Introducing Tag Maker for MarsEdit

I’m a big fan of MarsEdit, I use it for all my weblog posting. The other day, I was wondering about making any arbitrary text a Technorati Tag.

The result was the Tag Maker Applescript for MarsEdit.

It takes any selected text and appends a ‘(t)’ to it linking to the corresponding tag at Technorati, or a ‘(d)’ for del.icio.us tags. For example: MarsEdit (), Applescript ( ).

Download the Tag Maker AppleScript

For suggestions, comments, and all other ongoing concerns with this plugin, head over to the Tag Maker dedicated page

An Unexpected Yak Shaving

One of the bathtub faucets has leaked for a couple weeks. Monday, I could no longer ignore it. That same day, Seth Godin introduced me to Yak Shaving.

yak shaving: Any seemingly pointless activity which is actually necessary to solve a problem which solves a problem which, several levels of recursion later, solves the real problem you’re working on.

Tuesday, I headed to Home Depot for a replacement faucet stem seat.

According to the helpful Home Depot associate, great strides in faucet technology have been made in the 50 years since my bathroom’s was built (the faucet’s obsolete). He recommended I find a Plumbing Supply Specialty Store for the parts or pick up a new faucet. I opted for the new faucet.

Today, the Yak is clean shaven, er, the leak is gone.

Follow along if you will:

    Day 1:

  1. On Home Depot Trip #2 Jen and I pick up a new faucet.
  2. The old faucet framework wasn’t persuaded by the monkey wrench. It was however persuaded by Mr. Pipe Cutter. Unfortunately, Mr. Pipe Cutter left bare copper tubing rather than the more useful copper tubing + threading.
  3. Home Depot Trip #3 brought compression connectors adding threading to the bare copper tubes.
  4. With the faucet framework attached, it is obvious the old holes aren’t big enough for the new stems and the hole for the tub faucet is about an inch lower than the pipes will reach.
    Day 2:

  1. On Home Depot Trip #4 grab a 1 3/4″ hole cutter for the newer, bigger holes. (Where’d I put the power drill’s chuck wrench?) and a couple of pipes to reach the faucet hole.
  2. With the new holes drilled and faucet installed, I notice the faucet stem lengths don’t accommodate the wall between the plumbing and tub.
  3. Here I ponder tearing out and replacing entire the tub, surround, and wall. Instead…
  4. Mr. Hacksaw and I cut two copper tubing-size channels out of an offending 1×4, proving just enough space to connect the handles.
  5. Handles installed. Faucet installed. Leak ended. Mostly

Update 19 Mar 2005
My dad came by today and looked at the repair. Looks like I got it mostly right. Just needed to be more liberal with the teflon tape. Thanks dad.

Walking into this, I had no intention of shaving a yak. Nor did I anticipate replacing a small bit of formed metal would take 2 days. On the outset, I expected 2 hours, max. That reminds me, here’s a special bonus thought of the day from David J. Anderson: Stop Estimating.

Something takes as long as it takes. ETA isn’t known until you’re deep into understanding the problem you’re solving (i.e. doing it). In physics, there’s the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle principle: you can know a particle’s velocity or its precise location. Not both.
Let’s say ‘velocity’ is ‘doing’ and ‘location’ is ‘planning’. So, to rephrase; You can do or plan. Only doing will give you an ETA.

Are Newspapers in the News Business or Fish-wrap Business?

Doc Searls:

“If your paper is worth so much (and it is), and you want to charge for it, how about charging for fresh news, and giving away the stale stuff?”

The ‘more-for-new-less-for-old’ model is a good one. Let’s take a look a couple industries where it seems to work well:

  1. Movies
    If Jen and I want to see the newest Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy right when it’s released (doubtful), I’m paying upwards of $16 at the cineplex. A few months after that, I can rent the DVD for $2 and have a HHGTTG-themed party in the comfort of my own home. I’ll probably wait. The same is true of HBO’s shows, and other cable-only televison.
  2. Apparel
    If I need the hip-est Kenneth Cole or Michael Kors suit, it’s Marshall Fields. If I can wait a season, it’s Off-5th or Marshalls for far less. I usually wait.

Back to the newspaper business. If I want the latest, most up-to-date reporting, I turn on the TV, pick up a newspaper, or more likely, head to a news-provider’s website via Google News. Always free (if not heavily subsidized). If I want to link to their specific article in this weblog, you (the reader) will need either register or pay to have any context.

This is a disincentive for me to link to the newspaper’s articles. Thereby artificially limiting the useful life of the article (what’s being called the long tail).

This is fine if newspapers are actually in the fish-wrap business. In that case, the paper itself is the most valuable. The usefulness is not in the reporter’s words but in the fish, birdcage, or compost bin the paper eventually lines. Not a message I would send to the beat reporters.

A few months back, I heard the president of Schwan’s Foods talk. From his perspective, Schwan’s isn’t in the frozen food business as much as the food delivery business. Just like Amazon & Wal-Mart not being in the retail business, more the logistics and fulfillment business.

These slight shifts in perspective make a huge difference in your implementation and customer relationship.

If newspapers are in-fact still in the news business, the need to explore avenues that customers readers (not advertisers) will finance. Along the lines of Jupiter Research. Otherwise, they’re a history lesson just like the recording, oil, and airline industries.

Van Crashes into Paper Source

Van Crash 3

UPDATE: 25 Mar 2005
This from the Paper Source’s page on their Minneapolis location

If you’ve driven past our store you may have noticed that things are not what they once were. One big van crash took out half the building. The good news is that nobody was hurt. The bad news is that while we wanted to expand, this isn¹t exactly what we had planned….

Earlier this morning, a crazy red van crashed into the 2400 Hennepin Ave. in Minneapolis. The impact completely destroyed the NE corner of the building.

The building’s storefronts include; where Jen works – Paper Source, and the hair salon, Sudz.

The impact hit Sudz square. It’s goneUpdate: Sudz is back. The structural integrity of the rest of the building is uncertain and will be determined on Monday. Meaning, the Paper Source will be closed on Monday. Sudz, probably longer.

Considering Jen’s on staff at the Paper Source, we got the news almost immediately. We headed over and I snapped some photos with my T610.

At the time I was there, there were half a dozen others snapping away, a handful with camera phones and a handful with “real” digital cameras.

As of 10am Sun, the only other coverage I’ve seen on the incident is this brief write-up at WCCO.

Here’s KSTP’s coverage of the van crash

Laura Thayer took some great photos with a real camera.

First Crack 31. The Wine Episode with Tim Elliott

Tim Elliott, from winecast.net, and I met at Bev’s Wine Bar and talked wine, coffee, and technology.

Listen to the Wine Episode with Tim Elliott [32 min]

Got questions about coffee or comments about the show? Call: 206-20-BEAN-1

Like the show? Support the First Crack Podcast

Introducing WP-CaTT

Here’s the WordPress Technorati Tag plugin I mentioned a few posts back.

WP-CaTT appends a link in a post’s category listings to the corresponding Technorati Tag page.

In the case of this site, it’s the “(t)” you see in the category listing just above this post.

Download WP-CaTT v1.0

For suggestions, comments, and all other ongoing concerns with this plugin, head over to the WP-CaTT dedicated page

Gas Prices are like Bad Haircuts

Overheard at the Dunn Bros in downtown St. Paul:

“It’s like gambling, losing all that money at the gas pumps these days.”

Complaining about gas prices is like complaining about a bad haircut. Each of us has the power to change the impact it has on us. In the case of cars; drive less, use public transit, bike, buy a car that gets better than a mile per gallon, or just stop whining.

Similarly, it should be illegal to complain about traffic and gas prices. They’re directly correlated.

To finish the metaphor, in the case of bad haircuts; get it re-cut by the same stylist, get a wig, re-cut it yourself, get a new stylist, let it grow out.

Making a Decision is Always Better than Not.

Yesterday, I grabbed a coffee with one of the smartest people I’ve ever met. We were talking about project teams wallowing in the unknown and stalling out. He proclaimed:

“Just put a stake in the ground and move on.”

His recommendation reinforces Charlie Lazor’s advice, “You really won’t know until you build it.”

Both of these thoughts require an acceptance of being wrong. An acceptance that the first solution, based on what is currently known, just might be faulty. The only way to find out is to build something and get more information – either from the customers, the technology team, or the prototype itself.

Every instance I’ve seen where a project team wasn’t able to easily define an interaction was due to lack of information. Similarly, every instance I’ve seen where defining an interaction has reached Heated Debate, the available information was faulty. A quick call to a customer or developer diffused the situation immediately.

Blogger Forces Company Blogging Policy Issue

Update: 9 Mar 2005 9:04 am

…we do not censor people’s blogs, and we take the censorship allegation extremely seriously. I actively encourage our employees to blog, and to express their opinions. However, many readers do not make as clear a distinction between personal and work lives as many experienced bloggers do, and will view a provocative image on a blog in the worst possible light…

Everyone, send good vibes Dave Sifry’s (Technorati CEO) way.

Niall, perhaps this would be helpful to remember in your position as Technorati Community Manager:

“Provocation and controversy are good for building hype, bad for building community”
“Being provocative or negative is one way to generate traffic, but it doesn’t generate culture.”

I’m googling for the author of this quote, if you know please drop it in the comments. I think it was said in the context of podcasting. Thanks.
Found it, 15 Mar 2005 11:30 pm, credit for this quote goes to Mark Vandewettering via Dan Lyke of Flutterby (see the comments. Thanks Dan!)

Update: 8 Mar 2005, 11:30 am

Jason Kottke is a smart person. He changed the title of his original post because as more information came out, Technorati was not at fault. I agree and have followed suit.

Frankly, I find the entire situation artificial and awkward. As it turns out, Kennedy set himself up. I saw nothing wrong with his original post. Poor taste or otherwise. He then went around and basically asked his employer to find fault with it. Quid pro quo, he proved his own point – when given the chance, employers are happy to say no. Blah and now I’m out of coffee.

Original Post

The last couple days, I was thinking about exploring integrating Technorati’s Tags into WordPress. Then I read Technorati censoring employee blogs? over at Kottke.org.

I concur with Jason, if I ran a company that aggregated weblogs, the last thing I would do is piss off webloggers.

The post in question was on Niall Kennedy’s personal site. Niall was comparing employer’s desire to restrict employees blogging to wartime propaganda.

Last night I modified a few propaganda posters from the 1940s to express how corporations would like to control what their employees say on a weblog, at a bar, or even to their families.

Cue Technorati being, um, ironic (Employer commands employee to pull down blog post commenting on employers restricting employees weblog posting). It’s funny, cause it’s true:

No, this post was not a joke and it was a post meant to generate buzz about a topic. Technorati executives are concerned about how employee weblogs expressing opinions may be interpreted as an official Technorati position. All Technorati employees have been asked to review weblog posts with staff members before posting. I reinstated my original post this morning and I am ready to willing to hear the community’s response to my individual voice.

Will opinions expressed on employee weblogs be considered official company positions?
Unless the weblog is http://Technorati.com/OfficialTechnoratiWeblog and has a big Technorati logo on it, NO!

Just 2 days earlier, Steve Gillmor commented on the Google’s new Autolink “feature” and offered this advice:

Who cares if you can do it because. Forget the stuff about do no evil. Do no stupid.

Technorati Bloggers and companies should follow the same advice. or I say we stop pinging them. I’m holding off digging into their tagging until they do.

‘EOM’ for ‘End of Message’ another Email Subject Line Tag

I’m starting to see more tags (see Better Email Tips) in my email subject lines. Today, I received an email canceling a meeting, with all the information contained in the subject line with “(eom)” at the end.

eom: end of message

I’d recommend using it when your entire message can be included in the subject line and I suspect it could be more than you think 🙂