Webraw Blog: May 2003 Archives

Observations on Blogs

I admit it. I miss reading blogs. I miss their timeliness. I miss their personalities. And most of all I miss the bite-sized, made-for-the-Web, brevity and succinctness of blogs. I miss the way the best blogs take an idea or story, rip out all the superfluous filler that so often accompanies non-blog content and just serve up the essential elements.

My self imposed blog abstinence is helping me to re-evaluate the way I define blogs. What makes a blog different than an op-ed column, an essay or finely worded prose? I think some of the elements that make blogs unique are those that I miss most.

Timeliness - Comments, opinions and insight about something now instead of at press time or after a laborious editing process.

Personality - Blogs are conversational. They allow personalities to emerge. Blogs eschew the conventions of publication.

Brief - Blogs are brief. Ok, not all blogs are brief but the best ones understand that the Web demands brevity. Say what you want to say but do it with as few words as possible. I think Ernest Hemingway would have loved blogs.

The people that understand these elements of blogging are better able to exploit them and create better blogs.

posted by Eric J | 08:54 PM

Read this before you upgrade

Apple decides to stop song swapping with it's latest version of iTunes. The latest version disables a feature that allowed Mac users to share mp3s with people over the Internet.

In what may be the most Naive Public Statement in years Apple says:

"Rendezvous music sharing...has been used by some in ways that have surprised and disappointed us. We designed it to allow friends and family to easily stream (not copy) their music between computers at home or in a small group setting, and it does this well. But some people are taking advantage of it to stream music over the Internet to people they do not even know."

You don't say. Who'd have suspected that people would want to trade songs with other people over the Internet for free?

posted by Eric J | 10:07 PM

Blog Free: Day One

This is my first full day without blogs. I'm fine, really I am. I keep muttering this to myself like some sort of mantra. My skin is crawling and my left eye twitches but I think that's the pot of Starbucks home brew I just downed. Additionally, I'm beginning to notice things that previously escaped my awareness. Like my son for instance. When did THIS happen? I have a 3-year-old boy?!? That explains all the Rescue Heroes I keep finding in the bathtub. And the SUV parked in our driveway... That's OUR SUV?!?

Anyway, it's really not going so bad. I've been spending a lot of time at the aptly named Favorite Website Awards and have even begun my own pointless Flash project using Live Motion (Heresy!). We'll see how that works out. Speaking of Flash/Live Motion, a friend of mine built the stunning Pirates of the Caribbean Web site. Check it out. It's pretty cool and it's NOT a blog.

Question: Is Glaser Online really a blog? It's in my list of recommended blogs and the title says it's in "blog-style" but it really doesn't seem like a blog to me. Defining blogs can be a tricky business.

posted by Eric J | 10:14 AM

Bloggity Blog Blog

I took my camera to Starbucks yesterday. I had every intention of joining the crowd and snapping pics of America's favorite coffee shop when I had an epiphany. Why the hell do I care about snapping photos of Starbucks? The only answer I had to that question was because Lawrence Lessig and a host of bloggers seemed to think it was a good idea. Did I think it was a good idea? Not really. I was just "following the herd" and I didn't like it one bit.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for "fighting the establishment" man, but I just didn't see the point of taking pictures of Starbuck's innards. So what if their corporate policy is to prohibit photography, I always ask a business before I begin running around taking pictures, it's called being polite.

So there I was at Starbucks with my camera and I made a decision to stop reading blogs for an entire week. Every day I spend a couple of hours reading blogs and I think it's time I took a break, at least for a week. Today I'm declaring a temporary blog abstinence. I'll still post to this blog but I won't read any blogs for a week. I just think that the hive nature of blogs can sometimes distort my perception of reality and it's time that I unplugged for a bit to let non-blog things enter my consciousness. I'll let you know how it turns out.

posted by Eric J | 10:38 AM

Sunday Memories: Star Wars

Sunday Memories is just an excuse for me to ramble on about stuff I did as a kid instead of posting actual content. Sometimes it's interesting but mostly it's just stuff to fill up space until Monday. Enjoy.

The first movie I ever saw as a child was Star Wars (technically Episode IV - A New Hope). I was about six years old and went with my family and a few aunts and uncles. I can only vividly remember two things about the movie: 1.) The Sand People freaked me out. I had nightmares about them for months. 2.) I began crying uncontrollably when Darth Vader killed Obi Wan and my mother had to escort me from the theater. The excuse for my behavior is that this was my FIRST movie experience ever and that was some pretty heavy stuff to lay on a boy who hadn't even seen Bambi.

I soon recovered from the trauma of Obi Wan's death and began collecting the Kenner action figures. My imagination had been captivated by Star Wars and every day the Rebel Alliance waged a battle against Darth Vader and his Storm Troopers in my tiny bedroom. However, as much as Star Wars influenced and inspired my childhood imagination it never became an obsession with me, not the way it did for people like Troy Milton.

Troy Milton was my roommate for about a year. Actually he was one of three roommates that lived with me in a large house in Memphis. Troy was obsessed with Star Wars. He knew every detail about every movie. Watched Episodes IV, V and VI almost weekly. Had a copy of every comic book ever printed about the Star Wars Universe. Had all the action figures mounted around his room. Dressed up as Darth Vader for our Big Halloween Bash. Could pontificate for hours about the philisophical merits of THE FORCE. Yet, in spite of being a bonafide Star Wars Fanatic Troy was an alright guy. Honestly, I sometimes envied his Star Wars obsession. There was something appealing about the idea of immersing myself in something that consumed so much of my childhood imagination.

I toyed with this idea for a few months and even tested the waters by purchasing a few Star Wars comic books but my plans came to a sudden and dramatic end one summer night in 1999. That was the night I sat in a crowded theater and watched The Phantom Menace. That was the night I saw the abomination known as Jar-Jar Binks dance across the screen and that was the second time in my life that I began to cry uncontrollably in a movie theater. Only that particular time my mother was not around to escort me outside and console me with hugs and kisses. That time my only comfort was a bucket of unbuttered popcorn and a bladder stretching large Diet Coke. That was the Night They Drove Old Dixie Down. That Was The Day The Music Died. That Was The End of The Innocence. That was the night I realized that I will NEVER be a Star Wars Fanatic.

posted by Eric J | 08:55 PM

One of a Kind

A piece of legislation was recently signed into law requiring all able-bodied bloggers to make some sort of post about The Matrix Reloaded. Failure to comply will result in a in temporary suspension of all blogging privileges. Like nearly every blogger on the planet I made my contribution (I should note that I was one of the first bloggers to comply) and have moved on to bigger and better things (like blogging about Vending Maching Blogs).

Tonight I offer another brief movie review but I can say with little doubt that this is the only blog reviewing Daddy Day Care. The Review: It's a pretty good movie, especially if you have kids. I was half expecting the same horrible nonsense portrayed in Dr. Doolittle or the Nutty Professor but this was actually a delightful movie with some good laughs. It wasn't overly sappy and it wasn't overly wacky, it was just a good movie.

Murphey was basically subdued and while I've read a few reviews criticizing him for this I think it worked well in the film. Steve Zahn (of Happy Texas) was the funniest guy and his wackiness was just enough to be funny while not being outrageous.

Ok, I'm not a very good movie reviewer but Finding Nemo doesn't come out until next week and the family was in the mood for a movie tonight. I just had to be that one blogger reviewing Daddy Day Care while everyone else is still debating the merits of Matrix Reloaded. I'm scraping the barrel tonight.

On another note. I've been doing some video crap at work and been able to work with Final Cut Express (our budget wouldn't allow for Pro) and it's pretty cool. I still like iMovie a lot but FCE is really a powerful tool. I think I'll soon be adding a FCE tutorial to my ever expanding library.

posted by Eric J | 10:29 PM

The 32nd Flavor

Today has been one of those days. I'm cranky, tired and you know the routine. So, since the blogging muse is on vacation I figure now would be a good time to feature a few of the "Flavors" that didn't make it into the now infamous 31 Flavors of Blog project. These submissions were either received after the project was completed or just didn't fit at the time.

From Brad Farris - www.vagabonding.com
"A much better remote blog. It does have a lot of "extras" that require more than the typical blogger can create, but it's all MT behind the scenes."

From Phil Jones - http://www.synaesmedia.com/cgi-bin/beatblog.pl?act=about
"Fresh beats (nearly) every day."

From Stacey - http://www.loobylu.com

From Dean Peters - http://www.healyourchurchwebsite.com/
"Teaching, rebuking, correcting & training in righteous web design for church and para-church organizations."

From Pete Petrisko - http://worldofpete.blogspot.com/
A web log that allows us to laugh at our own human frailties. Or, at the very least, those of others. Skewering politics, pop culture, society-at-large, personal relationships, and more... one idiot at a time.

That's it for now. Enjoy.

posted by Eric J | 07:52 PM

Wireless Simplified

This highly informative article discusses the basics of wireless computing. Drawing from personal experience, Lannie Byrd explains ad-hoc networks, Bluetooth and the various WiFi standards. This is a must read whether you're newly untethered or a veteran WiFi junkie. I learned a few things from the read. Great stuff.

posted by Eric J | 10:39 PM

Design my site Strange Banana

This interesting template generator is pretty neat. The actual templates are mostly awful looking but it's just cool to see what can be done with CSS. Try doing THAT with nested tables. (linked from A Whole Lotta Nothing)

posted by Eric J | 01:32 PM

Good things can come from Tennessee

Well, bad things (like a "Super-DMCA" bill) come from Tennessee but good things, like this opposition site, also come from the Volunteer State.

The Tennessee Digital Freedom Network has put together a grassroots organizing site to rally opposition to the Tennessee version of the "Super-DMCA." This site is a model of how it should be done -- an excellent informational and organizing resource. (From BoingBoing)

A "grassroots" effort to defeat a state income tax was successful last year so maybe we can rally against this bill and have similar success. Glad to see fellow Tennessean Glenn is bringing up this issue. I'm calling my representative today.

posted by Eric J | 07:40 AM

Welcome Jayson Blair

Jayson Blair We at webraw.com constantly seek out promising young writers in an effort to expand and diversify the quality content we regularly produce. As part of those efforts we're pleased to announce the newest addition to the webraw crew: former New York Times reporter Jayson Blair. Jayson will contribute his own unique style of journalism covering Web culture and technology trends. His resume includes over four years of experience working for the Times and we are honored to welcome him aboard.

We thought it would be great for everyone to get to know Jayson so we sat down with him yesterday for a brief Q&A:

webraw: Well Jayson, we're glad to have you aboard. Welcome to the webraw team.

Jayson: Yeah, sure. What the hell kind of name is webraw anyway? I mean it sounds like you're saying Web BRA. This isn't some kind of lingerie site is it? I ain't into that freaky stuff.

webraw: Ha! No, this isn't a lingerie site. It's W-E-B-R-A-W and yes, it does sort of sound like BRA I guess. At least you didn't complain about the site being too wide... heh heh.

Jayson: Too wide? Dude, what are you talking about? You've totally lost me.

webraw: Yeah, too wide because... it's like 1000 pixels wide and won't fit snugly on some monitors... have you even seen the site?

Jayson: Yeah sure... uh... well I mean no I haven't. I'll put it on my to do list. Say, what was the URL again.

webraw: Webraw.com. Look, let's just go ahead and address the question that's on everybody's mind, "What's up with the Yankees? I mean dropping 3 straight to the Rangers? C'mon! What gives?"

Jayson: Hmmmm. I'm not really into baseball. I guess they suck or something. I dunno. Hey, you mind if I smoke?

webraw: Uh, no. Go ahead. Just ignore me if I start coughing uncontrollably. Yeah. Ok then, now tell us exactly why the hell you fabricated and plagiarized stories for four years?

Jayson: Oh, you HAD to bring that up didn't you? I'm living my life and moving on and your type just wants to dwell on the past. Can't people just let bygones be bygones? The media today just want to exploit the mistakes and pain of others for their own profit. I'm so past all that nonsense.

webraw: Well, you did single-handedly ruin the reputation of the most respected newspaper in the world. Just answer the damn question.

Jayson: Ok. Ok. Yeah, alright. Well, it's kind of a funny story now that I think about it. See, it all started with Victoria.

webraw: A woman? I should have known.

Jayson: Yeah. Well, I met her right after my internship and she was SMOKIN'. I mean she was 9 kinds of hot. She looked like J-Lo without the Diva bitchiness and I was hooked at first sight. We started dating and everything was just incredible. I mean I was in LOVE for the first time in my life and the object of my affections was the finest woman I'd ever seen.

webraw: Ok, I get it. She was hot.

Jayson: Right. So, of course I tried to spend as much time with her as possible and one night I had a choice, call my source to verify a quote or just make up a quote and go clubbing with Victoria. I went clubbing. That was the beginning and it just progressively got worse and worse until I was just hanging with her all day while telling my editors that I was in Texas covering some story. I couldn't resist her luscious lips and the way she...

webraw: Stop. Spare us the details. But I must ask you one thing. There really wasn't any woman named Victoria was there? You were really just sitting in your apartment playing Tomb Raider on your PlayStation weren't you? Weren't you?

Jayson: DAMN. You're good. Yeah, you're right. But I'm unstoppable at Quake.

webraw: That is so pathetic.

Jayson: Yeah, I know. Is that all the questions cause I really don't feel like hanging around anymore. By the way, when do I get paid?

webraw: Paid? I'm not following you here bud. What are you talking about?

Jayson: Paid. You know. Like money. Cash. Coin. A paycheck.

webraw: Hahahahahahaha. That's funny.

Jayson: So.... you're saying Web bra won't be cutting me a check anytime soon.

webraw: You catch on quick Einstein.

Jayson: Well I'm outta here then. I gotta get back to my day job anyway. Later.

webraw: (yelling at Jayson as he is walking away) Hey Jayson... you forgot your apron.

posted by Eric J | 07:42 PM

Here's an idea...

I work in a relatively large building. There are snack and beverage machines scattered throughout its many halls. From my department I routinely hear the pounding of one notorious vending machine as patrons try (often futilely) to dislodge some salty treat stuck between those spiral screw things. It's not uncommon to see yellow post-it notes stuck to a machine with messages like, "I wasted $1.50 on this machine and am still waiting for my Skittles" or "This machine serves WARM sodas." Needless to say, these devices regularly frustrate the employees of our company and yet, nothing can be done to resolve the problems until that elusive (and seemingly mythical) Vending Machine Guy strolls through the lobby with a cart of snacks and a belt full of keys. Yet, even the arrival of the Vending Machine Guy does not guarantee compensation for lost change or immediate repair of Row E (which simply does not work) because he is simply not aware of the specific problems with his machines.

Here's my idea. Start a Vending Machine Blog that everyone in our building can post to and that sends an email to the Vending Machine Guy after each post so he will know of specific problems. Everyone can post and check the blog to identify specific problems with specific machines, share tips on how to work around the problem (this machine accepts change but not bills) and also keep a record of who has lost money on what machine and determine which machines regularly cause the most trouble. Posts like "The snack machine in the 3rd floor hall will not dispense Snickers for some reason" or "I lost $2 on the soda machine on the 5th floor" would help everyone and could potentially maximize the profits of the Vending Machine Guy.

Does anyone know of specific blog software that would best facilitate this type of community blog access? It wouldn't need to be public (though I'd like it to be) and could run on our intranet but it would need to be extremely easy for people to use. Any ideas? I'm seriously going to get this up and running as soon as I figure out how.

posted by Eric J | 06:10 PM

Some Guidelines for Journalists with Blogs

Found these guidelines for blogging journalists over at Scripting News and I really like them. This whole debate about blogs and employers has been stirring around in my mind for quite a while. Colleague Howard Owens seems certain on where he stands regarding this topic while I'm less sure, partly because I've not really had to worry about it with this particular blog.

By the way, we've started our first official blog at work. No link right now because I'm not sure when we are taking it live (Update: It's live). I used Radio Userland to power it and for some reason my experience with Radio was much better than last year's frustration. It's not a bad tool at all but we may end up with Movable Type as a corporate standard just because the license is a bit more liberal.

posted by Eric J | 11:07 AM

Sunday Memories: Axis & Allies

Like many Americans (and Canadians) I spent a large portion of my youth playing the board game Risk. It was often a family affair (sans mother) with father and sister often teaming up to defeat the Napoleonic tendencies of yours truly.

I loved Risk. I loved the thrill of global domination. I loved learning how to pronounce the names of places like Kamchatka. However, as much as I loved Risk I began to grow weary of it's one dimensional strategies and yearned for something more complex, more true to life.

That's when I discovered Axis & Allies. This amazing board game skillfully recreated the middle of World War II and contained many of the complexities faced by the generals of that war. Decisions about building bombers instead of fighter planes or where to place industrial complexes were all part of this fascinating game. In my mind it was far superior to Risk and quickly consumed all of my free time (which is quite a lot of time for a 12-year-old boy).

I played family, friends, relatives, strangers in the park and anyone who would take the time to learn the basics of the game. I quickly became dominant. My favorite tactic was to play as the Axis powers and swiftly dominate the United Kingdom. After the UK fell, everything else soon fell. I was unstoppable. Unstoppable until...

Late one night my dad, playing as the Allies, decided to put an industrial complex in China early in the game. This had never been done before and it caught me off guard. He quickly defeated my Axis powers. I was outraged and demanded a rematch. He won again. And again. And again. I decided to switch roles and mirrored his strategy and I became unstoppable as the Allies. My father had discovered a flaw in this otherwise perfect board game.

After that night we had lost our enthusiasm for Axis & Allies. We tried to develop handicapping techniques to make it more fair but our hearts just weren't in it any longer. The magic was gone. We were playing a flawed game and that just isn't any fun.

I still play Risk. I now have a much greater admiration for the game. Risk, because of its simplicity, is a nearly perfect game of global domination. And even though Risk doesn't contain some of the complexities of A&A it did teach me how to pronounce Kamchatka and Irkutsk.

posted by Eric J | 04:41 PM

Digital Music Nirvana

Matt Wood delivers again with an excellent article about organizing and optimizing your digital music collection.

We all know how to download and play our favorite digital music but do we know how to best organize the thousands of music files spread across those whirring hard drives? Matt shares some tips on organizing and optimizing your digital music collection to reach that elusive digital music nirvana.

Be sure to check it out.

posted by Eric J | 10:09 PM

Reload Me

Just got back from watching experiencing The Matrix Reloaded. After I catch my breath I will just say WOW. The movie surpassed all my expectations. It's awesome. Go see this movie. I do have some advice for those who have not seen the film.

1. Be sure and watch the first Matrix
2. Watch all of the free Animatrix videos first
3. Don't read any reviews or spoilers
4. At the end of all the really, really long credits is a preview for The Matrix Revolution. It is really brief and probably not worth waiting for all those credits. I'm glad I saw it but I'm not sure it was worth 10 minutes of credits and really loud music (yes I'm old). Also, the preview will probably be on the Web in a couple of days if it isn't already

That's all I got right now. One gripe I must quickly mention is the dance scene. It's, uh... well. I'm just hoping it was some sort of metaphorical thing because I didn't quite see the point of the scene. You'll know when you see it. Let me know why it's in the movie if you want cause I sure can't figure it out. Everything else was kick ass.

posted by Eric J | 01:44 AM

Put a spammer in the slammer?

The governor of Illinois has an anti-spam bill (Chicago Tribune, free reg. req'd) in his hot little hands. The bill would penalize spammers who continue sending unsolicited mail to Illinois residents who have asked not to receve mailings. It requires spammers to provide a valid way for people to opt out of solicitation. It also makes a distinction between legal, solicited email and illegal, unsolicited spam.

This bill isn't worth the paper it's printed on. First, it wrongly assumes that spammers can actually be tracked down to enforce the rules. Most spammers spoof addresses and route their mail through dozens of servers. Second, it purports that someone can come up with a fair description of solicited vs. unsolicited email. I get a lot of unsolicited crap from my bank, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo, and any other service that I've ever signed up for, but I'm sure if I took them to task they'd say I asked for it. And how often to do subscribe/unsubscribe functions actually work? I've been trying to kill the same newsletter subscriptions for months. Finally, 28 states have now passed anti-spam laws, and they haven't stopped the hundreds of messages hitting my junk mail folder every day. What difference does one more make? The ability to punish spammers becomes more complicated with the passing of each ill-conceived law.

But I don't have any real answers either. Anyone else?

posted by | 02:25 PM

Save Trends of Culture from Obscurity

This week's Song You've Never Heard is "Valley of the Skinz" by Trends of Culture.

“Yea though I walk through the valley of the skinz," is probably not the most proper adaptation of the 23rd Psalm ever written, but it provides a classic example of the playful rap loverman in action. The smooth beat and synth samples from the group’s DJ MOL underscore bawdy lyrics from rappers Nastee and the fun-loving Grapevine.

Trends of Culture scored a few minor underground hits with “Off and On” and “Who Got My Back”. “Valley of the Skinz” was released later with a song called “Crotch Ripper/Mad Speaker” as a b-side. The group generated some buzz, but unfortunately never released any other material due to record label hi-jinx. It’s a story heard all too often in the rap world, but at least they left their legacy (among other things) in the “Valley of the Skinz.”

Thanks to Jay Smooth from HipHopMusic.com for the background info.

posted by | 09:22 AM

The Homeless Guy

Some people have asked me if I know what happened to Kevin Barbieux and his Homeless Guy Web site and I found out tonight that he's fine. I won't detail the reasons his site is down (I don't really know all of them myself) but for those concerned he says he is doing fine.

posted by Eric J | 11:36 PM

Audio Blogs on NPR

This is a couple of days old but NPR did a little piece on Audio Blogs. Everybody's favorite Sarah had one of her audio blogs featured. I'll be honest, I'm still not all that impressed by audio blogging tools but the audio bits from Greasy Skillet demonstrate how sound can really enhance a story. However, the Greasy Skillet audio seems to have been done with regular audio tools and not some slick blogging application. I'm still holding out hope and I have heard some good audio blogs but most sound like answering machine messages and are kind of boring. (A lot like this blog!)

posted by Eric J | 11:09 AM

Oops

New York Times reporter fabricated stories for nearly four years. Four Friggin' Years! How in God's name is that possible? Well, the Times tries to answer that question but I'm not satisfied.

Trying to explain how he got away with so many lies for so long the Times says "no one saw his carelessness as a sign that he was capable of systematic fraud." Well, great. My question is why should that even matter? Four years of carelessness at The New York Times should equal unemployment even without Fraud. This is bad. Really, really, really bad for the mighty NY Times.

Added: After reading the entire, rather lengthy article I see that the issue of race has been raised.

Mr. Blair's Times supervisors and Maryland professors emphasize that he earned an internship at The Times because of glowing recommendations and a remarkable work history, not because he is black. The Times offered him a slot in an internship program that was then being used in large part to help the paper diversify its newsroom...

... The publisher and the executive editor, he said, had made clear the company's commitment to diversity - "and properly so," he said. In addition, he said, Mr. Blair seemed to be making the mistakes of a beginner and was still demonstrating great promise. "I thought he was going to make it..."

... Mr. Boyd, who is now managing editor, the second-highest-ranking newsroom executive, said last week that the decision to advance Mr. Blair had not been based on race. Indeed, plenty of young white reporters have been swiftly promoted through the ranks...

I sincerely hope that race had nothing to do with this scandal. There are many indications that lack of communication and trust led to Blair's prolonged success at deceit. However, after reading this article I'm sitting in stunned disbelief. I can't fathom how this man's record did not get him fired months or years before his May 1 resignation. To add insult to injury he never even graduated college.

When he returned to the Times newsroom in June 1999, Ms. Rule said, everyone assumed he had graduated. He had not; college officials say he has more than a year of course work to complete.

As I said, this is really bad. Here's a prediction: It will be a long while before we see articles in the NY Times criticizing bloggers about the accuracy of their information.

UPDATE Others discussing this topic:

"Diversity" And Editorial Standards At The New York

Raines: Diversity 'More Important' Than Better Journalism

Deceitful journalists give you so much more

posted by Eric J | 11:54 AM

Sunday Memories: Twisters

Crouching Tiger I spent six years of my youth in Oklahoma. Moore, Oklahoma to be precise. A requirement for living in Oklahoma is to understand tornado safety. The first rule of tornado safety is to refuse to reside in a Mobile Home. The second rule is to crouch down inside a bathroom and pray the twisters spare our lives.

I spent many spring evenings huddled in a bathtub or closet with my sister and several pillows, waiting for the tornado sirens to stop screaming. Tornadoes are a part of life in Oklahoma. It wasn't until I moved that I realized weekly trips to the closet were not normal for most of the nation.

The recent tornado epidemic has served as a reminder of my childhood relationship with the twisters. Looking back I realize that despite the horror and destruction caused by tornadoes, there was something perversely thrilling about all the warnings. For those few minutes nothing mattered. Homework, my grade school crush and the neighborhood bully all disappeared and the only thing on my mind was surviving the twister. For about 20 minutes life had become obscenely simple: survival.

Today, I encounter no such drama. Twisters occasionally visit my area but severe weather is boring after living in Tornado Alley. Storm warnings and Dopplar Radar annoy me now. I won't pay attention until I hear those sirens. I still take those seriously. I also made sure to follow the first rule of tornado safety. I don't live in a trailer.

posted by Eric J | 09:34 AM

Weblogs Will Save The World

Weblogs Will Save The World is my most ambitious article to date. This particular piece took several months to develop. Why? Well, partly because I'm a lazy procrastinator but also because I had to keep revising my ideas and observations.

My inspiration for this examination of Blogs came back in January after I read Tom Coates' "Resurrecting 'You've Got Blog'". In it, he mentions a common blog criticism about the "incestuous nature of weblogging." He makes a good argument against that statement but I began investigating the motivation behind that statement.

Anyway, I kept discovering new things about blogs and began to see them from a new perspective. This meant many, many rewrites. Is it good? I don't know. I think so. I just hope it makes sense.

Enjoy.

posted by Eric J | 12:23 AM

Bitch Alert

You know what? Maybe, just maybe the problem is your Freaking browser or your OS or your stupid ass computer and NOT some coding error on our Web site.

I'm so sick of getting emails like this one:

I'm using Internet Explorer version 6.0. When I click on the link nothing comes up--it just keeps loading with no result. I also checked my security and privacy--they're both set at the default of medium.

Gee, thanks for the super descriptive explanation of your error genius. I know exactly what the problem is... Your computer sucks!

-- end of bitch --

posted by Eric J | 03:34 PM

Making copies and printouts

These images hang next to one of the laser printers at work. I always feel a bit odd waiting for printouts in the company of such historic photographs.

I think to myself:
"Hmmm... getting printouts, waiting for this slow-ass printer to spit them out so that I can return to my cubicle and... oh yeah, there's Neil Armstrong landing on the moon and there's that Vietnamese dude who got shot in the head and there's Muhammed Ali and my life is just a total waste isn't it?"

If this isn't a Dilbert moment I don't know what is. And speaking of Dilbert, is he still popular? I'm out of the loop but I saw the Dilbert cartoon on Comedy Central the other night and it really, really sucked. Then I started thinking that maybe Dilbert "jumped the shark" (if comic strips can jump the shark) and is now as lame as Family Circus. I really don't know. I still like it on Sundays but I don't really read the comics much any more.

Oh, and back to the "hall of insignificance" thing, I guess my question is What images do you see when you go to get a copy or printout?

posted by Eric J | 11:14 PM

He's Baaaaaack

Where is Raed ? Right here of course. And quite chatty too.

posted by Eric J | 12:00 AM

The Chicken or the Blog

Lately I've been attending to a lot of personal matters, so I haven't spent much time reading other blogs. At the same time, my desire to post anything on my own blog has dropped off as well.

Much has been made lately of the revolution in "social software" fomented by blogs, Wikis, RSS, etc, and its tendency to imitate and/or redefine traditional group politics. Is actively participating in blog culture a prerequisite for developing my own entry to the group? I've always associated blogging with individual expression; my blog is a means to project my voice over the cacophony of others. But now I'm starting to think that I need to listen to those other voices in order to find the courage to clear my throat.

Do we blog to become part of the group, or do we become part of the group because we blog?

posted by | 02:16 PM

Cool ways to use simple HTML

Found this nifty way of using the same color background and text. I don't think I've ever seen this simple HTML technique (technically CSS) used in this particular manner. So simple it's brilliant! Maybe it's done all the time for hiding "spoilers" but it's new to me. Props to MirAGe01.

posted by Eric J | 02:09 PM

Buy this book NOW!

UPDATE: Amazon changed the link. Here is what the link originally pulled up. It was like this for about a day at least.

Saw this book at Amazon and I've already ordered it for my summer reading. Should be a good read.

posted by Eric J | 11:15 AM

The truth about traffic

Chris Pirillo reveals some truths about being Slashdotted. One of his sites received its first Slashdot link and it "barely got a trickle" of traffic from the link.

Some points about the Slashdot effect:
Traffic is pretty much relative. What is a trickle to Chris Pirillo may be a monsoon to Joe Blogger. I work on a site that gets roughly a half million unique visitors per month (around 5+ million page views). Not huge but respectable numbers. Our site has been Farked several times (Farking is comparable to Slashdotting in traffic surges) but we've never really noticed any significant traffic boost as a result. However, when this blog received and indirect Farking last month there was a significant surge in traffic (though not the highest surge - the one day record is still held by the John Moltz interview, but barely).

In fact, the only links that have significantly spiked the traffic of our site at work is a link from Drudge. I don't know what you'd call a Drudge link (Drudged? A Drudging? Drudgerlinked?) but we've seen one link drive roughly 75,000 unique visitors to our site in one day. That is a number any site would notice.

So, what is the moral of this story? There is no freaking moral. This is just some rambling blog thoughts to post while I'm waiting on a phone call from the Vet (my puppy is sick). Ok, I guess if you had to find some sort of moral in all this rambling it would be to stress the importance of creating a memorable name for the act of causing a traffic surge by a link on your site. Slashdotted. Farked. Memepooled. Webrawed? As in, "Oh goodness, my site's just been webrawed! How will my puny servers handle the extra visitor that webraw link will drive to my site? What is a blogger to do?"

posted by Eric J | 09:53 AM

Iraqi Information Minister attempts to surrender

According to the BBC the Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf (aka Baghdad Bob) has been trying to surrender to U.S. forces in Baghdad, but they won't arrest him because he's not in their deck of most wanted cards. If this guy ever makes it to the U.S. he could make big money on a speaking tour just going around repeating his claims from his job working for Saddam.

posted by | 09:18 PM

Welcome Lannie Byrd (ornithologists take note)

The newest addtion to the ever-expanding webraw crew is Lannie Byrd.

Lannie escaped from the big city (Memphis) to a small town in Arkansas where he manages the websites of a private university. Although he misses the city, his family likes life at a slower pace as long as he can have a cable modem at home and a wifi connection at work and the local coffee shop. Lannie considers himself a jack of all trades when it comes to the web. He came to the web from working in video production and still plays around with streaming audio, video and Flash. Lately, he's been building a lot of database driven web applications and of course he's fluent in html and css.

Since Lannie is the newest dude at the ranch we have some wonderful hazing events planned. The first one will involve a blindfold, a goat and lots of peanut butter. Get those DigiCam batteries fully charged.

posted by Eric J | 03:50 PM

The role of the Net

My new favorite Web commentator is Mark Glaser. Today he writes about the role the Net played in getting Mike Price (Alabama football coach) fired.

Glaser briefly points out the way the "rumor" developed into a head coaching vacancy by following the path of the story.

Actions --> Net rumor --> Talk radio topic --> Mainstream press scrutiny --> Investigation --> Firing

No, this isn't the first time something like this has happened but it's the first time in recent memory that the evolution of the story has been so clear. And what is really clear to me is the role Talk Radio played in the development of this particular story. Without talk radio pushing this story into the public consciousness it may not have ever moved past "Net rumor."

Talk radio is almost the "middle-man" between the bizarre rumor nature of the Net and the credible reliability of mainstream media. I listen to a lot of talk radio (about 70% sports talk) and over the past couple of years I've noticed this strange relationship developing between the Net and talk radio. The "quasi-news" nature of talk radio allows more freedom to discuss Net rumors while the broadcast nature of the medium provides mass distribution of information. Maybe because radio is controlled (to some extent) by traditional media, people begin to take the "rumors" discussed there more seriously than they would the discussions read on some Net bulletin board.

This is an exciting time to be a journalist. Times, they are a changin'.

posted by Eric J | 01:58 PM

Apple Musicians

I admit, I've yet to buy a song from Apple's new iTunes store. However, I do love the store and while there can always be improvements (more song selection) I'm really impressed by the service. So it interested me to learn that Apple sold more than 1 million songs in the first week of the new service. Sales probably won't continue at this pace but let's play the what if game.

What if sales stay extremely strong and even continue to grow? What if the Windows version becomes as popular as Apple hopes? What if Apple, within a year, becomes one of the biggest music retailers in the country (online or not)? What if Apple begins talking to actual musicians about signing new recording contracts with Apple? And that's the big What if.

If everything goes really well for Apple, they could be positioned to start making record deals with the artists themselves. I don't know if they ever would do this but it is something to think about. Apple wouldn't need to buy Universal Music. Apple could replace Universal Music on its own.

Imagine some popular but progressive artists signing exclusive recording contracts with Apple. They record the songs. Apple handles distribution through iTunes Music Store. Maybe you get a discount on songs owned by Apple ($.89 per song maybe?) or something. I know very little about the music industry so I am not sure if this type of situation is possible in the current climate. It should be but maybe it isn't. I just know that if it wrests some control out of the hands of the RIAA and the giant Music conglomerates it must be a good thing.

posted by Eric J | 11:29 AM

Happy Cinco de Mayo

Let's see how Google does with the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button and major holidays.

Cinco de Mayo

Christmas

Thanksgiving

Bastille Day

Boxing Day

Passover

Kwanzaa

Memorial Day

Conclusion. Holiday Web sites all look like total crap. Maybe there's a market for professional Holiday Web Designers?

posted by Eric J | 09:14 PM

Jakob Nielsen Declares the Letter "C" Unusable

This is just too funny to ignore. Enjoy.

posted by Eric J | 06:57 PM

Sunday Memories: Daisy Gun

My first "gun" was a Daisy BB Gun (air rifle) that I got for my twelfth birthday. It looked much like the one pictured here but without the fancy engraving. It wasn't very powerful and I mainly used it to shoot at cans, paper targets and friends.

Yes, we had an occasional BB gun fight and none of the participants received any eye damage despite the fact that we didn't use any protective gear whatsoever. In fact, I don't think protective gear existed until the late '80s when bicycle helmets (still strange to me) and skateboard kneepads became all the rage.

I loved my BB gun. I would get those big yellow tubes full of gold bb's at the convenience store and open the tiny slot at the end of the barrel and just pour the contents down my "thunder stick." Then all the kids would trek down to the river bottoms and find things to shoot. Trees. Water. Road Signs. Sluggish Birds. Each Other. They were all targets for our underpowered artillery. I distinctly remember trying to shoot a crow and hearing a sound like laughter from the crow as the bb's bounced from his chest one by one.

Today I miss my BB gun. I miss being able to go in the backyard of my suburban home and shoot at cans or paper deer. Each time I pass the air rifle aisle at Wal-Mart I stop and linger, reflecting on my youth, recalling times when guns weren't so evil and when life seemed simpler as we shot each other with those golden pellets of fun.

posted by Eric J | 02:35 PM

Work Time or Personal Time?

The recent firing of Alabama coach Mike Price has renewed the debate about how much personal actions should affect employment. The subject was raised on this blog recently and I'm still unsure about how much our private lives should be allowed to impact our professional careers.

Here is a perspective from Eric Meyer that was distributed in an email service:

> Interesting: Hartford (Conn.) Courant Editor Brian Toolan tells travel
> writer (and former columnist) Denis Horgan he can't continue writing a
> blog, which Horgan writes on his own time

Major news organizations have long had codes of conduct imposed as a
condition of employment.

Among other things, these codes typically forbid employees to accept
unauthorized freelance assignments, to inject themselves into public
debate and to leverage their status as an employee into some outside
venture.

Any of these three would doubtlessly block an employee from creating
a Web log without authorization. The fact that Web logging is a
relatively new technology does not make it immune from long-
established policies.

Meanwhile, the notion that what an employee does on his or her own
time is not an employer's concern is absolutely ludicrous.

If the employee-employer relationship existed only during working
hours, shouldn't employer-paid insurance cover you only if you become
sick or die on the job?

Meyer makes some good points but I cringe at his insurance comparison. My insurance is not provided by my employer, it's provided by an insurance company. All my employer does is work out a better deal (group rate) for me but if I wanted to go without insurance I could do just that.

Here's another perspective from the Poynter.org Listserv's JD Lasica:

Regarding the Hartford Courant editor's decision to kill an employee's independent weblog: Let's summarize events to date, shall we?

The travel editor of the Hartford Courant decides to begin writing an independent weblog. He does so on his own time. He uses not a scintilla of the Courant's resources to do so. He does not discuss the Courant or his job at the newspaper in his weblog. He does not leverage his association with the Courant in his blog. He is not freelancing for a competing publication, does not make a penny from his weblog, and in no way competes online with the Courant.

Despite all of the above, the editor of the Courant (in a decision criticized privately by the Courant's newsroom staffers) decides to order the weblog killed because a weblog by a newsroom staffer creates "a parallel journalistic universe" (huh?) "without any editing oversight by the Courant." (Ah! the control freak rationale!) Said Courant editor Brian Toolan, "There are 325 other people here who create similar (Web sites) for themselves."

The horror! The infamy! Just think of it: journalists with opinions! Communicating online with other people like ... like regular human beings!

Dan Gillmor and I often appear at new media conferences where someone in the audience asks, Why don't more journalists have their own weblogs? Well, here's your answer. Toolan and his merry band of fellow control freaks believe that newsroom employees are chattel. Goodness, we can't have journalists expressing views online because then someone somewhere might accuse him or her of not being wholly chaste, objective, devoid of opinions. Well, guess what, friends? Reporters and editors have opinions. They'll always have opinions. Our backgrounds, our views, our intellectual baggage all color our reportage. At the end of the day, what counts is whether our reporting is fair and balanced.

It goes on and on but does include this link to a list of journalists who blog.

As I said, there are good arguments from both perspectives and I'm not quite sure where I stand on the issue. I don't guess there is really any clear-cut position to take on this issue so it will just have to be one of those case-by-case type things. What do you think?

posted by Eric J | 11:44 PM