Monthly Archives: December 2008

Thank you so much to all 44 people who helped me reach 100 comments on one of my posts.

I want to say special thanks to 6 commenters who came back multiple times to check on progress and move us on toward the goal. They are:

• Caleb – 13 comments
• Brad Shorr – 9 comments (and a whole blog post that sent a few others over)
• Lillie Ammann – 7 comments
• Tabetha – 4 comments
• Andrew – 3 comments
• Ulla Hennig – 2 comments

Thanks guys! You are awesome!

Who is your role model?

Do not read ahead, do the math as you go or you will not get the right results.

1. Pick your favorite number between 1-9
2. Multiply by 3
3. Add 3
4. Then multiply by 3 again
5. You’ll get a 2 or 3 digit number…
6. Add the digits together

Now scroll down….

Image by TheTruthAbout... via Flickr

Now with that number see who your role model is from the list below:

1. George Bush
2. Tom Cruise
3. Santa Claus
4. Scrooge
5. Barrack Obama
6. Angelina Jolie
7. Tom Brady
8. Martin L. King Jr.
9. Luke Gedeon
10. Thomas Edison

Reader Stephen Hoyt sent in today’s “Ask Luke” question:

I received an email from my brother with an “.wmv” attachment file and am unable to open it. I think this is a “Windows Media/Video” type file and am wondering if I can just go to Microsoft’s homepage and download the  video player? Will that then open these files on an Apple computer? Or do I need to find a Windows Media Player for Mac?

Response:

You have two options here. Oddly enough both come from Microsoft. Which is as it should be since they were ones that invented yet another file format, but how often do things turn out like they should?

Anyway, you can either use Windows Media Player for Mac or a plugin for Quicktime that is smaller and lets you use a single program for most videos. The plugin is called Flip4Mac. You can find both at: http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/flip4mac.mspx

Was that answer too simple?

Attention all readers: If you have any further questions on this or any other tech topic, ask away that is what the ask-luke series is here for.

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas. We had a wonderful time this year. I can hardly believe we are about to start into a new year. This one seems like it is just getting started.

I have not been commenting a lot this week, or keeping up with reader, or twittering. I have barely been keeping up with comments on my own blog. I did manage to release my first WordPress plugin, though. It is pretty simple, but I have been told that it will prove immensly popular.

The big news of the week, and I do mean really big, is an invitation to the BLOGAPALOOZA! What is a blogapalooza? I guess you will just have to head over to the Middle Zone and figure that one out yourself. Here is the link. Now go check it out. You will be glad you did.

Back already? Okay, I guess it is time for Twitter. Here is this week’s very short list.

Twitter:

	chrisbrogan Perils of not having earphones – I’m listening to a woman tell another about her cat’s swollen eye. 23 minutes ago from TweetDeck
	MichaelHyatt I’m creating a custom Twitter landing page on my blog, as described by @ProBlogger: http://is.gd/ckjs 24 minutes ago from TweetDeck
	giddytab Said to my 2YO, “I can’t believe I have such a big girl.” This inspired my 6YO to say, “I can’t believe I have such a big mom.” about 23 hours ago from TwitKit
	lgedeon I wonder how many families use Malaysia as a household word? Bet we’re 1 of few where kids age 2-8 talk about Malaysia, Singapore etc. daily about 24 hours ago from TwitKit
	giddytab @lgedeon CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!! 12:37 AM Dec 25th from TwitKit in reply to lgedeon
	lgedeon I just finished my first WordPress plugin!!! 12:36 AM Dec 25th from TwitKit
	lgedeon Explain with words. Teach with actions. People learn by example whether you (or they) mean for them to or not. 11:36 AM Dec 24th from TwitKit
	JoeCascio @lgedeon Please answer with a comment on the post if it’s >140 characters. 10:29 AM Dec 23rd from web in reply to lgedeon
	JoeCascio @lgedeon WordPress pluging programming question on my blog: http://tinyurl.com/58ga4c 10:27 AM Dec 23rd from PeopleBrowsr in reply to lgedeon
	JoeCascio @lgedeon I am writing up the problem statement on my blog. Stay tuned for a link. Thank you for responding! 9:59 AM Dec 23rd from PeopleBrowsr in reply to lgedeon
	lgedeon @JoeCascio I am not a real coder but have worked a lot with plugins and fixed a few. What’s up? 9:56 AM Dec 23rd from TwitKit in reply to JoeCascio
	JoeCascio Any WordPress plugin coders (programmers) out there that can answer a question? 9:44 AM Dec 23rd from PeopleBrowsr
	lgedeon It is ridiculous how many great resources on China are in Chinese only. 4:50 PM Dec 21st from TwitKit
	giddytab Just made a snowman…in the rain. It is taller than me, but that really isn’t saying much! 4:00 PM Dec 21st from TwitKit

Have you ever written a post that just keeps going and going? No, I am not talking about rambling posts that end up 2000 words longer than they should. I have written plenty of those.

Most posts are forgotten within days of being published.

I am talking about a post that still gets visits and maybe even comments months or years after you wrote it. It is really exciting to see people searching for and reading something you had forgotten you even wrote.

I have one post that won’t let me forget I it. It was a lot of fun at the time and has continued to provide fun ever since. I am up to 43 comments on it now (and at least as many on other posts as a result of this one), which is pretty exciting since I usually average less than one comment per thousand views. That is nearly half way to 100 comments on a single post!

What is the significance of 100?

Well, one of my blogging heroes, Brad Shorr, recently achieved a life-long dream of 100 comments on a single post. A post where, at least for now, I have the distinction of having the final word. He hit 100 and kept right on going. We even thought for a while that he was going to hit 500, but the conversation moved on to another post leaving my last comment like a beached boat when the tide goes out. Now his dream has become mine too.

43 going-on 100

My candidate for the 100 comment club has taken on a life of its own. Originally, I was just making fun of someone’s very lame attempt at spam, but after a few days, I discovered how effective the spam was. I recieved, probably 20-30 comments in the first few days but deleted them because they where all asking for something that I did not even claim to be offering. The advertisement I was making fun of offered a free copy of Microsoft Office. You can see my post here. The ad was pretty cheesy and I made it very clear in my post that I was not the one making the offer and that the offer was not legit. It was pretty obvious that had not read the post and I did not want to make them look foolish so I moderated them.

Then it hit me (ok tribe, you know what to do here) that maybe if I leave some of the comments on the post, other people will see them and catch on. So I just left the comments open and added an update at the top of the post telling everyone in no uncertain terms that Microsoft was not going to be giving away copies of Office anytime soon. Then I pointed everyone to OpenOffice which is a free suite of office software.

The comments, just kept coming in.

So I added a second update offering a free copy of OpenOffice to anyone who reads ten posts and comments on their favorite. Undetered, and still without reading the original post, I still have about one person a day who reads ten posts, comments on one, and asks for a free copy of MS Office. I even have the occasional person who will leave comments on ten different posts just for good measure, and prove (if I had any doubt) that they did not read the original post.

This post has been a lot of fun and might just make it to 100 comments! /microsoft-office-2008-for-mac-free.html. What do you think? Was it unclear or too long?

Joanna Young started a Group Writing Project to celebrate the end of the year. The goal is to pick your top post from 2008 and tell why you consider it to be the best. Tabetha reminded me again today that I needed to do this, and posted her own best post of 2008.

In preparation, I went to my WordPress Stats page to see which post got the most views. The top post was Sunday Snippets 2008-03-30, but Joanna also wants us to explain why it is the best, and in this case I really don’t know. It has some great quotes and humor, but so do a lot of other posts like, The Obama Nation Logo, which was number eight.

Execution – A Spectator Sport? will probably end up as one of my all-time top posts because it has made it to fourth place in just a month. I did not take the pictures, though, so this would not be “my” top post. It is pretty amazing, though.

Already at, number seven within its first month, The Machine is just a machine again, combines three of my favorite topics, history, economics, and technology. I would not have picked it as a top post if it had not turned out to be so popular, but looking back, it is well written, addresses a serious concern, and offers hope.

But I have to say, my favorite post of all is a short one that is sitting at about 60th for the year. Violence in Spreadsheet Execution was written partially on twitter by other people. I shot out a single tweet and received several great responses, and thus a post was born. This post is packed with humor but best of all it is packed with people. It is the conversations that make this blog worth doing.

So in thirty words or less: “This post is simply the best because it is filled with humor and records one of many awesome conversations I have enjoyed this year.”

What do you think? Did I pick the right post?

I listen to Christmas music all year, but my guess is that the rest of you are just now ready to go all Christmas all the time. To get you started here is some of my favorites from a group called Mannheim Steamroller. Enjoy!