Year: 2002

Categories
Weblogging

My Thanks

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

I forgot to extend my thanks to all the folks who are providing me with Radio 8.0 feedback. Phil Ringnalda went so far as to post his very in-depth review online. Another person who asked to be NAMELESS also spent considerable time pointing out gotchas and work arounds and other interesting tidbits. All of the efforts are an enormous help in my effort to provide a populist viewpoint in addition to my own of the product.

I’m finding that the News Aggregator was, by far, the biggest item of interest. I also found out that my habit of changing the name of my weblog every time I post to weblogs.com is causing problems with personal weblogs.com lists, as the list runs off of weblog name rather than the URI (naughty. no-no.) I’m now torn as to whether I should be consistent or have fun. My predilection is to have fun.

Documentation’s also another issue that has generated comments. If Radio 8.0 isn’t open source, the effort to document how it works and what people have done is. What’s needed, now, is a method of pulling these disparate pieces together into a unified whole.

During this whole process, I’ve been asked about my own personal RSS feed, which I don’t keep updated. As an example, a certain someone (Garth) went looking for Tim Tams in my RSS feed and didn’t find the term. Promise: On my to-do list. Really. Honest. Cross my heart.

Finally, I had some very good news about one of my current book efforts for O’Reilly. I don’t want to divulge the news just yet as I’m afraid I’ll jinx it. However, my publication date is moving up as a result, which means I may not post my usual 5-10 postings a day. I’ll probably have to settle for 2 or 3 times a day. Will you all miss me?

Again my thanks for the help with Radio 8.0. Webloggers are such great people.

Categories
Places

Krispy Kreme

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

I had this most horrible nightmare last night.

I dreamed that I was on a deserted tropical island, and the only thing I had to eat and drink was blueberry bagels slathered in Vegemite, with room temperature, flat Foster’s to wash them down. And it was in color, too. Shudder What does it mean?

I’ve heard enough about Tim Tams to know that I must try them. I live in one of this country’s most sophisticated and urbane cities; only 8% of the population that live here can afford to live here. Surely there must be some shop somewhere that sells a cooky labeled as “sexy mass-market”. That description fits San Francisco so well!

I kept trying to think if there was a particular food item that has similar universal appeal and fondness in this country. One that can also generate the same wistful thoughts, prolonged discussion, and copious drooling from even the most hardened weblogger. Just before I went to bed last night it came to me: Krispy Kreme.

I have seen weblogs devote an entire week to nothing but postings about a new Krispy Kreme that opened in the neighborhood. Cars can line up for blocks waiting to get into a Krispy Kreme outlet. Little old ladies with blue hair will run people over with their shopping carts in a mad scramble to get the one remaining box of Krispy Kreme’s.

Why, in certain parts of this country, if you come between a Man or a Woman and their Krispy Kreme, they’ll shoot you.

And on that bit of cultural exchange, I think I’ll sign off and get to work for the day. Beautiful clouds across the Bay today, as shown in this photo snapped with my handy Nikon 995 digital.

P.S. Just joking about that shooting part. Really. Honest. Cross my heart.

Categories
Places

Australian Food

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

Within comments that arose in the last Blog Party (see previous posting) a little cultural edification:

Tim Tams are a sweet that the Australians seem to universally love, at least from my understanding. I found an excellent write up that says “They’re a sexy mass-market product, available at supermarkets, service stations, convenience stores and corner shops nationwide.”

I’ve not had the privilege of having a Tim Tam — yet — but I have had the next item, Vegemite. What is vegemite? Well, I don’t know. Not sure I want to know, but I do know it’s healthy.

Vegemite is an acquired taste. You can acquire this taste quickly by laying some out on bread with butter, licking your finger, inserting said finger into electrical outlet, and eating the vegemite smeared bread while enjoying the tickling charge of the electrical current. There’s a fun looking site devoted to the stuff.

I jokingly mentioned Foster’s in the comment list, but EVERYONE knows that Australians never drink Foster’s, they leave it for the tourists. I think one of the more colorful descriptions was “piss water”? Is that it? I’ve had Foster’s. I’ve tried muddy water, too, when I was child. The water had more flavor … and more roughage, too. Foster’s web site.

Now, any readers from Oz (Jonathon, Allan, and Garth) you be sure to correct me if I’m mistaken with any of this.

And that leads us to a new song in BurningBird’s repository — the Vegemite song!

Categories
Weblogging

Mind the Blog

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

Only in weblogdom would you have such customer service attitude and “You want it? You got it, babes!”

I asked for Mind the Blog as a mug from Gary at Blogstickers and lookie at what we got:

Mind the Blog coffee mugs!!

Rageboy would be proud of you Gary. You da man.

Update: Okay, to support this cause, whereby proceeds go to help support Blogstickers, first five people in my comments get a Mind the Blog coffee mug, courtesy of Me! BurningBird! Last of the big time spenders. Update Again: Ignore my comments in the mix. And Yes, I’ll pay shipping to Australia. I draw the line at China, though.

Quick! Before my credit card company catches up with me!

Final Update On this Blurb: That was fun! Luckily the store can ship international. I just sent the winners an email to get their addresses. And we’ve helped Gary to support the Blogstickers weblog.

Categories
Weblogging

Day 1 in Exile

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

Hello babees! Today is Day 1 in exile!

Like the new color? Fits “BurningBird” doesn’t it? Orange: edgy, quick tempered, a little manic, and in your face. But with charm, don’t forget that part. Bitter-sweet, yeah, that’s me.

Actually, the color change was a purely impulsive act. One nice thing about having a plain layout — you can change things on a whim. And I am nothing if not whimsical.

Hey Radio 8.0 users, I have a big favor to ask of you. I’m writing a review of Radio 8.0 for O’Reilly Networks, and I’m looking for feedback from the user community about your experiences with the product. If you’re interested in participating, please send me an email with the following info (or attach a comment to this posting if you’re shy):

    • Name, email, URL of Radio weblog site (optional)
  • What features of Radio 8.0 have you used?
  • What features are your favorite?
  • What features are missing or incomplete?
  • Have you used any external interface into or out of the product? If so, what and how?
  • How was your installation experience? And on what OS?
  • Will you continue to use it? If so, why? If not, why not?
  • If you had a weblog before, what software did you use to maintain it?
  • What’s your technical background?

Your answers will be strictly confidential unless you tell me I can blab. When the article comes out, we’ll have a party at my weblog, you bring the booze and I’ll supply the mariachi band.