Andrew Bosworth, one of the early engineers and leaders at Facebook tells the story about how he almost got fired in the early days despite being a top engineer. “If I was a good engineer, why would it be hard to work with me? Of course that question was the very foundation of my problem.”
Monaco and Eze
Day trip to Eze, Chevre d’Or where I had the best meal of my life, and walking through Monaco, ending with the Monaco Media Forum.
On the recommendation of my friend Timothy Young I checked out the book The Martian: A Novel by Andy Weir. Think of it like Shackleton’s Voyage (a great recommendation from Toni) but on Mars. I really enjoyed the book, and if you like geeky, science-filled novels you will too. One thing about the publishing I thought was really cool, as the Wikipedia puts it:
Having been rebuffed by literary agents when trying to get prior books published, Weir decided to put the book online in serial format one chapter at a time for free at his website. At the request of fans he made an Amazon Kindle version available through Amazon.com at 99 cents (the minimum he could set the price). The Kindle edition rose to the top of Amazon’s list of best-selling science-fiction titles, where it sold 35,000 copies in three months, more than had previously downloaded it for free. This garnered the attention of publishers: Podium Publishing, an audiobook publisher, signed for the audiobook rights in January 2013. Weir sold the print rights to Crown in March 2013 for six figures.
I was hoping it was on a WordPress blog, but it appears to be more of a static HTML site (his official site is WP-powered) and includes some awesome short vignettes like Meeting Sarah.
Around the Garden
Around the garden at my parents’ house.
Consistent Hashing
Programmer’s Toolbox Part 3: Consistent Hashing. It would be interesting if something like this could be folded into the currently random slave server selection for HyperDB.
Accenture GCF208 Day 1
Accenture Global Convergence Forum 2008 in Miami, Florida. Conference; Devitos; Delano hotel.
Mark on DRM
Paris Walk and Dinner
Walking around Paris, then dinner with Tony and friends at Chez Savy.
Whuffie Interview
I was on The Whuffie Factor, an interview with Tara Hunt in anticipation of her new book. I’ve already pre-ordered Tara’s book, you can do so too on Amazon.
Speaking at Start Conference
Jeffrey Veen and Bryan Mason are putting together a very interesting conference called Start. It’s only $200 and the morning format is short-form interviews with interesting people, and somehow I slipped in there. Mark the date — August 7, 2008.
Social Networking Sanity Check
Social Networking Gets a Sanity Check, from GigaOM.
Visiting Houston
Visiting home in Houston.
WordPress / Yahoo Brickhouse Meetup
If you’re in the San Francisco area join us at the Yahoo! Brickhouse for a WordPress meetup this Wednesday. This’ll actually be my first time at the Brickhouse, but I hear they have some mean Wii players.
Sphere Wrap Party
Sphere celebration party at Phil’s house.
Theme Directory Interview
Pre-WordCamp Dinner
A dinner for speakers and Automatticians at Jack Falstaff preceding WordCamp SF 2008.
SxSW 2009 Panel Vote
Riding the Crazyhorse: Iterative Testing and Design of WordPress. If that sounds like something you’d want to see at SxSW 2009 presented by Liz Danzico, Jane Wells, and yours truly then vote early and often. Polls close soon.
Mark Cuban, Jason Calacanis, Hackaday, and Royal Navy
Mark Cuban, Jason Calacanis, Hackaday, and the Royal Navy all now have WordPress-powered blogs. The first three switched from Blogsmith. Hat tip: Automattic Publisher Blog.
Om’s Birthday Dinner
A True dinner for Om‘s birthday and guest of honor Kara Swisher.
Buenos Aires Day 1
Empanada dinner and Obama election party at Sacramento in Buenos Aires, Argentina.