Jan 3 2009

I Finally Get It!

Huh… It’s taken me 3 years almost to figure out what blogging/podcasting is all about…

It’s about the people you meet and the ones you touch through the things you create. It’s such a democratic medium that there’s not nearly the polish that one would get from a “mainstream” news outlet. But that’s okay. I think there are a whole lot of people out there who don’t want that. They’re tired of the sanitized and watered-down “news” they get from the big media outlets. They want context, and raw input. They want to be brought along on the pub crawl or listen to the podcast interview done “man-on-the-street” style, vs. the highly packaged and processed content they get from “traditional” outlets.

More than anything else, though, people want to feel as if their voices are heard, and there’s no better outlet for that than blogs, podcasts, and social networks. I know that’s why I got into all of this, and two years later, I can’t tell you how glad I am that I did. I’ve met so many amazing people — many that I haven’t written about — and honestly that’s worth every penny I’ve spent paying for web hosting and all the rest.

I can’t tell you how excited I am about 2009 in terms of what you’re going to be seeing and hearing from me and the rest of the Panther City Media crew. If you thought last year was good, hold on to your hat and prepare to have your socks knocked off in 2009!


Nov 13 2008

Test post with wordpress for iphone

This is a test of the WordPress app for iPhone. I hope to chronicle my trip to St. Croix with this, as necessary, depending on high-speed Internet access availability.


Nov 10 2008

Happy 233rd Birthday, Marines!

Semper Fi, everyone! If you’re “over there,” keep your head down and come home safe.

- Sgt. Pete
USMC (Fmr)


Jul 10 2008

Coming Soon…

I’ve been toying around with Tumblr as a new blogging platform, and I’ve become really fond of it. It’s super-easy to use, easier even than Blogger, probably. It’s sort of intended for quick posts, and is not as robust and flexible as WordPress. I’d say it’s somewhere between Twitter and WordPress in terms of functionality. I like it!

SO… In a week or so, I’ll be redirecting www.cowtownchronicles.com to my Tumbleog. What does that mean for you? Not much, really. You may have to adjust your RSS feed, but otherwise you’ll probably come out to the positive in terms of content, since it’s MUCH easier to write a quick post and shoot it out on Tumblr.

You’ll still be able to comment and argue, you’ll just be doing it on a different service.

See you there!


Jun 29 2008

What’s In My Anti-Library?

Allen over at The Whited Sepulchre has listed what’s included in his “Anti-Library.” An “anti-library,” according to epistemologist Nassim Nicholas Taleb, is a collection of books that you HAVEN’T read. It’s those books that sit on your shelves waiting to be used as research tools, or to increase your store of already accumulated knowledge.

Despite the fact that I’m still sort of confused on what the hell all that means (don’t bother trying to decode the Wikipedia page unless you’re a chaos theorist), I’ve been called out to list what’s in mine, so in the spirit of playing along and ego boosting, here goes:

(Click the links to buy the books on Amazon and give me a little kickback if you do.)

“The God Delusion” by Richard Dawkins - Kept on the mantle for maximum shock value. Never read it.

“The Road” by Cormac McCarthy - This was given to me as a gift recently. I guess I mentioned to someone that I liked post-apocalyptic fiction of the “I Am Legend” sort, and so this came along. Unfortunately I have no time for fiction in my life right now, so it’s been sitting on my shelf since whenever it was given to me.

“The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World” by Lawrence Lessig - (Mine’s autographed!) Prof. Lessig (of Stanford) spoke at UTA on intellectual property and how our current copyright law is making the creation of new content increasingly impossible and costly. At one point I wanted to be a lawyer (I might still go to law school), and I had wanted to focus on public interest law. Then I found out that it costs more than my house cost to go to law school, even to some of the bad ones, and decided that if I did it I’d be better off becoming a slimy corporate lawyer type.

“Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution” by Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins, and L. Hunter Lovins - A treatise on how the next industrial revolution (it’s in the title, see?) will be one that helps the planet instead of taking advantage of the planet. It includes lists of specific companies and upcoming technologies to watch. I’ve only read the first chapter or so, but I could tell right away that it wasn’t really what I was hoping it would be. I wanted ideas and inspiration, instead I got “Go see these guys for product X.”

“Simple Prosperity: Finding Real Wealth in a Sustainable Lifestyle” by David Wann - David (no relation, that I know of) is a coauthor of “Affluenza,” a book I also haven’t read and a movie I haven’t seen. Jenna has seen the movie (during a Sustainability class at UTA), and said I’d like it. I don’t think I’ve even read the first sentence in this one, but what I’m hoping to get is affirmation that living simply and ignoring the pressures of “Mother Culture” to consume and waste is good for me and the planet.

“Your Money or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence” by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin - Priorities, man! Which is more important? I mean, REALLY more important? How much money do you need to have those things and people that are really important to you in your life? I’ll bet it’s a LOT less than most people think. There was a great article in Portfolio magazine this month on this very topic. Essentially, our national obsession with growth at any cost is actually making us LESS happy overall than focusing on things that are more important to the average person. Here’s an example: Increase the annual income of the average citizen in Zimbabwe by $100, and you’ve made an enormous difference in their lives. Increase the annual income of the average American by $100, and you’ve effectively done nothing. Yet, every bit of our economic policy is focused on growing the economy, not on those things that truly improve people’s lives.

Various titles from the Apple Training Series, since I fancy myself a budding Apple Systems Administrator. Surprisingly, I only recommend these books for their overview value. They’re really not particularly good training tools.

Doyle Brunson’s Super System: A Course in Power Poker, Hold’Em Poker for Advanced Players (Advance Player), and Phil Gordon’s Little Green Book: Lessons and Teachings in No Limit Texas Hold’em - I’ve actually read every word in all three of these, but you wouldn’t know it if I sat down to play poker with you, so I suppose it’s the same as if I hadn’t.

That’s a pretty limited list, but then my library right now is also pretty small. I suppose I’m already living the philosophies espoused in all my “green” books, since I don’t often buy new books, I generally check things out of the library. Since I only have one bookshelf, I have to make pretty regular trips to Half Price Books to clear the clutter, or else it would probably take over.

Hope you enjoyed my list. What’s in YOUR Anti-Library?



May 30 2008

Mobile posts!

This is posted from my iPhone via the new wphone interface. Now you can be annoyed by me from anywhere!

(I expect to use this a lot during the State Convention.)


Apr 21 2008

New Design - Slightly Less Sucky, Slightly More Boring

I like the new layout, but I need to figure out a good way to spice up the header area. What do you think?


Dec 30 2007

Join Me On The F List

David Bohl at Slow Down Fast posted recently about the “F List,” sort of a DIY effort to increase awareness of blogs that you think aren’t getting their due. I realize that writing a personal blog in and about Fort Worth means that I’m not likely to ever get national attention, but I figured what the heck, it couldn’t hurt!

By the way, I visited several of the sites that David added to the list, and they’re excellent!

The F List is a great way to recognize those bloggers that have so far been overlooked by the blogging community.

If you’d like to participate, here are the instructions:

  1. Create a new post on your blog.
  2. Cut and paste the complete list below.
  3. Add any blogs you think aren’t getting their due (as many as you’d like).
  4. Add these same instructions in your post.
  5. Visit the blogs on the list.
  6. Watch the list grow.

Here are the originators of the F List:

Make It Great! http://makeitgreat.typepad.com/makeitgreat/
Angela Maiers
http://www.angelamaiers.com/2007/12/an-f-listers-re.html

Mack Collier
http://moblogsmoproblems.blogspot.com/2006/12/revenge-of-z-lister.html

Here are the 10 originals on the F List:

http://littlemissteacher.blogspot.com/
http://insideschools.blogspot.com/
http://www.toddseal.com/rodin/2007/12/in-my-backyard-please/
http://www.leadertalk.org/
http://www.carla.umn.edu/speechacts/sp_pragmatics/home.html
http://www.slowdownfast.com/blog
http://www.inspirepossibility.com/blog
http://coconutheadsets.com/
http://middlezonemusings.com/
http://www.theideadude.com/
http://sharecompassion.blogspot.com/

Here are David’s additions to the F List:

And here are my additions to the F List:

(If you decide to participate yourself after reading this, please don’t forget to add me to the list!)


Nov 15 2007

Don’t Quit Me!

I’m working on a HUGE post on green/sustainable development, I hope to have it done this weekend. I have a test to study for, but after that, I’m completely free.

I can’t tell you how great it is to have so many readers around. I’m really grateful for those of you who’ve stuck with me through all this.


Oct 30 2007

I, For One, Welcome Our New Blogging Overlords

You may have seen a story today in the Star-Telegram about me and Kevin. What it doesn’t mention is that we’ve teamed up for more than the podcast; we’ve created a new blog with some other folks, you can check it out over at West and Clear.com.