January 2007

Cold and wet from the rain, out of breath from the long run home, Jack threw open the bathroom door, shut off the light and sat down on the floor. His back against the counter, eyes shut, he concentrated on slowing his breathing — slowing his thoughts. The house was quiet with an eerie silence, one he had not yet fully gotten used to. Reaching up with the only arm that seemed to work — his right — he fumbled on top of the counter until he found the can of energy drink he had left that morning. They were a new addiction, something he couldn’t quite explain but had trouble escaping.

Outside, he heard the sound of a car pulling into the driveway. He didn’t stir, he knew that muffler sound all too well. His ears followed a string of noises — footsteps down the front walk, keys fumbling in the front door, cautious steps to the bathroom door. He didn’t bother opening his eyes, there’s wasn’t any point. He knew damn well who it was.

After what seemed like entirely too long of a pause, the door creaked open slowly and a voice poked out from the darkness.

“You used to dream about the future. You used to dream about a lot of things.”

Every Sunday, I showcase some of the great content produced by 9rules members in the last week. It’s a great way to keep up with what’s happening around the network and highlight some of the best authors on the web today. This week’s featured sites include Lorelle on Wordpress, Brazen Careerist, Architectures of Control, Creating Passionate Users, Black Marks on Wood Pulp, and CaveMonkey50. Thunderbirds are go!

• Lorelle on Wordpress: How to Know When to Stop Blogging

  “There are times to blog and there are times to stop blogging, especially if blogging interferes with the rest of your life. And there are times when you don’t need to stop blogging, you just need to take some time out from blogging to deal with your life. Then you can return to blogging.”

• Brazen Careerist: Office Politics is About Being Nice

  “Let’s say you pack up your bags and go work in a national park, with trees and rivers and no cubicles. There will be politics about who has to take care of hikers when it’s raining and who gets to stay dry, and if you are bad at politics, you will be wet every time.”

• Architectures of Control: No Photography Allowed

  “But a sign ‘banning’ photography at exhibitions? At design exhibitions where new aesthetic ideas are the primary reason for most visitors attending? That seems hopelessly naïve, akin to a child defensively wrapping his or her arm around a piece of work to stop the kid at the next desk copying what’s being written, but then pleading with teacher to put it up on the wall.”

• Creating Passionate Users: Female-Friendly Tech Shirts

  “Whether these companies make products that are women-friendly is up to you to decide, but there’s no question they were thinking of us when they made the t-shirts!”

• Black Marks on Wood Pulp: The New Sport of Racism

  “That’s all fine in the past. But keep today’s immigrants out, thanks. We live in a culture that tolerates cultural diversity, but prefers to keep it an arms length away. The only good immigrant is a historical immigrant.”

• CaveMonkey50: Pizizz Your Way to a Better Sleep

  “Do you have trouble sleeping at night? Wish you could take better naps? Own a computer? Then I have the solution for you. Meet Pzizz, a software application that helps you sleep better and take great naps.”

Many thanks to everyone in the 9rules network for the great content they produce each and every week!

As I’m sure many of you are already aware, the newest version of Wordpress, titled “Ella”, was announced earlier today. It includes some great new features and improvements, along with over 550 bug fixes. I upgraded Ekonoline today and everything is running great.

Well, not everything.

Unfortunately, “Ella” seems to have broken Own the Feed, my popular Dashboard feed replacement plugin. It loads just fine initially, but is replaced by the normal feed once the page finishes loading. I’m already hard at work for a fix, but my knowledge of this new version is limited, so there are no guarantees to how fast it will happen, or even if it will happen at all. The original version was kind of hacky, so it might require a complete re-write.

My apologies to anyone who may be using the plugin — there have been roughly 600 downloads to date — and is experiencing these difficulties. I’ll keep all of you updated on my progress here on the site and I hope to have a fix ready soon.

Every Sunday, I showcase some of the great content produced by 9rules members in the last week. It’s a great way to keep up with what’s happening around the network and highlight some of the best authors on the web today. This week’s featured sites include Adam on Life, Donklephant, Footsteps in the Mirror, Bjorkoy.com, Ask Patty, Influential Interactive Marketing, Eyes Turned Outward, and Maryland Media. Get Er’ Done!

• Adam on Life: Want More to Read? Here’s Where to Start!

  Adam lists some of the great Coldfusion resources out there for developers to add to their feedreaders. “We all read occasionally, less than we’d like, and sort out our current problems at work as they come down the line, but the expansion into new areas sometimes lags behind. The hot topics remain unknown…”

• Donklephant: Hillary Is Running For President?

  Justin takes a look at Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid and how he sees the 2008 presidential race turning out. He also wonders if voters will elect her as a way of bringing Bill back a “defacto 2nd President”.

• Footsteps in the Mirror: Malaysia(ns) Start Suing Bloggers

  Kamigoroshi writes about two recent cases of Malaysian bloggers being sued for libel and defamation by certain newspapers and political parties. “What I will say though is that this is unprecedented and when this goes to court, the future of how bloggers blog in Malaysia will rest solely on how we play this publically and how Jeff and Ahirudin play their hand.” A great read and a serious issue to consider for many bloggers.

• Bjorkoy.com: Why not store blog avatars locally?

  Olav considers ways to get around the recent downtime of Gravatars. “Storing avatars on a centralized server works well for a while, but with popularity comes great hosting costs, and in this case, without any significant form of revenue. But what if we stored avatars locally, on our own servers?”

• Ask Patty: 51% of US Women Are San Spouses

  Jody comments on a recent New York Times article. “Just one more reason for single women to take control of their vehicle buying, maintenance and service needs and get education on the entire process.”

• Influential Interactive Marketing: R-E-S-P-E-C-T: The Secret of Success for “24″

  Rohit describes how, through the “wrapping up” of story lines, airing an uninterrupted season, and not pandering to its audience, 24 is one of the best dramas on television today. “What is the marketing lesson in all this? Keeping customers is the same challenge as keeping viewers. Standing out from all other serial dramas is not just about great writing - the entire experience has to live up.”

• Eyes Turned Outward: Does reputation really matter?

  Richard calls out those who worry about being seen with the “wrong” people and encourages Christians to become “friends of sinners”, a title he argues Jesus was proud to bear. A great read, even for the non-religious. “I think that amongst all the possible names, Son of God, Son of Man (two more for the collection) etc, friend of sinners might just be the one that means the most to Jesus himself.”

• Maryland Media: Web Design Freelancers: The Psychology of your Rate

  Martin helps freelancers understand how much to charge their clients. “The simple fact is that most business people will assume they know how much they should be paying for your services, but have no idea how much time it takes you to do your magic.”

Thanks to everyone who contributes to this great network every week! See you all next time!