I think there have been less changes in the last year in spite of finding and testing dozens of tasty things thanks to donationcoder.com.

So what’s changed?

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Regrouping
Get back in touch more with all these friends I lost contact with. So if you read this, get in touch
Revive hobbies and projects I have left behind when things got busy - photography, painting, hiking and a few others
Read the books I already have, play the games I own, listen again to all the music I have....

Refocusing
Get rid of clutter and useless things.
Stop wasting time - there are enough good things to get entertained with not to waste time on empty stuff.
Start doing the things I always want to do but never get around to - write a few more sites, for one, scan all my photos, and more

As readers of this place probably know by now, originality is something I rate very highly. As a result I am often looking at independent games for new ideas, new twists, people worth supporting.

Here are a few good places

game tunnel - reviews and industry watch for indie games http://gametunnel.com/

out of eight - highly personal reviews with an eye for indie games http://jaguarusf.blogspot.com/

gamersinfo.net - reviews which cover casual and indie game, by “normal” people http://www.gamersinfo.net/index.php?cat/cid:8

mad monkey - announcements, mostly http://www.madmonkey.net/page.cgi/index

There are a few more I’ll add later, mostly blogs of people from Warren Spector to Raph Koster, plus a few more news sites and some academic/research/thinking about games. And some boardgame sites, because it is gaming too.

I dont know why it interests me so much for something I chose not to make my career in, but it does

I won’t list the purely technical or business websites I read for work

Read for thought and inspiration

* Edge http://www.edge.org/ - science and thinking, often away from the mainstream

* The Endicott Studio Journal of Mythic Arts http://endicottstudio.typepad.com/ - Myth and folklore is one of my fields of interest and this site covers all forms of art and research around the topic.

* overcoming bias http://www.overcomingbias.com/ - about the many forms of bias in psychology, science, business, debate, research etc etc etc.

* the road to the horizon http://theroadtothehorizon.blogspot.com/ - the journal of an aid worker

* Schneier on Security http://www.schneier.com/blog/

* donation coder http://www.donationcoder.com/ - around donationware, shareware, freeware - a nice community of developers and users who like to try, use, review and create software. Friendly community with a system of microdonations for contributors of software or review or anything else.

I’m a free thinker… although most of the time I shut up, and so far there has not been much “soapboxing” on this blog

I am an atheist but I still believe a few things (in no particular order, what I could think of just now)
* the wonder for life and the universe
* the value and dignity of people, at all ages and in all cultures
* the value of education, knowledge and skills, and that we need to try to excel and we need to try to help others develop and excel in what makes them feel fulfilled
* the value of imagination and creativity, and what it does for the human spirit and society
* the value of craft and skill, and a belief that they are undervalued in our day and age
* the value of originality and diversity, non comformism and challenging received ideas
* a belief that people can organise and take care of themselves if just given the space and opportunity (although that can take time)
* a strong rejection of the idea that injustice and inequality are a normal thing and that it would cost societe too dearly to do anything about it

One thing that strikes me over and over is how it takes so little to allow people to interact and empower themselves… and so little to treat them like numbers and shut them off. I believe that at some level people are able to empower themselves, organise themselves, but that a lot of things in modern life combine to try to keep up distracted, dizzy, upset about non-news that hide the real issues, manipulated and disenfranchised.
Now I dont mean there’s a conspiracy, I think it just happened over time… but this state of affairs does benefit a lot of people.

So yes, I get really annoyed at all these things in the world that try to prevent us from thinking for ourselves, feed us belief and opinion and trying to prevent us from questioning and applying critical thought… As a result I’m a bit of a debater and I like playing devil’s advocate, because no opinion is ever 100% right, and forcing people to clarify their thinking and justify their ideas is always good… I especially like challenging common platitudes, and received opinions, the kind of things people say without ever thinking about it, the thoughts we were “fed” to think.

And I get really wound up when I see all the things in the world today which seem to be dedicated to suppressing people’s curiosity and their ability to learn and question, create and think for themselves… all the messages out there dumbing people down, especially children and young people, telling us the world is too complicated for peons like us, leave it to the technocrats, culture is too high for normal people, leave it to the specialist… Well I am a technocrat and you know what, rocket science is not *that* complicated…

I’ve been online on some network or other since I was 14, usually as Iphigenie. It’s almost my middle name now. I am also know as Zenaide, Azzurre, Superiphi and Ifigenia when Iphigenie is already taken or doesnt match the context.

I’m a web witch turned bossy exec… Not only do I practically live online, I work there too! I have worked as a web producer-project manager-senior architect-business analyst-technical sales-tech support-developer-sysadmin…. you name it, I’ve done it! Until recently I was a director in an 20 man internet company which I spent the last 4 years building - but I have just recently decided to move on, to get out before it totally cannibalised me. There are a lot of stories to tell here, of mistakes, successes, loyalty and betrayal. I have learned a lot, some of it painful. I am now the CTO in a b2b media company, working on the transition to online-centric, and involved in startup around vertical search.

I’m a social animal. I love meeting people, and hanging out with people. I think in an ideal world I’d love living in a huge house full of people, bohemian style, if that still existed… I wish I spoke a few more languages and always mean to learn another. Maybe I should take the time… I believe everyone is fascinating, except maybe people who are so full of themselves there’s no place to communicate anymore.

I’m endlessly curious. I like exploring, from little known places to independent music, alternative films, small publishers… This carries over to the computer where I have a keen interest in shareware, independent games, alternative websites and communities.

Key hobbies: trying things out or generally wasting time on a computer. bookoholic, film buff, an amateur photographer, a mountain climber and hiker (with the camera!). Dabble in arts and crafts now and then with no illusion.

A few community sites I actually hang around and use - although some I only found recently so not sure how long I will use them (updated March 25)

LibraryThing.com - i tried shelfari and although it looks pretty it just didn’t click - i started adding a few books but it made it slower than practical, and it didn’t really seem to be aimed at the book lover. I had been hearing about librarything via some blogs i read, so i figured I’d try that to compare. Before I knew it i had 500 books listed, by just adding a few books from 5 authors then and adding all the ones I own which popped up in the related items. I even have ordered the little barcode scanner to add the boxes of books reliably. http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=iphigenie

LT is accessible via mobiles and has saved me from buying duplicates a few times already

Via LT I found the following websites:
What’s that book? http://www.whatsthatbook.com/ - a cool little “help me identify this book” forum

book swapping http://bookmooch.com/. I have sent over 100 books now via bookmooch already, and requested almost as many.

One thing I must say though is that I have signed up on a lot of those slick looking social websites and barely used their functions - usually the site is too superficial, too complicated, or the content and community is not compelling enough to make me participate. Just didn’t suit me. Still, these are good sites which might suit someone with a different personality:

zoho - used for… 2-3 times - http://zoho.com - awesome online applications but i just don’t seem to end up using them. Just like a dozen online pims, planners etc. before them. The zoho notebook app looks awesone though, will try it once it’s available.

Hiveminder - used for… 1 month or so? - http://hiveminder.com - a nice todo manager with a few clever ideas, similar in this to stikkit and sandy. But alas no such site has managed to be useful enough for me to stick with it over paper or desktop solutions. I dont know why.

blink list - used for… 1 month or so? - http://www.blinklist.com/ - one of those bookmarking sites but for some reason I actually used that - imported my old bookmarks and added some new ones. (not as nice as a “snapshot” system but none of those seem to work with opera although I have some hopes for plumb, which is in development). http://www.blinklist.com/zenaide/

wordie - used for… 1 month or so? - i’m at http://wordie.org/people/azzurre - word collecting. Pointless but fun and poetic. Havent gone back in ages, might just go back now and then for the poetic aspect

stikkit.com - used for over a month - sticky notes with a difference: a smart engine that analyses the content of the notes and automatically generates todo items, events, contact details etc. Brilliant. Also works via email and even instant messenging thanks to imified. Just read the following blog entry to get an idea http://www.43folders.com/2007/02/07/stikkit-introduction/ I almost used it for a while, then it fell on the wayside

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