Tuesday, August 25th, 2009
If there is one thing I love, it’s all the stupid words that internet users make up for silly people and silly occurrences. Seriously, I do love them because they are quite entertaining.
There is this web forum that I visit pretty frequently. It’s hosted by one of the developers who created some of the web software that I use. It’s fairly informative and insightful, but from time to time, there are posts made by people whos only intention is to get a rise out of some other members. I never really liked these posts because they seemed childish and really made the poster look like an idiot. The “back and forth” was like two fools teasing each other on the playground.
Typically, when these members start their shenanigans, the moderator steps in to shut things down. He also has to do a little yelling at these guys. It’s so stupid. The people writing these posts are like forty years old…an age that you would expect more from.
A few weeks ago, someone wrote a post that ticked someone else off. The moderator stepped in a called the person who wrote it a “troll” and that he was “trolling.” I got a little chuckle out of this and looked at Wikipedia to see what in the world trolling was. You can click the link above to see for yourself.
A few days ago, another damn fool wrote something stupid that was obviously intended to provoke a response from another member. This time, when the moderator shut the thread down, he said that the member had used “flamebait” to start an argument. I thought that one was really funny. Where the heck do these guys get these words from?
I thought the words were funny, but what was even more funny is that the moderator was throwing them out there so casually. I love it. I never even heard of these things. I guess it’s sort of like the whole “LOL” thing.
Here’s another one – “Birthers.” This one ticks me off. Apparently, this is what we now call people who don’t believe Barack Obama was born in the USA. I mean, couldn’t you make up a better name for these guys. Birthers? That sounds totally freakin’ dumb. I can’t even think of a better name. Maybe someone should ask the guy who made up flamebait. At least we could get something funny out of it.
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Thursday, January 29th, 2009
Here is a list of famous left handed people. I think this is pretty interesting. Be sure to notice the last name on the list. I would say it sure makes you wonder. About what, I am not sure about that.
- James A. Garfield
- Herbert Hoover
- Harry S. Truman
- Gerald Ford
- Ronald Reagan
- George H.W. Bush
- Bill Clinton
- Barack Obama
- Benjamin Franklin
- Steve Forbes
- Ross Perot
- Nelson Rockefeller
- Joan of Arc
- Alexander the Great
- Julius Caesar
- Napoléon Bonaparte
- Prince Charles
- Henry Ford
- Ted Koppel
- Caroline Kennedy
- David Letterman
- Jay Leno
- Bart Simpson
- Jimi Hendrix
- Paul McCartney
- Jay G
Oh, the list goes on and on. I bet I can make an even bigger list of famous right handed people. For the full list of famous left handed people, check over here.
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Thursday, January 22nd, 2009
Obama wants to know: Why open source?
President Barack Obama is a smart guy. Where others zig, he zags. It’s perhaps not surprising, then, that he’s been asking around about the benefits of open source, according to Sun Chairman Scott McNealy, who has been asked by President Obama to author a white paper on the benefits the U.S. government can derive from open source.
10 Web Sites That Will Matter in 2009
You’ve probably never heard of many of them, but chances are you’ll be using some of these Web sites by the end of this year.
Obama inauguration marks new chapter for digital media
On March 4, 1901, a lone cameraman in the employ of Thomas A. Edison was dispatched to capture the swearing in of William McKinley. To posterity he delivered a total of 44 seconds of grainy footage showing a white-haired man on the Capitol steps solemnly, if indistinctly, raising his right hand.
Living free with Linux: 2 weeks without Windows
Can a dedicated Windows user make it for two weeks using only Linux? Preston Gralla tried it and lived to tell this tale.
10 Online Learning Tools for Students
Second semester has started and many students went back to college. If you are one of them check out this list of tools, it might help you with your studies. All applications are web based, simple to use and free.
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Saturday, November 15th, 2008
I thought I would write a quick post about something I experienced yesterday. Actually, I have experienced this quite a bit, but never had any sort of motivation to write about it.
A friend of mine has been getting some video work done for one of his websites. He is having a few videos produced for an attempt at some viral marketing (which, by the way is my new forte). This is a new for most, but not so new for many, area of marketing for pretty much anything. I guess you could say that Barack Obama had some success with it. For those unfamiliar with viral marketing, it’s easily described as “word of mouth” or “buzz.”
Whatever. This post isn’t about viral marketing. It’s about a company I contacted to have some video work done for some of my sites.
I have an idea for some video. It’s basically the same idea my friend had. Since I don’t do video in house, I decided to do a little research and contact a few people to feel out the scene. The first organization I contacted hasn’t written back yet. Okay, forget them. The second company did write back, and this is where it gets annoying.
ME: Hi, I would like to discuss some video production for a few of my websites. One of them can be seen here – ****. Please contact me so we can discuss further. Thank you. Jay
THEM: Hi Jay. Please let me know what you were looking for so I can tell you if we can do it. Also, what’s your budget?
There are a few issues here.
What do you mean, “If we can do it?” Your website had about 30 sample videos on it. I know there are many different roads one can travel down in the video arena, but as far as business goes, don’t you think it would be a wise idea to hear a potential customer’s ideas before showing your lack of confidence?
Actually, that’s not even the part that bothered me. That part happened to creep up on me as I was writing.
The part the bugged me was this line – “What’s your budget?”
That ticks me off. Now, if you know me, you know that I don’t get ticked off easily (haha). Also, I am really sorry for venting on this poor fool about this whole topic, because I have brewed about this many times in the past.
Let’s look at a pro and a con of the question, “What’s your budget?”
The pro is that the business providing the service can immediately identify an individual without the resources for the project. If someone wrote back, “My budget is $25,” then the company knows to cut off all communication, or at the very least, write back something along the lines of their services costing a wee bit more than that.
Here is the con. If we translate the question and look at its actual meaning, we can see that the company is actually asking, “How much do you have to spend?” Some companies seriously are screening out the people with no money. Others are simply trying to squeeze you. No one I know would actually tell a service provider how much they are looking to spend…well, besides me. I’m that guy who low balls and looks for a fight.
“Umm, yes, sure, my name is Jay and I have allocated $300,000 for our video production endeavor.” This makes for an interesting email exchange. I am sure the guy is thinking something like, “Gee Jay, we only charge $100 per video, but for you, I would say $50,000 per.”
Why on earth would I throw a random number at a company before even knowing a cost range for their services?
I know, I am beating a dead horse here.
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Saturday, November 15th, 2008
Dumb Eco-Questions You Were Afraid To Ask
New Scientist offers the definitive guide to everything you wanted to know about being green but were too embarrassed to ask.
How Fast Can Obama Fix US Environment Policy?
For eight years the US has been seen as a global outlier on climate issues. Now, with just 12 months to go until the world decides on a new Kyoto protocol, it is catch-up time for president-elect Barack Obama. What can he reasonably achieve in that time?
Unhappy People Watch TV, Happy People Read/Socialize
A new study by sociologists at the University of Maryland concludes that unhappy people watch more TV, while people who describe themselves as very happy spend more time reading and socializing. The study appears in the December issue of the journal Social Indicators Research.
20 Great Online Image Editors
The online image editing space has grown rapidly in the past year, providing great free and subscription-based options for users of all levels. These well-rounded services let you import images from your social networks, touch up photos, promote your work, and more.
Consumer Confidence is Plummeting
This is the dilemma that 30 years of Reaganomics (the real Reaganomics — keeping the economy overstimulated with huge deficits and irresponsible consumer borrowing — not the fantasy Reaganomics of government run like a family and tax cuts that pay for themselves) has left us with. So what do we do?
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Wednesday, November 5th, 2008
I thought the Democratic National Convention couldn’t be topped, and in some ways, it can’t. The speech Obama gave that night was just awesome.
I stayed up as long as I could last night. When 11PM hit and they announced that Obama had taken the presidency, I, like many other people watching was just thrilled. I guess my gut knew it would happen, but being a Democrat for all these years, I was a little skeptical. A few hours later and after realizing North Carolina wasn’t going to be called, I went to sleep.
Did you see all those people in the streets watching the election results? What a party. I wish I was in Chicago last night.
This morning, I spoke with two of my friends who voted for McCain. They were both just as happy as I was about who won the election. They aren’t die-hard Republicans, so they knew what was going on. I like talking to those kinds of people because they make sense and can navigate through all the bull.
So, congratulations all you folks out there who voted and won. Actually, I think we all won last night.
Oh, and just in case you want to see a really cool post about a little U.S. history, click here.
Barack Obama
Yes We Can
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Wednesday, October 15th, 2008
In exactly one and a half hours, Barack Obama and John McCain will square off in the final presidential debate of 2008.
I can’t believe it’s happening. I mean, I have been following a campaign, in some fashion or another, for about 8 years now. Geez, it seems like they never end. Someone (I can’t remember who) once said that the campaigning for the second term of the presidency begins the first day of office of the first term. That may have come from a movie, I just don’t remember.
I have been following the hype all day. All the major news outlets have been saying that John McCain needs to really step it up during this debate and knock Obama off his rhythm. If he does, would that bring all the swing voters to McCain? Possible, but not probable.
As you may be aware, there is a huge amount of media manipulation during any campaign, but especially before a big debate, like this one. Both campaigns play what is referred to as “the expectations game.” I actually got that term from the media. I think Obama’s team won this time, because they got all the outlets to report on McCain’s tall order. Now, we are all going to be watching for that knockout punch.
Or, it could be the media is just reporting this to raise ratings. I think this thing is being influenced by both. Either way, I will be sitting down in the basement from 9PM to ??? enjoying another debate with a cold beer in my hand.
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