Thursday, March 30, 2006

Fireworks? No, not really...

Via ze frank comes this link to a time lapsed graphic of the coalition fatalities in Iraq. Follow the link and click on the red button.
 
Oh, and someone says we are making progress... this does not indicate progress.
 
Stunning!
 
 
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To a Reflection - W.S. Merwin

You are what we believe
even if we know better
seeing is believing
though you write backwards
your left our right
so that we never can read you
if there is any message
directed toward us from

the other side which we
cannot touch cannot reach
and can see only from here
where there is something you seem
to be showing us over
and over again without
a sound as though you were
the light itself returning

apparently to the same place



From Present Company, Poems by W.S. Merwin


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To This May - W.S. Merwin

They know so much more now about
the heart we are told but the world
still seems to come one at a time
one day one year one season and here
it is spring once more with its birds
nesting in the holes in the walls
its morning finding the first time
its light pretending not to move
always beginning as it goes



From Present Company, Poems by W.S. Merwin

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Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Elder drivers - Pro/Con - Continued

Ronni Bennett writing at Time Goes By raises a good question on elder drivers and should age be the factor in determining issuing a license to drive:

As the number of elders increases dramatically in the next few years, there are questions all elders, and local governments and communities, need to consider: Should a different kind of testing be required for elder drivers? If so, at what frequency? Should there be a standard cutoff age for driving in later years as we have for teenage beginning drivers? Are there medical conditions that should automatically require revocation of driving privileges? Should there be an age at which license renewal by mail is no longer allowed?

In the comments, I posed the argument that age should not be the single factor, nor should there be a single factor in determining a license.

I would further propose that the license be granted upon successful completion of the following for anyone and everyone who seeks to obtain a license:

1 - financial wherewithal; proof of ownership of said auto and proof of insurance

2 - basic driving skill; annual written & driving test up to 21, bi-annual written & driving test to 55, and a return to an annual written & driving test thereafter

3 - validation of physical fitness to be capable of driving (with legitimate exceptions for handicap individuals in vehicles with adjustments for their handicaps)

What do you think?


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Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Running out of gas

Did not have a good run today. Did have a decent day at work but had to drive to Boston, then to Marlboro and then home to do so. That may have been a factor, combined with a late night last night, so I may have just run out of energy.
 
Need to restock by checking out my pillow.
 
 
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Sunday, March 26, 2006

Concert Driving

I drove the van about 200 miles today to take both sets of grandparents to Assumption College to hear Allie sing with the Chapel Choir. They performed parts of Handel's Messiah closing with the Halleluiah Chorus. It was worth every minute of it.
 
My pillow is calling me but my head will be reveling in the notes for a while.
 
A nice family day! Catch you all later.
 
 
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Saturday, March 25, 2006

CoComment Problems

I was wondering what happened to CoComment. When I pulled up my own pages, the CoComment section did not fil in. When I tried to use CoComment, I got nothing in response. No error message, no nothing.
 
Now, I finally find this posting on their own blog:

We current face massive DNS problems to www.cocomment.com. We are currently hosting our DNS as joker.com and they issued the following statement

Joker.com currently experiences massive distributed denial of service attacks against nameservers.
This affects DNS resolution of Joker.com itself, and also domains which make use of Joker.com nameservers.
We are very sorry for this issue, but we are working hard for a permanent solution.
Thank you for your understanding.

Unfortunately, we are also affected by this and cocomment.com is thus often not reachable from various locations. We are currently trying to move our DNS to another hoster, but that unfortunately takes time and as joker is quite busy it’s probably even harder than usual.

We are really sorry about this and apologize for any inconvenience you encounter. We hope the situation goes back to normal soon.

They have my email address. They could have sent me and each other user an email. Email is still functioning.
 
Maybe next time. (Oh, and while I hope there won't be one soon in this technical world, something will happen.)
 
 
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Friday, March 24, 2006

Quotes & Links

From Andrew Taylor writing at The Artful Manager comes this good story from Port Phillip, Australia where they measure "smiles per hour" as one of their Sustainable Community Progress Indicators.
Let's assume you wanted to foster a sustainable and vibrant community over time, and you wanted to be publicly accountable to that goal along the way. What would you do? The city of Port Phillip, Victoria, Australia, came up with 13 indicators of what they believed to be a sustainable community, and then dared to publish their progress for all to see. The Sustainable Community Progress Indicators (SCPI) project is an attempt to focus the efforts of a city and its citizens toward making real progress.
Read the full posting here.
 
 
From Ken Thompson writing at The Bumble Bee comes this interesting posting on teams:

There are four myths about teams which are particularly deadly because each of them is nearly true.

Myth1: Talent is the most important thing in any team
Myth2: The team’s goals won't suddenly change without anyone realising it
Myth3: 'Collaboration' means basically the same thing to all team members
Myth4: You should always play 'win-win'

Read the full posting here.

From Jory DesJardins writing at Pause comes up with this great advice:

All I can tell them is that blogging forces expertise. You must read and interact in order to have something to say. If you don't want to have something to say, don't blog. And don't read blogs. Sure, you can read trade publications, but the act of blogging enforces a deeper thinking of your craft. It's hard to blog about something that you haven't grappled with and come to a conclusion on in some way.

Read the full posting here.

 

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Portnoy Family Situation

Via Jennifer Pohl writing at Above the Couch I read about the trials of the Portnoy family living in sanctuary in New Foundland.
 
Read about their story here.
 
If you choose, you can sign the petition on the web site as well.
 
There must be a better way to resolve this situation without enforcing the deportation order.
 
 
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Thursday, March 23, 2006

Quotes & Links

From Adrian Savage at The Coyote Within comes these words of wisdom:

It begins in school. You ought to be good at math; or English, or art, or whatever. If you aren't, you're a bad person. Pull yourself together. Make more effort. Get a grip!

Here's the reality. Some people are good at certain things, some people aren't…but we're all good at something. It's simply something different from whatever the next person's good at.

That's it. Not an "ought" in sight.

Read the full posting here.

 

From Kathy Sierra at Creating Passionate Users comes this gem:

One of the most interesting things discussed in the Time article is that neuroscientists have established the specific area of the brain responsible for context switching. And unfortunately for some of us, it appears that this part of the brain performs less well as our brain ages. In a nutshell, the older we get, the less quickly and effectively we can multitask. But... most parents of teenagers already know that we have no frickin' idea how our kids manage to do what they do simultaneously. The key issue, though, is that while we now know they're better at it than we (the parents) are, they aren't half as good at it as they think they are.

And chances are, you aren't as good at it as you think you are. ; )

Read the full posting here.

 

From Geoffrey Moore at Dealing with Darwin comes this insight that might be applicaable to those who have "best in class" in their vision statement somewhere.

Best in class falls between these two goals.  It is not sufficiently differentiated to be unique, and thus it does not create bargaining power.  But it goes well beyond the minimum acceptable standard, which means you have spent a bunch of resources beyond what you had to and achieved no economic return for so doing!

That’s why “best in class” is a sucker bet.

Read the full posting here.

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Kevin Sites In the Hot Zone - Gulsoma's Story

Where was I? How did I miss this?
 
 
Just read Gulsoma's Story.
 
Need to do something.
 
 
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Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Guest Blogging Today at Time Goes By


I have the honor to be blogging today on Ronni Bennett's Time Goes By.

What you'll read is one of my longer story posts, my version of the 37Days challenge.

I hope you enjoy it.


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Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Ego Surf Results

Via Ronni Bennett at Time Goes By comes the link to ego surf which combines a Google search on your name and your blog, and produces points on a speed dial quickly. For what its worth, my results look like this:














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Monday, March 20, 2006

Technorati IS Broken - New Example

Not to beat a "dead horse" but check out this example:

These were cut/paste from screen shots taken on Monday 3/20/06 at 9:30 PM Eastern.

Does that mean Seth can add them up and move higher in the rankings?

Or does Technorati really have a problem?


Updated: 9:44 PM
Checked out the ranking by Favorites and Seth's Blog is listed twice again.
At 30 with 51 people making him a "favorite" and at 98 with another 20 making him a "favorite".


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Songs on the road

Traveling home today from PA where I took part in the USATF Level 1 class for coaches. Set up a stack of CDs to rotate through for the drive. The stack was as follows:
 
 
 
Phil Collins  and his Hits
 
Ellis Paul & Vance Gilbert  and their collaboration: Side of the Road
 
 
Arrived home safely before I got to Corey Harris & Henry Butler and their vu du menz with some classy New Orleans music.
 
 
 
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Friday, March 17, 2006

Happy St. Patrick's Day

To all the Irish and friends of the Irish on this wonderful day, a Friday no less, you have an excuse to toss a pint of Guiness down.
 
Drink responsibly!
 
Love fully!
 
Live joyously!
 
 
 
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Call for 100Bloggers!

 
Are you ready to be one of the most popular bloggers on the planet?

DON'T WAIT FOR PERMISSION TO SUCCEED!
Join 100 Bloggers NOW!

Then add 100 Bloggers to your Technorati Favorites.

It's a numbers game. If we ALL participate, we will break into Technorati's Top 40 Favorites by the end of the week-end.

Technorati is currently tracking more than 30 million blogs. The Corner on National Review Online, No.100 on Technorati's Top 100 (by links), has more than 12,700 links from 2,400 sites. Generating these kinds numbers takes time. This is your opportunity to shortcut evolution.

GENERATE MOMENTUM FOR 100 BLOGGERS AND THEY WILL GENERATE MOMENTUM FOR YOU!
 
 
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Technorati IS Broken (Redux)

I wrote earlier about how wrong Technorati was in depicting the status of the blogs I put on my favorites listing. I added 48 and at the time, most of them were reported to have been updated several days ago. This status was wrong. These are my favorites and one of the reasons for them being my favorites is that they are active and update with fresh content almost daily in most cases and several times daily in a good number of cases.
 
I just went through the listing of the 48 and by a rough calculation only 11 of the statuses are "correct". That is a 25% success rate. Now, my view of the blogosphere is a small view but if this is a random sample and only 25% is accurate, then why should we trust any number from Technorati! 25% in baseball is a so-so hitter. In technology, if you're not in the 5 9's range, you should be toast.
 
Disclaimer on rough calculation - it says "updated". When I visited the blog, if the posting was date/timed within the time frame, it was marked as correct. If it was in the ball park, I marked it correct. Given variances in time zones and time zones settings for blogs, and Technorati's process for crawling and updating, there can be some squishiness here.
 
But let's single out one for a prime example: the Worthwhile blog. According to Bloglines, it has 260 subscribers. The activity is regular and since it is a group blog, it is rare that a business day goes by without a single posting. So what is Technorati's status for it? It should say it was updated within some number of hours or at most, one day ago? No, it has no status.
 
Can you do a similar audit of your own favorites? What does it show? Maybe my sample is all wet but I'd like to know.
 
 
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Thursday, March 16, 2006

Quotes & Links

We'll start this recap of clippings with Ronni Bennett writing at As Time Goes By

Blogging is an excellent brain activity. As reported here before, studies from Drs. Fernette and Brock Eide show:

  1. Blogs can promote critical and analytical thinking.

  2. Blogging can be a powerful promoter of creative, intuitive, and associational thinking.

  3. Blogs promote analogical thinking.

  4. Blogging is a powerful medium for increasing access and exposure to quality information.

  5. Blogging combines the best of solitary reflection and social interaction.

Read Ronni's full posting here.

Now that we know blogging is good for us, here is some great brain food from Frank Paynter via Norm Jensen's posting on The New Math:
New Conversion Table

1. Ratio of an igloo's circumference to its diameter = Eskimo Pi

2. 2000 pounds of Chinese soup = Won ton

3. 1 millionth of a mouthwash = 1 microscope

4. Time between slipping on a peel and smacking the pavement = 1
bananosecond

Be sure to click through for the full listing. Be prepared for a belly full of laughs.

Via Kate at 800-CEO-READ-BLOG comes this inside story on the famous (or infamous) cubicle. I was once a cubicler but was fortunate to have a phone booth type office for the past couple of years and apparently am headed back to cubicleville so I found this was most enlightening.

The cubicle was not born evil, or even square. It began, in fact, as a beautiful vision. The year was 1968. Nixon won the presidency. The Beatles released The White Album. And home-furnishings company Herman Miller (Research) in Zeeland, Mich., launched the Action Office. It was the brainchild of Bob Propst, a Coloradan who had joined the company as director of research.

After years of prototyping and studying how people work, and vowing to improve on the open-bullpen office that dominated much of the 20th century, Propst designed a system he thought would increase productivity (hence the name Action Office). The young designer, who also worked on projects as varied as heart pumps and tree harvesters, theorized that productivity would rise if people could see more of their work spread out in front of them, not just stacked in an in-box.

The new system included plenty of work surfaces and display shelves; partitions were a part of it, intended to provide privacy and places to pin up works in process. The Action Office even included varying desk levels to enable employees to work part of the time standing up, thereby encouraging blood flow and staving off exhaustion.

Read the full article here.

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Go where?

From Jeneane Sessum writing at Allied:
You can't go anywhere. Because you're already there.
Read the full posting here.
 
 
 
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Good for ?

From Mark Hurst writing at GoodExperience on reactions to his announcement at eTech:

- Dominant mindset: is it AJAX, is it RSS, is it geo-located, does it have an API, does it plug into Google Maps, is there a tag cloud? Several people walked out of my session when it became clear that Gootodo had none of these.

- I'm always reminded at events like these - the technology industry is about building technology and selling it; not primarily about improving users' lives. (Again, with some exceptions..)

- The tech industry isn't particularly for or against improving users' lives - it's just not the primary agenda. Cool gadgets, big sales numbers, hefty IPOs - those are the primary goal; genuinely helping users to be more productive is a possible nice-to-have side effect.

- So what do we call the group of people, companies, projects that are primarily about improving users' lives through better technology? The "good experience tech industry"? (GETI? That's not a keeper, just a first draft...) I'm open to suggestions.

Yes, some "get it", some don't!


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Monday, March 13, 2006

Quotes & Links

From Patti Digh at 37 Days comes this gem:

Sheila McKechnie has said, “People who are homeless are not social
inadequates. They are people without homes.”

From Ruby Sinriech writing at Lotusmedia about a SXSW session:

Jason says that it’s great to start thing up “on the side.” This is how 37signals started Basecamp. He points out that obscurity is good for getting started so you can screw up & learn from it before every one is watching.

He says “less” is an asset.
1. Less time. You’ll just waste it anyway.
2. Less money. See above.
3. Less software. Keep it simple “Clever stuff” gets in the way.


And finally (for this posting) from Jennifer Warwick writing at The New Charm School:
... it’s all made up anyway. It’s human nature to fill in blanks when we don’t have all the data. So why not make up that it’s something that will change the world for the better? It’s the same amount of work, and you get more accomplished.

Yes, focus on the positive!

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Saturday, March 11, 2006

Saturday

I like the looser structure of Saturday's.

I go by my schedule (not a work schedule).

I get to take a walk with Dolores. This gives us some prime time to review our stuff, discuss the schedule of the week ahead (yes, we plan ahead sometimes, although I have been accused of not paying proper attention to some items), and stop for coffee to walk with on our last mile home.

I get to catch up on some reading, writing, blogging, etc.
I get to mix all this in with my family/household chores (cleaners, food shopping, house stuff, etc.)

I get to listen to the Coffeehouse, then Standing Room Only on 88.9 FM.

This afternoon I'll change channels to catch Brian O'Donovan and his Celtic Sojourn, then Folk on 89.7 FM

I hope your Saturday is enjoyable!


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Friday, March 10, 2006

Quotes & Links

Lately I've been having a lot of sidebar discussions with readers about finding that way to make a living at the intersection of What You Love (your passion), What You're Good At (your gift), and What's Needed (your purpose). Knowing your Genius (where your gift and passion intersect -- areas 2 & 3 in the above chart) is helpful in providing focus -- it helps you to set aside self-indulgences (things you love but are not acknowledged as very good at by others) and unfulfilling options (things you're acknowledged as very good at, but don't really have any passion for).
Be sure to click through to read the full posting and ponder the venn diagram. Helps tell the story quite well!


From Johnny Moore (pdf) at Brand Autopsy comes this endorsement of a book on the Laws of Lifetime Growth by Dan Sullivan and Catherine Nomura along with some "snippets to gnaw on". Here is the tenth law. It caught my eye. (Actually, each of the nine before did and I waited until the last one this, to copy it here. They are all that good!)
LAW TEN:
Always make your questions bigger than your answers.
“ … all growth lies in the territory of the unknown. What we already know is in the past. What we have yet to discover is the future. Always make your questions bigger than your answers and you’ll keep drawing yourself into a bigger future with new possibilities.”
Be sure to click through to read the full posting and the nine other snippets.


Malcolm Gladwell writing on his new blog provides his Thoughts on Freakonomics. I read Blink and like it alot. Freakonomics is on my To Read listing but I have followed their blog for some time. Malcolm gets into the differences between the arguments Freakonomics uses and the one he put forth in Blink:
So why is he so anxious to discredit Broken Windows? One—understandable—explanation is that he makes his own argument more compelling by dismissing all other arguments. (I know all about this tactic. I do it all the time). But a deeper explanation, I think, has to do with the difference between the perspective of economics and the perspective of psychology. Levitt is very interested in the root causes of behavior, in the kinds of incentives and circumstances that fundamentally shape the way human beings act. That’s the kind of thing that economists—particularly behavioral economists—think a lot about. And rightly so: who we are and how we behave is a product of forces and influences rooted in the histories and traditions and laws of the societies in which we belong.
Be sure to click through and read the full posting. It is worth it.


From Robert Brady writing at Pure Land Mountain comes this gem on Progressive Simplicity:
Steel over stone. Fat over bone. Excess over lack. That has always been the natural human aspiration. This has led to mistakes, which is human nature too, but retrogression is not human in nature. The solution is improvement, as it always has been. And the simpler the improvement, the better. Simplified progress. Progressive simplicity.
A short posting but worth every word in its simplicity!


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Thursday, March 09, 2006

What makes a great leader?

This question is getting some attention. Since Rosa Say posted the initial challenge to the blog Synergy on Sunday, there have been some comments and postings providing different perspectives on this topic.

So let me put in my two cents.

I like to use the analogy of the three legged stool to represent a business. That is, a business needs to effectively combine people, process and technology. But while the three legged stool works well to show an equal proportion for each of the components (otherwise, it wobbles) it lacks another dimension, in particular that of time or motion. The chair (i.e. business) moves. The business does not stand still. So let's shift gears a bit and use a bus to depict the business.

The bus still needs to operate with an effective combination of people, process and technology. That does not change. So now, the bus driver is the company leader. In this case, he is not just any leader. A great leader is one who knows how to get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus (hard decisions some times), the proper technology to enhance the business processes, and the right processes to serve the customer. The great leader also knows how to drive the whole bus forward. The great leader knows how to navigate through the maze of roads, or even venture forth into off-road areas.

FastCompany republished or more correctly brought to back an article originally published in September 2005 on Three Ways of Great Leaders. Two Harvard Business School professors (Mayo and Nohria) found in their study
... these business masters had more than their fair share of what Mayo and Nohria call "contextual intelligence." That is, they possessed an acute sensitivity to the social, political, technological, and demographic contexts that came to define their eras. And they adapted their enterprises to best respond to those forces.
You can call it "contextual intelligence" or inspiration or insight or some other term but the great leader recognized an opportunity. Someone in the market place, possibly a significant portion of the market, had an unmet need. The great leader recognized that and figured out a way to meet that need. The great leader got the bus, loaded the right people, process and technology and set forth to meet that need. Without that recognition, there is no purpose for the bus!

Initially, there may not even have been a road to drive on. But the great leader got the bus going. There were other challenges along the way. You can use your imagination here. Bottom line, the great leader kept the bus going. The great leader kept the people focused (challenged, rewarded, etc.), the processes (adjusted as necessary), and the technology (updated or enhanced as required) to meet their customers needs and the bus kept rolling.

Vision alone won't take the great leader far.
Persistence alone in the face of great odds won't.
Recognition alone of the opportunity won't.

It is the combination of these that the great leader needs to address on a regular basis to keep the bus (people, process and technology) going to successfully meet their customers needs.

How is your bus driver?


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Wednesday, March 08, 2006

What makes a Great Leader?

There is an interesting set of questions posed by Rosa Say over at the blog Synergy on what makes a great leader.

I thought I was going to be able to step up to the bar tonight to provide my first response but alas time is short and my pillow is calling me.

You can step up to the bar anytime with your own response!


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Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Fifty-Ninth Street Bridge Song (Feeling Groovy)

Another favorite...


Slow down, you move too fast
You gotta make the morning last
Just kickin' down the cobblestones
Lookin' for fun and
Feelin' groovy____________

Hello lampost
Whatcha knowin?
I've come to watch your flowers growin'
Ain'tcha got no rhymes for me?
Doo Bee Doo Doo,
Feelin' groovy____________

Got no deeds to do
No promises to keep
I'm dappled and drowsy and ready to sleep
Let the morningtime drop all its petals on me...
Life, I love you,
All is groovy____________________

The Boxer

Continuing the Paul Simon song thing:


I am just a poor boy, though my story's seldom told.
I have squandered my resistance,
For a pocketful of mumbles, such are promises.
All lies and jest.
Still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.

When I left my home and my family I was no more than a boy,
In the company of strangers,
In the quiet of a railway station, runnin' scared.
Laying low, seeking out the poorer quarters,
Where the ragged people go.
Lookin' for the places, only they would know.

Lie-la-lie ...

Asking only workman's wages I come lookin' for a job,
But I get no offers,
Just a come-on from the whores on Seventh Avenue.
I do declare there were times when I was so lonesome,
I took some comfort there.
Oooh la, la, la ...

Li la li...

Now the years are rollin' by me, they are rockin' evenly
And I'm older than I once was, younger than I'll be, that's not unusual
Though it isn't strange, after changes upon changes
We are more or less the same, after changes we are more or less the same

Li la li ...

And I’m laying out my winter clothes, wishing I was gone, goin’ home
Where the new york city winters aren’t bleedin’ me, leadin’ me to goin' home

In the clearing stands a boxer and a fighter by his trade,
And he carries the reminders of every glove that laid him down,
Or cut him 'til he cried out in his anger and his shame,
"I am leaving, I am leaving."
But the fighter still remains.

Lie-la-lie ...

Monday, March 06, 2006

Technorati is broken

Just loaded my favorites in Technorati and was surprised with the results.

No, not with who was listed! These are my favorites. They provide me sustenance on a regular basis. I get much food for thought from reading them. So when I see that Technorati says they have not been updated in 2, 3, and many more days (Worthwhile is listed with no update!) then I know something is wrong with Technorati.

Check out the listing and see for yourself.

Seth Godin posted 6 times today but has not been updated in 1 day.

Talking Story was updated earlier today but has not been updated in 2 days.

Troy Worman, the prolific blogger at Orbit Now, has not been updated in 6 days. Yes, and the sun won't rise tomorrow!


Oh, cute little aside - spell check within Blogger provides a suggestion for Technorati as "degenerate"... no I did not make that up... that's too cool...


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Bridge Over Troubled Water

When you're weary, feeling small,
When tears are in your eyes, I will dry them all;
I'm on your side, when times get rough
And friends just can't be found,
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.
When you're down and out,
When you're on the street,
When evening falls so hard
I will comfort you.
I'll take your part when darkness comes,
And pains is all around,
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.

Sail on silvergirl,
Sail on by.
Your time has come to shine.
All your dreams are on their way.
See how they shine.
If you need a friend
I'm sailing right behind.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind.


A timeless classic by two great troubadours!

Book Review: Paul Simon, The Definitive Biography - Laura Jackson

I like Paul Simon a lot. He is one of my favorite singers. While I grew up listening to him and Art, I had only purchased their "greatest Hits" and then was smitten with "Graceland". My daughter danced in my arms to "You can call me Al" (her name was Allison). My wife and I caught Paul and company in a live outdoor concert in Holmdel, NJ. It was a wonderful evening.

That much said, this book left me wanting.

If as the cover blurbs, Linda Jackson is such a great writer on celebrities, how come she never talked with Paul?

While I did learn some good background info on Paul, the writing style was more like watching a profile on VH1. You know where they always recap before the break away for commercial, and then recap again when they comeback. Somewhat annoying.

It was a fairly quick read and I did make it through it but it would not be high on my list of recommendation to anyone.


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Sunday, March 05, 2006

FeedBurner issue/Resolved

You may have noticed if you visit Passionate Runner or Passion for the Good Customer Experience that the Feedburner headlines for Steve's 2 Cents is stuck.

The date keeps changing but the posting is stuck on "Watch this space for future items". I have tried to troubleshoot my feed but it seems to be beyond me at the moment.

The capability to click through to the site works fine but even though I do post almost daily, it does not seem to reflect that.

Hopefully, I'll have some resolution soon.

Thanks for your patience.

Updated- thanks to some guidance from Rick Klau, the issue appears to be resolved! Thanks Rick!

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By any other name

From Susan Senator writing at Susan's Blog comes this gem via her son, Max:
What's in a brand name?
That which we call a Dell
By any other name would suck as much.
So the mac mini would, were it not a mac called,
Retain that dear perfection which it owes
Without that title.
Read the full posting to get the full treatment of an updated version of Romeo's thoughts on the computer today.
 
 
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Friday, March 03, 2006

Hey Carolyn


Oh no, look what I found!


















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Hitchhiker's Needed

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Blogosphere, a joint venture of mine with Troy Worman, is looking to expand. We have been writing about our discoveries for a year now.

Yes, happy blogversary to you and I Troy for our work on Hitchhiker!

The purpose of Hitchhiker is to create a simple post to share another blogger site that has been "found" in your explorations. Preferably the blogger would be part of the "long tail". But the blogger site would be doing something different or in an interesting way.

As Troy so aptly put it a year ago:
The blogosphere is a giant time capsule that offers a panoramic view of our world. It is a collection of personal expressions that represent virtually every human perspective of our times. It is filled with millions of personal accounts, diaries, essays, stories and photos. It is filled with art. It is filled with emotion. It is filled with thought. It is our collective conscience. Better than any collection of books or articles, the blogosphere will capture the story of our existence.
I added to this:
I look forward to getting to a trail and hike in the spring.

You get a water bottle, a snack, your good comfy boots,
your camera, etc. together in your day pack
and arrive at the trail head.

You sign in on the trail log.
Check the sign out comments, usually some good info there.
Almost a real time update that the guide book can not provide.

And start walking.
Will you join us on this hike?

It will be simple to do.

As you find a good site, new to you at least, that you think others might appreciate, write a brief post about it.

You can include a quote or two (or more) to show what they are capable of.
Include something from their About section
Include the links of course.

And add your point of view, why is this something we should look at?
If you need a sample, visit Hitchhiker and view the archives. There are over 300 posts to choose from.

Send the posting to me shersteve_@_gmail_com
You can send the file in HTML format or Word doc, or whatever is convenient for you. If I have trouble working with it, I'll let you know.

I'll post the note, provide you with credit, tags, and a link so you can reference it.
If you would like to do this on a regular basis, then let me know and we can work out the details.

PS - one other important item, the posting should be positive. There are so many blogs in the world we should focus on the ones that should have the light shine upon then. There is no need to "reward" those that do not need deserve this light.


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Thursday, March 02, 2006

37Days Challenge Redux

 
I spent some time earlier this week to write a longer post. It got drafted quickly the first day. Edited after sleeping on it. And still edited further on the third day. I think it came out very well.
 
This is a different kind of writing than I normally do here (and my other blogs). Most of my posts are written and revised within usually just a single sitting and published that same day. That has been my modus operandi for the time I have been blogging.
 
I don't mind the daily writing. I think I do quite well with the short ones. But I like the feeling of the longer one. I think I need to do that more often.
 
I will accept the 37Days challenge in intent. Patti normally crafts her writing over the course of a week and hence her challenge is to let it go more frequently, i.e. once each day for 37 days. My challenge will be do write a longer post once each week for the 37 day period. (Somehow once each week for 37 WEEKS, is too much at this point.)
 
Ultimately, the writing needs to make a point and convey it well enough for someone to understand. Long or short doesn't necessarily make it better or worse, as long is the point is made.
 
What do you think?
 
 
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Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Greatest Written Passage??

When it comes to appreciation of writing, I'm a believer that less is more. I prefer poetry and short stories to novels, and essays and short books over long books, and I'm prone to copy down précis and favourite passages and quotes from great books and then give the books themselves away. When I find great ideas or expressions of emotion or word pictures that contain only the number of words they absolutely need and no more, I cherish them. So I got to wondering: What is the greatest single paragraph ever written?
This from Dave Pollard at How to Save the World. Dave goes on to provide some samples of what he proposes are good writing and while this is not a contest, he is soliciting suggestions. You can read the full post here.
 
A tough assignment should you chose to accept it. I may come up with several passages but no single one of them should be considered the greatest of all. Each of us has our own voice and the passage is a reflection of that voice, that self.
 
Is Shakespeare greater than Whitman? Dostoyevsky greater than Sartre?
 
I would not/could not make that call and that is not a cop-out.
 
What do you think?
 
 
 
 
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