Sleep Reading

I’m feeling pretty good as of late, even though it is really a lot hotter here than I would want it. Sleep has been and off and on thing, some nights I am up all hours having a hard time getting some shut eye. Other nights I crash early and sleep much longer than I wanted to. I guess that is karma, I better start doing some good things around here.

I started rereading a book I purchased a few years back in search of a creative rebirth in myself. Unfortunately for me and the book I barely turned the pages and it was packed away. As many times I have said before, this time will be different, seriously I will follow through. The book is called ‘The Artist’s Way‘ and is written by Julia Cameron. I am taking liberty with some of the exercises and putting my own spin on them, but isn’t that the creative thing to do? I really feel that anyone wishing to unleash their creativity inside themselves, from it either being dormant from little use or repressed from external and internal conflict, it starts a journey inside yourself to find your inner creative child.

The Pen is Mightier…if you can find it

I moved to a new place back at the beginning of march, typical of my lazy self I haven’t unpacked all of my belongings yet. Talking to a friend about his new Wacom drawing tablet he just bought, I decided to dig out my old tablet and start doodling away.

After roughtly 45 minutes digging through box after box, wires and books being flung through the air as I search in despiration I find my precious tablet. Internally rejoicing at the pleasure of unleashing my creative fury on my little MacBook, I realize my personal celebration was preemptive. Much to my dismay I could not find the pen to my tablet (which if you know makes my tablet relatively useless) and now I sit here typing this wishing instead that I could be creating the next Rembrandt or Picasso. :(

Time Heals All Wounds

No, I am not wounded, at least not physically. I have been going through some changes for good and for worse that for the most part are out of my control. Unfortunately for anyone that had any interest in what I had to say, I recently closed both my Pownce and Twitter accounts. To be honest there was no real reason for me to do such a drastic action, it’s just at the time it felt like the right thing to do. Not only that I had basically given up on my blog at Musiny.com which is what I was using for my personal ramblings.

The time away from that side of my internet life I feel has been productive, it has allowed me to focus more on what I want and wish to do from here on out. That being, I am officially making this blog (jacobchapel.wordpress.com) my personal space for my thoughts and anything else I wish to share. As for Musiny, the original plan with the name was to create an online community for musicians and their fans to join together and take over the music industry one byte at a time. I think for the time being I am going to refit it into a blog about the music industry from my perspective and what I think should be done to fix it from the inside and out, as well as post some kick ass music I think people might enjoy.

I think the fun part of all of this is realizing that the internet is apart of my life, I just need to keep it regulated for everyones sake.

An Experiment? I’m Game!

I recently started following an intriguing fellow on Twitter that runs a pretty cool blog, Thereisabloginmysoup.com. Although the URL is a little long, the content is definitely spot on and a great read. Not only does Patrick Curl write about technology and similar topics but has very expansive posts on making your blog better through promotion and other techniques. Today Patrick wrote about an interesting experiment with Twitter.

Simply put he is calling all that those are interested and willing to post a comment to this blog post with their Twitter URL and RSS Feed URL. He then asked that everyone follow those that posted in the comments as well as subscribe to their RSS feeds. Now this might appear like a typical linkshare setup like others have done, but I really think that bringing Twitter into the fray makes this experiment much more beneficial.

If you aren’t familiar with Twitter, and I would be surprised if you weren’t, it has become one of the defacto quick communication standards for the web on the level of IM for the desktop. Twitter can be leveraged to expand your social profile as well as ways to promote anything and everything.

Now I can’t mention Twitter without talking about Pownce, one of my favorite tools to talk about anything, share files with friends, and keep on top of events. You can find me at Twitter and Pownce.

My Desires

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to build a house in the middle of nowhere and live off the grid? Growing your own food, using the sun for electricity, living a free existence away from the hustle and bustle that we commonly associate with life?

I have been thinking about what it would feel like, waking up every morning, going into the garden and picking fruit for breakfast. Going into the forest to gather firewood for a fire that evening. Enjoying the sun as it’s rays flow around your body doing work around the house. What would it be like to have nothing to worry about other than the day to day tasks of ‘life’?

It sounds like a sublime experience to live without the normal worry and strife we put ourselves through every day. As I wonder and dream of this existence, I am reminded of my love (borderline lust) of technology. The information and interactions that the internet brings me everyday. Could I give up this awesome thing that I have built my life around for so long now?

The short answer is YES, ultimately I feel like I could shed my desire for all materialistic desires. I believe though that life is about moderation, about compromise of those things you love and those that you don’t. With good there is bad, and to focus on one or the other is not healthy for anyone. I would mix a peaceful life living off the land with a partial connection to the outside world through a computer. What could top writing novels on your MacBook while watching the sunset outside with no distractions of other men?

The Portability

Lately I have been extremely busy on two new projects, one being DataPortability, the other being Practical Portability which if you can tell is linked to DataPortability through similar cause and hopefully effect.

Richard Pendergast and I have been working for over the last seven months integrating existing open applications like WordPress and phpBB, but with the tide of change that DataPortability brought with it, we decided to be apart of it. Ultimately the idea was to open source our work to date, but that just didn’t provide fruitful enough for the project as a whole and the objectives we are pursuing.

Though our original ideas and goals for Practical Portability have changed and aligned themselves even more with DataPortability, so much so that we hope that we can have just as much impact on smaller and new developers trying to implement data portability. It is interesting shifting from private development into the public space, there are a lot of challenges mainly due to organization and documentation. I am glad though that we made the move and joined DataPortability, there are some great people there with awesome ideas.
[tags]dataportability, practical portability[/tags]

An Epic Unfolding Tale of Runelords

Over the last or so I have been reading a great series of books called The Runelords (each book has a separate title) written by David Farland. The Runelords are people with great power endowed to them by others willingly through devotion or extortion. They can amass great power, even having one man become stronger than a full army. It is a fascinating premise but at first leaves you to wonder what else is out there.

The first book really focuses on a young prince and those around him as he finds his fate much different than he ever imagined. Though the main antagonist can be immensely intimidating and an interesting character, you find out in the second book that he is the least of their worries. Now that I have hit the third book, I’m finally in the thick of the story and action. Some huge things have just been revealed that really change the way things are happening and make me wonder how much is out there that I don’t know. The books are very much about discovery and emotions, it is an odd combination but it works.

The only reason I am writing this instead of reading is I felt like sharing a little about the series. If you enjoyed epic fantasy with a well thought out timeline and premise, as well as very detailed writing, please check out David Farland’s great series The Runelords.

The Sore Opens Again At Gamespot

It might be ages ago in internet time, but the Gamespot-Gerstmann debacle rears its ugly head again. Long time freelance writer Frank Provo, with over seven years writing credit at Gamespot, left some ‘nice’ departing words on his Gamespot blog.

“I believe CNet management let Jeff go for all the wrong reasons. I believe CNet intends to soften the site’s tone and push for higher scores to make advertisers happy.

I won’t lie to people and tell them a game is good when it isn’t. I won’t downplay negatives that readers have a right to know about.”

Provo gives a little confirmation to an issue that looks to be an open sore to the underbelly of gaming journalism. Reputation is important and it looks like Gamespot has lost most if not all of it. You might wonder why Provo didn’t up and quit in the heat of the action?

What’s Next on the Web?

“Some people say that the bubble’s going to take a downturn in the next year or two – that huge numbers of copycat startups are going to shut down, people are going to be out of work and Web 2.0 cheerleaders are going to eat their (our) words.”

ReadWriteWeb details and compiles some great information about emerging technology filtering through the social web as we speak. Given time, I hope that we (Not At All Strange) can be champions and pioneers for the new ideas taking hold in the social web.

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Veganbot For Your Animal Free Recipes!

The recipes are free also, but the site is intended for those that want new and fresh recipes that contain no animal products. That doesn’t mean you have to be a vegetarian or vegan to enjoy the recipes, as things can surely be substituted at will. I personally am interested in trying some of those recipes to see how they taste, as I am always willing to try something that tastes good and is healthy too.

Make sure to check out Veganbot for some kick ass taste bud exploding animal free recipes! He also has a forum setup for discussion on vegetarian and vegan topics as well as a place to submit your own recipes.