Tiny Planet

In truth, I have been put to blogging shame by my good friend Em Peneau, who has taken to the medium like a duck to water. At C’est la vie, she has consistently produced engaging book reviews and chronicles of her life in academia, along with her thoughts on the world at large. One of my favourite recent posts was of a story she wrote with her father when she was a child.

I’m getting feeds reloading back as far as 2004. They’re isolated so far, but include the feed for this site as well as AFP and Slashdot. I may have to look in to using another feedreader.

Microwave an instant chocolate cake in a mug. Tiny Planet accepts no responsibility for things going wrong or it tasting like crap, though.

People are giving up their pets because of the credit crunch.

Blogger gets 20 years for posting a picture of Burma’s military leader.

Dirt + manure = energy.

Meanwhile, the Maldives is trying to buy land in case the islands are swamped by rising sea levels.

Why would you shock yourself for the sake of good posture?

I’m swamped but hope to do a photo post or two over the weekend. In the meantime:

Ireland to lose full employment: BoI (RTÉ)

Does the Border matter in a time of recession? (Slugger O’Toole)

Australian plan to kill the internet (Mr Angry)

Bailout, schmailout (Jeff Jarvis)

MTV expected to announce Beatles Rock Band deal (Reuters)

Google Reader now shows how good (or bad) you are at reading (CNet)

I’m not the only one. Techcrunch has been having similar problems with its feeds, although I must report that as of late last night I have been getting error messages only next to one or two, and, although the red exclamation mark of woe is still there, these have still updated until today.

I’m having a lot of problems with my subscriptions: feeds that show as active when I click on them in the edit panel aren’t coming through. Looks like I’m going to have to resubscribe to just over a dozen, ranging from Damien Mulley to The National to Dilbert. It’s not the end of the world, but it is rather annoying.

I’ve enjoyed Robert Cringley’s recent series of blogicles on IT management — largely because it’s given me a greater understanding of a world that has, at various times, interested and frustrated me. He also draws a distinct line between management and leadership, two concepts that are often conflated but require very different skillsets.

If you get the chance, have a look at the three columns about the “Cousin IT of American industry”:

We serve the company but often don’t feel part of it. Certainly the value structures and lines of authority that function perfectly well for most of the rest of the company don’t work at all well for IT. We’re vital but at the same time, well, so different that it’s hard to imagine a CEO emerging from the IT ranks. It happens from time to time. Everyone points to John Reed, who rose from IT to CEO of Citicorp, but Reed was an exceptional case. He succeeded because his predecessor, Walter Wriston, had an unusual interest in IT and mentored Reed. Reed succeeded, too, because he didn’t really come from IT but from Data Processing, which was more hierarchical. And ultimately he didn’t succeed at all, by some measures, because John Reed was fired.

The sea is an abundant source of energy and, with traditional supplies constantly fluctuating in price and subject to extinction, wave power could be an ideal solution for many countries (particularly Ireland). A good number of start-ups in the US and Britain have seen the potential business opportunities; Earth2Tech has a snapshot of 13 that are worth watching.

Over on his blog, Paolo Coelho posts snippets of writing, usually involving a lesson or life advice. There’s a nice one up today about doing the most with the time you have on this planet.

On his tombstone, he had the following epitaph engraved:

“A life which ends with death, is a life not well spent.”

I like the piece because it does not necessarily preach about what one should do to ensure future generations remember them, it just gives an example of one character. Coelho will live on through his writing — The Alchemist in particular — much as Shakespeare has. It’s also important to note that Abin-Alsar, the character in the blog posting, does not achieve world fame or glory, but rather makes life better for the people of his town. A local but beloved immortality.

Bill and his commenters have had some fun condensing classic works of literature into six words. Go take a look!