Tag Archives: blog

Audience Participation

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Hey you! Yeah, you. I need your help. I’m seriously contemplating what it might be like if I considered the possibly of maybe or even potentially pondering the notion that it could conceivably be a good idea to revamp this blog. Rebrand it, if you will. In order to make that happen some time during this presidential administration, I’m going to need input from you, my loyal readers. What I’m looking for are the following design ideas.

Should I keep the current title? I’m thinking about making this an eponymous blog. So many refer to this blog by my pseudonym already. Why not just go with the flow?

I’d like some ideas for new quips (the snarky line just below the title). I get bored easily, so I’ll likely be rotating them (as usual), so throw as many at me as you can think of. Be creative (and PG, please). What sentence, phrase, or other collection of words sums up this blog to you?

I’m slightly colorblind. As a resent, my aesthetic tastes tend to differ a little from others’. Add to that fact my rather eccentric personality and you get a parchment background horked from the Vatican with a coffee-house color scheme. If you could rebuild this blog from scratch, what colors and/or patterns would you use?

The Latin’s staying. Deal. Now that you’ve accepted this fact, help me to make it less intimidating.

Three columns? Two columns? One column? How would you organize things around here?

Lastly, do any of you fine folks know of some good pro bono blog template designers (ala Eris Designs)? Blogging’s fun and all, but I’m not throwing any more money into it.

Number Johnny Five is Alive!

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blogfest5.jpgLast night was Pittsburgh Blogfest 5. These events just keeping getting better and better. This time, we had a special treat in the form of über-blogger Robert Scoble. Robert is a “technical evangelist” for Microsoft. He also co-wrote a book with Shel Israel called “Naked Conversations : How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers“. Don’t let his current employer fool you, though. He’s been known to use his blog to dis the 800-pound gorilla on occasion, as well as praise their competitors. Anyhow, Robert was in town to participate in a panel discussion on business blogging organized by the Pittsburgh Technology Council. The event will be podcast and I’ll get you the link as soon as it’s up. Since Robert was to be in town anyhow, someone thought it would be cool to invite him to our blogfest. We celebrated his 41st birthday with a cake and the gift of a Terrible Towlâ„¢. He seemed to have a good time with us. Everyone seemed to enjoy his company as well. I spent a little while talking to him, but I didn’t too deep into anything because 1) I’d be talking out of my tuchus (regarding a lot of tech industry current events) and 2) I would have had to admit that I’d never read his blog (though I’ll rectify that soon). Despite having a pseudo-celebrity in our midst, there was no press presence this time. I’m sure those who saw the horrible picture of me in the Post Gazette are thankful for that. 😉

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Annoying Legislation

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The United States Congress (Senator Arlen Spector in particular) can kiss my….Oh, wait. I musn't be annoying. I might be breaking the law.

" Annoying someone via the Internet is now a federal crime. It's no joke. Last Thursday, President Bush signed into law a prohibition on posting annoying Web messages or sending annoying e-mail messages without disclosing your true identity. "

"In other words, it's OK to flame someone on a mailing list or in a blog as long as you do it under your real name. Thank Congress for small favors, I guess."

"This ridiculous prohibition, which would likely imperil much of Usenet, is buried in the so-called Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act. Criminal penalties include stiff fines and two years in prison."

….

"Buried deep in the new law is Sec. 113, an innocuously titled bit called 'Preventing Cyberstalking.' It rewrites existing telephone harassment law to prohibit anyone from using the Internet 'without disclosing his identity and with intent to annoy."

"To grease the rails for this idea, Sen. Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, and the section's other sponsors slipped it into an unrelated, must-pass bill to fund the Department of Justice. The plan: to make it politically infeasible for politicians to oppose the measure."

"The tactic worked. The bill cleared the House of Representatives by voice vote, and the Senate unanimously approved it Dec. 16. "

I guess I'm safe because my true identity is disclosed on this site.

What a bunch of asshats. Readers are encouraged to leave anonymous and/or pseudonymous annoyances aimed at our brilliant leaders (Please keep them PG, though).

Renovation

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I recently asked folks what they liked or did not like about this blog. Most of
the comments were about design elements. I was aiming more for content, but I do
appreciate the constructive criticism regarding presentation. Here’s a sampling:

“I think the design makes it a little unfriendly to the eye, hence harder to
read. It’s a bit crowded and the font and colors tend to blur after reading for
a bit.”

“I could do without the background”

“You do have an awful lot of links, images, and stuff that need to download
before the page works or renders correctly.”

I’m aware of the glut of images and links and will eventually pare them down. The overall design, though, will take a lot more effort to fix than I have time for. To get it fixed, I need to do a little blegging. Are there any kind souls out there who would help me redesign my template for no more conpensation than my undying gratitute and a permalink to their blog?