the blog: cause normal is for pansies
Faced to Faced
- Date
- 5/14/2008 09:33:00 PM [permalink]
- Author
- yahooza
- Entry
- To prove that I am using m' very own Facebook data on my 'About me, cause I'm awesome' page, I've added a little Facebook badge in the northwest quadrant of such web page; upon mouse over, the page will light up w/ data that has been consumed from the Facebook API, and upon mouse out, it shall revert to its original state.
It's like those cute little fireflies that I used to catch and torture whilst I was barely four feet tall. On. Off. On. Off.Labels: facebook
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Thinking of me
- Date
- 5/13/2008 10:19:00 PM [permalink]
- Author
- yahooza
- Entry
- Citibank sent yours truly a warm-and-fuzzy email:
Dear "consumer",
Reminds me of the Yahoo! companywide All-hands meetings: feel-good, buzzwordy messages from the top.
I want you to be among the first to know about the bold steps we are taking at Citi to be the premier, global, fully integrated financial services firm.
Our objective is to create for our customers an experience in which services are seamless, payments and transfers effortless, and distances meaningless. My commitment - and the commitment of everyone at Citi - is to work tirelessly around the world and around the clock to deliver outstanding value and service as we continue to earn your trust.
We are proud of our enduring strength as a global financial institution, striving to successfully meet the needs of clients like you in more than 100 countries. As always, we look forward to continuing to serve you - wherever you are and wherever you need to be.
Sincerely,
Vikram Pandit
CEO, Citi
I truly feel fuckin' special.Labels: sarcasm
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- 2 +add yours
Todo
- Date
- 5/08/2008 09:31:00 PM [permalink]
- Author
- yahooza
- Entry
- I started a brand spankin' new consulting gig w/ zvents.com this week. Folks are cool, laid back and the office is less than a mile away.
M' boss and I took a walk 'round the block and he asked about full-time employment. Frankly, I don't know what I want career-wise. I don't want to commit to a company if I don't know what I truly want; thus, contracting short-term gigs are good enough.
During interviews, I would tell folks bout m' carrer path, "I dunno. I'll probably be outta tech in 3-5 years." Maybe that's why I don't advance in some interview processes =) If so, then I'd learn to be less truthful and sell m'self better .... uhhh, yeah.
Seriously, I don't know what I want to do. In the past eight weeks of underemployment, I've enjoyed an active and stress-free time-off, enjoying the fun of casual hacking, reading graphic novels (and real ones), swimming and spending time w/ friends. It's been real hard to resell m' soul back to work and the 'urgency' of everything in Silicon Valley.
Well, until I get a clue, I shouldn't fret it and continue to smile at the sun and dip m' tongue in the pudding. Mmmm, tastes good! - Comments
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Answers integrated into Mybloglog
- Date
- 5/08/2008 12:29:00 PM [permalink]
- Author
- yahooza
- Entry
- Cool! Answers has been integrated into the Mybloglog aggregator.
For the moment, you can see it in m' lifestream:
- http://yahooza.com/dash?aggregator_id=mbl
Egg-cellent. - Comments
- 2 +add yours
Round down and save someone's sanity
- Date
- 4/30/2008 09:53:00 PM [permalink]
- Author
- yahooza
- Entry
On Schill's Flickrstream, he's a poster, "I say no to rounded corners."
Hallelujah and A-FRACKIN'-MEN!
It IS a hack and it is a rather painful exercise. What if Visual Basic or Java Swing developers had to embellish their views w/ some rounder-corn-beefed goodness? Plenty of extra code for starters ....
So, for the love of Jebus, nix the rounded blunders until browsers can support 'em natively. Pages will render faster and developers won't need to work the extra hours =)Labels: webdev, websitedesign
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til debt do us part.
- Date
- 4/21/2008 10:11:00 PM [permalink]
- Author
- yahooza
- Entry
- I just finished Maxed Out, a documentary on personal credit crisis. The film was released prior to the current subprime fiasco; perhaps, there will be a sequel =P Banks are loaning the unloanable "undeserving" money, collecting ballooning payments partly due to over-the-limit, late, this-and-that fees, etc. The film sympathizes w/ the victims, pointing fingers at the corporations and their despicable tactics.
Years ago, I fell into the same trap. I opened accounts w/ many of the banks mentioned in the film: MBNA, Citi, Chase, Providian. A poor college student missing payments and dodging collectors, m' mother saved the day, knocking out the debt to zero. I never paid her back and she still gives me shit about it—and I deserve every bit. Now, I loathe debt, paying off monthly balances; the mortgage is m' only ball and chain.
The scariest fact in the film is how the government is buried in debt, dating back to the Reagan era. Since, all presidents have taken 'loans' from Social Security and foreign countries to stimulate and grow the economy and plenty of federal taxpayer dollars are spent making the minimum payments. And, of course, anything left is funneled via Iraq to private corporations =)
A house of cards .... just waiting to fall. I hope not.Labels: bureaucracy, corporations, credit
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Urgency as a product driver
- Date
- 4/16/2008 01:25:00 PM [permalink]
- Author
- yahooza
- Entry
- http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/966-urgency-is-poisonous
This has to be one of best articles I've read on process and productivity. Frankly, being a quick read w/ concise points made it all the better.
Forget the four-day work week intro, but read on about how urgency can drive teams batty. Unless your superiors can give you a clear reason as to why, urgency is just another word for "shit, finish it, just get it done." The worse? When it comes at you daily.
Heh heh.Labels: bureaucracy
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Hair
- Date
- 4/15/2008 07:58:00 PM [permalink]
- Author
- yahooza
- Entry
- This has got to be one of funnier videos on the interwebs and doubly humorous to me, cause I worked w/ some of 'em on Yahoo! Video. Can you believe the shenanigans that go on at a Fortune 500 company?
Always makes me smile =D And the three Asian muses dancing in the background: oh so lovely. Heh heh.
http://www.jumpcut.com/view?id=D46D84DC0A6411DDB304000423CF037A - Comments
- 0 +add yours
Lifestreaming another view
- Date
- 4/15/2008 07:41:00 PM [permalink]
- Author
- yahooza
- Entry
- I've added a Mybloglog view using their API. It shares the same framework as m' Friendfeed lifestream. It's now an option to switch data sources by choosing a different option in the drop-down widget located in the top-right corner.
http://yahooza.com/dash?aggregator_id=mbl
Note that the Mybloglog view doesn't have shadowbox integration yet and that it still looks like turd in IE 6—yet still functional.
I really need to get a life. *sigh* and the beat goes on.Labels: friendfeed, lifestream, mybloglog
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- 1 +add yours
Rebate
- Date
- 4/10/2008 07:55:00 PM [permalink]
- Author
- yahooza
- Entry
- When I upgraded to an iPhone, I also had to purchase a new phone for m' mum, so she picked out a decent cell w/ a $50 mail-in rebate. After 4-6 weeks, it finally arrived ....
.... as a Visa card. I had to activate the card on a website and now I have to use the credit to buy something. Hmm. It even says 'DEBIT' on the card, but the instructions tell the consumer to ring it up as 'CREDIT.'
It's my money and I should be able to use it any way I want, right? Grrr. - Comments
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My first Flickr video
- Date
- 4/09/2008 10:42:00 AM [permalink]
- Author
- yahooza
- Entry
- Because I am one egotistical, self-absorbed son-of-a-bitch.
http://flickr.com/photos/yahooza/2400477144/
Easter egg: the <embed>-on-yer-webpage code snippet refers to a Flash movie named 'stewart.swf'—how awesome is that?Labels: flickr
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- 1 +add yours
21st Century Money
- Date
- 4/07/2008 11:20:00 PM [permalink]
- Author
- yahooza
- Entry
- I've started reading Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine. It delves into the Bush Administration and the neo-conservative movement towards truly free-market capitalism, where public encumbrances—welfare, Social Security, state-run education—should be replaced by privatized institutions, namely corporations. Undisturbed by the meddling of a "socialist" entity, any free market would and should regulate itself towards an equilibrium for capitalists and laborers, supply and demand, etc. It's an ideal that parallels the utopian views of Socialism.
The 'shock' in the book title comes from the idea that neo-con capitalists use extreme opportunities to inject social reform. An example in the book is how the post-Katrina Baton Rouge school system has been turned inside-out as public education programs have been mostly converted to private-voucher-enabled CEO-run schools. That means your tax dollars (if you live in Louisiana) are now flowing against profit margins; that might be better than the waste of the public educational system, it might not. Who knows, bu t get ready for good schools, better schools, awesome schools and "you-can't-afford-this-school-you-fool" schools!
So, the shock is a means to change, enough to disrupt the status quo and introduce a solution. The real criminal evidence lies in that solution. After 9/11, the Bush folks started a war in Iraq, doling out contracts to private institutions, namely corporations. After five years, that's billions of our tax dollars that could have be spent otherwise and 4000 dead. Why? For the many, many profitable companies that received the open hand of our President and his cronies. Shit, it's not just Blackwater, even Pizza Hut and Subway serve our troops that finest fast food in American military complexes.
It's a really well-written and structured book and worth the $20, so pick it up. If anything, it will give you further insight on the Bush policy, the neo-conservative movement (it's not a religious or political thing) and free-market economics.
Very interesting book.
P.S. I want to write more about social implications of a free-market economy, but I'm a bit tired right now. Look for it later.Labels: books, corporations, economics
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mobile 'hooza
- Date
- 4/03/2008 09:04:00 PM [permalink]
- Author
- yahooza
- Entry
- I decided to create a mini webapp for a simple view of m' website. you can see it at:
- http://m.yahooza.com or http://yahooza.com/m.
It's a barebones view of a few parts of the website. View the blog or see the lifestream / dashboard (powered by friendfeed). I didn't include too much because there's not much one can accomplish on a tiny device—limited usability and impaired user experience.
The only cool thing is that Symfony has helped to decouple the different views from the content and backend logic.
Now, you can stalk me on your cell phone w/o squinting your eyes =P - Comments
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Footed
- Date
- 4/03/2008 01:11:00 PM [permalink]
- Author
- yahooza
- Entry
- I finally got around to whipping together a 'footer' module for m' website. It reveals nothing new and I only felt obliged because it felt like having m' pants down 'round m' ankles.
Now, the belt is fastened. - Comments
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Lifestreaming and better songs
- Date
- 3/31/2008 02:34:00 PM [permalink]
- Author
- yahooza
- Entry
- I've refactored some code and wrote some new to create a Friendfeed - Shadowbox.js - Google Charts mashup. It looks very similar to m' individual friendfeed page, but I think the Shadowbox multimedia library has a far better experience. Seriously, kudos to Mike Jackson who wrote a very impressive piece of foo, abstracted properly to plug into various JavaScript frameworks (YUI, jQuery, MooTools, etc.)
So check it out: Lifestream Dashboard
Also, I've augmented the Good Songs list w/ the Yahoo! Media Player, so you can listen to a plethora of m' favorite songs. You can even right click and save the MP3s =)
Have a listen: Good Songs
Woo hoo!Labels: apis, friendfeed, mashup, music
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- 0 +add yours
The political buzz
- Date
- 3/25/2008 01:03:00 PM [permalink]
- Author
- yahooza
- Entry
- http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/25/opinion/25brooks.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Clinton's gotta go. If she really has a five percent chance of picking up the Democratic nomination, then it's time to sacrifice pride for the good of the nation.
She and her campaign reminds me of the senior / executive teams of corporate America, spouting cliches and buzzwords, pandering to the basic levels of human emotion—sounding articulate and making the minions feeling safe and secure—and pointing fingers at others to make oneself look better.
I reckon every social structure follows the same anti-pattern whether it is a corporation or political campaign: power at the top, held by the few who play the game to personal advantage, above the needs of the majority, while those who want to achieve correctly / righteously—minus the bureaucratic shenanigans and bullshit—fight the uphill battle with twice the effort.
Democrats, please, cut the crap.Labels: bureaucracy, politics
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- 0 +add yours
Y! Centered
- Date
- 3/25/2008 12:36:00 PM [permalink]
- Author
- yahooza
- Entry
- http://mashable.com/2008/03/25/yahoo-redesign-homepage/
It's ugly. Lots of white-spaced and wasted pixels "above the fold." Can't blame Y!, as the money is in search and not as a portal / cable operator w/ 1000 channels of niche TV programs and advertising. That whole Semel era where Hollywood meets New Media .... not so hot =P
There's always search.yahoo.com, but who the hell goes there? google.com is faster and easier to type.
I'm sure there were enough usability studies to warrant the change, because it's ugggggly. - Comments
- 1 +add yours
Debt and the economy
- Date
- 3/23/2008 10:32:00 PM [permalink]
- Author
- yahooza
- Entry
- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hale-stewart/the-us-is-choking-on-de_b_91088.html
Recession. If it's anyone's fault, it's ours, the consumers, for spending beyond our means, just because some force gives us a huge line of credit.
And I don't see how continued spending will save the country from economic decline (see the upcoming stimulus package). Sure, it'll stop the bleeding, but it's definitely not a long-term solution. With a dwindling middle-class, whose cost-of-living has adjusted for the worse—while the wealthy become uber-wealthy and a million dollars really ain't shit—one would imagine that saving every little penny is crucial. Shouldn't we be saving instead of spend, spend, spend? More debt to the individual to save the economy? Hmm.There is a marked difference between economic growth and debt-induced demand. Instead of letting the market take its medicine and enter recession in 2001, the powers that be injected fiscal and monetary drugs to dull the pain and induce stock gains.
It just seems that the power-that-be are continually running the course on this consumerist capitalist economy as it is churning out many more millionaires and making the rich a little bit more. It's bad for the nation as a whole, but it's tolerated cause it benefits the folks at the top and no one is complaining. Eventually, it will, it must topple, shouldn't it? I mean, we're indebted to China for billions, stuck in the Middle East quagmire and we can't fix any of our major domestic social programs—healthcare, education, Social Security, etc.
I love m' American dream of fuck all. - Comments
- 1 +add yours
Buzzed.
- Date
- 3/16/2008 11:11:00 PM [permalink]
- Author
- yahooza
- Entry
- http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/yahoo_buzz_is_a_game_changer.php
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/03/16/yahoo-buzz-yahoo-reveals-sta...
So far, folks are jumping on the Y! Buzz. I don't recall if the initial reviews were negative, but bloggers are now realizing that the idea of a digg-esque social news (aggregater) site w/ the magnitude of Yahoo!'s reach can really shift how powerful the Y! brand can be to media outlets. It's like being slashdotted for geeks, but now for the abundance of mainstream news stories.
I still can't find any buzzed-up links to external sources on the damn homepage .... hmm.
I reckon I'll be seeing many, many more of those ugly "yahoo! buzz it" buttons .... I think this product is gonna work. I just hope the team (w/o burning out the engineers of course) can fix the awkward and user-experience-handicapped site.
More open, more social! Involve others! I likes! Heh heh =P - Comments
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Bad reputation
- Date
- 3/14/2008 11:11:00 PM [permalink]
- Author
- yahooza
- Entry
- From "Bad Reputation" by Joan Jett And The Blackhearts
I don't give a damn
Heh heh, love the words. Most recently from Apatow's Freaks and Geeks (title theme song).
bout my reputation
Ive never been afraid of any deviation
An I don't really care
If ya think I'm strange
I ain't gonna change
An I'm never gonna care
bout my bad reputation
Oh no, not me
Oh no, not meLabels: juddapatow, lyrics, music
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