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I am not a serious programmer at all. I have never claimed to be. But I made the effort to learn the basics and can manipulate CSS. So it frustrates me that all of my Facebook Fan Pages look the same and look like everyone else’s.

Not anymore apparently. I discovered an application that you can add to your FB Fan Page that will allow you to create boxes on your Fan Page that you can code in to. It’s called FBML. If you do a Facebook search for FBML you’ll find a host of other apps and groups that can help you with the application and your skills.

I was somewhat sceptical but decided to give it a go with my South Africa Rocks! Fan Page. It worked.

Now I haven’t spent much time on the two boxes that I have added so they are suffering from lack of attention but the proof that the FBML application works is there.

Have a look:

If you have used this app and have a great example (I know mine isn’t so hot) of what FBML can do, let me know. If you are interested in messing around with it drop me an email or comment and I’ll let you try some stuff out on the SA Rocks Fan Page for some experimentation.

This is absolutely fantastic and had my awe-struck by the end of it. Thanks to Online Trek for posting it.

The transcript of the poem by Taylor Mali is below.

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What Teachers Make, or
Objection Overruled, or
If things don’t work out, you can always go to law school

By Taylor Mali
www.taylormali.com

He says the problem with teachers is, “What’s a kid going to learn
from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?”
He reminds the other dinner guests that it’s true what they say about
teachers:
Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.

I decide to bite my tongue instead of his
and resist the temptation to remind the other dinner guests
that it’s also true what they say about lawyers.

Because we’re eating, after all, and this is polite company.

“I mean, you¹re a teacher, Taylor,” he says.
“Be honest. What do you make?”

And I wish he hadn’t done that
(asked me to be honest)
because, you see, I have a policy
about honesty and ass-kicking:
if you ask for it, I have to let you have it.

You want to know what I make?

I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.
I can make a C+ feel like a Congressional medal of honor
and an A- feel like a slap in the face.
How dare you waste my time with anything less than your very best.

I make kids sit through 40 minutes of study hall
in absolute silence. No, you may not work in groups.
No, you may not ask a question.
Why won’t I let you get a drink of water?
Because you’re not thirsty, you’re bored, that’s why.

I make parents tremble in fear when I call home:
I hope I haven’t called at a bad time,
I just wanted to talk to you about something Billy said today.
Billy said, “Leave the kid alone. I still cry sometimes, don’t you?”
And it was the noblest act of courage I have ever seen.

I make parents see their children for who they are
and what they can be.

You want to know what I make?

I make kids wonder,
I make them question.
I make them criticize.
I make them apologize and mean it.
I make them write, write, write.
And then I make them read.
I make them spell definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful, definitely
beautiful
over and over and over again until they will never misspell
either one of those words again.
I make them show all their work in math.
And hide it on their final drafts in English.
I make them understand that if you got this (brains)
then you follow this (heart) and if someone ever tries to judge you
by what you make, you give them this (the finger).

Let me break it down for you, so you know what I say is true:
I make a goddamn difference! What about you?

A while back I read a few blog posts that spoke of young bloggers abroad making waves and finding great success.

I am relatively young but I think that these posts are referring to bloggers younger than I am.

Where are the young bloggers under the age of 21 in SA? Are there any and if not, why not?

I can’t think of any and don’t read any but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. But is there really value for this sort of market in SA? Should we be looking for the next big thing now and getting them online and benefiting from their potential success? Is this exploitation?

I am also extremely interested to discuss what the next generation of bloggers will look like.

Should there be a batch of teenagers coming to the fore? Surely if blogging was taking off as much as bloggers think it would be reaching the younger generation and adopting the practice of blogging?

Could this be a sign that blogging is not all that it’s cracked up to be and it isn’t growing at the rate we all think it is? With so many teenagers on Facebook and using Mxit in SA in my mind it makes sense that some of them should be, could be and would be publishing their own content on blogs. But they just aren’t. Why?

If you blog you might be read but there is also chance that you might not be. But one thing is certain, if you don’t blog you will never be read.

The past week or so I have not blogged at all. I think it was a necessary break for me. I have been suffering from over-exposure to blogging, online bubbles, “inner-circles” and circular debates, discussions and topics. I think I’ve saturated my interests and lost some semblance of relevance recently.

I’m happy to admit that.

Stii said it the other day on twitter and I think I’m willing to reiterate it here; “If you have nothing good to say then rather don’t say anything at all.” And I haven’t.

However, I’ve been taken to task, not literally but in my rankings, stats and anylitics on both this blog and SA Rocks.

That basic premise is that when I blog, people read. Not always or every time but there is a greater chance that people read what I write when I actually get around to writing. I’ve been relentless with SA Rocks, blogging every week day for almost an entire year straight. This can take its toll and I think it has taken its toll on me.

At this point blogging becomes a chore that one is obligated to complete. I don’t want that to be the case and nor do my readers.

I personally feel like publishers of blogs in SA have become a bit stagnant of late, nit-picky and petty on various issues (myself included) and this has thrown me out of whack and left me with little colleague-initiated inspiration or motivation.

There’s nothing wrong with that, ebbs and flows I think, ebbs and flows. These things take place and then bounce back and get better or worse. For now though I think that my recent illness which prompted a tactical break from blogging has helped me to realise the mutually beneficial relationship I share with my readers and fellow bloggers in SA. I need them to inspire me and keep me on my toes and they read what I write. Without one the other suffers.

In the end, if you never write, you’ll never be read but if I write myself in to a circle it’s sometimes better not to write at all.

I awoke a few days ago to a countdown timer on Godaddy.com. I’ve made a conscious choice recently to purchase whatever domains I feel are or might be worth something, anything, to anyone.

So with intrigue I registered two domains that I have now been told I did not manage to register.

I first went straight to southafrica.me and bought it, money off my credit card.
Then I went and tried to buy talk2.me and again, money off my credit card. Gone.

About twenty minutes later and I received confirmation of the registration of both the .me domains successfully went through. Unfortunately that was not to be as I received this:

Dear Nic Haralambous,

The following domain name has failed to be registered:

SOUTHAFRICA.ME

Error: SOUTHAFRICA.ME: cannot register - already registered

We will evaluate this error and retry the registration
if appropriate.

If we are unable to successfully register the domain
name, your account will be credited accordingly. Please
allow one business day for the refund to be processed.

Please contact GoDaddy.com, Inc. if you need any further
assistance:
http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/support.asp?prog_id=GoDaddy&isc=gdbb14

Sincerely,
GoDaddy.com, Inc.

And that was that. Done and dusted. No domain, no millions of dollars from the fantastic SEO tips that obviously have cause they are hot property right now. Now talk2.me, no southafrica.me no nothing, at all, nada, zip.

But I think I’ll make it out alive, I still have a trump card or two that could come in to play. But who doesn’t these days?

I did manage to purchase haralambous.me which I have redirected to this domain. My question, in the end, is whether or not it’s actually worth owning a .me domain?