May 30, 2007
Use your Mac to join the next superpower
Avaaz is a global organization that uses the internet and mass media to foster the growth of the world's next superpower, ie. the people. People from all over the world sign electronic petitions on the things we can all agree on. Avaaz presents the results to political institutions (UN, G8, WTO, World Bank, etc) and runs TV and newspaper ads in cities all around the world to give us a voice.
For example, the image below is a brilliantly designed billboard ad currently displayed in Israel.
"At first they look just like ordinary travel ads, and Israelis love to travel. But the idea that they might be able to travel to Damascus or Dubai (if they only sit down and start to negotiate on the basis of the Saudi Initiative...) is pretty wild in Israel -- and our soundings indicate these billboards could make waves. "80,000 Avaaz supporters demand Real Peace Talks Now" is the punchline." -- Avaaz
Translation:
Celebrate Shavuot (upcoming Jewish holiday) in Syria - just $390
* price for one room, double bed - depends on negotiating the Saudi Initiative
80,000 global e-activists demand Real Peace Talks Now
Reference
Once you sign a petition, you'll receive regular email updates with links to new campaigns. Adding your name to campaign after campaign can seem a bit monotonous, but the rewards are great. I feel I have a more effective voice than I do voting in national elections. I feel more connected to other people in the world. I feel the world is a less crazy place.
Watch the "Stop the Clash of Civilizations" video and sign the petition:
Sign the petition to demand Real Peace Talks Now
Join us! Our numbers are growing quickly. There are now about a million of us from 198 countries.
"Avaaz" means "voice" or "song" in several languages including Hindi, Urdu, Farsi, Nepalese, Dari, Turkish, and Bosnian.
Posted by Brad at 10:02 AM | Comments (0)
March 22, 2007
Suitcase Login Items Coup
I ran into a particularly vexing problem with Extensis Suitcase at work recently, and I thought I'd share the problem here (of all places) for a couple reasons.
First, discussion boards on the web are littered with other people who have had the same problem, and few good solutions are offered.
Second, the solution is completely counter-intuitive: nobody expects developers to over-ride system settings in such a way that it appears the system is malfunctioning. So one could spend hours trouble-shooting all sorts of complex things to try to solve it, and fail miserably, when the solution for most of us will be quite simple - we're just looking in the wrong place.
Problem:
When you install Extensis Suitcase, it will add itself to the Login Items (System Preferences > Accounts > My Account > Login Items) for every account on the Mac. This will tell Suitcase to launch whenever anyone logs into any account on the Mac.
Obviously, there will be some users who won't want Suitcase to launch every time they log in as they don't use the application. As irritating as Extensis' presumption is, most people would probably know they simply need to remove Suitcase from the list of "Login Items" in System Preferences. The problem is, you can't. Clicking the "-" button to remove the item will work with any other application, but it won't work with Suitcase. What happens? Nothing. The button doesn't work.
Worse still, the problem appears to be some kind of malfunction, as if something is wrong with System Preferences. Most users would be forgiven for searching through "Startup Items" folders, deleting Preference files and chasing other wild geese, because as I said above - nobody expects software developers to over-ride system settings in such a way that it appears the system is malfunctioning. Who would do such a thing!?! Extensis, it seems.
Solution:
Assuming you haven't deleted Extensis Suitcase and all associated files in a fit of rage...
Launch Suitcase and go to Suitcase > Preferences > General > Application Options, and untick "Open Suitcase automatically when you log in"
It took me 2 hours to figure that out. The odds of me looking at Suitcase's preferences for an answer approached zero, for a couple reasons.
First, every time Suitcase launched, I force-quit it more venomously, so the odds of it even launching were slim.
Second - and more importantly -that's not how the operating system is designed. Applications are subordinate to the operating system, and they do not normally launch coups of this kind. If they did, the entire system would collapse in chaos and no one would be able to troubleshoot any problems.
When the time comes that we can replace Suitcase with another, better designed application, I expect we will replace it faster than you can say "Quark."
Posted by Brad at 12:42 PM | Comments (0)
December 08, 2006
President Bush Uses The Google
Mom says the name of this blog suggests it's for people who find "for Dummies" books too difficult. I laughed, and assured her it was never intended in this way. It's simply meant to suggest that it's easy.
But after reading President Bush Uses The Google, I'm starting to like Mom's interpretation better.
Posted by Brad at 04:35 PM | Comments (1)
July 13, 2005
Are you ok?
When I heard the news of the London bombings, the first and only thing of relevance I could think to do is send you an email to say we were okay. Since then I've had a few email messages from friends checking that we were alive and well. After talking to other people — everyone has seemingly been exchanging these messages — it seems slightly odd that the subject line so often seems to be, "Are you ok?" Often there is no other message, just the three word question. It's email condensed to the level of text messaging.
In the wake of the bombings, there was a flood of these brief, call and response messages back and forth across the normally conversational telecommunications network. People used text messaging and email like ham radio operators: the point of communication became solely focussed on simply re-establishing communication.
— Are you OK?
— Yes. Are you OK?
The bombings took place on Thursday, July 7th. Tomorrow is Thursday the 14th. At noon, everyone is meant to stop for two minutes of silence. When I say stop, I mean go to a public place and not move for two minutes. It's partly in remembrance, partly an act of community. Apparently, the buses are stopping.
I like it. In it's purest form, it's like a giant sculpture of a city and it's people as a memorial for those who were killed. I'd like to see lots of photo and TV documentation. I mean, I'd like to see it. And I'd like to see television pictures of it happening across the entire city. It seems like the only reasonable response.
Posted by Brad at 11:01 PM | Comments (3)
