Blog Six-Pack Picks, 2.6

Hi everyone: here's our next collection of Blog
Six-Pack Picks, where I asked you all to do an entry
featuring six blogs, on any theme (or no theme) that you liked. (You
can see the previous featured Six-Pack Picks here: 2.1
| 2.2
| 2.3
| 2.4
| 2.5).


Here are our next two
Six-Packers:

Anyafo over at The
Narrated Life authored a Six-Pack of Writer's
Blogs:

1. At Last, Writers
   Beware Blog! - "...a resource for new writers
   compiled by A. C. Crispen and Victoria Strauss.  They want to
   help new writers to avoid the slippery slope of writing scams, and
   learn the ins and outs of writing."
2. Crimson
   City - "...a blog that exists within the fictional
   alternate universe devised by published writer Liz Maverick. 
   You definitely have to start at the begining of the blog, which is June
   2005 in the archives, or you’ll be lost.  It’s definitely
   worth the time to read all the entries..."
3. Donna Hill
   Online - "...my next choice for the
   six-pack.  I discovered Ms. Hill’s writing after reading
   “Rosie’s Curl and Weave.”   I look forward to reading
   some of her newer works."
4. Hackman-Adams
   - "...another blog shared by two writers.  Their tagline says
   it all, 'THE PERILS OF WRITING WITH A (MALE)
   CO-WRITER.'"
5. Paperback
   Writer - "...is Lynn Viehl’s baby.  It’s a
   treasure box jam-packed with information, ideas and inspiration on how
   to write.  I love visiting this site and exploring
   it."
6. Raspberry
   Latte - "...Each day, Ms. Stacey Penny consistenly
   and neatly writes about her life as a writer, what she has read, and
   just a littlebit about her family..."

Next,
DPoem of The
Wisdom of a Distracted Mind shares his Six-Pack of
People I'd Like to Have a Beer
With:

1. Aurora
   Walking Vacation - "Not every Canadian eats
   raw seal meat and lives in an igloo.  Some of them have a
   house, a crazy sense of humour and a great talent for getting
   people to understand all sides of any
   issue."
2. Welcome
   to My Life - "Holly is funny --strike
   that!  Holly is REALLY funny.  If you can read her
   blog without cracking a smile, then you probably should check your
   pulse.  If you find that you are without a pulse, then you
   might be interested in reading her Fictional Vampire
   Journal..."
3. Rachael Anne
   Rules the World - "I think everyone should
   have a beer with at least one free-wheeling theologian at some point in
   their lives, and, to me, Rachael is a constant reminder that, in the
   right hands, religion can be a very good thing.  So, stop by
   here, say hello and give Kimo a virtual scratch behind the
   ears."
4. Passer
   domesticus [Private] - "If there is such a
   thing in this world as a "reasonably domesticated gypsy,"
   it's this woman and mother.  In reading her "100
   Things," (currently at #121) it's clear that this
   life is not so much a moveable feast, insofar that it's kind
   of like a perpetually relocating kegger..."
5. Eau de
   Humanity! - "Lee's a great guy with a great
   sense of humor, a sharp wit, and a knack for the comical side of all
   things logical.  Plus,you never know what kind of silliness
   you'll stumble across on this blog from time to
   time."
6. HEY,
   I'M COUNTRY! - Amanda is barely old enough to
   drink, but her observations on life and the world around her is just a
   lot of fun to read.  She strikes me as someone who never stops
   laughing.  But, more importantly, she's really finding her
   talent in this world..."
   

On an
administrative note, I stopped putting the Six-Packer's description in
all italics, as it was kind of hard to read. Their
descriptions are now in quotes, instead.

There's
still a bunch of Six-Pack goodness left, so stay
tuned.

Thanks -- Joe

Tag: Six-Pack
Picks

Apple Elevator Crash?

So, this via Slashdot: Engadget reported on Monday about how a bunch of visitors to Apple's new flagship store in NY got stuck in the big glass elevator for 45 minutes (as originally reported in this blog, Trying not to offend).

They were eventually freed with help from the NYPD.

Naturally, if you check the Engadget and Slashdot comment threads, you'll see a lot of references to 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory', spinning beach balls, kernel panics and other jokes at Apple's expense, so I will just add this:

"I guess Force Quit didn't work, so they had to get out the prybars."

(Force Quit -- Command+Option+Escape -- is kind of the Mac equivalent to Control+Alt+Delete.)

Thanks -- Joe

Mediocre Directors Blog, Too!

So, if you're like me, you often find yourself wondering: What does director Michael Bay do when he's not out creating artistically-arid but commercially-successful summer blockbusters?

Well, wonder no more: You'll be happy to know he blogs about creating artistically-arid but commercially-succesful summer blockbusters.

Any child of the 80s worth his or her salt or giant robot geek (that's a person whose geekiness includes knowledge of giant robots, not a giant, robotic geek, which would be extra-scary) knows that Bay is currently at the helm of the live-action Transformers movie, which is due next summer.

These same 80s children/geeks are shaking in both anticipation and fear, since given his previous body of work... well, it could go either way. But, there should be lots of explosions, as well as a high-level of military involvement, as Michael Bay himself says in his blog.

You can also check out Bay laying the smackdown on some movie rumors that have floating around out in the big ole sphere o' blogs, and see what else he's been up to.

Also, see some fan and fanboy reactions (a fanboy is a special kind of overheated fan, most usually male) in the Digg thread where I originally saw the item about Bay's blog.

Thanks -- Joe

Tags: Michael Bay, Transformers Movie

What I Did Over Memorial Day (with Video)

Hi folks -- hope you had a great Memorial Day holiday. Me, I stayed around here and did a very good impersonation of a couch potato, though I did get out on Sunday to catch the Rolling Thunder motorcycle rally in DC.

I took some video with my digital camera, and I just posted a 15-second segment to UnCut Video:

Rolling Thunder DC Motorcycle Rally, Memorial Day 2006

I was standing just behind the barricade on Constitution Avenue and 23rd St, which is just after where the riders come over the Memorial Bridge and rev into the turn, which I was told was a good spot. And it was. It was also kind of loud.

You can see the side of the Lincoln Memorial in the background. You can also (just) see a Marine in uniform, standing on the double yellow center lines, saluting the riders.

Here's a screenshot so you can see what I'm talking about:

As for the video itself, I didn't try to edit it or add titles in MovieMaker or iMovie or anything -- it's straight off my computer (with UnCut video, you can even upload it directly off your camera, though I didn't do that here.)

Like I previously blogged about UnCut video, we don't have the ability yet to embed the video player directly in your Journal, though that's coming, so right now it's a linked thumbnail (which is automatically created when you click the "Blog This" link on a video's page).

In other general business, I'm playing a lot of catchup in this short week, so stay tuned.

Thanks -- Joe

Tags: AOL Journals, UnCut Video, Rolling Thunder

New Guest Editor's Picks for 5/26

Hi everyone. I posted the new Guest Editor's Picks to the Journals Main Page (as announced in the Journals Message Board):

Our Guest Editor for this week surrounding Memorial Day is Kathi, who started her blog, MAIL CALL! Supporting the Troops, to support those who serve our nation.

Not surprisingly, Kathi chose a theme of military blogs (or "milblogs") -- blogs that chronicle the lives of the men and women who serve in the military. Check out her top six blog picks:

* My OIF Deployment
* Bruce's Deployment to Afghanistan
* Destination Iraq
* BLACKFIVE
* Soldiers' Angel - Holly Aho
* Yikes!

On an editorial note, in a few cases, Kathi links to a specific entry within a blog that focuses on a particular soldier or topic, so check out each blog's main page to get the full picture. And, as always, please leave a comment in the Journals or blogs that you read.

Don't forget, if you want your own chance at being a Guest Editor, send me an e-mail at JournalsEditor@aol.com. Please include a link to your blog.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend, everyone, and be safe in your travels or wherever you may be.

Thanks -- Joe

Tag: Guest Editor's Picks

Intern Season and Blogging

Hi folks -- as we ease our way into the unofficial start of summer (that being Memorial Day weekend, which is this weekend, in case you forgot), I am reminded that it's also the start of intern season.

Intern season is a bit more pronounced in DC proper than it is here out in the 'burbs. During intern season in the District, you'll see packs of all these bright-eyed congressional and executive branch interns who go out to the local happy hour watering holes with their credentials still prominently displayed around their necks. (It's considered very gauche and pooh-poohed by the natives, who are probably just insanely jealous of the utter awesomeness conveyed by an ID badge on a bead-chain.)

Anyway, one of the more recent hazards of internships is of course, blogging indiscretely about your shiny new summer job. An article in yesterday's New York Times entitled "Interns? No Bloggers Need Apply" (free registration required, try BugMeNot.com) lists out some of the perils of not knowing the "First Commandment" of blogging about your job:

"Thou Shalt Not Blab About the Company's Internal Business."

Of course, it's not just interns who get in trouble for what they blog about (either revealing too much about their job to the world, or too much about their personal life to their bosses). The NYT article also talks about Jessa, the blogger I previously wrote about who lost her job because her employers didn't like her blog.

Some busted bloggers manage to make some lemonade out of their lemons, using their newfound fame or notoriety to get new jobs, book deals, etc., though this is probably not a realistic fallback position for most people.

In a related story, BusinessWeek's Blogspotting has an item today featuring some blogs about workblogs (both anonymous and public).

Getting back to my own work blogging, I will get this week's Guest Editor's Picks up in a bit.

Thanks -- Joe

Tag: Busted for Blogging

Blog Six-Pack Picks, 2.5

Hi folks -- it's been a week since our last batch of Blog Six-Pack Picks and there are still a bunch more to see, so let's get to it. (Check out the previous Six-Pack Picks here: 2.1 | 2.2 | 2.3 | 2.4)

Sepintx over at (sometimes)photoblog has a Six-Pack of cats and their humans:

1. Ellipsis... Suddenly Carly - A cat named Elvis lives at Ellipsis...Suddenly Carly. Elvis a source of inspiration for Carly and for me. Love this cat. Elvis is truly a king among cats as he really knows how to throw a party. Throws a pose! When Carly pens an update about Elvis, he steals the show.
2. Here, There, and Everywhere - Cats, Stinky, Boo Boo and Winky all live at a Journal called, Here There and Everywhere. There are more cats there too I think and they are active cats! Pat shares a lot of cat photos, stories and more.
3. Arizona Life Through My Eyes - Angel and Eclipse make appearances on a Journal called, Arizona Life Through My Eyes. In addition to cats, Theresa photographs birds and many other subjects in Arizona. Good stuff!
4. Paragon - Cat Genavieve lives at Paragon, a Journal kept by Phinney. Another photography cat journal and there is some good catnip to go with those photos. Beautiful skies and lots of sights.
5. Hestia Homeschool for Young Wild Women - Momma Green Eyes lives at the Hestia Homeschool for Young Wild Women. If you love animals and you have a love of learning life's lessons, this Journal is a must read. Of all the places to be a cat, the cats who live at Hestia have lots of sunshine in their lives.
6. Bee's Shutter - Acat named Garfield lives at Bee's Shutter. Photography and felines is the purr'fect mix for me. From big zoo cats to geese in planters, Julie has a wide range of subjects to photograph. Always a visual treat with cats!

Next, PLittle over at Aurora Walking Vacation has six blogs that he enjoys reading. He thinks you'll like them, too, but it won't hurt him if you don't.

1. Mike's Weekly Skeptic Rant - Mike is a fellow Canadian, which means many of you will be jealous of his insightfulness and wisdom. And proper spelling. Be aware that Mike doesn't pull any punches, and has been known to use profanity in his state of almost perpetual exasperation.
2. Memoirs of a Skepchick - Rebecca is a skepchick, which means she is able to model for a calendar and think at the same time. Critical thinking skills are sexy.
3. What My Kids Want to Know - Maggie's two sons, Colin and Robert, ask a lot of questions, as young people are wont to do. For fun, she decided to ask the Internet at large for answers...
4. Simian Farmer - ... Simian Farmer doesn't have a specific theme. Simon writes about his family, his job (a bit), and his observations on life. And he does it really well.
5. Project Jason: Voice for the Missing - Five years ago, Kelly Jolkowski's eighteen year old son left the house to wait for a ride to his part time job. His brother looked out to see him bringing the empty trash cans up from the curb as he was waiting. He was never seen again...
6. The Wisdom of a Distracted Mind - Dan is a little bit out there. But he makes me laugh. More or less.

Have no fear, there's plenty of Six-Pack goodness left to go around, so stay tuned.

Thanks -- Joe

Tag: Six-Pack Picks

Horse Sense?

Today's edition of Al's Morning Meeting has an item (second one down) about how people are sending get-well cards, flowers, fruit baskets, etc. to Barbaro (the horse that broke its leg during the Preakness).

(Al points to a Newsvine page that features the AP story -- Newsvine is kind of a collaborative news aggregator site where regular folks can contribute stories.)

In addition, the New Bolton Center at UPenn (where Barbaro is being treated) has set up an online form where you can send a message to Barbaro -- some of the recent messages are displayed on the Barbaro Message Board.

Now, I will be the first to admit it: I am not a horsie person.

I think I may have had a pony ride when I was a kid, but that's about it.

Also, I don't think that I'm a cold-hearted person.

But, people: We're talking about sending e-mail to a horse.

I realize that with many kinds of displays of affection, solidarity, condolence, support, best wishes, etc., the messages are often more for the benefit of the sender and other peers, not the sendee.

But it's sending an e-mail to a horse!

Anyway, you have the address if you'd like to send your own message.

Thanks -- Joe

Tag: Barbaro

Big Brother or Big Bother?

Here's a story off the AP that you might have seen today: Illinois School District to Monitor Student Blogs

From the article:

"The board of Community High School District 128 voted
unanimously on Monday to require that all students participating in
extracurricular activities sign a pledge agreeing that evidence of
"illegal or inappropriate" behavior posted on the Internet could
be grounds for disciplinary action."

The article states that officials won't be searching student sites regularly, but will instead rely on tips.

My initial thoughts:

• Ooh, a pledge. That ought to fix everything.
• I'm no legal expert, but it seems like the school district is overreaching here.
• Maybe on the assembly at the first day of school they should just tell all students: 'We know all about your blog/MySpace/FaceBook/other profile, so please don't be an idiot."

Thanks -- Joe

Tag: Busted for Blogging

Access Your Web Storage Space Using SFTP

Hi folks -- I have some good news -- there's a new way for you to access your Web storage space (also known as your Hometown or FTP space), where you can keep the files that you display in your Journal.

Typically, this means images, like photos and animated gifs and such, but it also includes any type of files, like sound clips, music files, and even video files -- anything, subject to file size limits (you have an overall storage space limit of 100 megabytes per screen name).

Before, there were three ways for you to upload and manage the files in your storage space -- two required you also use the AOL software, and the third was our Web-based File Manager, which has a file size upload limit of 500K per file (which isn't big enough for most movie or music files).

The Hometown folks have done some work that now makes a fourth way possible:

Use a separate, standalone FTP program that supports SFTP (the SSH Secure File Transfer Protocol)

An FTP program (or client) is specifically designed for you to upload, download and manipulate files in your Web storage space. (They're especially useful if you need to work with multiple files.)

You can already use a regular FTP client with your Web space, but you have to run it together with your AOL client software (here is how you do that). This is because the standalone FTP client "piggybacks" on your AOL connection for security.

With SFTP (remember, the "S" is for "Secure"), the client doesn't have to piggyback and can run by itself.

Now, you will just need to use an FTP client that supports SFTP, and sign-in using your screen name and password.

You can check the shareware and freeware download sites for FTP programs that support SFTP; here is Wikipedia's list of SFTP programs; some of the free, open-source programs include:

• For Windows: FileZilla, also WinSCP
• For Mac OSX: CyberDuck

After you download, install and launch the SFTP client, you will need to fill in the correct info so you can connect to your Web storage space:

• For host or server name, put members.aol.com
• For User, type your Screen Name
• For Password, type your Password
• Finally, make sure you have SFTP selected

This is what the FileZilla connection screen looks like (other programs will look different):

Now that we have SFTP, this means there are now four ways you can access your Web storage space:

1. AOL Software: If you're using the AOL client software, you can just go to Keyword: FTP.
   Pros: No file size uploading limits.
   Cons: The interface is older than dirt and very clunky and awkward to use.
2. Standalone FTP Program running over your AOL connection. (Here's my full instructions on how to do this)
   Pros: No file size upload limits. More powerful.
   Cons: You still need to have an AOL software connection running.
3. Web-Based File Manager (which is located at http://hometown.aol.com/_fm -- see my tutorial on how to use the Web-based File Manager.
   Pros: Very portable (you just need a Web browser). Easy to use, especially for adding photos
   Cons: File size upload limits (500K per file, or 1MB total per upload). Can be awkward if you're moving a lot of files.
4. Standalone SFTP Program:
   Pros: Full control over your files.
   Cons: None that I can think of. Well, you have to configure the program and get used to it.

One thing to mention -- if you're using a standalone FTP or SFTP client, it means it's easier for you to manipulate your files. That means it's also easier for you to delete your files, so always be careful and have backups.

One other thing to note: You'll be able to link to a music or movie file from your blog, but you won't be able to have it play directly in your browser yet (well, you can sort of do it with music files in the background -- for example, see Brandi's entry on this) -- it should open a separate player when you click on it.

However, as noted, the Journals folks are working on allowing embedded flash video players (so you'd be able to include UnCut Video and other players).
 
Anyway, hope this helps. Now, I have to go update all my other old entries so that they mention the new SFTP thingy.

Thanks -- Joe

Tags: AOL Journals, AOL Journals Tips, SFTP

5/22: Journals Timeout Errors (mostly resolved)

Hi folks -- we were having some Journals problems earlier tonight -- lots of slowness and eventual timeout errors; looks like it was systemwide, affecting all Journals.

The core problem seems to be resolved (which is why I can post this entry), but you might see some weirdness while the tech guys make sure everything is in order.

Not sure why we've seen more of these lately (we can't blame Britney for everything), the Journals tech folks are investigating  -- I am trying to express the appropriate level of urgency to them.

Sorry for the inconvenience. -- Joe

That Other Weekend Code

So, there was another big code released this weekend; I was going through the Sunday comics on, um, Sunday (and no, I don't find Sunday mornings particularly easy), when I came upon this FoxTrot (excerpted here):

At first glance, it's not a particularly funny comic -- it also engages in a bit of uncharacteristic behavior by the featured character, Jason -- he's an uber-geek who isn't known for his dancing prowess.

All is revealed in the last panel, though, because it turns out he's sending a secret message via Morse Code.

If you figure the "TAPs" are dots and the "TAAAPs" are dashes, that gives you:

... --- -- . -.. .- -.-- .. .-- .. .-.. .-.. .-. ..- .-.. . -.-- --- ..- .- .-.. .-..

(The spaces are important.)

A quick search on "morse code to text converter" gives you a bunch of Web-based options; you can copy-and-paste the morse code to find out what young Jason is really trying to say (I won't spoil it for you).

Now, the comic's creator, Bill Amend (he has an official Web page that's sort of bloggy), has done strips like this before, though this one doesn't require any math calculations (unlike, say, this one, which I didn't bother to do, especially since I knew someone out there would do it -- like this bunch of folks in the FoxTrot LiveJournal community).

Just a little bit of geeky, participatory humor.

Thanks -- Joe

Tags: Bill Amend, FoxTrot

Thoughts From the Morning Drive

Hi folks -- just a couple of items from the drive in this morning:

* Four-Way Stops: People, it's not that hard, really: If you get there at the same time as someone else, the driver on the left yields to the driver on the right.

And no, if you have to go more than 180 degrees around the intersection, they're not on your right.

As always, check with the traffic laws in your jurisdiction; for example, you can read the Virginia Driver's Manual.

(Apparently, the term "right of way" has a specific legal meaning that doesn't quite apply to when you're supposed to yield in this situation.)

* Morning Edition had a story this morning on Hila Plitmann, a soprano who sings the solos on the score of The DaVinci Code.

If you haven't seen the movie (I haven't either), you've still heard her or someone like her on a film score -- it's usually a solo or chorus of dramatic/transcendental/angelic/diabolic Latin or faux-Latin during a climactic confrontation or revelation.

Interesting stuff, especially how she talks about tailoring her singing for a specific mood, or having to modify words to make them sound better.

Thanks -- Joe

Tag: morning drive thoughts

More Thoughts on Getting Busted for Blogging

Hi folks -- so, as I threatened yesterday, I just wanted to share a few of my personal thoughts about how what you blog can get you in trouble.

Since I'm blogging for The Man, my situation is slightly different than that of other, normal bloggers -- see, here, I'm supposed to talk about work, my job, and my company.

Naturally, there are limits -- just like a non-work blogger, I would probably get in trouble if I went gossiping about who's doing what to whom, revealing office politics, divulging trade secrets, slandering people who say dumb things in meetings, making fun of my bosses (even if they deserve it... and I'm not saying that they do), etc.

I also have to be a lot more restrained in my blogging. Since I'm representing the company to some degree, as well as trying to set a positive example for other bloggers, there are certain things that I can't or won't do.

You're not going to see me cursing, or telling dirty jokes (well, I might hint at some, but if you go decide to look up the punch line, that's on you, innit?), or getting into flamewars with people (even if they flame me first... and not even if they really, really deserve it), or even making (too much) fun of people I don't know.

Furthermore, I don't really talk all that much about my personal life here, except where it intersects my work. Partly this is because I am not naturally extroverted, but a lot of it is because it's nice to have some lines between work and a personal life (such as it is).

Also, part of it is trying to preserve the feeling that I'm not going about my daily life just looking for material to mine later for my blog.

This is not to say that you're not getting the real me up here; I'm not performing, and this isn't a blogging persona that I put on for public consumption -- I'm just saying that I might hold a few things back, for my own sake.

So, say I have a sister whose birthday it is today (and I'm not saying that I do, or that it is) -- might I try to sneak in a

Happy Birthday!

message? It's hard to say.

Anyway, this is just another angle on the whole "be careful what you blog about" thing. Everyone who blogs has to figure out what their own limits are, and then hopefully stick to them.

No matter what your situation, you should feel free to blog for yourself and to blog about what you want to blog about -- just be mindful that there are, you know, people out there.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Thanks -- Joe

Tag: Busted for Blogging

The AOL UnCut Video Beta

Well, without any prompting, Blogger John did a blog entry about another new AOL service that was launched in Beta this week, UnCut Video.

It's a social video sharing site, which means that you can browse videos that people have uploaded, as well as upload your own.

It would not be unfair to compare it to other video sharing sites out there, such as YouTube or Google Video; the UnCut Video guys are working on some features that should distinguish UnCut Video from these other folks (for example, right now UnCut Video supports device upload, which means you can upload video directly from your camera, as well as direct Webcam support), but in any case, play around with it and see what you think.

Lucky for me, Blogger John uploaded his own video to the site, which is good, because I was stuck trying to come up with something of my own to put up, so he bought me a little time with his Mentos/Diet Soda Geyser Experiment Video:

If you look at the screenshot, you'll see where I circled (in red) the Blog This link; it's similar to the Blog This link in the footer of all Journals entries; when you click it, it will create a new blog entry, complete with a hyperlinked thumbnail to the video. You can then pick which blog you want it to go to, and then publish it like any other blog entry.

Note that this will be a static thumbnail picture. If you look below the Blog This link, you'll see another link that says Snag an embeddable player. Clicking this will give you the HTML code for an embeddable Flash player, which will let you play the video directly in your blog entry; unfortunately, you can't use embeddable players in AOL Journals at this particular moment. (See my earlier entry on allowed HTML in Journals.) [Update, July 2006: The AOL Journals beta now allows embeddable Flash video players from UnCut Video and YouTube.]

The good news, though, is that the Journals guys are working on allowing embeddable players in Journals for the next release, which should happen in June, according to the current schedule. So stay tuned (the Product guys will be talking more about the features of the coming release as we get a little closer).

Now, video is a little harder to do (and do well), but pretty much all home computers these days come with simple movie editing programs (Windows Movie Maker for PCs, and iMovie for Macs); I was playing around with both, myself, and the programs make it pretty easy. In fact, you have to kind of restrain yourself from going crazy with effects, titles and transitions, once you get past the basic manipulation of the video clips.

Anyway, right now, I encourage you to play around with UnCut Video and
see what you think. Remember, these days, most digital cameras allow
you to take video, and lots of folks have Webcams that will also do
fine.

Plus, since UnCut Video is still pretty new and there aren't very many videos uploaded yet, there's a pretty good chance that if you upload a video, it'll be featured. So if you want to show off your inner auteur to the world, here's your chance.

As noted, I will get my own video up as soon as I, um, come up with something to film. I will entertain suggestions, so leave a comment. (Please note that "entertain" means "will listen to" not "will do, unquestioningly.")

Thanks -- Joe

Tag: UnCut Video

New Guest Editor's Picks for 5/19

Evening, everyone -- the new Guest Editor's Picks have been posted to the Journals Main Page (as announced in the Journals Message Board):

This week's Guest Editor, Cyndy, blogs to help herself and others. She's picked a theme of old and new blogs to feature, so check out her top six blog picks.

* The Life & Times of an Essex Girl
* Dare to Think
* Missie's Upside Down World
* Confessions of an Angel Waitress
* There Is a Season
* Reflections

Cyndy is active in a bunch of blogs (including her own The Real World of Cyndygee, which she also published her picks to), so stop by and say hi.

Don't forget, if you want your own chance at being a Guest Editor, send me an e-mail at JournalsEditor@aol.com. Please don't forget to include a link to your blog.

As noted, I have a couple of other things I want to get to tonight, so sit tight.

Actually, I guess that's kind of silly. After all, we do have these here New Entry Alerts you can subscribe to (or Feeds, those work too), so it would be kind of pointless to sit around and keep refreshing the page, when you can just check back when you get the Alert. So forget I said that.

Thanks -- Joe

Tag: Guest Editor's Picks

Busted for Blogging, Revisited

I haven't blogged for a while about people getting in trouble because of blogging, primarily because it's getting to be too distressingly common. There are two basic kinds of these stories:

1. People (especially young folks) who blog about their illegal activities (either past or planned), and subsequently get arrested for it.
2. People who lose their jobs or otherwise get in trouble at work because of what they write in their blogs

This is going to be one of those job-losing kinds of blog trouble stories.

Now, there's actually a word that was coined to cover this situation: If you get fired because of something you wrote in your blog, it's called getting "dooced."

(The term comes from Heather "Dooce" Armstrong, who got fired from a technology company in 2002 because of what she wrote about her job in her blog.)

According to Blogebrity.com, blogger Jessa Jeffries [content warning, which is part of the issue here] got fired from her job because of what she wrote in her blog.

I actually know about Jessa's blog (though I don't know her personally), since she has something of a local connection -- she's active in DC blogging circles, even though she's in Philly.

Apparently, she got called in on the carpet because of her blog's content; part of it was because she talked a little about work, but a lot of it seems to be just general discomfort with the personal content of her blog, mostly partying and carrying on and the usual young person stuff.

Originally, Jessa was going to take down the blog because of (apparently overreaching) threats by her now-former employer, but it looks like it's going to stay up.

As far as I can tell, this particular story hasn't made the mainstream media yet, but you can read this Metafilter discussion thread for more information (where Jessa herself tells her side of the story). As is usual with these types of stories, the moral is:

Be careful what you write about in your blog, and assume that people -- the police, your bosses, your parents, your exes, your friends, your enemies -- are going to find out about your blog, and react accordingly.

On a practical note, you should find out what your company's policy is regarding blogging.

And, though it may seem unfair, even if you don't blog explicitly about your job, if your bosses don't like what you blog about, whether it's politics or tasteless jokes or risque pictures or whatever, in most states, they're within their rights to let you go.

Of course, this makes the other moral of this story:

Life Ain't Fair

I will probably bore you tomorrow with some of my personal observations about blogging, based on my own experience.

Thanks -- Joe

Tag: Busted for Blogging

Adding Your Journal's Feed to Your AIM Pages Profile

For those of you playing around with AIM Pages, Journals Project Manager Yoel just blogged an entry about how you can use the AIM Pages Feed Module so that you can display the headlines from your recent blog entries in your AIM Pages profile (which is essentially a beefed up Member Profile right now).

The AIM Pages Feed Module is a widget that lets you display a Feed in your profile; typically, for a blog's feed, it will show the headline and a hyperlink to the full entry.

You can display the feed from your own blog, or your friends's blogs, or any blogs you like, and you can use as many feed modules as you like.

Yoel gives step-by-step instructions in his blog entry, so play around and check it out.

I use a Feed Module in my own AIM Pages Profile -- it displays the feed of entries from this here Magic Smoke blog, oddly enough. As I've also noted before, my AIM Pages profile is still pretty lame because I haven't played with it enough, but it's there for you to look at anyway: http://www.aimpages.com/journalseditor/profile.html

(The feed module is in the lower right -- you can see the list of modules I use in my profile in the Module List Module that's currently on the left side)

As noted previously, AIM Pages is a beta test, so it will be a little buggy (though I notice they've fixed a lot of stuff since last week's launch) -- also, they're adding new features on a continual basis.

The team is also working on things like cleaning up the labels, providing help and instructions, and all that good stuff, but it's there if you want to play around.

(Note that if you do create an AIM Pages profile, it will replace your current profile, so if you don't want that to happen, you should use or create a separate screen name to experiment with.)

Thanks -- Joe


Tag: AIM Pages

Blog Six-Pack Picks, 2.4

Hi all -- here's our next batch of Blog Six-Pack Picks, where bloggers just like you (only different) picked out six blogs that they wanted to see featured.  You can see the previous Six-Pack Picks here: 2.1 | 2.2 | 2.3

Check out the blogs of the Six-Packers and their picks, and don't forget to leave comments in the ones you like. Without further ado:

Rusrhi, a.k.a. Rhianna, of The Impossible Dream, gives us her personal Six-Pack:

1. Still Searching... - Kelli is my cousin, friend and roommate. She is 18, a recovering addict and pregnant. She writes exactly how she talks and her thoughts can be some what scattered. I should probably say something like... ADULT CONTENT.
2. Do My Shoes Match? - Ali is an amazing woman. She has gone through alot recently. Her fiancée (now husband) just returned from Iraq b/c of an injury and had many complications. They have twin girls that were born before he came home. And I just admire her courage.
3. *These Are the Days of My Life* - Jenny is a SAHM with 2 beautiful kiddos and a crazy husband! They love hard and fight often but so far are still toughing it out. This one can also be ADULT CONTENT on occasion.
4. HEY, I'M COUNTRY! - Amanda is a kick butt gal who loves shoes and baseball guys in tight pants. LOL But she is more than that too. She is strong, opinionated, and funny.
5. The Light Side of Cat Keeping - This is just a really cute journal with cat jokes, quotes, pics and video.
6. I'm Losing It- Marina is a married mother of two. She is VERY happily married and loves to talk about her family. She also does a Celebrity News thingie every once and awhile. She keeps her journal pretty upbeat and full of tags.

Ally123130585918 (or, um, Ally, for short) lists out some blogs she likes to read over at her own blog, Life With Ally:

1. Single Girl - Jayne lives with her Mum who has terminal cancer ~ she writes of her life and her hobbies always interesting
2. Sandra's Scribbles - Sandra writes of her first Grandchild Roman ~ her family and her beloved Black Labrador Jake always colourful and full of news
3. Serendipity - Jan writes about lots of different things Her family Her Hubby and their dog Scooby ~  memories of the past and things she is doing today ~ humourous and informative  she lives in the Fens in England
4. Joans Musings -Joan has two journals one she writes about her Family ~ the other about Birdwatching which she loves ~ they live in Scotland
5. Waffle and Whinge - Barry is a postman ~ and his journal is a must ~ full of humour his DIY jobs and his family
6. Welcome to My Travels [Private] - Jeannette writes about her travels loaded with wonderful pictures of the places she has visited -- [Joe here: Alas, this one is private, but Jeannette also has a public Holiday Photos blog]

Thanks -- Joe

Tag: Six-Pack Picks

Resolved: Partial Journals Outage Last Night

Hi folks -- looks like we had a partial Journals outage last night (got a few mails from folks) -- it lasted about 30 minutes, starting just before 6pm.

Slightly over half of all users were affected, getting "page not found" and other errors; it was caused by a problem with one of the config files. The problem was fixed. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Thanks -- Joe

Tags: AOL Journals, AOL Journals Status

Blog Six-Pack Picks, 2.3

Hi folks -- here's our next batch of Blog Six-Pack Picks, so that's 12 more blogs (actually, 14, counting our featured Six-Packers) for you to check out.

I decided that instead of continuing the Part 1, Part 2-style names, I'm going to go over to a version-number style numbering system. Because everyone, you know, loves version numbers, which aren't confusing at all. Oh no.

This being the second round of Six-Pack Picks, and the third batch of six packs, that would make this set of Six-Pack Picks number 2.3.

I guess it should be number 2.03, but who am I trying to kid here?

Our first Six-Packer today is Bookmaven2005, otherwise known as Bethanne, AOL's Book Maven. Sure, she's nominally a cow-orker, but I did say that anyone with a blog can play, so check out her picks and leave her a comment to let her know what you think:

1. Travel Contests - My very talented friend Barbara Benham has a fairly new but quite robust Travel Contests Blog. Here you can not only find out about most travel sweepstakes and such under the sun ...
2. Dream of Italy - Travel Blog - ...an elegant blog attached to an elegant newsletter, run by another very talented friend, Kathy McCabe. Whether you're planning your first trip to Tuscany or you're a fanatical Italophile, there's something here for you.
3. Steven Berlin Johnson - Steven Berlin Johnson is the author of 'Everything Bad Is Good for You,' and a columnist for Discover magazine. I'll try to forgive him for not blogging about being on my panel last week...
4. The Diary of Samuel Pepys - ...This is truly book-wonkish and indulgent of me to post. However, you, too, might get hooked on the life of the most observant man ever, who just happened to live in the 17th century.
5. Readerville - Hmmm, does Readervillecount as a blog? I'm not sure if it does, and it's neither fish nor fowl nor good red herring, and thank goodness -- it's sui generis and so fascinating. It's like a blog of a very busy and witty writers' conference...
6. VittlesVamp - My new favorite person on the planet is The Vamp, perhaps because she let me stop our taxi in front of Murray's Cheese Shop en route to the Pegu Club...

Next, we have Britinany, over at Toast & Tea; Gretchen would like to promote people whom she thinks are "just damn cool," so have at it:

1. Nothing But Bonfires - She's a great writer and one heck of an adventurer.  She's about to scrap her life in Charleston to go visit Southeast Asia and relocate to San Francisco all in one swoop.
2. Sweet Juniper! - Dutch and Wood do most of the writing, but they have a great sense of humor and are karmicly adjusted, wicked cool, and honest about being parents. (They also cuss occasionally, so be forewarned.)
3. Ze's Page - Because he likes me, and thinks so I don't have to.  Warning - this site is a major time vacuum.  Definitely check out the show, his video blog.  FYI, he uses adult language on occasion.
4. Sign of the Shovel - Michele Owens: Great gardener, witty writer, and a real joy to read.
5. FrinkTank - Used to be part of the Science Blogs group, but there was a bit of a falling out I guess.  Fun to read, but they do tend to be adult in their language.
6. Path to Freedom - These guys went way off the deep end.  They live (as vegetarians) off their 1/5 acre in Pasadena. The photos are beautiful, and although they tend to be a bit more "organic" then I usually go for, I am compelled to read it on a regular basis...

Please leave comments in the blogs that you like -- do unto others and all...

In other news, I will be blogging about AOL's new video sharing platform tomorrow or so, but in the meantime, you can check it out: UnCut Video.

Thanks -- Joe

Tag: Six-Pack Picks

The End of Flat Scalzi's Adventures at AOL

Well, all good things (and this photo jaunt, too) must come to an end, so here we'll wrap up Flat Scalzi's expedition to AOL HQ and send him on his way to parts unknown.

(In case you missed it, here you can find Parts Four, Three, Two and One; there are 5 entries total, which is actually about 4 more entries than I'd originally planned to do.)

We last saw the Flat One in a variety of violent tableaus featuring different McFarlane figurines (figurines are like dolls for boys), but fortunately, we leave behind the bloody hacksaws and such for a British Flag and Beefeater:

Nice hat. Say something if you don't want me to take it.

From a bit of British flavour, to the ultimate in Americana, the big foam finger:

You're the Man. No, you're the Man. We're Number One!

Next, we finally see the rough bunch, responsible for all the previous mayhem and violent imagery:

Former Scalzi cohorts John, Erin & Cian.

Of the above three, can you guess brought Flat Scalzi to the Hundred Acre Wood (home of Winnie the Pooh and pals?

Flat Scalzi is no Christopher Robin.

Finally, our parting photo finds Flat Scalzi on one of the external staircases, looking out onto the campus (CC1 is to the left; the wedding cake thing is HQ):

"Nice place you have here."

Anyway, that's the last stop in the Dulles itinerary; as we speak, Flat Scalzi is in an envelope somewhere, heading over to one of the other AOL offices; from there, he should be heading over to Ohio, for a joyful reunion with his marginally more-dimensioned namesake.

Thanks to Tee, the Smurf, Julie, Bea, Paul, and of course, Flat Scalzi himself, for putting this all together.

Thanks -- Joe

Tags: AOL Journals, Flat Scalzi, Scalzi

License to Express Yourself

Taking a brief break from all these recent multi-part posts, there was a DCist item stemming from a news story this morning that says that Virginians lead the nation in vanity license plate usage:

"It is the language of the license plate, and no people in America speak it more fervently than those in Virginia, where 1.4 million cars - nearly one in five - sport a personalized plate."

(The article's florid but maddeningly imprecise prose leads me to think that they mean the vanity plate adoption rate -- about 20% -- instead of total users, though it's hard to say.)

Here in the Commonwealth of Virginia, a vanity tag is only $10 extra per year, and I certainly have noticed a lot of them on the road. A quick poll of the parking lot certainly shows a lot of them, many of them appropriately geeky-references for the tech crowd.

Now, it's not just low prices, since the article states that vanity tags in Florida are $12 extra per year, yet only account for 1.1% of all registered plates, which suggests that it's a cultural thing -- you get a vanity tag because everyone else has one.

However, I'm not going to try to turn this into some tortured metaphor about blogging and how seeing other people's blogs make you want to do a blog yourself, etc. Though I do note that they are both forms of self-expression.

Personally, I don't have a vanity tag -- I like the plausible deniablity factor in case I ever run into someone whom I have wronged on the road ("Er, that must have been some other red hatchback that cut you off because I, I mean, he, didn't check his blind spot.").

Thanks -- Joe

Tag: license plates, vanity tags

The Continuing Adventures of Flat Scalzi (Part IV)

Much to my surprise, I still have Flat Scalzi in my possession. Make that "had" -- I just dropped him in the interoffice mail, where he will be headed out to another AOL office, and from thence to Ohio. Or perhaps further misadventures -- it's out of my hands, now.

When last we left the Flat One, he'd gotten belated birthday smoochies from former cow-orker Kerry (also see Part II and  Part I).

Before I left on Friday, I was able to track down a bunch of Scalzi's former colleagues and co-conspirators for some photos; they seemed pretty eager, though in retrospect, I think it was because it game them a chance to play with their toys:

Flat Scalzi with Galactus, Devourer of Worlds and former boss of a similarly chrome-domed Silver Surfer.

Things took a decidedly darker turn, though, as Sin City's Marv entered the picture:

This is not going to end well.

Luckily for us, Flat Scalzi was able to extricate himself, and he found himself holding the hacksaw:

No, he's not trying to saw off his leg.

Next, Flat Scalzi found himself re-enacting a scene from Reservoir Dogs with Plastic Harvey Keitel -- it was for an acting workshop of some sort:

Maybe he should have hung on to that hacksaw.

Well, things certainly took an unexpected turn towards the morbid, didn't they? Stay tuned for the fifth and last set of pics from Flat Scalzi's visit to AOL Dulles. Thanks -- Joe

Tags: AOL Journals, Flat Scalzi, Scalzi

May Blog Six-Pack Picks, Part 2

Hi folks -- hope you had a great weekend and a Happy Mother's Day. Here's Part 2 of our Blog Six-Pack Picks (see Part 1), where I'm featuring two more Six-Packers who show off six blogs that fit their fancy.

As noted, you're encouraged to check out the Six-Packers's blog entries to see more of their picks (for those who went a little over), as well as full descriptions (I'll be trimming some of the longer ones), info about themselves, etc. Plus, it gives you a chance to leave a nice comment in their blog, too.

Buggieboo1 leads the way today over at This Momma's Drama with six blogs (and then some), picked with no rhyme or reason:

1. Living a Weeble's Life -    Amy is a single mom of 3 and in a single mommy's loop with me! I think I got her started on the journals! She is sort of new here so stop by and say HI to her...
2. Denise's Pig Pen    - Then there is Denise.... met her on a single moms message board and she got me started in journaling! She is a single mom of 5. Go say HI!
3. The Hadonfield Myers ExperienceAnother one of my favorites would have to be Hadon  found his journal when Amanda (trickeytricky) picked Hadon and I when she was guest editor a few months back! He is just a cool person and has awesome entries!
4. Diary of a Mad Woman - Then there is Barb super nice person always leaves awesome supportive comments, and loves comments left in her J, Stop by and say HI!
5. I'm Going Sane in a Crazy World - Then there is Mike, he is cute, great smile.... And some of his entries are funny, some serious!
6. A Single Mom's Journey - Then there is Cristina!  a single mother of three.

Next, Aurielalata (and previously featured work spouse) over at CIW: The Other Invisible! gives us her picks:

1. WWDN in Exile - Oh, it's that kid that played Wesley Crusher on STNG. Not exactly. Wil is a geek above all geeks, and I love him and his blog ...
2. The Wildcat's Lair - Wildcat, and his trusty mascot, Frank "Skywhips" Orion (a cat that loves cafe mochas and kitty porn) are the masters of this excellent blog focused on books and writing. What fun!
3. Outpost Mavarin - Karen is one of those bloggers that can take something that seems simple and turn it into something wonderful and awe inspiring. In other words, she's a damn good writer that you should read.
4. Patrick's Place - Patrick is one of those wunderkind that juggles several blogs at once.... Worth a read...plus the Weekender is host to his great memes the "Saturday Six" and the "Sunday Seven."
5. Here, There, and Everywhere 2nd Edition -- ... What I like about her journal is the mixture of picture and story she manages to put together. Plus, it's really cool--she was friends with DeForrest Kelley and his wife, Carolyn ...
6. Musings on Creativity    ... Lucky her, she is going to Tunisia, so her journal should get really pretty cool.  Her blog is a look at the creative process, and how she manages it. Great blog for folks who are creatives like me.

More Six-Packers and their picks to come tomorrow. If you have any feedback on how I can make the Six-Pack picks better (or anything else Journals-related, for that matter), please let me know.

In the meantime, stay tuned for more stuff.

Thanks -- Joe

Tag: Six-Pack Picks

May Blog Six-Pack Picks, Part 1

Okay folks -- just in time for the weekend, here's Part
1 of the second edition of the Blog
Six-Pack Picks, where I asked you to pick any six blogs that
you wanted to feature, write a bit about them in your own blogs, and
send me the links.

We've got a good mix of blogs,
some old, some new, some with themes and some without.


I'll be blogging about them in batches of 2 or 3
Six-Packs per day, to give you a chance to check them all out. So,
don't be shy -- leave a comment and say hi in each
of the blogs you visit.

As before, I am numbering
the picks, but only so you can see that there are six -- the numbers
don't reflect any ranking.

Also, I tried to
preserve the order you listed them in. And, in a new bit this time, I
am listing out the descriptions you wrote (or
excerpts, in some cases), but don't be shy about checking out each
Six-Packer's entry for the full description and
more.

Skipping over my
own picks for now (since I've already blogged them), our
first Six-Packer is Dougsbabygirl31 over at Insanity
Isn't the Disease, It Is a Symptom:

1. New Journey -
   Bobby is a good friend and is very funny check his stuff
   out!!!
2. Pointless
   Drivel - Mr.Fab
   rocks!!!!!
3. Reflections of
   Ari - Ari rocks and has a great sense of
   humor
4. The Phil Factor -
   Phil is a great guy who only wants to rule the
   world.
5. Thought
   Salad - love
   connie.....
6. Spider in the
   Bathtub - a new blog i have never pimped, and she is
   a great writer!!!!

Our next Six-Packer
is UK Journaler Funnyface0s0, from Single
Girl, with six blogs she "just likes to
read":

1. Waffle
   and Whinge - Say hello to 'Barry', he is a 'Postie'
   which means he works for the Royal Mail and delivers all our letters to
   us.   He writes well and is very
   humourous!
2. Life
   With Ally - Ally lives in Norfolk a very beautiful
   part of the UK.   Her tales of 'Nin & Barney' keep us
   all amused.
3. Little
   Artist - Jane is such a classic writer and should be
   read by many.
4. My Everyday
   Life - Helen and her camera are amazing - pictures
   everyday of her garden and the wildlife, of her and Ken fishing and
   their catches - she makes the world feel a smaller
   place.
5. Serendipity
   - Jan is married to Maurice, and while Maurice is at work Jan
   takes to her keyboard and blog
   occurs!
6. Pete's
   Place - Pete's Place is were you can relax from
   reading blog and jus flick thru the pictures - a coffee table
   blog!

Our third Six-Packer today is
Xomywayox of Brenda's
Way, with six of her favorite blogs:

1. Jessica's
   Thoughts & Feelings - Jessica aka aljes12
   journal is her day to day life &
   feelings.
2. XX Roxy
   Mama XX - Shelly aka xxroxymamaxx journal is her day
   to day life & more hoo haa.
3. Lori's
   Laurels - Lori's aka My78Novata journal is about her
   family, faith, & pets, what a
   hoot.
4. Possums!
   Prepare for Battle! - You just got to read this one.
   I have no explantaion for it! LoL
5. Dust
   Bunny Club of North America - Jody aka dornbrau all
   I can say about her is, she needs to up on a stage. I don't care who
   you are, she's funny.
6. Where
   the Heart Is- Mel aka myheartsaysso2 she's good. She
   has great insight and puts it out there
   right.

That's our first set of
Six-Packers. Please leave comments in the blogs you like (and maybe
even the ones you don't -- it's the neighborly thing to do), and don't
be shy about leaving your own blog's address in your comment so people
can check you out, too.

As noted, I will be blogging
more Six-Packs in the coming days, though if you really want to, I
suppose you can skip
ahead and see them all...)

I think that's
it for right now. Much to my surprise, I have some more Flat
Scalzi pics that I will be sharing, as well as a bunch of
other things lined up for later on, so there you
go.

Have a great weekend, everyone, and
Happy Mother's Day!

Thanks --
Joe

Tag: Six-Pack
Picks

New Guest Editor's Picks for 5/12

Hi all -- the new Guest Editor's Picks have been posted to the Journals Main Page (as announced in the Journals Message Board):

In honor of Mother's Day (and without any prompting), this week's Guest Editor, MaryBea, came up with her list of blogging moms. See her top blog picks, in her blog, Hunybea's Open Journal:

* Life & Faith in Caneyhead
* Damaged Goods
* Christy's Thoughts
* The Strawberry Patch
* Lori's Laurels
* The Peach Pages

MaryBea's original picks took the theme of Tortured Souls, though ultimately she decided to spotlight Moms. And that's fine by me. You can see both sets of blog picks in her entry.

It's been a long and eventful week, with the Flat Scalzis, and the AIM Pages and the allowed HTML tags and whatnot. Got a little bit more, though, so stay tuned.

Thanks -- Joe

Tag: Guest Editor's Picks

Six Packs Are on the Way

Hi folks -- so I have your Blog Six-Pack Picks in (where I asked you to pick and feature any six blogs you wanted, on any theme -- or even no theme -- you wanted), and I will start featuring them tomorrow. (I originally was going to start running them today, but as noted, I'm running a little behind today because of other stuff going on.)

Also as previously noted, I'm going to be featuring your Six-Packs in smaller batches (probably only 2 or 3 per entry, with a Six-Pack entry per day), which should keep us going for a little bit.

Thanks -- Joe

Neat Little Taskbar Utility for Windows Users

Saw this item just now on Digg -- it's a freeware utility program that lets you rearrange and reorder the buttons in your Windows taskbar (the bar at the bottom of the screen, next to the Start button, that shows you what programs you have open): Taskbar Shuffle.

Now, I make no promises or guarantees that it won't blow up your computer or anything, but I installed it and it seems to be working okay.

Ordering the buttons in your taskbar may not seem like a big deal, though it can make it easier for you to switch between the open applications by clicking on the buttons instead of using Alt-Tab to cycle between the open programs.

(If you didn't know, in Windows, if you hit the Alt and Tab buttons together in Windows, you can switch between open applications -- Alt-Tab. Similarly, in most programs, hitting Control and Tab will switch you between open windows within an application -- Ctrl-Tab. Very handy, especially if you're multitasking and switching between multiple applications.)

Anyway, Taksbar Shuffle is free (though you can give the guy a donation if you like), so what more do you want?

Thanks -- Joe

The Continuing Adventures of Flat Scalzi (Part III)

Hi folks -- sorry, running a little behind today. When last we left Flat Scalzi, he was headed back to building CC1, after visiting AOL HQ (which you can see in Part II -- also check out Part I).

Here, you can see Flat Scalzi hanging out on my cubicle wall with new friends Darth Tater and Running Man:

Yo. 'Sup.

They were joined by the Pink Flamingo:

There's not really anything more that needs to be said about this.

Just down the aisle, Flat Scalzi investigates the remains of some donuts. They're only a day or two old:

Mmmm, day-old donuts.

Now, I don't know about you, but the last thing I expect to find as I'm wandering around the cubes is Enlightenment. Also, gnomes.

The Buddha is actually a magic-eight ball type thing, so you shake the Buddha for guidance and wisdom.

Anyway, that's about it, except for a belated birthday kiss from cow-orker and old Scalzi pal Kerry:

Smoochies.

While we're on the subject of Kerry, you should note that she's one of the principals behind the whole AIM Pages thing that I mentioned went into beta yesterday.

Here's Kerry's AIM Pages profile; included in her profile picture gallery is a pic of her puppy, A.C., which was too cute to pass up:

You've Got Mail!

Anyway, I think that's about it for me and Flat Scalzi. I'm going to track down some old Scalzi buds for a few more photos which may involve a trip in the interoffice mail, and from there, Flat Scalzi will be on his way to Ohio to meet up with real Scalzi, complete with all the baggage he's picked up along the way.

If you want to get into the act with your own Flat Scalzi, go to Journaler Teresa's blog and make your own flat Scalzi, and see what kind of compromising positions you can put him in.

Thanks -- Joe

Tags: AOL Journals, Flat Scalzi, Scalzi, AIM Pages

The Continuing Adventures of Flat Scalzi (Part II)

So, when last we left Flat Scalzi, he and his friend (the Running Man) were headed over to the AOL Headquarters building. Here they are, on the verge:

"Running Man, you're going the wrong way. You should know this." "Sorry, Flat Scalzi, I never did get the hang of the wayfinding address scheme."

Flat Scalzi went up to say hi to AOL Vice Chairman and Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis, but Ted wasn't around.

Flat Scalzi poses with Ted. Sort of.

On the way out, Flat Scalzi posed for a few pictures in the lobby:

You can sort of see him.

Here's a closer shot, featuring the Running Man:

I had to practically crawl under a counter to get this shot.

Okay, enough wackiness over in HQ. We headed back to CC1 (that's Creative Center 1).

Flat Scalzi is standing on the badge reader.

Stay tuned for Part III of the Adventures of Flat Scalzi at AOL (probably tomorrow).

Thanks -- Joe

Tags: AOL Journals, Flat Scalzi, Scalzi

This Just In: AIM Pages Beta is Live!

We interrupt our regularly scheduled Flat Scalzi programming to bring you breaking news:

AIM Pages Beta Is Now Live!

I've held off about talking about AIM Pages until now, though there have been plenty of rumblings in the press these past few weeks -- some of it accurate, some not so much.

So what are AIM Pages?

Here's the "what is this?" section of the AIM Pages Web site; I would call it a new way to publish and share profiles. But that doesn't begin do it justice.

It's easier to show than to say: For example, here's the AIM Pages profile I started making for JournalsEditor:

My profile is still kind of lame, but I'm still working on it.

For starters, you'll notice that there are a whole bunch of available themes that you can tweak and adjust. That's pretty cool, and you don't have to know a lick of CSS or HTML.

It starts getting cooler because it works off the "original" online social network -- your Buddy List -- you can see my Buddy Gallery, which is populated from selected groups from my Buddy List (that's where the social profile stuff comes in).

It keeps getting cooler because the publishing interface is really slick. It's mostly drag-and-drop -- when you're in Editing mode, you can move modules around on the page with your mouse; also, the themes gallery shows you your changes on the fly, and you can further tweak those as you like:

The AIM Page profile edit view. The circled bit is the themes browser.

Probably the coolest feature is that it's built with openness in mind; outside developers can build modules so you can plug in different features to your profile -- there's already an AIM Fight module, polls module, Flickr photo module, and a whole bunch more.

You won't be limited to what a single development team can churn out -- you'll be able to pick from an entire universe of developers doing cool stuff.

The easiest way to see what the heck I'm talking about is to build your own profile and start playing around. When you first create your AIM Pages profile, it will pull in info from your existing Member Profile (if you have one).

Then, you can add modules, like the AOL Pictures module I have, as well as a feeds module for my blog (so it automatically displays the titles of my latest blog entries -- you can display any feed you like, not just your blog's).

So, you're probably asking, "When do we get all this in Journals?"

The AIM Pages team started out with Profiles because Profiles are easier than blogs for a variety of reasons. There's already a few "About Me" modules, a Pictures display module, links modules, and a Feeds module. A comments module is coming. All you you need is Rich Text module that publishes new stuff on the top, and what's that give you? A blog.

So, the question is, do we work towards making an AIM Pages profile template that acts like a Journal, or a Journal that pulls in the features from AIM Pages and Publisher?

I don't know the answer to this, and the Product guys are still working on it -- I suspect that it doesn't really matter (as long as we can make any transitions smooth), so whichever one gets us cooler stuff faster.

We'll keep you updated on any changes -- in the meantime, try playing around with a profile, see the profiles of people who've created them (lots of AOL employees at the moment), leave feedback on the AIM Pages Message Boards, go see the demo movie on the I Am Alpha developer's site, and more.

If you make your own profile, feel free to leave a comment with a link to it so we can see it and marvel at another venue for your creativity.

[Incidentally, "Beta" means that the product is stable enough to test, but you might encounter bugs, quirks and problems (which you should report, via the feedback boards). The developers have been working like crazy, and they'll be fixing things as well as adding new features on the fly. Just a heads-up.]

Thanks -- Joe

Tags: AIM Pages, AOL Journals

The Continuing Adventures of Flat Scalzi (Part I)

Hi folks -- first off, everyone wish Mr. Blogger Scalzi a happy birthday. Which today is. Many happy returns. (Returns after 30 years will receive store credit.)

[PAUSE FOR RIOTOUS LAUGHTER, FRENZIED APPLAUSE]

In a convenient coincidence, John's two-dimensional alter ego, Flat Scalzi, arrived in the mail yesterday. It's part of his continuing adventure around the country, which you can follow along in this here blog.

Being a gracious host (well, a host, anyway), I took him on a tour of campus. Here are a few highlights:

Here's Flat Scalzi at the weekly Journals meeting. Note the spiffy Running Man he's sporting.

The weekly Journals meeting is a teleconference with the rest of the team in Mountain View, California. The three folks with the laptops also happen to be some of our team's bloggers -- from left to right, we've got UI Designer Holly (second row), Technical Project Manager Yoel and Tech Manager John.

Moving on, we were struck by some familiar iconography on a pylon:

Both are free-standing thanks to included bases.

We headed over to my section of cubicles -- here's a banner that distinguishes our row from the rest:

Flat Scalzi in Community Row. He's standing on a magnet.

We skipped my desk, since if I put Flat Scalzi on my desk, we might never find him again. However, we did meet up with a friend:

"Hey, nice t-shirt you've got there."

On the way over to Headquarters, we looked at the displays in the connecting hallway, which features an AOL timeline:

Flat Scalzi in 1996. That's a pic of Princess Di.

Hrm, maybe this is a better spot, since this was about the time of real Scalzi at AOL:

Flat Scalzi in 1995.

A little further along, we passed the map of the Western hemisphere that has AOL locations marked on it:

Flat Scalzi, astride North America.

We then paused to take in the AOL Mission Statement:

"Telephone? Is that the thing with the curly wire?"

So, that's Part I of Flat Scalzi's visit to the AOL Dulles Campus. Stay tuned for Parts II and III later today.

As a reminder, you still have time to get your Blog Six-Pack Pick -- the official deadline is 5pm today, though since I'll be featuring them in smaller batches over the next few days, I won't be super strict on it.

However, I do want to note for some of you folks that it's a Six-Pack of blogs, not a case. We've got some real binge bloggers. Or blogoholics. Something.

Thanks -- Joe

Tags: AOL Journals, Flat Scalzi, Scalzi

A Somewhat-Complete List of HTML Allowed in Journals

Okay folks -- as promised, here's my entry on the allowed
HTML tags that you can use in your Journal entries (and All
About Me areas).

(As you'll recall, this was one of
the items from my April "pending entries" file that you
voted on last week.)

Before I get started,
even the partial set of HTML that Journals supports can get you in
trouble (for example, I've seen people who've
accidentally hidden their Edit buttons because they added some bad
HTML), so if you're going to play around with HTML, it's probably a
good idea to set up a separate test
Journal.

Now, HTML is basically
the bits of code that controls how Web pages look, where the links go,
how to format the text, etc.

In AOL Journals, the
HTML code is typically hidden; if you want to see some of the HTML that
sits beneath the surface, when you're editing or creating an entry,
look in the formatting toolbar -- there's a
pulldown menu that usually says
"Text" -- it shows you the rich
text view of the page -- the bolds are bold, the hyperlinks
are blue underlined text, etc:

Here's
a sample bit of an entry in Text view.

When you change the
pulldown to "HTML", it will show you the HTML view,
exposing the tags that are normally hidden from view:

The
same bits in HTML view.

If you want to edit the
HTML of your entries, you need to be in HTML
view -- if you try adding HTML while you're in text view,
it's not going to be recognized as code, and will show up in your
published entry.

Okay, so, this entry won't be a
full-on HTML tutorial; the list of free Web resources on HTML is as
long as your arm, so do a search or check this list of beginner
HTML tutorials from the Open Directory. (It's a long list --
personally, I start out with the Bare Bones Guide
to HTML, though youshould find the one you like best.)

Supported HTML Tags in AOL
Journals

I went to the Journals tech folks and asked
them, "What HTML tags does Journals support?" In a nutshell:


Not
Allowed:

• No
  Frames -- Exception: IFRAMES (embedded frames) are okay, but the
  IFRAMEd content has to be on our whitelist
• No
  Javascript (Exception: Javascript from Web sites on our whitelist is okay) and no OBJECT (embedded object tags, so no embedded movie
  players, for example)
• No H1/H2/H3-style headines or
  Hard Rule (HR) tags
• No
  Forms

 Allowed:

• Tables (Support for HTML Table tags was added June, 2006)
  
• Structure
  tags like paragraph, div and span (with the usual
  modifiers)
• HTML formatting tags -- bold, italic,
  underline, blockquote, break, etc.  (we don't have
  strikethrough [7/31 Update: Okay, it looks like we now have strikethrough] or blink)
• Font Size/Type
  Tags
• Ordered, Unordered and Definition Lists (this
  is an unordered list, for
  example)
  
• Hyperlinks (including modifiers
  like target="_blank/_top/_new")
• Embedded Images
  (using the <img> tag and modifiers like border and
  align)
  
• Embedded CSS (Style
  Sheets)
• To center something, use <p
  align=center>something</p> (not
  <center></center> -- this won't
  work)
  

 The
List of Tags:
<a></a>
(used to form a hyperlink or
anchor)
<b>bold</b>
<i>italic</i>
<u>underline</u>
<strike>strikethrough</strike>
<p>paragraph
element</p> (use with modifiers like
align=center)
<em>emphasis</em>
(basically
italic)
<strong>strong</strong>
(pretty much
bold)
_{_subscript}
^superscript
(note: this doesn't seem to work)
<br>break tag
(breaks the text to a new line)
<ul>unordered
list</ul> (a bulleted
list)
<ol>ordered list</ol> (a
numbered list)
<li>list
item</li>
<dl>definition
list</dl> (I admit it, I've never used
this)
<dt>term in a definition
list
<dd>definition in a definition
list
<font>font</font> (use with
modifiers like size, style, face,
etc.)
<span>span</span>
<div>div</div>
<img>
<blockquote>blockquote</blockquote>
(indents a block of text, kind of
useful)
<abbr>abbreviation</abbr>

You
can also use the coded
character set, so &nbsp; is a non-breaking space (a
row of non-breaking spaces together won't break to the next line),
&copy; is the © sign, &para; is the ¶ sign,
etc.

This list is just a starting point
-- I haven't gone into all the modifiers for the existing
tags, or how you actually use them.  Also, embedded CSS gives
you a whole world of options if you really want to cause some
trouble.  So this here is just a start.

If
you have questions about specific tags, post a comment and I
will keep updating this entry (and eventually link it from my sidebar,
with all the other helpful stuff).

Fiddling with the
HTML is a little more involved than working with the
rich text, but it does give you more control over
how the page looks and what it does, so it can be worth it if you spend
some time learning it.

Also, if you have no idea
what any of this means, don't worry -- the next generation of editing
tools will hopefully mean you won't have to know any of this (but it
never hurts to know, anyway.)

Thanks --
Joe

Tag: AOL
Journals