Well, another day gone. Another day closer to retirement! | |
I didn’t sleep well last night. I’m not sure why, perhaps it was the late night cuppa-tea, but I had one of those “Inception” nights where you have a dream which seems absolutely real (virtual reality real), but you know it’s a dream. I can rarely remember the whole thing when this happens, and this dream was no exception. Anyway, I was in some kind of CSI / serial killer tracking police squad and we were trying to track some deranged wacko. I can remember very few details: I wasn’t a cop, I was only working with them. The crimes were gruesome. We never caught the “perp”. I remember thinking, “This is not me doing this, so I must be dreaming.” At that point, I stopped being a player in the drama and became an observer of the drama and myself as a performer in the drama. That sense of duality there was pretty weird, too. I woke once, just after mid-night and when I went back to sleep, I went right back into the dream. | |
As I said, I don’t remember much more about the details of the dream. I do remember feeling close to consciousness several times and thinking, “Just relax and go back to the dream. We might still catch him.” Anyway, and like I said before, the more I thought about the awareness of dreaming, being in the dream, the more I thought about the movie “Inception“. Hil woke me at the usual time (4:30 AM) and I was still in the dream. I’ve always thought dreams were fairly short lived affairs. The dream itself might have a duration of some length, but the actual time dreaming was seconds or minutes. This dream really seemed to take all night and (as I said) I woke up feeling like I hadn’t slept at all. | |
Other musings: | |
Hil and I went out for another trip around the neighborhood. This was a little over an hour, but much slower. I reckon we walked about 2.5 miles. My BP was more or less normal and my pulse was in the high 80’s and regular. That’s two days now with no “known” irregular pulse. Woo-hoo!! | |
On my daughter’s (Rebecca) recommendation, I’m having a little play with scheduling the release of my quote posts. I’ve set two up to go off tomorrow and the next day. I’m not really comfortable with the concept of timing posts this way as it seems deceptive somehow. If something strikes my fancy today and I create the post today, is it misleading to publish it later? Doesn’t that give the impression I had that thought later? Fortunately, almost no one reads my little disturbances (ripples) in the time-space continuum, so my ethical itches will remain unscratched (or at least uncommented on). | |
And finally, I’m reading about computer greats and one of them said something I’ve believed for years but never really knew how to express (I paraphrase): If you’re developing software that has lives dependent on it, it has to be perfect. If you’re not, then you need to get it (the software product) out to the users as quickly as possible so they can tell you what’s wrong with it (what needs improving, not that it doesn’t work). If you get a reputation for faster results, the market (your customer) is more forgiving. But they still end up being more demanding in the end. Speed spoils. | |
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On This Day In: | |
2022 | Pass A Voting Rights Act For Democracy’s Sake |
2021 | Tomorrow President Biden Starts Wrestling |
Good-Bye #45 | |
2020 | The Burden Of Faith |
On To Superbowl LIV (54)!! | |
2019 | Are Your Dogs Barking? |
Dangerous Waistcoats | |
2018 | And 40+ Years Later? |
2017 | He Is Alone |
2016 | Compensation |
2015 | Charlie Redux |
2014 | The Crux |
2013 | Erosion And Rechannelling |
Alliance, n. | |
2012 | How Many Thought… (One I Know Of) |
Choices And Decisions | |
2011 | Speed Spoils |
Simply Intended | |
2010 | A Second 4 Hour Jog |
Magic »
Speed Spoils
January 19, 2011 by kmabarrett
I’m not saying scheduling posts is not a good idea, just that it is a bit disingenuous. I find it interesting that a business person is using this technique to “trick” people into thinking she is blogging every day when she is not, and knows she is not, and knows it (scheduled blogging) misrepresents her actions to her readers.
I accept the rejoiner that the scheduled blogs are still her own work and that she is merely being proactive and taking initiative to keep her site momentum going… I also understand it’s better to have three 800 word posts than one 2,400 word post…
Equivocation is still a lie.
Scheduling jobs is quite common in the computer field. It’s one of the good things about using dumb machines – they don’t take delayed jobs personally. But normally it is done intentionally to use spare resource time, not to convince your customers you’re working, when, in fact, you’re not. (I did say “normally” didn’t I?)
Anyway, ethics aside, my first scheduled post worked and I will continue to use them in the future. (Is that hypocritical?) I thought to equivocate by scheduling them between 12:01 AM and 4:00 AM, so it was moderately clear to “reasonable” readers the posts were automated. Then I noticed the posts are dated but not time stamped. How inconvenient for my sense of ethics…
And, yet, I’m still ok with it! (Maybe I do have a future in business.)
Remember that class I took online about wedding photography? Well it dealt a lot with “branding yourself online” and one thing she stressed was “have a post everyday.” She even went on to say that she posts while on vacation. She just drafts the posts before she leaves on vacation and sets them on a timer. She said failing to post everyday is just lazy.
Now this is from someone who built their business primarily on connections and online branding. So she is very serious about her “online presence.” After all, it’s her source of income. So I’m not advocating for posting every day but when you post 20 quotes in one day it’s hard not to think you should space them out.
Like your title says “speed spoils.” Now I’m taking your quote out of context…but hear me out… If you find 10 great quotes in one day and rush to put them out there repeat people (like me) who visit your blog regularly will be overwhelmed. I’m only going to spend 15mins max on your blog and that’s being kind. I am your child though. I figure it’s the least I can do. However, if I don’t get to all your stuff in that time period then I’m clicking off your site anyway. And that really great quote, the one you posted first that day, is lost to me. Because you buried it. Like take out the trash day in the West Wing.
By spacing your blog posts out you a) make sure each of them get the individual attention they deserve from the reader and b) make sure the reader has the best chance of finding something new on your blog when they check in. Both seem like pluses to me.