Speaking of great but lesser known musical artistry, thanks so much to MommyCast for turning me on to Marina Belica and October Project.
]]>The first is with Tucows. If I had any desire to move to Toronto, Ontario, you wouldn't be hearing about this from me because I'd have snapped it up by now. Elliot Noss is one of the coolest people on the planet. His main qualification for filling this spot: that you love the Internet. Interestingly, they've been trying to lure candidates by placing an enticing ad on Rob Hyndman's blog ("Are you a brilliant lawyer? Hate life at your firm? Love the Internet? Click here for a better life!"), which somehow has not resulted in a flood of resumes. Maybe blogging it is a more effective way to get the word out. Whatever the case, get in there and take advantage, this is a terrific opportunity.
The second is with a Mountain View, California organization that is One You Know, and, again, I can scarcely imagine a more interesting in-house spot. I can't say more here because they haven't announced it publicly, but if you're interested, and know a thing or two about open source software, ping me and I'll fill you in.
[Prurient postscript:] In case you weren't aware, Blawg Review's anonymous editor is quite a wordsmith. He was kind enough to point out a rather critical distinction between plumb (that link is not exactly work safe) vs. plum jobs...Since the post headline has long since propagated out to aggregators, I guess I'll just have to make sure things around here are sufficiently buckled and buttoned to discourage any misguided search traffic....
]]>The ways in which Google makes itself indispensable keep proliferating. Still eschewing Blackberry and/or Treodom, I've been living on Gmail in my cell phone for some time; and that already terrific experience just got much better. Not yet, but soon I'm sure, this will eliminate the need to worry about getting one's contacts on to one's cell phone; they'll just be there, thanks to Gmail. Gmail makes any phone a "smart" phone, full of your crucial data to access in a couple of clicks.
In fact, Google is becoming The Network in so many ways, among other things it's eliminating the need to trouble yourself with local networking considerations. Example: I have WiFi'd Macs at home, a pretty seamless networked environment. "Pretty" seamless, but not perfectly so. When seconds count, the Google Network wins. Example: a week ago at this time, I was getting out Blawg Review #81. I had about a dozen tabs open in Firefox with things I still needed to pull in, and the draft post saved in a text editor. Baby monitor goes off, I run downstairs, settle Tyler back to sleep in my bed, which is not terribly safe for him when I'm not there (high off the ground, no rails). So, I've got to finish up my work there instead of upstairs. The MacBook Pro is more than up to the task, but it's upstairs, and I've been working on a different machine (also upstairs). This wasn't a situation where I could spend time mucking about even with Bonjour — which wouldn't have been any help as far as the work I was doing in the browser, anyway. I needed to run upstairs, grab my laptop, and be able to pick up where I left off. No problem: the post-in-progress went off in 2-3 clicks as a Gmail attachment I could collect downstairs, and, more critically, when I fired up the laptop Google Browser Sync politely offered to open the huge batch of browser tabs I'd been working with on the other computer. Done. So Google supplies my home network infrastructure, in addition to everything else.
I'm not sure where exactly all this is going, it should work seamlessly with Blogger though, gotta give that a whirl. More to the big picture, it's undeniably world-altering to have a free, easy to use document creation and editing tool that offers "collaborate" and "publish" as core functions — and that integrates with the rest of the Googlesphere.
Marc, I hear you, but resistance is futile...
]]>For all the times you've responded with alacrity (if the frustrated kind) to "No Mommy, off da compooter, come here" —
You child's first time trick-or-treating makes up for all such things, with interest.
I'm wondering where the sunshine goes
When at night my eyes are closed,
Is the sky really a window with the curtains closed?
And the stars are little holes through which the sunshine glows?
I'm wondering.
—Sue Wood, Bear With Me: "I'm Wondering"
Picked up today, looks entertaining:
]]>Don't think the thought of bailing on this assignment (citing blog-life balance) hasn't occurred to me. And don't count your undead chickens just yet, it could still happen, particularly as I'm finishing up some time after 1:00 a.m. on my bedroom floor, having put Tyler back to sleep in here when he woke up with a coughing fit. But assembling this seasonally-spiced potpourri reminds me that a big reason to "volunteer" to host Blawg Review is simply to have the chance to collect and get pointed to a huge pile of great news, thought, and insights. Hmm, guess that's a pretty good reason to read, too...
We pillage, we plunder, we rifle, and loot
Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho
We kidnap and ravage and don't give a hoot
Drink up me 'earties, yo ho
photo by DaddyNewt
We extort, we pilfer, we filch, and sack
Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho
Maraud and embezzle, and even high-jack
Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho
We kindle and char, inflame and ignite
Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho
We burn up the city, we're really a fright
Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho
We're rascals, scoundrels, villains, and knaves
Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho
We're devils and black sheep, really bad eggs
Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho
We're beggars and blighters, ne'er-do-well cads
Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho
Aye, but we're loved by our mommies and dads
Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho
And the post of the week and creative thought/writing award goes to Colin Samuels (inspired by this fantastic Wired compilation), Just think what Hemingway could have accomplished with three years of legal education!: "Pound of flesh? Nominal damages, Fatso!"
The Howls hope you enjoy a very happy (and euphonic) Halloween
Blawg Review has information about next week's host, and instructions how to get your blawg posts reviewed in upcoming issues.
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#21 on iTunes! ✔
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Here are my initial decompression thoughts re the first show:
Holy hundreds of thousands of listeners Batman, I had no clue Leo was going to put the show out on the main TWiT feed until he pinged me in email yesterday. When we recorded our second show last week, Mike Arrington, who's our upcoming guest, mentioned something about my "fame" in the tech and legal blogospheres. (Which I found pretty humorous coming from a guy I met a little over a year ago, who introduced me at the time to what was then his fun little hobby of a project called TechCrunch!) I've had my share of big traffic hits from time to time, but Bag and Baggage is, day in and day out, a low flow object; frankly I kind of like it that way. Having the entire TWiT army exposed to your efforts at one time is a little like having the all-seeing eye of Mordor sweep your way during your formerly inconspicuous journey across the plains of Gorgoroth — in a good way, of course.
My podcasting endeavors have always been ready, fire, aim affairs, and this one was no different. The biggest challenge in getting the first show out the door was getting the Skype call recording setup in place, and hey! We managed to actually record. Phew! Now I'll focus hard on making sure things begin to sound better. (If you want a really challenging listening experience, help yourself to the Bag and Baggage podcast.) I plead guilty to being our worst Hugh MacLeod — I'm primarily the typist and note-rattler, and I think I'm also the delightful heavy breather/panter. (Must back off the PR-40 when not talking, apparently.) You also hear some headset sounds from Cathy which were a one-time thing I believe; I didn't hear any of it when we recorded Show 2. Having actually gotten Show 1 to record, I felt less concerned with that pesky issue on Show 2, and I think in general we were more comfortable and the pacing was more upbeat. We'll see what you think when it goes up.
Bottom line: I'm anxious to provide a listenable experience, and we'll keep working on it. I hear you, Scott Bourne. BUT, I continue to think what I've always thought about podcasting: a huge part of its intrinsic power is its ability to give voice and audience, via accessible tools, to people who are not audio techies by nature and trade, and that's certainly me. I'm hugely grateful to all the audio experts who have already helped with the show — in hindsight, I hope I didn't embarrass these fine folks by publicly thanking them in connection with a show the audio caliber of which had its share of issues! — and for the offers of advice and help that continue to flow in. We'll try to emulate those for whom we have enormous respect who release in beta, listen to resulting feedback, and incorporate and improve.
One of the things I also enjoy about podcasts is the tendency for participants to be natural, unscripted, unrehearsed, and unpolished. My father has a different take, and offered the following advice by email. I'm curious what others think about his suggestions, so feel free to weigh in (if I truly sound like George Bush, even I won't consider a little polish a bad thing!):
I listened to about half the show just now. Will pick it up later when I have some time. A few nit pics, constructive I hope.
Shorten the intros. Get to the meat. Make the meat sound world shaking important from the get go. Well, not world shaking, but at least exciting. i.e: "Joining me to look at U Tube's race toward a safe harbor in the port of DMCA or, instead, whether it sinks in a storm of litigation, is so and so of Wilson, Sonsini, so and so, of xxx, so and so of xxx and special guest xxx of xxx." Forget the drawn out bios, or work them in when you are questioning the guest. [DMH note: Show 2's bios are abbreviated and unscripted, unlike Show 1.]
Again, practice speaking without "uhs." Know your stuff so well that you do not need to fill verbal pauses.
Try lowering your voice a bit. Speaking over microphones, particularly when recording, always seems to make our voices sound higher, resulting in our coming across as teenagers.
Avoid the natural, but careless speech short cuts of "tuh" instead of "to"; "auh" instead of "a", etc. That's pure George Bush. When we speak publicly we want to sound like perfect grammar and pronunciation come naturally. That takes work but does come with just a little practice and concentration. Make it the way you speak at home, to store clerks, etc. and it will soon become natural. "Tyler, I saw A bird." Not, "Tyler, I saw AUH bird." "Mahin, I'm going TO the store." Not, "Mahin, I'm going TUH the store."
Believe me, trust me, adding these sharp edges to your speech patterns make people pay attention to content. It's a subconcious thing. It gives you authority.
Agree? Disagree? Too much info? ;) ("Practice speaking," that's a good one; recording these shows has been, in each of the instances we've done so, by far the most substantive, adult-level conversation I've had during those weeks. I consider it a personal victory I haven't yet fallen into sing-song mommy-speak...)
As I mentioned, Mike Arrington is our guest on Show 2 (in postproduction), and Jason Calacanis is on board thereafter. (Hopefully we'll accomplish a Gillmor Gang septa-fecta before all is said and done.) Thanks, as always, for listening.
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