A few days ago Google announced a major change to its algorithm for website ranking, designed to ensure that search results would put quality sites near the top of the ranking. Apparently, there are many websites out there where the content is not insightful, does not offer anything new, and is only very obvious information built around specific keyword phrases.
Of course, where there is stupidity, satire is sure to follow, and indeed there are two sites I’ve come across that really stick it to the useless content sites and Twitter.
The second site, which satirizes, Twitter, is called FakeAP Stylebook. The URL is http://twitter.com/fakeapstylebook, and you can find such wisdom as “Conjunction Junction – The intersection of two eye infections. Rinse with saline solution and see your ophthalmologist.”
So this weekend, while the wife and daughter were out camping, I checked out two movies I’ve been waiting to see for a while.
The first is Red, which I’d see just for the great combination of the cast – Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman, Bruce Willis, and Mary Louise-Parker. Sure, the action is a bit over the top, but not too much so, and each character is cast just right. A fun movie from start to finish. By the way, if you find yourself trying to figure out where you’ve seen the CIA bad guy, Cooper, before, he played Bones in the latest incarnation of Star Trek. Here’s trailer for the movie:
Second recommendation is Unstoppable, with Denzel Washington — always one of my favorites — and Chris Pine, another Star Trek actor; he played Captain Kirk. This movie deals with a train that has no driver and a cargo of lethal chemicals, and of course a populated town in danger of extinction. The action is great and, as always, Denzel Washington does a great job with his character. A good 2 hour thrill ride well suited for a big screen. YouTube won’t let me embed the trailer, but click here to see the Unstoppable trailer on YouTube.
A few years ago I was searching the internet for information about PowerPoint to use in a lecture for a business class I was teaching. I came across a really funny video on how not to use PowerPoint. It was by a comedian named Don McMillan, who has a very interesting background. To quote from his website Technically Funny:
“Don McMillan graduated from Stanford University with a Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering in 1982. (He has a BSEE from Lehigh University) He went to work for AT&T Bell Laboratories where he worked as part of the team that designed the world’s first 32-bit Microprocessor. He then moved to the Silicon Valley (San Jose, California) where he worked at VLSI Technology as a computer chip designer. During his 6 years at VLSI he designed more than 50 Standard and ASIC Designs many of which are still out there today.
After winning the 16th Annual San Francisco International Stand-Up Comedy Competition in 1991, Don turned in his chips for a microphone. He went on to be $100,000 Grand Champion on “Star Search” in 1993. He’s had numerous television appearances including “The Tonight Show” on NBC, CNN’s “The Larry King Show”, MTV’s “Half Hour Comedy Hour”, and A&E’s “Evening at the Improv”.”
Here’s the first video I ever saw with Don McMillan. It’s called Life After Death by PowerPoint:
He has another video that I watched for the first time today, called The New Office Math:
Enjoy. More videos are on YouTube and McMillan’s website, Technically Funny.
It may sound corny, but it’s so easy to forget what a great country we live in. Every day life is an ongoing struggle for many of us, and the current economy and political state may cause us to despair about the state of our country, but today a series of events made me realize just how fortunate we are to live in the good ol’ US of A.
It started off with a summons to jury duty. It wasn’t the first time I’ve been called; I guess I’ve been summoned about six times. I’ve only served twice, once in federal court for a case involving stolen checks, and today, in county court in a case involving a minor traffic accident. The federal case involved hundreds of thousands of dollars, while the county case covered less than $1,000. The federal case lasted four days; the county case took 3 hours.
Although the cases were completely dissimilar, and I disliked receiving the summons, I didn’t mind being chosen. Aside from the fact that I would get a glimpse of how our judicial system really works—and it is not exactly like you see on TV—I was glad to have a chance to participate. Two things set us apart from many countries—the right to vote and the right to have a trial judged by a jury of our peers. It’s one thing to know that, but to actually exercise these rights… well, I’d be lying if I denied finding it a bit thrilling.
So participating in the jury was the first event. The second was the fact that the plaintiff and defendant were immigrants, one from India and one from China. When you consider all the violence and strife that occurs in so many countries simply because someone is of a different race and religion, how wonderful it is that people can come here from other countries and be so integrated in our society that their dispute is over something as relatively minor as a fender bender. On top of that, the matter is not resolved by violence, but by a civil trial.
The final event occurred as we were handling administrative matters before the trial started. There were about 50 people in the room and the bailiff asked all the veterans in the room to stand up. About 6 people stood and the rest of us broke into genuine, spontaneous applause. There was a tangible sense of pride and gratitude among us that all of these people had devoted part of their lives to serving our country. I was impressed how many there were — more than 10% — and the diversity of jobs the people held. The jobs included military policeman, air traffic controller, engineer, finance clerk, airplane mechanic and artilleryman. These were from the Korean War all the way to the current Iraqi and Afghanistan conflicts. Turns out the one of my fellow jurors was the mother of an Army Ranger who had just returned from one tour of duty and is scheduled to go back again soon.
So though I missed a day of work, it doesn’t seem to matter at this moment. It’s a very small price to pay for the privelige of living here and being able to exercise the rights that many others envy but will never enjoy.
George Carlin’s power of observation and mastery of the English language were legendary. Even in old age, he was still a master. Enjoy this riff on Modern Man.
Perhaps you’ve heard of flash mobs — when a large group of people in a crowd spontaneously bursts into song or freeze in place. I’ve seen videos of several that are really fun to watch, and I’ll post them here from time to time.
There’s a group called Improv Everywhere that has planned a lot of these, and my favorite one is posted below. I think it’s funny, but the best part is the reaction of the onlookers at the end. Take a look:
I don’t know about you, but I used to think all books were bound using only one or two techniques. Well, I came across this article that proved me wrong. It was written by Mark Etinger.
Take a read… interesting stuff.
One of the most interesting facts about binding books is that there are so many different ways to do it. To those less knowledgeable on the subject, book binding services would seem to be pretty basic and non-unique; in other words, most people just assume there is only one universal way to do it. The fact is this couldn’t be farther from the truth.
Binding books, by definition, is simply the process of taking a series of paper sheets and assembling them into a book. However, what many are not aware of is that process can be concocted in a series of different ways. The truth is, there are dozens upon dozens of different book binding services techniques, and in this article we’re going to discuss a few of the more well-known ones.
One of the most well known bookbinding techniques is called Coptic binding. Started as early as 2nd century AD, Coptic book binding got its name as it was the predominant technique for binding books for the earliest of Christians in Egypt (a group of people known as “the Copts”). The style was described as having the sections of paper (or in early Egypt, more often papyrus) sewn together through their folds. In the event that the book had more than one section, a chain stitch could be used as well. For those extraordinarily knowledgeable when it comes to binding books, a single-section Coptic binding is typically known as “Nag Hammadi bindings.” Binding books in this matter does not require any adhesive.
The Coptic style is still used today, and if it is built without a cover the book can open to 360-degrees. Of the original Coptic binding books created y the Christian Copts between the 2nd and 11th century AD, 120 original intact pieces are still in existence, with approximately 500 remnants still available.
There is Long-stitch bookbinding, which gets its name because sections of the book are literally sewn together. While a book binding services company may use glue if they were conducting a long-stitch bookbinding, traditionally it doesn’t use any. The long-stitch was developed in Germany during the medieval era, when parchment covered books had sections stitched together through holes in materials cover. With lots of ways to elaborate and use, the long-stitch bookbinding technique is still seen today, often in office environments.
There is also the Ethiopian style of binding books. Similar to the Coptic book binding method, the Ethiopian style involves a chain stitch. Traditionally, a book that was bound by the Ethiopian technique has a cover made of wood, and the binder uses as many sewing needles as there are sewing stations.
The Print House provides online printing services with a quick turnaround time. Whether you’re thinking about binding books, direct mailings, or commercial color printing, TPHNY.com can help!
My daughter plays horn in her high school’s marching band. Last Saturday, October 23, they participated in a citywide contest that lasted all day. The band didn’t make it to the finals, but they put on a darn good show, better than some of the others we saw that day (yes, there’s a little parental pride there, but it’s also true). Take a look and see what you think:
Last night I watched District B13 for the second time. The plot is nothing great, but it’s like watching one of Jackie Chan’s movies when he was in his prime. Many of the action sequences feature a sport called Parkour, which is defined as moving from one place to another in the quickest and most efficient manner, using only your body and whatever is nearby. The idea is to take the most direct path through an obstacle as rapidly as that route can be traversed.
Here’s something I found while cleaning out some old files, and I thought it worth sharing.
“Lessons From Geese” was transcribed from a spech given by Angeles Arrien at the 1991 Organizational Development network and was based on the work of Milton Olson. It was circulated by the Outward Bound Staff throughout the United States, and is shared here hoping that all learn these lessons.
Fact 1
As each goose flaps its wings it creates an “uplift”for the birds that follow. By flying in a “V” formation, the whole flock adds 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew alone.
Lesson: People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going quicker and easier because they ared traveling on the thrust of one another.
Fact 2
When a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of flying alone. It quickly moves back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front of it.
Lesson: If we have as much sense as a goose, we stay in formation with those headed where we want to go. We are willing to accept their help and give our help to others.
Fact 3
When the lead goose tires, it rotates back into the formation and another goose flies to the point position.
Lesson: It pays to take turns doing the hard tasks and sharing leadership. As with geese, people are interdependent on eachother’s skills, capabilities, and unique arrangements of gifts, talents or resources.
Fact 4
The geese flying in formation honk to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.
Lesson: We need to make sure our honking is encouraging. In groups where there is encouragement, the production is much greater. The power of encouragement (to stand by one’s heart or core values and encourage the heart and core of others) is the quality of honking we seek.
Fact 5
When a goose gets sick, wounded or shot down, two geese drop out of formation and follow it down to help and protect it. They stay with it until it dies or is able to fly again. Then they launch out with another formation or catch up with the flock.
Lesson: If we have as much sense as geese, we will stand by each other in difficult times as well as when we are strong.