Rants, Raves, and Rhetoric v4

Month: June 2008

  • Try Again

    The worst response technical support can give me is to suggest I try something I have already tried without success. An explanation why this suggestion is going to work this time when the previous attempt(s) did not work would help. Otherwise, why would I expect it to work this time when it didn’t last time? […]

  • On Oil

    A while ago, George wrote about the new fees for flying. Lacey pointed out how the price of oil affects the cost of running an airline. Thoughts about these have been lurking in my head ever since. Today I have watched a couple times a speech given by Congressman Roscoe Bartlett on how oil production […]

  • The Paradox of Choice

    Read this book. The strategy for reaching good decisions: Figure out your goal or goals. Evaluate the importance of each goal. Array the options. Evaluate how likely each of the options is to meet your goals. Pick the winning option. Modify goals.

  • Don’t look at me like that!

    Don’t look at me like that!, originally uploaded by Ezra F.

  • Firefox 3

    Image via Wikipedia Apparently the official launch of Firefox 3 is tomorrow. So we get to look forward to 4+ months of students and faculty members asking why Blackboard Vista doesn’t recognize Fx 3 as supported. Every week’s call with Blackboard will have the conversation: Us: Is it supported yet? Bb: Not yet. We are […]

  • Spotlight

    Spotlight, originally uploaded by Ezra F. I don’t think there is a car sale or carnival at the end of this one.

  • Lost in Communication

    Would you believe United States employees cost their employers $650 billion in productivity costs in the seconds it takes for them to return attention back to the task at hand? The time spans lost are the same amount of time required to interpret a CAPTCHA. E-mail, instant messaging, Twitter, etc. are all distractions from getting […]

  • Nature Photography Day

    June 15th is Nature Photography Day (and Father’s Day). Take your kids and grandkids on a nature trek and give them a single-use camera to use. Then print some of their photos and present them, in a mat or frame, to those young photographers. Pick something in nature that you’ve never photographed before, and then […]

  • Loving Day 2008

    Image via Wikipedia Did you do anything for Loving Day? Do you even know what it is? From the site…. Loving Day is an educational community project. The name comes from Loving v. Virginia (1967), the landmark Supreme Court decision that legalized interracial marriage in the United States. Loving Day celebrations commemorate the anniversary of […]

  • Book Review – The Edison Gene

    The Edison Gene: ADHD and the Gift of the Hunter Child by Thom Hartmann My review rating: 5 of 5 stars Reading the DSM-IV about ADHD sounded to me more like the behavior over a typical boy than a mental illness. Thom theorizes a gene came about which allowed our ancestors to survive an intense […]