Happy significant numerical birthday, PB August 30, 2013 2:41 PM Subscribe
PB celebrates his birthday today, as indicated by a tweet from mathowie...
...which leads to an interesting piece of blogging development history.
PB, a web developer in Oregon, also tweets.
...which leads to an interesting piece of blogging development history.
PB, a web developer in Oregon, also tweets.
Happy birthday Paul!
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane (staff) at 2:45 PM on August 30, 2013
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane (staff) at 2:45 PM on August 30, 2013
A permalink ....to my heart.
posted by The Whelk at 2:48 PM on August 30, 2013 [17 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 2:48 PM on August 30, 2013 [17 favorites]
I fucking love you and no one else. Have as great as a day as the world can give you without my being present.
posted by dobbs at 2:59 PM on August 30, 2013
posted by dobbs at 2:59 PM on August 30, 2013
ps. I'm drunk.
posted by dobbs at 2:59 PM on August 30, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by dobbs at 2:59 PM on August 30, 2013 [1 favorite]
Happy birthday!
posted by Foci for Analysis at 3:02 PM on August 30, 2013
posted by Foci for Analysis at 3:02 PM on August 30, 2013
Enjoy your kite-flying pb and welcome to your 40s. It's nice here.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 3:05 PM on August 30, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 3:05 PM on August 30, 2013 [4 favorites]
Made this comment in another post...
... pb's pretty awesome. I'm stunned to see he doesn't have his own wikipedia page. pb was one of Blogger's original co-creators, for heaven's sake. (His mefi wiki page update is on my ever-lengthening to do list.)
Not only did pb invent the permalink, but he used to work at Pyra back in the late 90's. He helped create the original Pyra application, which was a neat idea that in some ways resembled the original ACT program, but online: a project manager and contact database manager as well as a to do list. IIRC, The app never got out of beta and was eventually repurposed into the software that ran Blogger. Blogger was one of the earliest services that allowed the public to run a blog without any real knowledge of how to code or run an in-depth website. When people talk about it, they usually say that the service "popularized blogging" but the truth is, the site basically took blogging mainstream to the masses. Before that, you could make a site using tripod or geocities or yahoo. But when Blogger and a few other tools came along they allowed for a more interactive experience.
He's written at bunch of books, too. Including We Blog and four Hacks books.
posted by zarq at 3:09 PM on August 30, 2013 [16 favorites]
... pb's pretty awesome. I'm stunned to see he doesn't have his own wikipedia page. pb was one of Blogger's original co-creators, for heaven's sake. (His mefi wiki page update is on my ever-lengthening to do list.)
Not only did pb invent the permalink, but he used to work at Pyra back in the late 90's. He helped create the original Pyra application, which was a neat idea that in some ways resembled the original ACT program, but online: a project manager and contact database manager as well as a to do list. IIRC, The app never got out of beta and was eventually repurposed into the software that ran Blogger. Blogger was one of the earliest services that allowed the public to run a blog without any real knowledge of how to code or run an in-depth website. When people talk about it, they usually say that the service "popularized blogging" but the truth is, the site basically took blogging mainstream to the masses. Before that, you could make a site using tripod or geocities or yahoo. But when Blogger and a few other tools came along they allowed for a more interactive experience.
He's written at bunch of books, too. Including We Blog and four Hacks books.
posted by zarq at 3:09 PM on August 30, 2013 [16 favorites]
Best wishes! A pony we can all ride (one at a time, though)!
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 3:17 PM on August 30, 2013
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 3:17 PM on August 30, 2013
Well, that came out weird. :-/
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 3:18 PM on August 30, 2013 [15 favorites]
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 3:18 PM on August 30, 2013 [15 favorites]
hbdpb!
posted by trip and a half at 3:22 PM on August 30, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by trip and a half at 3:22 PM on August 30, 2013 [3 favorites]
There's an interview with Paul from a decade ago. Also:
pb was one of Blogger's original co-creators...
Looking at the Blogger profiles, Ev is #1, Meg is #2, someone private is #3 and yes Paul is #4.
posted by Wordshore at 3:25 PM on August 30, 2013
pb was one of Blogger's original co-creators...
Looking at the Blogger profiles, Ev is #1, Meg is #2, someone private is #3 and yes Paul is #4.
posted by Wordshore at 3:25 PM on August 30, 2013
Happy birthday!
posted by peripathetic at 3:27 PM on August 30, 2013
posted by peripathetic at 3:27 PM on August 30, 2013
...which nobody can deny!
(meanwhile)
...and so say all of us!
posted by Toekneesan at 3:34 PM on August 30, 2013 [1 favorite]
(meanwhile)
...and so say all of us!
posted by Toekneesan at 3:34 PM on August 30, 2013 [1 favorite]
How did this make it through the queue?
Also, I kid! Happy birthday.
posted by cjorgensen at 3:42 PM on August 30, 2013
Also, I kid! Happy birthday.
posted by cjorgensen at 3:42 PM on August 30, 2013
Happy birthday, pb.
Go ahead and take ten minutes to respond to site issues.
posted by double block and bleed at 4:06 PM on August 30, 2013 [2 favorites]
Go ahead and take ten minutes to respond to site issues.
posted by double block and bleed at 4:06 PM on August 30, 2013 [2 favorites]
Happy birthday, pb. Take a nice day off, the site will surely keep wor
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 4:09 PM on August 30, 2013 [9 favorites]
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 4:09 PM on August 30, 2013 [9 favorites]
Happy birthday, PB. You are beloved.
posted by DarlingBri at 4:33 PM on August 30, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by DarlingBri at 4:33 PM on August 30, 2013 [1 favorite]
Happy Birthday, pb! Please have all the ponies.
posted by arcticseal at 4:40 PM on August 30, 2013
posted by arcticseal at 4:40 PM on August 30, 2013
so, are you now going to legally change your name from Paul to Permalink?
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:42 PM on August 30, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:42 PM on August 30, 2013 [1 favorite]
Happy birthday, pb. It's awesome how you get on top of things so quickly, and even better that you've never decided to lock us all out of the system and turned off the power to the security system, thus freeing the raptors, causing wacky hi jinks and horrific mutilations and deaths. That's really swell of you.
posted by Ghidorah at 4:43 PM on August 30, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by Ghidorah at 4:43 PM on August 30, 2013 [3 favorites]
So I guess Kottke started with semi-permalinks, but at first they were just a target to his homepage, like kottke.org/index.html#entry123 which is what I described on my blog. These links would only be "permanent" as long as the item stayed on the page. It was pb that figured out you could make them truly permanent if the links had the full URL to the archive page instead of just the homepage before the target.
I'm pretty sure I added them to MeFi in March of 2000, they used to say "permalink" after every comment then a few months later I noticed Ev made his timestamps into permalinks and I could save space by doing the same. I didn't launch MetaTalk until March of 2000, so there's no real record of how this played out on the site.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 4:51 PM on August 30, 2013 [8 favorites]
I'm pretty sure I added them to MeFi in March of 2000, they used to say "permalink" after every comment then a few months later I noticed Ev made his timestamps into permalinks and I could save space by doing the same. I didn't launch MetaTalk until March of 2000, so there's no real record of how this played out on the site.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 4:51 PM on August 30, 2013 [8 favorites]
Happy Birthday, pb. You're like that invisible dark matter that holds the whole thing together. Why yes, MetaFilter is like a Universe to me.
posted by ambrosia at 5:25 PM on August 30, 2013 [6 favorites]
posted by ambrosia at 5:25 PM on August 30, 2013 [6 favorites]
He's done so many amazing things, I'm hesitant to ask why he still programs for Metafilter. And, why he's so amazingly fast and generous with fixing bugs and/or answering contact form requests here.
posted by Melismata at 5:26 PM on August 30, 2013
posted by Melismata at 5:26 PM on August 30, 2013
Happy birthday to yoooou
Happy birthday to yoooou
Happy birthday dear peeeeeee beeeeeee....
Happy birthday to yoooou
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:01 PM on August 30, 2013 [3 favorites]
Happy birthday to yoooou
Happy birthday dear peeeeeee beeeeeee....
Happy birthday to yoooou
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:01 PM on August 30, 2013 [3 favorites]
Welcome to your 40's. You can have them, now that I'm pretty much done with them. Always wear comfortable shoes.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 6:09 PM on August 30, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 6:09 PM on August 30, 2013 [4 favorites]
What day is today?
It's pb's Birthday.
What a day for a birthday!
Lets all have some cake.
posted by Twain Device at 6:23 PM on August 30, 2013 [4 favorites]
It's pb's Birthday.
What a day for a birthday!
Lets all have some cake.
posted by Twain Device at 6:23 PM on August 30, 2013 [4 favorites]
Hey, is this the pbirthday pbarty with the pbony rides?!?
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 6:52 PM on August 30, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 6:52 PM on August 30, 2013 [2 favorites]
Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers!
Happy birthday!
posted by Space Coyote at 7:08 PM on August 30, 2013
Happy birthday!
posted by Space Coyote at 7:08 PM on August 30, 2013
pb, thank you for being so excellent with ponies and bugs and making the Internet a neater place! Have a lovely birthday!
posted by beryllium at 8:48 PM on August 30, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by beryllium at 8:48 PM on August 30, 2013 [1 favorite]
Happy birthday and many thanks!
posted by a humble nudibranch at 8:51 PM on August 30, 2013
posted by a humble nudibranch at 8:51 PM on August 30, 2013
40 comments! One for each year.
I go out to fly a kite and then come back to this thread. I feel like I missed the party. Thanks for all the kind words. Today was a good day to start my 40s.
posted by pb (staff) at 9:25 PM on August 30, 2013 [7 favorites]
I go out to fly a kite and then come back to this thread. I feel like I missed the party. Thanks for all the kind words. Today was a good day to start my 40s.
posted by pb (staff) at 9:25 PM on August 30, 2013 [7 favorites]
Congratulations! And yay Corvallis :)
posted by purenitrous at 9:34 PM on August 30, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by purenitrous at 9:34 PM on August 30, 2013 [2 favorites]
Many very very happy returns of the day, pb, and may you have many more!
posted by Lexica at 10:20 PM on August 30, 2013
posted by Lexica at 10:20 PM on August 30, 2013
May you see many more birthdays! A very merry birthday to you!
posted by Lynsey at 11:04 PM on August 30, 2013
posted by Lynsey at 11:04 PM on August 30, 2013
Happy birthday weekend, pb! Thanks for everything you do on mefi, and thanks for introducing me to a lot of good music via TIMJ.
posted by rangefinder 1.4 at 12:32 AM on August 31, 2013
posted by rangefinder 1.4 at 12:32 AM on August 31, 2013
¡ one candle because I am too kind to make 40 of them.
posted by Cranberry at 12:42 AM on August 31, 2013
posted by Cranberry at 12:42 AM on August 31, 2013
Grattis på födelsedagen, pb!
posted by soundofsuburbia at 12:46 AM on August 31, 2013
posted by soundofsuburbia at 12:46 AM on August 31, 2013
Tillykke med fødselsdagen, pb! Hope there was decent wind for your kite.
posted by Dysk at 1:04 AM on August 31, 2013
posted by Dysk at 1:04 AM on August 31, 2013
Til hamingju með afmælið! May a wizard in a blue helicopter bring you five hundred ice creams.
posted by Kattullus at 1:10 AM on August 31, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Kattullus at 1:10 AM on August 31, 2013 [2 favorites]
Alles Gute zum Geburtstag von der Schweiz, pb!
At first I wondered if knowing that you had a first name, a last name and a face behind those two lower-case letters would spoil the magic, but it has not. :) Thanks for all the work you do here at MeFi, and thanks for Blogger, which changed my internet-life forever when a friend introduced me in 2002/03.
May there be many kites in the years to come!
posted by daisyk at 3:06 AM on August 31, 2013
At first I wondered if knowing that you had a first name, a last name and a face behind those two lower-case letters would spoil the magic, but it has not. :) Thanks for all the work you do here at MeFi, and thanks for Blogger, which changed my internet-life forever when a friend introduced me in 2002/03.
May there be many kites in the years to come!
posted by daisyk at 3:06 AM on August 31, 2013
Happy birthday!
posted by Defying Gravity at 4:01 AM on August 31, 2013
posted by Defying Gravity at 4:01 AM on August 31, 2013
Bardzo prosze, nie zwracaj uwagi na wsech tych chujów którzy myślą ze są madry pisając w innymi jezyków. Sto lat!
posted by Meatbomb at 6:17 AM on August 31, 2013
posted by Meatbomb at 6:17 AM on August 31, 2013
Pb, thanks for everything you do so well. May a team of sparkling unicorn ponies deliver your fondest wishes.
posted by theora55 at 7:19 AM on August 31, 2013
posted by theora55 at 7:19 AM on August 31, 2013
40 years old is a permalink in itself. How meta. Congrats on your birthday.
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 7:19 AM on August 31, 2013
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 7:19 AM on August 31, 2013
Many happy returns—and many thanks for all you do for the site!
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:12 AM on August 31, 2013
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:12 AM on August 31, 2013
Happy Birthday pb, welcome to the better age!
Also, reading Mathowie's tweet, which one of you is Favstar Bot 25? Man that sounds like a perfect sock-puppet name.
posted by marienbad at 8:47 AM on August 31, 2013
Also, reading Mathowie's tweet, which one of you is Favstar Bot 25? Man that sounds like a perfect sock-puppet name.
posted by marienbad at 8:47 AM on August 31, 2013
Happy birthday, Paul! Thank you for all your hard work making such a nice place for all of us.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:40 AM on August 31, 2013
posted by Lyn Never at 9:40 AM on August 31, 2013
Hartelijk gefeliciteerd met je verjaardag, pb! Welcome to the fourties, hope you'll enjoy them. They're nice, I promise.
posted by Too-Ticky at 10:08 AM on August 31, 2013
posted by Too-Ticky at 10:08 AM on August 31, 2013
hb, pb! And as always, thank you so much for everything you do! Here's hoping you have a restful and happy weekend for your birthday celebration.
posted by Elsa at 10:16 AM on August 31, 2013
posted by Elsa at 10:16 AM on August 31, 2013
Flickr search throws up what appears to be an album cover from the first release by an obscure Portland band.
posted by Wordshore at 5:24 PM on August 31, 2013
posted by Wordshore at 5:24 PM on August 31, 2013
You look amazing for 0x40 -- what's your secret?
posted by George_Spiggott at 6:10 PM on August 31, 2013
posted by George_Spiggott at 6:10 PM on August 31, 2013
Thanks! My secret is: never post recent pictures online.
posted by pb (staff) at 8:46 PM on August 31, 2013 [16 favorites]
posted by pb (staff) at 8:46 PM on August 31, 2013 [16 favorites]
Enjoy! Sorry I'm late. Happy Birthday!
posted by Stewriffic at 5:49 AM on September 1, 2013
posted by Stewriffic at 5:49 AM on September 1, 2013
Oh no, I missed it!
But pb, I hope you had a lovely birthday, and since you spend the rest of the year granting our pony requests, here's hoping all your birthday pony wishes come true, too.
posted by misha at 9:01 AM on September 1, 2013
But pb, I hope you had a lovely birthday, and since you spend the rest of the year granting our pony requests, here's hoping all your birthday pony wishes come true, too.
posted by misha at 9:01 AM on September 1, 2013
Hippo birdie two ewes! (sorry for the lateness.)
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 1:54 PM on September 1, 2013
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 1:54 PM on September 1, 2013
So did you really fly a kite?
posted by cjorgensen at 4:41 PM on September 1, 2013
posted by cjorgensen at 4:41 PM on September 1, 2013
yep, I really did.
posted by pb (staff) at 5:11 PM on September 1, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by pb (staff) at 5:11 PM on September 1, 2013 [2 favorites]
I bought one to fly this year, but haven't got around to it yet. I want to hook up a video camera and let it out as far as possible. Mine was just a garbage off the shelf kite, but I may even get around to flying it tomorrow if weather holds!
posted by cjorgensen at 5:34 PM on September 1, 2013
posted by cjorgensen at 5:34 PM on September 1, 2013
hb pb. :-)
posted by Michele in California at 8:16 PM on September 1, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Michele in California at 8:16 PM on September 1, 2013 [1 favorite]
Wow, I really didn't know of the Blogger - Pyra Labs - MetaFilter connection till now. Huh. Live and learn.
Happy belated birthday pb!
posted by RedOrGreen at 10:03 AM on September 2, 2013
Happy belated birthday pb!
posted by RedOrGreen at 10:03 AM on September 2, 2013
Belated because this weekend was super busy, but happy birthday anyway pb!
posted by gauche at 7:11 AM on September 3, 2013
posted by gauche at 7:11 AM on September 3, 2013
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posted by rtha at 2:45 PM on August 30, 2013 [1 favorite]