BLADAM - May 2004

DISCLAIMER: This is my personal blog. The blatherings here aren't (necessarily) the views of the current company I work for, companies I've previously blessed with my presence, my loving parents, the Illuminati, or anyone other than me, me, me!

Looking to chat about Life, Liberty, Love and stuff?

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- Blathered by Adam on Thursday, May 6, 2004 at 20:29 Permalink
- Filed under About my sites
- Commented on by 3 folks so far. Visit the full entry page and join in!

Artist gets wrong fan

Dancer at Austin Lindy Exchange 2003 gets a fan... but not necessarily the one he wants

"No, no!" the dancer wails to the Genie, "That's not the kind of fan I meant!"

- Blathered by Adam on Wednesday, May 5, 2004 at 22:20 Permalink
- Filed under Photography • Wackiness
- Commented on by no one yet. Bummer. Check out the full entry page to leave a comment or trackback!

The complicated connections of dance and beyond

This past Thursday, I danced with one particularly amazing follow, and everything was on. She smiled, I smiled, we moved so well together and connected wonderfully. To my surprise and great pleasure, she continued beaming after our dance and complimented me on my "great connection" and some other stuff that I can't recall since I was in such a delighted daze. Here is this competition-winning, well-respected follow that is gushing about a dance with mediocre-ol' me!

In an ironic twist, this particular woman -- we'll call her Maria -- is often sitting on the sidelines, not being asked to dance. And that just seems downright strange to me.

Read the full entry...

- Blathered by Adam on Wednesday, May 5, 2004 at 22:10 Permalink
- Filed under Dancing • Society • People and relationships
- Commented on by one person so far. Visit the full entry page and join in!

Eat high-fat high-carb food and lose weight!

It sounds crazy because it is!

On Saturday night, I went hog wild and ate a double cheeseburger plus fries at In'N'Out, then walked to Krispy Kreme and downed three donuts (no, I'm not pregnant or depressed... I don't know what came over me!)

But wait -- that was just the beginning. I then went straight to a party whereby I ate copious amounts of chips, cookies, brownies, and chocolate. Oh yeah, and a cup of ice cream. Got home at 2am, was still hungry, and ate some more chips. Yum! {buuuuuuurp}

No, this is not my typical eating behavior.

Anyway, here's the kicker:

Read the full entry...

- Blathered by Adam on Wednesday, May 5, 2004 at 21:40 Permalink
- Filed under Happy body • Food and nutrition • Personal • Wackiness
- Commented on by 2 folks so far. Visit the full entry page and join in!

Customers aren’t expendable (or at least, they shouldn’t be)

A bit under a week ago, I signed up for an online music service that -- for some personal reasons -- I'll nickname "Tonality." Just as my trial was up, I decided to quit before being charged, mostly because I'm already a paying user of competing services. One can only listen to so much music...

But my personal situation is really beside the point. The real issue here is...

Read the full entry...

- Blathered by Adam on Wednesday, May 5, 2004 at 16:40 Permalink
- Filed under Business and consumers
- Commented on by no one yet. Bummer. Check out the full entry page to leave a comment or trackback!

Review of Sony’s new music service, Connect

I'm a glutton for punishment. When new music services come out, I love to try them, including Roxio's Napster, MusicMatch, iTunes, BuyMusic, Rhapsody, Coke's music service, FullAudio's MusicNow, RealOne, emusic, Weed, and many, many more.

Trying Sony's new music service, Connect (which runs on Sony's SonicStage software) was probably one of the most punishing of all. Let me count the ways:

Read the full entry...

- Blathered by Adam on Wednesday, May 5, 2004 at 3:59 Permalink
- Filed under Arts and entertainment • Business and consumers • Geekery • Tips
- Commented on by 9 folks so far. Visit the full entry page and join in!

Whoa

See what happens when I have a really big coffee earlier in the day?
Er, and when I want to procrastinate unexciting / tedious / stressful stuff. Hmm.

- Blathered by Adam on Monday, May 3, 2004 at 21:36 Permalink
- Filed under Grab bag • Misc
- Commented on by one person so far. Visit the full entry page and join in!

The RIGHT way to author privacy policies

You'd think that companies would "get it" by now. Most don't.

Privacy policies aren't rocket-science, but they're absolutely critical to the long-term success of a company. Without earned trust and strong communications, firms have little hope of surviving, and thank goodness!

So without further ado, here is my free advice to companies wanting to create or update a privacy policy:

A privacy policy must do all of the following:
- INFORM: Let visitors know, in accessible language, how the site collects and manages data acquired
- REASSURE: Offer confident and truthful promises about the safeguarding and respect of this data
- PERSUADE: Successfully invite visitors to fully utilize the site's functions, and to provide honest data and feedback without fear
- PROTECT: Guard the company itself against basic legal or public relations challenges that may arise from improper or incomplete disclosures

Ideally, every company should offer both a comprehensive privacy policy (though preferably not in 'legalese' -- whip those lawyers into speaking English, please) and also a concise one paragraph summary of what they will and won't do with their customers' data.

And then -- though I shouldn't have to say this -- they need stick by their promises... and they'll then be rewarded with greater loyalty and fewer lawsuits

- Blathered by Adam on Monday, May 3, 2004 at 21:31 Permalink
- Filed under Business and consumers • Society • Law • Workplace • Tips
- Commented on by no one yet. Bummer. Check out the full entry page to leave a comment or trackback!

My apartment is bugged!

big crane fly is part of a special Crane Fly Gathering at my humble apartment

This huge crane fly -- one of several dozen that have mysteriously come to visit my apartment lately -- was particularly attracted to my shoulders. I don't know if he's a domesticated crane fly or if my shoulders somehow smelled like a crane fly of the opposite sex, but after a while it was no longer flattering or enjoyable to have a pet crane fly. I gently but firmly directed (okay, forced) him outside and politely asked him to not come back. "And while you're at it" I added, in my best possible bug voice, "Could you please ask your friends and family to socialize OUTSIDE my apartment? And maybe scare away a few pigeons at the same time? Thanks so much!"

- Blathered by Adam on Monday, May 3, 2004 at 20:20 Permalink
- Filed under Photography • Wackiness
- Commented on by 3 folks so far. Visit the full entry page and join in!

Blog comment spam

I just deleted probably the 200th comment spam I've received on my blog here. And I had finally reached the boiling point.

So I looked up the latest spammer's domain at whois.sc, picked up the phone, and gave him a piece of my mind.

He was calm, but confused, and didn't know what I was talking about. Apparently (and I believe the fella), he had hired someone to do 'marketing' for him. I explained to him why the practice of blog spamming is evil and also explained to him why it would suck for me to 'just turn 'em off' (the comments).

I suppose it's pretty slow-going, teaching one spamming company at a time. But maybe I've done some good.

(And yes, I know that, especially with the coming of MT 3.0, there are various options involving queued comments, registration, etc. But I shouldn't have to constantly stay one step ahead of the spammers just to allow others to participate in the community here.)

- Blathered by Adam on Monday, May 3, 2004 at 20:16 Permalink
- Filed under Geekery
- Commented on by 6 folks so far. Visit the full entry page and join in!

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