Thursday, June 16, 2005

We've added 25 new testers today for the OPML Editor.  

A new header graphic from the Seattle waterfront. Happens to be exactly where Gnomedex is going to be held next week, and it's also where I took my daily 40-minute walks during the glory days of podcasting. 

A blade of grass popping through the fertile earth. That OPML file is hosted on my server, and the directory app is also on my server, but the domain belongs to Ed Alkema. That's the kind of thing Feedburner could do for its users. Anytime Ed wants to move his stuff, he doesn't even have to call me. And all the setup was done by him, I didn't have to do anything. Technology is compatible with freedom, if you want it to be. Lock-in isn't required.  

Odeo screen shots at Google Blogoscoped. It's a portal! 

Bob Stepno reviews the EFF guidelines for bloggers. Me, I don't hold out much hope for the EFF's advice, given that they don't see any problem with Google's ad hackery of our sites, what kind of clue could they actually have about blogger's interests? They think we're part of Google's Gulag. Hey that's kind of catchy.  

I'm working at the local public library today, they have excellent free wifi. I came here yesterday, but too late to avoid the rush of school kids, who love the library, but are really noisy about it. Now it's nice and quiet, but when I came in, at first there was a busload of retarded adults, and they made a lot more noise than the kids, and it was more disgusting, screechy, body noise. Get what I mean? They're gone now, and I'm getting a lot of work done. But I have to be careful not to L-O-L. I make a lot of noise myself while I'm woikin.  

One of the reasons I liked the term Really Simple Groupware is that it conveys something important about the Instant Outlining server. It's just a bit more complicated than an RSS server. Most of it can be handled by a static HTTP server. The part that requires some dynamic smarts will be open and documented and (easily) cloneable. 

Dave Luebbert posts in Dan Gillmor's thread on Instant Outlining. 

Scott Rosenberg wants a left-handed camera. "Millions of potential customers." 

It's doc-writing day 

Today's my day to write documentation for the new users who will be joining our test group later today or early tomorrow. I'm working on the docs that explain The World Outline. I'm finally writing it at a user-level. No hand-waving. I think people are going to get it this time. Yahoo!

Getting back on the wagon 

It's possible that Don Park is looking for some help getting back on the wagon. Here's my two cents. Before I quit for good, the longest I had ever gone without a cigarette is about six hours. That's how much willpower I had. You have to want to quit to quit. So no one else can do it for you. This part is a total DIY thing.

Now, I have been on diets and exercise regimes where I fell off the wagon, ate something really bad for me, or went a couple of days without exercise. Then what worked for me is to give up the guilt and just get back on the wagon. Pick up as if I had never failed. Do what I would have done if I had been perfect.

Something like that just happened on Monday this week. In May I had lost 9 pounds. But in June I had been slacking, and thought I had put it all back. (I don't have a scale, I find the day-to-day monitoring unproductive.) So I went for a checkup on Monday, blood work, and blood pressure, and they weighed me. I had lost 6 more pounds! Yow. So while I had been bad, I hadn't been that bad. I went out for a delicious breakfast, lots of bad stuff, and then went shopping and bought only good stuff. I've been happily eating veggies, fish and salad, drinking lots of bottled water and Diet Coke, and feeling productive ever since.

In other words Don, one cigar won't kill you, really. And you're just a human being. Welcome to the club.

Love, Uncle Fluffy

Signatures 

On a private mail list I signed off as Uncle Shippy.

In a coffee shop, using their free wifi, I'm Uncle Sippy (for the coffee I's sippin).