So then, why is it when the truth is staring us in the face about the health of our planet and the danger we are in with global warming; and the impact, that it is having on the world around us...most of us are not changing our daily lifestyle habits in a way that will help to prevent or slow down the destruction of our earths environment? 

        Denial has been a mainstay for many years by governments, scientists; not to mention corporations.  As individuals we have to demand from our leaders more information and more action regarding protecting our environment from destruction.  We also, as individuals...have to change the way that we live...making greener choices in both big and small ways.  Those same leaders in the areas of government and science are now willing to admit that the greenhouse gas situation is critical.  Corporations are a bit more reluctant because the cost to operate their business is going to increase with greener business practices.  Still, if we don't start demanding it...it will take too long to ensure that changes are made with enough time to make a difference.

       What can we do to insure that the earths environment is going to be safe and healthy enough for our children, and our grandchildren to survive?  We can make changes...we can sacrifice a bit of convience to gain a better atmosphere for our loved ones to live in.

        Former Presidential hopeful Al Gore has been creating an awareness for quite sometime...he has withstood public ridicule from those who are less informed about the seriousness of the issue.  He has been getting plenty of professional support in recent years about his message.  Check out some, of what he has to say here:  http://www.algore.com/

        Other celebrities are working towards not only awareness but action.  Some are touting alternative energy sources, others are encouraging making the choice to hybrid vehicles, still others are working towards educating the public about using renewable building supplies.  Each of those things are important and valid. 

       Some companies are taking a responsible path in how they package their products with less packaging.  Some are harnessing solar energy to power their buildings.  Many individuals are backing the goal of increasing wind power to bring some additional renewable power to compensate for the increasing demand for electricity on the power grid.  There are things we all can do.  So, are you ready for the truth of the matter of global warming and the greenhouse gas issues or are you going to settle for the painful consequences?

        Read also: http://writeasrain.wordpress.com/2008/06/09/green-group-of-eight/or http://writeasrain.wordpress.com/2008/05/13/the-earth-cries/ or http://writeasrain.wordpress.com/2008/06/22/smart-people/

I was blind-sided by the death of my baby brother, who committed suicide after Father's Day weekend. While I was happily writing my post about overcoming my depression, he was suffering more than I can know. Be at peace, my brother. I love you, I'm sorry, please forgive me, thank you. That's all I'll say about that here.

I find that I have little time for anything because all that I do with my extra time is read, read, read! Of course, much time is spent with family on summer activities (I am fulfilling the promise to my kids to spend more quality time in nature, camping, etc.) and school ( I take classes online, and the summer session, since it is compacted into two months, is brutal), but I've embarked on an incredible inner journey that is all-encompassing. Outside of massive lifestyle changes, I am devouring information and books about consciousness, quantum mechanics, earth issues and space-time/time/space.

I especially love the positive messages about the year 2012 at David Wilcock's site, DivineCosmos.com (I don't know why the link button is disabled,sorry). His down to earth style gives me a good feeling about him (I'm usually skeptical about things I read on the internet). He backs up his way out ideas with good solid science, and he gives references. And he really does try to downplay the Edgar Cayce reincarnation stuff, for the most part, because it takes energy away from his message, which is, simply put, that our species has begun to go through an evolutionary transformation, ie: that we are about to experience an evolutionary 'jump'. When this happens, we will wake up to who we really are, and we will realize that we are NOT seperate, beings, that we are in fact all the same. Yes, black, white, native, gay, straight, catholic, muslim, republican, democrat, etc, etc...... anyhow it's worth checking out. I'm not tremendously impressed with the site design (sorry, David), there are some dead links and it took me a little while to find the material. I recommend going to the 'start here' tab, and just going down the menu from there.

If you are wondering about the major lifestyle changes I mentioned, for starters I'm changing the way my family and I eat. This is not an easy task. I am meeting some resistance, and I have much to teach my family (and alot to learn my own self!). It will be a tough switch, we really ate alot of bad food! I've planted a small garden and I will expand it dramatically next spring. Meanwhile I'm learning all that I can about gardening, consuming mass quantities of myspace bulletin posts and youtube videos like this one.

Starting your own garden is the best way for each of us (and for the planet) to know exactly what we are eating. I want to take this farther in the next few years by also adding some livestock. Chickens, a goat, a cow, and bees, too. Yeah, it looks like I'm turning hippy!

Also, in honor of my brother whom I did not stay in close enough contact, I have vowed to stay in touch with the important people in my life. This is difficult for me because I have reclusive tendencies, I'm rather anti-social. It's so easy to let our families and friends drift away as we become absorbed in our spouses and our children's lives, and then when we lose someone we think of all the times we should have been in touch, the things we should have said. I want to take the shouldas, wouldas, and couldas out of my life and just stay close to those who are close to me, from this day forward.

Making conscious changes in our lives requires taking a stand, and sticking with it. It will change everything in your life, but in a good way. I haven't felt this alive in many years, and I'm not about to let it slip away this time!

So I probably won't be around too much for the next couple of weeks with all the summer fun, but after finals are done I'm going to start posting more regularly with fresh ideas about love, about food, about us, as a species. Who knows where it will all go, but I'm so looking forward to the journey!

Designer: Marc Schomann
This phone called “_______” (yup, it has no name) uses haptic technology to provide physical feedback for making a call. To turn it on…twist a section, to dial a number…twist a bunch of sections, to make an international call…break your wrist! There is no display and no buttons. The vibrate feature should prove popular with 50% of the world’s population.

Needless to say, I personally actually conceptualized a mobile phone very similar to this except my idea is advanced enough to incorporate all but one technology of todays mobiles: GPS. I also found out it would be very hard to apply to those who are deaf...but I'm still in the process of creating... I just found it insane that right when I had an idea...the gist of it was presented already.

Birthday niya kahapon. Bago 'yon, nag-alarm ako one day before to remind me para i-greet siya kinabukasan.

Busy kasi ako sa work, kaya kailangan ko lagi ng reminders. Nung bumili ako ng first cellphone ko, para 'yon sa work dahil kailangan ko 'yon sa trabaho. Lumaki akong parang outcast kaya naging mapag-isa ako. Kaya nung magka-cellphone ako at magkaroon ng contacts, parang nabago ang mundo ko. Kailangan ko nang makipag-communicate constantly.

Pero pag natural na talaga sa 'yo, hindi 'yun basta-basta nawawala. Kaya naging problema ko ang communication sa cellphone, kasi hindi talaga ako masyadong mahilig mag-text, kahit 'yung makipag-chat. Mas gusto kong mag-email o kaya face-to-face ang kuwentuhan.

Siyempre na-appreciate ko naman 'yung texts sa akin, at masaya ako kapag nakaka-textback ako, lalo't importante 'yung reply ko. 'Yun nga lang, laging nasa akin ang problema. :( Hay pasensya na.

Kahapon, binati ko siya sa text. Naka-dalawang messages ako.

Nung sumagot siya, di naman gaanong matagal, sabi niya,

Thanks

Ganyan, walang name ko, walang smiley, kahit period o exclamation mark wala. :( Alam kong naging mahalagang bahagi siya ng work life ko, at hindi ko 'yon makakalimutan. Pero pakiramdam ko, mukhang ako ngayon ay unwelcome na. :(

Nakaranas na ako dati nung tuwang-tuwa akong tumawag para i-greet 'yung isang kaibigan, pero nung sumagot siya, pakiramdam ko unwelcome 'yung tawag ko. Kaya mula noon hindi na ako tumatawag sa cellphone para mag-greet. Tinatawagan ko 'yung nauunang tumawag sa akin. Dahil nga sanay akong mag-isa, madali akong makaramdam na baka unwelcome yung ginagawa ko para sa iba. When they cease to appreciate what I do for them, inihihinto ko na rin. Kasi ayaw ko namang maging source ako ng unhappiness ng iba, kaya ako na lang ang dumidistansiya.

Kaya nga ni-set up ko itong blog na 'to, kasi para sa mga special contacts at friends na nagtitiyaga sa akin, sa klase ng friendship na kaya kong ibigay sa kanila. Gusto kong malaman nila kung ano nang nangyari sa akin after 5,000 years na hindi kami nagkikita. Saka gusto ko rin silang kuwentuhan kahit malayo na kami sa isa't isa. Saka, although natutuwa ako pag sinasabi nilang nami-miss nila ako pag minsan, gusto kong huwag nila akong ma-miss dahil hindi ko naman sila nami-miss--

ay sorry, masyadong madulas ang online paper. [Peace tayo.]

What was your most common method of keeping in touch? Do you feel this is most effective?

Did you reconnect with any long lost friends or family members?

Was there anyone you spoke to but you would have prefered to avoid?

I love attending free seminars and until know, the seminar companies loved to see me coming.  You see, this is what happens at most free seminars - they expand your reality and give you something real to put in it.  In other words, they stretch your capacity to think and sell you a product to match your new thoughts.  And depending on where you end up, the price tag can range from $100 to $10,000 (my range has been between $400 and $4500).  I've been to a lot of these seminars - Russ Whitney, National Grants Conference, Trump University and the list goes on an on.  They all have great information, but before going into these seminars, I failed to define my purpose for attending.  I went because I was interested. 

Whenever you enter into a relationship - whether personal or professional - each person sets up an imaginary cash register.  In order for the relationship to flourish, the value in each cash register needs to be comparable.  If one register has $3 and the other has $3000, that relationship won't last very long.  A red flag goes up the moment we detect that we're giving away more value than we're receiving.  As long as you've counted the costs before entering into a relationship, you'll be fine.  But if not, you may be in trouble.  If you forget to count the costs of free, you are not alone.  Even when I have worked for free, I didn't think to count the costs before hand.

Last year, I took on the role of adjutant working with my pastor, Bishop Raymond Otey.  He asked me to fill this role, but not before letting me know all that was involved.  It proved to be one of the best choices I've ever made.  Though the position was unpaid, I ended up paying to work.  When I realized that I was paying to work, I thought "this seems oddly familiar."  Flashing back to Columbia and the $160,000 price tag, I remembered what it felt like to work for free.  Until then, I hadn't considered the value of the education that comes through learning first hand from a mentor.  If you're working for free or paying to work, chances are - you're receiving education.  When it stands alone, information can be very confusing.  But when placed in the context of education, the same information can change your life. 

When we hear the word ‘free', it's natural to think we're getting something for nothing.  There's no such thing as ‘something for nothing' because that implies that value is being destroyed.  To destroy value, you would have to warp the laws of physics, especially the Law of Conservation of Energy.  One day after reading a Bible passage in Luke, I realized that we are supposed to count the costs of everything - even salvation.  People say that salvation is free, but I disagree.  Self-sacrifice is a major cost associated with salvation.  When you actually think about it, is there any wonder why Christianity is on the decline in self-centered world. 

When I get or give something at no cost, 9 times out of 10, it will fall into at least one of these three categories:

• Information
• Marketing
• Philanthropy

Information is free, but not always accurate.  Have you heard of OPO?  Other People's Opinions.  OPO are always free, but the effects can be very expensive.  In 2006, I desperately wanted to make a career move.  Around that time, I talked to my personal financial advisor who informed me that I needed to make a little more money to meet my budget.  I decided to increase my income while trying something new, so I signed up as a speaker through Monster's Making It Count Program.  And this turned out to be a great learning experience - both as a professional speaker and an entrepreneur.  I worked with several of the top speaking coaches in this country.  And I also made a huge mistake.  You see, I work with both a financial advisor and an accountant.  And I forgot to take the advice of my financial advisor and bounce it off of my accountant.  Because I wanted to make more money, I decided (on my own) not to run the income through my business and it became subject to 30% self-employment taxes.  Thankfully, I racked up enough mileage that year to offset the taxes I owed.   In retrospect, I thank God that I bought that mistake with a few thousand dollars instead of a few million.  This situation educated me - I paid to learn.  The most valuable lesson - I determine the value of Other People's Opinions. 

After a recent conversation with my friend, Jeff, I realized how coupons work.  As consumers, we view coupons as a way to save money on the products we buy.  Companies use coupons as part of their marketing strategy.  They know how much consumers will pay for their products and price them accordingly.  It's called perceived value.  Mind you - that's not how much the product costs to produce.  If a buyer sees their product or brand as extremely valuable, then he will pay more for it.  So the company sells consumers on the product using ‘saving money' as a benefit.  And as investment becomes more popular, more service-oriented businesses are positioning their services as an investment.  The other day, I received a coupon from my car dealer telling me to protect my investment (my car) by scheduling an oil change.  That reflected the market they wanted to reach - those who view their cars as an investment.  In the grand scheme of things, a coupon will never save you money if you had no plans of buying the product.  The only time it will truly save you money is if you originally planned to buy it.   

Philanthropists, "do-gooders" and missionaries are types of people that love to give to support a good cause.  Whether they take care of a child in the community or give thousands of dollars to sponsor an organization, their gifts are not totally free.  They have specific reasons for giving and they do expect a return.  However, if the mission takes a detour, their money will too.  I have been both a receiver and a giver.  A few years ago, I volunteered to help two colleagues write their vision for an entertainment company.  We built their business from the ground up (and quite successfully, I might add).  Then they reached a point where their business took off and they recruited a management team to handle the day-to-day operations.  As a result, the mission changed and so did my level of contribution.  I still believe in the vision of the company, but they took a different direction than what I expected, and we ended the business relationship.  Generally, money will follow two things - mission and management. 

For me, free stuff has been the most expensive.  I have given free stuff away, as well as accepted complimentary items.  I've had to backtrack through the last 5 years to make sense of the reason I tend to do things for free.  I've been building a business with a mission to make a difference in society.  Taken out of context, I have been prone to confuse my desire to impact society with the need to give away free services.  By counting the cost of ‘free', I understand why I have given.  By understanding why I have given, I understand how to give. 

All posts on "My Future In Focus" Weblog are the intellectual property of T.A. and are licensed under a

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No derivative Works 3.0 United States License

Giving Credit Where Credit is Due:

Law of Conservation of Energy - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_of_energy

Bible Passage in Luke - Luke 9:57-62

Making It Count - http://www.makingitcount.com/students/start/default.asp

Anything is possible. When I grew up Greg Norman was the most dangerous golfer in the world. He had an impressive drive and a feather touch and most of all he had that look of hatred around the greens which tortured opponents only slightly less than he tortured himself.

331 weeks as number 1 in the eighties and nineties and 22 years after his last British Open win, he's back. At 53 years old and after two rounds (to show the first round wasn't totally a fluke) he's on the top of the leader board at the British Open. Maybe this story will evaporate over the last two rounds (golf is like that) but I'd love to see the Great White Shark pull out the 64 he shot to win the thing the last time.

I don't know if he's still got any of that hi-octane avgas he used to have in the tank and the last time he won the British Open was in 1993, but it's nice for an ageing wannabe like myself to have a little glimmer of hope. Have a good weekend Greg.

How is that for an encouraging and TRUE compliment toward you in Jesus Christ?!

I can imagine that there are some few of us who believe that a statement like that is true of us because we have prayed, gone to church, been baptized, do good works and share in other religious things. However, the bible is clear, no one is good except ONE, the Father, Son and Spirit! Psalm 14:3, Romans 3:12, Mark 10:18!

I can imagine a larger set of you struggling to believe a compliment like this because, in all honesty, you can pile up the evidence (beginning with something you have done or thought in the last hour!), that PROVES beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are NOT good with Jesus' goodness! For you, I have nothing less than the stunningly beautiful words of the Gospel from the Apostle Paul in Colossians 1:

"27 God wanted everyone, not just Jews, to know this rich and glorious secret inside and out, regardless of their background, regardless of their religious standing. The mystery in a nutshell is just this: Christ is in you [emphasis mine]; therefore you can look forward to sharing in God's glory. It's that simple. That is the substance of our Message."

So, we are all in somewhat of a dilemma, aren't we? On the one hand, to be embarrassingly honest, no matter how righteous we claim to be, there are bad things we think and do that we want no one else to see or know about!! Good Gravy - I KNOW that is true of me!! Yikes! This is a confirmation on how even our good is still tainted with things that aren't so good! This is what Paul was wrestling with in his argument in Romans 7:14-25!

On the other hand, we and others CAN observe good things going on with each other and there has to be an explanation for that, too! The explanation for all of this is the Gospel, or the Good News of Jesus Christ!

Because Jesus Christ is good, and he created and sustains everything and everyone, AND he entered our humanity in a special and mysterious way 2000 years ago, whatever happens to him, happens to you! This is why Paul says that when Jesus died, everyone died! 2 Corinthians 5:14! This is also why he says that when Jesus rose, everyone rose with him in the Father's grace! Ephesians 1:1-10! Do you notice in this passage how everything is given to us soley by God's grace, for free?! Even the faith to believe this is true is given to us freely through Jesus!!!

SOOOOOOO....Jesus is good, because he is God, and Jesus mysteriously lives in everyone. This is the Gospel! Therefore, everyone has REAL good in them because Jesus, Who is the ONLY source of Good, lives in them and shares his goodness with them! Therefore, YOU and I ARE FUNDAMENTALLY GOOD with the Goodness of Jesus, no matter what we think about it!!!

All of this was brought home to me recently in a powerful way! I was dating my two daughters a few weeks ago. We decided to go out to a local Chili's restaurant and have at it! I ordered one of my favorites, sizzlin' fajitas, and both girls ordered their hearts desire - a huge hamburger and some hot, hot, hot wings! Oh how delicious the food AND conversation was!

I asked them of them about their hopes and dreams! I looked them in the eye and told them that I loved and liked them - yet again! I told them that they were good and I was proud of them, and that I was proud to be their father! I told them that I appreciated that they were also good students because I had been a poor one early in life. I prayed before they were born that they would not inherit that poorness from me! The Father was gracious enough to answer that prayer by making sure I married a woman whose genes would have more influence over them in that area! :-)

I told them that the reason we were dating and sharing like we were was because my dad had passed this tradition on to me and my 4 brothers and I had loved every minute of it! I was determined to share this with my wife and children and pass it on (yes, Donna and I still date, too, after 17 years of marriage!) This got us on the subject of my father who had died 4 years ago, in February of 2004.

I asked each of the girls, starting with Jocelyn, the oldest, what they remembered most about him. Jocelyn, my very thoughtful child, searched her memories carefully and then stated, VERY ACCURATELY, "I remember bouncing on a mini-trampoline and paw-paw coming up to me and shadow boxing in front of my face! I also remember that he could quote a bible verse on any subject, at anytime, at will, and always did!!"  Ha-Ha!! How true! He was always known for 2 things: God and Boxing...and he could wear most people out with both!! :-) Just "Google": Rufus Brassell!

I then turned to my youngest daughter, Autumn, and asked the same thing. She thought for a moment and then uttered these words that put me in my personal dilemma on this subject, "I remember that he was as good and loving as you are!" Honest - I could NOT take those words in at first and thought I had misunderstood! I was almost afraid to ask for clarity but finally did. I said, incredulously, "What did you say?!" She then repeated just as firm and sincere, "Paw-Paw was as good and loving as you are!"

Well, I have never ever felt so GOOD and BAD at the same time in all of my entire life!! Ha-Ha! Understatement! Didn't Autumn know me after all of these 11 years, and how much improvement I needed to be a truly good and loving father? I am SURE she and Jocelyn both could dredge up a negative list a mile long about how truly bad I am, and I would have to agree! Sheeesh! There was no way she could have just said that! I had a hard time receiving it!

BUT, because of the Goodness of the Father, Son and Spirit, and their passion and insistence to share the Gospel with me REGULARLY, and Their helping me to share it with others, I was able to REPENT AND BELIEVE THIS GOOD NEWS quite quickly and say "Thank You!" The Father was so passionate to flood me with His encouragement that he inspired my eldest daughter, Jocelyn, to put an exclamation point on it all by saying "That's True!!"

We concluded our fellowship in the restaurant by ordering ONE huge dessert that we shared as THREE persons. :-) As we ate, I couldn't help but think again of our One God in Three Persons Who had graciously included me and Jocelyn, and Autumn, (AND DONNA, my wife, and THE WHOLE WORLD), in their Shared Relationship.

God was certainly at Chili's in a special way that day and, even though the dessert was admittedly good and sweet, I have to admit that receiving the Good News of Jesus' Goodness and Love in ME was even better and MUCH sweeter!!! I hope you eat plenty, too!! I promise there's nothing better!!

Relationship and Sexual Affair: Accept or Dump? Part 2

by Dr. Coach Love

Continuing from Part 1... A sexual affair is a huge mistake in any relationship, but the individual has a  choice of whether to accept or dump.  While there are actions to consider taking in order to heal, there are also actions to avoid--- whether the goal is to work on accepting an affair or ending the relationship. (See LISTS and REFLECTIONS below.)

Certainly, your values and expectations for your relationship play a big part in how you handle this relationship crisis.  Remember, however, if you decide to move on, you still have emotional healing to do, or it will severely affect the trust level you will be able to achieve in future relationships. 

With your own emotional welfare in mind, resist running away fast from this relationship and "dumping" her. At the other extreme, do not avoid discussing her affair. Sweeping infidelity under the rug because it is painful to discuss or produces conflict, simply continues the problem of disconnection. 

If your partner is motivated and willing, work slowly and deliberately together to gain an understanding of everything --- even if you feel you may walk away eventually. If you decide to stay, create and act on plans for relationship change.  Manage your anger productively, and do not destroy your relationship further by targeting her abusively with either words or actions.

Creating understanding now will help you in future relationships.  Your trust issues will be less affected. You can learn your role in it and how to be less vulnerable to this type of relationship problem.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Regards,

Dr. Coach Love

MORE INFO LINKS: Lists-Healing After an Affair; Posts-Part1 7/13/08;

                                  Reflections-Healing Wounds With Time

v      I invite your comments below.

v      E-mail your relationship coaching questions to DrCoachLove@HireCoach.com.

v      Questions selected will be edited as needed to reflect privacy,

                                   brevity, clarity, and general interest.

v      Sorry, Dr. Coach Love is unable to offer any personal advice through this blog.

v      Check out relationship coaching services at www.HireCoach.com.

©       Copyright 2008 P.H. Pickett, Ph.D.  All rights reserved.

            Contact DrCoachLove@HireCoach.com for permissions.

i threw out the baby with the potatoes

Or why is usability and user experience so important for softwere developers and engineers, and how do you convince them it's so bloody important?

The inmates are running the asylum, by Alan Cooper

This reads like a business-book, which is what it aims at. It does give a good feeling for what’s important when you develop software for people that aren't you, especially when it comes to working through specifications (no matter who the specs are given by). Features of your software are not what is important, rather that users are able to reach their goal. So one should work goal-oriented and put in features that help users reach their goal, not put in features just because somebody thinks it’s interesting (think pointy-haired boss).

Engineering methods don’t work to solve engineering problems, because you’re blind to your own problems. A different method will probably work better. Also, it’s difficult to do both back-end and front-end design so separate both but they still have to work together. There is a conflict of interest between what the programmer wants, and what the user wants. So you don’t let a programmer referee whether a program is doing what the user wants (unless it’s something she designed for herself to use, obviously).

Bribery can work to find out what programmers are doing, but you shouldn’t have to resolve to it. On the other hand, maybe you can train some sense into them that way. Or present it together with a rational, defensible reason. In terms an engineer can understand.

Bottom line: you can listen to your users, but it's even better to observe them. If you only listen, you'll end up trying to sell them a 12-headed dragon.

Votre site devient populaire ou est sujet à controverse ? Les buzzs et autres rumeurs sur le net vous intriguent, vous inquiètent ? Ce livre est pour vous, et pour tous ceux qui doivent gérer l’image de leur site sur la toile.
« Rumeur sur Internet » de Didier Heiderich s’attache à étudier la dynamique de la crise sur Internet et à la communication, la stratégie à adopter pour la contrer.

En 6 chapitres très complets, l’auteur décrypte la création, le développement et la résolution d’une crise et sa relation particulière au temps et au support numérique. Il analyse, par le biais de nombreuses études de cas, le pouvoir de la multiplicité des opinions sur la toile, les problèmes liés aux copyrights et la méthodologie à appliquer en cas de crise.

Les plus : Plutôt que d’offrir une méthode rigide qui ne saurait répondre aux attentes diverses et variées des webmasters et directeurs de communication, Heiderich propose une série de bonnes pratiques flexibles suivant le type de crise. Par le biais de nombreux tableaux, il explore en profondeur les questions fondamentales à se poser en cas de déficit d’image en ligne.
Les Limites : L’ouvrage datant de 2004, il ne prend pas en compte l’explosion des blogs et leur influence sur la formation d’une opinion sur le net.

Pour aller plus loin :

Site Compagnon du livre
Site du magazine de la communication de crise, géré par l’observatoire International des crises (articles très complets, thèses, bibliographies).
White paper sur la réputation Internet sur le site de Digimind.
Hoaxbuster, tout sur les canulars du Web

Rumeur sur Internet
Comprendre, anticiper et gérer une cybercrise
Didier Heiderich
Editions Village Mondial / Pearson Education France
ISBN 2744060887

La reproduction d’objets de marque est un sport national dans second life, la plupart du temps se sont les aficionados qui reproduisent leurs marques préférées et cela est d’autant plus vrai au regard de la catégorie :instruments de musique. Gibson a donc décidé de parler à ses clients et futurs clients au travers de second life. Des modèles de guitars Gibson seront à disposition, des vidéos et des programmes exclusifs à consulter, tous sur la compagnie et ses matériaux (utilisation du bois), le Gibson acoustique stage qui n’est autre qu’un lieu comme son nom l’indique dédié au concert en version acoustique. L’inauguration voyait se produire Bob Welch de Fleetwood Mac en concert exclusif avec d’autres musiciens dans second life c’est à dire à distance.

fleetwood mac oh well

Mor Ve who?

Mor Ve Ötesi is a Turkish rockband who - already very famous in their homecountry - has made another big step to international attention by representing Turkey at the Eurovision Song Contest 2008. Their song "Deli" stood out of the mass of the usual song contest mainstream and without the point-nepotism they would definitely have won. But anyway... joining the contest made them famous all over Europe overnight.

A great start

Their multilingual contest website "delirium" (with blog!) was a great example how a good web representation could look like.

But this website has not been updated since May 2008 anymore. Why haven't they gone on with it? It's not only pleasant to look at but informative and well coded.

So what now?

The only alternative now is to visit the band's offical website. But this website obviously has not been prepared for the run of not-Turkish-speaking people who'd like to find out more about this band - apart from "Deli".

morveotesi.com is still available in Turkish only! There is a link "ENG" but it leads to the band's myspace which at least provides some biographical information in English.

Btw. if you click on "Join the mor ve ötesi email list" there, you get to a Turkish form. Does that mean the mails will be in Turkish too? Why join then? And if the list is in English, why is there no English form then? Help!

The language gap

What about the lyrics? What do they mean? Searching their myspace for a helping link doesn't leed to success.

I posted a comment asking about it and got a private message (thank you guys!) telling me about the fan-forum, where some people have posted their own translations. But was that an answer to my posting or a mass mail? And why haven't they used the bulletin function then too?

And on that fan forum I still had to search for the lyrics section (which is placed in "Multimedia" where you'd expect videos, mp3s etc.) . Within the lyrics thread I still had to search through all the posts to find the good translations. Well, the forum seems to in the beginning only, so things might improve with time.

Webdesign

The good thing in Mor Ve Ötesi's web presences is the fact that they have tried to follow a corporate design for all their websites. The bad thing is that they use the cover layout of the band's last album "Büyük Düşler" which isn't really apt for that...

In contrary to many of the band's stylish videos and booklets the cover background made of glass boxes just doesn't look very appealing. And does that mean they'll change every design with the next album again? They'll better improve the coding and text-layout then too.

Hopes

As I said in the beginning: I'm hoping for improvements for the band's sake. These guys rock and deserve a more lively and update representation on the web! The above mentioned facts are not difficult to change, so why not go for it? All that is needed is a good concept, some structure and multiple language versions. Guys: I'll gladly help if you want me to! ;-)

Stephen William Hawking, CH, CBE, FRS, FRSA (born 8 January 1942) is a British theoretical physicist. Hawking is the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He is known for his contributions to the fields of cosmology and quantum gravity, especially in the context of black holes, and his popular works in which he discusses his own theories and cosmology in general. These include the runaway popular science bestseller A Brief History of Time, which stayed on the British Sunday Times bestseller list for a record-breaking 237 weeks.

His key scientific works to date have included providing, with Roger Penrose, theorems regarding singularities in the framework of general relativity, and the theoretical prediction that black holes should emit radiation, which is today known as Hawking radiation, or sometimes as Bekenstein-Hawking radiation. His scientific career spans more than 40 years and his books and public appearances have made him an academic celebrity and world-renowned theoretical physicist. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Hawking is disabled by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The illness has progressed over the years and he is now almost completely paralysed.

DECtalk was a speech synthesizer and text-to-speech technology developed by Digital Equipment Corporation in the early 1980s, based largely on the work of Dennis Klatt at MIT, whose source-filter algorithm was variously known as KlattTalk or MITalk.

Carl Edward Sagan (November 9, 1934 – December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, astrochemist and highly successful popularizer of astronomy, astrophysics and other natural sciences. He pioneered exobiology and promoted the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI).

He is world-famous for writing popular science books and for co-writing and presenting the award-winning 1980 television series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, which has been seen by more than 600 million people in over 60 countries, making it the most widely watched PBS program in history.^[1] A book to accompany the program was also published. He also wrote the novel Contact, the basis for the 1997 Robert Zemeckis film of the same name starring Jodie Foster. During his lifetime, Sagan published more than 600 scientific papers and popular articles and was author, co-author, or editor of more than 20 books. In his works, he frequently advocated skeptical inquiry, secular humanism, and the scientific method.

I mean, come on, guys. Where's the creativity gone with you spammers?

Firstly... Wow! Cynthia's content was not only detailed, but well presented and thought out for her audience. I have to admit, going into the webinar I wasn't expecting much (not any slight on Cynthia, I've just never taken part in a free information webinar before, so my expectations were low).

What I got out of the webinar was a much better understanding of the framework needed to assess and take advantage of Web 2.0 in your daily CI tasks, be they gathering, analyzing or distributing information and insight.

I wont post the full deck here, but I will take one of the slides that neatly summarizes Cynthia's main points and reproduce it here. When the recorded presentation becomes available you can get the full low-down. (Guessing it will be here when that happens).

As I mentioned, I pulled out some good insight for myself and how we're using portions of Web 2.0 at Microsoft.

• Content & Information is moving towards Collaboration and Knowledge. E.G. as people interact, knowledge is harnessed via the interaction, rather than just collection.
• Web 2.0 can have a massive effect on how we currently plan and project manage. Prioritizing the right forms of Web 2.0 information sources at the right time.
• There is still a need for a clear framework for collection and idea of what you end result you are looking for - otherwise you end up with the firehose, rather than a funnel.

And one caveat:

• There is an increased risk of over-estimating trends with Web2.0 via an echo chamber or multiplier effect.

Definitely keep an eye out for when Cynthia delivers this presentation again, it was well worth my time - even at 11pm here in Singapore.. and that's a rare occurrence!

**As a side note: I think Web 2.0 should be renamed "the Web" (Web 2.0 is what the Internet is all about now). I think there is just as much jaded concern and mistrust around Web 2.0 as there was for "e"-everything back during the Bubble.

Self-Serve Kiosks

Papa John’s is one of the many quick-service operators considering adding kiosks to its ordering mix. Ensign says that the company is conducting tests in lobbies of some of the chain’s stores that see significant foot traffic.

In the NRA’s 2007 Consumer Study, 16 percent of adult respondents said they had placed their own order using a self-serve terminal at a quick-service restaurant. However, of those adults who had not used a kiosk, 57 percent said they would be likely to if it was offered by a quick-service restaurant.

NCR also found that minorities are particularly inclined to use self-service, with 55 percent of the African-American respondents and 57 percent of Hispanics saying that they have chosen one company over another because it offered the option of self service.

“For Hispanics and other non-native English speakers, self-service eliminates the language barrier,” says Lee Holman, lead retail analyst for IHL Group, a global research and advisory firm specializing in technologies for the retail and hospitality industries. “For every customer, it eliminates the element of miscommunication between them and the order taker.”

Jack In The Box, which began testing kiosks in the San Diego area in 1996, has 30 talking, bilingual units in operation chainwide. Although the company declined to discuss details, the outlook for the future of the company’s kiosks is optimistic.

GoMobo’s Glass expects remote transactions to make up at least 25 percent of all pizza ordering in the next three or four years, with other industries following over time.

Part of the reason is the fact that consumers can take their time browsing through the restaurant’s menu and food photos.

-excerpt from QSR Magazine, Quick-Service Restaurant, By Marilyn Odesser-Torpey