Cookies, cookies, cookies

It is a cookie time of year. Baking in the oven rather than on the screen. Recipes soon as Christmas shopping and visiting is over.

Where is the RSS from Blogger?

If blogger doesn't get RSS within 30 days, I'll have to stop using their software.

• sparkpod
• typepad

I like blogger especially because I can host it. Any other suggestions?

TropiRock Resort, Fort Lauderdale

My brother just got married at the TropiRock Resort just a very short walk to the wonderful beach. And the hosts were great to our all of the wedding guest that stayed. Our kitchen was small, but fine. Combining several kitchens, we got a Thanksgiving dinner cooked for 32 people. The kids loved the pool, as did I, after being thrown in.

Florida in the Cold

Florida is suppose to be warm, right? Flying down, you get off the plane and your jacket feels way too warm. They can tell you're a Northerner.

But on Saturday, before my brother's wedding, it turned cold. 55. And I'm in Fort Lauderdale. Then I remembered many years ago, 1960s, coming down to visit my Grandma for a week. It was often cold then too. Or I would get a cold, or worse the flu. Several times I was in bed for several days.

So I should have known, but that is how memory works. Cold brought back memories of cold. But just thinking about Florida did not. Got to remember this. Another ABCEDmindedness example.

About the Bears

(Tad, Sam and Uncle RE wrote this story.)
Sixty five bears went to enjoy Thanksgiving together. To celebrate they made a Bear's team. They played against the Dolphins in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The game was in 1932. The Bears won this game against the Dolphins by a score of 22-2. This was their first game.

After the game the Bears team got champaigne bottles and sprayed them at their players. They did the same thing as the Cubbies did. And ate cinammon rolls. Everyone was screaming "The Bears Won."

What a happy Thanksgiving for everyone! and the Bears. The End.

Wired Tired

This list was created when we lauched a new web site using HEMS instead of Dreamweaver. Dreamweaver is great for creating pages and small sites, but not a site with 10,000 pages and 200 plus templates.

        TIRED                      WIRED 
10. 201 templates               8 skins 
 9. Blue sky                    NEA & the American Flag 
 8. Message boards              Research 
 7. Tom Haller                  10:00 am stand up 
 6. Working Weekends            Easy-To-Maintain 
 5. FTP accounts                Page editors 
 4. /publications/neatoday      /neatoday 
 3. Dreamweaver sites           HEMS 
 2. new2.nea.org                www.nea.org     
 1. NEA Cafe                    Galileo 
 

Art of Getting Over

Surf on over to Don Blake's blog. Part travel blog, part mind trip, all Don.

Spinsanity Again Is Great

I don't know how they do it at Spinsanity. Time after time they deconstruct a media myth. I just read about Safire in the NY Times spreading a lie about Dean. And you know it will know be repeated in talk radio where they have no reporters researching the truth. Here's the outing of another lie.

Recent Purchases - First Entry

I end up buying books a lot. Sometimes I go to the library, but more often than not I have to buy a book. This is especially true for technical books or internet books. Also, my son and daughter need books for school. And then there are books and other items I buy for gifts.

Then tonite I got my new issue of Wired has a partial page about what staff recently purchased. I really liked this idea and have seen a few other blogs do it - so here goes: my recent purchases.

Seven Laws of Blogs

People continue to try and answer the question of "What is a blog?" I believe we should be answering "What is a good blog?" This is a much more interesting question and it helps advance blogs as a medium.

My proposed answer to this question uses the framework for deriving The Seven Laws of Money by Michael Phillips, Salli Rasberry, et. al.

1. Do It. A blog, no matter how well planned, is worthless unless the author does it. In most cases this means writing. The blog needs a constant stream of ideas, observations, news and more. If you do it, the blog will satisfy.
2. Blogs Have Their Own Rules. If you don't follow the basic rules of blogging, people will have a hard time finding and reading your blog. These rules are different than the rules for a web site or any other media. Though not yet well defined, this is the major topic in most books about blogging.
3. Blogs Produce Good RSS Feeds. This is not about RSS. Rather a well written blog results in a good RSS feed. Snappy headlines, compelling content and a link to more quality information. The elements of a great blog map directly into RSS.
4. RSS feeds are not Blogs. While a good blog produces good RSS, the reverse is not necessarily true. For example, an RSS feed could be a rather mechanical report from some server's monitoring system. Obviously not compelling reading and certainly not a great blog.
5. Writing a Blog Does Not Get You Accepted. Any one can start a blog. You can even have great ideas and but not everyone is is going to notice tomorrow. Or maybe ever. So do you write for yourself or to get accepted?
6. Reading a Blog Gets You Accepted. Blogs are open and simply by reading (or listening) you become part of the club. The blog you are reading is probably being read by others, maybe even linked to by others. So if it is good, link to it.
7. There are Worlds Without Blogs. Have you notice that people take vacations from their blogs? I can not hug my kid with my blog. And a blog does not taste refreshing. Just as "sound bites" don't sound the same in a newspaper, some things don't translate into a blog. Enjoy your blog. But enjoy your life.