Jeredb.com - Latest Comments in General

Re: This blog

Esther — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 18:09:52 -0000

As am I... he's my favorite :)

Re: This blog

Shauna — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:48:50 -0000

I for one am a fan of Buddist Jered.

Re: 360° Awareness

jeredb — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:07:33 -0000

Why do you think I greet people with "howdy" and say adieu with "adios"? Me and John Wayne, we are tight.

Re: 360° Awareness

Jered — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 15:24:34 -0000

Doug, I finally wrote something that got you to comment! Excellent. I imagine that a detail guy such as yourself is driven crazy by the lack of awareness that people have.

Re: 360° Awareness

stephenmurphy — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:50:20 -0000

I hate when someone just stands in front of you while you're browsing at a shelf in the store. They're not malicious, just ignorant. That almost makes me angrier because their 'mama didn't teach 'em right'.

It's also awkward when the perpetrator is someone you know and you have to somehow inform them of their ignorance before the person they're impeding does. It seems better that you inform your friend to show the stranger that as a group you're okay, and for some reason they won't judge the offender too harshly because you stepped in. In reality they think that you're a minder for an ignorant fool who would cause a 22 car pile up on I-64 to read the latest marketing humor on the cool LCD billboard.

Also, I love the word gait. It conjures up old John Wayne scenes in my mind.

Re: 360° Awareness

Doug — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 04:25:49 -0000

Ummm - couldn't agree with your more!

Re: My new daughter

Mommab — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:40:49 -0000

I love you so much Mac Daddy J :)

Re: Cube Video

stephenmurphy — Fri, 30 May 2008 17:31:02 -0000

excellent. the singularity has indeed arrived then. I just missed the memo.

Re: Cube Video

jeredb — Fri, 30 May 2008 16:48:46 -0000

No work, all automated by computers... that is why we are IT

Re: Cube Video

stephenmurphy — Fri, 30 May 2008 16:18:16 -0000

Does anyone work down there, or is it constant pranking?

Re: Handpicked Artisanal Links

stephenmurphy — Wed, 28 May 2008 16:54:42 -0000

The number 2 barrier to Kaizen is particularly pertinent.

Also, like the look of StatusWiz, might give it a whirl.

Re: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skulls

stephenmurphy — Wed, 28 May 2008 16:30:53 -0000

From the Beeb:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/74146...

"But, in the case of the British Museum object, some point the finger of suspicion at a 19th Century French antiquities dealer called Eugene Boban."

Classic.

Ps- seems I double posted. oops. wot a noob.

Re: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skulls

jeredb — Tue, 27 May 2008 15:57:53 -0000

You you have a link to the crystal skull story? I would love to read it. I guess I fancy myself as a bit of an Indiana Jones / Archeology buff.

I agree whole heartedly about Tarzan, er, Shia LeBouf swinging through the trees. Hard to continue the suspension of disbelief.

Re: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skulls

stephenmurphy — Tue, 27 May 2008 14:49:03 -0000

At least Lucas was reigned in a little. The original plot he wanted was going to be about "saucer men from mars" or something like that. If they had to go with Area 51, I would have preferred it to be a reference or a subplot as opposed to inter dimensional beings being the main story. I had just read that the crystal skull in London (referenced in the film) was recently proved to have been carved in the 20th century, likely by a shady French artifact dealer (now there's a script) which takes away the mystique somewhat.

The monkey scene was the most annoying to me. It was like Shia was filmed on front of a screen, like they used to do in the car chase scene in old movies. The scene was badly done and pointless. I I thought the ants were much better, and sufficient to fill the essential "ugh bugs!" part of an Indy film. I agree that the prairie dogs were over the top also.

As for the soviets, not a thick Stalinist mustache between them. That would have been great. Classic burly Commies with big thick staches a-la-Red Dawn. Also, more vodka.

Fun movie though.

Re: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skulls

stephen — Tue, 27 May 2008 14:22:22 -0000

Re: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skulls

Esther — Sat, 24 May 2008 03:06:13 -0000

I'm bummed that it was disappointing! I did, however, enjoy sneaking out to a movie at 1:45 on a Friday :)

Re: Social Network Noise

jeredb — Tue, 20 May 2008 10:13:32 -0000

I had the sliders cranked down and told Facebook that I want to hear less from most of the people who keep showing up in my news feed. I think the news algorithm is designed to give you a certain number of "stories" but do to my restrictive conditions, there are not enough stories by people I want, etc. so it just gives me what feels like a standard news feed.

I'll see if I can get the Greasemonkey script to work with Safari (Creammonkey). I'm holding out on switching back to Firefox until the 3.0 final is Intel optimized.

Re: Social Network Noise

Kris — Tue, 20 May 2008 01:56:45 -0000

You can actually control the things in your news feed and weed out many of the things you don't want. It was a blessing for me.

There is also a Greasemonkey/Facebook script that automatically denies all incoming application requests, it's also a great tool.

Re: Self experimentation Update 1

stephen — Tue, 06 May 2008 16:16:18 -0000

On another note, on your flickr gallery I see that you managed to get a flip "in preperation" for the new addition to the Benoit clan. You are an inspiration to men everywhere.

Re: 1… 2… 3 wrist slaps, you’re out!

jeredb — Tue, 06 May 2008 00:40:50 -0000

All I know is that is would / will be nice to work for myself. Just means I need to keep working those side projects...

Re: 1… 2… 3 wrist slaps, you’re out!

stephen — Mon, 05 May 2008 21:37:36 -0000

Why are office politics so messy? They're messy because one side is comfortable in the knowledge that there will be little talk back from the pleb who must do what it's told, as the money that said pleb uses to put bread on the table sits precariously at the whim of the aggressor. You have a family to feed. You're reliant on what 'they' provide you and 'they' know it.

We're not afforded the same graces as in a conversation with a peer. Unfortunately the matter of respecting someone lower on the gravy train is optional. When responsible behavior (in this case affording respect) awards little monetary or immediate physical benefit, then you can be certain that the lesser man will abandon responsibility in favor of unchecked aggression or despotism. With no consequences as a factor in decision making, flawed human nature will ultimately rear its ugly head.

In a regular business, there is a little more respect given to the employees. If there is disquiet amongst the employees and they walk out/quit then there is a vital part of the machinery left not working and profits fall. Any good manager knows that the best resource is the employee. Unfortunately, in a state subsidized business (which a state university is essentially) that factor is taken out of the equation. This is not the Googleplex. The money flows regardless of how staff are treated. In such an institution (ironically) progress and openness are seen as insubordination and a threat.

And what's even more unfortunate is that I believe you will be harangued in an otherwise inexplicable fashion until the 'powers that be' believe your petulance has been sufficiently punished and/or your voice otherwise silenced. Which is why laying low works so well in this situation. To a productive and forward thinker such as yourself, riding it out and keeping a low profile will slow progress and just serve to frustrate the creative outlet you need.

Re: Customer Service = Productivity?

jeredb — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:08:08 -0000

Heidi - Ferriss is a little radical, he gets rid of problem clients. Another thing he does it give his employees discretion to solve a customer problem if it costs less than $150, which is pretty interesting. This dovetails with a Guy Kawasaki article: http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2006/04/the_art_of_....

Re: Customer Service = Productivity?

Heidi — Thu, 01 May 2008 13:22:08 -0000

This principle applies directly to user experience, et al, in website design. The easier it is for customers to "do things" on the website, the better it is for your customer support e-mail inbox and phone. I'm curious, did Ferriss say anything about how helping customers solve their own problems will actually help retain them? This one is a little more visible in websites, because a bad interface causes visitors to leave without reading and abandon shopping carts without buying.

Re: Customer Service = Productivity?

jeredb — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 12:14:43 -0000

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