It's an honor just to be nominated...

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About a year and a half ago, I quit my day job as a programmer and started burning through my savings (and at the end, borrowing money from family) in a quest to work for myself by making my own websites.

15 months later, I have one fairly successful website, a half-dozen or so failed websites, a bunch of debt, ruined credit and I'm back working for the man. For all you would-be webmasters out there, here's my $25,000 dollar lesson:

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With the cost of college textbooks up 62% over the last decade,^[1] pressure is building for an alternative model of publishing: the free book. Five years ago, an author had to be very persistent --- maybe even a little crazy --- to try the new approach. But now a whole new infrastructure is springing up to make it easier.

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I live in Sydney. Yesterday a friend who lives overseas emailed me to ask what was going on. This was my reply.

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But Cronulla and the Sutherland Shire are struggling to remain in their white-bread time warp.

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Volume 1 was generally living conditions, Volume 2 was about what kind of pay you can expect and some of the 'incidents' I've got to experience. Volume 3 cleared up a few issues, talked about some more incidents and then talked about the local Iraqis I've chatted with. Volume 4 is here. pic page still up, and you should be able to get to the pics I've posted here, since I made all of my postings on that website publicly viewable - I'm "el_guapo" there as well, so you'll know which ones I posted.

Full Story (101 comments, 1907 words in story)

Volume 1 was generally living conditions, Volume 2 was about what kind of pay you can expect and some of the 'incidents' I've got to experience. Volume 3 cleared up a few issues, talked about some more incidents and then talked about the local Iraqis I've chatted with. This is going to about a couple of the places I forgot about and traveling out here. BTW: pic page still up.

Full Story (108 comments, 1527 words in story)

Of all the companies seeking an Intellectual Property stranglehold on the Internet, one takes the prize for sheer gall.

Full Story (36 comments, 1632 words in story)

Volume 1 was generally living conditions, Volume 2 was about what kind of pay you can expect and some of the 'incidents' I've got to experience. This is going to clear up a few issues, talk about some more incidents and then I'm going to talk about the local Iraqis I've chatted with. BTW: pic page back up. El Guapo waits for his buddy's T1 to get Kuroded.

Full Story (210 comments, 1246 words in story)

From the ages of twelve to twenty-two, I was a fashion model working mainly on print media photo shoots for a variety of clients from local retailers to international fashion houses. While the concept of a "supermodel" or perhaps even a model in general is one that many associate mainly with women, men and boys of course do also model. The experience of modeling is quite different from how television and movies often present it and has both some awesome and not-so-awesome aspects that might surprise those not in the industry. This is my experience as a model from my early teens to early twenties and what it meant to me.

Full Story (243 comments, 4732 words in story)

Volume 1 was generally living conditions, this is about what kind of pay you can expect and some of the 'incidents' I've got to experience.

Full Story (124 comments, 1282 words in story)