Today at lunch with a friend I heard myself say, "Happiness is not a place that you get to, it's a practice." And I so often fail to hear the wise words that sometimes drop from my lips, I decided that blogging about the practice of happiness might actually help me remember it. What is the happiness practice, you may ask? Pretty simple, really, -- it boils down to forgiveness and gratitude. They did some pretty elaborate social science research on this and found out what the churches and songs have been telling us for years -- money doesn't make you happy. Win the lottery and you might feel a bit better for a few weeks. Surprisingly enough, even health -- poor health or recovery from poor health doesn't make much of a difference in the happiness set point, which is whatever is your normal amount of happy. The only things that seem to change the set point are a regular practice of gratitude and some strenuous forgiveness.
First, we're happy to announce that the team has identified and fixed the issue with the YouTube conduit; you can now find and add videos from YouTube to your library and posts. As always, thanks for your patience!
The other news we have today is about a new addition to the Six Apart family: TypePad Micro, a new free level of TypePad that is streamlined for microblogging. We see a new form of blogging emerging that lives between the quick status updates of Twitter and Facebook and the long-form posts of "classic" blogging; TypePad Micro is designed to meet that need. You can read more about TypePad Micro in Chris Alden's post on the Everything TypePad blog.
A lot of the new capabilities we've added to TypePad this year were actually inspired by some of the best things about Vox: favoriting, member profiles, a dashboard to follow other bloggers, and easy ways to post content from other social media sites. But the things that make Vox different from TypePad are still there: Vox has always been -- and still is -- the best place for "friends and family" blogging, where you're in control over who sees what. TypePad, on the other hand, is built for the blogger who wants, no, craves, attention.
Do you have a passion or interest you want to share with people beyond your Vox neighborhood? If so, we'd love it if you tried out TypePad Micro. Maybe you've always wanted to start that obsessive blog that's just about waffle restaurants. Or want a place to share videos of your favorite band (Jonas Brothers, anyone? Anyone? ...). TypePad Micro's great for those topic-specific blogs. Take it for a spin and let us know what you think.
On the Vox front, our designers are working on some cool new themes (coming soon!). We'd also love to hear your thoughts about where we should take Vox in the coming year. What are the key things you'd like to see for Vox? If you've had a chance to use TypePad this year, what are the features there that we should bring over to Vox? And, if you're thinking big thoughts, how could we connect the Vox and TypePad communities in order to bring together bloggers and their shared passions? Your feedback is really important to us, so please leave a comment here, or shoot me a message.
And again, thanks for your patience as we found and fixed the YouTube bug!
~ daisy
As many of you have noticed, the YouTube Conduit is not working. I am so sorry about this; I know how frustrating it is.
The team is looking into how to get this fixed and I will update you as soon as I hear something. In the meantime, not all is lost... There is a work-around for posting videos.
When you're in the Compose Screen, just click on "embed." Ignore the fact that it says "Widget" before everything because you can definitely use this to embed videos as well. You'll just need to input the embed code from the video, enter a title (if you want) and hit OK.
It might not show up perfectly in your compose screen, but when you hit "Save," your video should appear just the way you wanted it to.
Hopefully this will allow you to keep posting videos while we figure out what's happening on our end.
As always, thanks for your patience.
We've just returned from Dabysan and Carrienation's wedding and our follow-up trip to New York City and I could not be a happier new mother-in-law. The wedding itself was perfection, thanks to their meticulous planning and generous attention to the sweet details that made everyone feel special. More importantly, I'm just so happy that these two found each other. They seem so compatible in so many ways. I love her, love her family and just generally loved every moment of the experience. My mom, who is in her eighties, was enthralled and I was also thrilled that my cousin Rosanne and her husband Ralph made it down from New England for the event.
Go forth and fill your libraries with media.
Seriously, thanks to everyone for being so amazing and patient. You are the reason I love Vox.
Back when I was a young thing, still in college, a marginally older friend and I had a conversation about aging. I was reflecting that I didn't want to grow old and unloved, and his response was, "the only way you can ensure that you will be loved when you're old is to become extremely lovable." Which makes perfect sense in one way and is also a nonsensical passive construction. Love is in the eye of the beholder after all -- not something we do to or for ourselves. But, looking a little more deeply, maybe the important question is this: do we actually find ourselves lovable?
By Hafiz
Why
Just ask the donkey in me
To speak to the donkey in you.
When I have so many other beautiful animals
And brilliant colored birds inside
That are all longing to say something wonderful
And exciting to your heart?
Let's open all the locked doors upon our eyes
That keep us from knowing the Intelligence
That begets love
And a more lively and satisfying conversation
With the Friend.
Let's turn loose our golden falcons
So that they can meet in the sky
Where our spirits belong--
Necking like two
Hot kids.
Let's hold hands and get drunk near the sun
And sing sweet songs to God
Until He joins us with a few notes
From His own sublime lute and drum.
If you have a better idea
Of how to pass a lonely night
After your glands may have performed
All their little magic
Then speak up sweethearts, speak up,
For Hafiz and all the world will listen.
Why just bring your donkey to me
Asking for stale hay
And a boring conference with the idiot
In regards to this precious matter--
Such a precious matter as love.
When I have so many other divine animals
And brilliant colored birds inside
That are all longing
To so sweetly
Greet
You!
I was just told that the Amazon Conduit will be fixed by tomorrow. I will post here as soon as I get word that it's back up and running.
I know this has been frustrating and I am sorry there wasn't more I could do to make it less so. I really appreciate your patience though.
Cheers,
I inherited a tendency from my mother to scan for the worst possible outcomes and prepare accordingly. This risk- averse tendency keeps me flossing and getting check ups, and probably has prevented me from being either very rich or very poor. I'm the ant in the grasshopper and ant fable -- trying hard to get ready for winter, not singing the summer away. (Those of you who know me well will point to some rather large leaps of faith I have taken with my life, quite grasshopper like, but let's not let the disconfirming evidence distract us from the narrative at hand.)
Bad news. As many of you have probably noticed, the Amazon Conduit was not fixed in the last week's release. Unfortunately, there was an undetected bug that is preventing the conduit from working.
We are working on this bug fix and hope to have the Conduit back up and running this week.
I will keep you posted.
Thank you for being so patient.
Blog Action Day is every October 15th, when blogger are asked to post something about a single issue to show our strength and conviction as an online community. It's a great way to feel connected to the greater good, and the participation of so many bloggers to support the world's leading non-profit organizations is something you can do to help, right now. By blogging today, you're supporting some of the world's leading non-profits and sharing your voice for change.
This year's topic is climate change, and we'd love to read your thoughts on the topic. If you participate, leave us a link to your post in the comments, so we know to check out your post!
Go to www.blogactionday.org to learn more, get a badge for your blog showing your participation, and see some ideas for your post on climate change.
Can't wait to read your posts!
~ daisy
