I Was There -- WordCamp 2007

Post WordCamp resolutions:

1. possibly start using my wordpress.com account instead of my blogger account
   
2. finally fill out 3to5.com
   
3. blog more often - more than one blog?
   

WordCamp was great. Thanks to everyone at WP and Automattic for making it such a great (and cheap!) event.

Day One

Even though I thought day one dragged a bit, it was still absolutely worth my time and money to attend. I would've liked a little more "meat" from a few presentations; but truly enjoyed hearing more about podPress (trackback), Robert Hoekman, Jr.'s thoughts on designing the obvious (trackback), and Matt Cutt's tips for Google keyword optimization (trackback). Om Malik and John C. Dvorak were also very insightful and entertaining. They basically sat and had a conversation about blogging vs. journalism -- though the consensus seemed to be that there is no "versus," it is journalism (trackback).

Stephanie Booth live-blogged several of the sessions if you're curious.

Day Two

Since they extended the conference to a full weekend this year, they decided to break up the schedule a bit:

We’ve tried to mix it up a little this year, with the first day focusing primarily on user topics and the second day primarily on developer topics, but we also think there’s a lot of overlap.

I'm not a developer, even if I can create WP themes, but I enjoyed the overall content of day two a bit more. The presentations were simply a bit more up my alley -- I'm not a hard-core blogger, nor do I aspire to be.

The highlights of day two:

Rashmi Sinha of SlideShare.net on designing "massively multi-player social networks" -- i.e. how to balance the design concerns of the individual and the crowd when building a social app like flickr, slideshare, youtube, etc. Her background is in social psychology, and I really enjoyed her approach to and thought process about designing these massive systems (trackback).

Liz Danzico of Happy Cog NY presented some of their findings from a recent usability analysis of the WordPress admin pages (trackback). I love this stuff! And let's just say that a lot of excellent changes are coming to WordPress in version 2.4. Since WP has grown organically, some elements have taken on lives of their own. So glad that Matt and his team engaged Happy Cog -- it can only make their product better.

And last but not least, it was a real treat to see Dave Winer speak (trackback). He got really jazzed about the idea of an identity system -- possibly leveraging what he called "the beauty in" twitter's API. I was hoping he'd talk a little about OpenID, but instead the conversation revolved around whether facebook is the best thing since sliced bread, or whether it sucks. Dave thinks it sucks (my words, not an actual quote) because it's too restrictive. He wants "the whole toolbox," not just a few tools to build some cool stuff. Personally, I think Facebook is about to blow up. Those guys are smart -- Harvard grads, afterall -- and I think they'll realize it's in their interest to open up "the whole toolbox."

Thanks again to the WP and Automattic folks for organizing. Howdy to all the folks I met over the past two days. Give a shout! Hope to connect with you all in meatspace again soon. Until then, I'll be twittering. :)

Late night in the Castro

Went for a little photowalk in the Castro last night. It was fun shooting the neon at night. I'll post the hightlights at flickr and zooomr once I've had a chance to process them.

I was walking along fairly late at night, and even though SF is decidedly not the city that never sleeps, I was amazed at all the people out and about. Of course, Wednesday is the new Thursday... and the queens were getting ready for the weekend.

I also went down to the Embarcadero for the last 20-30 snaps on my SD card. Much less busy, but still a lot of people walking around, waiting for the bus, etc. I discovered that One Market's kitchen is right on the street and it was very well lit. Next time I'm down there at night I hope to take a few more pix. Got a couple, but am excited to revisit it.

photowalking in the mission

mission mural + pedestrians, originally uploaded by hlh-abg.

i did a nice long photowalk through the mission district yesterday. the standouts are online at flickr.

some of the photos came out pretty well, but it's mostly due to the subject. it was a cloud-covered nothing of a day, but the mission is always so alive and vibrant.

i strolled around listening to some newly downloaded tunes and tried to take as many shots as possible. maybe a third were worth a second glance, and maybe a quarter of them ended up on flickr. not bad. if you visit flickr and are inclined to comment, i always appreciate the feedback.

happy new year. more about my resolutions soon, but one of them is to take more pictures!

The Kinkos Generation

Yesterday, USA Today ran an article on the growing number of people who take up a "third space" for work.

An estimated 30 million Americans, or roughly one-fifth of the nation's workforce, are part of the so-called Kinko's generation, employees who spend significant hours each month working outside of a traditional office.

20%!!! That's amazing. Although I don't know why I'm surprised -- I have been planted firmly in that 20% since 2000. There are definitely days when I wish I could fly a paper airplane over to Jen's desk, or wave my FOF for all to see. However, most days I'm perfectly content to pop on my headphones, sip a soy latte, and get down to business.

Interesting sidebar in the article about "Cafe Etiquette." Here are my favorites:

• Tip big and eat often -- think of it as rent for your table
• Take it outside -- when the cell phone buzzes, head for the door
• Cords get right of way -- self-explanatory, don't complain about it
  

One caveat regarding the USA Today article -- it was written in and featured San Francisco. It would be interesting to know the numbers solely for San Francisco. I bet the number is a lot higher than 20%. To do your own research, forget the Grove (the cafe featured in the article, although I prefer their Fillmore location) and head down to the Mission to Ritual Coffee Roasters. And if you're not in SF, all you have to do is Google "Ritual Coffee," or head to flickr (tags: ritro, Ritual Roasters, Ritual Coffee, etc.) Hell, "ritro" has its own flickr pool...

Personally, I "heart" my corner coffee shop, Luv a Java. Great coffee, good food (fresh sandwiches!), nice prices, and FREE WIFI.

we are the evildoers.

evil anna 2,
originally uploaded by hlh-abg.

o'reilly got it all wrong:

I don't think they like the country. I don't think these people like the country. They feel that we're the problem, we're the evildoers, that al Qaeda is created because of us. That's the hallmark of the radical left. It's always America's fault. We're the bad country, and the enlightened citizens of San Francisco, we're not going to be a part of it. We're gonna separate out. We're gonna ban military recruiting.

Bill O'Reilly and San Francisco, part deux

Bill-zilla,
hat tip to monk.

i was in kansas city and missed part one, but here's a link to the audio of the controversial spot on his radio show that started it all. the transcript is below, but suffice it to say that o'reilly launched into a bit of a tirade against my fair city for putting a measure on the ballot last week that would urge city schools to reject military recruiters from campus recruitment.

and because i couldn't have said it any better, here's today's follow-up:

O'Reilly vies for "Best Editing" Emmy.

On last night's O'Reilly Factor, Bill defended his previous statement regarding an attack on San Francisco. How? By completely editing it out. O'Reilly claimed that his statement was merely a "satirical riff."

To prove his point, O'Reilly played the audio clip from last Tuesday's Radio Factor:

"I hate to be pickin' on you guys in California. I hope you don't take it personally. One lady did yesterday. It isn't about you, the individual Californian, it's about how crazy your state is. In San Francisco they're voting on two initiatives. One would ban military recruiting. Hey, you know, if you want to ban military recruiting, fine, but I'm not gonna give you another nickel of federal money. You know, if I'm the President of the United States, I walk right into Union Square, I set up my little Presidential podium, and I say, 'Listen, citizens of San Francisco, if you vote against military recruiting, you're not gonna get another nickel in federal funds. Fine. You want to be your own country? Go right ahead."

O'Reilly chose that moment to end the clip. Here's what he decided to leave out:

"And if Al Qaeda comes in here and blows you up, we're not going to do anything about it. We're going to say, look, every other place in America is off limits to you, except San Francisco. You want to blow up the Coit Tower? Go ahead. "

When one of his guests questioned the editing of the most controversial lines, O'Reilly claimed it was because the clip was too long. How convenient.

You might as well show a documentary about the KKK and stop when they leave the meeting with white cloaks and torches. Are they all going for a nice walk? We can only assume.

via Sweet Jesus, I hate Bill O'Reilly, Intl.

o'reilly is not only defending himself but also going on the offensive, claiming that his rant "needed to be said."

What I said isn't controversial. What I said needed to be said. I'm sitting here and I'm looking at a city that has absolutely no clue about what the world is. None. You know, if you had been hit on 9/11 instead of New York, believe me, you would not have voted against military recruting. Yet the left-wing, selfish, Land of Oz philosophy that the media and the city politicians have embraced out there is an absolute intellectual disgrace.

via ThinkProgress (full transcript and audio)

i guess it's left-wing, selfish, squirrely politicians who drafted the anti-discrimination laws... my in-house attorney (i.e. wifey) tells me that the root of the on-campus recruiting problem stems from anti-discrimination code. schools have rules that say that organizations who support discrimination on its face are not allowed to recruit on-campus. the government does just that -- supports discrimination on its face. thanks to president clinton, we have the lovely don't-ask-don't-tell policy and well, if you tell you're toast. but i'm sure mr. bill doesn't want to make this a gay issue. lord knows that would only fan the flames.

Mayor Newsome had a few words of his own in response:

I've never been impressed with what he's had to say, and I'm not impressed now. Consider the source. Remember, this is the guy who wanted me arrested after (San Francisco sanctioned same-sex marriages last year). He never let his opinion get in the way of the facts.

i like this Newsome guy more and more.