6th Day of XmasI'm a day behind. I blame others. The Sixth Day of Christmas: Remaining Men Together <img src="files/2004/12/helena.png" align="right" /><blockquote>There are a lot of event planning and notification services out there. SmartCommons doesn't intend to replace or directly compete with <a href="http://evite.com">Evite</a> or <a href="http://meetup.com">MeetUp</a> or the many other excellent offerings in this space. Really, SmartCommons Events are more like the bulletin board at the VFW hall or the monthly newsletter from your Masjid...but with a twist. <a href="http://integrationresearch.org/node/view/55">The twist is that you can associate your posts so that they are only seen by certain segments of your commons...</a></blockquote><blockquote><a href="http://www.theyblinked.com/blog/2004/12/december-30th-sixth-day-of-christmas.html">SmartCommons Tip #2</a>: When you create a SmartCommons Event that is associated with a Community, Project or Person you can mark the event as a "SmartMob" at the time of creation and SmartCommons will immediately send an event alert to the people associated with the Event. (No, I couldn't come up with a term better than Howard Rheingold's).</blockquote>And earlier:<blockquote><img src="http://www.theyblinked.com/blog/images/iownit.jpg" align="left" /><a href="http://www.theyblinked.com/blog/2004/12/december-29th-fifth-day-of-christmas.html">SmartCommons Tip #1</a>: Did you know that you can add something to your SmartCommons Collection directly from Amazon? When you are signed into Amazon and are on a product page you will notice in the left menu about half way down the page a little check box that is labeled, "I own it." Tick this box and the item is added to your Collection.* It is that simple. Try it. *You have to have Amazon synchronization set up in your SmartCommons Settings. See The Third Day of Christmas for more on this.</blockquote>3110032912_DaysDaniel2004-12-31T09:58:44stageThe 5th Day of Christmas<img src="files/2004/12/IMGP2050_small01.jpg" /> <img src="http://www.danielsjourney.com/blog/images/dwm.gif" /> <img src="files/2004/12/dwm1_gallery.jpg" /> Personas: One of the main issues with social software as we've known it is the fact that they treat you as if you have one face you show to the entire world. In Real Life, we present nuanced "versions" of ourselves to different people, determined by context, trust, etc. We make interaction-specific decisions about how much information<img src="files/2004/12/persona_list.jpg" align="right" /> we're going to reveal about ourselves, and we behave differently in different circles. We wanted a social software that took more of Real Life into account, and this was the key "missing ingredient" we saw. Sure, I can have Friendster for my "hook up" profile, LinkedIn for my "professional" profile, MyPlace for my "band dude" profile, Orkut for my "catch all" profile...but what a pain in the proverbial bum. What if there was one online social tool that let me interact within all my various communities in a realistic and nuanced way? Hopefully <a href="http://smartcommons.com">SmartCommons</a> is coming close... Setting up Personas:<ul><li>Under your picture there are buttons for "Edit Profile" and "<a href="http://sc2.smartcommons.net/PersonaManager.aspx">Edit Personas</a>" ...click on "Edit Personas" in case that wasn't entirely obvious!</li><li>Enter a name for your new Persona and hit "Create new persona."</li><li>Now you can specify which pieces of your "core" profile you share from this Persona. Notice that you still use the same profile information, you just expose more or less of it. You are still the same person (you can't create a "persona" that is actually a fake identity...you'd need a new account for that...heheh), you are just using more finesse in how you present yourself within your different social circles.</li></ul>There are some really cool things we plan on doing with Personas in the future*, tying them to <a href="http://underdeconstruction.com/swim/">personal content management</a> so that you can safely and centrally publish stratified content specific to your Personas...but I don't want to get ahead of myself... Other people talking about the 12 Days of Christmas: <a href="http://miniette.blogspot.com/2004/12/you-have-opened-all-your-gifts-its.html">miniette</a> and <a href="http://jonnybaker.blogs.com/jonnybaker/2004/12/smart_commons.html">jonny baker</a>. *Should pigs flying overhead begin to crap money upon us. {Possible pub night tonight at Lion and Eagle. Contact me if yer interested.}2912085212_DaysDaniel2004-12-29T11:10:40stageThe 4th Day of Christmas<a href="http://corante.com/totalexperience/">Bob Jacobson</a> says in the comments of this <a href="http://www.hyperorg.com/blogger/">David Weinberger</a> <a href="http://www.corante.com/many/archives/2004/12/28/smartcommons.php">Many 2 Many post about SmartCommons</a>:<blockquote>...the idea that we socially network online better with those with whom we socially network offline: why is that novel?</blockquote>My response would be I don't know why it is but, sadly, I think it may be, at least in the way we have approached "social software" thus far.. <a href="http://smartcommons.com"><img src="files/2004/12/scmark70.jpg" alt="SmartCommons" align="right" /></a>I like what <a href="http://www.theyblinked.com/blog/2004/12/december-28th-fourth-day-of-christmas.html">Dan says today</a>:<blockquote>Social Software can be a daunting label that means very little. The social in "social software" just means that your friends are involved. In actual fact the software is the junior partner in the whole social software thing. Community is the human killer app. We survive, reproduce and thrive in communities. We create and distribute actual social software ("culture") through communities. We cannot know ourselves outside of the communal narratives that are the raw materials we use to individuate ourselves. I am in community therefore I am. Friends are the substrate that make up larger communities. Social software is about optimizing, whenever digital facilitation is deemed useful, what already occurs between friends.</blockquote>Again, cribbing from Dan's post...Friends:<ul><li>Searching for friends: Click on the Friends tab and, once you are logged in, proceed to the bottom right corner of the screen where you can search for people you know and, if they are located, tap the "Add as friend" button to add them to your commons (the other person has to agree of course).</li><li>Inviting friends: ...by email is an easy way to include your family and friends in your commons. Again, you simply click on the Friends tab and, once you are logged in, proceed to the bottom left corner of the screen where you can enter a friend's first name and email address. A short email will be sent off to them and, should they accept your invitation, they will be added to you Friends list automatically.</li></ul>Bob continues in his comments on Many 2 Many:<blockquote>...while I'd like for all my offline friends to be online-accessible, I don't think I'd like to tie them together quite so ruthlessly. Many (I'm sure) like me for one aspect of my self, not necessarily the whole package.</blockquote>Oh shazam, the segue! Tomorrow: SmartCommons "Personas" ...2819485112_DaysDaniel2004-12-28T07:46:56stageThe 3rd Day of Christmas<a href="http://integrationresearch.org/node/view/52">Dan said it</a>: <blockquote>It is good to be an owner. It is good to share. <a href="http://integrationresearch.org/collection/socialownership.JPG"><img align="left" src="http://integrationresearch.org/collection/socialownershiptiny.JPG" border="0"></a>The values you learned in pre-school and the values you learned in business school are no longer in conflict. With SmartCommons <a href="http://smartcommons.com">sharing</a> and <a href="http://smartcommons.org/collection">ownership</a> go hand-in-hand. Just as <a href="http://flickr.com">Flickr</a> is about social photography and <a href="http://members.judysbook.com/login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fDefault.aspx">Judy's Book</a> is about social commerce, SmartCommons is about social ownership: Labeling, managing and sharing what you have in common with the people you trust. Like all social software tools, in SmartCommons value is created through the meaningful connections afforded by data. Getting the data into the system in the first place is the initial hurdle. This is often an incremental task. You upload a few photos into your Flickr account every week. You write a Judy's Book review on the amazing plumber or excellent child care you encounter every few months. Over time these entries build up with those entered by everyone else in the system and the value created is greater than the data itself. Getting relationally meaningful data into the social ecosystem is the first step to this place.</blockquote> Now I'm going to depart from copying Dan's post verbatim and tell you the order I did things to get rolling with Smart Commons and Collection (although I'm still just getting started...and it's still the holidays...I'm not stressing it): <ol> <li><a href="http://integrationresearch.org/collection/">Downloaded Collection</a>. Either the EXE or the ZIP...only difference is the EXE takes care of everything for ya.</li> <li>Signed up for <a href="http://smartcommons.com">Smart Commons</a>.</li> <li>Synced with Amazon (imported my Amazon purchases) on SC.com.</li> <li><a href="http://www.theyblinked.com/blog/images/collectionbeta1.01.jpg">Synced Collection with Smart Commons</a>.</li> <li>In Collection, deleted the stuff I didn't have anymore and updated the metadata on what I did still have.</li> <li>Synced again with Smart Commons dot com.</li> </ol> Now I need to enter items by hand or get to installing the scanner Dan lent me. I'm in no rush...Smart Commons isn't about racing to see who can have the most friends, it certainly isn't about who has the most stuff. Quality over quantity. Yeah baby. <blockquote>It is good to be an owner who shares.</blockquote>2718165912_DaysDaniel2004-12-27T06:16:30stageThe 2nd Day of Christmas<a href="files/2004/12/SCC_main.jpg"><img src="files/2004/12/SCC_thumb.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://smartcommons.org/Collection/index.html">Smart Commons Collection</a> is the first software offering from <a href="http://integrationresearch.org">Integration Research</a>. It is a desktop "asset management" tool that helps you keep track of all your stuff! If Amazon sells it, Collection can track it. For now, it is only available for Windows machines (Mac etc. coming...um...sometime...sorry guys and gals, majority rules when developing on a seriously bootstrapped budget!). Collection also synchronizes with your <a href="http://smartcommons.com">Smart Commons</a> account. You can also just use Smart Commons to keep track of your stuff, and borrow/lend from/to others. Maybe tomorrow I'll talk specifically about how to use these two tools together to enable sharing and gift within your communities. For now I'm just going to wax philosophical. It's the day after Christmas, and you've got a lot of cool new stuff (and maybe some not-so-cool stuff from an infamous distant relative or the office gift exchange). I'm listening to an <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0002S947K/qid=1104091125/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/002-0326914-3646438?v=glance&s=music&n=507846">amazing new CD</a> my parents picked up for me off of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/registry.html/ref=cm_wl_topnav_music/002-0326914-3646438?type=wishlist">my wish list</a> (somehow my parents always manage to pick the coolest, most meaningful things off my wish list...pretty cool). There is something amazing about injesting a new piece of culture from a new artifact...do you know what I'm saying? The disk goes into the player and the sound waves exit the speakers and the CD case sits in your hands, tangible and somehow...important. Some of us hate to be judged by our cultural choices, but it's just a simple fact: a large part of our personality can be discerned by them. Go ahead, sign up for <a href="http://smartcommons.com">Smart Commons</a>, find me, add me as a friend, and browse my "collection." It's not complete yet, I'm still adding what I didn't buy at Amazon (and therefore couldn't just automatically add through synchronization with Amazon), but it will give you a bit of a look. Then, we might be in the same community...like, already or literally a "community" on Smart Commons (or preferably both). And through Smart Commons, *our collective* collection becomes everyone's collection. It's voluntary...I can still reject your request to borrow something with the click of a button. But not just access, but *discovery* of these cultural and informational artifacts, starts to expontentate by the number of people in my community. And because the relationships in my communities aren't just thin, artificial, technologically-created relationships (<a href="http://www.theyblinked.com/blog/2004/12/december-25th-first-day-of-christmas.html">because SC focuses on sharing life with the people you are already in community with</a>), the sharing of our stuff adds to the meaningfulness of our experiences both with the stuff and with each other. What can I say? We're utopian technologists. <a href="http://integrationresearch.org/collection/">Download Smart Commons Collection</a>.2614160412_DaysDaniel2004-12-26T12:31:31stageShareSomethingChristmas.com<a href="http://sharesomethingchristmas.com"><img src="http://integrationresearch.org/share/images/sharesomething_lesstext.jpg" alt="sharesomethingchristmas.com" /></a> Faced with the binaries of the Great Consumer Holiday or <a href="http://buynothingchristmas.org/">Buy Nothing Christmas</a>, we try for a positive alternative, a proposition with action, an attempt to revitalize the true meaning of Gift. It just so happened we've been developing some software with sharing in mind. It's an ethic we'd like to explore; we wanted a tool to help us; we created <a href="http://smartcommons.org">Smart Commons</a> and <a href="http://smartcommons.org/Collection/index.html">Smart Commons Collection</a>. Give them a spin this Christmas, once the Spin of Christmas has worn off. What else are you going to do with all that stuff? Please spread the word/meme. Use whichever URL you like, they're all the same: <a href="http://sharesomethingchristmas.com">sharesomethingchristmas.com</a> <a href="http://sharesomethingchristmas.org">sharesomethingchristmas.org</a> <a href="http://sharesomethingxmas.com">sharesomethingxmas.com</a> <a href="http://sharesomethingxmas.org">sharesomethingxmas.org</a> <a href="http://integrationresearch.org/share">integrationresearch.org/share</a> Here's the code to throw on yer blog: <textarea rows="8" cols="50" style="background: #fff; border: #ddd 1px solid; font-family: Verdana, serif; font-size: 10px; margin: 0; padding: 3px;" name="select1" > <a href="http://sharesomethingchristmas.com"><img src="http://integrationresearch.org/share/images/sharesomething_lesstext.jpg" alt="sharesomethingchristmas.com" /></a></textarea> Smart Commons and Smart Commons Collection are both in the beta stage. They work fine, really. <a href="http://theyblinked.com/blog">Dan</a> has been working his ass off getting this thing ready for release. But he is an army of one, like, for real, not like that other army, so be nice. And look forward to good stuff.1415254212_DaysDaniel2004-12-25T03:25:12stageShareSomethingXmas.com ...teaser<a href="http://sharesomethingchristmas.com"><img src="http://integrationresearch.org/share/images/sharesomething_lesstext.jpg" alt="sharesomethingchristmas.com" /></a> *Everything* gets pushed back, so it seems. Code refuses to fall together quickly, bodies refuse to run without sleep... The book, SWIM Beta, and a bunch of new recordings I've either cut myself or engineered, they're all going to have to wait until January or February. ShareSomethingXmas was originally set to roll last week, but we've decided to make it the first installment of <a href="http://integrationresearch.org">our</a> 12 days of Christmas, starting on the first day of Christmas, December 25. Every day for 12 days we're going to be discussing something about sharing, gift, technology, social software, culture, etc. We would love if you took part in this meme, so I'm giving you a few days warning. You can copy one of our posts verbatim, just link to one of our posts, or spin off the whole thing and go on a tangent. Whatever. What else are you going to blog about this time of year? Fruitcake and eggnog?20115535AnnouncementsDaniel2004-12-20T11:54:55stage<img src="files/2004/12/Votive%20Sunset%20med.jpg" /> <a href="http://www.theresemariepower.com">Therese Power</a>, tonight at <a href="http://irgallery.net">The Gallery</a>. Come say hi. I'll be chillin' in the back, still recovering from my cold, with <a href="files/2004/11/cam-cork2.jpg">Corky</a>.18110108AnnouncementsDaniel2004-12-18T10:57:50stage...where i attempt to divert from the fact that i am aAwake, thanks to a 1:30am "wake up call," at 4:25am, finding some rest from a fairly debilitating bout of depression, tackling some small tasks while listening to some awesome internet radio I will clue you into later in this post, I'm feeling rather sheepish for not yet posting any of the cool stuff I promised at the end of November. But those things getting pushed back in the name of quality, and I keep finding cool stuff elsewhere on the world wide interwebbie. Just by way of a small update, <a href="http://underde.com/swim">SWIM</a> is getting pushed back yet again, as we make some radical but important, and hopefully awesome, changes to the user-end portion of the software. It's a long story I won't go into here, but suffice it to say that while most blogging system's template systems suck, they are very hard to improve upon. Hopefully SWIM's template system will suck less. <img src="http://danielsjourney.com/blog/files/2004/12/aovradioseventeen.png" align="right" />At some point yesterday, I stumbled upon <a href="http://actsofvolition.com/" title="grace over karma">Acts of Volition</a> (via <a href="http://www.airbagindustries.com/">airbag</a>), via his <a href="http://www.actsofvolition.com/archives/2004/december/actsofvolition">Acts of Volition Radio Christmas: Session 17: Christmas music that doesn't suck</a>. Turns out that AoV is one of those "perfect" (imagine those being air-quotes, meaning "relatively," meaning I like it, meaning it has an ethos I connect with and possibly like this site's own) blogs: clean design, geek but in plain English, very smart taglines indeed, good posting frequency (not too much not too little), and <a href="http://actsofvolition.com/archives/actsofvolition">the AoV Radio Thing</a>. Of course after checking out the Christmas show, I went back and scanned the other shows...and started downloading...like crazy. Here are the names that make me freak out (like, some guy in Canada knows about these bands?): Michael Knott, Adam Again, Poor Old Lu, Aunt Bettys, Chagall Guevara, Cush, Dennison Witmer, Daniel Lanois. For those who don't recognize some or any of those names, those are bands from The Days When All "Christian" Music Didn't Suck, as well as Indie Music For Those Of Us Who Are Over Indie Music. He also packs his shows with great indie-indie music and Canadian bands. He makes short, insightful commentary inbetween tracks and each show is downloadable as one mp3, most coming in at around 40 mins/40-50M. Plus you can hear him apologize profusely for including (a good) Newsboys song (I think he actually describes their name as "unfortunate") and say "aboot" and "baas." Listening to his story about going to see Michael Knott in Ontario right now (Session 3)...very cool (later: another story about an email exchange with Gene Eugene before gushing as much as I would about the song "Worldwide"). So check out <a href="http://actsofvolition.com/">Acts of Volition</a>, load up your <a href="http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,66001,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_2" title="Home-Brew IPod Ad Opens Eyes">iPod</a>, or if you're me, your 3.5-year-old 10lb Dell laptop, and enjoy. <s>Some cool stuff on danielsjourney tomorrow. Only half a month late.</s><blockquote>There is a reason And I don't know what it is A bloody season Well, I've heard that these things happen Worldwide Worldwide Don't think I'll ever understand it Don't think it matters if I do Three billion people in the world And I only know a few Worldwide Worldwide It's worldwide Worldwide Tears on the driver's side His head is in his hands Voice of an angel silenced At the whim of a mere man It's worldwide Worldwide But we all love that desert thunder We put some stickers on our bumper Three billion nothings in the world Why should anybody bother? Worldwide Worldwide What about Headman Shabalala? Does anybody care about justice? Three billion people in the world And his spirit weeps for all of us Worldwide Worldwide Worldwide</blockquote>Thanks Steven; your show, and finally "Worldwide," which I listen to frequently but somehow meant more this morning, finally put the axe to my bad mood.14051236ElsewhereDaniel2004-12-14T05:11:52stage...I'm not going to know what to say to you<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/4085607.stm"> California dreaming through Chinese eyes</a><blockquote>For years I've been dragging bemused Chinese friends round picturesque teahouses which to them are miserable hovels, and backstreets that I find charming but they think should be demolished immediately. And here I am, to my surprise, paying homage at the temples of Western consumerism and the American Dream. On our last day together, the chefs want to buy some gifts, so we go to a famous department store. But as we stroll around, our quest takes a desperately comic turn. Everything we pick up - leather wallets, fashion accessories, beauty products - turns out to be made in China. We literally can't find anything that is locally produced. "And it'll look really stupid," says one of the chefs, "if my friends notice their gifts are Chinese after all." In the end, we leave without buying anything. As the days go by, I realise that the chefs have a travel plan that is more alien to me than I'd thought. They are just not interested in exploring American history and culture, and they don't want to see spectacular scenery, they've got plenty of that at home. What they do want is to see how America measures up to the American Dream. They're all familiar with the stereotype of the United States as the richest and most advanced nation in the world, its lifestyle as the holy grail of development. And they want to see it in all its brilliant modernity, to understand how far China has to go to catch up, and whether the struggle will be worth it. Given their high expectations, it's not surprising they are disappointed. Even lovely San Francisco doesn't fit the bill. "If that's going to be the end result of China's development," says one, "then I'm really in despair." The extravagant mansions and leafy avenues of Beverly Hills are more promising. "This is what we should be aiming for," says one of the chefs. But perhaps it's a shock that the gilded life of the Hollywood elite is such a tiny part of what we actually see. The rest is simply ordinary: people going about their lives, vagrants begging on the streets, cheap consumer goods.</blockquote> <blockquote>Call me naive, but I was actually hopeful that <a href="http://fhwang.net/blog/44.html">the eBay auction for the Unauthorized iPod U2 vs. Negativland Special Edition</a> would come to pass without any legal threat. Of course, I've been excessively optimistic before. At 4:35 p.m. EST today, the auction was shut down, and eBay sent me an automated email that read:</blockquote><a href="http://fhwang.net/blog/45.html">................</a><blockquote>I put up an <a href="http://fhwang.net/art/uiuvnse-archive.html">archived copy</a> on the site, so people can see what the fuss was all about. And then I sent Apple an email asking them kindly to explain themselves. More to come...</blockquote> <a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4510376230">Original Manuscript Of Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club</a>. $1,630.55. Time left: 4 days 8 hours.13102612ElsewhereDaniel2004-12-13T09:57:33stagegallery hopping<a href="http://www.photographsdonotbend.com/"><img src="http://www.photographsdonotbend.com/artists/fridaweb/bench.jpg" alt="" /> Portraits of Frida Kahlo by Nickolas Muray</a> December 10, 2004 - January 22, 2005 Went gallery hopping last night. First was Photographs Do Not Bend Gallery for these amazing photographs of Frida. They hang through January, so if you are interested in going let me know; I want to go back and spend more time with the work. Next was a house show by <a href="http://jimfrederickstudios.com/">Jim Frederick</a> and <a href="http://whimdesigns.com/">Willian Miller</a>. Lastly the <a href="http://www.whatartindallas.com/xoAustin/FrameSet.htm">Austin Turley</a> show at Continental.11155647LocalDaniel2004-12-11T03:56:28stagedo not miss...<img src="files/2004/12/cw02_web.jpg" /> <a href="http://alexandershideaway.org/">Christopher Williams at Alexanders Hideaway Saturday night</a>. Not only do <a href="http://www.christopherw.com/">Christopher</a> and I have the same godmother, but he is an amazing artist. <a href="http://danielsjourney.com/blog/index.php?file=2002_11_18_new.xml&id=11">I went to see him in VA in 2002</a>. If you still need persuading, <a href="http://pastemusic.com/radio/mp3/ChristopherWilliams-TreadLight.mp3">CW - Live - TreadLight</a>, <a href="http://pastemusic.com/radio/mp3/ChristopherWilliams-EveryTimeISayGoodbye.mp3">Every Time I Say Goodbye</a>, <a href="http://pastemusic.com/radio/mp3/ChristopherWilliams-TheseDays.mp3">These Days</a>, all from <a href="http://pastemusic.com/artists.asp?t=artist&search=christopher&browse=">pastemusic.com's page for CW</a>. Please get in touch with me by tomorrow afternoon if you are interested--I'm getting tickets then, and can reserve a table if I have enough RSVP's. UPDATE: I was listening to my CW records and decided you must hear this tune: <a href="http://danielsjourney.com/media/Christopher%20Williams%20-%20One%20Man%20Service%20Station%20-%20Track03%20-%20Whipples%20Last%20Customer.mp3">Whipple's Last Customer (5M mp3)</a> 'nuther update: There is a photog show somewhere in <a href="http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?country=US&countryid=US&addtohistory=&searchtype=address&cat=&address=830%20Exposition%20Ave&city=Dallas&state=TX&zipcode=75226%2d1795&search=Get%20Map">my building</a> Sat night as well, which I am planning on hitting after the CW show, by <a href="http://twilightphotography.com/">Scot Vandergriff</a> and <a href="http://redheavenstudio.com/">Misty Maberry</a>. <a href="http://www.simplebits.com/"> Dan Cederholm</a> <a href="http://www.simplebits.com/notebook/2004/11/28/pixies.html">casually mentioned</a> his "music playing days." <a href="http://www.coppermanland.com/band">Cathode</a> turns out to be really outstanding music, all available to download on the site. <a href="http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,65813-2,00.html?tw=wn_story_page_next1">My friend John Athayde</a> (<a href="http://boboroshi.com/">site</a>) <a href="http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,65813-2,00.html?tw=wn_story_page_next1">is quoted in Wired Magazine</a>.09232302MusicDaniel2004-12-09T10:47:30stagehump day. clearly no humping.<a href="http://www.danielsjourney.com/TFH/"><img src="http://danielsjourney.com/TFH/images/063004musica3.jpg" align="right" />The Freakin' Hott fansite</a>. Has been up for a while but I didn't make any kind of public announcement. Finally got all the templates hammered out today. Primarily an archive for all things Hott. <img src="http://danielsjourney.com/blog/images/random_pic/tom1.png" align="left" /><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://danielsjourney.com">the waybackmachine - danielsjourney.com</a>. Past designs. Probably the most fun for me. <a href="http://danielsjourney.com/blog/files/2004/12/danielsjourney_screenshot3.jpg">Remember this one</a>? <blockquote>If a computer does something unpredictable, then we call it broken</blockquote>Landon Noll, <a href="http://angermann2.com/150">via</a> <blockquote>Albert Einstein: "God does not play dice with the universe." Stephen Hawking: "Not only does God play dice, but... he sometimes throws them where they cannot be seen."</blockquote><a href="http://www.dynamicobjects.com/d2r/archives/003012.html">via</a> <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1358966,00.html">One gulp, and Bush was gone</a><blockquote>Bush appeared distracted, and glanced repeatedly at his watch. When he stopped to gaze at the river, where secret service agents were stationed in boats, the guide said: "Usually, you might see some bass fishermen out there." Bush replied: "A submarine could take this place out." Was the president warning of an al-Qaida submarine, sneaking undetected up the Mississippi, through the locks and dams of the Arkansas river, surfacing under the bridge to the 21st century to dispatch the Clinton library?</blockquote> <a href="http://danielsjourney.com/blog/index.php?file=2004_11.xml&id=22235616">I'm not breaking a promise, I wasn't lying; I was just overly optimistic</a>. "whu BAM!"08215436ElsewhereDaniel2004-12-08T09:38:49stageone of the big things postponed until 2005 etc.I wrote to a friend yesterday: "i'm sequestered/chained to the computer watching deadlines fly by me at light speed...." It seems that there is 25 hours worth of work to do a day. This is when I wish I had insomnia instead of <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=define%3A+TMJ">TMJ</a>. <a href="../art/writing">The book</a> has been pushed back to 2005. I worked on it from 4pm-7am Tuesday night and realized a few things: it wasn't going to get done, squeezed in between the other priority work; it was going to take a bit more effort than I first estimated (this can be said about all of my endeavors); it was an emotional strain that needed to be spread out... You can get a sneek peek at comments in <a href="http://underde.com/swim">SWIM</a> over at <a href="http://halsamples.com/blog">halsamples.com</a>. SWIM's official release date continues to be pushed back, for many reasons, but will hopefully still be within 2004 here. Threaded comments were not part of the original spec, no. I had a very functional prototype working within a few hours over Thanksgiving. But in the name of SWIM's template system and the separation of data and design, I had to break it and put it back together again, which took two 14 hour days. I finally finished and installed it last night at 1:30 and ran across the street to celebrate before last call. Turns out the owner was bartending so last call wasn't such a hard-and-fast deadline after all. You know, the local business owners have to stick together. And/or drink together. Say what you will about Hal, but his goal is to raise awareness concerning the homeless issue in Dallas, and he's succeeding at that. <a href="http://halsamples.com/blog/files/2004/12/Clip_1_FC1r2.mov">He was the subject of a Fox News piece about meth this week (8.6M .mov)</a>. <a href="http://halsamples.com/blog/files/2004/12/Clip_2_FC1.mov">Same night ABC ran a story on the sweep outside of the Day Resource Center (4.5M .mov)</a> etc. Let me paraphrase our dear mayor:<blockquote>If I hadn't warned you that I was going to shoot you in the face with this .45, I would say I was at fault; but I told you I was about to shoot you in the face with this .45 and you didn't move!</blockquote>Next morning Hal calls me at 10:20 to tell me he's going to be on the radio at 10:30. Now I don't have a TV or a functional radio, but turns out <a href="http://www.990mainstreet.com/">990mainstreet.com</a> has an excellent online audio feed, which was crystal clear for the entire hour and a half. I got the whole thing on wav, which I have edited down to three manageable mp3's: <a href="http://halsamples.com/blog/files/2004/12/hal%20samples%20on%20kevin%20mccarthy%20-%20segment%20with%20hal.mp3">Kevin McCarthy Show - Hal Samples - interview (6.4M mp3)</a>, <a href="http://halsamples.com/blog/files/2004/12/hal%20samples%20on%20kevin%20mccarthy%20-%20segment%202%20-%20callers.mp3">Kevin McCarthy Show - Hal Samples - callers 1 (9.1M mp3)</a>, <a href="http://halsamples.com/blog/files/2004/12/hal%20samples%20on%20kevin%20mccarthy%20-%20segment%203%20-%20callers.mp3">Kevin McCarthy Show - Hal Samples - callers 2 (10.4M mp3)</a>. Good stuff. The beginning (first 1:35) of that last one there is awesome. <img src="files/2004/12/wisybfoml.jpg" /> Yesterday was a manic-depressed code day, one bug after another, the joy of fixing one and the bummer of the next one immediately popping up. During one of the more <a href="http://www.thinkgeek.com/caffeine/drinks/5b74/">Monster</a>-induced manic periods, I danced my happy ass right off to <a href="http://danielsjourney.com/media/The%20Waiting%20-%20I%20Want%20You%20Back.mp3">The Waiting - I Want You Back (3.4M mp3)</a> (a Jackson 5 cover, FYI, in case you're culturally challenged). That song makes me happy. Said ass was later re-attached.03164744MinutiaDaniel2004-12-03T04:47:04stage