02/05/2008 In politics Tags: Facebook, socialism, Venezuela
I got into a nice debate on Facebook tonight about Socialism, and thought I’d share an overview of my position here, for all to see (since Facebook doesn’t index its content on Google, and since I am starting to hate Facebook):
In theory, it works well. In a country where the masses are not equipped to serve their own needs (think Venezuela) it works well. But in a technologically and educationally superior nation as ours, socialism will destroy the standard of living we are all so well accustomed to.
Why would anybody strive to be anything but ordinary when no matter how hard you work you are rewarded with the same end results as the guy next to you who sits on his ass all day and does nothing?
Socialism is for the weak. Free markets are a tool of the strong. America would not be the great nation it is today had it not been for the capitalist economy we were built on. Every effort to “lessen the blow” of capitalism for the weakest of our nation has brought us that much closer to our demise as a global super power. Someday China will be the bright shining star we all look to for “handouts,” and we have only ourselves to thank for that.
02/04/2008 In lifehacking Tags: Comcast, Entrecard
My favorite time to work on the Internet is at night. The reasons for this are many, from the peace and quiet to the low level of obtruding sunlight. But above all, my Comcast cable broadband connection screams between the hours of 10PM and 6AM. When all of the teenagers are asleep and the businesses are closed, the pipe is a whole lot wider. Downloads finish faster, pages load like lightning, and I don’t get timeouts on Entrecard.
I always chuckle when I see a Comcast ad boasting their incredibly fast speeds - don’t believe the hype.
02/03/2008 In blogging Tags: content, design
Web designs with large imagery have a positive effect on the viewer’s impression of your content. I have read many articles on sites that are all text and minimalist design. My personal experience with sites like that is unfavorable, making me more than likely to avoid that site again in the future should I need information.
On the flip side of that debate, when I come across a beautiful website, I tend to be more forgiving of poorly written content simply on the fact that the site is generally attractive and/or unique. If the design of the site is good, it can carry the weight of the other factors (like a site that loads fast, or a site that captivates the reader with extraordinary prose).
02/02/2008 In lifehacking Tags: Internet, myspace, spam, WordPress
It surprises me that MySpace is now a mandatory thing. If you want to be friends with someone these days, you have to have a MySpace account. If not, you miss out on gossip, you never get invited anywhere, and it takes years to see those pictures your friend took last weekend with their camera and promised to email to you right away. Frankly, it makes me sick that the world has come to this.
Ten years ago I was still in high school, and the Internet was something only the geeks appreciated. Understandable because most websites were nothing more than colored backgrounds with some crappy icons and animated text headlines. But I used to ponder how long it would take the general population to catch up with the geeks. I figured it would be a while, but before long everyone would do everything via the Internet. It doesnt take a genius to look around at the digital world we live in and see that is exactly where we are today.
What makes me sad however, is that instead of the average computer user being competent in the technology fundamentals that make up the Internet we know and love today, companies like MySpace and Yahoo have developed platforms that provide the Internet to everyone’s fingertips in single-serve fashion. It is entirely plausible to believe that there are scores of people who know nothing about the Internet and spend more than 4 hours a day using it.
As a result of this, Americans now have a never ending list of risks they take every time they log into their computer. From Identity theft to viruses, from SPAM to Interent stalkers, using the ‘net these days is somewhat like having unprotected sex with a stripper - sooner or later you’re gonna get caught up. Being that I am an IT Professional, I am troubled by how polluted the once glorious arena called the Word Wide Web has become.
So what is my point? Learn something. Figure out how to use email to communicate with people rather than relying on posting comments on your friend’s wall. Upload your pictures to a sharing service like Flickr. Get yourself a blog on WordPress.com. And for the love of christ, stop forwarding me chain emails.
02/01/2008 In blogging Tags: adsense, monetization, pay-per-post
So I often I stumble onto a website that has either A) a low Alexa traffic ranking, or B) relatively little if any useful content. Hell, at the time of writing this my own blog fits into one of these categories. However, the key difference between my blog and those of so many others is this: I am not making a pathetic attempt to monetize my blog yet.
I strongly believe that the most important goal for a new blog should be amassing volumes of interesting and useful content. Second to that is the goal of creating a unique experience for your audience. Once you have those two goals wrapped up, the rest is easy - if you build it, the cash will come. As you can hopefully see,I am actively working towards both goals in unison. My hope is that by next winter I will be raking in the cash ;)
01/22/2008 In blogging Tags: design, Flash, mootools, Ubuntu
The day I ditched Windows XP for Ubuntu, I vowed to do whatever it took to avoid proprietary software. As someone who relied heavily on Microsoft tools like Office 2007, and of course Adobe’s CS3 for my design needs, this was not a foolproof plan. I have been successful at keeping my virtualbox Windows XP vm turned off 95% of the time, but I found myself being pulled into it often for animation effects that I was using in my designs.
So, I don’t need to explain how excited I was to find mootools. Since this is a javascript framework, all of the design is done in a traditional text file format. As such, I can edit my files in gedit like all the rest of the files I work with, and the vm stays off. An added benefit to replacing bulky Flash animations in my designs with mootools effects is that I don’t have to download the massive installer torrent for Adobe Master Collection ever again.
To read about how I am using mootools on this site, check out this post. To read about my adventures in abandoning Windows here.
01/17/2008 In lifehacking Tags: civil rights, legal advice
I have learned many invaluable life lessons since I reached adulthood. None, however, are as important as the lesson I learned about self-incrimination. Growing up, I was led to believe that members of law enforcement were “the good guys,” so I naturally assumed this when I first had occasion to be involved with one.
The summer after I graduated from high school was a lot of fun. That is, until I got pulled over and arrested for DUI and possession of some… well, yeah. I laughed at the cop who told me what I was being charged with because I wasn’t intoxicated. But alas, I fell victim to my own naivety and allowed the arresting officer to talk me into taking a blood test. Since I willingly provided the evidence they needed to convict me, no lawyer in the world could have gotten me off.
One positive benefit of this situation was that I discovered a fantastic criminal attorney who would save my ass on many occasions yet to come. But during our first meeting he imparted on me some true wisdom. He brought to my conscious thought the concept of civil protections under the fifth amendment. As an American citizen, I have the right not to incriminate myself for any reason.
Tom was good enough to explain the concept of Miranda rights to me; another policy enacted to preserve civil liberties of the accused, which most police officers employ lightly. The old adage “anything you say can, and will, be used against you” holds true for anything you say at any time that the police officer has witnessed. This of course is within the confines of legality because the accused need only be advised of his/her rights upon the time he is being arrested. But anything you say, or provide to the arresting officer, is evidence that can and will be used against you in court.
At the end of our conversation, he handed me his business card and told me to memorize his number for the next time I end up in a jam. “Tell them you want to speak to your lawyer next time,” he added. The moral of this story is: every man (and woman) needs a good lawyer. I guess you could say I learned that lesson the hard way, but a lesson learned is wisdom none-the-less.
01/16/2008 In blogging Tags: childhood, content, CSS, design, justify
Maybe I am biased by the many years spent reading the Sunday paper after my old man got done with it. Maybe I have a keen eye for quality design and superior content when they come together in a perfect mix of design and content. Whatever madness it is that compels me, I notice when a site design uses left versus justify for the CSS property text-align. I struggle to pinpoint exactly what it is about left-justified content that drives me nuts, or why exactly I feel so at home with newspaper styled designs. I do know this: setting text-align to justify fills out paragraphs and provides for cleaner lines in a quality design.
I am also astutely aware that my preference applies only to content that stretches over two lines. The reason behind that is simple: the css property “justify” does not come into effect until after the paragraph has extended into a second line. Once the content spills over, the magical properties of CSS stretch the words in the previous line(s) to proportionately fill the entire line with text.
Now, some designers do not like having an uneven amount of space between words. But I defy them to show a better method to align both the left and right edge of the text using some other form of CSS trickery or bloated imagery. Until then, I will stick to my roots and render content in a format that’s easy on my eyes and brings back fond childhood memories of eating Spiderman cereal and watching Alf.
01/15/2008 In blogging Tags: design, tumblelog, WordPress
(UPDATE: Thanks to the Virtual Mutliblog plugin, I have combined my tumblelog with my main blog, and now use the same theme for both as well. The original theme is no longer available for download as I will no longer be maintaining it for my own uses.)
When I decided to make a tumblelog, I spent some time looking at other WordPress implementations of the concept and considered a few themes. I found this great Tumblr-style theme for WordPress called Typographic. I decided it was simple enough to use as a starting point for my own tumblelog, and got started. I was delighted to find that the entire theme consisted of only 2 php files - index.php and the_post.php. Since this is a very lightweight blog for quick posting and sharing of items, this was a great discovery.
01/15/2008 In politics Tags: MLK, Vietnam, war
Dr. Martin Luther King lived and died long before I was ever born, but I am still deeply moved by his wisdom, courage and conviction. His speeches carry more inspiration than the beliefs of any person who has come after him. Even in death, he brought hope to those who would listen. Had he not been assassinated, Dr. King would be 79 - but I believe he would be standing up in opposition against unjust wars now, just as he did back then. His death was not in vain, however, as his wisdom reaches beyond the grave to inspire people like myself. Take a moment and watch this clip, and you shall see what I mean.
Watch on youtube