March 16, 2007

Where You'll Find Me

My friend Paul Frankenstein has asked me to guest-blog for him. So hie thee hence!

If my lazy bum is up to it, I will post here as well.

January 28, 2007

A little too ironic

Tuesday the 16th was only slightly out of the ordinary for me. I had a long overdue doctor's appointment, the kind that involves wearing a paper gown and sticking one's heels into stirrups. With that obligatory unpleasantness out of the way, I drove back home and took the train into work.

That weekend I received a message from Stylefeeder that I had won their daily random drawing for Tuesday, the 16th. Stylefeed allows you to build your own wishlist as you browse the web and come across items that strike your fancy. I noticed Paul's Stylefeed on his blog, and decided to try it out. So thanks to Stylefeeder and ultimately to Paul, I am now the happy owner of a brass handcuff lariat necklace, designed by Erica Weiner.

Getting home from work Friday night, there's a letter from the city police department, telling me that I was ticketed for turning on a red light. There are pictures of the car, turning while the light has been red for .77 seconds, completing the turn in under two seconds. I check the date and time in my calendar, and realize it was Tuesday the 16th, when I'd gone in for my appointment. In my rush to get home to park the car to get on the train to go to work, I turned just after the left turn arrow had disappeared and now I have my first ticket. Arrgh.

So in one day I have been ticketed and won a necklace featuring tiny handcuffs.

October 18, 2005

LibraryThing - An online tool, still in beta, that allows you to catalog your books. Media (cds, dvds) seem available too, but not quite as numerous. This may involve my editing my catalog entries, but it's worth exploring. I'm thinking about ponying up the $10 for a lifetime membership (which also allows you to catalog more than 200 items).

Time magazine picks top 100 novels since 1923 to present

a few thousand science fiction covers

article on weblog usability

August 30, 2005

Blog Day 2005

I've been tagged by Paul Frankenstein. More details here.

August 02, 2005

Mmm, Butterscotch.

Available on a t-shirt, at least until some lawyers get persnickety.

I used to think Luke Wilson was the cute one, but Owen's sleepy-eyed charm won me over the day he was dubbed "The Butterscotch Stallion." As I explained to a guy friend who didn't get his appeal:

There's a laid-back sweetness to him. He's kinda quirky, kinda oddball, and he's so at ease with himself that it doesn't matter that he's not an obvious pretty boy. He'd tell you what he was thinking and feeling and admit that even if this isn't forever, he's so into you, and wouldn't it be nice to make hay while the sun shines?

Yeah.

July 28, 2005

What Everyone Should Know About Blog Depression

A Public Service Pamphlet [The Nonist via Gawker]

Someone wrote up something hilarious about the phases or stages of blogging but I can't find the link. This will have to do. Enjoy.

July 25, 2005

here

I could vent my spleen (terrorists, Karl Rove, John Roberts - whose wife does pro bono work for Feminists for Life, the energy bill which would double ethanol production even though it takes more fuel to make ethanol than the amount of ethanol actually produced, that I can't dial up at home because my computer won't connect anymore).

I could tell you more about my trip to San Francisco and Sonoma and my subsequent visit with family in Myrtle Beach.

I could post the results of the latest web quizzes (my power color is red-orange, I am a Type B+ personality, I was a Portugese sailor in a past life).

I could tell you about the latest cool stuff I want but don't need, like a wristband that says "scalawag" or "candyass."

It's not like I don't have things I could post, I'm just in a sort of
blogging malaise, like what's the point. I'm not chick lit, I'm not a political activist, I'm not much of a librarian blogger or a devoted Austen/shopping/crafting/foodie/reading/music/film blogger. I am a commonplace commonplace book (redundancy intended), a mote of dust in the blogosphere.

I feel cranky, and even to my own mind I'm being annoying - willfully blindered and small-minded.

Because I could also tell you of talking Star Wars with my older nephew. That my younger nephew, who was nearly ready to walk when I last saw him, has started walking. That I've had great laughs and a great mojito care of Weird Babe. That I stuffed myself silly over food and a full-out viewing of all five hours of Pride & Prejudice with my friends Tessa and Dave. That we and the LTR saw a really sweet, wonderful improv play written by my friend Clunky Robot. That the gray cat, whom we've named Ulysses, is coming in for overnight visits and likes to make biscuits on me in the middle of night, purring at full throttle. That between therapy and Paxil (fuck off, Tom Cruise) my life is a whole lot better. I still have work to do, but I accept that there will always be work to do - and that it doesn't have to be unpleasant. My world isn't bleak and I don't let assholes have power over me anymore.

So yeah, I haven't felt like I've had anything worth saying. One of those phases, but it will pass.

June 23, 2005

Whatever will be.

Books Stir Discussion on Lost Friendship [AP] "Friendships blow up and fade out all the time. Sometimes it's a fight. And life changes - a move, a marriage, a baby - can get in the way. Then there are those times when you just look at your friend and realize you don't really have much in common anymore...."

The Friend Who Got Away The book's official site also has a blog which accepts submissions of links and personal stories on this topic.

I've read some eloquent takes on this subject. It's been on my mind of late, try as I may to stop dwelling on the loss of a girlfriend. Things are different than this time last year. I still feel sad, but there's little point in hanging on. There are things I should have, could have done, but I didn't. At the same time I don't shoulder all the blame for what went wrong. Hopefully I've learned enough not to make the same mistakes. Now I am more resolved to be the kind of person people like to be around, and to surround myself with such people as well.

The other night I was on the phone with one of my oldest girlfriends, talking about how the end of a friendship can hurt as much as a breakup. There was a time when we had our own falling out. She had written me a Dear Jane letter. Instead of letting it go, I called her up and we settled our differences. (Many tears were shed.) We are different friends than we used to be, but there has to be room for each person to grow. We're no longer the same people we once were. Thankfully we are still in each other's lives and we can talk to each other about things both important and frivolous.

June 14, 2005

Legal Guide for Bloggers

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) provides a legal guide for bloggers that's worth reading.

June 04, 2005

randomness

Those who are interested can find a backup of Mike's page at http://randomness.ladycrumpet.com/; the main blog is here.

There are some things that I still need to fix, but it's basically up now. The original location will be restored as soon as we are able.

June 03, 2005

Does anyone have...?

A file called MT-2.63-full-lib.tar.gz or even the regular zipped version? I'd like to create an MT 2.63 installation and then upgrade it accordingly. Unfortunately I don't have my original installation file anymore. I've put a request at MT's support forum and also on my host, just in case somebody there can help.

If all this is just sounds like a bunch of techno-gibberish, then kindly disregard.

FYI

Mike's site is down temporarily. I've been working on setting up a backup location, which I hope to have up by tonight. If you'd like to be notified when it's ready, please leave a comment with your email address or send me an email directly.

May 27, 2005

In need of inspiration

Be A More Productive Blogger [via zeebahtronic]

Have been laying low but life stuff has been percolating. More in a bit.

May 11, 2005

Shifting the Conversation

I've gotten the ok from Mike's mom, so I plan to close the comments on Mike's last post. It's been something I've thought might be necessary for some time, but I didn't want to act presumptively. If people would like to continue to share thoughts and comments, we can do so at the Remembered page. I will gladly set up author logins for those who are interested in contributing directly. I don't know if there is interest for a whole new space, but that's a discussion that we can have there.

The general impression I'm getting from people that I've spoken to or heard from in comments, email and IM is that they would like Mike's site to stay online. I'm glad to hear it, because that's my wish as well.

May 10, 2005

Thinking

As some of you may know, I'm involved in keeping up randomness personified. Generally this has meant going in and removing comment spam from time to time, but I'm also looking into archiving the site. I know the files have been backed up, so I'm not worried. I'm backing up the entries regularly now so as to capture recent comments to the last post.

Generally this upkeep has been received well. But the response hasn't been universal. I'm writing here, to sort out my thoughts, because I don't want this debate to take over the comments section on Mike's blog. I'm trying to accept this difference of opinion without being too upset about it. So I will have to respectfully disagree. As long as it's ok with Mike's parents, I will continue to help take care of the site.

I see keeping the blog around like keeping a picture on your shelf. You don't always pull the picture down to look at it, but it's there because it's important enough to you to keep around. To be honest, I haven't been able to read old entries but I know that I will want to eventually. In the meantime, if others want to take comfort remembering Mike by reading his words, I don't see why that's wrong. He put the blog out there on the internet for people to read, to share some of his thoughts with us. Why should all that vanish, simply because he's no longer with us? It's not the only way to remember him, but it seems more meaningful to read his words than to do something like plant a tree in his name. That's my opinion, anyway.

I don't generally comment on the site anymore, but I like knowing that the site is there, that I can visit my friend now and then.

May 05, 2005

Lovely to Meet You

Scott and I ran into Bump and bobafred and we grabbed the first table of the evening, keeping our eyes peeled for other bloggers, like Titus. Mingaling and her S.O. arrived, and not long after, we met Slingerdoo, who had set up with some folks in another part of the restaurant. After clearing it with the waitress, we pushed some tables together to accommodate the expanded group, including Pop Philosophy, hollismb, and the gals of Threadbared, one-half of whom also blogs as Weird Babe. Was most pleasantly surprised to see another familiar face - the Little Toy Robot.

At this point we learned that the room where a private party had been held was being cleared, and would we like to move into there? Private room? Why yes, thank you. And so on to our third seating of the evening. The banquet setup did inhibit mingling, however, as we tucked into our food and quaffed our drinks. I didn't get to meet everyone, but it was great to finally meet Mingaling and Weird Babe after we'd been reading each other for quite some time. Also made the acquaintance of Jessica Harbour, who had a lovely jangly, spangly bracelet.

Some of us also happen to be flickr people. I'll have to look them up, but it's off to Bedfordshire now.

APWBWGTTD

Atlanta People With Blogs Who Get Together To Drink:
Manuel's (pronounced MAN-u-els), 7:30 pm, on N. Highland.

One of our regular waitresses at Flying Biscuit is going to be mad at me that I'm skipping out again on Captured By Robots at The Earl tonight. We'd told her we wanted to check them out, but didn't go the last time they came to town. It seems the first Thursday of the month is a pretty popular time for people to get together, meaning that I am regularly forced to choose whether I want to hang out with bloggers, librarians, or this time, robots.

April 12, 2005

This is to say...I have nothing to say

When having no information is too much information - Why must bloggers keep us apprised on days when they have nothing to say? [Alan Greenblatt, San Francisco Chronicle 4/10/05] Going by the title, I thought this article would take a harder stance on bloggers for posting about having nothing to say, being busy elsewhere, etc. but the author discusses the full spectrum, noting that such posts are the modern equivalent of letters that begin with "I'm sorry I haven't written in so long, but...."

And what's my excuse? I've found another web toy to share. I have pictures to post. Just haven't done it yet. Currently in damage control mode. I'm not sure if I'm putting out fires so much as keeping them from becoming conflagrations as I try to develop better life management skills. Sorry to be obscure, just trying to be mindful of unloading TMI (that would be Too Much Information, not Three Mile Island, which is one of Taco Mac's offerings for hot wings, as well as that nuclear incident from a few decades ago).

March 29, 2005

American Heathcliff, Brooding and Cuddly

David Duchovny has a blog, I guess in support of his movie, House of D. There are even audio posts, so you can have Mulder's voice cooing into your ear about how he'll be the guy walking the streets of Seattle carrying a Starbucks cup.

Interesting

Between Lawyers - "a new blog on the issues raised when technology, culture and the law intersect." Sounds right up my alley.

March 25, 2005

Another Blogger, Another Book Deal

Cindy Adams, the gossip columnist, notes the following as today's example illustrating her tagline "Only in New York, kids, only in New York."

AT Princeton Brooklyn's Jeremy Blackman wanted to write musicals for Jay Kerr, now a voice coach. Then, at Harvard Law, he began anonymouslawyer.blogspot.com wherein he managed to identify the tattered soul of the legal profession. Its contents intrigued the publisher Holt. They e-mailed to see if he would turn it into a novel. Jeremy nailed a William Morris agent and "Anonymous Lawyer," a suspenseful study of life inside a law firm, is on its way to our bookshelves.

March 16, 2005

Coming Together Like Voltron

So after several missed appearances, we finally made it to a gathering of bloggers and beer, this time at the Prince of Wales. Although there weren't any nametags or familiar faces, I somehow managed to zero in on the right group of people: messages from the ether, bobafred, Titus Barik, hollismb, and bump. Was most sorry to miss the acquaintance of mingaling, whose dog was unwell. Hope he's better.

It so happened that it was trivia night, hosted by a guy who looked like a refugee from a hair metal band. Our team name: Epileptic Dog, in homage to our missing organizer. We drew upon our combined knowledge of random stuff. My contribution was useless pop culture. I probably shouldn't be so proud of correctly identifying Michael Sembello as the singer of "Maniac" (from the Flashdance soundtrack). But that was six points right there, one of the small successes on the way to our first-place smackdown.

Two surprising random revelations:

Ran into an old college friend who plays trivia there every week once he's done taping his public access film critic show. And lo, he has a livejournal.

Bump lives just down the street from us.

Naturally, I had to get online and put this all down right now....

February 21, 2005

De-blogging

Time to get a life -- pioneer blogger Justin Hall bows out at 31 [SF Chronicle, 2/20/05] - Story about the blogger behind links.net who's decided to step away from the keyboard, at least for a while.

February 18, 2005

Celebrate Mike

Spreading the word, as Daniella requested:

...We are holding a Celebrate Mike party on Friday, February 25th at 7 PM at the Overlook Lounge, located 225 East 44th St, between 2nd and 3rd Aves in NYC. You are all welcome, whether you knew Mike "in real life" or only through his blog. A bunch of us will be swapping anecdotes and raising a glass to our friend. This will be night of celebration---because that's what Mike would have wanted us to do. Please join us. I would also appreciate it if you could help spread the word....

Finally, if you would like to make a donation in Mike's name, his parents suggested the March of Dimes. You can click to send a donation here.

February 17, 2005

Aural bits

Today I remembered that Mike had done a trial audio blogging post. I'd done one too, having learned about the service from him. So I checked to see if the post was still accessible, and it is. You can still hear the sound of Mike's voice. It's still so him - funny and self-deprecating and incredibly sweet.

I also saved a copy in case the original mp3 becomes unavailable. It's available here. (right-click, save as)

Blogger's Horoscope

I read my horoscope, even though for the most part it's not usually applicable. Sometimes it's on the money - but maybe if you throw out enough predictions, one of them's bound to stick. So this was my message for yesterday, according to the horoscope I check on my cell phone:

If someone seems to be hesitating when it comes to tell you something, it may be because they've heard you discuss some extremely personal matters quite openly. It's just your nature to say what's on your mind. Reassure them that while you consider your own life to be an open book, you'll go to your grave with theirs.

This wasn't specifically relevant to yesterday, but it's certainly how I approach blogging in general.

February 14, 2005

Backup Plan

I know, it's been all-death, all-the-time around here.

When I was in the middle of my last host-change, shifting files over for the Armoire (and bitching up a storm), Mike told me that backing up my site was no big ordeal - and then did it for me to show me how easy it was. But then he said that I shouldn't get so worked up anyway, it's "just" my blog.

I thought that remark was odd coming from him, a fellow blogger. Part of the panic about losing my site had to do with the blog being a part of my identity, that this was something I was personally invested in. Losing the site, I explained, would be like losing a part of myself.

He still wasn't convinced. I think he even told me, teasingly, that if that's what I really believed, it was kind of sad.

Do you still think that's true, Wheelz? Am I really so wrong?

Considering the sadness we're going through right now, with people posting comments to Mike's last post, checking the site in the hopes that we'll somehow see something new from him, I think it's safe to say that blogs really do give us the sense - and the presence - of someone's identity. And even if one were to say that Mike's site doesn't fully capture his life and experience, it still contains some of his essence, which explains why we want so much to make sure his site doesn't simply vanish.

So it occurred to me - right now no one else has admin rights to my site. What would happen if something suddenly happened to me, or to one of my other friends, or someone that I only know virtually? That certainly has been the experience for not a few of Mike's readers.

In an episode of Coupling, a British sitcom, some of the guy characters explain that they are "porn buddies" - meaning that if one of them were to die, the other would make sure to rescue his buddy's porn stash, thus preventing embarrassing post-mortem revelations to his buddy's family, as well as having the added bonus of inheriting his buddy's porn collection.

Do guys really do this? I don't know. But the idea is there, regardless of the specific content. It's an archival question, on a personal level. Considering how fully I've embraced blogging, I'm certain that I plan to continue the Armoire for the long term. I don't pretend to think that my site is a record worthy for future generations, but it seems to me that it would be a good idea to have designated blog buddies - people you trust who would be willing to preserve your site in some fashion, for the sake of the rest of us who will miss you, desperately, once you're gone.

Addendum: Hmmm. I never thought I would write something connecting death, blogging, librariana and porn but I guess there's a first time for everything. Or maybe, probably, this isn't even the first time someone has had this thought.

January 27, 2005

PostSecret

PostSecret is a project that collects postcards from people who reveal something they have never admitted to anyone before. A blog has been set up with images of the cards and comments about responses to cards that have been exhibited as part of the project.

December 28, 2004

Blogging Coverage

Blogs Provide Raw Details From Scene of the Disaster [NYT 12/28] "The so-called blogosphere, with its personal journals published on the Web, has become best known as a forum for bruising political discussion and media criticism. But the technology proved a ready medium for instant news of the tsunami disaster and for collaboration over ways to help."

Revealing the Soul of a Soulless Lawyer [NYT 12/26] Coverage of Anonymous Lawyer, a fictional blawg that seems to resonate with many real lawyers.

Your Blog or Mine? [NYT Mag, 12/19] Jeffrey Rosen, a law professor at George Washington University, explores the issue of privacy and blogging:

As Web logs proliferate -- Technorati, which tracks 5 million blogs, estimates that 15,000 are added each day -- the boundaries between public and private are being transformed. Unconstrained by journalistic conventions, bloggers are blurring the lines between public events and ordinary social interactions and changing the way we date, work, teach and live. And as blogs continue to proliferate, citizens will have to develop new understandings about what parts of our lives are on and off the record.

Features appearances by Smitten (I think we met once), her fiance Alex (a former blogger, it seems), and in an uncredited role, the great Paul Frankenstein. A minor point of disagreement with Deb's remark about Washingtonienne, though. Jessica Cutler wasn't good at keeping herself anonymous. By failing to do that, to preserve her own privacy, she risked exposure of herself and the people she wrote about. Ultimately she was exposed, and maybe there are people in the Beltway who know who the others are. So far though, she appears to be the only one suffering for her stupidity and carelessness, only to be "rewarded" with a book deal and an appearance in Playboy. But that's another issue.

November 16, 2004

The Digital Future

The Library of Congress is presenting a lecture series, Managing Knowledge and Creativity in a Digital Context. The first lecture was yesterday, 11/15, and featured David Weinberger, who discussed blogging. The lectures will air on C-SPAN. A video archive of the first lecture, and presumably the subsequent lectures, is available from C-SPAN here.

November 14, 2004

Web Star

Congrats and best wishes to This Fish for publishing her article, Traveling the Too-Much-Information Highway, in today's New York Times. Talk about coming out from anonymity in style and with great splash! [Use Bugmenot if you need a login]

The twinge of envy I feel is fortunately overcome by the comfort in knowing that probably even in death I wouldn't make it into the NYT. Unless I'm willing to accomplish something noteworthy, commit a heinous crime or be embroiled in scandal, I prefer being thrilled for someone whose writing I admire, for someone who deserves to make her mark.

November 10, 2004

Changing of the Host

My current host is closing down. I have two months to get this done, but because I haven't backed up my site (I know, I know, I'm terrible), I was in a bit of a tizzy this morning, especially seeing as how fellow friends, like Little Toy Robot, are currently, inexplicably, unavailable. I will probably shift sooner rather than later. This time I will do my best not to screw up my permalinks.

August 26, 2004

'Garden State' Blog

So Zach Braff has a blog relating to his film Garden State. On the official website you can submit your own "Original Moment." In his August 22 post he discusses, among other things, the ending of the film. (Weird - no permalink is available at the bottom of the post; I had to pull the specific link from the "Recent Posts" section.)

Basically, he says that he ended the film as he intended; there was never any alternate ending. Maybe he should have asked me for my opinion. ;) (Sidenote here, but it totally rocks that rawbrick has permalinks for her comments - that is way cool.)

Some of the posts have nearly 1300 comments - do people honestly expect Braff, or the rest of us, to read them all? I wonder how long the blog will stay up, because at some point there won't really be anything more to post as to the movie, right? The guy will be moving on to his other projects and stuff and shit, unless he intends to keep blogging in some fashion, which is doubtful.

Blood in the Water

When you steal other people's blog entries and insert them into your own blog, adding them to all the other posts you've already stolen, don't be surprised when you're caught. Don't be surprised when we find out the other appalling activities you've been up to.

Ignore the demands to fix this at your peril.

Addendum: Part of me is wondering if some bozo is jerking our collective chain. Maybe this is some kind of sick joke, or bogus performance art. We are getting our information about this person from the Internet, after all. But people's posts are being plagiarized, and they are justifiably pissed off. I guess we shall see.

July 19, 2004

Year Three

For some reason I had it in my head that I began the blog at the end of this month. Turns out the Armoire is ten days into its third year. Oops.

I was hoping to unveil a new layout to celebrate, but I'm nowhere near finished. Soon, though.

This year's goals: to focus outwardly; to resist negative impulses and try to be mindful of what I'm writing. To get the site fully cleaned up.

We'll see what happens.

Miss Manners on Blogging

The Key to Discreet Gossiping [Washington Post, 7/18/04]

Other items:

Wired has an article about blogger burnout.

Is civility an endangered species in the blogosphere?

Into the Blogosphere An online collection offering a scholarly treatment on the subject of weblogs.

June 04, 2004

Linky-loo

Pemberley, a condo community in Utah. - Choice promotional lines include: "PEMBERLEY is super-size attached garages." Floorplans include the bennett (sic), the meryton, the collins and the wickham. Surely the collins floorplan will have a window facing the road so nosy residents can espy the comings and goings of their condescending affluent neighbors. (via Sick & Wicked)

Sunset in Manhattan - Gorgeous photo, accompanied by a brief astronomy lesson. See if you can find the Empire State Building.

Noah Wyle IS...The Librarian - The librarian-as-action-hero, in a TNT television movie to debut later this year. Treasures such as the Golden Fleece and the Ark of the Covenant lie within the inner catacombs of the New York Public Library. (What do you mean, which branch. The one with the lions!) (via LTR)

American Journalism Review article about political blogging.

In the Virtual Stacks, Pirated Books Find Eager Thumbs [Sandeep Junnakar, NYT, Circuits, 6/3/04]

June 01, 2004

Funny Ideas

At thirteen I had romantic notions about finding kindred spirits and soul mates. I thought that if I simply could express my True Self, I could forge deep, profound bonds with people. I must have come off as really pompous, or in the case of a boy I was crushing on, totally psycho. How else to explain giving him a birthday card telling him Exactly How I Feel - in the cafeteria, in front of his friends, without any thought to the major embarrassment afterwards? My craving for connection, for comprehension, made me profoundly, stupidly reckless. I was intense, volatile, awkward and lonely, with a vocabulary gleaned from bouts of reading that made my peers wonder how I knew so many words. (Really, they would ask.) It wasn't surprising that the person I could confide in, who never ridiculed me for these thoughts and feelings, who was emotionally grounded enough to handle students like me, turned out to be my English teacher. I couldn't wait to get older ('cause it gets so much simpler, right?).

Sometimes I wonder if I'm regressing. Writing as I do here on the blog, am I blunting my sensibilities for what is and isn't acceptable to reveal, and has that spilled over into how I interact with people in general? I often turn to saying important things in writing, because writing gives me the chance to try to make sense of what I'm thinking. Does that mean I should impose by sharing those thoughts? It's possible to be too honest, too revealing.

Electronic communication allows for immediacy and intimacy, but that can be problematic. It's too easy to hit "Send" or "Publish" before really thinking things through. More often than not, it's better to proceed with deliberation, to not force things. And yet sometimes I still have this notion that if I just get things out there, we can connect. And yet the more important the relationship, the harder it seems to be so open, because you don't want to hurt or be hurt by what you could say to each other. You can't really take it back; you can only alleviate the sting.

This question has been on my mind after having seen Eternal Sunshine. Knowing there could be pain and anguish, you have to take the chance that there could be pleasure, satisfaction, happiness. Otherwise you have stagnation, obsession over what could be - or worse, what could have been.

If only it were so easy to know when it's right to take that chance and when to give something time or let it go. If something or someone is important enough to you, you have to try. Even if it means walking away from a table of boys who think you're psycho.

May 05, 2004

Bots Are Us

Zeebah now has her own domain, and she's now nicely settled into her new space. Do visit her at zeebahtronic.org. So now I know two people who have robots in their banners.

April 20, 2004

"Epimemiology"

My minor search into the origins of the Page 23, Sentence 5 meme doesn't hold a candle to the efforts of LaughingMeme. Check out page 23, sentence 5: an autopsy. Ultimately there seems to have been a crossover somewhere from the LJ (LiveJournal) community over to the general blogosphere. Good work.

April 01, 2004

IFLAG

Mighty Girl was among the earliest blogs that I found when I got started. Now she's out to make a killing with her t-shirts. I want one, but I don't know if I have the nerve to wear it in public.

March 22, 2004

Will Michelle Say Yes?

Stephen has proposed to his girlfriend - possibly the first via blog. I'm surprised it hasn't been done before. So far we don't know whether she has accepted or not. Let us hope that the young gentleman is reasonably sure of her response.

On another front, I read with great interest a doozy of a correction in NYT's wedding pages:

A report on Feb. 15 about the wedding of Riva Golan Ritvo and Alan Bruce Slifka included an erroneous account of the bride's education, which she supplied.

Ms. Ritvo, a child therapist, did not graduate from the University of Pennsylvania or receive a master's degree in occupational therapy or a Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of Southern California. Though she attended Penn for a time, her bachelor's degree, in occupational therapy, is from U.S.C.

The Times should have corroborated the credentials before publishing the report.

I imagine that this sort of revelation is probably worse than not getting one's announcement in the NYT. [via Rosmania via Gawker]

March 19, 2004

Underachiever

18.75 %

My weblog owns 18.75 % of me.
Does your weblog own you?

Clearly Lady Crumpet ought to become more obsessive devoted. It's kind of funny how these quizzes have really taken off. There are quizzes for everything and you can even write your own. Mostly they really don't mean a lot but we all want to take them so we can compare our results with each other.

January 22, 2004

Tuppence, Tuppence

I realize that my question was buried at the bottom of the post, but I am rather curious as to what you fellow bloggers think. So to reiterate:

Allow anonymous comments, or ask that comments be accompanied by contact information? Explain.

And to be clear, I've configured the comments so that even the people with something to hide can say what's on their minds.

January 20, 2004

To Plugin or Not to Plugin?

Cordelia posted about using the NOT Filter for Categories. But I'm not sure if I have a use for it yet.

It did get me to thinking, though. Is there a plugin that would allow you to not display posts for a certain category on the main page of the blog? Scott Andrew described one that seems to work, MT Exclude Categories. Posts for that category would not appear with all the other entries, but could still be accessible through your category listings (unless you used a plugin to filter out the category from the list as well).

Although I haven't written much of anything lately, the idea occurred to me because I wondered how I could separate more personal entries from the librariana-related posts. Technically, those entries would still be accessible for those who want to read them - clicking on the category name would pull up all posts from the category. Unfortunately, using this particular plugin means that posts filed under several categories still would be filtered from the main page if one of the categories was specified in the plugin.

Apart from technical issues and usability issues - will people still want to read certain posts if they have to click beyond the main page? - what about how that fits in with the nature of blogging? If I'm not mistaken, I believe there are blogging tools or plugins that allow you to limit certain posts, if not the entire blog, to registered users. Or at least that's something in the works. After finding out recently how I came up as a minor subject of gossip I realized that there are people I really, really don't want to know about the blog. But having a protected, registered-user site rather limits who gets to read the blog - is that really such a good idea? I suppose it depends on who your audience is supposed to be - if it's just your friends or family or colleagues, sure. But if you're aiming for a wider audience, how many people won't bother to read if they have to sign up for yet another id and password?

What if I were to write a post but not publish it? Or write it but use plugins as just described so that a post is written, but because it's filtered from both the page and the category list, the post only exists for me as the writer? Or more simply, why write the post at all? Another possibility is to maintain a separate blog - for instance, having a true librarian blog, one that's tightly focused on issues or resources of interest as a librarian. Although my description does say "librariana, literature and the law" the Armoire has been more of a common-place book of late.

And one final issue: Although as MT users we have options with comments - none, allow them, or allow them but only to people who leave an email address and/or URL - what is appropriate, at least for bloggers who allow for comments? I started out with open comments, which is most reader-friendly, but that always leaves the possibility of people posting who choose not to leave any information, which I think is annoying and cowardly, especially if you're going to post something critical. I do realize people have privacy concerns - and as a blogger I know that I am choosing to put more of myself out there, even under a pseudonym, than someone who's merely leaving a comment. At the same time, whether the perception is merited or not, I'm less inclined to take your comment seriously if you won't leave a way for me to get in touch with you privately. Anyway it's not like this has really happened a lot, and I'm more concerned about f*cking spambots which are more than willing to fill out all the blanks with all of their bogus crap.

Thoughts? I open up the comments to all, including you anonymous wusses. ;)

December 17, 2003

Happy Birthday

To mrw at randomness personified. Go wish him lots of happiness!

Apropos of randomness, attended a 10:30 screening of Return of the King. First meal of the day was lunch afterwards at 2:30. Mentally and physically drained, even now, but I really enjoyed it, even as I kept having to wipe my eyes.

You thought Legolas swinging beneath his horse then leaping up to mount was cool? Just wait till you see him and the oliphant.

December 15, 2003

Blogging Tips, Minus the Snark

Although this dates from March (an eon in Internet time), Rebecca Blood, author of The Weblog Handbook, has written a really good essay, Ten Tips for a Better Weblog, that's suitable for newbies and regular bloggers alike.

December 14, 2003

Blog-friendly NYT links

Here's a valuable tool for bloggers: New York Times Link Generator. Paste an article link that you want to use, and it creates a link that's "weblog-safe." The site also offers a bookmarklet for even quicker link-generation.

December 13, 2003

The Naked Blogger

Jamie Oliver, aka the Naked Chef, has been blogging since March. The site's still under renovation, but it's a visually attractive, easy-to-navigate blog. Most importantly, there's a recipe archive, although there are only a few listings, archived by month, at the moment.

Although I like the efficiency of reading blogs through aggregators, I also like reading entries in situ, depending on whether the blog is for a friend of mine or for a blog whose site is too visually appealing to miss. This might be one for the blogroll, although perhaps I should separate the civilians/vets from the celebloggers, if only because I don't want a single unwieldy blogroll.

December 11, 2003

Blawgdom

The Blogbook, which calls itself an "Open Source Law Project," aims to serve as a guide to legal blogging, as well as a forum to "facilitate discussions around the technical, stylistic and ethical components of legal blogging." It's got a clean, simple design, links to recent posts and of course a blogroll of legal blogs, or "blawgs," as they're now being called.

The most interesting feature of the blog's design is the way its content is organized. The horizontal menu bar, beneath the title and caption, has links for Citations, Style, Code of Ethics, and FAQ/Contact. Following one of these links leads you to a sub-blog, whose posts are relevant to the subject link. The look remains the same, so the sense of place, of the site's continuity, remains intact. Only the blog content changes, depending upon the link, because you're actually looking at a separate blog. My only quibble is that while many people know that clicking on the blog title will take one back to the main page, there still ought to be a "Main" link in the menu bar for easy navigation. Overall, it's a neat approach, having separate blogs for related topics that are contained under the umbrella of a primary blog.

December 10, 2003

Do's and Don'ts of Blogging

Gothamist offers up some guidelines in What Not to Do When You Blog. Clearly, this site has been in violation of #2 - writing about oneself - for some time. There are personal blogs that I find engaging, because these people make interesting observations about their lives and write them well. But perhaps I'd do better to focus on the general topics of my site description.

The problem with being in the doldrums is that nothing seems interesting enough to write about, so the easiest thing is to write about oneself. Either that, even if it's a bit lazy, or abandon the blog, which I'd prefer not to do. Oh that's right - Gothamist deems "blog" an acceptable term no longer. I don't agree; the recommended "website" doesn't capture the nature of blogging, expansive and nebulous as that nature can be. "Weblog" should be fine, if referring to one's site as a "blog" is really so desperately precious or distasteful.

The fact that more people are embracing the medium doesn't mean the term should be declared over because it's become diluted or tainted by lesser talents. Hell, go to any open-mike night to see who abuses - and who deserves -the title of "poet."

Apart from the word making sense, it also sounds right. "Blog" seems fitting for a miscellaneous collection of entries which may or may not hold together topically. The term connotes the rawness and immediacy that often characterizes blog posts. Some blogs are more focused, such as many professionally oriented blogs, or those devoted to some particular personal interest. But other blogs, like this one, are intended to be a looser colloquy, representing a variety of interests. I do try to focus on the librariana, but I like having the flexibility to discuss other subjects, to be serious or frivolous, or sometimes both, as the mood strikes.

Before there were poorly conceived, badly written blogs, there were plenty of cheesy personal websites. At least blogs allow for easy, regular updating of content; how many of these original websites have become cobwebpages, abandoned yet ever ready to plague some poor misdirected visitor with annoying Geocities or Yahoo popups?

So enough with the excessive hand-wringing and Pepys-type entries; I shall retrench and find more interesting things to discuss than bellybutton lint.

December 08, 2003

Happy Birthday

To Paul, one of my earliest amigos in the blogosphere.

December 02, 2003

Tinkering

The install of MT-Blacklist worked out pretty easily. Not that I ever got lots of comment spam, but finding any was offensive enough.

Hopefully those of you with MT-powered blogs have addressed the security risk posed by the mt-send-entry.cgi file by now. Fix your code, delete the file if you don't use that function,