joe, beta

Nikki Johnson-Huston, Esq. has an amazing story. She has gone from being homeless to being an award-winning young attorney in Philadelphia.

You need to read this entire interview -- http://huff.to/cCEbSp -- and keep in mind that our problems, although often daunting to us, are not new to this world, and are not the worst of all possible circumstances.

Less polished: Shit sucks sometimes, but people have overcome much worse, and attained great heights. So suck it up: being a loser isn't an accident, folks, it's a choice.

Over the weekend, [Larry Downes] published an op-ed in The Des Moines Register encouraging the FCC to heed the lessons of the first national broadband plan, the one Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin sent to Congress in 1808.

Gallatin was a remarkable figure in the early history of the federal government, and his accomplishments include being the longest-serving Treasury secretary (1801-1812) to date. His report on the Subject of Public Roads and Canals, completed at the request of Congress, remains one of the seminal documents in the history of American infrastructure. It is a masterpiece of dispassionate policy-making and clear-headed writing.

You need to go read this. It's a really cool story that shows how robust the parallels between two seemingly different eras can be.

"The First National Broadband Plan" by Larry Downes:
http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/node/6472

And the editorial he mentions in the article above:
http://bit.ly/downesonbroadband

Give Me My Data is a Facebook application designed to give users the ability to export their data out of Facebook for any purpose they see fit. This could include making artwork, archiving and deleting your account, or circumventing the interface Facebook provides. Data can be exported in CSV, XML, and other common formats. Give Me My Data is currently in public-beta.

Give Me My Data is developed by Owen Mundy.

You can't re-apply it to your profile with this tool, but you can extract it from Facebook's servers so it isn't lost forever. This may or may not be important to you, depending on how intricately you prepared your Facebook profile.

"Some Thoughts on the State of Erie After Gasperini" by Richard D. Freer

I wanted a link for this so I can read it later. No, really, I'm serious.

I am.

Welcome to Short, Fast, and Deadly. An eLit Mag where brevity reigns and the loquacious are sent to contemplate their sins in the rejection bin. Don't be afraid. Write Short. Write Fast. Above all, write Deadly. You'll be fine.

Short, Fast, and Deadly is published by Joseph A. W. Quintela. Fresh kills are posted on Sundays, ostensibly because it's on this day that God is too busy to notice. 

Think you have what it takes? Then send us prose written in 420 characters or less (Yes, that's characters, not words). Otherwise, just brew a cup of coffee. Sit back. Enjoy the carnage. You won't have to pay attention for long. We promise.

I've only read a few issues of the fourteen weekly-on-Sundays "eLit Mag" but I'm enjoying the concept.

I spent far too much time on one story as part of my final project while completing undergraduate work at Saint Joseph's University. I was happy with the somewhat sprawling result, but realized that I really don't have the talent or the time to squeeze out a proper short story.

Around that time, I started reading Charles Bukowski and, whatever you may think of the man--the words "drunkard," "misogynist," and "misanthrope" come to mind, although his poetry reveals the decent human being that Bukowski spent much of his life drowning in alcohol--his distinctive style can be revitalizing.

Bukowski's not the first person to do much of their work in the form of vignettes--a particularly Bukoskian collection is "The Most Beautiful Woman in Town"--but Bukowski works wonders in a few pages that most never approach in three hundred pages.

So, as any lost writer would do, I started to emulate a new predecessor, hoping I'd figure out how I was supposed to write by scraping my own path out of the ground first trampled by Bukowski and his ilk.

Of course, that was a silly way to look at it, but "me now" always thinks "me five or six years ago" was hopelessly silly. But I enjoyed the punchy immediacy of the vignette, and I still indulge in one every now and then, clacking out a page or two on one of the old typewriters I insist on keeping around the house.

I had trouble, until today, putting into words the exact characteristics of those shortest of stories that make them so appealing to me. But now I know.

I like them because they're "Short, Fast, and Deadly." So, without further bloviating from me:

"Short, Fast and Deadly"
http://www.shortfastanddeadly.com

See also:

"The Most Beautiful Woman in Town"
http://bit.ly/mostbeautifulwoman

More Bukowski:
http://bit.ly/bukowskibiblio

I logged into my Google Reader account and saw this:

"New! Google Reader Play is a fun way to browse interesting stuff on the web. Give it a try!"

So I did. And it looks cool. But it is too late in the evening to try new things for very long, so I'm going to bed and I'll check it out in the morning.

I started watching hockey and the Flyers with my dad as early as I can remember. We had a game plan for a couple seasons at the old spectrum and witnessed Bobby Clarke’s and also Bill Barber’s number retirement. I’ve been lucky enough to find a woman who shares my passion for the game and for a team (Red Wings).

I started Ice The Puck to get away from the major market web sites. I've grown tired of the insincere and inconsistent drivel spewed by beat writers and "sports news" sites. I can only say so much in a comment on those sites anyway. I figured I needed a larger megaphone - Welcome to Ice The Puck.

My long-time friend and co-conspirator Jonny B. recently opened his own site at Ice the Puck, making up for the same-old-same-old coverage offered by sports sites and beat writers. His blog over there will provide quality coverage from a Flyers fan who literally bleeds orange and black. I've seen it. It's kind of nasty. And awesome.

Nasty-awesome.

Anyway, get your read on, hockey fans!:
http://www.icethepuck.net/

Copy and paste the link below to add Ice the Puck to your RSS reader:
http://www.icethepuck.net/?feed=rss2

This was cross-posted at The Rotten Word.