Aha! I wondered how a local law firm could afford a commercial with such high production values. It seems obvious in retrospect. This is the same ad campaign that has the bald guy saying, "Oh, you have a lawyer," and grimacing, right?
Since the page from the article is slashdotted, here's another example of a gestural menu made with javascript. I did this about 4 years ago, and the pages contain links to some of Xerox's original reserach on the subject for those who are terribly interested.
Now, I see christmas gift ideas... "stocking stuffers" on Slashdot.
You've been reading Slashdot long enough you should remember that they do the Geek Gift Ideas every year. There's even a Christmas category.
Though I agree that the Xmas shopping season has gotten way out of hand. I only exchange gifts with close family, and I usually purchase those throughout the year when I see something I think they'd like, so a shopping season doesn't mean much for me.
As a matter of fact, my church observes the season of Advent in the four weeks leading up to Christmas. It's supposed to be a time of solomn reflection much like Lent. We don't even sing Christmas songs in church until Christmas Day. All the celebrating is supposed to be saved up for the twelve days after Christmas, culminating in Epiphany (Jan. 6). The way popular American culture celebrates the holiday before the holiday is kind of at odds with that.
You just described my use of Photoshop to a T. Adobe updates it too frequently and won't let you skip a version for upgrades like Macromedia does, so I've just been sticking with 6.0. It's the only Classic app I use anymore, but it still does what I need (photo manipulation), so why upgrade? For non-photo stuff I have Fireworks and Freehand.
Still, I think I may have to try out the GIMP after I upgrade to Panther.
But notice that banner ads aren't completely dead. They've just gotten better, more professional (well, not all of them, but a lot have). The same ad agencies who figure out how to keep your eyes glued to the tube during a commercial break are making banner ads that are more likely to catch your eye without annoying you or sending you into a seizure.
As a matter of fact, one web site I frequent used user-sponsored banner ads in their forums to make ends meet during a lean time. The ads were $45 apiece, so lots of people chipped in to buy them. Most of them were clever, funny, entertaining, and people noticed them, even looked forward to seeing new ones as a result.
Maybe Slashdot should try this: any registered user can buy an ad on the journal pages for $XX. Imagine the banner ad flame wars! Heck, I'd be entertained.
I agree. Real estate is, as far as I know from friends in the business, comission-based. That's the incentive to sell the $750,000 house on the lake instead of the $75,000 house by the railroad tracks. At least they're dealing with tangible property that has a more or less obvious value based on location, size, condition, etc. What about people in insurance sales? They get commissions for selling a million dollars worth of "maybe."
It might also say something about who has the most time on their hands to volunteer. Perhaps there are just more out-of-work ASP developers these days.
Would you really put down a book after 2/3rds, or stop watching a show after 2/3rds of the season?
Only if it's really, really, really bad. Southern Cross was a book so bad that I threw it in the trash while I was halfway through. I was in an airport on a layover, and still thought that having nothing to read was better than finishing that book. The psychic pets were bad enough, but it was the "techno-genius" character giving a painfully wrong explanation of how the Internet works that pushed me over the edge.
My father is an attorney specializing in property law. A lot of the stuff he deals with involves water rights (e.g. who's allowed to use how much water from a well that goes across property lines).
I don't think you're going to get many arguments on that one. I only drink it if I forgot to bring my own drink from home, because the only vending machines in the building where I work are both Pepsi machines. Still, they have other brands (e.g. Mountain Dew) that aren't so bad, and given the opportunity to get a free song with something I'm buying anyway, this promo just might sway me.
I've never had a white-box PC die like that, and I've installed close to a hundred.
Lucky. We had someone here build 6 whitebox systems and then quit a month later. This warranty of which you speak? We have none, since all the components were purchased separately from different vendors. These computers looked good on paper, but in practice are buggy as hell, and have completely turned our sysadmin off of ever buying whitebox systems ever again.
Not that this is really relevant to the topic at hand: the people who prefer Linux here use Linux, everyone else uses Windows.
Good point. On PCH, though, even if you don't opt in you'll still get spam. I entered the contest once when I was young and naive, didn't opt-in to anything, and still get spam at the address I used.
It would make so much more sense if the product placements were appropriate to the audience.
A lot of the home improvement and makeover type shows have totally obvious product placement, and no one complains. On a bunch of the TLC shows, for example, they plaster sponsor logos all over their trucks and use products from the sponsors' stores and no one complains. They list the sponsors in the credits as well.
If ER lists in the credits "This episode sponsored in part by Computer Associates," that would solve the problem, wouldn't it?
you have to figure out which friggin' disc to use on each individual station
It's not just a difference between SBE and Pro. It turns out that all Pros are not created equal. The newer machines here were set up in two batches several months apart. All have Office XP Pro, but we discovered when trying to install the patch that the newer Office CDs are not the same as the older ones. Patches on the newer Office XP Pro require a file called PRORET.MSI on the CD, while the less new Office XP Pro needs a file named PRO.MSI on the CD.
We figured this out after a frustrating attempt to patch my computer. A CD was in there, but the Office Updater didn't like it. It worked fine when we dug out the exact same CD that was originally used to install Office XP Pro on this computer.
As the spouse of someone pursuing his PhD in physics, I can tell you that a PhD in experimental physics represents very focused high-level research, often working with specialized equipment. The experienced gained in getting a doctorate in physics can be directly applicable to a job, if you get a job in your field of expertise.
I imagine physics isn't the only field where a PhD represents practical experience, as the previous poster pointed out.
There's a good open-source program called Audacity that I've been using. It's OSX native, does multitrack recording, and is very simple and straightforward. It might be too simplistic if you're looking for pro-level software, but if you're someone like me who's just messing around with making music on your Mac, it's great.
Scour.net co-founder Travis Kalanick is also running for CA governor, focusing on what he calls a "P2P" platform. Why are you a geekier candidate than he is?
My parents have told me about living in Washington, D.C. in 1972, a year of record low voter turnout in that area. Their two votes counted for.001% of the total, a number that sounds small until you realize that any other year the percentage their votes accounted for would have to be expressed as a logarithm.
So please, convince more people to think like you! It just makes my vote worth more.
Growing up in Northern California, I was in college before I realized that some people thought that "conservative" was a good thing to be. After all, the conservatives were the bad old men who enacted Prop 13 and impoverished our public schools, right? Hearing "liberal" used as an epithet also came as a bit of a shock. But that's part of the college experience, isn't it: exposure to different ideas.
Now, I try to avoid using either label to describe my own political leanings because people hear that label and make snap judgments about what I believe. But I have many friends who wear the "conservative" label as a badge of pride. Doc Searls' article has some valuable insights for getting across to them the importance of maintaining our freedom of association - online.
Slashdot Mirror
Aha! I wondered how a local law firm could afford a commercial with such high production values. It seems obvious in retrospect. This is the same ad campaign that has the bald guy saying, "Oh, you have a lawyer," and grimacing, right?
Since the page from the article is slashdotted, here's another example of a gestural menu made with javascript. I did this about 4 years ago, and the pages contain links to some of Xerox's original reserach on the subject for those who are terribly interested.
Interesting. They wouldn't let me upgrade from 5.0 directly to 6.0. I'll have to see if I can go from 6 to 8 now that that's out.
Now, I see christmas gift ideas... "stocking stuffers" on Slashdot.
You've been reading Slashdot long enough you should remember that they do the Geek Gift Ideas every year. There's even a Christmas category.
Though I agree that the Xmas shopping season has gotten way out of hand. I only exchange gifts with close family, and I usually purchase those throughout the year when I see something I think they'd like, so a shopping season doesn't mean much for me.
As a matter of fact, my church observes the season of Advent in the four weeks leading up to Christmas. It's supposed to be a time of solomn reflection much like Lent. We don't even sing Christmas songs in church until Christmas Day. All the celebrating is supposed to be saved up for the twelve days after Christmas, culminating in Epiphany (Jan. 6). The way popular American culture celebrates the holiday before the holiday is kind of at odds with that.
You just described my use of Photoshop to a T. Adobe updates it too frequently and won't let you skip a version for upgrades like Macromedia does, so I've just been sticking with 6.0. It's the only Classic app I use anymore, but it still does what I need (photo manipulation), so why upgrade? For non-photo stuff I have Fireworks and Freehand.
Still, I think I may have to try out the GIMP after I upgrade to Panther.
But notice that banner ads aren't completely dead. They've just gotten better, more professional (well, not all of them, but a lot have). The same ad agencies who figure out how to keep your eyes glued to the tube during a commercial break are making banner ads that are more likely to catch your eye without annoying you or sending you into a seizure.
As a matter of fact, one web site I frequent used user-sponsored banner ads in their forums to make ends meet during a lean time. The ads were $45 apiece, so lots of people chipped in to buy them. Most of them were clever, funny, entertaining, and people noticed them, even looked forward to seeing new ones as a result.
Maybe Slashdot should try this: any registered user can buy an ad on the journal pages for $XX. Imagine the banner ad flame wars! Heck, I'd be entertained.
I agree. Real estate is, as far as I know from friends in the business, comission-based. That's the incentive to sell the $750,000 house on the lake instead of the $75,000 house by the railroad tracks. At least they're dealing with tangible property that has a more or less obvious value based on location, size, condition, etc. What about people in insurance sales? They get commissions for selling a million dollars worth of "maybe."
I have no mod points, but if I did, you'd get a +1 Funny.
I was hoping your post would link to Lessig's blog. He's got another presidential candidate guest-blogger this week.
So far that makes Dean, Kucinich, and Edwards. I wonder if anyone else will volunteer?
It might also say something about who has the most time on their hands to volunteer. Perhaps there are just more out-of-work ASP developers these days.
Would you really put down a book after 2/3rds, or stop watching a show after 2/3rds of the season?
Only if it's really, really, really bad. Southern Cross was a book so bad that I threw it in the trash while I was halfway through. I was in an airport on a layover, and still thought that having nothing to read was better than finishing that book. The psychic pets were bad enough, but it was the "techno-genius" character giving a painfully wrong explanation of how the Internet works that pushed me over the edge.
Heck, look at how we fight over water in the US.
My father is an attorney specializing in property law. A lot of the stuff he deals with involves water rights (e.g. who's allowed to use how much water from a well that goes across property lines).
Pepsi tastes like shit.
I don't think you're going to get many arguments on that one. I only drink it if I forgot to bring my own drink from home, because the only vending machines in the building where I work are both Pepsi machines. Still, they have other brands (e.g. Mountain Dew) that aren't so bad, and given the opportunity to get a free song with something I'm buying anyway, this promo just might sway me.
I've never had a white-box PC die like that, and I've installed close to a hundred.
Lucky. We had someone here build 6 whitebox systems and then quit a month later. This warranty of which you speak? We have none, since all the components were purchased separately from different vendors. These computers looked good on paper, but in practice are buggy as hell, and have completely turned our sysadmin off of ever buying whitebox systems ever again.
Not that this is really relevant to the topic at hand: the people who prefer Linux here use Linux, everyone else uses Windows.
Good point. On PCH, though, even if you don't opt in you'll still get spam. I entered the contest once when I was young and naive, didn't opt-in to anything, and still get spam at the address I used.
It would make so much more sense if the product placements were appropriate to the audience.
A lot of the home improvement and makeover type shows have totally obvious product placement, and no one complains. On a bunch of the TLC shows, for example, they plaster sponsor logos all over their trucks and use products from the sponsors' stores and no one complains. They list the sponsors in the credits as well.
If ER lists in the credits "This episode sponsored in part by Computer Associates," that would solve the problem, wouldn't it?
Online sweepstakes are a great spam generator. Sign up for Publisher's Clearing House and opt-in to everything.
6. Slashdot Meta-Moderator
[ridicule icon] [futility icon]
you have to figure out which friggin' disc to use on each individual station
It's not just a difference between SBE and Pro. It turns out that all Pros are not created equal. The newer machines here were set up in two batches several months apart. All have Office XP Pro, but we discovered when trying to install the patch that the newer Office CDs are not the same as the older ones. Patches on the newer Office XP Pro require a file called PRORET.MSI on the CD, while the less new Office XP Pro needs a file named PRO.MSI on the CD.
We figured this out after a frustrating attempt to patch my computer. A CD was in there, but the Office Updater didn't like it. It worked fine when we dug out the exact same CD that was originally used to install Office XP Pro on this computer.
As the spouse of someone pursuing his PhD in physics, I can tell you that a PhD in experimental physics represents very focused high-level research, often working with specialized equipment. The experienced gained in getting a doctorate in physics can be directly applicable to a job, if you get a job in your field of expertise.
I imagine physics isn't the only field where a PhD represents practical experience, as the previous poster pointed out.
Neither one validates.
But then again, neither do any of the other candidates' web sites (I tested Edwards, Kerry, Gephardt, Kucinich, and Sharpton).
There's a good open-source program called Audacity that I've been using. It's OSX native, does multitrack recording, and is very simple and straightforward. It might be too simplistic if you're looking for pro-level software, but if you're someone like me who's just messing around with making music on your Mac, it's great.
Scour.net co-founder Travis Kalanick is also running for CA governor, focusing on what he calls a "P2P" platform. Why are you a geekier candidate than he is?
My parents have told me about living in Washington, D.C. in 1972, a year of record low voter turnout in that area. Their two votes counted for .001% of the total, a number that sounds small until you realize that any other year the percentage their votes accounted for would have to be expressed as a logarithm.
So please, convince more people to think like you! It just makes my vote worth more.
Growing up in Northern California, I was in college before I realized that some people thought that "conservative" was a good thing to be. After all, the conservatives were the bad old men who enacted Prop 13 and impoverished our public schools, right? Hearing "liberal" used as an epithet also came as a bit of a shock. But that's part of the college experience, isn't it: exposure to different ideas.
Now, I try to avoid using either label to describe my own political leanings because people hear that label and make snap judgments about what I believe. But I have many friends who wear the "conservative" label as a badge of pride. Doc Searls' article has some valuable insights for getting across to them the importance of maintaining our freedom of association - online.