Given that a strong ability to talk yourself out of self-doubt — or at least to go ahead despite it — is pretty much a requirement if you’re going to write for a living, this Savage Chickens cracked me up:

Savage Chickens: Irrational Fear #8 Cartoon

(Have I mentioned how much I love Savage Chickens? Doug Savage is a genuis.)

I didn’t do a podcast this week due to Thanksgiving holidays, but here’s the column:

Wired News: Check Your Judgments, Eh?
CALGARY, Alberta — You’ve heard people say that if you wouldn’t want your boss, your spouse or your mother to know what you’re doing online, you shouldn’t be doing it. Or that you should consider what would happen if what you are about to say on the internet appeared on the front page of The New York Times; if that would be bad, keep it to yourself.

For that matter, you’ve probably heard Ben Franklin’s quip: “Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.”

It’s no secret that nothing is secret anymore. If I learned anything at the Lexi.net: Your Online Identity conference, it’s that our internet reputation is as slippery as Astroglide and just as difficult to put back into the bottle if it spills where we least want it.

Continued…

I loved the new James Bond film. LOVED it. I don’t want to put any spoilers here but … it’s probably the most romantic movie of the year. swoon

How wonderful to find this in my inbox this morning, after giving my presentation about sex online:

Gina!

Your presentation was orgasmic… well actually twas the aftermath that was.

I came home and finally had the courage to ask my wife of 17 years to engage in a sexual fantasy I have had since Christ was a babe … twas splendiforous!!

Now that’s a fabulous way to start a day.

This column is generating a lot of email, which I look forward to reading this weekend.

Think Before Pinging Your Ex
My digital trail has taken an unexpected swerve: I got an e-mail from a man I have not spoken with in years. Not that I had ruled out the possibility of hearing from him again — life is a series of detours and switchbacks and taking the long way around — but I didn’t expect it, either.

continued

I’m in Calgary now for the Lexicom Online Identity conference, staying at a very nice hotel downtown. I returned from dinner to find chocolate on my desk and an envelope addressed to Mr. Trevor Bell.

Inside, the card welcomed Mr. Bell to Calgary and wished him a pleasant stay.

I figure, either someone else came back to Regina Lynn’s chocolate tonight, or Mr. Trevor Bell was turned away at the front desk. “Sorry, there’s a sex-tech columnist staying in your room, and we don’t want to go up there — you never know what she might be up to.”

Considering that it’s below freezing out there (although it’s a dry cold), I hope Mr. Bell did indeed find a snug place to stay.

I unwrapped the chocolate to find that it’s in the shape of a cowboy hat.

Am having a ragged day in a ragged week, and a friend sent me this link. AMAZING picture. (Totally SFW.)
Hubble & Spitzer Space Telescopes on Yahoo! News Photos

I’ve been interviewed by NewAssignment.net, a website that was founded to put open-source reporting to the test.

Interview with Regina Lynn: Mastering Citizen Journalism With the Help of a Smart Mob | NewAssignment.Net
The beat of Wired News columnist Regina Lynn is unique in several ways – not only is she using a smart mob to do her reporting, but it’s one she is also part of. And Lynn is carving out new ground in use of the Web to cover her beat.

At her own site, reginalynn.com, Lynn hosts the Sex Drive Forum, where several thousand people talk about everything from favorite sex toys to bondage and responsible STD tests while awaiting Lynn’s queries. She opened the forum more than two years ago to provide people with a safe place to discuss sex and technology. Nowadays she credits her “smart mob” with helping her stay informed and up-to-date. “It’s a vast subject, and I could not possibly stay on top of it all if it were just me.”

I interviewed Lynn about how her forum keeps her on the beat. The Q&A is below. If you have other questions you’d like to ask of Regina, send her an email. If you know of other journalists whom we should interview, let me know.

Interview continued at NewAssignment.net

(More about NewAssignment.net here)