Creativity meets execution

will he make it in time........?? by hb19

Check out this fantastic Woody set on Flickr.

Movie: Stranger Than Fiction

Very, very good

This movie far surpassed my expectations. It was fabulous and unexpectedly included a unique use of a graphic design “GUI” as its CGI. If you don’t like Will Ferrell, don’t let that keep you away. He does a shockingly good job and I don’t normally like him. Check out Jayme’s review on All Consuming for more info.

Book: Night Fall

Decent suspense story

This book is part of a series of mysteries starring the same detective. In that way, it’s formulaic and like many other mysteries. On the other hand, this book prominently features real facts from the TWA Flight 800 crash. It’s where fact meets fiction that’s sometimes unclear. I’m not sure how I feel about present-day novels that mix fact and fiction so freely. Somehow it seems less of an issue with historical fiction since history is somehow more fixed and known, but I think that’s just an illusion anyway. So, easy mystery to read and enjoy? Yes. Expose about TWA 800? No.

New photo toy

Fanny the beautiful by Corinne S.

This is the first photo I've "developed" using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. So far I'm occasionally pleased, but mostly frustrated. I think it has to do with it not matching my previous experiences and expectations, though it also seems like there may be some workflow issues.

I'm aware this product is all about the sweet photo workflow, but it so far doesn't appear to match mine. It is a 1.0. I also need to spend more time with it.

This one's for people who take pictures

You don't need to be a pro or a hobbyist. If you take pictures at all and have a few free minutes, take this survey on how and when you download, organize, and share your photos. It's for some Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) masters students at Carnegie Mellon University in conjunction with Microsoft Live Labs. You'll help make future photo products better by participating!

Take the photo survey.

Double ouch for Microsoft

From a Wall Street Journal article called "Tech Firms Still Await a Windows Vista Boost."

1. Dell recently said it would let customers request Windows XP rather than Vista on certain new computers. Microsoft has "never had a [computer maker] rebel that way," says tech guru Paul Kedrosky.
2. [M]arket research firm Millward Brown just anointed Google the world's No. 1 brand, replacing Microsoft.

Web Design Survey 2007

"Designers, developers, project managers. Writers and editors. Information architects and usability specialists. People who make websites have been at it for more than a dozen years, yet almost nothing is known, statistically, about our profession. Who are we? Where do we live? What are our titles, our skills, our educational backgrounds? Where and with whom do we work? What do we earn? What do we value?

It’s time we learned the answers to these and other questions about web design. And nobody is better qualified than the readers of A List Apart to provide the answers..."

If your job has to do with the web, take this A List Apart survey.

Come out of there!

Our friend Sylvia is now more than 40 weeks pregnant and ready for her baby, Sabrina, to join us in the outside world. Maddy took this fabulous picture of Sylvia, who says that this is "what I really do all day now that I’m not at work." ;-)

You can see more beautiful pregnancy photos of Sylvia, taken by our friend Ola, on Flickr. Sorry, the sexy photos are marked as private. So there! ;-P

Celebration is relative

Happy birthday Dad by Corinne S.

Today Benjamin and I went to Vashon and helped my Dad clean a bunch of stuff out of his house and move things from one place to another in preparation for carpet installation, and ultimately the sale of the house. Benjamin did a lot more heavy lifting than I did, but with my fibromyalgia flaring up lately, that's a good thing. Thursday was my dad's birthday, so once all the heavy lifting was done for the day we also celebrated with a delicious dinner and some leftover birthday cake. He did get candles and singing again, though. :-)

Book: Blink

Excellent read

Like James, I read this as an audio book and I agree Gladwell was a good reader. I also agree that it warranted all the attention I could give it, which can be difficult with audio books since I usually listen to them while multi-tasking or falling asleep. In fact, I might listen to the last chapter again since I was distracted.

Anyway, this book was fantastic. I even wished it was longer. The diversity of examples made it a really interesting read. The downside I guess is that there wasn’t a strong, cohesive takeaway (unlike The Long Tail). When the book is done, I know that intuition and thin-slicing are critical and can provide a much more reliable basis for decision-making than we give them credit form. But it’s clear that these techniques don’t apply in many, many cases and I’m not certain where to apply them. I guess what I know is that I should not apply them to the way people look and that thin-slicing is most valuable in an area where you are an expert, whether that’s professionally or personally.

Regardless of all that, Blink reaffirmed my need to consider intuition heavily in a decision I need to make this week. I am very happy about the timing of the read. :)

We're back in business, baby

After a long month with a broken blog, I finally managed to get it to publish again successfully. This is no thanks to Blogger Support, who did eventually get back to me, but never fixed the problem. I ended up fixing it by reentering some of my publish settings (though they hadn't changed) and saving and republishing. It worked! I wrote more posts in the last month than appear on the main page, so to see everything I posted since 3/18, check out the April archive and the March archive. :)

Still Just 77 Cents for Every Dollar

I got a message recently from the National Organization for Women (NOW) about pay equity. Apparently women are still only paid 77 cents for every dollar men are paid. The current administration would like to stop collecting data on women workers altogether, rather than standing up for the rights of women workers to be free from discrimination and paid what they are worth. April 24 is Equal Pay Day—the day women workers finally "get out of the red" and their earnings catch up with men's earnings for all of last year. One thing you can do in favor of pay equity is to ask your U.S. senators and representative to sponsor the Paycheck Fairness Act introduced last month by Democrats Sen. Hillary Clinton and Rep. Rosa DeLauro. The Paycheck Fairness Act aims to reduce the pay gap in several ways:

1. Enhances the enforcement of requirements of the Equal Pay Act and require a stronger commitment from the Department of Labor in its responsibilities to women workers.
2. Provides for training programs for the people who deal with matters involving discrimination in the payment of wages.
3. Requires that the EEOC to gather more comprehensive and useful data from employers—without imposing additional reporting and paperwork requirements—that can be used in the enforcement of federal laws prohibiting pay discrimination.
4. Finally, the bill prohibits employers from punishing employees who share salary information with co-workers.

Send a message to your legislators about the Paycheck Fairness Act. If your legislator is already a co-sponsor then the email will be a thank you message, otherwise the message will encourage the legislator to sign on. Learn more about pay equity and what else you can do.

Book: Making and Breaking the Grid

Excellent reference for designers

Caveat: I read this book in one afternoon at the hair salon, so I would have to say I perused it more than I read it. However, the book consists largely of a collection of visual examples and evaluations of grid types, so that was an effective way to consume the book.

I am not sure if this book is the best primer if you’ve never used or read about grids in graphic design before. But if you know how grids work, then this is an excellent way to expand your ideas about them and see real-world design examples of many grid types, along with their underlying structure and a discussion of their components.

This is a book I’ll consider buying as a reference for myself. I can imagine revisiting it periodically for inspiration and ideas when designing with (or without) grids.

Book: Angels Fall

Entertaining fluff

This was an enjoyable novel without a ton of depth. It’s a typical Nora Roberts book—a mixture of intrigue and romance that is better than a typical romance novel, but is still fairly predictable. You can be sure that the romance will come to fruition eventually and that the heroine will prevail in the end. And yet, I enjoyed it. Sometimes my brain needs a break from stress and deep thought. ;-)

Techie vending machine

In odd news, Kingston Technology has partnered with specialist retailer, MyMemory Limited to unveil the industry’s first Flash memory vending machine at Gatwick Airport in London. Full article.

Tell Congress to make accurate sex ed a priority

More politics. This one is from NARAL Pro-Choice America. An independent report released late last week proves that President Bush's ideological "abstinence-only" programs do not work. The report, commissioned by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, found that students in abstinence-only programs are not more likely to abstain from sex or delay when they become sexually active. If you have the time, I recommend checking out the"executive summary" on pages 13-24 of the full report (PDF). Here are a few illuminating excerpts:

• Since 1998, $50 million/year in federal funding has been allocated for abstinence education programs
• A matching block grant program requires states to match this federal funding at 75%, resulting in a total of $87.5 million annually for abstinence education programs
• Abstinence education includes definitions that teachers must uphold, including the directive to teach that "a mutually faithful, monogamous relationship in the context of marriage is the expected standard of sexual activity," "sexual activity outside the context of marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects," and "bearing children out of wedlock is likely to have harmful consequences for the child, the child’s parents, and society"
• The results of a multi-year study of 2,057 youth found that youth in abstinence education programs were "no more likely than control group youth to have abstained from sex and, among those who reported having had sex, they had similar numbers of sexual partners and had initiated sex at the same mean age."
• "Overall, the programs improved identification of STDs but had no overall impact on knowledge of unprotected sex risks and the consequences of STDs. Both program and control group youth had a good understanding of the risks of pregnancy but a less clear understanding of STDs and their health consequences."

The Responsible Education About Life (REAL) Act would create the first-ever federal sex-education program. Not only is Bush's abstinence-only approach ineffective, the programs mislead teens and censor teachers from giving students the truth about contraception. Congress should support honest, age-appropriate, and medically accurate sex education that promotes abstinence and provides young people with the information they need to protect themselves. Urge your Congressional representatives to co-sponsor the REAL Act.

More pics from down south

To break up the political and workaday posts, here's another photo from a (different) former colleague traveling the South Pacific. This is a woman I used to work with a Free Range Media, and she and her husband are traveling the world in a sail boat called Mico Verde. They're currently in Australia.

Notes from the South Pacific

I mentioned once before that my former coworker is traveling the South Pacific with his wife. Their Day 57 blog entry is a particularly amusing juxtaposition of the beautiful scenery (seen in this photo) and the escapades of world travel. Here's an excerpt:

Last Saturday we arrived in Fiji. Unfortunately our flight into Nadi was three hours late.... It was pitch dark which made it difficult for us to get our bearings, but luckily Niels had studied the map enough that he was soon able to confirm that the taxi was not just taking us for a ride....

The beat up wagon did not have any shocks and the brakes did not seem to be operating properly as we bumped along the potholed, muddy track. After about 20 minutes, we finally made it to our accommodation where we were welcomed by a pack of hostile dogs, one of which honed in on Amy's leg and clamped its jaw around her knee cap....

When we finally found the owners, we were shown our room, but a small army of frogs stood guard outside the door. Unlike the dogs, the frogs were not interested in nibbling on any body parts so we could finally settle in for the night. (A night which would end up emphasizing the importance of setting up the mosquito net as Amy awoke bitten on the lip which caused major swelling) Yep, it's not all roses and sunshine ;).

How to start each day with a positive outlook

1. Open a new file in your computer.
2. Name it "George W. Bush"
3. Send it to the trash.
4. Empty the trash.
5. Your PC will ask you, "Do you really want to get rid of "George W. Bush?"
6. Firmly Click "Yes."
7. Feel better.

Next week we'll do Karl Rove.

We're so damn smart

A new study by the Pew Research Study shows that viewers of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report have the highest knowledge of national and international affairs, while Fox News viewers rank nearly dead last. Read about it.

This is a test for my sad, broken blog.

Free is a good price

FYI, you may not need to pay to e-file your tax return if your adjusted Gross Income (AGI) was $52,000 or less in 2006. Learn about Free File on IRS.gov.

TV: Ergo Proxy

This is the series we’re currently watching at our monthly anime nights. Ergo Proxy.

Vote for me, k?

I installed this new software called Cozi Central. It's a family calendaring and list-keeping software that has a photo collage screensaver built in. When you like one of the collages you see in the screensaver, you can send it to someone. Now the Cozi people are having a weekly collage contest and one of my collages is one of the "finalists." I am getting my arse kicked by some photos of a cute baby, so you should go vote for me. ;-) Expires Friday. Gosh I hope this actually publishes to my blog one day... Vote for the Cozi Connection Collage, Week 2

Book: Before You Know Kindness

I'm indifferent, but I think it was pretty good

For some reason I believe this book was good even though I am somewhat indifferent to it. I think it’s trying to make a significant statement about veganism and animal rights, but it got lost for me. Or maybe it’s as simple as “don’t let your passion to protect animals or eat a certain way overshadow the needs of your loved ones and compassion for humankind.

Movie: The Pursuit of Happyness

Sweet, enjoyable movie Benjamin bought a copy of this DVD at Starbucks on Sunday because he knew I wanted to see it and that I needed an uplifting movie on Sunday to prepare me for a big week. We watched it Sunday night and enjoyed it. I can’t say it’s one of the greats, but still it was worthwhile.

Easter 'tis

Marbled by Corinne S.

Today is Easter and though I didn't plan anything, I ended up making a visit to an egg-dying fiesta. This evening I went over to Sara's house to see Miss Pip and her family. I had a fabulous time. I love those ladies!

More photos of the girls and their egg creations.

Tiger Cares for Piglets and Vice-Versa

This is just odd. A tiger that nurses baby pigs. Apparently this tiger nursed from a mama pig when it was a baby. I stumbled across this on the blog Some thing wrong and then found this picture from The Sun. Then I got the full story from Snopes. Summary: Crazy-ass zoo in Thailand likes to mix and match species for human amusement.

Darned English

This is a cute thing with examples of why English is difficult to learn (and understand). A few that made me laugh:

"We speak of a brother and also of brethren,but though we say mother we never say methren. Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,but imagine the feminine, she, shis and shim."

"How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wiseguy are opposites?"

Some thing wrong: Why English Is So Difficult

Broken

My blog has refused to publish since around March 24th and I'm bummed.
Someday maybe this post will actually appear to the world... I've
emailed Blogger, but no response yet.

Book: Dirty Blonde

Decent little mystery

This wasn’t my favorite Scottoline mystery to date and hers aren’t the highest caliber to begin with. However, it was a brief entertainment and a nice break from my other reads. I like light mysteries and this fit the bill. It’s annoying that much of the mystery stemmed around her being a slut (sorry, but that’s how they make it out), but it’s not bad nonetheless.

Unexpected fun

Letter press by Corinne S.

This weekend I went to Tacoma to visit my mom and celebrate her birthday and to visit my grandma, who had heart surgery this week. It was all good, but there was one unexpectedly fun event. My mom and I went to a letter press event at a bookstore near where she lives. It turned out to be a participatory event and I got to make a quick letterpress print of my own. Very fun! Also, I bought a few more artistic things by those more skilled in the craft than I am. I'm glad I went.