Nineth

It should be spelled "Nineth" not Ninth...well...maybe people would then say "Nine - eth"

A *little* legal stuff?

I think we're going a little overboard here with "Loopt".  I remember Phil and I actually did a project along these lines for an Info Sci class - we called it "Linkables" (had a bit more to do with social networking).  Obviously we didn't actually create it - we just put together the idea for it and designed a possible interface (it was a design-oriented class).  And I think we even thought more about privacy issues that Loopt:

I ACCEPT; A little legal stuff before you finish! Loopt shows your phone's current geo-location to Loopt friends (even when the Loopt app is not open). Click ACCEPT to consent to: (a) the use, display, & disclosure of your phone's location to provide Loopt to you & your Loopt friends, geo-tag your messages & content, and otherwise as in Loopt's Privacy Notice; (b) receive text messages; (c) pay carrier data, messaging, & other charges or fees from Loopt usage; and (d) Loopt's TERMS OF USE & PRIVACY NOTICE, which is a binding contract between you and Loopt.

Yeah, you know, just a little legal notice that all your "friends" will know exactly where your phone is even when you're not running our application.  Ridiculous.  Combine this with using Twitter and you life is literally public.

Cleverest Headline of the Day

The "iPocalypse"

WordPerfect is far from Perfect

Maybe I'm just used to Word, but each little difference is really annoying me.  All the Word shortcuts seem to make more sense - basic things I want to do are not possible or I have to switch them.  Bullets/Numbering is stupid, footnote shortcut key needed to be inserted (which required far too many menu clicks to do), the track changes thing is way worse than Word, control+delete and control+backspace are not as intuitive, Word Perfect has already crashed on me a few times (maybe just my computer - but everything has run fast and fine), etc.  Even the fact that the default cursor is ready to place a tabbed space wherever I click is stupid.

Oh, and it won't open separate documents in the taskbar like with Word (they're separate documents within the program).  So, unlike with Word where I can alt-tab my way through open documents, I have to point and click at the bottom of the program.  There's probably a way to switch but a) it should not be that by default and b) if I can't figure it out in a minute or so then it's stupid.

This is like the only-pro Microsoft thing I'll write - Word is far better than WordPerfect.  I'm sure there are plenty of pros about WP that I don't know about, but for basic document stuff that I and everyone else at the office is doing, why don't we just use Word?  Not to mention everyone else in the entire universe does - even if WP was slightly better than Word, that compatability issue alone should justify using Word.

Ironic

Google News headlines right next to each other:

Zambian President Mwanawasa Is Alive, Government Says (Update1) Bloomberg
Zambian president Mwanawasa dies in Paris hospital Times Online

How you handle a telemarketer

"But wouldn't you consider this offer a good deal?"
"What I consider you is annoying. Do not call back." [hangup]

-fellow ESAer gets the job done.

You've Been Communicated!

Derek Jamison,

You have been communicated!

It's interesting how people choose to communicate to each other digitally today. Like when you would use a facebook message as opposed to a wall post or an email or an IM or a call. That got me thinking that there is a ridiculous amount of ways to communicate to someone instantly.

So, I decided to instantly communicate to Derek Jamison through 20 different relatively simultaneous (arguably) distinct digital actions. Admittedly, a bunch can obviously be grouped together, but at least they are each distinct in that they are separate actions that will each to communicate to Derek in some form or fashion. Maybe it's an interesting take on digital communication today (or completely stupid), but I also thought it would be pretty funny to bomb him with messages from every angle.

I call it to "communicate someone."

The List:

- my blog post (technically didn't notify him but probably showed up on his RSS feed)
- comment on his blog
- email to his 1st email address
- email to his 2nd email address
- email to his school email address
- email from a different email of mine to his 1st email address
- email from a different email of mine to his 2nd email address
- email from a different email of mine to his school email address (stopped with this line after this one)
- IM
- facebook note with him tagged
- facebook message
- facebook poke
- facebook wall
- facebook photo tag
- facebook event invite (to the You've Been Communicated! Party)
- facebook group invite (to the I Like to Communicate! group)
- google calendar event invite
- cell phone call
- text message
- yahoo! group invite to the "I Like To Communicate" group (kinda represents any online "invitation" you could make)

(so they might not all be able to communicate the same types of messages, but I think the idea still makes sense, right?)

and as a bonus - I told Joni to tell Derek he's been "communicated"