A Whole Lotta Nothing

After a very long weekend

After a very long weekend spent moving, I'm happy to say I'm no longer a resident of San Francisco. I suppose I'm one of the many "fogbirds" that fled the cold murky streets for warmer, sunnier areas just yonder. I'm about a half hour south of SF now, and I didn't think it was that big of a deal until we were finishing up cleaning and moving the last bits out of our old apartment today. It was around 4pm and the fog had rolled in. The skies darkened and the temps dropped to around 60. I had to turn the heat up when we left in the car. By the time we got 25 miles away to our new home, the air conditioner had to come on, and the shorts and t-shirt I was freezing in San Francisco in were just perfect. We enjoyed a great view of a warm sunset while dining with family and friends and I knew things would be much happier from here on out.

Oh, and if there was one highlight this weekend, it was the pizza in the wildly blooming backyard.

Hello, and welcome to the

Hello, and welcome to the fifth stop on the "Rainy Day Fun and Games for Toddler and Total Bastard" virtual book tour, the virtual book tour that cries itself to sleep at night. My name's Greg Knauss, and while Matt futilely attempts to keep MetaFilter from eating itself, he's given me the reins of his A.Whole to shill my book. Also, printer cartridge replacements, unique stock opportunities, penis enlargement and something written in Korean that I can't read. But mostly my book.

"Rainy Day Fun and Games for Toddler and Total Bastard" -- on sale now, still, at So New Media -- explores the untrodden literary territory of people who think their own children are cute. It's the book form of being trapped into going through the six thousand snapshots a friend has of his precious little snoogy-woogy -- the kid sitting and then not sitting and then sitting again and then digging around in his nose like he's expecting to discover precious metal. It's hell, folks. Run for your lives.

Today's excerpt is available in MP3 format, thanks to the grinding, obsessive insistence of Mr. Haughey. For the intimate feel of a real bookstore reading, with the rain patting softly against the front window and the owner's friendly cat curled up on a pillow by the ancient cash register, please click here.

And, now, Q & A:

People have stopped asking questions, haven't they?

Yes.

That's because they're bored silly with this whole "book tour" thing, isn't it?

Yes.

OK! Thanks for asking! If you've got a question you want answered -- about anything; I mean it; seriously: your love life, car troubles, antiques, the eternal mystery of God's indifference to suffering; please, oh please, oh God, just write -- send it to greg@eod.com. On Monday, we'll be at The BradLands, with an extra-special treat!

Assuming we can think of something by then. Otherwise: the same old crap.

In response to Michael Eisner

In response to Michael Eisner invoking the name of Abe Lincoln to support his media company's position, this other Lincoln quote is rather apt:

"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. . . . corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed."

-- U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 21, 1864
(letter to Col. William F. Elkins)

(thanks ahughey)

Ticketmaster has always shown

Ticketmaster has always shown itself to be a subsidiary of satan, with their frequent buyouts of their only competitors and their attaching a $6 "convenience fee" to my tickets (30% of face value, how convenient!), but last week they showed a new face of evil.

Wednesday night, I wanted to buy three tickets for a Friday night show in San Francisco. The tickets were for my wife and I, and a friend. Trying to buy three tickets resulted in an error message stating that due to either ticket limitations or server problems, my request for tickets could not be fulfilled. I was instructed to lower my requested tickets and try again. So I tried 2, which worked fine. Just for the hell of it, I went back and tried 4 tickets, which also worked. Hmm. I went back and tried to buy three, but again got an error. I tried 2, then 4 tickets again to make sure, then tried three tickets. Buying 2 or 4 tickets still worked, and 3 tickets gave an error.

I bought two tickets and informed my friend of the troubles and told him to buy a single ticket. A few hours after I bought my tickets, he couldn't buy 1, 2, 3, or 4 tickets, getting the same errors I was getting before for 3 tickets. My friend didn't end up going to the show, fearing it was sold out. When I got to the concert, not only was the event not sold out, but they were selling tickets like hotcakes from the box office, and the venue was only about 3/4 full during the show.

I really wish there were alternatives to the Ticketmaster cartel.

The new SSSCA bill leaves

The new SSSCA bill leaves me utterly speechless.

I should start a blog to cover this issue, at HollingsIsValentisBitch.com

As someone facing my own

As someone facing my own upcoming 30th birthday this October, I'm quite impressed with Bill Keaggy's Age: 30 project. Bill took a picture of himself every day of his 30th year, leading up to his birthday.

Wednesday night, I'll be speaking

Wednesday night, I'll be speaking with Derek about the design of online communities at Berkeley. If you're interested in the subject, building a community of your own, or interested in the design decisions I made for MetaFilter, do come check it out.

I finally put some images

I finally put some images and words about my SXSW trip online.

Andre inadvertently created a great

Andre inadvertently created a great way to categorize the world when he created FilePile. Using a simple system of labels, the world can be split into three piles, [this is good], [this is bad], and [this is offensive].

Also inadvertent would be my application of such labels to real world objects soon after Andre put a handful of stickers into my hand. I should apologize to my cat here and now for this, but I hope he understands how the world is better organized for my having done it.

On the plane ride home

On the plane ride home last night, i was going through my photos and found an interesting shot of Lawrence Lessig's slide that simply says "fight the mouse." I downsized it and cropped it slightly to create desktops for both macs (including a tibook size) and PCs here:

http://haughey.com/sxsw/2002/desktops/

It's a nice reminder to myself, whenever I minimize all my applications that I shouldn't forget the ridiculous things Eisner and company are trying to do to maintain their control over artists, creators, customers, and the public at large.

And just like that SXSW

And just like that SXSW is a blur. How much of a blur was it?

I just got home to San Francisco tonight, after speaking for 90 minutes on the first panel of the day, and 90 at the end of the day. I can't recall anything I said in either panel, but I was exhausted and feeling under the weather, so hopefully it wasn't too bad. I distinctly remember a few outbreaks of laughter at both panels, and an outburst of applause once, but I haven't the faintest idea what I said to elicit those responses.

I've got a lot of good photos to put up and some words to write down. I should probably write before I've forgotten the experience, but it is largely a blur.

I noticed from surfing around

I noticed from surfing around a few sites mentioning "sxsw" at daypop, there are a lot of people here I haven't met yet. I kind of wish there was some sort of wireless application to solve this problem. I have my bookmarks stored on my laptop. Many of those bookmarked people are here but I don't know what they look like. What if we could send out little pings of our url, and whenever someone within your list was within 50 feet of you, you hear a beep. Getting closer to them, the beeps would begin repeating at an increasing rate. Then you'd find those people.

Or something like that.

Last night I finally made

Last night I finally made some money (instead of spending it) from the SXSW trip. Mena, who never wins anything was up for best weblog at the awards. At some point on sunday we had the following conversation:

"you're totally going to win that blog award you know"

"what? no I'm not, I never win anything"

"you are so going to win"

"I guarantee you I will lose. I always lose. I've spent my whole life losing"

"I'll bet you five bucks"

"you're on"

It was nice to see her win and all, but I was happier to win the bet. Five bucks, pure profit.

Thoughts from the Dallas

Thoughts from the Dallas airport, 5:30AM

It's far too early to be walking next to camouflaged men wielding M-16s.

While I've been trying to forget this is my first flight since 9/11, and keep thoughts of hijacks to a minimum as I await my connecting flight, the airport's faux CNN feed is looping stories from the tragedy.

Keep in mind I'm in an airport.

I just heard someone's final words from tower 1, spoken into a cellphone and recorded as a message explaining that something bad happened and she might be late getting home. Next up are real stories of courage and conviction staring firefighters. Following that is the story of a buried victim saved 27 hours afterwards. She's happy to be alive but can't walk normally again. All of it is presented with a mock Stone Phillips style of narration. Apparently the tragedy is television gold for late night programming.

I can't remember the last time I saw the trade center video, and this morning I've watched tower 2 fall several times. In an airport.

The absurdity is capped off with a quick celebrity "InStyle" interview with Stevie Nicks, and her struggles with drugs through the 80's and 90's. Yeah, that's about the same level of hardship as 3,000 lives lost. Sure.

Before 6am, the airport is sparsely populated and the TVs are very loud. You can't escape them, as there seems to be one about every 50' in the terminal. As you one fades away, the next grows louder. Thank god for headphones and this wayport wireless connection.

Yes I'm cranky from the red-eye flight.

How many people single-handedly taking

How many people single-handedly taking on the supreme court, ashcroft, and disney have time to post on slashdot?

If you said "one" you were correct.

If you didn't see it

If you didn't see it in the past few days, Michael overhauled stinkfactor.com, the place previously known as "that one site where the guy eats a lot of cinnamon then pukes." Aside from the nice layout, the coolest new feature is the ability to cough up dough to see new challenge met. I chipped in 10 bucks to see a guy eat tabasco, thinking it couldn't be done, and although the person was successful, I think this image makes every penny worth it.

Remember when banner ads were all the rage for making money online? Then selling widgets or site swag was the way to a quick buck? I think Michael and the rest of the gang at his work have discovered and perfected a new profit model: double-dog-dare-commerce.

Our apartment is up

Our apartment is up for rent. It's a nice location, close to the park, muni, etc and is pretty big inside for a 1 bedroom place. I hear there's a showing this Saturday at noon while I'm in Austin.

If Google were a woman,

If Google were a woman, I'd divorce Kay and run off to Vegas and marry Google. Stuff like this proves how effective honest, open communication with users (and customers) benefits a company. Google doesn't come off sounding like a corporate behemoth that spouts marketing speak, not only do they have a clue who their users are and what their users want, but they actually give it to the users time and time again.

Seems like a pretty simple plan that Google is so skilled at executing:
1. figure out who your users are
2. figure out what they want
3. give them what they want

It's a wonder so few companies can successfully do all three things.

SXSW stuff: I'll be speaking

SXSW stuff: I'll be speaking on a couple panels in Austin next week. On Tuesday I'll be talking about freelancing in the morning Peer Meeting, then later that afternoon I'll be doing a community panel with Derek, Caleb, and John. It already seems like there are a million things going on during SXSW, but I'm going to try and hit the SoNewMedia party featuring The Dakota Smith and I hear Cory's doing a reading I don't want to miss. There are at least a few dozen people I haven't met yet that I'd like to meet up with, if you see me around, feel free to say hi.

Someone asked me who all is in this photo described here.

Back row: Owen, Maura, Jason, Ariana, and Christine. Front row: Robert, jack, Brig, me, and Ev. I don't know why I took the photo at the time, or how I got everyone together like that, but in two years everything Jason described has happened.

Biggest regrets about going? Putting off freelance work and writing for a week, knowing I'll come back to crazy amounts of work while trying to get ready to move simultaneously, and also missing From Monument to Masses shows coming up.

Some shots from the

Some shots from the Noisepop show last night. It was fun to go, hang out, and catch some good live music. I especially enjoyed hearing Dealership live, after hearing their recorded tracks so many times. They stood out among the hard rock theme of the night, even going so far as to drop a plinky, soft edged "Anarchy in the UK" Sex Pistols cover that was delightfully cheeky.

Ryan's on a roadtrip, and

Ryan's on a roadtrip, and taking us all along for the ride.

My Aunt forwarded me an

My Aunt forwarded me an interesting URL. When you put all those items together, it kind of boggles the mind (yeah, I know, the source is just a tad biased, but still).

Nikon's new coolpix model looks

Nikon's new coolpix model looks heavily influenced by nokia cell phone design (scroll down to the photo above the specs, of the closed camera). Is this consumer design convergence?