A little something I noticed:
When you go to CNN to search for a news article, type in your search criteria and click search. Oops. You aren't searching CNN, you are searching the entire web. Note to CNN. If I want to search for something on the web, I'm just as capable of typing www.google.com as I am www.cnn.com. In fact, going to Google is still much easier with my handy Google toolbar.
Upon further investigation, I found that MSNBC does this too!
Yes, they both allow you to search their site specifically. You have to select the radio button to do so.
Here's a newsflash for you. Save your users a click. Make your own site the default.
7.23.2005
7.22.2005
Gas Prices Skyrocket, but Thank Goodness We Get More Daylight
If you blinked, you may have missed this in the news. Our super-hard working government officials have rallied behind a new cause. That's right folks. We get two more months of extra daylight.
Why? Well, according to Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass, "It just makes everyone feel sunnier". Oh, and "Kids across the nation will soon rejoice because they'll have another hour of daylight trick-or-treating" according to Rep. Fred Upton, R-Michigan. (Quotes from CNN article )
Personally, I would feel a lot "sunnier" if our politicians focused their concerns on the sky-rocketing fuel prices I'm paying at the gas pump instead of extra daylight. Furthermore, I seriously doubt young trick-or-treaters know the difference about when it's daylight savings time and when it isn't.
MSNBC focuses on a more detailed picture of the story. A change in time equates to complication of flight schedules, reorganization of school calendars, and even prayertime for religious organizations.
Let's not miss another important detail. Changing the time effects technology. All your gadgets? Calendar software? Automatic billing? PROBLEMS. All these things were programmed with certain expectations regarding time.
Maybe when the lawmakers have to manually set their DVD recorders when the machines automatically adjust for the existing DST, they will realize an important lesson. Spend your time working to solve our country's problems. Don't add to them frivolously.
Why? Well, according to Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass, "It just makes everyone feel sunnier". Oh, and "Kids across the nation will soon rejoice because they'll have another hour of daylight trick-or-treating" according to Rep. Fred Upton, R-Michigan. (Quotes from CNN article )
Personally, I would feel a lot "sunnier" if our politicians focused their concerns on the sky-rocketing fuel prices I'm paying at the gas pump instead of extra daylight. Furthermore, I seriously doubt young trick-or-treaters know the difference about when it's daylight savings time and when it isn't.
MSNBC focuses on a more detailed picture of the story. A change in time equates to complication of flight schedules, reorganization of school calendars, and even prayertime for religious organizations.
Let's not miss another important detail. Changing the time effects technology. All your gadgets? Calendar software? Automatic billing? PROBLEMS. All these things were programmed with certain expectations regarding time.
Maybe when the lawmakers have to manually set their DVD recorders when the machines automatically adjust for the existing DST, they will realize an important lesson. Spend your time working to solve our country's problems. Don't add to them frivolously.
10.30.2004
Molly Meets Max
Molly & Max met for the first time today. After the initial sniffs, Molly is only mildly interested, but Max is completely in love with her. We will be keeping our photos of them here.10.23.2004
9.02.2004
Think Geek
If you are in the computer industry, and the Dilbert cartoons on your desk calendar show a recap of what you experienced personally yesterday, check out thinkgeek.com to make yourself feel better. They have a fun range of t-shirts. Here were some that made me :-):
- No, I will not fix your computer
- There are 10 types of people in the world; those who understand binary and those who don't
- Obey gravity. It's the law!
- SELECT * FROM users WHERE clue > 0 (or) SELECT * FROM users WHERE clue=TRUENo rows returned
- There's no place like 127.0.0.1
- Practice Safe Hex & Avoid Computer Viruses Today
- How many people can read hex is only you and dead people can read hex? 57006
- WYSIWYG Babydoll
- Insufficient Memory
- resistance is futile if <>
- Generic Humanoid Carbon Unit
- You are dumb v 1.0
- Will work for bandwidth
- Skillset Exportable. Insufficient ROI. Office of Employee Termination and Overseas Outsourcing
- PEBKAC = Problem Exists Between Keyboard and Chair
- ID-ten-T error
- There's no place like ::1
- I don't work here
- $>man woman$>Segmentation fault (core dumped)
- Go away or I will replace you with a very small shell script
- Scan my network and die
- I read your email
- Bow before me, for I am root
- /(bb[^b]{2})/
- kung foo
- esreverreenigne
- Chicks dig Unix
- Perl gerl
- I wrote code so you don't have to - O'Reilly
- 200 OK403 Forbidden
- Got root?
- I TCP/IP, but mostly IP
- Procrastination - Hard work often pays off after time, but laziness pays off right now
- I brake for LAN parties
- Achievement - You Can Do Anything You Set Your Mind To When You Have Vision, Determination, And An Endless Supply Of Cheap Labor.
- Potential - Not Everyone Gets To Be An Astronaut When They Grow Up.
- Teamwork - A Few Harmless Flakes Working Together Can Unleash An Avalanche Of Destruction.
- Ambition - The Journey Of A Thousand Miles Sometimes Ends Very, Very Badly.
- Meetings - None Of Us Is As Dumb As All Of Us.
- Motivation - If A Pretty Poster And A Cute Saying Are All It Takes To Motivate You, You Probably Have A Very Easy Job. The Kind Robots Will Be Doing Soon.
- Idiocy - Never Underestimate the Power of Stupid People in Large Groups.
- Apathy - If We Don't Take Care of the Customer, Maybe They'll Stop Bugging Us.
- Consulting - If You're Not A Part Of The Solution, There's Good Money To Made In Prolonging The Problem.
- Indifference - It Takes 43 muscles to Frown and 17 to Smile, But It Doesn't Take Any To Just Sit There With A Dumb Look On Your Face.
- Mediocrity - It Takes a Lot Less Time and Most People Won't Notice the Difference Until It's Too Late.
- Cluelessness - There Are No Stupid Questions, But There Are A Lot Of Inquisitive Idiots.
- Despair - It's Always Darkest just Before it goes Pitch Black.
- Mistakes - It Could Be that the Purpose of Your Life Is Only to Serve as a Warning to Others.
- Incompetence - When You Earnestly Believe You Can Compensate For A Lack Of Skill By Doubling Your Efforts, There's No End To What You Can't Do.
- Elitism - It's Lonely At The Top. But It's Comforting To Look Down Upon Everyone At The Bottom.
- Use the Best: Linux for servers; MacIntosh for graphics; Palm for mobility; Windows for Solitaire
- A bad day using Linux is better than a good day using Windows
- Have you applied your Windows security patches today?
- The box said "Requires Windows 98 or greater", so I installed Linux
- Department of Clue Enforcement
- C:\WINDOWS C:\WINDOWS\GO C:\PC\CRAWL
- You know you're an engineer if you have no life & can prove it mathematically.
- When I want your opinion, I'll beat it out of you
- We have enough youth. How about a fountain of SMART?
- Time flies when you are sick and psychotic
- The universe is a figment of its own imagination.
- The ozone layer or cheese in a spray can. Dont make me choose.
- The beatings will continue until morale improves.
- Quiet - Alpha Geek at work.
- Press any key... no, no, no, not that one!
- Preliminary operational tests were inconclusive (the darn thing blew up)
- NEVER, NEVER question the GEEKS judgement
- Make it idiot-proof, and someone will make a better idiot.
- I PROCESS, therefore I AM
- If we aren't supposed to eat animals, why are they made of meat?
- I don't know what your problem is, but I'll bet its hard to pronounce.
- I can't be fired, slaves are sold.
- ERROR: Keyboard not attached. Press F-1 to continue.
- Honesty is the best policy, but insanity is a better defense.
- Department of Redundancy Department.
- Enter any 11-digit prime number to continue...
- Deja Moo: The feeling you've heard this bullcrap before.
- Dain bramaged.
- Chaos! Panic! Disaster! (My work here is done)
- Blessed are the Geeks, for they shall internet the earth.
- Alcohol & calculus don't mix. Never drink & derive.
- 90% of being smart is knowing what you're dumb at.
- I see dumb people
- Roses are #FF0000/Violets are #0000FF/All my Base/Are Belong to You
- Keep out of Direct Sunlight
- 2+2=5 (for extremely large values of 2)
- I see fragged people
- Code Poet
- #!/usr/bin/girl
- All your base are belong to us
- I see dead pixels
- I hack my Mac
7.16.2004
Marriage Under Fire
Our culture is one where we try to cater to everyone. Christians have molded into this behavior as well. We don't want to offend others with our beliefs, so we silently let ourselves be rolled over. Our values are attacked, and we let it slide. Morals are thrown out the window before us on TV and other aspects of the media. And we take it.
Now marriage, the God-appointed foundation of our society, is being attacked. We can't let homosexual marriage become commonplace. It's time for Christians to take stand. God says it's wrong, so it's wrong. It's as simple as that.
Now, just so I am perfectly clear, I am in no way, shape or form encouraging discrimination against homosexuals. God's Word says hate the sin, love the sinner.
I encourage you to contact your government. Every person can make a difference. Let's not just sit back and let this issue slip by us.
Resources to check out:
Now marriage, the God-appointed foundation of our society, is being attacked. We can't let homosexual marriage become commonplace. It's time for Christians to take stand. God says it's wrong, so it's wrong. It's as simple as that.
Now, just so I am perfectly clear, I am in no way, shape or form encouraging discrimination against homosexuals. God's Word says hate the sin, love the sinner.
I encourage you to contact your government. Every person can make a difference. Let's not just sit back and let this issue slip by us.
Resources to check out:
- Dr. James Dobson (Focus on the Family) - Marriage Under Fire
- Baptist Convention
- Baptist Press
- Soapbox essay on the subject on the Congress website
- Article from the Catholic Church
No Child Left Behind
It's only July and the media is already bombarding us with political fights. 90% of advertisments are already political ads, and it will just get worse. Before you get too sick of all the politics, I encourage you to do a little bit of research on an issue that tends to get a lot of hand-waving - Education.
Ask a politician where they stand on education. "I'm a big supporter of education" is the response you are most likely to hear. You may even hear "I would send more money to schools."
What we need is a lot more than money. Instead, take a look a the programs our schools are forced into these days. Prime example - No Child Left Behind.
Have you heard about this program? Bush himself called it "the cornerstone of my administration." Sure, the concept is fabulous. Every child will receive an excellent and complete education. How? Schools are rewarded based on yearly improvement of their students.
There are several problems with the philosophy behind this program. All children are not the same. All children do not have the same learning capability. All parents aren't equally supportive of their children.
Furthermore, the math doesn't add up. How can students improve every year for eternity? Logically, for this to happen the students at a particular grade level must get smarter every year. Are childrens that start school in 2004 smarter than children who started school in 1994? Do they have more capabilities of learning? What happens when the school gets to the top of the bell curve?
Also, a consequence of this program is that instead of a focus on learning material for a grade level, the focus is on material to take the end-of-year test. Teachers are teaching only what is likely to be on the test. What about everything else?
Lastly, there are children slipping through the cracks regardless of the program. Say you have Child A who is extremely bright. Child B is in the same class and is, well, not so bright. For the program to work, the teacher must teach at the level of Child B, so he doesn't get left behind. Child A? Well, my friends, he is left behind. Left behind to no longer be challenged in class. Yes, disadvantaged children have the focus like never before, but what about everyone else?
Let's take it a step further. Say Child C is also in the class. Child C likes to cut up and could care less about learning. His parents don't pay attention to all the negative feedback sent home by the teacher. In order to make the class a success, the teacher has to pass him. What's the justice in that? How does Child C learn the consequence of his actions? What motivates him to be a better student?
Education is a lot more than taking a test every year and making sure that every child passes. In my book, this program fails.
Ask a politician where they stand on education. "I'm a big supporter of education" is the response you are most likely to hear. You may even hear "I would send more money to schools."
What we need is a lot more than money. Instead, take a look a the programs our schools are forced into these days. Prime example - No Child Left Behind.
Have you heard about this program? Bush himself called it "the cornerstone of my administration." Sure, the concept is fabulous. Every child will receive an excellent and complete education. How? Schools are rewarded based on yearly improvement of their students.
There are several problems with the philosophy behind this program. All children are not the same. All children do not have the same learning capability. All parents aren't equally supportive of their children.
Furthermore, the math doesn't add up. How can students improve every year for eternity? Logically, for this to happen the students at a particular grade level must get smarter every year. Are childrens that start school in 2004 smarter than children who started school in 1994? Do they have more capabilities of learning? What happens when the school gets to the top of the bell curve?
Also, a consequence of this program is that instead of a focus on learning material for a grade level, the focus is on material to take the end-of-year test. Teachers are teaching only what is likely to be on the test. What about everything else?
Lastly, there are children slipping through the cracks regardless of the program. Say you have Child A who is extremely bright. Child B is in the same class and is, well, not so bright. For the program to work, the teacher must teach at the level of Child B, so he doesn't get left behind. Child A? Well, my friends, he is left behind. Left behind to no longer be challenged in class. Yes, disadvantaged children have the focus like never before, but what about everyone else?
Let's take it a step further. Say Child C is also in the class. Child C likes to cut up and could care less about learning. His parents don't pay attention to all the negative feedback sent home by the teacher. In order to make the class a success, the teacher has to pass him. What's the justice in that? How does Child C learn the consequence of his actions? What motivates him to be a better student?
Education is a lot more than taking a test every year and making sure that every child passes. In my book, this program fails.
7.01.2004
The Enemy of the Computer World
I read an article today on CNN that Microsoft was developing a Search engine so that they could compete with Google. What, did they feel they ran out of competition? Time on their hands? Not enough security patches to develop to take up their time? (Right.) Perhaps they were jealous that another company had something that they didn't - something that worked. Without a reboot.
More than just the fact that they are indeed a monopoly that will run any decent technology in the ground and then charge you for it, I have a fundamental problem with Microsoft.
You know when you were in school and had to take a math test without a calculator to do your work for you? (Of course, some of you may have never seen that day.) You actually had to learn how to do something for yourself. How to think. What a novel idea.
Well, Microsoft decided to program a computer, you shouldn't have to think for yourself. It would create an environment where you just start typing or drag and drop pictures, and your code would write itself. The problem with this is that you end up with a bunch of computer programmers that don't understand the most essential component of computer programming - logic. I see them all the time, every day.
Yes, I know that you can program only in Microsoft's languages and still be technical. But you must admit, that group is slim. And getting slimmer. I don't think I want the person who wrote the software that handles my money or even my hospital to not have a good concept of logic, do you?
We must all band together to face the enemy. It's everywhere you look, and soon to visit a search engine near you.
More than just the fact that they are indeed a monopoly that will run any decent technology in the ground and then charge you for it, I have a fundamental problem with Microsoft.
You know when you were in school and had to take a math test without a calculator to do your work for you? (Of course, some of you may have never seen that day.) You actually had to learn how to do something for yourself. How to think. What a novel idea.
Well, Microsoft decided to program a computer, you shouldn't have to think for yourself. It would create an environment where you just start typing or drag and drop pictures, and your code would write itself. The problem with this is that you end up with a bunch of computer programmers that don't understand the most essential component of computer programming - logic. I see them all the time, every day.
Yes, I know that you can program only in Microsoft's languages and still be technical. But you must admit, that group is slim. And getting slimmer. I don't think I want the person who wrote the software that handles my money or even my hospital to not have a good concept of logic, do you?
We must all band together to face the enemy. It's everywhere you look, and soon to visit a search engine near you.
6.30.2004
Making the Web a Better Place
Usability is just beginning to receive the highlighting that it deserves. Some of us have been promoting it for years. Corporations have bought in, but what about John (or Jane) Doe website owner? Do they even know what it is, let along why they should care? It's up to us to get the word out.
So, John or Jane, here's a few pointers just for you:
There are lots of usability sites out there. Jakob Nielson has a site with tons of information. Another great one is IBM's.
So, John or Jane, here's a few pointers just for you:
- Think speed. Go here and have your site analyzed. It's fabulous.
- Think relevance. Your page needs an organized theme. Everything on the page should be relevant to that theme. If it's not, split it into multiple pages
- Check for broken images. These are terribly distracting.
- Check for broken links periodically. It is frustrating to a surfer to click on a link from your site that doesn't go anywhere or gives them an error.
- Limit the number of images on your page, especially those that move. Yes, I know you love all the beautiful pictures. Try spacing them out on multiple pages or making them just a link if you have a picture gallery. People are much more impressed by the speed of your site than by the images.
- Avoid the hateful images that follow your mouse. Just ignore that script. You wouldn't believe how slow that makes your page.
- Use a color palette. This will get you started.
- Limit your use of scripting. We all know that you can do some great things with scripts. Just don't do it unless it is pertinent to your page.
- Check your layout. Draw it out on a page before you code it. Make good uses of tables to organize all the items on your page.
- Check your page with different browsers. Just because it worked with Internet Explorer does not mean it will work with Netscape and vice-versa.
There are lots of usability sites out there. Jakob Nielson has a site with tons of information. Another great one is IBM's.
6.23.2004
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