I'm still a bit amazed at the growing dominance of Twitter, as it really seems a very limited tool in my obviously unimaginative mindset. That is, until I read this recent post by music artist Amanda Palmer, wherein she rants about how she made no money from her major label album this year, but was able to some serious fundraising in just days (hours, even) on Twitter. However, It wasn't the fundraising aspect of it that caused my epiphany, but her simple and early description of "the night it all started."

Now, you'll have to forgive me while I take the wayback machine here and provide a little autobiography. When people ask how my wife and I met, I usually say "on the computer," which for years was an oddity, made oh-so-less so with the increasing ubiquitousness of the Internet and social networks in general. But in the mid-1980s, when we both started college, having a computer wasn't the default for a freshman in college, and having a modem was even more unusual. For those of you born in the 1980s, a modem was this thingamajig that allowed you to use a normal phone line to call another computer--yes, pre-DSL/Broadband/wireless. And, in 1984, you could only connect two computers together using this method, so those of us who were "online" these days had to practice serial monogamy with our computers, and special software was available on your computer to endless redial that other computer if it was being monopolized by another user.

The big development at that time (and how J and I originally "met") was a new service in Austin called RoundTable, which allowed you to call a computer and be connected to eight (8!) other computers. Having nothing else to compare it to, it was called a "CB simulator" after the popular Citizen's Band radio fad of the 1970s that first brought the airwaves to the public masses. Once connected, whatever you typed could be seen by the other seven (or less) computers hooked up to the RoundTable, and a chat could take place that was, for the most part, entirely public.

One feature that RoundTable had that has been dropped by most subsequent chat systems was a cached backlog of messages that you could read once you had signed on. The purpose was so that you didn't have to enter the conversation in media res--instead, it was kind of like joining a party in which you could overhear snatches of the conversation as you walked up to the group. (There was a feature that allowed you to send a private message to only one of the other computers, but many of us disliked using it, as we felt it detracted from the "party" nature of the chat.)

Reading Palmer's blog about her spontaneous creation of "THE LOSERS OF FRIDAY NIGHT ON THEIR COMPUTERS" group on Twitter reminded me of those nights spent on the RoundTable, cracking jokes and puns, each of us trying to be wittier and smarter than the others, while sharing likes and dislikes and generally getting to know each other. People would log off and a new person could log in, read the backlog, and instantly be up-to-speed and in the conversation, just as Palmer mentions how those who joined in later were able to review the hashtag archive. And just as Palmer's instant creation blossomed into an opportunity for her to connect a little more directly with her fans, and them with each other, back in 1984 the cached backlog of RoundTable, on the night before the system went from its "free beta trial period before we start charging $6/hr," J suggested that those of us who had spent the last couple of weeks chatting with each other should actually get together in person at a pizza joint close to the UT campus. As each of us logged off to head over to Conan's Pizza, others logged in, read the backlog, and promptly logged off to also head that way. And thus is the story of how J and I met, along with another 10-or-so of our closest friends.

The difference between RoundTable and Twitter? R/T had eight (later expanded to 16 a year or so later) connections versus the endless mass of possible Twitter users. And it's all out there, public, for anyone to join in. (Need to send a private message? This anachronism called email is there--if you can get past your recipient's spam filter.)

Does this make me want to use Twitter? No, but it does help me to understand the appeal somewhat more.

You probably won't be able to read this post because either Google or Firefox, or the combination of the two, have identified my site as a danger. For good reason, as it was somehow hacked in the last month, likely through some kind of FTP vulnerability. I don't think I left the door open, but the problem with trying to host your own site is being somewhat responsible for your own security, and I've not been keeping up with all the developments on that front.

Basically, someone was able to add a tiny bit of html code on the bottom of every .htm(l) and .php code on my site. The little bit of scripting badness opened an "invisible iFrame" when you requested that page. I believe the point was to get increased Google rank, but it may have been a redirect attempt in addition. No matter. It wasn't my code, and it was unwanted.

I've changed my ftp password, as well as my blog software password, and have rebuilt the areas that were affected, but here again, this is the problem of having a web site for so long--I really needed to wipe the directory and rebuild from scratch, but I need to check for anything I don't want to lose. I've tried some deep Unix geekery in searching for the code snippet to make sure I got it all, but similar to the current physical cold I have, determining when something is finished is tough.

My apologies for being "down," and I hope to return soon--well, as soon as Google can do a check-up on the site and give it a clean bill of health.

Via Dona at Clutch Cargo Lips, here are answers to a questionnaire (posed as a senior project by msmazzola) on why people blog. Every survey needs some outliers, I feel.

1. How long have you been blogging?

Formally, since the latter part of 2001. But I started in 1992 with an electronic newsletter that morphed into a web site that saw several incarnations before finally becoming this blog site in 2001, so it's really what you mean by "blogging."

2. Why did you start blogging?

I started the newsletter, my reading diary, because my cousin, +Rich, asked me to tell him a bit about the books I had been reading at the time. That grew tremendously in the 1990s and was basically the first of its type on the Web, hosted for awhile by SF Site. When I went to graduate school, my time for pleasure reading was curtailed, so the newsletter went on hiatus. When I emerged with my Master's degree, the technology had changed and blogs made it much easier to do regular updates to web pages, so I converted all my old pages into the blog format and started to write more than just book reviews since it was so easy.

3. What have you found to be the benefits of blogging?

The biggest benefit is how it strengthens your writing skills. I found as I wrote book review after book review that I had to stretch myself to find new ways to address my opinion on why a book had appealed (or not) to me. Like physical exercise, the more one writes, the better one gets at it.

4. How many times a week do you post an entry?

Unfortunately, I'm down to only two-to-three times a month. I write a lot more at work than I have in the past, and this makes me disinclined to come home and write a blog post.

5. How many different blogs do you read on a regular basis?

There's probably 150-200 feeds in my newsreader, although a quarter of those are friends who post even less frequently than I do. There's also some feeds in that where the posts are 3-5 per day, however.

6. Do you comment on other people's blogs?

When appropriate. I've taken to trying to do it more often, just to let folks know that I am keeping up with them, especially friends' blogs.

7. Do you keep track of how many visitors you have? Is so, are you satisfied with your numbers?

No, not at all. I have stats and affiliate programs, but I probably only look at the numbers once or twice a year. You can never have enough readers, but I really don't blog for the numbers.

8. Do you ever regret a post that you wrote?

No. I've gone back and edited some (and marked them as such) if I feel that I didn't express myself well, though.

9. Do you think your audience has a true sense of who you are based on your blog?

I'm not sure I reveal all that much about myself, although you probably could gain a fairly complete picture if you read through everything. Your eyes would be very tired, though.

10. Do you blog under your real name?

Yes, and I always have. This came from when I was trying to establish myself in science fiction field (as a critic and wannabe professional writer). Because of search engine issues, I tend to abbreviate the name of my spouse per her request.

11. Are there topics that you would never blog about?

Definitely. I have often tackled religion and politics here, which are topics that most people avoid. What I don't air is "dirty laundry," either about family, friends, or work.

12. What is the theme/topic of your blog?

Eclecticism, with a focus on media (books, music, TV, games).

13. Do you have more than one blog? If so, why?

No. I can't keep one very active, so having more than one seems superfluous.

Switching back to driving on the right side of the road wasn't a problem. Remembering that the turn signal is on the left of the steering wheel, however, was.

People in the U.S. are large. This includes the folks in the food joint in the airport, simply walking from gate-to-gate, sitting next to me on the one-hour flight from Atlanta to Knoxville, and shopping in the department store. Seeing a number of these obese people using mobile chairs reminded me that Wall*E was being prophetic indeed.

I enjoyed a salad, without worrying about it. Which may have been a mistake, since it was in the airport.

Cable news networks are poisonous. I don't know who Nancy Grace is exactly, and I realize that a missing little girl is sad, but I'm fairly sure spending a whole weekend on that one story is, erm, excessive. Is this the height of journalistic excellence that TV can aspire to?

Food is expensive; clothes aren't. On the other hand, finding clothes that fit me is almost as bad here as it is in Malaysia. There, I'm too big; in the U.S., I'm too small. At least, according to the sizes left on the racks.

Atlanta fails on Airport WiFi; lots of options, all priced at $7.95. Uhm, guys, that's not competition, but collusion. Hampton Inns, on the other hand, have strong and free WiFi. This brings to mind J's Rule of Hotel Internet Serivce: The more expensive the hotel, the worse the internet service and the more the hotel wants to charge for it.

It is one of those things that I find inconceivable that many self-professed Christians don't seem as upset about the use of torture as I would have expected them to be. But that could be one reading of this study from a Pew poll on people's attitude regarding whether torture is justified. I hate to pull the Bible out on these "faithful," but there's some teachings of Christ you might want to refresh yourself on, like that bit about "turning your cheek" when someone strikes you and that other bit about "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" (and not "do unto others as they do unto you," which is what the Old Testament taught, i.e., eye for an eye, and one of those teachings that Jesus updated in the New Testament).

Actually, I find it pretty inconceivable that any Americans can justify torture for any reason, as I thought that was one of those things that we were taught set us apart from our enemies. But, as Walt Kelly so aptly put it, "We have met the enemy and he is us."

(link to survey discovered at Obsidian Wings)

I've been meaning to do this for awhile. Wordle is a site which makes a "word cloud" based on your pasted text input, a URL, or a del.icio.us username. I took the complete text of the novel that I wrote in 2001 as my MFA thesis and this is the egg-shaped (appropriate) cloud that returned.

The protagonist's name appears the largest, as she is the focus of the book. Other characters (Dad, Susan, Byron, Scott, Grandma) also get repeated a lot, about half of the size of Joan. The majority of the repeated words are the ones that move the plot along (time, through, wanted, know, see, just, asked), and I probably should have done something to vary those words more, but as a stylist I've a fairly clean, unadorned writing style that doesn't try and call attention to the words and instead is focused on propelling the story on. What I did like to see is that some of the themes, at least in my mind, did come through: God, game, lizards, eggs. I was a bit surprised they weren't larger, though.

It's a fun program, which actually runs in your browser, so if you're pasting text into it, nothing ever leaves your computer, making it private. I'm looking around for other things I can paste in to see graphically.

The title of this post comes from this article in the New York Times about the conviction of the owner/operators of The Pirate Bay. The Pirate Bay is the largest bit torrent tracker, which allows users to find the addresses of other users who are sharing files. The argument used by the operators is that they only provided the addresses, not the actual files themselves, so couldn't be held responsible for their users actions. If I recall, that was similar to the argument that internet providers have used, successfully I might add, in handling copyright issues themselves. The only difference that I can see is that The Pirate Bay was much "closer" to the crime. Both groups are accomplices, if you will, but one has more resources to influence the court case.

But, like the earlier (i.e., decades ago in Internet Time) win against Napster, the victory will be Pyrrhic for the recording industry. The Pirate Bay is just the largest of the trackers. There are many, and the best ones are private by invitation only, not to mention that the Pirate Bay has vowed to stay open while appeals are filed.

The recording industry, however, feels vindicated. I'm not so convinced. As the music industry analyst in the article implies, this court case doesn't actual settle the issue and that the best solution to an illegal free distribution system is an authorized free distribution system which the industry could monetize (either through a subscription or advertising model, similar to how Napster is now run). While the industry sees this ruling as a deterrent for file sharers and torrent trackers, it's about as good as any deterrents against drug trafficking, i.e., it stops casual use.

One of the repeating conversations that J and I have is about the need to have a better measurement of a country's progress than the gross domestic product (GDP). Problems with measuring progress by using the GDP abound: it only measures consumption, thus rewarding non-sustainability and planned obsolescence; GDP goes up following natural disasters because rebuilding is a positive yet the GDP never measured the cost of the damage itself; more people equals more consumers equals GDP growth, and doesn't factor in cost-of-life issues (more of a criticism of a country with unchecked population growth like India rather than the U.S.); etc. I've always said that someone should create a better index.

During some recent reading, I discovered that a non-profit group has actually proposed a better measure and it seems to make a lot of sense. From the report that I was reading (Worldwatch Institute's Vital Signs 2007-2008):

GDP is a poor measure of economic progress, as it counts all monetary expenditures as positive--whether the money is spent on useful goods, such as food or durables, or on mitigating social ills that could have been prevented. The U.S. nongovernmental organization Redefining Progress designed the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI), a measure that better analyzes economic progress by subtracting out pollution and resource degradation, crime, and other economic ills while adding in unmeasured benefits like volunteer work and parenting. While U.S. GDP per capita has nearly doubled since 1970, the GPI grew just 15 percent.

That last comparison can be seen visually in the following graph:

For more information about the Genuine Progress Indicator, including how it differs from the GDP, see the website for Redefining Progress.

Congrats to my buddy Matt on the impending publication of his first hardback book, The Flood, an expanded scenario setting for the Deadlands: Reloaded RPG from Pinnacle Entertainment Group. As someone who had the pleasure for years of having Matt run games for us, I know how awesome this book is (hmm, we might have even playtested some portions of it), how much work Matt put into it to make it great, and what a fun time your game group would have playing in it.

If you're in the Maryland area, you can experience Matt's mad skillz at the gaming table at GameCon in Aberdeen this month.

Way to go, Matt! I'm looking forward to saying to some whippersnappers someday , "Well, I knew him when he would get dead drunk at the table and kill off all our characters...."

Here's a local restaurant that we'll have to check out soon: a vegetarian temple that asks you to enjoy the food and pay what you think is appropriate. Foodie road trip!