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Winners

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2008-11-29T10:52:32-05:00

We have someone in the office who has a quote posted in their cubicle that says, “Winners don’t do different things. ...It was after figuring out what that difference is that I realized that the quote is actually representative of the problem nowadays. In the context of the quote, “different” means something fundamentally different while “differently” means doing the same thing, just in a different manner. The reason this is a problem is that this advice encourages people to stick to the herd and that mere cosmetic changes are what will lead you to success. ...It was the fear and loathing of that which is truly different for them (the Mac) that closed their minds to the best tools and equipment for the job while leaving their minds “open” to mere variations of the same theme of what was currently on their desk. ...We have people “simplifying” their slides by merely removing all of the background while keeping their walls of text and endless sea of bullet points. ...The first slide is your typical chart throwing all of the data on the screen, giving each data point equal importance, whether it deserves it or not: ...However, what’s important to me as the presenter is that the Mac has 12% usage share on my site. ...Here, you have an appealing, but distracting texture for the pie chart pieces and the orientation of the chart actually emphasizes the Windows slice while hiding the Macintosh slice. ...Unfortunately, in my day to day life, I see more of the first two slides than I do of the last one.

Design By Committee

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2008-11-08T12:56:45-05:00

The video below is a great example of how many organizations tackle designing their solutions. Though this uses a corporation as an example, this very much applies to government as well. Design by committee rarely, if ever works and is almost guaranteed to lead to the project's failure. ... • Design decisions that are made because "it looks good" or "it's interesting" without being able to explain why ...All of these can and do create products that, much like the stop sign in the video, just do not work. I see this all the time when I, someone who can visualize concepts and ideas, am pushed aside, dismissed, or shouted down by those who, by their own admission, can't or have a hard time visualizing. I understand that in my case, there's more at play than what I have listed above, but addressing that list can lead to more effective design efforts. Keep your stakeholders limited to what is necessary and seek and respect expert opinions.

Fire Them Up!

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2008-11-08T12:56:07-05:00

This book is going on my list of books to read next. Outside of being appropriate for me as a manager, I can see it applying to presentation delivery.

Of Obama and Communism

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2008-11-05T20:56:24-05:00

For those who follow me on Twitter, you may be thinking I'm going overboard when I equate the Democrats' gains in Congress and in Obama's taking the White House with a slide toward Communism. ..."We want to take money and put it back in the pocket of middle-class people," Biden said in an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America." Noting that wealthier Americans would indeed pay more, Biden said: "It's time to be patriotic ... time to jump in, time to be part of the deal, time to help get America out of the rut." ...Pelosi telling us that a one-party state under the democrats would make Congress more "bipartisan" ...But I do tell you that if the Democrats win, and have substantial majorities, Congress of the United States will be more bipartisan," said Pelosi. http://hotair.com/archives/2008/10/28/pelosi-you-know-what-would-make-congress-more-bipartisan-giving-us-total-control/ I'm sure she meant, "But I do tell you that if the Democrats win, and have substantial majorities, the American people would be happy serfs." ..."The reason that we want to do this, change our tax code, is not because I have anything against the rich. ...You know I don’t know when, when they decided they wanted to make a virtue out of selfishness. ...Dangerous is not really a word that should be a part of a national debate as we go into a presidential race," said Pelosi.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes...

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2008-11-02T14:10:16-05:00

As you can see, things have changed around here. I've updated the design of the site and made my Twitter postings more prominent given I post there more often than here and will probably continue to do so. With that said, I don't intend to let this site whither away, which is why I put the Twitter widget up at the top. I will also be posting here more. ...Frankly, they weren't being used and with each passing day, are becoming more of a liability. iPhone users, see the link to the top right. ... This site is also available in an iPhone-friendly format. ...I don't want to use a hosted service and I don't want to have to worry about constantly updating (and breaking) blogging software. As I make further tweaks, I'll post them.

This Is Me Today

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2008-06-21T09:45:26-04:00

Oh What the Internet's Going To Do With This One

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2008-06-13T15:36:16-04:00

Gotta admit, he was right.... Via [Mahalo]

Bug Flies In Reporter's Mouth

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2008-06-13T14:11:15-04:00

I'd like to smack this reporter for his bigoted comments, but the bugs and pollen make that unnecessary. Via [Mahalo]

The Reason For the Season

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2008-05-25T23:27:44-04:00

Written by the drummer, who is an Iraq War vet:

From the Archives: America's Not Ready For A Black President

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2008-05-13T16:42:31-04:00

There's a double-standard in the way political and social discourse is conducted in this country and the left and mainstream media (I know, one and the same) use that to full effect. On April 12th's Larry King Live on CNN, Della Reese, when confronted with the double standard regarding use of racially or sexually offensive language by Don Imus and rappers/hip-hop performers, said: ...In none of those incidents did you have the press or "tolerant" liberals calling for Jackson, Sharpton, or Byrd to lose their jobs or have their bully pulpit permanently revoked. ...Tom Delay cut to the meat of the issue quite nicely in today's column on Townhall.com, where he wrote: ...It's not because Americans aren't ready to vote for a black (or woman) president. It's because the left and the media are not ready for a civil discourse should a party nominate a black person or a woman as their candidate for President of the United States. ... The demonizing of anyone and everyone that would not vote for Obama, even on ideological or policy grounds as a racist and "not ready for a black President" would start immediately and not let up for years after the election, whether he wins or not. If he were to lose the general election, the headlines of the liberal rags such as the Washington Post, New York Times, and Los Angeles Times would be, "Americans Not Ready For African-American President." ... To the liberals, we're racist if we don't vote for the person, who happens to be a minority, even if we disagree with their platform. ...Once (and if) the left grows up and can show tolerance for other points of view, then America would be ready for a black President.

Obama's America?

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2008-05-13T14:47:56-04:00

Given what we know now about the source of Barack Obama's politics, we have another example of what may be on his agenda. As evidenced by Evo Morales, the left is so determined to carry out their agenda that they are willing to ignore the consequences of this kind of theft beyond the obvious injustice to the land owners.

Into the Wild

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2008-05-12T11:13:13-04:00

This weekend, I got Into the Wild

New Photos In the Gallery

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2008-05-04T20:58:08-04:00

I've added 12 new photos to a new gallery in my little home on SmugMug.

State of the Web Site

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2008-05-04T19:32:46-04:00

I may not be updating daily, but I am trying to keep the content current. If I may, I think I'm accomplishing that, which is far better than I have done in the past. You'll also notice the fairly large MyBlogLog box to the right. ... The items of greater value to me is the del.icio.us and twitter content. Yes, I've gotten sucked into Twitter, but not nearly as bad as many. If I'm not blogging here, I'm probably posting to Twitter, a micro-blogging service. ... I may or may not comment here about items I post there, depending on how busy I am. Also, you should notice that a lot of posts disappeared. It's a new month, and all of April's posts are now in the archives, accessible through the category and date links to the right, below the MyBlogLog box.

Macs Making Strides In the Enterprise?

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2008-05-04T19:25:32-04:00

Apparently, the key to getting Macs accepted in the enterprise is by winning the hearts and minds of the people, including CIOs. Now, where I work, that's impossible because if you're not using Windows and other Microsoft products by default and without consideration for alternatives, you're an impure heathen and a heretic. Now, more than ever, the fear and loathing of Apple and their computers is beyond ridiculous. Stupid, even. The Newsweek article linked above is a surprisingly balanced and fair-minded article, given the treatment of Apple by the business press in the past. It would be good if people in my office would read that article without prejudices, but, well, umm, yeah.

Envisioning Information

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2008-04-25T13:46:19-04:00

I've recently finished reading Envisioning Information and it's a book I highly recommend no matter how you're presenting information. Now, as far as presentations are concerned, the most valuable chapter is that discussing color. There is a lot of the book that advocates creating easy to read, yet condense tables and other displays of information. However, such displays are not appropriate for slides because the audience would be spending most of their efforts reading instead of listening. The valuable lesson, though, is condensing the message into a simple and easy to read display.

MyBlogLog

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2008-04-22T22:51:45-04:00

In case you haven't noticed, there's this funky looking MyBlogLog thing on the right. I'm trying this thing out to see how well, if at all, it works. It's supposed to show updates to Web 2.0 services that I use. We'll see...

Oh Deer...

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2008-04-22T21:27:36-04:00

I figured that, since they congregate at my cattle feeder and do not seem to have much fear of me when we are there (a bold one will sometimes come right up and sniff at the bags of feed while I am in the back of the truck not 4 feet away), it should not be difficult to rope one, get up to it and toss a bag over its head (to calm it down) then hog tie it and transport it home. ...The first thing that I learned is that, while a deer may just stand there look at you funny while you rope it; they are spurred to action when you start pulling on that rope. ...As it jerked me off my feet and started dragging me across the ground, it occurred to me that having a deer on a rope was not nearly as good an idea as I had originally imagined. ...Despite the gash in my head and the several large knots where I had cleverly arrested the deer's momentum by bracing my head against various large rocks as it dragged me across the ground, I could still think clearly enough to recognize that there was a small chance that I shared some tiny amount of responsibility for the situation we were in. I didn't want the deer to suffer a slow death, so I managed to get it lined back up in between my truck and the feeder - a little trap I had set before hand...kind of like a squeeze chute. ... I never in a million years would have thought that a deer would bite somebody, so I was very surprised when I reached up there to grab that rope and the deer grabbed hold of my wrist. Now, when a deer bites you, it is not like being bit by a horse where they just bite you and then let go. ...I learned a long time ago that, when an animal, like a horse, --strikes at you with their hooves and you cannot get away easily, the best thing to do is try to make a loud noise and make an aggressive move towards the animal. ...The reason I had always been told NOT to try to turn and run from a horse that paws at you is that there is a good chance that it will hit you in the back of the head. Deer may not be so different from horses after all, besides being twice as strong and 3 times as evil, because the second I turned to run, it hit me right in the back of the head and knocked me down.

Oh, Also...

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2008-04-21T21:24:28-04:00

Mac Consumer Market Share Breaks 20%

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2008-04-15T20:20:44-04:00

Well, this ought to give the Microsoft cultists seizures. According to Piper Jaffray's chief Apple analyst, the Mac's market share in the consumer space is now at 21% in the US and 10% world-wide. Almost every day, I'm surrounded by people who consider using any non-Microsoft product is heresy. Much to their chagrin, I was able to get Safari to our list of supported browsers. If they had their way, we would support only Internet Explorer and leave any Mac or Linux user to basically screw themselves. Such closed minds are a wonderful thing to waste and have no place in our line of work.

Rockefeller: An Embarassment to West Virginia

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2008-04-09T22:23:04-04:00

Proving yet again that our senator, Jay Rockefeller has no shame, he told the Charleston Gazette, "McCain was a fighter pilot, who dropped laser-guided missiles from 35,000 feet. He was long gone when they hit. What happened when they [the missiles] get to the ground? ... You have to care about the lives of people. McCain never gets into those issues." This is beyond the pale. For the sake of the many veterans in this state, this shameful waste of space needs to vacate his senate seat. ...Of course, if the party affiliations were reversed, the press and the democrats would have been calling for his resignation and not quit until he caved.

Obama's Red Tendencies

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2008-04-09T21:36:52-04:00

It's been no secret that Obama is one of the most left-wing members of the Senate. ...PrestoPundit dug into Obama's book, Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance

Global Warming? Give Me A Break!

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2008-04-07T20:37:15-04:00

This John Stossel piece hits many of the key points that need to be made to keep the discussions of this issue honest. Surely, a must see for anyone. Saying the debate is over is scientific dishonesty.

Reading List Is Up

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2008-04-06T10:06:13-04:00

Well, I've got my book recommendations up. These are books I have read or use as reference and have found very useful. Buying them through the links provided helps in a little way with the photographic equipment I'm needing (lenses, filters, a decent tripod, etc).

My Reading List

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2008-04-06T00:04:55-04:00

It's late right now and I'm barely awake. However, tomorrow, I will be creating a reading list where I will recommend books that I have read and found worthwhile. I'll add some books tomorrow and I'll add more as I finish reading them. For what it's worth, I have 5 books awaiting my attention behind me right now.

How Much Are You Worth In Bed?

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2008-04-04T16:31:55-04:00

With the Spitzer scandal, you've got to figure that something like this was going to crop up (click the image to see how much you're worth): Powered By Best Vibrators (I originally found this at www.coalitionoftheswilling.net)

Presentation Hell

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2008-04-04T08:26:11-04:00

One of my areas of personal improvement of late has been in the area of improving the way I give presentations. This was spurred on by being fed up with having to endure presentations such as the one below (click the image to go to the original at pcweenies.net). ...It detracts from the presentation and conveys to the audience the sense that either the presenter doesn't really know what they're talking about or they weren't considerate enough to prepare ahead of time. Besides, if the information is going to be read word for word, the presenter might as well just give hand-outs and not bother saying a word because the spoken presentation doesn't contribute to the audience's understanding of the material. One book I would recommend to anyone that gives presentations with slides is Presentation Zen, by Garr Reynolds. ... Slides should help reinforce what the presenter is saying and not "be the presentation," if you will. If the audience is reading the slides or putting effort into interpreting a complex chart or graph, then they're not listening to the person speaking. If the audience isn't listening, they're not paying attention to the presentation. ...It's far easier (and lazier) to just slap a bunch of bullet points on the slides. ...This is something I will be blogging about a lot more as time goes on.

New Look

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2008-04-04T07:39:05-04:00

Yeah, I get bored easily and that Medieval theme just wasn't doing it for me. This design is a lot cleaner and (for now, at least) has not only the look, but the more refined feel I have been aiming for.

Ewww

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2008-04-02T00:57:00-04:00

Now April Fools is behind us, let me just say I feel dirty after that "Switching" post.

Switchin' Back

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2008-04-01T02:49:55-04:00

I've been doing a fair bit of thinking lately, and perhaps my previous post about Windows users was a bit hasty. You see, Windows does have 90% of the market. That must mean they're doing something right. There's no way they would have gotten that market share without being the best platform. Well, the point is, I'm switching back to Windows and to make sure the switch back is done right, I'm promising not to install any non-Microsoft software if there's a Microsoft product in that space. In fact, here's what I'll be replacing my Apple, Adobe, RealMac software library with: • Windows Vista Ultimate (If you think about it, $400 is a steal) ...Market share doesn't lie. ... If you're not using Windows, you're probably just some heretical zealot trying to brainwash other people into using something twice as expensive and proprietary with no software options.

Update Your Links

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2008-03-31T21:20:34-04:00

I think I've found a way to make the updates of the site require fewer actual uploads. I turned on "Dynamic PHP Sidebar," so now all links now end in .php instead of .html.

Fitna

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2008-03-28T16:31:49-04:00

Well, Geert Wilders' film "Fitna" has been released. ... There are some scenes that can't be anything but gut-wrenching to anyone with a shred of humanity. ... The hippies and apologists are either too blind, scared, or dishonest to admit it. Now, as to the value of such a video, whether you agree with it or not, censoring it is not how you get the discussion that needs to happen on this subject. You can't win in the marketplace of ideas if you try to pretend or deny the viewpoint you disagree with doesn't exist. ... It merely allows it to continue to spread "underground" without debate. The video below is not for the squeamish. ...Watch the video below for the statement from Live Leak that sadly validated Wilders' message.

Safari/WebKit The First To 100/100 With Acid3

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2008-03-28T14:56:01-04:00

Well, well, well.... Good ol' "proprietary" Apple will have the first production browser with a perfect score on the Acid3 test, it seems. Such devotion to supporting open standards is exactly what the market needs. One thing to note is the score of the IE8 beta, which Microsoft is claiming will be standards-compliant. Situation normal there. I forwarded this info and in return, a Microsoft zombie sent me three links with snapshots in time reports of browser market share. Only someone so hopelessly closed-minded could think that an appropriate reply, suggesting that sheer numbers makes open standards support or being the first to nail it is unimportant. The thing is, besides offering better standards support, Gecko (Firefox, etc.) and WebKit (Safari) are taking marketshare away from Internet Explorer. Given Microsoft's history of sitting on IE and doing nothing to benefit the Web-using community through improved interfaces or standards support until Firefox started taking market share from them, IE losing share is good for ALL of us, even those who can't function outside of an all-Microsoft environment, much less comprehend how anyone can not devote themselves fully to Microsoft's ecosystem, as polluted as it is.

Windows Users Dominate Closed-Mindedness

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2008-03-28T10:23:17-04:00

I can't name names either directly or indirectly, but experiences today have solidified in my mind the fact that Windows also has a monopoly on closed-minded people. They just can't comprehend an OS that doesn't behave just like Windows. They can't open their minds to other ways of doing things. If you sit anything in front of them that is not Windows, they get confused, frustrated and angry because you dared to threaten their sheltered little existence.

Why Apple Won't Dominate

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2008-03-21T07:10:00-04:00

I found this nice little nugget suggesting why Apple won't take over the industry the way Microsoft did. He's not suggesting that Apple's success won't continue or that it won't continue gaining market share at the expense of Microsoft, but that Apple won't be the next Microsoft. He makes the excellent point that the secret to Apple's success has been the total experience, which is only possible by controlling the hardware, software, and product design. To be the next Microsoft, they would have to make their hardware ubiquitous or license their platform to other hardware manufacturers. We know neither will happen because they undermine the business model that has made them successful and earned them the legions of rabidly loyal fans. Personally, I don't want Apple to become the next Microsoft, an arrogant and corrupt behemoth. What burns me is how the tech press focuses so intently on what's going to be the "xxxx killer." To suggest that having one option and no competition is somehow good for the consumer is lunacy. Who knows, maybe the press' infatuation with this is the fewer the products, the less they have to learn or know.

Help A Homeless Dude

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2008-03-17T20:14:54-04:00

Commenting Added

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2008-03-12T23:09:06-04:00

While reading the help document (yes, I RTFM!!! :-) ), I found out how to add commenting using a service named HaloScan. Hopefully, this won't be as susceptible to spam as WordPress was. Another nice feature is that it supports Gravatars (Globally Recognized Avatars). Please let me know what you think!

When Not To Hyphenate Your Name

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2008-03-12T21:34:46-04:00

Gotta love this. There's no way the editors of these newspapers didn't know what they were doing.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2008-03-12T20:53:29-04:00

This is my first post in a while, as you can probably see. Well, in the meantime, I've looked at RapidWeaver a bit more and I've decided that for what I want to do, it's a better choice for me. I'm not saying that WordPress is a bad tool (ok, maybe I am), but the spam got out of control and once a post gets spammed, it's forever spammable. ... Keeping up with the bots registering accounts on my forums is bad enough. ...Somehow he didn't like me telling the world how he threatened to beat my dog up all because he is unwilling to keep his dog in his own yard. This time around, I'm not going to put the kind of pressure I put on myself before, trying to be an uber freaking blogger with streams of consciousness that exceed what mere mortals can be expected to produce. Nah, I'm going to be more realistic while being more regular. ...The only person I can truly be honest with about things is my wife. In this day and age of greater interconnectedness, we are becoming isolated because some people just can't tolerate an honest difference of opinion. ...I'm still a Mac user and I'm not going back to Windows, no matter how much I'm made to feel like a heretic.

Nothing?

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2008-01-01T23:13:16-05:00

Well, it looks like I've been up to nothing. Well, I had BIG plans for the vacation time I just burned. Well, the best of intentions are just that. As it turns out, I just needed some OFF time. Spent time with family and friends, went to Haper's Ferry a couple times, and took pictures (I hope to update my Smugmug gallery soon), and played LOTS of WoW. I hoped to populate a CF card for my new electronic picture frame, but the Adobe updater seems stuck on the Flash Lite update. *sigh* Off to bed...

What Happened To the Site?

baal25401@yahoo.com — 2007-12-07T14:58:11-05:00

As you can probably tell, something just ain’t right here. What happened the site and the content? Well..... WordPress has major issues. It can’t stop spam and in the process, I get tagged as a spammer of my own site! ...It’s a sad day when spammers can do this to people. Watch this space for updates including info on a couple projects of mine, one photographic and the other TBA. In the meantime, enjoy this RapidWeaver created page, for what it’s worth. Trying to get this to work.