don't blame them for not letting us. A ton of pictures can take a ton of memory. So we are forced to use photos from the outside of this site. We use HTML to connect them to our page, or blog entry, to be seen to the world. FOX is kind is kind enough to give a neat little tool to write the HTML for us, with that insert picture icon on the blog editing toolbar. You click on that, answer the questions, and an HTML code is placed in the body of your blog entry. That HTML codes states that at this location on the page, place this image, at this size. It also states where you can find this image, by going to the address that you input.

So the image seen below, is just an html code that connects this page with a picture on a separate server. With using HTML, you are making your own little web on this blog.

e) What the H-E-double hockey sticks is Bandwidth? Bandwidth is the line that connects these servers. The more data that has to go through this line, the wider this line must be. The width of the line is called Bandwidth. The more you use, the more it costs, because wherever the data is hosted, that server has to make that line. And there is only so much a single server can do. So when I mention stealing bandwidth, I am talking about using someone else's servers to make your blog. Why would you want to do that? That costs money? When companies like Imageshack are giving it away for FREE! There should be no excuse! It's like stealing your neighbor's water. You can pay for your own water, or you can find it at plenty of places for free. But don't take it from the next guy.

Part 3: The Disclaimer

I don't work for Imageshack, nor do I stake claim that they are the best out there. They are just one of many Free hosting sites to choose from. Now I am going to touch upon a few sports, because I hate spamming categories. I'm putting it in a handful of categories because I feel that a bunch of you may be interested in learning how to host a picture. If your upset with me for putting it in multiple categories, I am sorry! Leave me a message, so I can learn from my mistake.

 

Part 4: So I Don't Feel Bad About Spamming Categories

Is there a better pitcher in MLB right now then Johan Santana? Even with a split nail, he can't be beat. For over a year now, Santana is unbeaten at home in the Metrodome. With Francisco Liriano on the DL, the Twins pitching rotation is looking average at best. But those afternoons in the Twins club house when they are cranking Gasolina, the last thing they need to worry about is pitching. Johan Santana is the league leader in the K count. 187 and counting!

I don't know what is more annoying: Analyzing the NFL preseason, or watching it? It's time to do away with this many preseason games. If your a season ticket holder you get screwed with paying full price for tickets you can't give away. Even the commentators are looking bored out of their skulls watching 3 quarters of meaningless football. Like everyone else, I am excited for the NFL regular season to get kicked off, but the preseason has become more about supplementing revenue, then filling rosters. Are you ready for some football?

Erik Johnson was the #1 draft pick overall in the 2006 NHL draft. The defensemen looked great in his St. Louis Blues uniform. But before he hits the ice wearing it, he will dawn a maroon and gold one. The Golden Gophers are going to be unstoppable this year. A total of 15 current Gopher hockey players have their rights owned by NHL teams. It's a win-win situation for the Blues and Johnson. Erik get's to fullfill a life long dream of playing for the Gophers, and the Blues retain his rights for 7 more years after. Granted he would not have played much, if at all for the Blues his first year, so the move is completely justified. This is just one of many examples of how the NHL is a class act.

Give me the NBA any day. I don't care if they are playing in the World Championships, the playoffs, or on a street corner. I am completely enjoying watching James, Wade, and Melo work it together under coach K. Although the 6:30am wake up call to catch it, makes you understand why tivo is so popular

Part 5: This Entry is Way Too Long! End It Already!

If you have any questions just ask. If you liked this entry, leave a thanks, and add me to your favorite. If your still going to steal bandwidth, don't blame me. THANKS for visiting Lust for Life!