As I think I mentioned, Blogger is ceasing to support FTP publishing, so I'm going to be converting all of my blogs to something or other, I haven't quite figured it out yet. I'm only mentioning this again because I'm starting messing around with it, so things may be a bit wonky for awhile . . . The thing is, my blogs are VERY customized, in many cases I'm combining several different include files so that the sites are seamless, and it's not going to be easy. And I don't know if I'm up to the task of spending so much time on the technical end anymore, but I guess I'm going to have to. I also have a few clients who have Blogger blogs, and I'm going to have to figure it out for them also. Not looking forward to it, but oh well.

Interesting article about a study that asked people which colors on a color wheel that would pick to describe their mood: Different colors describe happiness, depression - LiveScience- msnbc.com

Blogger has announced that they will no longer support FTP publishing after May 1. I've used FTP publishing since I first started my website, over 15 years ago. I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I'm leaning toward switching the site over to a Wordpress blog. I've also got clients who are using Blogger for blogs that I set up for them; those will have to be changed somehow, too. I'm not sure what I'm going to do.

I often notice people expressing concern about privacy issues on social networking sites such as Facebook. I was looking at Sophos Security Software site today, and they have an interesting article called Facebook: The Privacy Challenge. Sophos is more geared toward privacy solutions for businesses rather than individuals, but I thought the article was interesting and brought up several good points.

I've been online a long time, so I'm used to it, and don't always give a lot of thought to privacy. The article mentions that you shouldn't accept "friendship" on Facebook from people you don't know, but I have a lot of people on there that I don't really know, mostly because it's easier. But it's something that I should probably be more aware of. I tend to be naive about things like that, too trusting. It's probably a good idea to read some of these things once in awhile to remind myself that everyone out there doesn't always have the best of intentions.

Sophos provides solutions for Antivirus, Malware Protection, Data Protection, and Encryption Software, among others. The site also contains information about viruses and malware that are currently out in the wild, such as Confickr, which has recently reared its head again, or at least I've started getting emails about it again.

I wondered what will happen to his blog, to his online photos? Without help from an English speaker, I suspect his wife won't do anything (but even if she could, what would she want to do?). Will his Flickr site stay there until.... forever? Or will Yahoo eventually decide that since no one has logged in for X years, delete it? Will his blog stay there until a disk wears out, or will someone come in and dismantle it? Will someone put up a post-mortem post telling the world that the author died?

Jeffrey Friedl’s Blog - On the Permanence of One’s Online (and Offline) Presence

The Kindle edition of the first book in Kim Harrison's "The Hollows" series, Dead Witch Walking, is free at Amazon. Ms. Harrison's next book, Black Magic Sanction, is due in April.

For Japan's cellphone novelists, proof of success is in the print - latimes.com: "After getting its start as a tale told on tiny cellular screens, her three-volume novel 'Wolf Boy x Natural Girl' has gone on to sell more than 110,000 paperback copies since its release in May, according to Starts Publishing Co."

Kind of late to the party, but Cory Doctorow's "Makers" was serialized at the Tor Books site this summer, and is still available: Tor.com / Science fiction and fantasy / Blog posts / Cory Doctorow’s Makers Index

Tor.com / Science fiction and fantasy / Blog posts / SyFy to Mangle Beloved Fairy Tales; In Other News, Christmas Coming All Year Long to Bad-Movie Fans: "Luckily, the network’s plan to churn out unintentional comedy continues unabated, and fans of timeless artistry will rejoice knowing that SyFy will produce a series of fairy-tale adaptations as movies of the week."

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