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I topped it all off with a FREDRIK Ikea computer desk built with an odd configuration. The top shelf is at eye level and the main desk about 10 inches below. It’s been a little odd so far – I’m basically recreating an experience that millions experience every day, namely working on my feet – but it seems like things will sort themselves out. I may also install a trampoline in front of it, for more of a workout. Thoughts?

*Presentation #3
From Sausages To Swiss Watches: How The Quest For Barbecue Created Western Civilization (The Abridged Version)
by John Biggs

Description: What does savory slow cooked meat have to do with French monks, a doomed Queen, Rolex, and the Enigma machine? We’re going to explore the connections between early cooks and modern timekeeping technologies that keep us on time and connected.

Bio: John Biggs is a tech writer and bon vivant with a love of old watches. He writes for the New York Times, CrunchGear, and is working on a book about Breguet and the French Revolution.

Charlie and I are pleased to announce our first web course featuring one-on-one time with Charlie and I online during the run of the program. It’s a 12-week writing course with a focus on blogging and it should take you 20 minutes or so a day to go through the sections, videos, exercises and discussions.

This course is not a collection of short videos. It’s not a repackaged eBook or a bunch of PowerPoint slides. It’s not a set of DVDs. It’s not self-study.

It Is a LIVE, 12-Week, Online Social Learning Program

This course is not just a bunch of ‘information’ to consume on your own, and it’s not self-paced. Your exclusive instructors, Charlie and John, will personally lead the course–real-time!–in a unique social learning environment powered by Simversity.

You’ll learn with and from other students. You’ll complete writing assignments. And you’ll be expected to give feedback to other students, all online in a fun, interactive learning environment.

This is powerhouse training for folks who want to become world-class bloggers!

Best of all, we (John and Charlie) will be present with you every step of the way.

We’ll check your assignments, read your comments and be engaged in your progress. You’ll receive real feedback on your writing from other participants in the course because it’s the only way you’ll understand what it takes to become an exceptional blogger!

If you’re interested in the course, please follow and Tweet @johnbiggs to request a discount code with hashtag #bootcampme.

You can buy Nook and Kindle versions of the book here and check out the course here.

We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
Pathos via Wordsworth

I’ve stayed out of this mess so far simply because my team and site had been so far removed from the day-to-day TC rigamarole that I felt at least slightly out of touch with the internal politics associated with Mike’s firing and the rest of it all. The gadgets and mobile guys all work for TC, obviously, but we were never part of the whole he-said-she-said world of start-ups and funding that helped TC really take off. The CG/MC team were booster engines, at best, offering that last push to send the site into orbit.

But all this back and forth is getting frustrating and, as the TC writer with the most seniority, I’d like to say a few words.

TC is not a top-down organization and we all are now working much as we had since the beginning, sans editors of any stripe. I spoke to Mike maybe thrice a year (a chat with him was our Christmas bonus) but his scoops and access were wonderful. Yes, Mike’s voice was invaluable, and, yes, AOL made a big media mistake with this whole thing. I also think that TC is bigger than Mike and Erick and Paul and MG and my team and any of the TC writers. TC is a brand, like Coke, and when you change the formula, be it a redesign or a reshuffling, 1% of the readers will be angry and 99% of the readers won’t notice. Then the 1% will get used to it. Until AOL drives things into the ground (at this rate, not an impossibility), I’m fine with how things are going. It’s nice to be in the warm belly of the beast after years of start-up rations. This whole situation is far from ideal, obviously, but on the whole we’ll be fine.

I’m no optimist, but I’m also no nihilist nor am I a fool. I’m a journalist. Some of us at TC write about gadgets, some write about start-ups. I try to help people when I can and my goal is to treat the reader like a good buddy who might be asking me questions about a certain product, technology, or bit of news. None of us are curing cancer here, but I like to think we’re adding something to the culture, to the industry, and to the general advancement of the human race.

Basically I’m saying “Don’t Panic” – that’s assuming that the inside baseball associated with tech blogs was something that has been keeping you up at night. The drama on the site is just that, drama. Everyone involved should have just shut up but it will be over soon and we’ll be back to what we do best. I just want to do our work, unfettered. I hope that whoever is now in charge is smart enough to know that’s the best course for all of us.