Posts from December 21, 2005

Doug Burns raises a surprising number of issues in a seemingly throwaway comment about music.

1. I used to say I only have three passions in life 'Music, Football and Girls. The only thing that changes is the order.' :-)

2. Stuff that is too personal to discuss in a blog. I am startled about certain stuff I have seen posted in blogs. Personal stuff that I would never dream of posting.

3. Oracle versus Music versus Football. I started this blog after lurking on the Oracle blog community for a while and initially thought I would post occasional enlightening, technical articles which were met with worldwide acclaim. After a while, I realised, those posts would be few and far between.

The other Oracle bloggers cover that stuff far better than I ever could. Also, I would make idiotic mistakes and have people correcting me all the time. I think I can spend my time more profitably reading and learning from others. To be honest, the technical niceties of PL/SQL 'bulk collect', bind variables and 10046 trace analysis can be a little dry when that is your day job. I probably care more and have more to say about music, football (blogging, software etc).

1. Another quandry about ' blogging etiquette '. I commented on Howard Rogers' view on the importance of calendar functionality in a blog. He answered my questions fully and politely (but I still hold a contrary view). Now do I take my followup to email or continue to comment on his blog article when most people probably aren't interested ?

2. Indeed, should this lengthy post be a comment to Doug's comment, a private email to Doug or a post in its own right ?

3. Diction. When I read my own blog, I see long, rambling, interminable sentences. This concerns me. Especially as I write a lot of technical reports as part of my job for paying customers and I also play a major role in the content of my kids' homework. I - sorry, my son - recently got a B+ for a scintillating project on San Francisco. I swear it should have been an 'A++'.

Old news is like yesterdays papers. No-one is interested.

The chart of failed spammers is as good indicator of traffic to your blog as any.

Old gems may totally get ignored depending on timing.

I might have one avid reader.

Lots of people are looking for information about 'Dixons Tax Free Shopping', 'SonicStage 3.3' (are you listening, Sony ?) and, oddly enough, 'Paul Scholes + family'.

Google is a popular but sub-optimal search engine for blogs as monthly archives may contain a wide variety of unrelated content (Roy Keane, Antibes, Blog, Chameleons, DAB) which will ultimately confuse people and waste time.

Not many people will comment. Even fewer will link.

Days Inn Hotel. No restaurant service because it is Christmas. No cooked breakfast because it is Christmas. No Sky Sports which is normally available but has been withdrawn because it is Christmas. Boddingtons is available despite the proximity of Christmas at a very reasonable 2.95 GBP for a pint.

The Marksman hostelry, a mere half a mile away, but a little more earthy, has Sky Sports at every booth and on big screens and sells Stella Artois for 2.20 GBP per pint.

The news is out. Yahoo! will be offering WordPress hosted blogs for small businesses and charging a monthly fee for the service.

I think this is good news for all WordPress users (.com and .org) as it provides a revenue stream for future development.