User:Writerjudd

As Director of Social Media at Overstock.com, it's been my honor to oversee the building of Omuse. I intend to use this space to address the frequently asked questions relating to the genesis of the Omuse concept.

Soon this (and all user pages) will be upgraded with blog functionality. Until then, I'll try to hack out daily entries and invite your commentary in a blog-like way. We'll then transfer that content to the actual blog extension, which is scheduled to be added in late March.

March 15, 2007

Something that makes almost as much sense as the Imperial system of measurement was the way the Romans referenced dates. They didn't name the days of the week. Instead, they named three days of the month.

1. Kalends was the first day of the month.
2. Nones was the 7th of the 31 day months and the 5th of the rest.
3. Ides was the 15th of the 31 day months and the 13th of the rest.

They would then refer to dates by their position relative to the next Kalends, Nones or Ides, not the one most recently past.

So, today would be the Ides of March (Idus Martius), but tomorrow wouldn't be the day after the Ides, but 15 days before the Kalends of May, or as Cicero might have written it: ante diem XV Kalends Mai.

Useless fact: I believe Kalends (from which we derive the word calendar) to be the only Latin word using the letter "K".

March 14, 2007

Should I ever lose my mind and run for elected office, my platform will consist of three points:

1. Mandatory and immediate conversion to the Metric System. The fact that this nation, the most powerful in the known universe, still uses a unit of linear distance based on the length of any part of King Henry VIII's anatomy is beyond insane.
2. Immediate abolition of daylight savings. Arizona did it. The rest of us can do it. There is no better example of an activity that persists due to nothing more than inertia. It's time to stop the madness and recognize that we're no longer facing a nationwide candle crisis.
3. An Ipod in every pot. Everybody needs an Ipod. It will change your life.

March 12, 2007

The earliest inkling of the Omuse concept came to me in 2004, during a "book group" my wife was hosting at our house.

I can't remember the assigned book from that month, only that the resulting conversation between these dozen women was so loud and animated that I had to move to the farthest corner of our not-yet-finished basement with my laptop computer to escape the din.

It became clear to me at that time that there really is nothing quite so satisfying as a conversation between two people who've read the same book. It's probably no coincidence that all major religions are based around sacred texts which adherents are encouraged to read, internalize and discuss, time and again.

The magic of the written word is undeniable, especially in its capacity to bring people together, distill their common interests, and forge bonds among them.

At that time, it occurred to me that this effect might be even more pronounced among collaborating authors, particularly if there were a way to use the actual process of writing as a means of finding others with allied interests, contrary to the traditional method of first establishing a relationship and then deciding to write.

Omuse is intended to provide a platform by which the written word may act as a sort of shared-interest magnet, leading to the creation of affinity groups composed of writers who will hopefully find that the experience they share will be at least as engaging an animated as that shared by book groups such as my wife's back in 2004.