Go on over to Chris Pirillo's place to see AND HEAR his bubble wrap story album in honor of the BubbleShare phot++ contest. Oh. My. Holy. All. That. Is. Sacrey. And his dog too. The horror.
February 02, 2006
The Boy in the Bubble
Go on over to Chris Pirillo's place to see AND HEAR his bubble wrap story album in honor of the BubbleShare phot++ contest. Oh. My. Holy. All. That. Is. Sacrey. And his dog too. The horror.
observations
I'm not keeping up. Too many freyed edges in too many weakened strands. Not the only one, I know. My introject is at the ready. "It's Web 2.0; suck it up bucko, we may never pass this way again."
Which reminds me that a friend handed us a children's CD the other night as we walked out to our cars together. Jenna loves any manner of cd/dvd/gameboy/nintendog/consumable, so she begged me to put it in as soon as we started the car. It's the Bath and Body Works feel good cd with children singing fun songs. One of the songs is Puff the Magic Dragon.
Now listen, I didn't fall off a turnip truck yesterday, quite, and if I did, I didn't bang my head too hard, and if I did, I wouldn't tell you. Of course I have heard the legend that the song was REALLY about weed and puff was more of a puff than a Puff. It's not like I'd never HEARD the song before.
Until I realized I really had never listened to the song before. It's that simple. One of those songs that I'd heard for so many years I never bothered to hear it.
And there in the car the sweetest innocent voice of a boy about 7 or so sang the song with a simple instrumental behind him, and for the first time I listened to the song, saw the illusion slink away--not fade, but slink, disheartened. I understood that magic doesn't exist without the magician, that our creations have feelings too. Who knew immagination could see us. I never thought of how disappointing it was for ideas not to ever be had. I always thought I was the one doing the work in the imagining. To think, all this time imagination is waiting for us.
When the boy singing got to the part about puff's scales falling like rain, there I was driving along, glad for the night, with tears streaming down my cheeks, wondering how in the hell did I miss THIS song the first 305 times around, or maybe I didn't.
Maybe the song missed me.
PUFF, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
Little Jackie Paper loved that rascal PUFF,
and brought him strings and sealing wax and other fancy stuff.
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
Little Jackie Paper loved that rascal PUFF,
and brought him strings and sealing wax and other fancy stuff.
OH PUFF, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
PUFF, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
PUFF, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
Together they would travel on a boat with billowed sail
Jackie kept a lookout perched on PUFF's gigantic tail,
Noble kings and princes would bow whenever they came,
Pirate ships would lower their flag when PUFF roared out his name
Jackie kept a lookout perched on PUFF's gigantic tail,
Noble kings and princes would bow whenever they came,
Pirate ships would lower their flag when PUFF roared out his name
OH, PUFF, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
PUFF, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
PUFF, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
A dragon lives forever but not so little boys
Painted wings and giant rings make way for other toys.
One grey night it happened, Jackie Paper came no more
And PUFF that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar.
Painted wings and giant rings make way for other toys.
One grey night it happened, Jackie Paper came no more
And PUFF that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar.
PUFF, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
PUFF, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
PUFF, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
His head was bent in sorrow, green scales fell like rain,
PUFF no longer went to play along the cherry lane.
Without his life-long friend, PUFF could not be brave,
So PUFF that mighty dragon sadly slipped into his cave.
PUFF no longer went to play along the cherry lane.
Without his life-long friend, PUFF could not be brave,
So PUFF that mighty dragon sadly slipped into his cave.
Oh! PUFF, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
PUFF, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
PUFF, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee
January 31, 2006
WHY EXACTLY didn't they let Barack Obama give the Dem response?
The democratic response to the SOTU came from the Virginia governor. If he says, "there's a better way" one more time, I'm going to go over and hug instapundit. STOP IT, man. Just stop it. You look like you're doing an ad for a personal injury law office in an overpriced hotel room.
Newt liked it. That's a sure sign it didn't go well for our team.
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State of the Euan
Glad tidings and good luck to Euan Semple who joins the ranks of the independents after many years at the BBC. Euan no doubt will enjoy his new found freedom in this era of webby webby joy joy. Hope you get some time to visit those "favorite places" before jumping into the action, Euan. No worries, we'll save a spot for ya. ;-)
Thanks frank for the heads reup.
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State of the Union
Number of important Programs cut: 140.
Number of weird Initiatives initiated: 141.
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I sort of heard the energy thing this way.
cole fire plants? solar and wind technologies? and CLEAN SAFE NUCLEAR ENERGY.
ethanol from switch grass? That's fewer switches to beat the young ones with.
By 2025 we'll be 75 percent free of mideast oil dependency? (Duh. By then we'll pretty much own the place.)
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oh please don't let him talk about healthcare
Watching the State of the Union. He's on taxes. I fear his solution for healthcare is right coming up soon. Oh man. Oh great, he's cutting 140 programs. Like food, water, shelter.
We're all dead. Instapundit really does win in the end.
what was that jaw thing bush just did...9:35
Right before saying, "I ask you to re-authorize the Partiot Act" our fearless bleader did this odd jaw wiggle move. Something to this jaw-wiggle thing he's doing right before he says something very fishy. Ah... I see now... did he just authorize a wire tap program (sorry, terrorist surviellance program) after the second jaw wag? "If someone's talkin' to el caida we wanna know about it..." Fool me once, we won't get hit again. Jeesh. They're eating it up. Listen to them. His nostrils are flairing he's so tough. Or maybe it's the hole the cocaine bore into his septum. Okay Instapundit. You win. I'm dying now.
LAUNCHING NOT DONE YET!!!
Today was a tiring one. Not so much because I'm sick and on antibiotics, although yah, that kind of stinks, but also because I had to take care of three children because the primary caregiving parent had to leave town unexpectedly for an out-of-state funeral for a family friend.
Coincidentally, today was also the day we launched the BubbleShare Photo++ Contest and my BlogHer surfing guide. The kids didn't get to bed until 9:30. I was relieved of my sitting duties about 10. That gave me two good hours to get in a couple of launches, right up the old Web 2.0 24x7 alley. Think it, do it, do it some more.
I've been thinking that sometimes the simplest news is the most astonishing. The quiet whisper away from the rush of excitement.
Today was also the day that my blog student, Father Matt Kawiak-- a dear family friend from Rochester, NY, a Priest and counselor and gifted photographer who has had a website for years but has never been able to add to it himself, control it himself, or get his writing and photos up without favors and pleas and lots of lost time -- launched Father Matt's Sonshine Blog to his parishioners and email community.
Many of Father Matt's Friends only know how to use email. They've been surprised and stunned to see his work come alive through his blog. So has he. Previously, he would email his friends a new "sonshine" writing and original photograph each Monday morning. They would read the text and open the photo.
I'm sure many of them didn't know how to keep those Sonshines or photographs--and it's not very practical to keep text and photographs in email for reflection later on. The bottom line: there was no convenient way for Father Matt to direct his own creative process or share those results with his readers and friends.
Enter blogging, a simple, free blogspot blog, a blogroll with an assist by me, and a two-hour lesson over email and phone.
He's on his way.
The reaction so far to Father Matt's blog has been humbling for me.
Something as easy as wrapping text around photos, which those of us who have been here for years take for granted, has moved some of them to tears; they've never seen his words and pictures together before.
With Father Matt, a whole new group is coming along, a little baby toe into the waters of self-publishing--as readers first, yes, and then, who knows, his community, his friends; they are lovely people.
Launch #3 complete.
signing off....God bless.
Coincidentally, today was also the day we launched the BubbleShare Photo++ Contest and my BlogHer surfing guide. The kids didn't get to bed until 9:30. I was relieved of my sitting duties about 10. That gave me two good hours to get in a couple of launches, right up the old Web 2.0 24x7 alley. Think it, do it, do it some more.
I've been thinking that sometimes the simplest news is the most astonishing. The quiet whisper away from the rush of excitement.
Today was also the day that my blog student, Father Matt Kawiak-- a dear family friend from Rochester, NY, a Priest and counselor and gifted photographer who has had a website for years but has never been able to add to it himself, control it himself, or get his writing and photos up without favors and pleas and lots of lost time -- launched Father Matt's Sonshine Blog to his parishioners and email community.
Many of Father Matt's Friends only know how to use email. They've been surprised and stunned to see his work come alive through his blog. So has he. Previously, he would email his friends a new "sonshine" writing and original photograph each Monday morning. They would read the text and open the photo.
I'm sure many of them didn't know how to keep those Sonshines or photographs--and it's not very practical to keep text and photographs in email for reflection later on. The bottom line: there was no convenient way for Father Matt to direct his own creative process or share those results with his readers and friends.
Enter blogging, a simple, free blogspot blog, a blogroll with an assist by me, and a two-hour lesson over email and phone.
He's on his way.
The reaction so far to Father Matt's blog has been humbling for me.
Something as easy as wrapping text around photos, which those of us who have been here for years take for granted, has moved some of them to tears; they've never seen his words and pictures together before.
With Father Matt, a whole new group is coming along, a little baby toe into the waters of self-publishing--as readers first, yes, and then, who knows, his community, his friends; they are lovely people.
Launch #3 complete.
signing off....God bless.
BlogHer - LAUNCH!!!!!
As If the BubbleShare contest isn't exciting enough, I have another launch to report today--and it is still today many places in the world, including that U.S. coast a way over yonder.
Ladies & Gentlemen:
BlogHer has a brand new look and enhanced purpose. Now you'll find a supersite of sorts, not only with the latest blogher and conference news, but also with comprehensive and evolving blogroll and series of surfing guides that further demonstrate the women of blogging are indeed alive and well and writing up a storm.
I'm proud to help out as a contributing editor in the Business & Careers section, with the beat of PR and Communications.
BlogHer conference info can also be found on the site.
Blogroll the site. We're making it worth your while.
Ladies & Gentlemen:
BlogHer has a brand new look and enhanced purpose. Now you'll find a supersite of sorts, not only with the latest blogher and conference news, but also with comprehensive and evolving blogroll and series of surfing guides that further demonstrate the women of blogging are indeed alive and well and writing up a storm.
I'm proud to help out as a contributing editor in the Business & Careers section, with the beat of PR and Communications.
BlogHer conference info can also be found on the site.
Blogroll the site. We're making it worth your while.
Technorati Tags : blog+her, surfing+guide, women, blogging
Bubble Rap?
Frank the Stank takes a shot at some Bubble Rappin'
with plans to win the iPod Nano zappin'
already calcifying in his cranium
unfolding like a geranium....
with plans to win the iPod Nano zappin'
already calcifying in his cranium
unfolding like a geranium....
January 30, 2006
Bubble Flow - Appreciate the Love
Got a BubbleShare Bubble Wrap Photo++ contest question a few minutes ago. Why are you launching the contest so late in the day?
HA ha.
To that I ask: whose day? The business day or the web day? The BigPR day or the conversation day? The blog day is not 9-5; bloggers don't go home--they are home; the web clock doesn't punch out--it isn't linear; work gets done and keeps getting done, and while you sleep someone else is doing it still.
SO don't fret. Just get started. You've got nearly three fun-filled weeks to get your bubble wrap story album onto your blog and the link emailed in. Read the details. Itzzzinthere.
Snap ya later.
HA ha.
To that I ask: whose day? The business day or the web day? The BigPR day or the conversation day? The blog day is not 9-5; bloggers don't go home--they are home; the web clock doesn't punch out--it isn't linear; work gets done and keeps getting done, and while you sleep someone else is doing it still.
SO don't fret. Just get started. You've got nearly three fun-filled weeks to get your bubble wrap story album onto your blog and the link emailed in. Read the details. Itzzzinthere.
Snap ya later.
BubbleShare & Friends Wish You a HAPPY Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day!
PRIZES PRIZES PRIZES!
FAME FAME FAME!
OKAY, PRIZES PRIZES PRIZES!
Bet you've been wondering what we've been up to at BubbleShare.
Wonder no more. In case you hadn't heard, today is Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day, celebrated the world over as the day Bubble Wrap was invented.
Bubbles--get it? HA! We figured what better way to celebrate than to launch a blog photo++ contest that brings prizes into the keyboard-weary fingers of bloggers.
We've lined up some of the web's best as sponsors to supply prizes, incentives, and creative motivation--sponsors like and Tucows, Red Flag Deals, LockerGnome, ElimiTaste! and the Naked Conversations team. You'll hear more from them in the coming days.
To participate, all you have to do is set your creative spirit loose on BubbleShare. Yep, your creative spirit, some bubble wrap, and a desire for great prizes, including an iPod Nano, Tucows and BubbleShare wear and gear, Naked Conversations books hot off the presses, ElimiTaste (the blogger's gum), Startup.com DVDs, A BubbleShare VIP account, and MORE.
You've got from now until February 20th to blog your BubbleShare story album of 10 photos or less) plus audio, telling your funniest, oddest, sassiest, most depressing, most inspiring, or "most anything else" story involving bubble wrap.
Now get ye to your cameras and mics, and get hoppin' (or poppin' as the case may be).
GOOD LUCK AND A BIG THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!!!
Technorati Tags : bubbleshare, bubbleshare+contest, photo+sharing, tucows, red+flag+deals, naked+conversations, elimitaste, lockergnome, contest, prizes
Oakland Cemetery Photostroll
| Is she really burried in Oakland? How did I not know that. Rest In Peace, Margaret. |  Oakland Cemetery Photostroll Originally uploaded by FLC. |
King and Queen Buildings
| Hey, someone took a picture of our King and Queen buildings down off 285. I pass these on my way to group therapy. Now you can visualze as you ride along with me! I can hear you going: "Ooooo!" |  King and Queen Buildings Originally uploaded by FLC. |
I thought he was on hiatus
I thought Tom Shugart was taking another break -- he's right; we've to respect, or at least accept, one another's rights to do that over time -- but turns out this break was almost his last. Tom, well wishes!!! I didn't know. Oh my. Holy. And we're glad you are still here to talk with us.
I’ve been blessed with a youthful appearance and attitude. But the interior organs and pipes, and the family genes, are not fooled. They are beginning to do what they tend to do after seven decades--and in my family, usually before then.
I’ve eaten healthy, low-fat foods for over twenty years, stopped smoking thirty-five years ago, walked vigorously for over a mile every day, or nearly so, but the genes and the passage of time are what they are.
The life-saving (at least for the time being) repairs have been made and I’m now feeling fine. But the new reality is that I’ll spend the rest of my life with a bottle of nitro tablets within reach at all times—always with the hope that the other shoe doesn’t drop, but being forced to accept the fact that it could at any moment.
Tom points to Dervala, who also posted from a beyond of sorts with her usually-gifted reflections -- this time about wanting and expecting.
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January 29, 2006
A Quaker and His Friend
Frank crafts a terrific riff off Dave Winer's Friend essay. I kind of got lost in the computing stuff and wish Frank had talked more about the real deal of Friends from a Quaker point of view, you know, since Frank's a Quaker and they call one another Friend, at least I think so from what I've read, a kind of Quaker-by-Proxy that I am------and all of that aside, I'm with Frank on the nature of Net Relationships today.
This is not 1996 and we're not just emailing anymore. Many of us are writing our souls bare here. And we skype voice to voice, or pick up the phone and we talk for real, and we log hours of talk time, know where one another lives, go to hotels to ride up and down elevators with blog children, occasionally bail each other out of jail---err, trouble I mean--and celebrate birthdays, weddings, funerals, and all kinds of stuff that are what you do for and with friends.
Disclaimer: I'm Frank's Friend.
Disclaimer: Dave would not call me a Friend.
Disclaimer: I don't have enough fans to tell any of them they have to stay a fan and can't be my friend.
'good writing' for short
Tom:
"The mystery of some people's rightness of intuition, the rarity of not just seeing into the actuality of what's going on, but then of doing the necessary thing at astonishing personal risk."
And while we're at it, Tom makes good sense about Google's seeming rollover. The real danger may very well be in the coopting of Google's stand, which may be more wily than it seems. It's our job to make sure that coopting doesn't happen online or in our neighborhoods--at lest not without a pointed finger and something more than righteous indignation.
When The Guys Get Clued
It might have also read, "and trying to avoid what Jeneane Sessum called the Death of BigPR."
By the way, it's not the Me2 revolution. It's the me-to-you, or M2Y, revolution. Of course, I've been known to sell my domain names for the right price. Great minds.
And though some may wonder why I would say yes to becoming the contributing editor for the PR and Communications beat at the soon-to-launch BlogHer Surfing Guide, I'm telling you, it's not because I have nothing better to do. It's because it needs to be done, and I'm a good choice to do it.
watch out.
...
You tell me.... Why would anyone pay it in a tight economy when they can get smart, senior level people out on their own for around $100 an hour. And thanks to the Web, the same clients who are paying inflated rates to BigPR can tap into an entire network of loosely joined ex-agency talent that shares leads, news, and really cool gossip I wouldn't even tell you about here. We're self organizing, and it ought to scare the pants off of them.Doc, I'm pretty sure some women in the communication biz who are clued have said some smart things over the past five years too. Maybe not. Of course, in reflecting about Edelman's having Gotten Religion, you would mention you three and jerry and steve and dave and peter and richard and scoble and rick and rob and mathew and michael--toss in JESUS and the rest of the 12 apostles if you want to. Glad to see Esther there too. Some other women were preaching this stuff INSIDE big PR agencies -- and writing it online -- before some of these guys had even read the Good Word of Cluetrain. I'm just saying.
By the way, it's not the Me2 revolution. It's the me-to-you, or M2Y, revolution. Of course, I've been known to sell my domain names for the right price. Great minds.
And though some may wonder why I would say yes to becoming the contributing editor for the PR and Communications beat at the soon-to-launch BlogHer Surfing Guide, I'm telling you, it's not because I have nothing better to do. It's because it needs to be done, and I'm a good choice to do it.
watch out.
...
Niek's Rib
Niek finally has an answer for the nasty pains in the side he's been experiencing--location illustrated by a lovely model! The pain is chronic, but fortunately not life-threatening. Diagnosis: costochondritis. Say that three times fast.
Actually, as coincidence would have it, I was diagnosed with costochondritis about 10 years ago, brought on by several bouts of acute bronchitis in a short period of time, during which I basically coughed myself into a painful inflamed rib-space situation, which my asthma doc diagnosed as this very same malady. They gave me a short run of steroids, followed by ibuprofen (800). Luckily mine was short lived, although it does come back, usually after being sick with any kind of cough.
Sorry to hear you've got it so bad, Niek, but also glad it's not a, well, less solvable illness. Bottom line: keep the inflamation down to help the pain subside. It's going to be tough keyboarding and shutterclogging for a while I would think.
Looks like you're rarely short in the TLC department. ;-) Get well soon!
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January 28, 2006
January 27, 2006
just wanted to sneak in before midnight to announce...
the hamster cages are cleaned.
did I mention that Blue, the beta that "santa" brought died last week?
Yes, let's explain THAT one. ("Well, it was probably a rough trip.") And we don't even really DO santa. That'll teach us.
Pets, they come and they go around here.
George has become a beta expert, with way too much knowledge about the water levels and rock composition. New tools include a turkey baster, salt, filtered water in a Brita pitcher, and one beta in one little beta holder to enjoy the attention: Speedy.
On the canine front, Bando's been shaved and doesn't stink AS much. He escapes every day now. George puts up a plank, bando digs or pounces or jumps. George lays chicken wire, Bando finds a new hole. It's endless. I bought the dog a glow-in-the-dark collar so at least when he gets out at night, he'll hopefully avoid being run over.
And to think I used to be a member of Peta. (Shut up. It was 15 years ago.)
meanwhile, as you were.
did I mention that Blue, the beta that "santa" brought died last week?
Yes, let's explain THAT one. ("Well, it was probably a rough trip.") And we don't even really DO santa. That'll teach us.
Pets, they come and they go around here.
George has become a beta expert, with way too much knowledge about the water levels and rock composition. New tools include a turkey baster, salt, filtered water in a Brita pitcher, and one beta in one little beta holder to enjoy the attention: Speedy.
On the canine front, Bando's been shaved and doesn't stink AS much. He escapes every day now. George puts up a plank, bando digs or pounces or jumps. George lays chicken wire, Bando finds a new hole. It's endless. I bought the dog a glow-in-the-dark collar so at least when he gets out at night, he'll hopefully avoid being run over.
And to think I used to be a member of Peta. (Shut up. It was 15 years ago.)
meanwhile, as you were.
It's ALL TRUE!!!
A little birdie hipped me to the news around the blogworld... don't know where it came from, but it sounds right to me.
I was so sorry to hear the news about Web 2.0! (we hardly knew ye.)
I was so sorry to hear the news about Web 2.0! (we hardly knew ye.)
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Good to Know?
Fidel Castro has a pool. I guess you'd figure. So does one of the shooting locations for Back to the Future Trilogy. I think if you had a fetish for pools, you could scan Google Earth finding the pools you like best, then fly out there and sneek in a swim. Anyone calls the police, blame it on Google.
Henry Copeland Remains Smart
Blogads worked a deal with the Netherlands Board of Tourism to send 25 fitting bloggers to Amsterdam dam dam, and they don't even have to blog about the trip if they don't want to. AS IF. I know Shakespierce is going and stoked to have the opportunity. Can't wait to see some posts from his second favorite city in the world!
And I think as a three-way hook up (blogads/the bloggers/board of tourism) what a SUPER SUPER idea -- a kind of "let us show you" link up between those with things to show and those of us who can show things to others. Weee! Bring it on.
Henry when you get Disney World/Land or the new Nick Hotel on board, please remember me and mine. I'll even agree to blog my ass off.
January 26, 2006
Food gum?
The Sneeze has a funny post about frustration and the old bait and switch. You know, when that thing you want A LOT isn't what it seems to be?Except here, we're talking about gum that acts like food you don't get to swallow. Apparently, Skittles has a new gum out that looks and tastes like, well, Skittles, except that the gum version of Skittles, unlike the candy version, is for chewing and tossing in the garbage can rather than down your cakehole.
Turning candy into an exact replica of itself in gum form is a pretty stupid marketing idea. Unless the gum-that-tastes-like-
the-candy is half the price of the real box of candy, WTF? Get the candy and keep the goo off your shoe is what I say.
Tomorrow is Hamster Cleaning Day
Tomorrow I get to enjoy the hour-long process that is hamster cage cleaning. Joy. I've put it off so long that I'm embarrassed for anyone to walk into the house. Honestly, the entire downstairs smells like pee-soaked hamster shavings. George likes to attribute the stench to a leaky water bottle. He will generally find an explanation for things that doesn't have an immediate solution. I think that's a guy thing.
I know better. The horrible smell that IS our living room is due to a combination of not having changed the cages in three weeks and the new brand of shavings we used. Ironically, George selected the new shavings specially because they have some sort of "ordor eliminating" enhanced feature. In hindsight, I think that means these special shavings remove any pleasant odors from your home.
Fortunately, my friend's neighbor is a woodworker. His garage is full of wood shavings from his lathe. And sure, if you're a hamster enthusiast, you may want to warn me not to use just any shavings since some woods are harmful to the little buggers. But I assure you, these shavings are certified FREE from a reputable garage. And as for removing dust, George has developed a process for shaking out the sawdust that is a marvel to behold. It involves 1 rake, 1 wheelbarrow, an old window screen and acouple of garbage bags. BADABOOM, we're in the shavings business.
The last time we used wood chips from the woodworker's house, our living room smelled fresh, like a newly-constructed home. I felt warm and tingly when I'd go look at the hamsters, amazed by their cuteness.
Now I avoid the living room altogether.
And that's what I want back. My house. My shavings. Call it aromatherapy. Call it urinalysis. Call it whatever. I can't take this stench another day.
Three cages. Three water bottles. Lots of hamster piss. What do you have planned for Friday?
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January 25, 2006
FDA APPROVED CURE FOR NAKEDNESS!
BubbleShare's still doing cool things, even though you don't see me posting every fifteen minutes about how much fun we're having. You know. Because I'm being shy and sly--hipster sly--tickling the fun out of you against your better judgment, don't you see.Let me just say this about that, cryptically speaking: Get your digital camera ready and your memory cards emptied and your microphone in front of your face because something nifty's coming your way.... and it wouldn't be fair if I told you yet, because Albert The Swamped hasn't said I can, so shhhh. ....soon.....fun. yucks. not exactly blonde jokes. but still. you know. more. soon.
In the mean time, just know that I Love BS. And if you haven't used www.bubbleshare.com to email photos to your aunt in Michigan, would you give it a try please? Not for me, but for your Aunt Betsy. It's so cold there this time of year. How some pictures of little Bethany warm auntie's heart!
Technorati Tags : bubbleshare, photo+sharing, I+love+BS
Clicking My Own Ad
It's been a while since the Antique Roadshow Ad went up on my sidebar, and today I clicked it and saw that you can enter a contest to have Antique Roadshow make a house call to check out your valuables. Now that's cool. I used to watch the show a lot. I'd marvel at what kind of effort it must have taken to bring in great-great-grandma's old dining room suit or bronze life-size statue of a buffalo. Not something you can load into the family minivan.
I read about a therapist recently who is making house calls. What a good idea for folks who sometimes have issues with getting one foot out the front door.
My old pediatrician used to make house calls. I still remember his visits; my mom would put out the best hand towels and special new soaps. It was an occasion when he came, and his coming made me feel instantly cured.
When it was time, my sister had her 16-year-old dog put to sleep on her living room floor, in the spot he'd relaxed in for years, by a vet who made house calls. My aunt uses that same vet 20 years later to care for her cat.
Something to be said for house calls.
...
I read about a therapist recently who is making house calls. What a good idea for folks who sometimes have issues with getting one foot out the front door.
My old pediatrician used to make house calls. I still remember his visits; my mom would put out the best hand towels and special new soaps. It was an occasion when he came, and his coming made me feel instantly cured.
When it was time, my sister had her 16-year-old dog put to sleep on her living room floor, in the spot he'd relaxed in for years, by a vet who made house calls. My aunt uses that same vet 20 years later to care for her cat.
Something to be said for house calls.
...
Naked Conversations Review: The Prequel
How have I managed NOT to review Naked Conversations yet? (get a copy, get a copy.) Well, the problem is, like lots of people, I don't have a copy yet. But I'm going to get one. And when I do I'm going to read it and give my review or at least stream-of-consciousness report. I am completely STOKED to get it, glad it's out, and if I don't get a chance to post about it here, then I'll talk about it in another blogging forum I'm participating in, coming your way soon...
(Okay, you want the real scoop? The naked scoop? Secretly, a while back, when I knew the book was being released, I'd hoped that I'd receive a copy in my mailbox -- exactly how I don't know, I was thinking Maryam might have slipped one out of Robert's hands -- signed by Robert and Shel, saying how much I'd inspired them with my talk of nakedity, conversation, and public relations over these oh-so many years. Suggesting that I start a GonzoEngaged-Type group blog for Naked Conversations, like I did for Gonzo Marketing back in 2001, where practitioners and hecklers can get together in one place and jam til they sweat, take it out, WAY out, and bring it back home again.)
But then I woke up and giggled, realizing they must have mistook Steve Rubel for me. Obviously the hair. ;- )
What I MEAN to say is that I'm excited there is finally a "legitimate" and representative work (which I think it is from reading the blog evolution of the book) that we can point clients to, those interested in blogging and those who don't yet understand, that echoes the cluetrainian school of thought. That underscores the importance of talking with people, and how companies might actually GET there.
I hope this book gives the good business people ammunition and the bad business people acid reflux.
I hope that the message to companies is that you can (yay--cost savings and revenue gains!) and must (wooo, scary: risk) strip down to engage us in our own land.
And to lend proof that we've been naked here for a long time, consider:
2002, blogging is opening the door:
2002: When you think of bloggers you would describe as "generous," several come to mind--to my mind anyway. They are the bloggers who dare to get personal: Golby, Halley, Marek, Locke, Shelley. They are generous because they dare to lay themselves down naked in front of us: "Here I am. Fuck with me if you want. Or decide you love me. I'm laying down either way."
2002, about Blogsprogs: This is a moving and intimate extension of the human experience -- these guys are blogging about as close to naked as you can get. There is huge vulnerability and risk here.
2003: ByeBye BigPR
With no camouflage left
Naked I stand shaking
Waiting for rebirth.
(Okay, you want the real scoop? The naked scoop? Secretly, a while back, when I knew the book was being released, I'd hoped that I'd receive a copy in my mailbox -- exactly how I don't know, I was thinking Maryam might have slipped one out of Robert's hands -- signed by Robert and Shel, saying how much I'd inspired them with my talk of nakedity, conversation, and public relations over these oh-so many years. Suggesting that I start a GonzoEngaged-Type group blog for Naked Conversations, like I did for Gonzo Marketing back in 2001, where practitioners and hecklers can get together in one place and jam til they sweat, take it out, WAY out, and bring it back home again.)
But then I woke up and giggled, realizing they must have mistook Steve Rubel for me. Obviously the hair. ;- )
What I MEAN to say is that I'm excited there is finally a "legitimate" and representative work (which I think it is from reading the blog evolution of the book) that we can point clients to, those interested in blogging and those who don't yet understand, that echoes the cluetrainian school of thought. That underscores the importance of talking with people, and how companies might actually GET there.
I hope this book gives the good business people ammunition and the bad business people acid reflux.
I hope that the message to companies is that you can (yay--cost savings and revenue gains!) and must (wooo, scary: risk) strip down to engage us in our own land.
And to lend proof that we've been naked here for a long time, consider:
2002, blogging is opening the door:
It's nice to close the door sometimes, to hide within walls you can see and touch. But as the hours, days pass, you find yourself looking at that door, staring at the knob, wondering what would happen if you unlocked it. You wonder, is it hot out or cold? Who's driving by? Did I get any mail? Well, maybe I'll just peek out the door and see. Stick a finger out there, find out what the weather's like. That's all. Then I'll come back in.
No sooner is the door open than you're running through the grass with your shoes off, half naked, grabbing leaves from the trees and flowers from the earthy, celebrating the unending expanse that is the blog universe. See me? Hear Me? I'm here!
2002: When you think of bloggers you would describe as "generous," several come to mind--to my mind anyway. They are the bloggers who dare to get personal: Golby, Halley, Marek, Locke, Shelley. They are generous because they dare to lay themselves down naked in front of us: "Here I am. Fuck with me if you want. Or decide you love me. I'm laying down either way."
2002, about Blogsprogs: This is a moving and intimate extension of the human experience -- these guys are blogging about as close to naked as you can get. There is huge vulnerability and risk here.
2003: ByeBye BigPR
You tell me.... Why would anyone pay it in a tight economy when they can get smart, senior level people out on their own for around $100 an hour. And thanks to the Web, the same clients who are paying inflated rates to BigPR can tap into an entire network of loosely joined ex-agency talent that shares leads, news, and really cool gossip I wouldn't even tell you about here. We're self organizing, and it ought to scare the pants off of them.2003:
But it doesn't.
Because they can't afford to see that the emperor is walking around butt naked.
With no camouflage left
Naked I stand shaking
Waiting for rebirth.
January 24, 2006
Yahoo, Anne!
Anne 2.0 nails it in her post "Good for You, Yahoo," in which she gives Yahoo a blog high-five for telling the truth and takes Steve Rubel to task for his absolute refusal to use Yahoo search upon hearing the announcement in which Yahoo says the #1 Search Spot's not for them. Maintaining their market share in search is apparently good 'nuf for now. Anne sees it this way:
Sometimes you need to excise something stupid and add something cool. Personals are definitely cool. Now there's a use of technology that improves people's lives. Is search stupid? Well, Google is having a hard time squeezing all the revenue they need out of it. Maybe it is stupid for Yahoo to spend extra time and money on a space that they won't be able to own and that might not be so profitable anyway.
Steve's so apalled he takes his search ball and goes home:
That's it, I am no longer using Yahoo Search. I have no interest in using a product that the company doesn't aspire to make best of breed. If search is no longer hip to Yahoo, then Yahoo Search is no longer hip with me.
Steve, shouldn't you salute them for telling the truth? Do you really believe every mission statement you hear? Mostly, they're obligatory half-truths if not outright smokeblowing.
I'm with Anne. I love it--It's a page out of Gonzo Marketing: Winning Through Worst Practices. It's like DAMN, why didn't Ford say this kind of thing a long time ago: "Listen, we're not going to try lead the market with a four-door sedan or even a mini-van. We know we're nothing really special when it comes to that. We'll be happy not to take a bath. But HEY now, when it comes to pick-em-up trucks--that's where we rock."
Things might be different.
Do we know what Yahoo's pick-up truck is yet? Well, as Anne notes, they're moving more toward community-social stuff as Google sticks to metrics and algorithms. Me? I'm happy to watch what unfolds.
And, holy cow if this isn't a copywriter's dream come true. No more "we're a leading search engine"; rather "we hold our own, you know, not great, not awful."
Kiss me, Yahoo! You're my new Google!
And Anne is right again--there is value in writing and reading beyond the lists. I'm getting out of the A-List space and rolling a Yahoo. I'll be happy to maintain my share of the C market. ;-)
George podcasts, I heckle from peanut gallery.
I didn't know it was Odeo like rodeo. I thought it was pronounced OhDayO.
Have fun. Hear how annoying I can be? Him too?
I'm off in the distance like some snurdley engineer on the rush limbaugh show.
It's kind of fun.
Have fun. Hear how annoying I can be? Him too?
I'm off in the distance like some snurdley engineer on the rush limbaugh show.
It's kind of fun.
Don't Get Me Started
Shelley took Adam Green to task for (I guess--the words aren't on his post now) talking about how linking to chick-blogs and saying nice things got him links back.
I think Shelley has done a good job pointing out to Adam that this is not such an amazing thing. It happens sometimes when you join a conversation and say something interesting, and often enough. Even when the conversation is mostly men or mostly women. And Shelley's right: some of the best conversations tend to come out of those environments. But not all the best.
Shelley also uses the opportunity to call for the end of terms (and groups?) like BlogHer that "differentiate" women.
I disagree. That differentiation's been done for us. That same argument that we should blur the lines is used by some of my least favorite people when it comes to race, as though the race card's "being played" -- notice the PASSIVE VOICE -- when in fact, it's DONE BEEN played.
BlogHer is simply this: An answer to the oft-stated and oft-stated and oft-stated -- then stupidly stated again -- fallacy: "There just aren't any women bloggers out there." Yah, well shut up, yes there are. They're here and here and there and there and here and there.
BlogHer isn't THE women's thang. It's A woman's thang. Just like Blog Sisters and other groups of women writing/speaking/laughing/arguing together. It doesn't take us away from our individual presences; it augments them.
BlogHer is how one group of women is choosing to answer an erroneous assertion--and take it from there. They are answering it by speaking and by writing, podcasting and photocasting. Often and everywhere. Loudly. With Passion. With other women, with men, by ourselves. However the fuck we want to do it. Just do it. Or don't.
The thing that keeps me at arms length with the term "feminism" is feminism's common inconsistency with itself. Women want to embrace their differentiation, but don't want anyone to point it out. And at the risk of sounding like Dave Winer, it's annoying.
BlogHer is a good thing. Women blogging on their own blogs is a good thing. Men blogging is a good thing. Children blogging is a good thing. Seniors blogging is a good thing. CEOs blogging is a good thing. Employees blogging is a good thing. EVERY THING IS A GOOD THING and none of it means anything = all at the same time!
It's NOT black and white. It's as shady gray as it gets.
Except for spam. Spammers are a bad thing.
Technorati Tags : Feminism, BlogHer, Chick+Blogs, Absolutism // Powered By Qumana
Meet Father Doctor Matt K.
A family friend, Father Matt, is taking to the blogworld with a little help from yours truly. He could use advice, experience, some warm hands to help him along, to give an "awe, it's not so hard; you're gonna love it!"
Father Matt's a therapist, a Catholic priest, a talkative and brilliant man who has been writing online for years without knowing that he was actually sort of blogging.
He has had someone maintaining his professional site but can't afford to continue to add to it as he'd like to.
He is also a gifted photographer -- these are all scans of real-live photos he has taken over the years. He says he has 100 more ready to go online but he has been at a loss with what to do with them.
Basically he is ALL hub, no network.
So I said, Father Matt, you gotta BLOG, man! (and yes, I told him about flickr and BubbleShare too.) This is the cheapest, easiest, and best way for you to have control over your stuff, when it goes up, how it goes up, how it looks, etc.
I think I've about got him hooked
Father Matt doesn't own a digital camera yet, but he's hoping to sell the china a parishioner left him and buy a digital camera so he can join the online revolution.
This is the coolest thing about Web 2.0: Some ordinary folks who weren't really savvy about computers the last time we rushed headlong onto the net -- the AOL folks, the "email-only" folks, the dial-upers -- now know enough about the Internet to believe that maybe they really can get online and run their own sites. Maybe their words and thoughts and creations have a place online.
And maybe it won't cost thousands of dollars--just a pocket full of passion.
...
Father Matt's a therapist, a Catholic priest, a talkative and brilliant man who has been writing online for years without knowing that he was actually sort of blogging.
He has had someone maintaining his professional site but can't afford to continue to add to it as he'd like to.
He is also a gifted photographer -- these are all scans of real-live photos he has taken over the years. He says he has 100 more ready to go online but he has been at a loss with what to do with them.
Basically he is ALL hub, no network.
So I said, Father Matt, you gotta BLOG, man! (and yes, I told him about flickr and BubbleShare too.) This is the cheapest, easiest, and best way for you to have control over your stuff, when it goes up, how it goes up, how it looks, etc.
I think I've about got him hooked
Father Matt doesn't own a digital camera yet, but he's hoping to sell the china a parishioner left him and buy a digital camera so he can join the online revolution.
This is the coolest thing about Web 2.0: Some ordinary folks who weren't really savvy about computers the last time we rushed headlong onto the net -- the AOL folks, the "email-only" folks, the dial-upers -- now know enough about the Internet to believe that maybe they really can get online and run their own sites. Maybe their words and thoughts and creations have a place online.
And maybe it won't cost thousands of dollars--just a pocket full of passion.
...
Savory Hamster Bits
Stu Savory sent me a GREAT article about one of nature's little miracles--a snake making friends with his dinner. I read it to our little guys down in the living room, and you should have seen them Spin Their Wheels!
Thanks Stu. Send a snake, kay? We have some gohan here. We'll try it out and see if they become best friends. ;-)
both ends of the line
AAAAH I know. I haven't been blogging fuckall. Well at least you did that. Did you pay your estimated taxes? oh good. don't bite the hand that screws you--ha ha! So how's that project going? Only a week left? YAY! How are the kids? oh good--she's a hoot. Yes I know, that bug is going around here too. Did what? Well that sounds like the grossest thing I've heard in two weeks. NO! She did? GET OUT! Who with? HIM? Man, what won't she do. No he didn't tell me about that one. They did? On the backchannel? Doh! Right. IM this! Yah, I know. It's just that I'm used to getting a lot done and it's been slow going because I've been helping some folks out. Right. Oh SURE, t-i-m-e o-f-f ? what planet are u from? ha ha ha. Yah really. No, not only that, but because he always says those things. Right--what does he expect, open arms? Because why exactly--oh right, we should kneel before him and give thanks for his inovaaaashuns. puhlease. cry me a river of millions of dollars. please? YOUR DOG? No! I didn't know. When did that happen? I'm so sorry. What was it? Oh that happened to my best friend's dog. No, really. You could have spend thousands and ended up with the same result. Oh that's so sad. I bet. Damn. Well look if you want to cheer up, there's a frigging PLAY of Get Your War On in Austin. How fucking funny is THAT? A play of a cartoon. I KNOW! Okay, well me too. DEFINITELY--call me later. Okay. I'll talk to you soon. YOU TOO! -click-
Wow.
I don't want to sound like some whiny a-lister or anything, like those guys who start boo-hooing because so many people are contacting them and how are they supposed to speak to the masses if they're busy answering emails from plebians like us -- because i'm only a c-lister (cripes you'd think blog age would count for something) -- but jeesh i've been swamped with requests from folks to help them start blogs. So I'm helping them for fun and profit. Mostly fun. And listen, I want to know, speaking of c-listers, how Frank got to be a B-lister -- how do you move over a column already, because shelley and frank and ponzi are all over on the B-list and I'm getting kinda perturbed.
I request a full accounting of the criteria and methodology used for selection to each list, or in kind, I'll take a bump to the left.
I care. So shoot me.
January 21, 2006
January 20, 2006
IT'S FREE GUM FRIDAY AT ELMITASTE
Get over to ElmiTaste and claim your pack of FREE gum before 12 a.m. Pacific time.Note: the little fill-in box doesn't show so well in Firefox, so use IE or another browser. Matt's webmaster's working on that. If you click on and off the window, you can get it to come to the top. Worst comes to worst, email me by midnight with your particuars and I'll forward it on to OUR BLOG FRIENDS AT ELIMITASTE.
You don't believe me, see Shakespierce.
January 19, 2006
January 15, 2007
The Internet grinds to a complete halt, stopping life as we know it in its tracks. Schools close. Banks padlock the doors. Store registers shut down. Air travel and mass transit stops.
The cause? One dumb blonde joke started on the blogs.
Knock Knock, We're Here.
The cause? One dumb blonde joke started on the blogs.
Knock Knock, We're Here.
Hill & Knowlton Used the "C" Word
In almost every presentation about blogging, you will hear experts telling you to join the conversation. That is the same ‘conversation’ made famous by The Cluetrain Manifesto, the bible of the blogging generation. This seminal work introduced the concept of markets as conversations; conversations that enable powerful new forms of social organization and knowledge exchange to emerge. These new, networked markets have no respect for companies unable or unwilling to speak as they do.
Seminal what?
You can call me Madame Secretary
From misunderstood to healed in six easy steps. Do the recovery boogie.
one more minute to go before i sleep
oh i thought of one thing, besides that you should be reading shakespierce, and that is that I wish someone -- not Google or Blogger as they don't care -- could tell me how to get my profile info and picture back into my sidebar. It was disappeared when I logged in after a three-hour Blogger routine maintenance, um, outage. It's there in my actual Blogger profile, but gone from my template.
Okay, really, I'd like all of us to go to sleep now. Ready? Meds taken? TV off? Clean laundry on the bed piled on top of you? (That's one of my favorite things: sleeping burried in clean laundry. There must be a forum for this. Now that I've outed myself, I guess I should go check.)
okay, sleep well.
January 18, 2006
RSSing --> It's all good, or is it?
The whole copyright debate is very confusing to me, as I think it is to anyone who throws original content into an open marketplace. Recently the debate's been spinning around Top Ten Sources, for which I proudly serve as a source at Halley's right hand. I was honored to be recognized alongside the others Halley chose.
My only issue would be if suddenly my content was being used in conjunction with a revenue generating doodad - like google ads or something similar - and I wasn't sharing in the revenue in a mutually-agreed-upon way.
Then we'd have a problem.
Top Ten Sources founder John Palfry suggests adding copyright statements to our feeds. I have no idea if this was what he had in mind, but this is what I added to mine (see red below). Tell me how it looks. I don't know if I can make it tiny. I don't really know what the hell this will do. Except I guess it states the mantra of this content owner/sharer pretty well:
Bare Statement: You can link to it; you can quote it; you can read it any way it comes to you. But if you're gaining revenue from it, I better be sharing in the revenue in a way that I've agreed to.
P.S., edit: never mind -- the little Blogger RSS footer doesn't seem to work--> the bare statement notice isn't showing up. grrr.
Must Reads:
Shelley
Om
DENISE
Locke
Dave
John
Adam
My only issue would be if suddenly my content was being used in conjunction with a revenue generating doodad - like google ads or something similar - and I wasn't sharing in the revenue in a mutually-agreed-upon way.
Then we'd have a problem.
Top Ten Sources founder John Palfry suggests adding copyright statements to our feeds. I have no idea if this was what he had in mind, but this is what I added to mine (see red below). Tell me how it looks. I don't know if I can make it tiny. I don't really know what the hell this will do. Except I guess it states the mantra of this content owner/sharer pretty well:
(C) Jeneane Sessum / Copyright 2001-2006
Content may not be redistributed or repurposed in any manner that generates revenue for any entity other than the content owner -- for example through advertising, aggregation, redistribution, or any other means -- without the consent of the author.
UPDATE: Try number 2 in consideration of Denise's take:Bare Statement: You can link to it; you can quote it; you can read it any way it comes to you. But if you're gaining revenue from it, I better be sharing in the revenue in a way that I've agreed to.
P.S., edit: never mind -- the little Blogger RSS footer doesn't seem to work--> the bare statement notice isn't showing up. grrr.
Must Reads:
Shelley
Om
DENISE
Locke
Dave
John
Adam
Google, Donate Blogger to Someone Who Gives a Shit
Open Letter to Google
Re: Blogger and Blogspot
Dear Google,
I know you did a really smart thing when you bought Blogger, and I'm the last person in the world who would come to you and tell you how to run your business or criticize you. I'm way too afraid of your highly-honed super powers to try that.
Besides I covet everything you have and give you mad kudos for getting what Evhead did way back when, and for not totally screwing up Blogger once you bought it. That's something. I mean, not exactly a best practice, but something.
P.S. I'm glad you made Ev rich because he was sort of like a hero of mine a few years back and you could email Ev and he'd answer you about a problem with Blogger sometimes at 1 in the morning, and when a blogger would do something really dumb, like blow away their blog, we actually had a contact, you know, to contact.
Ev would say no prob and recreate the heavens and earths with the snap of his fingers or magic wand. I think a cat was involved or some incantation--I never asked questions.
I say all of this even though his new template's font size is like 204 points.
But I digress.
My point is that a lot has happened since you bought Blogger and Blogspot; for instance your IPO and becoming the legendary Corporate Superpower Of All Time, and you've been really busy with all of those cool tools you invented. God knows I couldn't live another day without Google Desktop (actually I uninstalled it, which you already know because you've got President Bush beat on that spying thing tenfold dontcha. ;-) )
So, times being different now, and me still caring a great deal about This Old House known as Blogger and Blogspot where my blog has lived for over 4 years now, I'd like to ask you to reconsider your purchase of Blogger and Blogspot / pyra. Yes that's right I'm asking you to sell it -- better yet give it -- to someone who actually gives a shit about the service.
I know that would be way heretical and all, but really, Ev's name is still the contact on EVERY blogspot blog on Alexa, and you're going to have to update that information anyway now that it was Reported Here First, so maybe Ev could take Blogger back from you and merge us with his podcasting venture. We could be the "pixel" arm of odeo or something. I'm just thinking outloud here. Looking for a win-win.
You could give us to Henry Copeland at blogads. He's really smart. He'd figure out something to do with us.
What I'm trying to say is that you did that update thing the other day, with the servers or something, and once again you were down for hours longer than you said, and you wrecked stuff--for instance WHERE did my profile info and picture go that was in my template and on my sidebar before you did this recent update?
I mean, HOW do you time and time again hammer our templates while we're eating pizza with the family? When you cut us, do we not bleed?
And while we're on the subject: the template situation--can we just say, things are out of control? It's been like TWO YEARS and you haven't had time to toss a few new templates up there just for yucks? Pay some of your own to develop some kickass new looks? Start a business model around the ability to flexibly change looks for those who don't want to bother with the CSS or HTML?
HELLO ADVERTISERS, here's an idea: YOU GIVE US TEMPLATES with your product/service elegantly and NOT obnoxiously displayed -- templates that work flawlessly with Blogger -- and then pay us to use them. If they are really cool, we'll say yes and take your money.
Could we be any more agreeable? Smarter? More loyal? I dare say no.
So for old times sake, if you can't pay attention to your users in the blogworld, I ask that you please, PLEASE make it so we can stop dissing you. Just hand us over to someone who cares about Blogger and Blogspot and all of us who've stuck with it over this long, long, LONG haul.
Could ya? Would ya?
January 17, 2006
Sing It, Henry
From Blogads' Henry Copeland. (Watch Henry . I don't know if you know how brilliant he is. You should know these things. We at allied try to keep you informed. That's why our hamster cages never get cleaned.)
The umbrella is turning inside out -- the old edges are the new hubs and vice versa. No amount of glue or good will or philosophical gloss will save the old hubs, the newspaper businesses whose economics and infrastructure are premised on exploiting the now-useless monopolies on printing presses and distribution channels.
Well I like the umbrella metaphor better than the highly-touted long tail, because of the wind it takes to bend the frame. It's that context thing.
This and the 8,500 other reasons I miss smoking. Yes still.
Smoking Helps Me Think -- from Doctor Ernest Dichter’s The Psychology of Everyday Living (1947)
The mind can concentrate best when all outside stimuli have been excluded. Smoking literally provides a sort of “smoke screen” that helps to shut out distractions. This explains why many people who were interviewed reported that they cannot think or write without a cigarette. They argued that moderate smoking may even stimulate mental alertness. It gives us a focal point for our attention. It also gives our hands something to do; otherwise they might make us self-conscious and interfere with mental activity. On the other hand, our respondents admit that smoking too much may reduce their efficiency.
Depends on what the meaning of "is" is.
I think if you're in austin, you ought to go get your war on
Hey, I didn't know that ("we're still not worthy you are so awesome") Get Your War On is now a theatrical production in Austin, but hey, it makes sense to me. With a sliding scale for ticket prices, you really don't have an excuse not to go if you're in Austin in January 19 - February 4, 2006 on any given Thursday through Saturday. I hope that you'll blog it if you go.
A play about a comic about a war? Smarter than a war about WMDs that didn't exist.
I'm so glad
I'm so glad that Jennifer is still blogging, has always been blogging it seems, and she delights me. Smart, beautiful, and a Web 2.0 last name to boot.
Technorati Tags : jennifer+balderama// Powered By Qumana
Overdone
I swam today. I can't TELL you how cool that was. I haven't taken the time to go to the Y and swim in like 6 months, and considering th 932 pounds I've gained since quitting smoking a year and a half ago (REMEMBER? It was THAT long ago!!), today's aqua boot camp was not only a good idea, but entirely ass kicking. I was there with a couple of ladies my age and the rest 60ish plus. I loved them. They were so happy to be there, bouncing around the pool with their dumbbells, me included, and no that's not a misplaced modifier. They all welcomed me and we said our first names and I think it was the most social interaction I've had in a month, not counting IMing and Skyping with Albert and the BubbleShare team, and my secret in-town clients that I'd have to kill you if I told you about.
The class was just under an hour, so I was home and on the computer by 10 or so. Make me go tomorrow or the next day. You are completely allowed to say GO SWIM, YOU ARE BEING BITCHY. Or GO SWIM, the next 330 pounds are right around the corner! Or, GO SWIM, the ladies miss you! Or, GO SWIM, you'll feel better. Or you can also just ignore me, because as you know, the blogosphere is a free country, unless your an anonymous troll who annoys, which means you go to jail now. Let's hear it for the NeoCon Civility Force!
No really, I'm for that law.
No against it.
No for it.
No against it.
Really it depends on if I'm doing the annoying, which I never do anonymously or the anoyee, which is really a state of mind, isn't it?
Okay, links coming soon, and in the mean time, I am so busy my head is swimming. On an article deadline. There's nothing worse than that, except for NOT being on an article deadline.
Thank You for Agreeing
Yah, it's just plain odd (and old) that Ev at Pyra (not) is the head contact of my blog. Who is in charge of google these days?
when time was relative and sheep were nervous
Before I had Jenna, back in my late twenties and early thirties, while I was working at the Big Yellow Box in Rochester, I used to say -- and actually believe -- that there was NO job we couldn't finish in 24 hours if we all just stayed there and worked for one day (and night) straight. There were several occasions when I proved myself correct.
Back then I was convinced that project milestones and deadlines were way to liberal, that if you had a job then by God you should be there doing it whenever you weren't doing something else critically important, and that if the whole company hustled, we could get every thing done faster than the next guy.
That was before I knew anything about kids or layoffs or cashing in pensions or maternity leave or dot-coms or even business process re-engineering. In fact, those were the days when BPM actually meant business process management not Business Performance Management.
I came out of entrepreneurial roots, and all nighters were a common way to bond like family and get work done in a hyper-joyous, creative state, with pasta dinners in the conference room and two packs of smokes by my side.
I used to say that lack-of-sleep was our competitive advantage. And it was.
We literally worked while the competition took the moonlit hours off. Forget competing on product or price. Competing on insomnia is a lot cheaper.
That was then, and this is now. And I think back to that pre-parent, pre-40s, pre-disillusioned worker-bee and I wish for two things. I wish that I could 1.) Re-harness her energy, faith, and enthusiasm, and 2.) Tell her to cut that shit out.
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January 16, 2006
Where'd Stowe Go?
Stowe Boyd's over here now. He used to be over here. His new /Message is classic-Stowe-style, peppered, capped and smothered (Waffle House customers only), with a side of bacon. Cool.
He's re-building a brand from ground zero. Hard. But not as hard as before the net. ;-)
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always the last to hear the news...
It takes context to make meaning.
That's why content-based search tools -- like the ones that generate site ads and the ones that offer up "helpful" recommendations based on your online purchase (or previous search) information often fall short of giving customers truly meaningful suggestions. But falling short isn't as bad as, uh, making the wrong suggestions.
Enter the story I missed about Walmart's recent snafu when folks buying the Planet of the Apes DVD were urged to try the combo platter with a DVD about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
What? I don't get it? Monkeys? MLK?
OH!
Well, we all know that today's the national holiday celebrating Dr. King's life, and we all know how helpful technology is in helping us "consumers" decide things, so of course Dr. King's going to be served up with a lil' bit of everything we might be looking for in January. Call this negro remembrance month. Call it permission marketing. Call it CRM. If you're Walmart, you just called it off.
Walmart has decided to throw the baby and the bathwater out rather than risking pissing anyone else off.
And the story got me thinking, what else did the now-defunct Walmart Customer Recommendation system suggest while we weren't looking... like... maybe...
...the Rock-a-bye Chou Chou Doll + the Uniflame 3600 BTU Gas Grill - ouch!
or the Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook + the Self-Cleaning Litterbox - calling Dr. King! (for dinner!)
I'm sure you can search up your own DEsuggestions. ;-)
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January 15, 2006
photographist
We talk a lot about the great thinkers who debate and philosophize on the net. And we talk a lot about the great writers here who move us, the great artists helping to bring context and meaning to this place, this time, whatever it is we're doing.
When you combine all of that wth the art and science of photography, you get Shelley Powers. These stunning photos and accompanying essay are the treat that is Shelley. They are marvelous works that show us so much about the psychology and quiet grace of deer in the woods. They are what we might have paid $70 each for two decades ago, to have the privilege of displaying them on our coffee tables in a four-color, hardbound book. Come to think of it, I still would.
But here they are. Right there. Where she put them. So we could see them.
Damn.
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Hey I Used This One in a Meeting
integrate rss-capable ecologies
It's a module. NO it's a methodology. NO it's a best practice. NO it's Stavros' new Web 2.0 Bullshit Generator. Looking for the best bullcrap to lay out to unsuspecting me-tooers?
Go. Do. Be. Do. (go doo-bee-doo).
Please know that Kombinat! has jumped the shark to Web 2.9. If you don't believe that, read the manifesto.
Tankya to Frankya for keeping us up to date on these and other developments
Aggregators Say the Funniest Things!
Funny thing happened on the way to my aggregator. Sometimes I'm clicking down the couple dozen feeds I subscribe to on the left hand sidbar in Bloglines, going through one bolded link after the other to see who's written what. And in my list of subscriptions Doc Searls comes right before Halley Suitt.
So yesterday I clicked on Doc and I was tired because I haven't felt that great, what with that hamster-cage-urine-smell going straight to my head (see below). Anyway, I started to read about how much Doc liked The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and how women's slips are hot and how he's been into slips for a long time, and I'm like--DOC?!--and then I realized to my amazement, since all feeds look alike in the Bloglines wndow, that I had clicked Halley's bold link, not Doc's.
I don't have a name for that phenomenon but it was unsettling.
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