Carl Setzer

I've heard this song countless times. Today, Youtube popped this up in the recommended list and I happily listened. Seeing other versions in the sidebar from 1979, 1981, and 1992 made me wonder about how different each one sounded. I enjoyed witnessing the evolution of Robert Smith's personal style as well. Below is the 1979 version, which has a more traditional punk vibe (it says something that I can say "traditional" and "punk" without any sense of irony). This one is from 1981. Not a huge transition, but I notice a less punk style and something that becomes much more recognized as The Cure.   By 1992, we have a clearly distinctive style that is The Cure, and not confusable with anyone else.   Thanks for giving a few minutes of your journey through the vast wasteland that is the internet. Let me know what you think in the comments, and give me a share, if you're so led.

My first writing love has been poetry. So I created QuestionsAll.net as a place to host it and explore poetry deeper. I try to post at least daily, and have been pretty successful at that. For years I adored haiku. That's been a recent focus, perhaps obsession, with me. Finding expression within the confines of such a small form challenges me. Rising and meeting challenges delights me. Come on over and see what I've been up to lately. You can also subscribe and follow me there. Thanks!

I'm moving all my more formal business and technology focused writing over to my new website, Forward Facing . The goal is for CarlSetzer.com to be more of a personal site. Forward Facing will showcase my writing and web work in a more professional manner. At least that's the plan. Part of the fun with this, though, is that ForwardFacing.net is showing up in Twitter's spam/malware database. I guess the prior owners were nasty with it. Anyway, I've made the initial request of Twitter to get removed from that list. Which me luck.

I love discovering clever web projects. Today, I present you the entire Pacific Crest Trail compressed into 3 minutes. I found adding 1 second of video from each day to be a very unique approach to this.

I just came across this photo over at 500px and just fell in love. Eric Esterle gives some great detail about the creation of this photo, and some nice insights into his post-production work. More of his work on the web: 500px page Website Twitter Instagram

I'm seeing a bunch of emails from friends and colleagues from Zorpia. It ostensibly seems to be a social networking, but clearly is a phishing scheme. They will look like invites from a friend. Do Not Open The Messages From Them! Here's a blog post that sums up the joy . Along with this, always double check with the assumed sender before you click on these sorts of things. And, even if they say "yeah, it's a great site", spend a little time with Google to verify. It's really hard to undo this sort of damage.

I've noticed over the past few days that Chrome became boggy and SLOOOOW. There are things I love about Chrome, but it's propensity to hogging resources and, thus, degrading my machine's performance have long bugged me. Being deeply enmeshed within the Google ecosystem might play a big part in that. But, the more I think about things, the more I'm concerned about my personal trend towards the Chrome/Google system. I highly value the Open Source community and what they bring to the table. Even though I've worked for several large corporations, I really appreciate all that this community brings to the world. It's more than simply free software, but also open standards. To me, it's critical that corporations cannot lock out access to our data. So, utilizing open standards is critical. With that, though, I look at tools such as Gimp , Open Office , and Scibus and see so much potential. For, say, image editing, wouldn't it prove better to the world that ...

I just received an recruiting email, where the writer found me via my long neglected Indeed.com resume. It got me thinking about all the sites I've used over the years, that I've eventually abandoned, or at least dropped into neglect. Profiles on Monster, Indeed, NWJobs, MySpace...what do these say about me? To the recruiter emailing me about positions at Microsoft, what is there expectation of who I am, and would any elements of my current reality match? On a somewhat related note, Om Malik recently posted You've Go (No) Mail . He talks about the sense of loss accompanying the ending of his Gigaom email. I've felt these twinges in the past, with the suspending of my Starbucks and Microsoft emails. But those were different at an elemental level. Regardless of my emotional connections to those institutions, I didn't found them. They didn't hold my name, they never represented me at the same level. The closest I could imagine is with this site, and the email ass...

Lately, I've been considering all the changes Facebook has blasted out over the years. Particularly, I've been wondering about the Facebook pages I manage. In particular, the many changes to the way business pages interact with the general user concern me. I first noticed this with my personal page feed. Business page content gets filtered out, rarely appearing in feeds, even MY pages in MY feed. I'm also noticing a drop in engagement: comments, questions, dialog, et al. This video takes that concern and provides some flesh to its bones. Now I wonder about Facebook's value to small businesses in any capacity. If content and connection gets buried, lost, or goes out to irrelevant audiences, there is no value. Well, little. Ok, well, lesser. The value of Facebook is still immense. Facebook is still a key piece to a social media strategy. It's THE place, with diverse demographics and a truly global reach. Or, as I like to say, it's the place with the eye-bal...

I started a WordPress site some time ago in order to explore the platform. Recently, I relaunched it as my poetry site. I've heard so very much about focusing your sites. So, I'm trying to do something with that. Besides that one, I also have NotJustSeattle . com , where I focus on the local. Soon, I'm going to port my tech writing to its own site. This will also, then, be my professional/business presence. I'll move my portfolio there, too. Trying to find another name besides "Setzer Consulting". Feels too bidding. I'll try to have the URL for in to that. So, please check out my other sites and stay tuned to see how things change.

Today, one of the main sites I work out of is struggling with a DDOS attack. Well, it's actually been the past few days. This site tracks my workflow, and houses my to-do list. Being locked out has moved from annoyance to inconvenience to problem to serious issue. This has me wonder, though: is technology really ready for "prime time"? For those of us who have shifted our calendars, tracking systems, CRM to the web, what is at risk? A relatively simply action can create significant paralysis. To be clear, I'm not ready to abandon all my tech solutions and grab paper and binders yet. But I am considering what I can do, analog or otherwise, to be better able to react to these nuisances. There is no guarantee that any website will remain in business tomorrow. There are technological snafus. How do I minimize the risks inherent with going all-in with tech/web solutions? I'll be meditating on that for the next few days. 

I am excited by this project: Mayday , creating a crowdsourced SuperPac to end all SuperPacs (SuperDuperPac?). I've long admired Larry's work , and also have been concerned by cash's influence in politics. For me, this has the potential to be a profound pivotal moment of the internet age and social media driven democracy. This coming Monday (June 16) at 8:00 pm EASTERN time, Mr. Lessig and Amanda Palmer will be hosting a video conversation that I expect will be very much worth your time. If I can at all make this work with my calendar, I will be online for this. Update: Here's some recommended "pre-reading":  1) http:// thebea.st/UhhBVV   2) http:// bit.ly/MD-TNR   3) http:// bit.ly/MD-Medium  

As a martial artist, this speaks to me. But not in a real, usable way. It would be fun for a couple of types of sites. Anyway...behold, Dot Ninjia!

Been thinking about the mighty Twitter. Why do I like it so much, yet others I know hate the platform? One key thought: chaos. For me, the beauty of Twitter is it's chaos. This manic, crazily shifting feed of information delights me. Yet I understand how this could be a hard style for others. I specifically, deliberately follow smart and creative people without millions of followers. The people I follow will grab anything a celebrity would say (that's interesting) early enough for me to still be in the front of the thought curve. I value unique thinking over most anything else. Twitter is more global. Maybe it's my follower curation, but my list does a great job of giving me a global view, more so than I'd ever see reading a US based news org. If I need order, I have Google or Bing. And Facebook gives me a good look into the macro interests of our culture. Twitter trend to be where I see the cutting edge thinking, the leading stories. And I love that.

My random web thought of the day: remembering the webring . For it's time, a very powerful tool for finding related content. I spent many an hour perusing sites under a variety of topics: fantasy literature, science, science fiction, politics....the possibilities were extensive. Seems they still exist, but connecting to them a lot less critical. Seems few people drift through webrings now. Rather, they move through Google search results. I wonder, though, if webrings provide any SEO benefit? That would be my expectation, at least. So, the point? Tastes change, behaviors follow, culture modulates and we both find ourselves reacting, as well as leading.

The first thing I do when one of those obnoxious, over-loud video ads launches on a website I just opened starts playing is to close the whole page. I have to be pretty committed to reading the article for me to stick around through that, or to try and locate the "off" or "mute" button for the bloody thing.  So, for those of you promoting advertising on your website, you now have something to consider. Of course, I should look at running Ad-Blocker or something like that and move this nuisance into historical reference. 

I've been streaming via Spotify pretty exclusively for some time. Haven't ponied up for the premium plan yet, but look to do so. I really love having the whole world of recorded music at the tip of my ear. Another piece I love: the ability to share music. Here's one of my favorite tunes, by one of my favorite artists, Peter Gabriel . Enjoy!

Funny discussion recently: using non-phone photos on Instagram...cheating or no? Fascinating thoughts about purpose, medium, and veracity. To me, all art embraces a zen quality. Cheating doesn't exist. Well, not in this context. Plagiarism, another beast, another story. So, the question remains, and no answer comes from me. You?

Perhaps you've heard this trending story about Brian Presley (an actor) & Melissa (a model). (if not, here's a brief summation here ) via Huffington Post Just read David Amerland's piece, When Melissa Met Brian: A Lesson in Social Media Ethics over at Social Media Today. So, my take. Melissa started with the assumption that Brian was attempting to cheat on his wife with her and ran with that. In analysis, this seems an act of arrogance on her part. (The man in the seat next to you is talking to you. The only reason is he wants sleep with you?) Be that as it may, she unleashed the mindless reactivity of the internet. It's amazing how quickly that can get launched and how nearly impossible it is to put that "genie back in the bottle". Sure, it's important for us social media users to think before we post, but we should also consider thinking before acting on something we read. Always remember there are two sides to a story. (Mea cupla: I sa...

After working in real estate for the past few months, several things became clear. In today's age, a small home owners or condo owners association must, MUST have a website. This should contain contact information and the scope of the org. Really, this is a basic yet powerful communication tool for your membership. A simple blog would do wonders. I've heard many HOAs reps complain about banks not dues. Yet they make it nearly impossible to track them down. A basic website, around long enough for crawlers to grab key SEO terms, can get this accomplished. Extend this out to small governmental and quasi-governmental orgs. I'm thinking mainly, right now, about small water associations. A simple website can make you, well, findable. So, a little rant on a Saturday morning. Thanks for listening. Well, reading. Peace and well-being to you all.