MaisonBisson

A tip from <a href="http://blog.ryaneby.com/">Ryan</a> sent me <a href="http://identityfuture.com/story/idm-microformats-microid/">looking</a> at <a href="http://microid.org/">MicroID</a>: <blockquote>a new Identity layer to the web and <a href="http://microformats.org/">Microformats</a> that allows anyone to simply claim verifiable ownership over their own pages and content hosted anywhere.</blockquote> The idea is to hash a user's email address (or other identifier) with the name of the site it will be published on, giving a string that can be inserted -- in true Microformats style -- as an element of the html on the site. » about 400 words

<a href="http://worcester.typepad.com/pc4media" title="peter caputa">Peter Caputa</a> dropped a comment on <a href="http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/03/02/utr-zvents/" title="UTR - Zvents">Jeff Nolan</a>'s post about <a href="http://www.zvents.com/" title="Zvents - Main Page">Zvents</a>. The discussion was about how online event/calendar aggregators did business in a world where everything is rather thinly distributed. Part of the problem is answering how do you get people to contribute content -- post their events -- to a site that has little traffic, and how do you build traffic without content? The suggestion is that you have editorial staff scouring for content to build the database until reader contributions can catch up, and that's where Peter comes in, suggesting that content and traffic aren't where the value and excitement are: it's the opportunity to involve fans in the event planning and marketing process. » about 300 words

Nearly 20 years after the initial events of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of April 26 1986, the story is still unfolding. This month's <a href="http://ngm.com/0604/">National Geographic Magazine</a> tells of the “<a href="http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0604/feature1/index.html">long shadow of Chernobyl</a>” -- grown children of the disaster now fear having their own children while <a href="http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0604/feature1/gallery2.html">some elderly residents return to their old homes</a> inside the 1,000 square mile, still contaminated “<a href="http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0604/feature1/map.html">exclusion zone</a>.” The print article seemed to offer hope, noting that even the pines of the “red forest” -- so called because they received so much radiation that it bleached the chlorophyl from them, and some say the trees actually glowed -- are beginning to grow back now. But the <a href="http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0604/sights_n_sounds/index.html">multimedia companion materials</a> tell a somewhat more morose tale. » about 800 words

I found Germaine across from the <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=boston,+ma&ll=42.348808,-71.082487&spn=0.008278,0.027037">Prudential Center</a> Friday. <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/misterbisson/Dumbkins/GermaineDrummer.mov">His sound was good</a> and I especially liked his snare drum. » about 100 words

| I found myself <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/maisonbisson/tags/bostonpubliclibrary/">wandering about</a> <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=700+Boylston+St.,+Boston+MA+02116&ll=42.349252,-71.078281&spn=0.016556,0.054073">Boston</a> <a href="http://www.bpl.org/">Public Library</a> for longer than I expected Friday. Part of it was the <a href="http://www.bpl.org/journeys.htm">map exhibit</a> and part of it was the <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/maisonbisson/117723887/">architecture</a> (and simply a place to relax for a bit). Amusingly, stairs and stairways seem <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/maisonbisson/117723175/">filled with drama</a> at BPL, and if the guard hadn't just warned me about taking flash photos, I might have tried to sneak a peak behind that door. » about 100 words

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/search/tags:library%2Creference%2Cinformation%2Csilly/tagmode:all/">These pictures are mostly foolish</a>, but here's a small point: none of us had ever seen a cop pull over a cab -- certainly not a cab with passengers -- before this, so we were all rather curious about why. <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=cambridge,+ma&ll=42.372947,-71.094954&spn=0.004137,0.013518">In front of us</a> stood a question, an example of the many questions we all encounter every day, and it's the kind of question that few of us would ever suggest going to the library to answer. » about 200 words

I won't say why I went looking for pictures of people getting poked with sticks (but you'll figure it out in a later post). I will say I was happy to find these from the <a href="http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~sc/poke.html" title="Poke-A-Spontaneous-Combustion-Member-With-A-Stick-Day">Poke-A-Spontaneous-Combustion-Member-With-A-Stick-Day</a> at <a href="http://www.rice.edu/">Rice University</a>. Look, they even have <a href="http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~sc/pics/03-pokeus.jpg">a price list</a> that includes: <ul type="none"><li>$1<ul type="none"><li>poke with a stick</li> <li>song/poem on demand</li> <li>two minute massage</li> <li>lick a SC member</li></ul> </li> <li>$2<ul type="none"><li>picture with [unreadable]</li> <li>kissing</li> <li>whack with a stick</li></ul> </li> <li>$3<ul type="none"><li>marker tattoo</li></ul> </li> <li>$4<ul type="none"><li>attempt hedge jumping</li></ul> </li> <li>$5<ul type="none"><li>human piñata</li> <li>shave a leg</li> <li>we wrestle each other</li></ul> </li> <li>$15<ul type="none"><li>jump <span style="text-decoration:underline;">into</span> hedges</li></ul></li></ul> » about 200 words

<a href="http://troyb.net/">Troy</a> expressed both great amusement and trepidation in his message alerting me to <a href="http://www.riya.com/">Riya</a>, a new photo sharing site: <blockquote>I don't know whether to say cool, or <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000E33W1W/ref=maisonbisson-20/">zool</a>.</blockquote> <a href="http://www.riya.com/learnMore">The tour</a> explains that you upload photos, Riya identifies faces in your photos, then asks you to name them (or correct its guesses!). Then you get all your friends to join up and we can all search for everybody by people, location, and time. So say "hi" to <a href="http://www.riya.com/search?btnSearch=btnSearch&faceID=34848e86a2df7a0a9228e0a3a18f2a9f65841d7d_0&acct=&scope=99 ">Andrejs</a> and <a href="http://www.riya.com/search?btnSearch=btnSearch&faceID=34848e86a2df7a0a9228e0a3a18f2a9f65841d7d_1003&acct=&scope=99">Nora</a>. » about 400 words

| I loved <a href="http://www.brandingblog.com/2004/12/monday_morning_.html">this quote</a> from Dave Young <a href="http://maisonbisson.com/blog/post/10914/">when I first found it</a>, and I love it more now: <blockquote>Talk to the customer in the language of the customer about what matters to the customer. Bad advertising is about you, your company, your product or your service. Good advertising is about the customer, and how your product or service will change their world.</blockquote> Read that again, but replace the relevant bits with “user” or “patron” and “your library” or “your databases.” The point of all this in a post from Jessamyn about <a href="http://www.librarian.net/stax/1679" title="understanding what users understand">understanding what users understand</a>. » about 300 words

| I have mixed feelings about the value of advertising -- it's worth pointing out that <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1591840880/ref=maisonbisson-20/">according to John Battelle</a>, Google never ran an ad anywhere prior to going public -- but I still enjoy seeing things like this <a href="http://www.wyominglibraries.org/">Wyoming Libraries campaign</a>. <a href="http://librarymarketing.blogspot.com/2006/03/world-comes-to-wyoming-in-wyoming.html">Jill Stover quotes</a> Wyoming Libraries' Tina Lackey with the news that “Wyoming's libraries are as expansive as the state, and as close as down the street.” I'm just hoping that A, the horse is real; and B, they auction it off. See, I have these silly ideas about doing a cross-country road trip with it. » about 100 words

| What's sadder than people in <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Burundi&ll=-3.373056,29.918886&spn=11.190832,27.663574&t=h">Burundi</a> earning an average of <a href="http://www.finfacts.com/biz10/globalworldincomepercapita.htm">only $90 a year</a>? It might be <a href="http://maisonbisson.com/blog/post/10432/" title="Bill G Just Wants To Be Cool">Bill Gates</a>' criticism of MIT's efforts to bring affordable, networked computers to the poorest countries of the world in hopes of improving education (and communication and healthcare and more). The challenge is enormous: the technology needs to be durable, require low-power (and be easily rechargeable), as easy to use as an egg timer, have networking in a land without infrastructure, and be cheap, cheap, cheap. Yet somehow, the MIT folks have <a href="http://maisonbisson.com/blog/post/10996/" title="$100 Laptop Details « MaisonBisson.com">figured it out</a>, and the project -- known to most of us as the <a href="http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20050929-5362.html">$100 laptop project</a> -- seems to be on its way to success. It's the sort of thing that you'd figure <a href="http://www.fdncenter.org/pnd/news/story.jhtml?id=115100029">a philanthropic guy</a> like Bill Gates would be on top of. But alas, he seems not to understand. <a href="http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/pcs/gates-has-harsh-words-for-100-computer-project-161011.php" title="Gates Has Harsh Words for $100 Computer Project - Gizmodo">Gizmodo</a>, <a href="http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060316-6394.html" title="Gates loves the poor (but Windows more?)">ArsTechnica</a>, <a href="http://www.teleread.org/blog/?p=4486" title="TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home » Open your wallet, Bill, and atone for those clueless remarks against the $100 MIT laptop project">TeleRead</a>, and others are all reporting the world's richest man went critical over the MIT project. » about 500 words

| <a href="http://web.media.mit.edu/~wex/">Alan Wexelblat</a> in <a href="http://copyfight.corante.com/archives/2006/03/15/what_right_in_digital_actors.php">Copyfight poses a question</a> from a reader about the future of entertainment: <blockquote>what rights do you purchase/license/contract for in creating such a reproduction of a real person? Rights to the “likeness?” Performance rights? Do either of these cover things the actor never physically did or said? Is there an exclusivity clause? There are clearly some issues around the ownership of a character, if that character has appeared before (e.g. Connery's Bond) but usually the character rights reside with the studio. But if you want the Connery Bond instead of a generic James Bond you also have to incude Connery in the deal, as well as whatever studio or estate has the Bond character rights.</blockquote> » about 300 words

| I regularly check the <a href="http://english.pravda.ru/">English language online edition</a> of <a href="http://pravda.ru/">Pravda</a> for laughs and sometimes for their take on US domestic affairs. But today's headline left me scratching my head. <a href="http://www.mille.org/scholarship/1000/AHR9.html">What calendar</a> are these people using, anyway? The <a href="http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/feedback/17-03-2006/77430-bush-0">headlined story</a> is offered without any context or explanation. As it turns out, author Ian Magnussen <a href="http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/feedback/77430-1/">really did mean</a> <a href="http://www.superbowl.com/history/recaps/game/sbxl">February 5th 2006</a>, not 2007 or later. Had it appeared two months ago it might have been called speculative fiction, though more likely seen as a crazy conspiracy theory. I just find it a bit scary. But still, why publish it now? » about 100 words

| <a href="http://blog.ryaneby.com/">Ryan</a> sent along a link to <a href="http://www.conchords.co.nz/">Flight of the Concords</a>' <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/misterbisson/Dumbkins/conchords-businesstime.mp3">Business Time</a> last week and I'm still laughing over it. With some exploring at a fansite, <a href="http://www.whatthefolk.net/" title="What the Folk!">What the Folk!</a>, I dug up a trove of other amusements, including <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/misterbisson/Dumbkins/conchords-shessohotboom.mp3">She's So Hot Boom</a>. For more info, I turned (as usual) to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_of_the_Conchords" title="Flight of the Conchords - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia">Wikipedia article</a>. And if I had HBO, I could have caught a repeat of them on <a href="http://www.hbo.com/onenightstand/interviews/flight_conchords.html">One Night Stand</a> this past Wednesday. But alas, no. » about 100 words

<a href="http://sxsw.com/">SXSW</a> passes have apparently been sold out for weeks now. So what's <a href="http://robertgarlitz.com/">Bob Garlitz</a>, the MaisonBisson <a href="http://maisonbisson.com/blog/post/11002/">cultural affairs reporter</a>, to do? Hunt for celebrities around <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=austin+texas&ll=30.272114,-97.738152&spn=0.164265,0.431557">Austin</a>, of course. Here's how <a href="http://bglgy.blogspot.com/2006_03_15_bglgy_archive.html#114247430794156798">he describes his first hit</a>: <blockquote>...I decide hell, yes, it is Owen and give a tiny decisive blink. He blinks back in acknowledgment. I give him a little punch on his shoulder and say Hey, how're you doing? I'm doing real good, he says slowly...</blockquote> » about 300 words

<a href="http://www.moderndrunkardmagazine.com/issues/09_03/09-03-reasons-to-get-drunk-mar.htm">Modern Drunkard Magazine suggests</a> we chase the snakes out of our minds, for as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Butler_Yeats" title="William Butler Yeats - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia">Yeats</a> reminds us: <blockquote>The problem with some people is that when they're not drunk, they're sober.</blockquote> » about 200 words

Yahoo's Tom Coats was of seven star speakers at <a href="http://www.carsonworkshops.com/">Carson Workshops</a>' <a href="http://www.carsonworkshops.com/summit/">Future of Web Apps Summit</a> last month. As usual, <a href="http://blog.ryaneby.com/">Ryan Eby</a> was pretty quick to point out <a href="http://www.plasticbag.org/archives/2006/02/my_future_of_web_apps_slides.shtml">his slides</a> to me, mostly by way of pointing out <a href="http://jeremy.zawodny.com/blog/archives/006323.html" title="Tom's Future of Web Apps, Translated for Product Managers (by Jeremy Zawodny)">Jeremy Zawodny's translation</a> of them. » about 500 words

I like pretty much everything <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/inkvision/">Paula Wirth</a> puts up on Flickr, but this afternoon I could do well with a dive like Scolari's Office in <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=3936+30th+St.,+in+North+Park,+San+Diego,+CA&ll=32.749204,-117.130265&spn=0.019996,0.054073">San Diego</a>. But, that's probably because it mixes “office” and “cocktails” in the sort of way that has anonymous tipsters slipping photocopies of the alcohol policy from our HR handbook under my office door. Eh, here's to happy hour. » about 100 words