So I am in Carytown, surrounded by 10+ access points and can’t get to any of them!! I figured I would have a reasonably good chance of finding an interweb connection in a busy place like Carytown, but apparently I was mistaken. Even though I couldn’t get to the "cloud", I figured I would fire up good ole Windows Live Writer and get some offline blogging done. The thing is, "blogging" whilst offline is not very fun. For some reason I am having a hard time opening my head and picking a writing topic. Now it may have something to do with the fact that I am sitting in a nail salon, semi-high from the fumes, and at the same time listening to Jawbone Radio on my iPod, but I am often distracted with all kinds of things whilst blogging, like work for example.

I know that a lot of my ideas for my posts come from stuff I see online, but I am always coming up with things to talk about or rant about when I am not in front of a computer. Is it that my disconnection from the WWW is so distracting in and of itself that my mind is not capable of getting over it and my blogging gears stop turning?…… Maybe

The worst part…. I am sitting beside a Clearwire AP, but don’t want to bother the owner for the broadband goodness. My loss I suppose.

-Kamen

Ok, look at the picture and think about what you are seeing….. A guy, standing on the moon…. STANDING ON THE MOON! We are all aware of the fact, but it’s really difficult to actually register this. I have been watching shuttle’s take off and land since I was a kid and no matter how much exposure I get, I can’t wrap my mind around the sheer size of "Space". We are, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year….366 this year… suspended in space, going around and around. In that lens, we are so incredibly small.

Have you ever been outside on a clear night and just stared at the sky for awhile?

I always think about the same thing…. what, if anything, is beyond "Space"? Does it end at some point? Is it infinite? Hopefully I will get the answer one day….

Until then, I will have to settle with it blowing my mind..

-Kamen

The question never changes does it?

via TechnoTuesday

-Kamen

Why is it that Old Media, specifically newspapers, have the WORST websites?

I know a person or two in the Richmond area that can vouch for this @ Media General, but the issue expands far and wide.

Maybe it’s because what works in print, doesn’t work for the web. I would assume that layout and design elements would be dramatically different between the two. But I would like to throw this into the mix. Would it not be nice to land on an Old Media site and be able to experience it in the same way that one might experience the print media?

I can’t count how many times I have landed on a newspaper site and been floored by the amount of junk that is on the screen. Goofy widgets, terrible animations, and confusing structure are at the top of the list. I expect to see ads, which I do, but they are also horribly presented.

What if our own RTD built a site that was virtually identical to the print version in layout and design, but with a few enhancements…like color? I think I would actually use a site like that. My co-workers often read the paper at lunchtime. I often am curious about what’s in the daily news, but don’t want to deal with a paper and don’t feel like using the RTD site. So I get no news from the RTD.

I am certain that Old Media outlets are trying to follow the competition and do what everyone else is doing when it comes to building a web presence, but the web is fairly new and "they" don’t have it all figured out just yet. I imagine that the biggest resistance would come from the loss in print revenue. I don’t have any numbers to crunch, but I imagine that the material, print, and delivery costs don’t allow for much profit on the subscription price. I would guess that the profit comes from the ads and classifieds.

I think a daily local news source is Very important to the community and know that print media stands to benefit from offering more than one outlet for it’s content. Making a move to a very accessible online "paper" would be seen as risky and maybe even suicide in the Old Media world, but I believe Old Media would do much better in the long run if they are the ones to define the next step in local news delivery.

-Kamen

What does it mean when I downplay an accomplishment or treat what some may boast about as no big deal?

If I don’t take the credit and no one else could take credit for it, what does that mean? I would say that God is to thank, but I can’t say that I openly credit God for as much as I should. Do I avoid taking credit through my humility, but at the same time refrain from crediting God because I know it will create a line in the sand with some people.

Am I just THAT P.C.?

Would that even be considered P.C.? I have certainly been guilty of avoiding confrontation, so that might explain me being quiet about my faith. But what about my accomplishments? I have had a a taste of having an overblown ego and I don’t ever want to go there again, but I wonder if I am somehow shorting myself by downplaying the things about myself that I should be proud of.

I actually don’t think there is enough humility in this world, so it is unlikely that I will try to lessen mine. I have been chewing on the thought and figured that I might gain something from throwing it out there. We’ll see I suppose.

-Kamen