The home run scenario for blogging is incredibly alluring -- thousands of ravenous fans fawning over your next thought-provoking or comedic masterpiece -- but time and time again I fail to meet these expectations or manage them more appropriately. I enter the same cycle each time:Panglott's Garden has been running for some two and a half years, mostly because I think of it as an infrequently- and irregularly-published public commonplace book of interest to few, more than a blog of the Twitter Age.
Blog Lifecycle
1) Euphoric moment of inspiration
2) Pseudo-maniacal and self-indulgent perusing of domains
3) Careful consideration of theme and design
4) The inaugural post - "Hello world!"
5) The 2-4 post honeymoon phase
6) Waning and changing interests
7) Feelings of desperation and apathy from low engagement
8) Inevitable abandonment :(
It turns out that this cycle may not be uncommon. Surveys have shown that 95% of blogs are abandoned within 120 days and 60-80% of them abandoned within the first month.
Showing posts with label about. Show all posts
Showing posts with label about. Show all posts
Monday, October 17, 2011
Blog lifecycles
It's sometimes frustrating that 95% of blogs are abandoned after their authors lose interest:
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Greatest hits from the Zombie Apocalypse
My previous blog (2006-2008) was known as Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse, as noted before, and mostly consisted of tongue-in-cheek reviews of zombie movies.
I've been considering importing at least some of that old content, especially now that the company hosting the old blog is changing its business model. My plan at present is to post stuff here backdated to the date of its original post, but edit the content as I see fit: Archive the interesting stuff, but give it a buff and polish. Stay tuned.
I've been considering importing at least some of that old content, especially now that the company hosting the old blog is changing its business model. My plan at present is to post stuff here backdated to the date of its original post, but edit the content as I see fit: Archive the interesting stuff, but give it a buff and polish. Stay tuned.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
I write like horror
A few moments ago I idly succumbed to the "I Write Like" meme going around on Facebook. I plugged the text of this old blog post into their analyzer and got this result:
Horrors! I have never read Dan Brown. Because Geoffrey K. Pullum's hilarious review at Language Log has convinced me that he is a contemporary Edward Bulwer-Lytton.
I write like Dan Brown? This aggression will not stand, man! So I try again with the text of this blog post. The result?
An improvement, I suppose. Although it seems my writing remains likely to irritate the guys at LanguageLog, even if I don't share DFW's absurd prescriptivism.
Horrors! I have never read Dan Brown. Because Geoffrey K. Pullum's hilarious review at Language Log has convinced me that he is a contemporary Edward Bulwer-Lytton.
I write like Dan Brown? This aggression will not stand, man! So I try again with the text of this blog post. The result?
An improvement, I suppose. Although it seems my writing remains likely to irritate the guys at LanguageLog, even if I don't share DFW's absurd prescriptivism.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
On Lupercalia, 2010 CE
Today is the 56th day of winter, in the 2,010th year of the common era. Today is a celebration descended from the Roman ritual of Lupercalia, celebrated in a colorful way by them, and renamed by the Christians after one of their saints, in the usual way.
Today we took possession of our snow-blanketed house. Another snowstorm is due tonight.
Weird.
Today we took possession of our snow-blanketed house. Another snowstorm is due tonight.
Weird.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Open Game License 1.0a
All Open Game Content on Panglott's Garden will be clearly marked as such and linked to this license.
OPEN GAME LICENSE Version 1.0a
The following text is the property of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. and is Copyright 2000 Wizards of the Coast, Inc (“Wizards”). All Rights Reserved.
1. Definitions: (a) “Contributors” means the copyright and/or trademark owners who have contributed Open Game Content; (b) “Derivative Material” means copyrighted material including derivative works and translations (including into other computer languages), potation, modification, correction, addition, extension, upgrade, improvement, compilation, abridgment or other form in which an existing work may be recast, transformed or adapted; (c) “Distribute” means to reproduce, license, rent, lease, sell, broadcast, publicly display, transmit or otherwise distribute; (d) “Open Game Content” means the game mechanic and includes the methods, procedures, processes and routines to the extent such content does not embody the Product Identity and is an enhancement over the prior art and any additional content clearly identified as Open Game Content by the Contributor, and means any work covered by this License, including translations and derivative works under copyright law, but specifically excludes Product Identity. (e) “Product Identity” means product and product line names, logos and identifying marks including trade dress; artifacts, creatures, characters, stories, storylines, plots, thematic elements, dialogue, incidents, language, artwork, symbols, designs, depictions, likenesses, formats, poses, concepts, themes and graphic, photographic and other visual or audio representations; names and descriptions of characters, spells, enchantments, personalities, teams, personas, likenesses and special abilities; places, locations, environments, creatures, equipment, magical or supernatural abilities or effects, logos, symbols, or graphic designs; and any other trademark or registered trademark clearly identified as Product identity by the owner of the Product Identity, and which specifically excludes the Open Game Content; (f) “Trademark” means the logos, names, mark, sign, motto, designs that are used by a Contributor to identify itself or its products or the associated products contributed to the Open Game License by the Contributor (g) “Use”, “Used” or “Using” means to use, Distribute, copy, edit, format, modify, translate and otherwise create Derivative Material of Open Game Content. (h) “You” or “Your” means the licensee in terms of this agreement.
2. The License: This License applies to any Open Game Content that contains a notice indicating that the Open Game Content may only be Used under and in terms of this License. You must affix such a notice to any Open Game Content that you Use. No terms may be added to or subtracted from this License except as described by the License itself. No other terms or conditions may be applied to any Open Game Content distributed using this License.
3. Offer and Acceptance: By Using the Open Game Content You indicate Your acceptance of the terms of this License.
4. Grant and Consideration: In consideration for agreeing to use this License, the Contributors grant You a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license with the exact terms of this License to Use, the Open Game Content.
5. Representation of Authority to Contribute: If You are contributing original material as Open Game Content, You represent that Your Contributions are Your original creation and/or You have sufficient rights to grant the rights conveyed by this License.
6. Notice of License Copyright: You must update the COPYRIGHT NOTICE portion of this License to include the exact text of the COPYRIGHT NOTICE of any Open Game Content You are copying, modifying or distributing, and You must add the title, the copyright date, and the copyright holder's name to the COPYRIGHT NOTICE of any original Open Game Content you Distribute.
7. Use of Product Identity: You agree not to Use any Product Identity, including as an indication as to compatibility, except as expressly licensed in another, independent Agreement with the owner of each element of that Product Identity. You agree not to indicate compatibility or co-adaptability with any Trademark or Registered Trademark in conjunction with a work containing Open Game Content except as expressly licensed in another, independent Agreement with the owner of such Trademark or Registered Trademark. The use of any Product Identity in Open Game Content does not constitute a challenge to the ownership of that Product Identity. The owner of any Product Identity used in Open Game Content shall retain all rights, title and interest in and to that Product Identity.
8. Identification: If you distribute Open Game Content You must clearly indicate which portions of the work that you are distributing are Open Game Content.
9. Updating the License: Wizards or its designated Agents may publish updated versions of this License. You may use any authorized version of this License to copy, modify and distribute any Open Game Content originally distributed under any version of this License.
10. Copy of this License: You MUST include a copy of this License with every copy of the Open Game Content You distribute.
11. Use of Contributor Credits: You may not market or advertise the Open Game Content using the name of any Contributor unless You have written permission from the Contributor to do so.
12. Inability to Comply: If it is impossible for You to comply with any of the terms of this License with respect to some or all of the Open Game Content due to statute, judicial order, or governmental regulation then You may not Use any Open Game Material so affected.
13. Termination: This License will terminate automatically if You fail to comply with all terms herein and fail to cure such breach within 30 days of becoming aware of the breach. All sublicenses shall survive the termination of this License.
14. Reformation: If any provision of this License is held to be unenforceable, such provision shall be reformed only to the extent necessary to make it enforceable.
15. COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Open Game License v 1.0a Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
System Reference Document. Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, based on material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
Panglott's Garden, Copyright 2009-2010, Jeremiah Rose.
Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook. Copyright 2009, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Author: Jason Bulmahn, based on material by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, and Skip Williams.
Pathfinder RPG Bestiary, © 2009, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Author: Jason Bulmahn, based on material by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, and Skip Williams.
Tome of Horrors. Copyright 2002, Necromancer Games, Inc.; Authors: Scott Greene, with Clark Peterson, Erica Balsley, Kevin Baase, Casey Christofferson, Lance Hawvermale, Travis Hawvermale, Patrick Lawinger, and Bill Webb; Based on original content from TSR.
END OF LICENSE
OPEN GAME LICENSE Version 1.0a
The following text is the property of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. and is Copyright 2000 Wizards of the Coast, Inc (“Wizards”). All Rights Reserved.
1. Definitions: (a) “Contributors” means the copyright and/or trademark owners who have contributed Open Game Content; (b) “Derivative Material” means copyrighted material including derivative works and translations (including into other computer languages), potation, modification, correction, addition, extension, upgrade, improvement, compilation, abridgment or other form in which an existing work may be recast, transformed or adapted; (c) “Distribute” means to reproduce, license, rent, lease, sell, broadcast, publicly display, transmit or otherwise distribute; (d) “Open Game Content” means the game mechanic and includes the methods, procedures, processes and routines to the extent such content does not embody the Product Identity and is an enhancement over the prior art and any additional content clearly identified as Open Game Content by the Contributor, and means any work covered by this License, including translations and derivative works under copyright law, but specifically excludes Product Identity. (e) “Product Identity” means product and product line names, logos and identifying marks including trade dress; artifacts, creatures, characters, stories, storylines, plots, thematic elements, dialogue, incidents, language, artwork, symbols, designs, depictions, likenesses, formats, poses, concepts, themes and graphic, photographic and other visual or audio representations; names and descriptions of characters, spells, enchantments, personalities, teams, personas, likenesses and special abilities; places, locations, environments, creatures, equipment, magical or supernatural abilities or effects, logos, symbols, or graphic designs; and any other trademark or registered trademark clearly identified as Product identity by the owner of the Product Identity, and which specifically excludes the Open Game Content; (f) “Trademark” means the logos, names, mark, sign, motto, designs that are used by a Contributor to identify itself or its products or the associated products contributed to the Open Game License by the Contributor (g) “Use”, “Used” or “Using” means to use, Distribute, copy, edit, format, modify, translate and otherwise create Derivative Material of Open Game Content. (h) “You” or “Your” means the licensee in terms of this agreement.
2. The License: This License applies to any Open Game Content that contains a notice indicating that the Open Game Content may only be Used under and in terms of this License. You must affix such a notice to any Open Game Content that you Use. No terms may be added to or subtracted from this License except as described by the License itself. No other terms or conditions may be applied to any Open Game Content distributed using this License.
3. Offer and Acceptance: By Using the Open Game Content You indicate Your acceptance of the terms of this License.
4. Grant and Consideration: In consideration for agreeing to use this License, the Contributors grant You a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license with the exact terms of this License to Use, the Open Game Content.
5. Representation of Authority to Contribute: If You are contributing original material as Open Game Content, You represent that Your Contributions are Your original creation and/or You have sufficient rights to grant the rights conveyed by this License.
6. Notice of License Copyright: You must update the COPYRIGHT NOTICE portion of this License to include the exact text of the COPYRIGHT NOTICE of any Open Game Content You are copying, modifying or distributing, and You must add the title, the copyright date, and the copyright holder's name to the COPYRIGHT NOTICE of any original Open Game Content you Distribute.
7. Use of Product Identity: You agree not to Use any Product Identity, including as an indication as to compatibility, except as expressly licensed in another, independent Agreement with the owner of each element of that Product Identity. You agree not to indicate compatibility or co-adaptability with any Trademark or Registered Trademark in conjunction with a work containing Open Game Content except as expressly licensed in another, independent Agreement with the owner of such Trademark or Registered Trademark. The use of any Product Identity in Open Game Content does not constitute a challenge to the ownership of that Product Identity. The owner of any Product Identity used in Open Game Content shall retain all rights, title and interest in and to that Product Identity.
8. Identification: If you distribute Open Game Content You must clearly indicate which portions of the work that you are distributing are Open Game Content.
9. Updating the License: Wizards or its designated Agents may publish updated versions of this License. You may use any authorized version of this License to copy, modify and distribute any Open Game Content originally distributed under any version of this License.
10. Copy of this License: You MUST include a copy of this License with every copy of the Open Game Content You distribute.
11. Use of Contributor Credits: You may not market or advertise the Open Game Content using the name of any Contributor unless You have written permission from the Contributor to do so.
12. Inability to Comply: If it is impossible for You to comply with any of the terms of this License with respect to some or all of the Open Game Content due to statute, judicial order, or governmental regulation then You may not Use any Open Game Material so affected.
13. Termination: This License will terminate automatically if You fail to comply with all terms herein and fail to cure such breach within 30 days of becoming aware of the breach. All sublicenses shall survive the termination of this License.
14. Reformation: If any provision of this License is held to be unenforceable, such provision shall be reformed only to the extent necessary to make it enforceable.
15. COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Open Game License v 1.0a Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
System Reference Document. Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, based on material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
Panglott's Garden, Copyright 2009-2010, Jeremiah Rose.
Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook. Copyright 2009, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Author: Jason Bulmahn, based on material by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, and Skip Williams.
Pathfinder RPG Bestiary, © 2009, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Author: Jason Bulmahn, based on material by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, and Skip Williams.
Tome of Horrors. Copyright 2002, Necromancer Games, Inc.; Authors: Scott Greene, with Clark Peterson, Erica Balsley, Kevin Baase, Casey Christofferson, Lance Hawvermale, Travis Hawvermale, Patrick Lawinger, and Bill Webb; Based on original content from TSR.
END OF LICENSE
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Initiation
It looks like I have actually started the blog here. I've been blogging at louisvillemojo.com/zombiesurvival since...April 7, 2006, wow!
It's been fun there, but Mojo lacks a couple of features I would like. Unicode is the main issue: I want to blog in Japanese, as well as unconventional or made-up languages and alphabets.
Who is Panglott? Perhaps a foolish disciple of the optimistic doctor, a necromaunt of inkhorns, or merely boring, pedantic, and unfun.
It's been fun there, but Mojo lacks a couple of features I would like. Unicode is the main issue: I want to blog in Japanese, as well as unconventional or made-up languages and alphabets.
Who is Panglott? Perhaps a foolish disciple of the optimistic doctor, a necromaunt of inkhorns, or merely boring, pedantic, and unfun.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
StZA: Teaching English in Japan
After graduating college in spring, I moved to Japan in September 1998. Over the summer, I had signed up as an English teacher with a company called NOVA, which had schools in front of train stations across Japan, after driving to New York for a job interview.
NOVA was the largest private English school in Japan, and they shipped over planeloads of teachers from across the world every year. They were the only company I knew of to sponsor a visa and arrange lodging for their teachers, although the other big schools, like AEON and GEOS had many teachers and probably helped facilitate this somehow. You needed a college degree and to be a native speaker to qualify for the job, so the requirements for English teaching in Asia were much lower than Europe (where certification or a year of experience were necessary). One woman I met there was a Briton who wanted to teach English in Spain, but came to Japan to get the year of experience first. You can go on a tourist visa to look for a job there, too, but you have to find a visa sponsor, and you can't convert a tourist visa to a work visa in country: you have to fly abroad (usually Korea) to get the visa changed at an overseas embassy.
My school was a private school; I taught eight classes a day of varying students. My students ranged from teenagers in high school, to engineers looking to improve their skills at international conferences, to housewives and more elderly folks studying English as a hobby or for travel. Often in the same class. JET is another program many people take to teach in Japan, but it is set up quite differently.
NOVA was viewed as an entry-level job among many teachers there; because they sponsored your work visa, which was good for a year unless the sponsor actively cancelled it, I heard plenty of rumors about teachers signing up with NOVA to leave several months later for a more remunerative job in the country.
I understand that NOVA is no more. The company went bankrupt last year, apparently after some shenanigans by the CFO. One of my sister's friends was working for them at the time. He said that one of their paychecks came late, and the next one didn't come at all, and he stopped going to classes after they missed that one. The company was out of business shortly after that.
Japan pays a lot more for teachers than most other places in Asia, I would guess. Salaries are very roughly comparable to urban American ones, or somewhat more (also depending on currency fluctuations). I was curious about going to teach English in China a few years ago, but I reckon going to teach English in China is a little more work. The companies and institutions that advertise abroad mostly seem to pay something like $5,000/year, but I've heard that looking for teaching programs while in China may yield a more lucrative job. But Japan is orders of scale more developed and expensive than most of Asia; it's more like England or Austria in cost of living and quality of life.
Fun times. I left in 2000, and have only been back once to visit, a few years ago. Some of the other people in the Japanese language live group have had some experience living and teaching abroad in Japan and elsewhere, as well.
NOVA was the largest private English school in Japan, and they shipped over planeloads of teachers from across the world every year. They were the only company I knew of to sponsor a visa and arrange lodging for their teachers, although the other big schools, like AEON and GEOS had many teachers and probably helped facilitate this somehow. You needed a college degree and to be a native speaker to qualify for the job, so the requirements for English teaching in Asia were much lower than Europe (where certification or a year of experience were necessary). One woman I met there was a Briton who wanted to teach English in Spain, but came to Japan to get the year of experience first. You can go on a tourist visa to look for a job there, too, but you have to find a visa sponsor, and you can't convert a tourist visa to a work visa in country: you have to fly abroad (usually Korea) to get the visa changed at an overseas embassy.
My school was a private school; I taught eight classes a day of varying students. My students ranged from teenagers in high school, to engineers looking to improve their skills at international conferences, to housewives and more elderly folks studying English as a hobby or for travel. Often in the same class. JET is another program many people take to teach in Japan, but it is set up quite differently.
NOVA was viewed as an entry-level job among many teachers there; because they sponsored your work visa, which was good for a year unless the sponsor actively cancelled it, I heard plenty of rumors about teachers signing up with NOVA to leave several months later for a more remunerative job in the country.
I understand that NOVA is no more. The company went bankrupt last year, apparently after some shenanigans by the CFO. One of my sister's friends was working for them at the time. He said that one of their paychecks came late, and the next one didn't come at all, and he stopped going to classes after they missed that one. The company was out of business shortly after that.
Japan pays a lot more for teachers than most other places in Asia, I would guess. Salaries are very roughly comparable to urban American ones, or somewhat more (also depending on currency fluctuations). I was curious about going to teach English in China a few years ago, but I reckon going to teach English in China is a little more work. The companies and institutions that advertise abroad mostly seem to pay something like $5,000/year, but I've heard that looking for teaching programs while in China may yield a more lucrative job. But Japan is orders of scale more developed and expensive than most of Asia; it's more like England or Austria in cost of living and quality of life.
Fun times. I left in 2000, and have only been back once to visit, a few years ago. Some of the other people in the Japanese language live group have had some experience living and teaching abroad in Japan and elsewhere, as well.
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