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  1. 20030228 #

    1. 1057

      Canceled II #

      • media

        More like redirected until the subscription runs out — but cancelled is how it feels.

        I have given up on the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) print edition.

        For the longest time it provided an excellent, unsensationalized, filtered daily news feed. Even when they provided the option of viewing articles online, I still preferred the print edition.

        But this was before blogs. And blog indexers and popularity engines.

        It has gotten to the point that by the time I see a story or a news snippet in the WSJ, I have already seen it on a blog somewhere, or linked from one of the blog/popularity indexes: Technorati, Daypop Top 40, Popdex, and heck even the most emailed news on Yahoo!.

        I was also really offended by the WSJ's decision to significantly increase the amount of color in their print style sheet. If I wanted a newspaper with cheesy colors sprinkled throughout, I would read a local paper. But the changing looks were not what really changed my mind. Neither were those consistently annoying smarmy center column articles. Neither was the annoying new "Weekend Journal" pseudo-entertainment section attempt.

        In the end it came down to the fact that it provided little, if anything that I wasn't already getting from other sources sooner, faster, and deeper.

        Is newsprint obsolete?

        This has been prematurely predicted so many others so many times.

        Is it different this time? What makes it different this time?

        It is not just the availability of Reuters, AP etc. online. Electrons move faster than atoms — of course they do.

        It is the fact that there are enough people blogging to provide a much better bottom up filter on the news than any top down filter from a newspaper editor. And that better filter is available much sooner and much more "instantly" than once a day, delayed by printing and distribution time.

        But very few folks have switched to reading blogs (and indexes thereof) for their news. Like my parents for example. I know they read my blog from time to time (Hi Anne and Baba! ;-) but I doubt they read many others. I doubt they are using it as a substitute for news. I also remember that when I spent a week or so at my parents house and had my WSJ temporarily transferred down there, my dad read much more of it than I did. So i'm redirecting the remainder of my subscription to my parents' address so they can enjoy what is left of it.

        Goodbye WSJ print edition. Maybe I'll visit your trimmer younger sibling from time to time just to ask — heard anything new?

        Comments:

        1. Simon Willison
        2. Daniel Glazman
        3. François Nonnenmacher
        4. Patrick Chanezon

        #

    2. 0748

      Drowning in paper #

      • balance

        I am not packed for my early morning flight tomorrow.

        I have not done my taxes.

        I have hundreds if not thousands of pieces of paper to sort through and file, recycle or shred then recycle.

        But at least I am caught up on my bills for the next month.

        And I have a new pair of glasses.

        #

  2. 20030225 #

    1. 0312

      Thievery Corporation #

  3. 20030224 #

    1. 2359

      Flooding and fellow suffering #

      • weather

        Drizzle has become steady monotonous rain. Underground garage at the local base is flooded. Leather slipons in hand I waded in old cotton socks through the dark, oily, gritty, ankle deep, 20 yard parking lot puddle. Socks have been hung in the shower, just to dry them for no reason before they are thrown out.

        #

      • friends

        My good friend Vadim (who is Russian of course), apparently also just saw "Russian Ark". Coincidentally of course, he saw the showing just after the one I went to, but tragically of course we did not see each other and thus I was unable to warn him and his date. Apparently the movie was her idea, and he had warned her about the Russian movie thing but was powerless to alter the course of their evening.

        #

    2. 2300

      Russian Ark #

      • perception

        Surreal is

        • arriving five minutes before you expect to
        • the ground soaked, saturated and densely arrayed with impossibly big water droplets with nary a drop felt from the sky
        • University Avenue nearly deserted at 7pm on a weekday
        • walking by the theatre you were going to meet your friends at and having the ticket salesman (whom you've never seen before) yell out your name to get your attention
        • the same ticket salesman telling you to go on inside, because your friends are already there
        • the snack girl (who you also have never seen before) smiling at you and exclaiming So you're Tantek. Are you a designer or an architect?
        • joining your friends inside the theatre, relating what just happened, and having them laugh and tell you that you give off an artsy vibe
        • seeing a preview for a movie called "Safety of Objects" and wondering out loud "type safety?" thus shattering any artsy illusion or imaginary loss of geekitude.
        • watching a Russian movie

        #

      • movie

        Which unfortunately was very much a Russian movie. I saw "Russian Ark" tonight at the Aquarius Palo Alto. I cannot recommend spending nearly two hours of your undivided attention sitting through it. Sure, the single continuous HD Steadicam® take concept was interesting for the first ten or so minutes. And the costumes and settings were also interesting for another 20 or so minutes. But the nearly unemotional monotonic voices (of the narrator and the annoying black dressed goofy hair cursor person) followed by long drawn out mostly quiet completely boring scenes were more than my short attention span could handle. Nevermind the complete lack of any kind of plot (I'm sorry, random stuff happening as a faceless narrator walks room to room is not a plot — it's just a bad home movie). This movie could have easily been edited down to about 30 minutes. But that would have violated the whole one continuous unedited take concept. Oh well, perhaps the movie was doomed to failure. But that would be very Russian as well (in a literary sense of course).

        #

      • weather

        It's drizzling tonight in Menlo Park and probably elsewhere as well.

        #

      • cafe

        Chairs on tables is universal cafe language for: it's past closing time and we're being polite by not asking you to leave so please be polite in return and leave so we can finish closing up and go home.

        #

  4. 20030223 #

    1. 2333

      Sight and sighting #

      • maint

        With the help of my eyeglasses consultant, and visits to a number of eyeglass shops, I've finally found and ordered my new pair.

        After meeting downtown (she BART'd from Oaktown, I MUNI'd from Coletown) at Site for Sore Eyes, we MUNI'd down to Eye Gotcha (where I found the pair I wanted). In the afternoon we zipped down to Peninsula Optical where they had nothing as interesting as the selection at Eye Gotcha. But in the middle of that...

        #

      • brunch

        We had brunch at Zazie's: French toast was meant to be served with vanilla ice cream, not butter. While waiting our turn, and checking out people with glasses, I couldn't help but notice one person in particular who looked familiar.

        #

      • friends

        She and her two friends ended up sitting down at the table next to us, and I told my consultant friend — I'm sure I recognize her. So I leaned over and asked — "Excuse me, is your name Leila?" And of course it was. Nice to meet you Leila.

        Comments:

        1. Leila

        #

  5. 20030222 #

    1. 1215

      Creak #

      • friends

        Out 'til 2 Thursday night — it's always nice to go to something and know lots of peeps and meet more too. Friday I met Chris at Borrone and we went to the Monkeyboys for games with Bob and Mandi and a bit of South Park until 4. This morning somebody called me at home and woke me up at 11. Normally that would be safe, but ugh, the sound I heard when I got out of bed was creak and it wasn't my floor.

        Anyway, Chris and I are off to Crepes for brunch. Then tax preparation (getting my papers together) and off to errands.

        Comments:

        1. Cheyenne Burnsworth

        #

      • weather

        It's a beautiful day outside here in sunny San Francisco. Go out and take in some rays and breathe some of that freshly blown in ocean air.

        #

  6. 20030220 #

    1. 2154

      Infomonkey #

      • work

        Ok, that's it. Ada and I just figured out how to fix a major major bug. We're going to double-check it tomorrow morning, but it looks like with very few lines of code we are going to fix many many cases of misrendering. What cases? You think I'm going to tell? You'll know soon enough. Or you might. Or not. Unfortunately it's a few lines of added code — my preference is of course to fix bugs by deleting code, or collapsing code. Because, you see, Tasman is actually quite small, and we like it like that. How small? Can't say. Maybe some day.

        #

      • friends

        So you know what happens when people know you spend late weeknights working from home (or at work for that matter)? Your friends call you when they need information. Yes, that's right, you become their infomonkey. They know most (nearly all?) information is easily lookedup on the web, and they know you're sitting in front of half a dozen open browser windows, and they're stuck in a car somewhere without 'net access. Does "411" occur in any of my phone numbers? No it does not.

        Hey Vadim, you're welcome. Hope your date goes well.

        I actually am glad to help. Just annoyed (jealous?) that I'm stuck here at my desk, and my friends know it, while some of them are out making trouble (if not making out). I've got "make" stuck on the mind since reading Brittney's post asking for ideas of what phrase to put on the t-shirt she is making (instead of the worn out "Make Love Not War"). My top 10 suggestions:

        1. Make Friends Not War (friends are good)
        2. Make Peace Not War (that's why they call them U.N. "peace makers")
        3. Make Dinner Not War (friends like it when you cook for them)
        4. Make Art Not War (Sun-Tzu say)
        5. Make Money Not War (war is bad for the economy, stock prices, donations, tips)
        6. Make Up Not War (kiss and make up)
        7. Make My Day Not War (intimidate before you eliminate, Dirty Harry style)
        8. Make Eyes Not War (either in the flirtatious sense — see the next one — or in the Blade Runner sense: I don't know answers, I just do eyes. You Nexus, huh? I design your eyes.)
        9. Make Out Not War (Safer than making love these days, but you can still catch a cold. Now why would you ask if I'm speaking from experience?)

        And the #1 suggestion for a different kind of anti-war t-shirt slogan:

        1. Make T-Shirts Not War (Self-referential, self-deprecating, and self-replicating. Just having thought of it is making me really want to actually make a t-shirt that says that. Motivation is a sign of a good meme.). Hey kid, why don't you setup a Cafe Press shop to make these and then I (and anyone else that wants one) can just buy them and you can make some extra bucks too?

        [Update: Brittney has chosen and made her shirt - go check out her site for details and maybe a picture too.]

        Pop back. Yes, I am an infomonkey.

        Alright, I'm booking my flights now. Ada and I have nailed the bug to the floor. It's still twitching but it should be dead by morning.

        Quick change and down to Haight street to grab a cab to the Velvet Lounge in a bit. The spec review can wait until tomorrow morning. The folks at work who want it aren't expecting it until the afternoon anyway.

        Here is an appropriate quote from Jessamyn's site (by way of Jane's reference)

        "... What's most important is that you choose and get on with your life."

        Indeed. Let's go.

        #

    2. 2013

      Detour #

      • club

        Been thinking about going to Detour, a party tonight at the Velvet Lounge.

        Still haven't decided to go or not. Denise is DJing and she did send out a private-to-her-homies email strongly suggesting that we better show up.

        Ok, I'm thinking about it. Supposedly it starts at 9pm.

        #

      • work

        I still have travel plans to make for the upcoming W3C plenary and SXSW. And I still have to review the ATSC DASE DASE-1 Approved Proposed Standard. And bugs to help fix. Etc. etc. Telecommuting from home means you can work very late without realizing it.

        #

    3. 1401

      Last night#

      • friends

        Would you believe me if I told you that a friend told me about a meeting up of fellow SF bloggers, that he himself could not make, that I went to perhaps half an hour after it was supposed to start, found that no one had shown up, and that the hostess hadn't even heard of it? It was funny (in a snap back to reality kind of way) to see the look on her face when I said "blog", and have her pause, look very confused, and try to repeat what I had said: "did you say, buh, buh, buh, buh-ulll-ogg?".

        Yes, folks there are still people (even in San Francisco - which I've heard called blogger-central) who have never heard the word (even after Google acquired Pyra and "blogging" and "blogs" made the mainstream news outlets). Anyway, So much for meetup.com.

        I sat upstairs figuring I could just reply to personal emails for a while, got down to under 20 in my inbox (up above 30 again today). I can work offline on such virtual matters for hours without noticing my environs. For the most part.

        Decided I needed something to eat and soon — can you see where this is going?

        #

      • transport

        I had taken the train down to work and back up to the city yesterday and MUNI'd it over to Montgomery, the closest stop to the meetup point. Afterwards I walked back to Market via the Metreon and hopped back on at Powell.

        #

      • cafe

        By this time I was hungry to point of wanting to go directly to a place that served food. Do not go home, do not go to the ATM to collect 200. I started thinking of where I could go (closest to my MUNI stop), and what to eat (what on the menu takes the least preparation time). Though I had consciously been trying to avoid going back yet again, I reminded myself that they did have good soups. And they did. Lentil. With a baguette on the side. Tunnelvisioned on the register. Ordered. Large freshly squeezed orange juice should hold me for a few minutes before the soup. Sat down at the table nearest, against the wall. Drink. Breathe. Vision back I finally looked around to take in the crowd.

        #

      • personal

        There next to window, against the same wall as I, sitting, studying, sipping tea, she was.

        #

  7. 20030219 #

    1. 0915

      A Table With A View #

      • transport

        On the 9am Caltrain. My first time riding the new cars.

        Wow. These are even cooler than the new SNCF cars I rode last February from Nice to Mandelieu.

        Caltrain cars have had second level seating for a while, but they've been limited to a narrow row of single seats on either side of the car. Loner seats.

        The new cars have taken an opposite design. All the seats appear to be in quads, 2 facing 2 arrangements. About one out of ten such quads have tables. I grabbed one on the upper level with a broad window facing the bay. A place for the deck, comfort and a view.

        Just noticed there are also power outlets under the tables.

        #

      • mac

        This now matters to me because my TiBook eats a full charge in only 45 minutes when I use it to play MP3s as well as type up offline blog entries.

        #

      • music

        Essential listening: Star Guitar by the Chemical Brothers. The beats appear uncannily synchronized with objects passing by the train window. The video illustrates this quite well. Almost as if they shot the video first and laid down the track to match.

        #

  8. 20030218 #

    1. 2104

      Second encounter #

      • cafe

        I went to Crepes again tonight, figuring I would enjoy a peaceful meal and get some spec writing done. I made some progress. But then, she showed up. We chatted a bit. Then she went off to do some work. I need to do some too but having difficulty thinking clearly. Might write more later when can think better. Should go home before doing/saying something foolish. I want an antidote but then I don't.

        Comments:

        1. Daniel Glazman
        2. Karl Dubost
        3. Morga Zilla

        #

  9. 20030216 #

    1. 1412

      Another hotspot #

      • cafe

        I'm at Chow with Chris Pirillo where it turns out there's open wifi. SSID:kuffs with 2-4 dots out of 5 (and that's with the poor reception on my TiBook). Speedtest says about 500kbps.

        #

    2. 0922

      CSS3 module: Color last call #

      • web

        Hey web lovers — did you miss your Valentines day present?

        The final last call working draft of the CSS3 module: color was published on the 14th. There were just enough changes to warrant going back to last call, but they were minor enough to warrant a minimal last call period. You have until the end of the month to provide feedback to www-style@w3.org.

        After that the document goes to "Candidate Recommendation" (CR), pink, hotpink, deeppink and many more seasonal and otherwise named colors will be a standard, not only usable in browsers that happen to support them (and SVG documents), but in any HTML+CSS or XML+CSS documents. We'll see how long it takes to update the CSS validator (so you can avoid inline scripting hacks).

        #

    3. 0230

      Glogger or Bloogle? #

  10. 20030214 #

    1. 2139

      Connections #

      • family

        Parents in town. We're all hanging out at my sister's place.

        #

      • web

        Months ago in a dream I saw a connection between two things I thought were unrelated. Probably a remote memory of a discussion seen or overheard in the recent past making its way to the surface. The next morning I ran a search. It brought me an old working draft. Subtly hidden about two-thirds the way through was the connection from my dream. The connection which apparently has been all but lost. Let's see if I can restore it.

        #

      • holiday

        Minor targetsheet tweak for the holiday ♥.

        #

  11. 20030213 #

    1. 1657

      Canceled #

      • comm

        Motorola Microtac Ultra Lite cell phone Goodbye 408.888.45** (friends, delete my cell # from your directories/addressbooks/phones etc.).

        Goodbye Motorola Microtac Ultra Lite Classic Gold Edition.

        Yes, I still had that phone. Essentially the same cell phone (replaced once under warranty a couple of months before the 3 year warranty ran out) that I've had since late 1995. I had the oldest cell phone of anyone that I knew. I'm not an upgrade junky. I still run OS9.

        After jury duty cut out early I hopped the turnstyles at the unattended Van Ness MUNI stop (of course I had a valid transfer, though a guy dressed in black with butterfly bandages hopping a turnstyle apparently gets looks that are quickly averted) and zipped it down to Montgomery where just a block down Market is a cluster of cell phone retailers.

        So I'm close to deciding on what new phone and service (AT&T GSM) to get. Close enough that it was time bid the old barely functioning Moto goodbyeo. I'll probably pick up the replacement some time next week.

        Any phone suggestions? Rather than a reduced price SIM-locked Ericsson T68i (which has plenty of drool-cool features like bluetooth) I'm thinking of the "free" Nokia 3590. Small, simple, sturdy, and no dorky stub antennae that pokes you in the leg when carrying it in your pocket (unlike the other free option — the Siemens S46). And there are many cool alternate style sheets plastic covers available for it. I can wait 'til later to pick up an unlocked überphone.

        Comments:

        1. Stuart Langridge

        #

    2. 1120

      Service completed #

      • citizen

        About half an hour ago a whole group of us prospective jurors was called to report to a courthouse a couple of blocks up Polk street. I was not among that group. I think they're done for the day, because now they're calling another group of folks: If your name is called, your service is completed for a period of one year. Hold onto your summons as proof of service. I was among that group.

        #

    3. 1025

      Just a few details #

      • citizen

        The juror checkin room at the Superior Court of California County of San Francisco is pretty nice. Lots of hardwood decor, recessed lighting etc. Rows of theatre seats at both ends of a long rectangular room. Tables and chairs in the middle. A long bench against the wall at one side of the tables. On the other side of the tables a long ledge (like a really really wide desk) with adjustable indirect lighting, chairs, power outlets and Cat5 jacks that claim to be connected to phone lines (dial 9 to get out — 415, 800, 877, 888 area code calls only).

        There is an open wifi net (SSID: cc) but the ISP behind the wireless (Courtroom Connect) appears to require a Username, Password, Billing plan (Trial | Pre-Trial) and Client Billing # (Optional). Why limit the internet access in a public courthouse? Afterall, not only is it paid for by taxpayers, but the courthouse itself is open to the public so why isn't their internet access?

        Found out when I checked in that it is too late to request a postponement by form. Was supposed to have mailed that in weeks ago. Now I have to wait my turn to be called, and ask the judge for a postponement.

        #

    4. 0917

      Duty calls #

      • citizen

        My juror group number was told to show up today at 10am at court in downtown SF whereupon I'm sure I'll wait hours to find out whether or not I am to serve on a jury.

        Since such duty could very well conflict with two important upcoming conferences, I am going to try to get a postponement. According to the forms, you can request up to a 90 day postponement. We'll see if that works. Many others have already blogged about their jury duty experiences, so I probably won't bother unless something out of the ordinary happens.

        #

      • friends

        Last night was a lot of fun. Shan and I ended up at Elastiq where John Kim laid down some phat tracks. But what made it worth it was bumping into the usual crowd. Everyone asked me if I got into a fight and I told them that I'm not supposed to talk about it. Shout outs to Denise, Brooke, Jessica, Sol, and Zeel. Nice to meet you Marianne. We bailed around 12:30 — early perhaps but it's good to end the night at the right point. A night which started by getting dropped off at Shan's place and then making our way over to

        #

      • cafe

        Crepes on Cole. You know how sometimes you spot someone from a distance and think, hey they look kinda cute and then up close the mirage evaporates? Ever had the opposite happen, where up close they look much much cuter than you first thought you saw? No matter how hard you try you can't stop looking over - oh, every 30 seconds or so. And then they speak with a melody — happy friendly bordering on flirtatious too? You can barely keep a rational conversation because your brain has just let go of far too many chemical stores. It's good to know you can still meet people like that. Yes of course I got her email address.

        #

  12. 20030212 #

    1. 1928

      More 'softies and rumors too #

      • work

        Hitched a ride back to the City (from work) with Omar, Shan and Vivian this evening. Turns out Omar has a blog — but he doesn't post too often. From Omar's blog I noticed a few more 'softies with blogs. Reeves has a blog. And so does McGillicuddy.

        Shan has a blog too, but begged me not to link to it for now (he hasn't updated it in almost two years). Ok, Shan, you have a week, and then you're getting linked. All the rest have been added to the sidebar.

        About those rumors. Went back to Microsoft Watch to see if they had updated their list of blogs by past and present Microsoft folks. Noticed their link to a rumor-laden article at thinksecret.com. MSN for OSX - been there, talked about it. Then they go on to talk some smack about IE6 etc. I'm going to toe the "can't comment about unannounced products" line here. All I'll say is take rumors for what they are — rumors.

        #

  13. 20030211 #

    1. 2306

      View images favelet #

      • web

        Just a simple favelet to view all the images on a page — each in their own relatively sized window. Useful for dissecting TABLE/GIF layouts or revealing hidden images on a page.

        #

  14. 20030210 #

    1. 2222

      Finds, failures, fixups and follies#

    2. 2110

      NKS #

      • sci

        I'm attending a talk by Stephen Wolfram (creator of Mathematica) at Dinkelspiel Auditorium at Stanford University tonight. We're onto the Q&A session at this point, for a talk which covered a whole range of subjects from the perspective of his new book: A New Kind of Science (NKS).

        In short, Wolfram has spent 20+ years iterating (pun intended) on cellular automata, and its possible applications to the fields of mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, cosmology, and even philosophy. Some of his conclusions are not only that complexity can result from very simple systems (ref. chaos theory), but that very simple systems with very simple initial conditions can result in apparently aperiodic complexity.

        The assertion is that with the publication of and responses to NKS, the study of "computational science" is being established an entirely new field of scientific study. The principle of computational equivalence seems to be at the center of it.

        #

  15. 20030209 #

    1. 1604

      Communities, collectives, popularity, self-expression #

      • blog

        Yesterday was my blog's six month anniversary.

        But this thought-thread really started for me by reading Robert Scoble's recent points and followups about Microsoft, blogs, and community. I really find no need or desire to nitpick or argue with Robert because most of his points are good ones. Sure there's a bit of the superlative, but he said many things that needed to be said.

        Ok, I'll pick on one reference (which I'm sure Robert meant in jest because he knows better).

        Borg.

        In reference to Microsoft.

        Yeah right! Sheeyah. As if.

        If only Microsoft were that efficient and capable of rapid adaptation and self-improvement.

        Robert's not the only one. Fellow employee Dare Obasanjo often uses the term b0rg (with a zero). I can only conclude he is making fun of anti-MS zealots that use the term who have leanings for such h4x0r-5p34k. (Note: Scoble is neither anti-MS nor a zealot). Dare even graced me with the title of B0rg HTML working group rep in a recent post where he generously provided me with an XSLT style sheet to transform my blog to RSS, and its sample RSS 1.0 output.

        Whoa - I just noticed that the sample appears to be live.

        Uh, folks, looks like I've got an RSS feed (except the entry titles appear to be missing their last characters). Doesn't this mean that anyone can provide RSS feeds for any/all blogs that use valid and semantically rich XHTML? I have to consider the implications of this a bit more.

        Pop back to previous topic. The whole "Microsoft as borg" myth. Robert's reference in jest. Dare's c0ded (sarcastic?) reference. My own skepticism.

        Then again, perhaps it's just my perspective, as a minor adjunct in an odd shaped cube in unimatrix 2 which consists mostly of mass assimilations that have yet to really be fully integrated.

        Pop back to previous topic. Microsoft, blogs, and community.

        Is community just about being popular? That doesn't sound quite right. After all, Microsoft is both popular (has high marketshare in various markets) and unpopular (gets plenty of bad PR, has outspoken jealous competitors).

        Next I noted the Ziff Davis listing of Microsoft bloggers who for the most part maintain their blogs personally, as a hobby, rather than anything exclusively professionally focussed (yours truly included).

        Now Mike Amundsen has setup a site that tracks Microsoft Blogs. Lacking a visible RSS feed (however see above), I seem to have slipped through his .NET, and thus am absent from the listing.

        Do I care? Maybe a little. Not enough to take the time to contact him. He'll figure it out eventually — like the way so many things seem to naturally work themselves out just by giving them time.

        Finally, I noted Clay Shirky's article Power Laws, Weblogs, and Inequality where a lot of good points are made.

        In my opinion, the key point made is that Blogs are not a good place to rest on your laurels. The biggest difference between weblogs and other systems which exhibit a power law distribution is the amount of high turnover not only on weblogs but perhaps in the web in general. This could be attributed to the youth of the medium, but I think it has more to do with diminished attention spans (you're still reading?), and low barriers to entry (anyone can start a weblog).

        However, there are some oddities that deserve mentioning. Specifically regarding Top 100 Technorati (I am addicted to the Technorati Cosmos service - Google is unusable in comparison for tracking cross-blog references.):

        • Four of the top 10 entries (#1 Movable Type, #2Blogger, #4 UserLand.com, #10 RadioComments2.Userland.Com) are all for/about blogging tools.
        • Another four (#3 google, #5 cnn.com, #7 Slashdot, #9 Apple) of the top 10 entries aren't even blogs. Search engines, professional news outlets, community discussion boards, and corporate home pages are not blogs — even within liberal usage of the term.
        • That leaves #6 Scripting News and #8 Boing Boing. I'm consistently amazed by the stuff that Cory finds (or posts about in response to reader submissions). While I don't necessarily agree with a lot of what they post/say, I have no idea how Dave or Cory have the time to provide the frequency and volume of updates that they do, and am impressed by that alone. Hats off to you gentlemen.
        • William Gibson owns both the #89 and #90 spots with the same URL!. Neat trick Mr. Gibson. Perhaps you're much more of a h4x0r than you admit. Or perhaps the work of your fans.

        Now what I think would be even more interesting is if the Technorati Top 100 listed past rank as well, as in: yesterday: #20, last week: #40, last month: n/a, so you could watch the high turnover.

        Note the high variance and differences of both the rankings and the "number of inbound links" between the Technorati Top 100 and the myelin: blogging ecosystem.

        Jason Kottke has a good summary and list of further reading regarding blogs and power laws.

        I was particulary entertained by Joe Clark's often humourous (unintentionally so?) Deconstructing "You've Got Blog".

        Throughout many of these articles there are persistent if veiled references to popularity. Do people really blog just to become more popular? Perhaps. The desire to be liked (even well-liked) is perfectly human. When it elevates to drama and demagoguery it has gone too far.

        All this discussion raised questions that I really didn't want to address — for fear of covering so much well trodden navel gazing. So I'll try to make it quick (at this point).

        Why do I blog?

        • You could say it's all Zeldman's fault.
        • I found I was spending a lot of time sending emails of links and articles to friends and family. I decided blogging about them would save me time and provide a history that I could reference.
        • Finally there were too many thoughts, ideas, and suggestions about web standards, using web technologies, semantic markup etc. etc. which kept cluttering my head screaming to get out. Posting them allowed me to externalize and not have to keep them running around in my mind for fear of forgetting. By the number and content of the comments, some number of folks have even found a few of them useful (Bed and BReakfast markup, Anorexic Anchors, and A Touch of Class are probably my most referenced posts).

        I don't expect popularity from blogging. Or even noteriety. But I have met some amazing people.

        For me it comes down to keeping friends and family updated, some web-related advice/rants/discussions, and some stream-of-consciousness self-expression. I hope you have enjoyed your stay. It's been a fun (if busy) and interesting six months. The next six months look to be even more so.

        Welcome.

        Comments:

        1. Kevin C Smith
        2. François Nonnenmacher
        3. Dare Obasanjo

        #

  16. 20030208 #

    1. 1100

      Saturday mornin #

      • blog

        Steve pointed me to this recent Ziff Davis listing of Microsoft Bloggers, which happens to link to my 2003 January archive. Um, guys, you might want to trim that URL back to http://tantek.com/log/. Yeah, I know, redirects can be confusing sometimes.

        Performed a (hopefully to be regular) update to my blogroll. Recent finds got filed and replaced by more recent finds. Alphabetized for your convenience. Some new old tunes (I am finding a need for a blogrolling application that will integrate with a CD library application). Shameless 100x100 jpg plug for SXSW (purely with a CSS rule for the touring entry though!). Another minor mod - permalinks should show up as simple "#" marks (no more bracketing entities) on downlevel browsers (handhelds etc.) and on those with scripting disabled.

        Ok, I've got two hours to do some semblance of exercise, clean up, and get setup for gameday.

        #

  17. 20030207 #

    1. 0938

      Game on! #

      • game

        This Saturday (yes, tomorrow) I'm hosting a "Gameday". In short:

        What
        Play strategy games*. Face to face. With people. Without a computer.
        When
        From 1pm til midnight**. Show up & depart at your convenience.
        Where
        San Francisco. Upper Haight / Cole Valley. Email me for directions.
        Why
        Mental cross-training. Socializing while thinking. Dinner from Escape From New York Pizza.

        The crowd usually consists of local friends, sometimes a few from afar, and almost always a couple of new folks, so don't be shy. People start trickling in at 1pm, and play a few games and come and go until we're too tired to make sense.

        So bring yourself, bring a friend, and see if you can spend a few successive hours without reading blogs or blogging — though there is of course open wifi for those that need their hourly fix.

        Game on!

        Tantek

        *Games in the past have included: Settlers of Catan, Seafarers of Catan, Cities & Knights of Catan (they've got a great racket going), Carcassone, Modern Art, Citadels, Supremacy, Evo, and even classics like chess and backgammon. Have a strategy/board game you've been wanting to play but haven't found folks to play it with? Bring it!

        **Midnight being loosely defined as however late the latest games go. We've had it go until 4am before but 1-2am is more typical.

        Comments:

        1. Stuart Langridge

        #

    2. 0044

      Toad The Wet Sprocket #

      • friends

        Chris had an extra ticket for Toad and some earnings to spend on sushi. So first I walked (took only 15 minutes) over the hill to Chris' place, and then the three of us (Chris, Gretchen and myself) walked down to

        #

      • dinner

        Osaka Sushi. Good sushi, generous portions. The specialty rolls are expensive but quite sizable — each piece is a mouthful! As we exited the restaurant, Chris spotted an empty cab inching slowly in traffic so we hopped in.

        #

      • city

        To the Fillmore please! Where on Fillmore? To the Fillmore. The theatre. Address — well the ticket says 1805 Geary. Oh, ok, I know where that is.

        #

      • music

        We got there about half an hour early, with plenty of time to check out the place — I haven't been to the Fillmore in years. Upstairs there's a balcony with a view of a stage, and a backroom with what appeared to be an open mike for acoustic guitarists. Wandered back down to the floor to get a reasonable standing spot. Met up with Missy and Brent.

        The opening bands were actually not bad. Bleu opened (apparently he has a single on the Spiderman soundtrack) and AlicePeacock followed (pretty voice and easy on the eyes — we had no complaints).

        The crowd was hilarious. I think we saw maybe one person under 30. Lots of sedated 80s styles — is big hair coming back? Guys should not wear white pants. Saw one guy who thought he was at a Pearl Jam concert and a few hippies too. Then there was tie-dye drunk guy that looked like he was having a seizure but it turned out he was only bopping his head and dancing.

        Toad The Wet Sprocket came on and played some recognizable stuff and some obscure stuff. My only complaint — the drunk inconsiderate women behind me that felt like shrieking at the top of their lungs in response to apparently random stimuli. Other than that it felt like a merry flashback — Toad even referred to one of his songs as having written it last time we bombed Iraq (to which I quipped to Chris - what, you mean like five minutes ago? I mean, we never stopped bombing Iraq — every time one of their radar sites lock onto any of our patrol flights, bye bye radar site.) All in all a good time was had.

        On the way out, just outside the theatre, a guy from another band let us know that they're playing somewhere in SF on Friday night, and handed me a freshly burned Audio CD of two of their tracks. You can also download them from their site. Guerilla CDR band promoting. Cool.

        Comments:

        1. Chris Pirillo
        2. Martin Sutherland

        #

  18. 20030205 #

    1. 0800

      W3C HTML4.01 Test Suite announced #

  19. 20030204 #

    1. 2359

      2 - 4 - 6 - 8 - 10 #

      • web

        We had a great time hanging out at Todd's place tonight and chatting about many things web and many things not. The crowd definitely reached a critical mass. We bounced from topic to topic so fast I couldn't keep track of all of them. Lists, portability of markup, handheld browsers, browsers that claim to not support "text/html", street browsing metaphors, new project inertia, blog flirting, new blog inertia, shame as a motivational factor and on and on. Ensnared in conversation we lost track of time and 8pm became 10. A few of us decided we really should grab a meal at that point and made our way to Ti Couz after bidding Todd and Martina farewell and much thanks for hosting.

        First end result (before the evening was over): Jeffrey Veen finally has permalinks on his blog! What next? Todd, Paul - who is going to be the first to get their blog started? Or am I going to have to write something about the glory of separators and continue my claim that sometimes a link is just a link?

        Shout outs to Doug, Jeff, Michael, J.R., and Paul. Thanks again to Martina and Todd for hosting us, and cute little Carl for dominating the conversation early on.

        Comments:

        1. John Robert Boynton (2)
        2. Paul Nishikawa

        #

  20. 20030203 #

    1. 1414

      Wham! Owwwwwww! #

      • personal

        I bumped my head (into the top of the driver's side window of my car - yeah it was dorky) yesterday evening and dammit it hurt. Nothing as bad as what happened to Jane so don't worry too much. No matter really, I got good care, first from the Cala Foods security lady, and later at the Monkeyboys' house from Heather, Mandi, Monica and Audrey — thanks for all the TLC. Now I have a big blue bandaid stuck on my face concealing a half inch split and some bruises.

        #

  21. 20030202 #

    1. 2359

      2 - 4 - 6 - 8 #

      • web

        Douglas Bowman and I will be holding the second irregular early evening get together to chat about web stuff, semantics, structure, style this Tuesday, February 4th, from 6 to 8pm. What with the recent drama about XHTML2, nearly everyone restyling their blogs, and other recent events, there will be no shortage of topics.

        #

      • city

        Rather than a cafe, this time it's going to be at a friend's house in the Mission district in SF. Yes he's got open wifi. We'll see about tasty drinks and eats too.

        For detailed coordinates and directions, email me (you can find my address on this site) or Doug.

        Comments:

        1. Douglas Bowman

        #

    2. 1914

      Privacy finds #

    3. 1744

      All your Bubb are belong to us #

    4. 1515

      W3C CSS Test Suites need YOU! #

    5. 1202

      Refuge #

      • personal

        Yesterday was a very very sad day, even though I nearly completely avoided the television and radio coverage. I spent some time with friends in the evening which helped. I've found that often a good night of sleep helps to wrap up the previous day's emotions and park them in the memory file. It worked somewhat in this case, I say somewhat because the feelings linger.

        #

      • brunch

        I'm going to seek refuge in brunch at Crepes on Cole which is usually quite packed for brunch on the weekends. Even if I don't run into anybody I know, I just updated all my offline subscriptions to the blogs I watch, and I've got lots of pages (already in my cache of course) to blog about after keeping quiet yesterday. And yes, being able to blog while offline is a very handy convenience that I've gotten used to — I wonder when we'll see blogging software that supports that?

        Anyways — I'll be there in a few. For those at home, the blog roll is back.

        #

  22. 20030201 #

    1. 1030

      moment of silence #

      • astro

        #

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