Day: August 23, 2006

Categories
Weblogging

For Sale: Attention

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

I had a couple of things I thought about writing on this morning. There was a reinvention of mobile computing, as well as echoes of money money money MONEY. Not to mention, all those boys comparing the sizes of their … bank accounts.

But then I thought, what am I doing? Here I am, giving attention to people who sit there raking in thousands, tens of thousands of dollars per day, all based on people like me giving them attention. What do I get? Do I get any of the loot? No siree. Do I get any thanks? Not a bit. Do I even get any respect at least?

Not hardly.

Today, Bb Gun is starting anew. Today Bb Gun only gives attention if she’s paid for it. Yup, I figure a link has got to be worth at least $100.00, would you say? And if I throw a paragraph around it, why that’s got to be worth another $50.00. Or should that be $50.00 a link, and an additional $100.00 for a paragraph?

Hey, I want to get into this blogging as business thing, too. I and others like me have been told we’re not part of the program, we’re going against the flow, casting a pall, being downers and so on. I’m taking this opportunity to expand my horizens, not to mention my bank account, as well as cast gladness in the hearts of those who despaired that we’d ever understand. I figured, at a minimum, I should at least get a bottle of wine.

Oh, I’ll still send attention for free for those who are needy. Kind of like, pro bono weblogging. Additionally, if any of you want to form a network, why I bet all we’d need is five or six of us linking to each other and we’ll own tech.meme.

So any of you want some attention, just send me an email or jot a note in comments and I’ll supply my PayPal account. If you’re strapped for cash, we’ll look into working out some form of payment plan, or even a trade. Got any chickens?

I want to thank those fine, upstanding leaders among us for shedding light on weblogging’s worth so we’re inundated by get rich quick hacks and crunchy wannabees. I particularly want to express my gratitude for demonstrating that the core value of weblogging can be measured in currency.

Categories
Writing

Fall cometh

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

I just had two Starbuck’s Doubleshots and I see dead people! There’s nothing better to jump start your morning than an overdose of caffeine.

I feel good, didda didda didda doo.

This week is the last week of summer vacation and most of the kids return to school next week. This means I can finally go to the zoo again. More importantly, the weather has been dipping into the 60’s at night, which means that the summer awfuls are heading towards an end. I’ll finally be able to walk along the trails again without risk of more allergic reactions to the bug bites. Plus, the new light rail to our neighborhood opens this weekend, which will make it so much easier to go downtown. This all puts me in a fine mood, a fine, fine mood.

I started my new book for O’Reilly this last week. It’s called Adding Ajax. I wanted to wait on saying anything until I bought the addingajax.com domain, to go with my learningjavascript.info domain. For the book colophon, I thought of suggesting to O’Reilly a baby rhino on stilts. Wouldn’t that just get attention on the book shelves?

This is going to be a fun book, but between it, finishing up the proofs on the Learning JavaScript book, the second part of the tutorial on Planet Planet, and all the work I want to do on the sites, I’m not going to be able to post as frequently as I have been. I’ve set myself up a schedule: walk in the morning, so many hours on the book, so many hours on the sites and tech, and then, weblogging. Light on posting, unless an arrangement can be made– wink wink nudge nudge.

didda didda didda duh

If I can hustle, I can take a week off in October and spend time in the Ozarks and down in Arkansas; taking photos of mills and hunting down an interesting story I accidentally stumbled on. It’s a murder mystery of all things, and I have to spend time at the Historical society in Columbia, as well as the town and county where the mystery occurred. Eventually, it will get published on MissouriGreen–which is yet another site I need to finish.

Y’all are just going to have to nag me to behave myself, stop picking on the boys, and to write and finish my sites. Or not, but if you don’t, you lose an opportunity to pester me when you know I can’t snap back.

I feeeeel good. didda ddida didda doo.

Categories
Weblogging

Redefining

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

Someone else who took a look at her weblog and decided to redefine what she wanted to write about online is Pascale Soleil. Pascale used to write at Both2and: Beyond Binary. She writes of her new site, Pascale’s Wager:

In keeping with a transition in my life, I’m moving on to a new site and a new focus for my online writing … So in future, if you’re interested, you can find me at Pascale’s Wager [http://wager.pascalesoleil.com]. Be warned: lots of “meaning of life” and God talk ~ not to mention seminary gossip. It could get oogy.

Pascale highlights one aspect of making changes in our online lives: they can be disruptive, as well as enriching. Not bad disruptive–the kind that says, “I’ve been going down this path, and I want to cut through the woods and try that path, now. You’re welcome to come along if you wish.”

Good luck at the new site, Pascale.

Categories
Just Shelley

Mama Africa and the poll

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

“But I thought things were hunky-dory…that we were all starting to get along?”

Her deep brown eyes softened and, taking my hand in hers, she sat me down at an upturned cable drum doing duty as a table.

“Mike, take a long, hard look at your people,” she said quietly. “You should be able to discern something from their behaviour.”

“Yeah, well,” I mumbled, “I know we’re pretty dumb, but if it wasn’t for us, you people still wouldn’t have the wheel. I mean, we’ve transplanted hearts, put a man on the moon…”

Like a musician — blacks have natural rhythm, she plugged in. “…colonised the world and killed hundreds of millions of people. All for fun and profit. And you’re still doing it. I know these things.”

She does too. A Rwandan refugee denied South African citizenship these past ten years, she’s packed in quite a bit of learning for a single person looking after sixteen orphans. I kid you not; as you know, I’m no bigot and would not resort to stereotyping. Mama Africa has this thing for children, so she looks after them.

No white kids, of course. Being a racist precludes that, I s’pose…

Mike Golby and Blacks are the Biggest Racists.

You just can’t keep a good black down, even when you try.

Categories
Web

Arch 2.0

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

I’m trying a little behind the scenes recruiting to get O’Reilly to put on a scripting, Ajax, and web development conference here in St. Louis. After all, what can we offer:

Location: St. Louis is centrally located for every part of the country. Rarely do you have to fly more than 3 or 4 hours to reach our city. Even if you come from another country, chances are we’re closer than California.

Cost: California is not a cheap place to visit. It’s expensive to host a conference, and hotel rooms are usually pricey. St. Louis is city that’s ready to welcome the world, not bankrupt it.

Facilities: St. Louis has one of three top rated botanical gardens in the world. St. Louis has one of the ten top rated zoos, as well as top five rated art museum. That’s in addition to the Arch, Forest Park, the waterfront, the rivers, and so on. We have a light rail system, conference facilities, plenty of hotels including a terrific one at Union Station, which is actually wrapped around a wonderfully funky shopping center that used to be the main train station here.

Weather: Summers aren’t great in St. Lou, but we make up for that with the weather we have the rest of the year. We have beautiful springs and falls — we can rival New England for fall color. We have so many spring flowers, you’ll think you walked into a florist shop. Only better. As for winter, rarely do we get snow above a couple of inches, and then it usually melts within a day. We’re sunny, and even when it rains, the rain comes in, does its thing, and moves on.

History: Mark Twain, Truman, Lewis and Clark, the westward expansion, Sprit of St. Louis, you name it, and St. Louis and Missouri have been a part of it.

Things to do: Where do I start? I’ve already covered the zoo, Forest Park, the Botanical Garden, and the Art Museum. Then there’s the dozens of parks and trails, Katy trail where people can rent bikes and ride gently along the Missouri river. Tower Grove is this country’s last Victorian walking park, with its pagodas and faux greek ruins. St. Charles for walking, LaClede’s Landing, the old Chain or Rocks Bridge. About an hour away is one of the world’s largest underwater lakes, where you can ride a boat, take a walking tour, OR do a little fresh water diving. There’s Laumeir Sculpture Park, with its outdoor works of art, nestled among trees, deer walking here and there. This is in addition to the Basilica with its world class collection of tiles, or the wonderful Fox Theater, with its ornate moulding and rich red tapestries. This is a city that was once the third largest in the country, and one of the most cosmopolitan. Much of the architecture from that time is still standing, making it an amazing place to explore.

As for night life, honey you ain’t heard the Blues until you’ve heard it in St. Lou. As for food, well, there’s Italian at the Hill, amazing southern food practically everywhere, not to mention world class gourmet restaurants such as Puck’s at the Museum. Then there’s toasted ravioli, gooey cake, and Ted Drewes frozen custard. This is Anheuser-Busch’s corporate headquarters, where you can go visit the horses, and sample the brews.

Did I happen to mention that St. Louis was, I believe, one of the first, if not the first city to have the downtown wired for free wireless?

I don’t know about anyone else, but I for one am getting tired of conferences held only along the coasts.

Arch 2.0. It works.