Updated March 12, 2011.
Hello, my name is Patrick LaForge.
@Palafo is a purely personal and non-commercial blog, a public notebook about a few of my obsessions — the Web, technology and computers; media of all types (books, podcasts, blogs, Twitter and social media, and music); and my quest for the perfect cup of coffee.
I am no relation to this guy nor am I the president and CEO of the Edmonton Oilers hockey team.
By some happy accident, I am an editor at a local newspaper in New York, where I am currently the editor in charge of news presentation, which is a fancy yet imperfect way of describing the copy desks and aspects of Web production.
I was also the founding editor and one of the creators of the paper’s blog about New York, City Room. The blog you are reading is not affiliated with those enterprises in any way, and I am responsible for its content, which follows my employer’s ethics policy.
This blog is updated erratically. I spend more time posting on Twitter; you can follow me there: @palafo.
Thanks for reading.
About the Column on the Left
When I started this blog, I was a heavy user of Google Reader, to keep track of hundreds of blogs, and there are few that I keep in a top folder. That folder is the main source of links that I share through my Google Reader page and the associated feed in the left column of this blog. I don’t use Reader as much anymore; now Twitter curates the Web for me.
Also in that column is a feed for my Delicious bookmarks, which I used for interesting articles and other items, mostly about the future of media. But I haven’t been using Delicious much, either.
All of those links, along with my Twitter comments, Facebook status updates and posts on this blog all flow onto my Friendfeed page. I rarely go there anymore. Does anyone? Let me know.
I am also experimenting with posting pictures at Posterous and sharing stuff on my Tumblr. Still figuring that all out.
You can also follow my article recommendations on Timespeople at NYTimes.com, although I don’t use it that much anymore. I usually post straight to Twitter. Are you sensing a trend here?
Friends and acquaintances on Facebook are welcome to contact me there.
I use LinkedIn for professional contacts, but rarely check in there.
Last but not least, you can use the link on the left to send me a direct e-mail. I try to respond to all e-mail and blog comments.
The left column also includes information about this blog’s tags, most recent posts, most-clicked links, recently popular posts and whatever other streaming Widgets the folks at WordPress make available.
About the Name Palafo
When I started working at the paper in 1997, the newsroom was using a publishing system known as Atex for text editing. Usernames were six characters long. The naming convention at the time was to take the first two letters of the staffer’s given name and the first four letters of the surname.
Not every Atex username had a mellifluous combination of consonants and vowels, but mine — Palafo — did. On a whim, I used it as a username on various sites in the early years of the Web and as an email address with a succession of Internet service providers. The vaguely Italian-sounding but non-existent name was usually available, while my actual name was already being snapped up by my French-Canadian-Irish doppelgangers.
The Atex naming convention used by The Times was abandoned (along with Atex), but a few of us still use the naming convention in e-mail addresses.
I have been a computer nerd and geek since a time before there was a Web, and I was a bit of an early Web pioneer, but this is the first time I’ve used this particular name for a Web site or blog.
Here’s hoping I don’t besmirch it in the permanent Google record for all time.
Regarding the pronunciation: Some people have been known to say PAL-ah-foe, but I prefer to stress the syllable that is also the first syllable of my surname: Pah-LAH-foh.
I live in the center of New York City with my wife and daughter. It is a Mac household. I do not own a car. We are cat people.
