Throwing My Hat in the Ring
After much thought and consideration, I am proud to announce my candidacy for the President of the United States. I have not been thrilled with either party’s candidate but I was propelled to action after no clear leadership emerged to resolve the current economic crisis. With only a month left before the election I hope you will join my grassroots campaign. In the short time I have been running I am pleasantly surprised at how much traction my candidacy has already gained as evidenced in the following video:
Fill Out This Form Like It’s 1999
I am still amazed and a little bit annoyed when I am asked to fill out several forms which all contain overlapping information. I recently took my son to see his pediatrician and, because I have changed insurance providers, it was understandable that the doctor would need to update some information. The office administrator took my insurance card, photocopied it, asked me some questions and then updated information at the computer. Then she gave me some forms to fill out. When I looked at the forms 100% of it was information that they already had. When I asked her about it she said, “Oh, you still have to fill them out because those get inserted with the doctor’s charts and records on file.” What? I went through the same rigmorale when I started my new job. Form after form was the same except for a handful of pertinent questions.
In a time when people are trying to solve many difficult and complex problems with computers it seems to me that there are many simple ones that still need to be addressed. If someone has solved the “form” problem then why isn’t the solution more pervasive? If you have a service business that requires a lot of information collection wouldn’t you want to surprise and delight your customers with how quick and simple the process is instead of making them feel punished for doing business with you?
Like Fresh Sheets
You know that feeling you get during a summer night as you climb into bed, slip under the covers and the coolness of newly changed sheets touches your skin? My sister Jackie’s new blog gives you the same feeling and you don’t have to wait until night (or do the laundry). Like Fresh Sheets is about “things that bring joy” and it certainly delivers. Two of my favorite posts so far are Chick Trickery and My Precious. If you’re in need of a smile (who isn’t?) and would like to read some well written posts, give Like Fresh Sheets a visit. You’ll be the better for it.
Thistlebees
I am proud to introduce to you Thistlebees, a new blog written by my wife, Amy. With the tag line, “Dickens’s, a cup of tea, and a palm sander,” Thistlebees combines Amy’s gift for writing with her creativity in decorating and refinishing furniture, both of which she usually does while enjoying a nice cup of English Breakfast. I know you will enjoy Amy’s writing so please check out Thistlebees and leave a comment as I know she would love to hear from you.
Exciting New Opportunities
So I have left the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and have returned to my first love, robotics. I am now gainfully employed at a small start-up company, CasePick Systems, which is developing industrial automation for a new market. I wanted to do my part in keeping tabs on our future metallic-overlords’ quest for world domination; though, I think this might be a good time to check into robot insurance.
Old Glory Insurance
Stop the “POP!”
I am calling for a ban on the word “POP!”, as in “That accent color really makes it POP!” I hear it everywhere and apparently anything can be made to “POP!” “Some white frosting will really make those Cinnabons POP!” Come on, you’re not a professional interior designer, you just heard the phrase on HGTV. Do everyone a favor and stop the “POP!”.
Rant finished.
The Internet - Oh How I Love Thee
I still continue to be amazed at what I can find on the internet as well as what I can accomplish with it. For example just last night I was trying to fix my washing machine. I wasn’t sure how to open it up to gain access to the motor and wiring but I figured I could just take off the rear panel. After fighting it for an hour I decided to Google it, and sure enough I found the answer. A guy with the handle “Fyxer” posted videos on “How to Open a Kenmore Washer” at Metacafe. If I had searched first I would have saved a lot of time and frustration. It is amazing how much I rely on the internet. It has become my external brain and Google is my main access to that brain. In a New York Times article titled “The Outsourced Brain,” David Brooks explains this phenomena writing,
“…I had thought that the magic of the information age was that it allowed us to know more, but then I realized the magic of the information age is that it allows us to know less. It provides us with external cognitive servants - silicon memory systems, collaborative online filters, consumer preference algorithms and networked knowledge. We can burden these servants and liberate ourselves.”
I just hope I don’t become so reliant on the internet that I cease to be able to think and do for myself in any meaningful way. I want the internet to augment my brain, not replace it.
Calling All Bookworms
If you like to read as much as I do then you might enjoy Goodreads, a website that allows you to track what you are reading and share it with others. With Goodreads, you track what you have read, what you want to read and what you’re currently reading. You can create “bookshelves” that allow you to organize your books anyway you want e.g. fiction, history, computers, all-time favorites, etc. You can also rank the book and write a review if you are so inclined. It is easy to find other people on Goodreads who enjoy similar books and make some friends. There are various discussion groups or create one of your own if you want. Goodreads is a great way to get book recommendations from people you know. If you have ever read the wildly varying book reviews on Amazon then you know how valuable it is to find someone with similar tastes who can give you a good recommendation.
I invite you to check out my Goodreads profile and if you do decide to join, add me as a friend. I would like to know what you are reading. I am always looking for a good book.
Bookmark Search Tool
As I am surfing I use my bookmarks a lot. I currently have 1220 bookmarks and use many of them frequently. To keep my bookmarks sync’d across all of my computers (home, work, etc.) I use the great little Firefox extension, Foxmarks. With so many bookmarks though, I sometimes find it hard to remember what site I was on when I read a particular article. I would like a search tool that searches my bookmarked sites for specific content.
For instance, I might have read an article a few months ago about using gradients in Photoshop and now I would like to send a link to the article to a friend. I probably wouldn’t be able to find my needle in the Google haystack but then I remember that the article was on one of the 27 Photoshop sites that I have bookmarked. Using this new search tool I would be able to select multiple bookmarks (and/or bookmark folders) and search only those sites for the article using keywords. With the search results significantly narrowed down I should be able to find the article quickly.
I know Rollyo is an attempt to do something similar but I find it cumbersome to use. I don’t want to have to sign up to use it. I don’t want to manually add sites to the list; they are already in my bookmarks folder or on Delicious. Importing bookmarks from my browser doesn’t count either because it is still a manual process that I have to perform periodically to stay current.
Does anything like this already exist? Would you find it useful? Maybe you are an enterprising young programmer or know someone who would like to work on something like this. I think many people would find it useful. Leave a comment and tell me what what you think.
Telespam - The Do Not Call Registry isn’t Working
Is it me or is telemarketing now worse than before the Do Not Call Registry arrived? The Registry was supposed to save us from annoying unwanted calls throughout the day. Even though my phone number is registered on the Do Not Call Registry, I am not only annoyed but am being harassed. I get calls from the same organization several times a day, every day. If you ignore them (using caller ID) they just keep trying, and if you answer and decline their request they still don’t take the hint. I’ve had some keep calling even after I had explicitly told them to take me off their list and to stop calling me. There must be some statistics that tell the telemarketers to be persistent even through rejection.
Since the Do Not Call Registry does not apply to charities, political organizations and pollsters, it is my hunch that the telemarketing agencies immediately latched on to charities (legitimate or otherwise) and offered to raise money for them. They are now back to their old tricks and things have gotten worse, not better. It is also my suspicion that they use the Do Not Call list as a cheap and easy way to get your phone number. Oh the irony!
I’m not sure an unlisted number would help either. If they randomly dial your number and you or your answering machine picks up the phone, they immediately know the phone number is active and will continue to hit it every time they have something to sell beg for. Have you solve this problem? How do you combat telespam?
photo credit: l0ckergn0me