I was tagged by Daily Blog Tips, so I will comply. Five things about me that you don't know:
1. I love canned vegetarian vegetable soup, much to the dismay of my parents when I was growing up. I have perfected the recipe in my own kitchen, and can now simulate the taste and texture from scratch. Other ridiculous loves include Entemann's Rich Frosted donuts (or any type of plain or cinnamon donuts), and natural root beers.
2. I was and am scrupulously honest with my children. I never liked being tricked into things, so I decided never to trick others either. When my son was four and asked me what was in some food, I always told him, even when I knew that he would not eat it based on that knowledge and wouldn't have known otherwise.
3. I yearn to walk in damp verdant forests beside bubbling brooks. Give me shade over sun any day, mist over sunny, cool over hot, tall lush forests, moss covered boulders, wooden barns, and crystal-clear running streams. And wireless Internet.
4. I can make 8 or 9 out of 10 free throws in basketball almost every time. Often facing backwards.
5. I love cats. I wish I had two or three living with me. But I'm allergic to them :-(
Tag: Gavriel, Sarah, Yael, Rachel, Yaakov.
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Analysis of The Menorah Game
I wrote an Analysis of The Menorah Game for Gone Gaming. Check it out if you are one of the lucky few who has a copy of my game.
As we come to the end of the year, I am considering new directions for my blogging. The laser-like focus I intend for this blog hits the beam-splitter of my head before I post. Where I was once mostly board games and a little tech and Israel, I am now half board games and half philosophy, ethics, Israel, and other stuff.
I know that this is annoying to some people. The obvious solution was just to wait to move to the new Blogger, when I will be able to tag my posts. However, I think I will be going a bit more radical.
As of February, I plan to split the game stuff off to a new blog; I also plan to stop writing for Gone Gaming and move all of my game related posts to the new blog. This blog will continue to be about everything else.
Questions: Do I repost or move some of my game posts to the new blog? Or just let them stay here? What about links on other sites to my past posts?
Some lazy links ...
A whole lot of free downloadable board and card games on Super Duper Games.
In January, the Westview Iowa church will be holding a silent auction of games to raise funds for the Waukee Area Christian Food Pantry. Consider checking out the organization and donating all those games you got for Christmas but didn't really want. Game donations are tax deductible.
Regarding my quip about crazy Chess players, David sent me links corroborating or contesting this craziness, such as this article in Time magazine from April, 2005 about Bobby Fischer, Did Chess Make Him Crazy?
In the middle of this article by the Corvallis Gazette-Times about Christmas shopping in general, comes the following quote from Errol Noel at The Toy Factory:
And here's a "board game" called Spintastik. It's just a spinner that assigns chores around the house, as well as the rewards for doing them.
Yehuda
As we come to the end of the year, I am considering new directions for my blogging. The laser-like focus I intend for this blog hits the beam-splitter of my head before I post. Where I was once mostly board games and a little tech and Israel, I am now half board games and half philosophy, ethics, Israel, and other stuff.
I know that this is annoying to some people. The obvious solution was just to wait to move to the new Blogger, when I will be able to tag my posts. However, I think I will be going a bit more radical.
As of February, I plan to split the game stuff off to a new blog; I also plan to stop writing for Gone Gaming and move all of my game related posts to the new blog. This blog will continue to be about everything else.
Questions: Do I repost or move some of my game posts to the new blog? Or just let them stay here? What about links on other sites to my past posts?
Some lazy links ...
A whole lot of free downloadable board and card games on Super Duper Games.
In January, the Westview Iowa church will be holding a silent auction of games to raise funds for the Waukee Area Christian Food Pantry. Consider checking out the organization and donating all those games you got for Christmas but didn't really want. Game donations are tax deductible.
Regarding my quip about crazy Chess players, David sent me links corroborating or contesting this craziness, such as this article in Time magazine from April, 2005 about Bobby Fischer, Did Chess Make Him Crazy?
In the middle of this article by the Corvallis Gazette-Times about Christmas shopping in general, comes the following quote from Errol Noel at The Toy Factory:
In some cases, it’s been tough to keep up with demand. Lego construction kits and a board game called Settlers of Catan, for instance, have been difficult to keep in stock.The Detroit Free Press managed to sneak Apples to Apples and Blokus into an article on recommended games for young and old.
And here's a "board game" called Spintastik. It's just a spinner that assigns chores around the house, as well as the rewards for doing them.
Yehuda
Monday, December 25, 2006
When is it Good Enough?
There is a complicated dance between good and good enough.
We used to tell children that 'trying' was irrelevant; what mattered was 'responsibility'. Then we told our children that making an effort was enough, and that results didn't matter. Nowadays, people seem to think that even effort isn't important, and that children should be praised simply for existing.
Both effort and results are important. The effort we make is a moral responsibility. The priority we make on achieving the results is also a moral responsibility. The end results matter significantly for all but our moral sense.
If we try to feed our family, 100% effort is morally worthwhile, even if we fail. And 100% priority is a requirement of 100% effort. In the end, if our family starves, the effort and priority that we gave matters to our moral conscience. But we still take seriously the 100% importance of our success.
Teaching children that effort doesn't matter, or that results don't matter, is a crime.
On the other hand, we say that not everyone can be good at everything, no matter hard they try. Your best is not always going to be good enough. But if you fail to be a successful pop-singer, did you lack 100% effort, 100% priority, or simply 100% success?
In the real world we give lip service to the idea that not everyone is good at everything. But we chuckle when someone is good at a word game but bad at Chess, or vice versa. Or when someone loses their keys, or can't seem to dress the children in coordinated clothing. We conveniently ignore the various things that we don't do well at that time.
There are some things that we have never been able to forgive other humans for not being good at; one of these is 'being on the ball'.
We must expect no less than 100% effort and priority from every human being to not murder (barring exceptions such as right-to-die, abortion, or what have you), not rape, not steal in a harmful manner, not destroy things in a wanton manner. We expect no less than 100% effort and priority from every human being to protect their children, earn a living, respect highway laws.
The important list goes on for a long time. I wouldn't deny any of it; no less than civilization hangs on our joint compliance.
But while we don't expect 100% abilities in math, verbal, engineering, vocal, etc. - less important things - from everyone, we do expect 100% effort from everyone for other less important things - like 100% effort and cognizance, all the time.
You're not excused until you've made 100% effort. You can do anything if you'd only just put your mind to it. You're just not trying. You can't give up. You can solve this if you give it more time. You have to watch what you're doing at all times. You're not fulfilling your full potential.
We expect 100% competency in almost every non-specific discipline, even when it is perfectly obvious that no one is. Or maybe it's not so obvious? Is everyone so self-deceptive?
How many times do you think of an action as stupid? He's stupid for saying that. That was a stupid thing to do. If we all do things like this, isn't it a standard part of even a smart person? What, exactly, are we expecting?
How many times do you forget something "obvious"? How many times do you overlook something obvious, or forget to do something, or break something, carelessly? You can train yourself to get better in some things, if you give them priority; but in everything, all the time?
How easy is it to destroy twenty years of friendship with a careless slip of the tongue in the wrong place? For twenty years you thought she was fat, and if you once say it aloud, now she can't be friends with you because she knows what you "really think"? And how were you able to be friends for twenty years? A deception? Must something like "Wow! Your daughter's really developing!" spell the end of a relationship? [No, I didn't, but I almost did, once. I didn't say it to your daughter, so you can laugh; but what if I had?]
100% effort all the time, for everything, is hard. We are always so guarded, so tense. It's wearying. Sometimes, we break in a moment of confusion or inconsiderateness. Unless you are someone who makes inconsiderate into a lifestyle choice, the guard will go up again. Are we human enough to allow someone to collect themselves and move on?
When is 'good' good enough? Does it have to be 100%? All the time? Is there room for forgiveness, when we, also, might do the same thing someday, or may have done the same thing once?
Consider answering a slip - something careless, letting you down, something rude, etc.. - with tolerance. Give the other person a chance to see that you don't believe that that is the real potential of the person; that he or she is simply letting down a momentary guard.
Believe that people needs time to collect themselves. Return your words or actions as if what you heard or what happened was understandable, not something that 'no one in their right mind' would do. Assume that, together with your understanding, they will now try to fix what they did or move on. Allow them time without withdrawing love.
I wrote the following song more than ten years ago; it wants some music. Please consider it under creative commons.
GOOD ENOUGH MAN
Now I know I'm a decent fellow intellectually
But every time you talk you say there's something wrong with me
I'm aware that I have problems and they bother me as well
Though I think you still want me around, it's getting hard to tell
Chorus: So tell me right now that I'm your good enough man
Tell me right now that you can love me as I am
I know I've got my faults, honey, I'll fix them when I can
But tell me right now that I'm your good enough man
When you seldom say you love me but you often say what's wrong
The "love me" comes in weakly and the "wrong" comes in so strong
It may be that in your head what you feel is very clear
But my head can believe only what comes in through my ear
Everyone's got things about them that they need to change
Everyone's got pieces that need to rearrange
You may keep yours hidden and deny them, all the same
I just can't keep on running and I'm tired of this game
All of us need moments when there's nothing to decide
And all of us need times when we don't hang our heads and hide
And all of us need days without more criticizing words
When "You're good enough for me" is the only thing that's heard.
Yehuda
We used to tell children that 'trying' was irrelevant; what mattered was 'responsibility'. Then we told our children that making an effort was enough, and that results didn't matter. Nowadays, people seem to think that even effort isn't important, and that children should be praised simply for existing.
Both effort and results are important. The effort we make is a moral responsibility. The priority we make on achieving the results is also a moral responsibility. The end results matter significantly for all but our moral sense.
If we try to feed our family, 100% effort is morally worthwhile, even if we fail. And 100% priority is a requirement of 100% effort. In the end, if our family starves, the effort and priority that we gave matters to our moral conscience. But we still take seriously the 100% importance of our success.
Teaching children that effort doesn't matter, or that results don't matter, is a crime.
On the other hand, we say that not everyone can be good at everything, no matter hard they try. Your best is not always going to be good enough. But if you fail to be a successful pop-singer, did you lack 100% effort, 100% priority, or simply 100% success?
In the real world we give lip service to the idea that not everyone is good at everything. But we chuckle when someone is good at a word game but bad at Chess, or vice versa. Or when someone loses their keys, or can't seem to dress the children in coordinated clothing. We conveniently ignore the various things that we don't do well at that time.
There are some things that we have never been able to forgive other humans for not being good at; one of these is 'being on the ball'.
We must expect no less than 100% effort and priority from every human being to not murder (barring exceptions such as right-to-die, abortion, or what have you), not rape, not steal in a harmful manner, not destroy things in a wanton manner. We expect no less than 100% effort and priority from every human being to protect their children, earn a living, respect highway laws.
The important list goes on for a long time. I wouldn't deny any of it; no less than civilization hangs on our joint compliance.
But while we don't expect 100% abilities in math, verbal, engineering, vocal, etc. - less important things - from everyone, we do expect 100% effort from everyone for other less important things - like 100% effort and cognizance, all the time.
You're not excused until you've made 100% effort. You can do anything if you'd only just put your mind to it. You're just not trying. You can't give up. You can solve this if you give it more time. You have to watch what you're doing at all times. You're not fulfilling your full potential.
We expect 100% competency in almost every non-specific discipline, even when it is perfectly obvious that no one is. Or maybe it's not so obvious? Is everyone so self-deceptive?
How many times do you think of an action as stupid? He's stupid for saying that. That was a stupid thing to do. If we all do things like this, isn't it a standard part of even a smart person? What, exactly, are we expecting?
How many times do you forget something "obvious"? How many times do you overlook something obvious, or forget to do something, or break something, carelessly? You can train yourself to get better in some things, if you give them priority; but in everything, all the time?
How easy is it to destroy twenty years of friendship with a careless slip of the tongue in the wrong place? For twenty years you thought she was fat, and if you once say it aloud, now she can't be friends with you because she knows what you "really think"? And how were you able to be friends for twenty years? A deception? Must something like "Wow! Your daughter's really developing!" spell the end of a relationship? [No, I didn't, but I almost did, once. I didn't say it to your daughter, so you can laugh; but what if I had?]
100% effort all the time, for everything, is hard. We are always so guarded, so tense. It's wearying. Sometimes, we break in a moment of confusion or inconsiderateness. Unless you are someone who makes inconsiderate into a lifestyle choice, the guard will go up again. Are we human enough to allow someone to collect themselves and move on?
When is 'good' good enough? Does it have to be 100%? All the time? Is there room for forgiveness, when we, also, might do the same thing someday, or may have done the same thing once?
Consider answering a slip - something careless, letting you down, something rude, etc.. - with tolerance. Give the other person a chance to see that you don't believe that that is the real potential of the person; that he or she is simply letting down a momentary guard.
Believe that people needs time to collect themselves. Return your words or actions as if what you heard or what happened was understandable, not something that 'no one in their right mind' would do. Assume that, together with your understanding, they will now try to fix what they did or move on. Allow them time without withdrawing love.
I wrote the following song more than ten years ago; it wants some music. Please consider it under creative commons.
GOOD ENOUGH MAN
Now I know I'm a decent fellow intellectually
But every time you talk you say there's something wrong with me
I'm aware that I have problems and they bother me as well
Though I think you still want me around, it's getting hard to tell
Chorus: So tell me right now that I'm your good enough man
Tell me right now that you can love me as I am
I know I've got my faults, honey, I'll fix them when I can
But tell me right now that I'm your good enough man
When you seldom say you love me but you often say what's wrong
The "love me" comes in weakly and the "wrong" comes in so strong
It may be that in your head what you feel is very clear
But my head can believe only what comes in through my ear
Everyone's got things about them that they need to change
Everyone's got pieces that need to rearrange
You may keep yours hidden and deny them, all the same
I just can't keep on running and I'm tired of this game
All of us need moments when there's nothing to decide
And all of us need times when we don't hang our heads and hide
And all of us need days without more criticizing words
When "You're good enough for me" is the only thing that's heard.
Yehuda
Eighth Set of Puerto Rico Buildings
This is my eighth set. See here for other sets. See here for information about the game Puerto Rico.
Buyer's Market
1
1
Trader
At the end of the Trader phase, you may buy one barrel (except corn)
from the supply for market cost.
Poorhouse
2
1
Builder
+1 GP if you have 0 or 1 GP after building.
Reckless Miners
2
1
Settler
Turn over any one plantation. Flip a coin. If it comes up heads, the
plantation is now a quarry. If not, the land is destroyed; in this
case, move any colonist that was on the plantation to San Juan.
Schooner's Dock
3
1
Captain
You have a "wharf" with a capacity of 1 barrel.
Construction District
4
2
Builder
+1 VP for building.
Commodity Exporters
5
2
Captain
+1 VP when shipping indigo or sugar.
Mercantile District
5
2
Trader
+1 VP per trade.
Warlords
6
2
Captain
Pick any full ship. Flip a coin. If it comes up heads, take all but
one barrel from the ship onto your board; the remaining barrel is
returned to the supply, as usual. If not, lose 1 VP.
Workyard (no circles)
7
3
Mayor
+1 GP/colonist on San Juan at the end of Mayor. Max +5. Workyard does
not have to be manned to function.
Bulk Producers
8
3
Craftsman
+1 VP per three barrels of the same type you produce.
Business District
8
3
Builder
Pay 1 less for a building for each building you already own from the
same column.
Zoning Board
9
3
Mayor
Choose a plantation from the supply for each colonist you receive.
Mall
10
4
End Game
+2 VP per building from the first column.
Casino
10
4
End Game
Flip a coin twice. Add +1 VP to your score for each head that flips up.
Repeat as many times as you want. If you ever flip two tails, you lose
all of these points and may not flip again.
Monty's Hall
10
4
End Game
You may choose to accept +4 VP or you may choose an opponent. Your
opponent takes three pieces of paper, marks an X on one, and places them
face down without your seeing which is which. Choose one without
revealing it. Your opponent reveals one of other pieces of paper that
does not have an X on it. You may now choose to stick with your original
selection or switch to the other unrevealed paper. After making your
decision, if you have chosen the X, you receive +8 VP. Otherwise, you
receive +2 VP.
Monestary
10
4
Trader
+2 VP every time you could trade and do not.
Castle
12
10
End Game
No further function.
Buyer's Market
1
1
Trader
At the end of the Trader phase, you may buy one barrel (except corn)
from the supply for market cost.
Poorhouse
2
1
Builder
+1 GP if you have 0 or 1 GP after building.
Reckless Miners
2
1
Settler
Turn over any one plantation. Flip a coin. If it comes up heads, the
plantation is now a quarry. If not, the land is destroyed; in this
case, move any colonist that was on the plantation to San Juan.
Schooner's Dock
3
1
Captain
You have a "wharf" with a capacity of 1 barrel.
Construction District
4
2
Builder
+1 VP for building.
Commodity Exporters
5
2
Captain
+1 VP when shipping indigo or sugar.
Mercantile District
5
2
Trader
+1 VP per trade.
Warlords
6
2
Captain
Pick any full ship. Flip a coin. If it comes up heads, take all but
one barrel from the ship onto your board; the remaining barrel is
returned to the supply, as usual. If not, lose 1 VP.
Workyard (no circles)
7
3
Mayor
+1 GP/colonist on San Juan at the end of Mayor. Max +5. Workyard does
not have to be manned to function.
Bulk Producers
8
3
Craftsman
+1 VP per three barrels of the same type you produce.
Business District
8
3
Builder
Pay 1 less for a building for each building you already own from the
same column.
Zoning Board
9
3
Mayor
Choose a plantation from the supply for each colonist you receive.
Mall
10
4
End Game
+2 VP per building from the first column.
Casino
10
4
End Game
Flip a coin twice. Add +1 VP to your score for each head that flips up.
Repeat as many times as you want. If you ever flip two tails, you lose
all of these points and may not flip again.
Monty's Hall
10
4
End Game
You may choose to accept +4 VP or you may choose an opponent. Your
opponent takes three pieces of paper, marks an X on one, and places them
face down without your seeing which is which. Choose one without
revealing it. Your opponent reveals one of other pieces of paper that
does not have an X on it. You may now choose to stick with your original
selection or switch to the other unrevealed paper. After making your
decision, if you have chosen the X, you receive +8 VP. Otherwise, you
receive +2 VP.
Monestary
10
4
Trader
+2 VP every time you could trade and do not.
Castle
12
10
End Game
No further function.
'Twas the Month of Bad Poetry
'Twas the month before Christmas, in all cyberspace
This poem was being abused every place
From new-moms to gaming, blog advice to sports,
Writers and bloggers adapted it for all sorts
Of really bad poetry, trying to be cute
And others then meme'd it, following suit.
Even the media, though usually staid,
Referenced this poem in headlines they made:
"'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the mall"
Farmington's Daily recited with gall
Twas the night before Christmas, and all through Iraq
The Huffington huffed on the latest attack
"All through the net", or "All had the flu"
"The stores were all closed", "Through the hotel", too,
"All through the Alps", "the tube" got some space
As did "Ramadaan", and "All through the base"
I'm not the only one tired of this joke
(Here is another quite frustrated bloke)
So please cut it out, and don't be a pest,
It's time that we gave this poem a rest.
Bah Humbug,
Yehuda
This poem was being abused every place
From new-moms to gaming, blog advice to sports,
Writers and bloggers adapted it for all sorts
Of really bad poetry, trying to be cute
And others then meme'd it, following suit.
Even the media, though usually staid,
Referenced this poem in headlines they made:
"'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the mall"
Farmington's Daily recited with gall
Twas the night before Christmas, and all through Iraq
The Huffington huffed on the latest attack
"All through the net", or "All had the flu"
"The stores were all closed", "Through the hotel", too,
"All through the Alps", "the tube" got some space
As did "Ramadaan", and "All through the base"
I'm not the only one tired of this joke
(Here is another quite frustrated bloke)
So please cut it out, and don't be a pest,
It's time that we gave this poem a rest.
Bah Humbug,
Yehuda
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Words I learned while proof-reading Rachel's thesis
This will be updated as I read more chapters.
Definitions can usually be found on dictionary.com .
analeptically
apotropaic
chronotope
concord
doxology
eisegetical
elide
elision
exegete
idyll
introject
lection
metonymic
monovalent (*)
mytheme
paronomasia
pericope
peroration
postlapsarian
pre-mundane
proem
recension
retrojection (*)
shinny
syncretistic
synecdochic
synoptic
theophany
(*) not used in the medical/scientific sense found on dictionary.com .
Does not include words that I kind of knew but need to clarify, such as 'hermeneutic'.
Your score?
Yehuda
Definitions can usually be found on dictionary.com .
analeptically
apotropaic
chronotope
concord
doxology
eisegetical
elide
elision
exegete
idyll
introject
lection
metonymic
monovalent (*)
mytheme
paronomasia
pericope
peroration
postlapsarian
pre-mundane
proem
recension
retrojection (*)
shinny
syncretistic
synecdochic
synoptic
theophany
(*) not used in the medical/scientific sense found on dictionary.com .
Does not include words that I kind of knew but need to clarify, such as 'hermeneutic'.
Your score?
Yehuda
Problogger Project: You All Blew It
The latest Problogger project was Reviews and Previews, and you were supposed to write either about the previous year or the next. Here are all the submissions.
Even though I didn't win any prizes, I still enjoyed creating a nice post and gained some readers as a result.
Project Lessons Learned:
You all blew it
Nearly every submission broke the cardinal rule of blogging: your blog is for your readers, not for you (unless you are the only reader that you care about, in which case, write what you want; this is not the case for most Problogger followers, however).
Taking the opportunity to write about how you feel about your own blogging, Problogger, your niche, or anything else highly personal and impractical is no way to earn readers. Neither is a recap of well-known events ("Vista came out"), or a prediction of something unexciting ("video will continue to grow").
Posts with lackluster headers don't get read
I only clicked on them because I forced myself to read them. In some cases, I still didn't get past the first line.
I often didn't even get to the first line if the header was followed by an Ad-sense block big enough to push the first line off the end of the screen.
Show your best work
Use the opportunity to show people your best work when you know lots of people are going to be reading it. Make the post easy to read, scan-able (not big blocks of dense text), and with links to your best posts prominent - that's what I want to see as a new reader, and that's what you want me to see as a blogger.
The post also has to stand alone, and not assume that readers are familiar with you or your work.
And please, unless you have a blog with mostly photos, drop the light text on dark background. It's hard to read.
Don't comment spam
Like I said after the last project, if you comment on other people's posts, don't cut and paste the same comment onto every post you read in the project; many people are going to read many of the posts, and they will be less than thrilled to see "Great post! Here's my submission ..." repeated all over the place by the same person. We call that spam.
And frankly, I don't really need you to say "check out my submission" with a link. I either was or wasn't going to, anyway, depending on whether your blog is in my niche.
Best posts
Here are the best of the project submissions as they appealed to me - pretty much anything that didn't make me fall asleep. Some good submissions were just not at all in my interest radar (or language):
Surviving the Holidays: Why I won "Times Person of the Year". Funny.
Fireflies in the Cloud: 2007 Psychic Predictions. Also funny.
German Impressions: The Top Headlines Of 2007. Good use of sub-headings.
littlemummy.com: A Year in Pictures. To the point and cute.
fivecentnickel.com: Lessons from the Most Talked About Topics of 2006. Text is too small, but nice to see the links.
worshippl.us: Preaching, Unicycle, Broken Ankle, and Swearing. Great story.
the Bivings report: The Best Websites You’ve Never Visited (and some you have). Good info and layout.
Writing Nerd: The Top 7 Writing Contests to Enter in 2007. Good info. Totally useful.
45n5: How I made $4000 in 2006 with Hypertext. Direct.
Japan Probe: The First Annual Japan Probe Awards For Excellence In The Field of Japanese Commercials. Great content.
CrzyLand.com: Top 10 “Crzy” Tech Gifts. Interesting content.
Daily Blog Tips: 101 Blog Tips I learned in 2006. Clean, professional, useful, controversial.
MacStansbury: Blogs are dead - thanks, Digg. Title, sub-titles. Intelligent.
the simple dollar: Six Trends For 2007. Topical and different.
CouplesQuestions premarital blog: 2007 Not Everyone’s Year of the Dolphin. Good list. Why is this on a secure server?
Tips for Public Speaking: Public Speaking Disasters of 2006. Very good content.
The Men's Gift Guide: Early Notice Of What He May Be Getting Under The Tree. Interesting content.
The Reviewer: The Reviewer’s Best and Worst of 2006!. Good content.
Kineda: Top 10 Ugliest Sneakers of 2006. Fabulous content and pictures.
Eggo: The Best Posts of 2006. Useful link into other posts.
paddling with a camera: 12 Pictures and Reflections from Paddling with a Camera in 2006. Great pictures and summaries.
Quartz Mountain: 2006 Search Wrap-Up. Interesting information.
Get back to work.
Yehuda
Even though I didn't win any prizes, I still enjoyed creating a nice post and gained some readers as a result.
Project Lessons Learned:
You all blew it
Nearly every submission broke the cardinal rule of blogging: your blog is for your readers, not for you (unless you are the only reader that you care about, in which case, write what you want; this is not the case for most Problogger followers, however).
Taking the opportunity to write about how you feel about your own blogging, Problogger, your niche, or anything else highly personal and impractical is no way to earn readers. Neither is a recap of well-known events ("Vista came out"), or a prediction of something unexciting ("video will continue to grow").
Posts with lackluster headers don't get read
I only clicked on them because I forced myself to read them. In some cases, I still didn't get past the first line.
I often didn't even get to the first line if the header was followed by an Ad-sense block big enough to push the first line off the end of the screen.
Show your best work
Use the opportunity to show people your best work when you know lots of people are going to be reading it. Make the post easy to read, scan-able (not big blocks of dense text), and with links to your best posts prominent - that's what I want to see as a new reader, and that's what you want me to see as a blogger.
The post also has to stand alone, and not assume that readers are familiar with you or your work.
And please, unless you have a blog with mostly photos, drop the light text on dark background. It's hard to read.
Don't comment spam
Like I said after the last project, if you comment on other people's posts, don't cut and paste the same comment onto every post you read in the project; many people are going to read many of the posts, and they will be less than thrilled to see "Great post! Here's my submission ..." repeated all over the place by the same person. We call that spam.
And frankly, I don't really need you to say "check out my submission" with a link. I either was or wasn't going to, anyway, depending on whether your blog is in my niche.
Best posts
Here are the best of the project submissions as they appealed to me - pretty much anything that didn't make me fall asleep. Some good submissions were just not at all in my interest radar (or language):
Surviving the Holidays: Why I won "Times Person of the Year". Funny.
Fireflies in the Cloud: 2007 Psychic Predictions. Also funny.
German Impressions: The Top Headlines Of 2007. Good use of sub-headings.
littlemummy.com: A Year in Pictures. To the point and cute.
fivecentnickel.com: Lessons from the Most Talked About Topics of 2006. Text is too small, but nice to see the links.
worshippl.us: Preaching, Unicycle, Broken Ankle, and Swearing. Great story.
the Bivings report: The Best Websites You’ve Never Visited (and some you have). Good info and layout.
Writing Nerd: The Top 7 Writing Contests to Enter in 2007. Good info. Totally useful.
45n5: How I made $4000 in 2006 with Hypertext. Direct.
Japan Probe: The First Annual Japan Probe Awards For Excellence In The Field of Japanese Commercials. Great content.
CrzyLand.com: Top 10 “Crzy” Tech Gifts. Interesting content.
Daily Blog Tips: 101 Blog Tips I learned in 2006. Clean, professional, useful, controversial.
MacStansbury: Blogs are dead - thanks, Digg. Title, sub-titles. Intelligent.
the simple dollar: Six Trends For 2007. Topical and different.
CouplesQuestions premarital blog: 2007 Not Everyone’s Year of the Dolphin. Good list. Why is this on a secure server?
Tips for Public Speaking: Public Speaking Disasters of 2006. Very good content.
The Men's Gift Guide: Early Notice Of What He May Be Getting Under The Tree. Interesting content.
The Reviewer: The Reviewer’s Best and Worst of 2006!. Good content.
Kineda: Top 10 Ugliest Sneakers of 2006. Fabulous content and pictures.
Eggo: The Best Posts of 2006. Useful link into other posts.
paddling with a camera: 12 Pictures and Reflections from Paddling with a Camera in 2006. Great pictures and summaries.
Quartz Mountain: 2006 Search Wrap-Up. Interesting information.
Get back to work.
Yehuda
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