What would you ask Mr T if you met him Starbucks?
I don't know if this is the perfect question or not, but it is certainly a first order approximation.
How to lay people off
Guy Kawasaki tells CEOs how to fire people, he makes an interesting point, although I've never worked somewhere going through layoffs, and hopefully never will.
Goat demoted
It must be a hard life being a ceremonial goat, especially when you can be demoted for trying to "butt the drummers nether regions".
It seems to me that most people don’t save enough for retirement
This article seems to confirm that my parents generation isn't saving enough for retirement, and I think that's true of my generation as well. The problem is that it simply isn't sexy to save money in a super fund, or a 401k as they're called in the US. I think it's even worse for the average American though, because the cost of living in the places with the jobs is a lot higher, 401k saving is optional (so people don't do it as much), and you get direct control over your investments (which means people make poor choices like putting all their money in Enron or Vonage). Oh, and don't start me on the complications of earning retirement income in US dollars when I retire. I don't even want to think about that at the moment.
Bike maintenance
I've been noticing that the ride to and from work has been becoming more and more effort. At first I thought it was just that I am getting slacker in my old age or something, but tonight on the way home I noticed that the rear tire was looking a little squooshed when I sat on the bike. I therefore gave in and performed some basic bike maintenance tonight -- removed the 5mm of mud from the frame (pretty good given it hasn't rained here in months), the general layer of dirt and grime on everything, and the grease buildup I get on the rear wheel which I assume is caused by the grease from the rear hub). I checked the tire pressure as well... It was a third of what it should have been, so hopefully I am staring down the barrel of a much lower rolling resistance.
Amazon author bio
Amazon wanted an author bio for their Amazon Connect program which I thought I would give a try. Here's what they got: Michael Still released his first Open Source project in July 2000, and has been actively developing ever since. He has had a variety of articles published by IBM DeveloperWorks, and once made a Tux out of fairy lights. He is the author of the recently published "Definitive Guide to ImageMagick" from Apress. His gym program states his exercise goal as "develop laser death vision". Michael grew up in Canberra, Australia but now lives and works in Silicon Valley for Google with his wife and two kids. Michael is a past committee member of AUUG, Linux Australia, and the linux.conf.au 2005 committee.
Online license plate simulators
Custom number plates in the US are really cheap (less than $100 USD). Some states even give you online simulators for them too: California Virginia California only has a few custom backgrounds, whereas Virginia has over 180! The fight terrorism Virginia plates are pretty odd too.
Gordon’s in Texas
Gordon is in Texas and having a ball, which is good to hear. His picture is quite cool too. He points out some interesting aspects of America in the post as well. Let's work through them one at a time together: I haven't stayed in a Best Western yet, but so far I would have to say that the hotels I have stayed in have all been pretty good. Now, that might be because I am willing to spend money on hotels, but I think it's also because it's so easy here to change hotel if the first one sucks. For example, the hotel I stayed in in Portland had a many in a silly hat: I have also seen churched with threatening signs, again in Portland for me. It seems to me that perhaps the clergy don't want to be too bothered by the huddled masses? Parking places with funny little boxes to poke money I thought was a Pacific northwest thing (as I've seen them in Oregon and Washington). It's reassuring to know that other parts of the country have these too. And yes, in general people here are wonderfully friendly. Oh, and Gordon, don't forget to checkout…
Color ebook!
By far the most consistent criticism of The Definitive Guide to ImageMagick has been that the sample images need to be in color. I would have to agree with this point, which is why I am delighted that Apress took the time to go back around the production process and produce a version of the ebook with color images. It's cool that they were willing to put in the effort, and not only that, they're giving anyone who has purchased the ebook to date a free upgrade. Even better, now if you buy the printed book on Amazon, you get the color ebook for free! I have a limited number of color ebooks to give away, so if you're interested please leave a comment and explain why you'd like one.