beautiful quote

— you know how it is: singular spirits can bear only so much love, so much perfection stumbled on by chance.

- Roberto Bolaño

Chicago Housing Authority evicts 31 households...

Thank goodness for the CHA. Their concern is so genuine and sincere. I am wondering where better and safe housing is located. The people being evicted are so lucky!... NOTE: the hypocrisy of my post has not escaped me.

CHA press release

scraping dead foot skin in public

WTF?! would possess a human being to scrape the bottom of their feet with scissors while I am sitting less than 15 feet away in the living room? WTF?! is wrong with this jackass! Holding his hand underneath his foot like that makes it OK? SICK and DISGUSTING. I am so revulsed!!! This next month may be one of the longest of my life.

Happy New Year

Things I am thankful for in 2009

• my lady, Linda


• my family


• knowing myself better


• starting school...again


• being employed

It has been a good year. 2010 will be even better!!!

Web 2.0 and Jewelry business

First, the owner needs to have an online presence that offers customers a place to ask questions and do research on products available. Sprinkled throughout the site, the owner should include customer testimonials and if appropriate customer photos with products. Within the site, business owner should start a blog and write about upcoming inventory, trends, sales, and general jewelry ideas. This will create text content that will help generate a higher good Google page ranking.
In addition, the jewelry business owner is to do research on the jewelry s/he is selling. By knowing about their product they can focus on using web 2.0 in relevant digital areas. For example, searching jewelry making on vimeo or youtube and posting videos of how products are created, who wears those products and of customer testimonials would be an excellent start. These videos can be shared with current customers through a contact database and be aggregated on the owner's blog/site. Also, by researching jewelry forums and blogs online, the owner can use their user generated videos and share with the online jewelry community creating additional links to their site from relevant digital space.
Finally, I would recommend that the owner ask for user pictures and replies and regularly share positive feedback on their blog.

Redesigned Web site

Hey there. Check out the original vs. a site redesign I worked on for IMD110. Let me know what you think good or bad. Thanks.

Original
www.whiterabbitsmusic.com

Redesign
Ham Chop redesign

Ham On The Bone - Eps 2 (Relationship / Tiger Woods)

Ham On The Bone - Eps 1

Copyright laws and the golden rule

After our class regarding copyright law, there are a lot of things to consider. On one hand I am impressed by the protection the law provides individuals inherit in the Copyright Act 17 U.S.C. I idealize the “you create it, you own it” idea and love the very analog and charming “poor man’s copyright.” Then things started going downhill. As discussed the copyright laws are subjective. There is a lot of room for interpretation and therefore I am disheartened because, typically that means money talks.
I know that I have to be aware of copyright law, but currently as a creator of digital content I am more concerned with creating functional beautiful content. This is especially true in my current position as a student as everything I create has stayed within the academic realm. As I begin working in Interactive Media design, I will have to be more considerate of copywright laws and similar to Laurie, I will have be aware of where content is coming from or protect myself from illegal use through legal contracts. When using someone’s content I’ll have to consider fair use and whether or not there are creative common liscenses. Ultimately I think reviewing the content I’ve created and deciding whether any copyright laws have been broken would be primary concern. If I believe there may be some sort of infringement I would contact the creator and get permission. I think being courteous and mindful of others work as much as I am of mine is probably the best rule and will hopefully keep me out of legal hell.

Ecommerce

Ah the joys of shopping online. I am not a big shopper in general, but like most people I think once I get started, I can easily get carried away. I think this was more likely to happen two or three years ago in the fat times, but that is a whole other discussion. Shopping online is great. You have everything you can ever want or need in one place, but with most things online it can be difficult at times to find what you want and if you are like most Americans like me, you will probably have very little patience to get what you want by mail when you know you can get it from a brick and mortar.

Therefore shopping online for me has now become a place of finding special items unavailable elsewhere or getting awesome deals with minimal hassle. Best place to find hard to find items is Google.com. A quick search will usually lead me to relevant links where I can find the odd sized seatpost, out of print record, obscure artists prints, etc… As everyone has experience, Google has a simple direct quick usability that keeps me coming back even though I am getting slowly suspicious of their back room activities as they partner with the government and growing army legal professionals. On the more traditional side of online shopping, www.groupon.com has become a new favorite. The site offers anyone a 24 hour window to purchase a deal of the day. The deal can be related to anything from food to clothes to a round of golf. Typically the discount is close to 50%. A friendly and well designed site directs users to the deal and invites them to subscribe to daily emails on the deal of the day. Not only are the savings remarkable, but the products available are usually of very high quality. Thanks to groupon, I golfed at some of the areas most well regarded courses for half of and bought my girlfriend a year long membership to the Art Institute for $40. The icing on the cake is that the transaction process online is very simple and return users will find it even easier to buy the deal of the day. Usability, value, experience, update all rate highly on this site and I encourage all of you to join. If you do, please join through the below link so I can get referral credit.

http://www.groupon.com/r/uu70626

Horizon Realty Sucks balls

article

Saw this story and was amazed. I understand why Horizon Realty was offended. People say mean things all the time about so many different things from people to ideas. From the article, Horizon's perspective that this malicious tweet is public and available to anyone. Unfortunately, Horizon doesn't understand microblogging and social media and it bit them in the ass. There is no issue here because Amanda's tweet has no weight. It is not presented as a statement of fact. She is not an expert on rental companies or residential real estate. She is a frustrated bartender. Sure, in her circle of friends, there will be those who take her message to heart, but that is not illegal...

Or is it? In this crazy legal system our country has devised, I imagine Horizon might be able to win this case. After all in America, you are now Guilty until proven innocent. Just check out the below article and what the police man says. This man is still in jail 6 months later awaiting trail.

Guilty until proven innocent

Anyways....

Apparently, Horizon Reality forgot to look at her other tweets to get a sense. To me it is automatically assumed that her statement is a not based on an actual conversation or document. In fact, since it is a tweet, the overwhelming majority of users probably assume that this is a rant based on emotion and frustration. Horizon really missed the mark here and ultimately hurt themselves by attacking their customer through the legal process. It brought them much deserved bad press and showed that microblogging is a tool that can lead to real significant media exposure.

Online news and journalism

The news cycle created by technology demands all things now and this leaves the current state of news open to criticism. The constant flow of new information leaves important details out as new information arrives. In the past details and facts were necessary to deliver news. Now "filler" stories flash in between "real" news stories that are never to be heard from again. This is especially relevant on online news media. The contstant updating and refreshing leaves fleeting glimpses of real world issues and events. The online news industry also blurs the line between fact and opinion.
This flighty attitude also extends into the accuracy of the news. Due to the cut and paste, get it now attitude, journalists are willing to distribute information that is not confirmed. I am not a journalist, but I have to believe that the priority should be delivering clear, concise, and objective news.
Society, media, finances, government, technology, have all changed the way we demand and process information. This leaves the traditional journalistic ideal behind. It takes too much time and news media can't wait while other stories are reported. Journalistic ideals are/were upheld in media like Frontline, The Economist, and Meet the Press (w/ Tim Russert). Where do you think the journalistic ideal still lives today?

Internet Privacy

The article was informative and provided great resources that I hopefully take advantage of. I've already added spybot and ad-aware to my limited defenses from previous class discussions, and appreciate being cautious, but where does all the security end? I already very cynical and critical of most things coming across the web. I would say I follow the majority of the rules, but things like cookie management, being conscious of web security, home security, examining privacy policies, and using encryption can seem over the top. A lot of times I think it is practical to think about all these additional securities, but at the same time when do you say stop. Part of the joys of the internet is the ease of use and freedom of information it provides. We all have too little time and are too lazy to read all the fine print and set browers settings. I know I sound lazy and maybe I am, but like most things I feel that if I use my common sense I will be OK and going, IMHO , extremes is unnecessary.

So I think the article was useful and I understand it is practical to apply all 12 tips, but overall I don't think it will change my current habits that much. I think it will make me more conscientious of other's using my computer. People are reckless in their browsing habits and tend to click on anything that seems apppropriate. My girlfriend clicked on a pop up stating that I had a virus and it started downloading. What it was I don't know, but I closed the browser and ran a scan from my anti virus software.

Theme Song 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-YcBVEnLT8

My Intro Song

White Rabbits "Percussion Gun" Music Video from White Rabbits on Vimeo.

Security

So trying to be a bit more serious. Let’s take a look at security on “Hackers.” First of all, the speed at which these hackers are working in real time while they hack is wildly inaccurate. Not only because of the connections that they are using but also I believe hackers write programs that run to find passwords or weakness in a system’s securities. Largely these programs run themselves and there is no updating as the program is running. I also do not believe battles between hackers within a system are inaccurate. You can not fight like you are in a video game. It is not designed that way. I also am baffled by the password, God, used in the movie. This supercomputer used by a global energy company is accessible by simply using the password “God?” Also, the security of an off site oil tanker would not be susceptible to a virus downloaded by a central corporate computer, or at least I hope not. Today we learned that a worm virus is designed to replicate itself multiple times until it eats up all a computer’s memory. The worm virus in the movie was not really a worm. It is a program that steals money from various accounts. I guess worm sounds sexier…ew. Similarly, the DaVinci virus is not a virus and rather a program for the same reasons. DaVinci is not designed to replicate using the programs of the system it has infected. Back to security, I believe that viruses are delivered and active under cover of darkness. If you announce your intention to infect a system, the administrator could just block all access from outside networks. If that isn’t possible, keeping an eye out for possible outside hackers, a security administrator would be able to identify and block possible threats. Finally, it seems that none of the systems in the movie had any security whatsoever. In fact, the only security feature I did see what the God password request in the beginning of the movie and the announcement of anti-virus programming in the final hacker battle. No where else do I recall firewalls, anti-virus programs, or cryptography. Interesting as the main characters are infiltrating different corporations and government organizations without any impediments, but they are “elite.” Once again, I can not argue, Angelina is “elite.” Especially in 95. YOWSA!

“Hackers’” Inaccuracies

Where to begin? I am not a technology guru and I’m sure some of what I have to say is going to be really obvious and there is a good chance that I’ll be wrong as well, but let me know what you think and steer me in the right direction. I’d appreciate it.

So let’s start with hardware. Really do you think all the graphics and coding will be move so quickly across a telephone line? I know that “movie magic” can create time lapse through editing, but I didn’t notice any, did you? Also, the death of the time lapse theory is destroyed near the end of the movie when each hacker add their talents to decrease the hacking time of the super computer from 8 to 7 to 6 to 5 minutes. Amazing. Together we can do anything! In addition, the mainframes of the super computers built on what looks like empty glass towers lit with coding and the little bolts of electricity running across the hardware when it is being “attacked.” AWESOME!!! And this might be possible, but can you tape cell phones to public phones and get a connection to a network? This movie was created in 1995! Pay phones people. But of course the school’s computers control the fire safety system. Not to mention a media companies video system fights with itself as two hackers try to see who rules the interwebs. Wow.

Ok so the software elements of this movie were equally amazing. Almost no coding is shown. The only coding I recall is the remnants of the copied worm. Everything else seems to work on a window based interface with some kind of IM application that takes up the whole screen to communicate between battling users. COOL. Psychedelic to amateurish graphics flashing across the screen during the hacker battles are inspiring. The visual manifestation of the viruses was another stroke of genius that is wildly inaccurate. From the complex of the DaVinci to the cheeky of the multiplying bunny rabbit to the cute of PacMan and Cookie monster viruses. This stroke of creative genius is forgivable because of its pure entertainment value.

Overall, the inaccuracies are wonderfully campy, but only one thing carries this baby me to the finish and that’s Angelina. No inaccuracies there. She can infect me anytime. ;)

McLuhan's Tetrad

A very interesting summation of a very interesting man. It is almost unbelievable that so many of the thoughts and terms we use to talk about the present and future state of media comes from a man who lived "in the early 1960s at a time when television was still in its infancy, and the personal computer was almost twenty years into the future.” At first glace, I thought high-priest was an exaggeration and inappropriate term to associate to a expert of marketing and media, but after finishing the article I agree that McLuhan’s reflections are on a prophet-like level. Granted many of his thoughts are not new. Women have always tried to attract men using physical qualities and “polishing” parts has been part of that quality, but noting that media has the power and influence women to increase and control individuals into action that attempt to increase these qualities is relatively new even today. McLuhan saw how we shape and are shaped by our desires and faith and clearly saw the environment

from all angles. I especially enjoyed how frank McLuhan can. “The objective of advertising men, said McLuhan, is the manipulation, exploitation, and control of the individual.”

I liked the structure of the summary and imagine it is how McLuhan began his pondering, beginning from inside our minds, to the physical abilities of our bodies, and extending out beyond to the community of humanity. McLuhan’s thoughts are once again not necessarily new, but the “extension” of those innate characteristics and having such a firm understanding as to predict the direction of our society is amazing. McLuhan’s thoughts on balance were particularly interesting There has always been a sense of balance, a system of plus and minuses. The idea of balance to our extensions and warnings over-extended technology result in loss or harm is very relevant today. This sense of balance is expressed well in McLuhan’s tetrad. The tetrad’s four questions give a broader perspective and balance to how we use technology and help us see to all the positives and negatives. At this time of our lives McLuhan’s ideas can be almost taken for granted. So much of what he shared has become the present. If we choose to ignore how media or technology shapes our lives and environment, we are in danger of losing ourselves in those things that we created.

test

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNQc2sEfupc

Newspapers vs. Internet

6 years ago I began my career in media at a newspaper planning and buying agency. It is amazing to see that today, I see similar obstacles confronting the internet as the media industry determines how to value, buy, sell, and grow the digital space. For example, the dispertion of newspaper ownership had led to newspaper publishers selling various ways, frequency, run of press, budgets, zip code targeting...the list is extensive. Today, I see that in the internet, ie. CPC, CPA, ROS, video, mobile, VOD, ...

Fortunately, the internet provides an open environment where publisher and agencies are easily aware of the different elements, whereas newspaper publishers have ignored each others policies, and there is a strong impulse to create a standardized system. This is a process I see evolving and changing continuously and leads to an enviroment where one can continuous learn, contribute and take advantage of new opportunities to work smarter.