The Outdated Label of Weblog

I'd like to unofficially declare the label of weblog dead. Let's replace it with something more descriptive and with less of a “geek” tinge…

Online Author

Most of the articles I'm reading by online authors are not diaries of their daily life. They are not a log of everything they are doing–far from it. Who would want to know that kind of detail (“Now I'm headed to the bathroom…”) or, to be more accurate, why would anyone care? I am interest in ongoing stories with open endings whose content falls with my current sphere of interest.

Examples:

Dave Winer: I read Dave's scripting.com to hear of his crusade's progress in the halls of Harvard University. His discussions, like all of us, contain emotion and depth and at other times, they lack emotion and depth and real content of interest. Make a tape recording of your own conversations and discussions with your peers and decide how you measure up.

Jon Udell: Jon's a good barometer of the technology industry from the inside of a traditional publication. I used to read ZDNet's Anchor Desk and editorial columns of trade magazine and found that their views were too sanitized and I had no perspective by which to judge their content. I can read Jon and compare current posts to recent posts to archive posts, deciding for myself if he's strayed from editorial to opinion or back.

Comments?

srk at mac dot com

Ray Ozzie has a great “currently consuming” list of weblog/authors he's reading. It's much more RSS-friendly than mine; that's the main reason I haven't done an extensive list yet. I want' people to be able to link and subscribe at will.

[Adam Curry's Weblog]

qotd may 15
Joseph Addison: “If you wish success in life, make perseverance your bosom friend, experience your wise counselor, caution your elder brother and hope your guardian genius”

Here's an email I sent to Dave Winer:

—-

Dave:

Thanks for Radio and thanks for Frontier. Really. This is one of the few pieces of software I've pruchased as a luxury that's turned into a necessity.

I made some changes to the Google box generator (google.macros.box) that I wanted to share with everyone. Normally, I'd post these in a discussion group, but one of the changes is fundamental.

Here's the section where I made the change:

(code from macro)

Notice the link to the “Google” logo graphic. It comes direct from Google using a link they supply to webmasters who use the Google search engine on their site. That will ensure that the link stays active and is served on an appropriate level of bandwidth.

Next, the file name of the logo “Logo_60gry.gif” infers that it has a grey background. It does! The grey color's hex code is BABABA, changeable in the first line of the macro. Default is white (same URL but file name is “Logo_60wht.gif”) and optional is the grey that I'm using and black (same URL but file name is “Logo_60blk.gif”). The black version is the only one not anti-aliased.

Now, here's where I need your help: how can the text colors be changed? I'm hoping that with your resources you can share this and retrieve an answer much faster than me. I've noticed that no one is reading my weblog (yet!) so mentioning this there won't provide much feedback.

Most of all, Dave, like the proud son, I wanted to show you that I'm trying to contribute and give back. I've read your DaveNet columns and scripting.com for the last 6 years and now I have something of value to give back. I hope you find this information to have as much value as I do.

Best regards,

Steve Kirks
http://radio.weblogs.com/0111853/

—–

Let's see if he can help us out!

Added Ranchero Software's NetNewsWire badge at the bottom of the site…

It's the program that hooked me on Radio and weblogs. Read at your own pace. Come back to later. Awesome!

I went to the B.B. King concert last night at the Shrine Mosque. First and foremost, B.B. King is a master showman and a great musician. His backing band was phenomenal. On the otherhand, the Shrine Mosque is not the right place for a musician of this stature. For $45 per ticket (5th row, center section), I felt that I should get more than:

–fighting with drunks
–hard folding chairs
–no airconditioning

The Blues Society of the Ozarks was the presenting organization. Based on what I saw from it's membership, the primary reason for picking the Shrine Mosque was access to alcohol. While not a teetotaler, I believe there's a time and place for alcohol in an indoor public area. The drunk people in front and behind me made it much harder for me to see and enjoy the concert.

As far as the band, B.B. and the performance: outstanding. This was the most professional group of musicians I've ever seen. I'd drive to the next city to see them again.

It's amazing what you write when you have nothing to say. I've spent the last two weeks with a short term goal: write in my weblog each day. I'm trying to work on my writing ability and structure, stretching literary muscles. What I've found is that while I enjoy the occasional “strectch”, I'm no writer.

I feel compelled to make a “statement” each time I write. I sit in front of the keyboard without a coherent subject in mind, hoping that the writing will find itself to the web. I know realize my folly. Not many of you who read the content (right now, no one) will care. I'm not following a fundamental rule of writing: have something to say.

I have opinions. That's for sure. Ask anyone who works with me. Writing to hear your own opinion provides no value to yourself or others. As I'm fond of saying (recently), “Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.”

With that said, posts following this will have more meaning and a focus. Like this…

Web Design and Freeway

I downloaded and installed freeway from Softpress yesterday. After a brief trial on some of their templates, I think I'm ready to start a new site on my own. I'm hoping to find a program that will allow me to easily develop simple structures for graphic-heavy websites. Quark Xpress would be great, but who has that kind of money, anyway?

Playing with the Google Box and some of the site colors. I love the theme, but the side panel link color conflicts with the white background of the Google box. Does anyone have a solution?

Updated: RTFM

Change the hex code of the color in the google.macros.box direct in Radio instead of overwriting the defaults using the CSS template.

Updated Again: Linked

Changed the link to the google image to one on the google corp servers. Changed the background of the Google box to match. Wow, RTFM indeed!

Buh!

I've had some folks ask me about birthday gifts. Here's a list of pottery things I need for the studio:

From the Axner catalog

Kemper Tools

#145454 (PTK) Kemper Pottery Tool Kit = $10.75

#145416 (K35) Wire Clay Cutter = $1.69

#145344 (F97) Hard Steel Blade Knife = $2.95

Or, if you're in a giving mood…

Axner Model 300 Pottery Wheel = $595.00