Category: observations

Flocculent Device

Someone has compiled (OK, made up) a list of other ways you can spell out MCSE: the canonical version is “Must Consult Someone Experienced” but I think some of these are even better.

I liked these 5 best:

• Management Can’t Send E-mail
• Maintenance Costs Significantly Extra
• Minion of the Crappy Software Empire
• More Co-opted Standards Everyday
• Making Computers Susceptible to Exploit

I stumbled on this from Google and wanted to say thanks for posting

MetaFilter picks up on the idea that how an issue is framed or described determines how people will respond to it (“When did you stop beating your wife?” is an old example).

Conservatives own this idea right now. But the Rockridge Institute hope to change that.

What happened was, Dick explained to me how Sxip worked, and I didn’t understand, I said so and asked for more explanation, he explained again and I got some of it but not the rest so I asked about this, and so on. And so on; this went on for quite a while. And I wasn’t bothered and neither was Dick, because we were applying the Two Laws of Explanation.

There’s a corollary to this that I have seen in action: being able to explain a given concept to anyone demonstrates mastery. If you remember how what you learned well enough to teach it to someone else, or better, how you came to understand it, you’ll never forget it.

now playing: The Disappointed from the album Nonsuch by XTC

[Posted with ecto]

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: January 11, 2004 – January 17, 2004 Archives

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) But stated as a hard fact, that there were weapons of mass destruction as opposed to the possibility that he could move to acquire those weapons still.

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH

So what’s the difference?

I see a campaign theme . . . . some obviously different facts treated identically and some similar facts treated differently: one obvious example is the diligence employed in ferreting out who leaked the name of a covert CIA operatice to the press vs how a widely respected former cabinet officer got some papers that discredit the administration.
Continue reading “what’s the difference?”

Nokia’s new user guide for its phones has some helpful hints for how to use your phone responsibly — with a twist.

In the pamphlet, the handset giant also advises its customers to switch off their phones and forget about work for the weekend if they want to live longer.

Those in need of cellphone etiquette guidance or lifestyle tips could also turn to Nokia: “If you use your mobile phone in a fast-food restaurant, keep your voice down so you won’t annoy people. And order a salad … Quit smoking. Drink less.”

Of course, primers on the etiquette required by a new technology are nothing new. 150 years ago, first-time rail travelers were expected to know how to behave in this new mileau, confronted by more people, of a wider assortment than they had ever seen, in cramped quarters.

There were codes of conduct for things you don’t do on the railroad, like talking in a loud voice, or singing or spitting, things that would annoy other passengers. There was an explosion of etiquette books. Everyone suddenly wanted to know how to behave, because somehow being pushed together with strangers like that for the first time created in people a need to figure out how to get along with these strangers.

[Posted with ecto]

James Seng’s blog: Solution for comments spams

To cut the story short, I wrote a plugin to MT that will verify if it is a human before it allows comments to be posted. The idea is pretty simple: Display an image with a Security Code and demand the user to enter a Security Code manually before allowing posting to go through.

I haven’t tried this yet, and my volume of comment spam isn’t so great that I need it. I just wanted to post this to connect my query with the solution in case anyone else needs it.

Neil’s World – Media Player Classic

Does this program look familiar to you? It may well do, because it’s a rewrite of Windows Media Player 6, except it’s open source and released under the GNU GPL, and doesn’t have the annoyances of MS’s original. The interface is similar but a little more up-to-date and XP friendly, and comes with some more advanced features.

But probably the best thing about this player is the range of formats it supports. It’ll play just about anything you throw at it, whether it’s an MP3, an Ogg, a WMA, even a QuickTime file.

I’m sure MSFT have something just like this — that empowers user and preserves choice — in the pipeline.