No Reflection: Looking Out the Window

the view from my office window

I’ve been actively blogging here for 2.5 years — and intermittently since 1999, when I first launched WOOZradio. Why don’t I bother to self-promote or even make cards/stickers to increase traffic and the minimal revenue flow that could help me break even on the $15 a month or so I spend to keep Live365 running and paying royalties. Because I feel stupid talking about myself to a computer screen, I prefer to let my mind run free under the assumption assume that nobody is really reading, and, well, in the end I just do it for me.

Here’s an image that was on the front of netzoo.net back around mid-2001. Go ahead — click and see what this place looked like back then — it takes a few clicks to get to the music clips. Instead of actually listing my blogroll preferred online mags and music sites, I used orange colons. I have no idea why. The entire history of my lackadaisical updating of my personal web site / blog / whatever is well-documented (along with everything else on the innernetz) at archive.org.

That’s my little reflection for the day and now on with it. The sky looks awesome out my window (I’m here looking to the northwest) and there is much to be done at the day job (Yes, I do have a real, full-time job). My extra special Derby Dolls photo essay (thanks, Kelly) from the Tough Cookes-Fight Crew bout is scheduled to pop up now live at LAist during lunch. P.S.: If you want me to take you out in the next couple weeks, I’d love to, visit Caroline on Crack for more on that.

Jumping the Shark: Internet Dating Style

andy sternberg by eecue via flickr

My mother doesn’t understand why I’ve quit all attempts at meeting girls via Nerve, OKCupid, JDate and the like.

It just never (OK – rarely) seemed to work out.

So this morning I have officially jumped the Internet dating shark as my dear friend Caroline began a contest in which three lucky ladies will win one of three dates with me. The best of those three dates will be continued on a special Valentine’s Day date.

That’s it, no TV cameras, no silly games, well, just my trust in Caroline’s ability to select decent matches from among her adoringly cute readership. What am I looking for? I am a picky man, but I’m not specific about it. It takes a genuine smile and an eye-to-eye conversation to assess legitimate attraction, which may explain why I’m over the Internet dating thing.

Now you’re curious arentcha? Check it out over at CarolineonCrack.com.

Photo by Dave Bullock / eecue at BarcampLA-4

Library of Congress Floods the Commons with Photos via Flickr

General view of one of the classification yards of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, Chicago, Ill. Dec. 1942
From Library of Congress’
Flickr. Jack Delano. General view of one of the classification yards of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, Chicago, Ill. 1942 Dec.

This is GREAT news, the Library of Congress today announced a pilot project with Flickr to populate an account with millions of images marked “No known copyright restrictions.” From the Library’s blog:

The project is beginning somewhat modestly, but we hope to learn a lot from it. Out of some 14 million prints, photographs and other visual materials at the Library of Congress, more than 3,000 photos from two of our most popular collections are being made available on our new Flickr page, to include only images for which no copyright restrictions are known to exist.

Visit the Flickr Commons project.

New Pew Surveys: Online Video & Web Use Among Teens

Breaking from South America debriefing to let loose on some encouraging data released in the past month by the Pew Internet & American Life Project

Lee Rainie’s latest Online Activities & Pursuits survey (d/l .pdf) spotlights increased use of video-sharing sites. Interesting to see this data as it coincides with renewed interest in online video endeavors thanks to the writers strike. Another Pew Survey released six months ago had the percentage of adults (with Internet) who watch video online at 57%. In the end, it’s not about percentages but quality minutes spent viewing online video programming both original and otherwise.

I missed the report on Teen Content Creators (d/l .pdf), released before the holidays, until I caught mention of it on David Weinberger’s blog Friday morning. But a preliminary look at the report shows positive trends in the ways in which teens are engaging in social networks and online activities. Nearly twice as many girls blog than boys, however, that ratio is reversed when it comes to posting online video. 89% of teens who post photos online (47%) say their photos occasionally get commented on.

Previous posts about Pew Internet:
* Is MySpace the Teenage Parking Lot of Today?
* Future of the Internet: Liberty + Privacy
* Pew: Nearly 50 Million Create Own Web Content