Month: January 2005

Coach 4 Hire

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Looks like the 49ers have a new coach: Mike Nolan. I dunno. I was sorta rooting for Mike Heimerdinger, but that might just be because I was liking the idea of hearing the sports casters say “Mike Heimerdinger” all season. I have so little faith in what York and company do that I have a […]

Looks like the 49ers have a new coach: Mike Nolan.

I dunno. I was sorta rooting for Mike Heimerdinger, but that might just be because I was liking the idea of hearing the sports casters say “Mike Heimerdinger” all season.

I have so little faith in what York and company do that I have a hard time being optimistic; we still need a GM and we still need to build an organization and we still need a great draft, and then York needs to start doing something, anything, right as an owner.

But at least we have a coach quicker than last time, and our choice seems a little less odd.

While I’m on sports, I thought I’d mention that I ran into Mooch (Steve Mariucci) at the gas station in my local town last week. He’s currently coaching the Detroit Lions, but he was the 49ers coach until recently, and was fired for no good reason by York. I have no idea what Mooch was doing here, but he was eating a twinky and laughed at me when I asked him if he was in town to ask for his old job back with the 49ers. Which is, you know, the right reaction to that question.

Blog Year

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Today marks one year of blogging for me. I had some essay going about what it all means and what I’ve learned and blah blah blah but it just wasn’t happening. I lost interest in it. Still. One year. 185 entries in my blog. I’m surprised. I’ve never kept a journal. I expected to stop […]

Today marks one year of blogging for me.

I had some essay going about what it all means and what I’ve learned and blah blah blah but it just wasn’t happening. I lost interest in it.

Still. One year. 185 entries in my blog.

I’m surprised. I’ve never kept a journal. I expected to stop after a week.

You know, I might just keep doing this. Or maybe not. Who knows?

Stock

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No, I’m not talking about IPOs or dotcoms. Nor am I talking livestock. Not taking stock of oneself. I’m talking about cooking. Specifically, one of the most basic, core ingredients; something that goes into almost every sauce, stew, soup. Stock.

No, I’m not talking about IPOs or dotcoms.

Nor am I talking livestock.

Not taking stock of oneself.

I’m talking about cooking.

Specifically, one of the most basic, core ingredients; something that goes into almost every sauce, stew, soup.

Stock.

Read more “Stock”

LiveJournal

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Yet another reason I’m glad I don’t LiveJournal. An unexpected power outage not only took them to their knees, but left them hopelessly broken. A system on that scale with that vast number of users should not find a power outage so unexpected, and should have a working recovery plan that they’ve tested and drilled. […]

Yet another reason I’m glad I don’t LiveJournal.

An unexpected power outage not only took them to their knees, but left them hopelessly broken.

A system on that scale with that vast number of users should not find a power outage so unexpected, and should have a working recovery plan that they’ve tested and drilled.

The folks working the outgage, hats off you you. I’ve done the work you’re doing now, and it’s a hard and thankless task, and I’m sure in the end you’ll get everything working with minimal data loss. You guys deserve credit you’ll never get.

But the cost to the users, the company, the reputation of LiveJournal; that’s enormous and can’t easily be fixed.

I wonder if SixApart, makes of MovableType and TypePad, are now re-thinking the aquisition of LiveJournal?

You know, I’ve had my own blog disasters. But when you host yourself or borrow space for free on friends machines, you expect that. A commercial service on the scale of LJ should know better.

Good luck to the LJ staff and to my LJ user friends; and if you’re finally fed up with LJ, come talk to me, I can suggest some other options.

CJ Cherryh — Essential Sci-fi

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CJ Cherryh is one of my favorite writers. Not just a favorite sci-fi writer, but a favorite writer overall. She’s written some of the best sci-fi novels I’ve ever read (Downbelow Station, Chanur, Cyteen, Foreigner), and some brilliant Fantasy (Fortress in the Eye of Time, Gate of Ivrel). She’s written a million books. most of […]

CJ Cherryh is one of my favorite writers. Not just a favorite sci-fi writer, but a favorite writer overall. She’s written some of the best sci-fi novels I’ve ever read (Downbelow Station, Chanur, Cyteen, Foreigner), and some brilliant Fantasy (Fortress in the Eye of Time, Gate of Ivrel). She’s written a million books. most of them good, many of them great.

Ok, she’s had a few stinkers. Hammerfall wasn’t so great, and a few of her early novels are of lesser quality. But everything she does is clever, and she’s a truly gifted writer.

She can be challenging. Her books are not easy, and tend to be grim; my friend Scorch (Who’s vanished off the face of the earth near as I can tell) described her typical scenario is “Take a character, put them in a bad situation, then have it get worse. Much, much worse“. But I find her work, all of it, to be very rewarding and worth the read.

But that’s not really what I meant to post here. What I meant to post was a link to this list, which I just found on CJ’s web site:

The Essentials: Science Fiction and Fantasy:

“So you like science fiction and fantasy, but you came in through Star Wars and have
no idea, at your first meeting with fans that have ‘been there’ a while, what they’re
talking about. You’d like to go to the conventions and understand the in-jokes and
talk the talk—and you’d like to know what this wonderful field is. I’ll give you a
list of the essential writers, the ones whose works it’s really helpful to have
read—at least enough to be in the know. Must-reads, for the concepts and/or
characters: or just to understand what the field is, and what all these books have in
common.“

I’m not completely sure I agree with every one of her picks and I think she may have left a couple out. But it’s a great list and a great starting pointg for those new to sci-fi.

Worth a look.

More Skulls and Tattoos

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Ok, so I’ve got my tattoo idea more or less set — which I’ll talk about after it gets done. But the oink factor is in full effect now.

Ok, so I’ve got my tattoo idea more or less set — which I’ll talk about after it gets done.

But the oink factor is in full effect now.

Read more “More Skulls and Tattoos”

Ink Ink Oink

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We used to say this, my friend/boss Jeff and I. It meant — I’m a pig, and I’m needing to get a tattoo. Or sometimes, I’m getting tattooed. Ink Ink Oink. We both happily labeled ourselves pigs. People who had sex on the brain 24×7. People who never had a non-sexual thought. Ink Ink Oink […]

We used to say this, my friend/boss Jeff and I. It meant — I’m a pig, and I’m needing to get a tattoo. Or sometimes, I’m getting tattooed.

Ink Ink Oink.

We both happily labeled ourselves pigs. People who had sex on the brain 24×7. People who never had a non-sexual thought.

Ink Ink Oink described that feeling of tattoo lust that we were both prone to; that compulsion to get another tattoo, right now.

Read more “Ink Ink Oink”

BlogTips from Spank Boss

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This is focused on adult blogging, but a lot of the advice is really good for any blogger. From SpankBoss at SpankingBlog, a page of Blogging Tips: DO: Do blog every day. This doesn’t mean you can’t miss a day. It just means that, week in and week out, your visitors should find something new […]

This is focused on adult blogging, but a lot of the advice is really good for any blogger.

From SpankBoss at SpankingBlog, a page of Blogging Tips:

DO: Do blog every day. This doesn’t mean you can’t miss a day. It just means that, week in and week out, your visitors should find something new every time they come to your site — so they’ll make it part of their daily routine.

Don’t: Don’t fall into the trap of thinking traffic doesn’t matter. It does. Remember, you are building a personal brand, even if you never hope to make a dime from it. That means you want readers, and you want exposure. Again, why bother to blog if nobody reads? It’s a lot of time and energy; for most people, the rewards for that include positive feedback from as many real people as possible. Also, if you are blogging about adult topics, the traffic you’ll earn has a substantial economic value, because you could sell ads whether you choose to, or not. Eventually, people will start offering you money for your blog and your domain name. There are also practical benefits to having lots of traffic. If you link someone, and their server stats go through the roof, they are more inclined to link back to you.

Etc, etc.

Take a look. Some of the advice is great, particularly about things like having a blog roll, linking to other blogs, and commenting on other blogs. This is what brings traffic to your site. Worth a look for any blogger, but warning: it’s a sex blog and not really work safe.

(Thanks to Bacchus at ErosBlog for the link)

Shiny Briny

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It’s a hooka hooka on the shiny briny on the way to Kona, And in a little shack they had a little sign that said Coca Cola, And even all the grass skirts were PVC. I’m just an English boy who won a holiday in Waikiki. –The Kinks, Holiday In Waikiki I’ve been talking a […]

It’s a hooka hooka on the shiny briny on the way to Kona,
And in a little shack they had a little sign that said Coca Cola,
And even all the grass skirts were PVC.
I’m just an English boy who won a holiday in Waikiki.

–The Kinks, Holiday In Waikiki

I’ve been talking a lot lately about Hawaii with a certain impossibly delicious friend of mine. Specifically about the allure of living there.

She’s never even been there and she can feel it call out to her.

I’ve been there a lot; roughly twice a year for the past ten, though there are some gaps in there where I went elsewhere (Fiji, Turks and Caicos, Cozumel) for my fixes of tropical climate and warm-water diving.

But Hawaii always calls to me. No matter how many times I go, no matter how often I say let’s go someplace else. No matter how touristy and commercial certain parts of Hawaii get, still, I hear it call.

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Book list meme

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From Analyze Julie: Directions: copy this list of ten authors, then replace any authors not in your bookcases with authors who are. Replacements in bold. Go back via Julie’s blog and keep clicking back up the trail, it’s fun to see how this list changes. Here’s mine. I have ten billion books so I tried […]

From Analyze Julie:

Directions: copy this list of ten authors, then replace any authors not in your bookcases with authors who are. Replacements in bold.

Go back via Julie’s blog and keep clicking back up the trail, it’s fun to see how this list changes.

Here’s mine. I have ten billion books so I tried to make this a cross-section; it’s not exactly representative of my collection.

1. Tim Powers
2. Charles Bukowski
3. J.R.R. Tolkien
4. Hunter S. Thompson
5. Lewis Carroll
6. Bram Stoker
7. Dashiel Hammet
8. Daniel Handler
9. James Fenimore Cooper
10. William Shakespeare