May 20Approval Ratings from May 17th
Meant to post this a few days ago. Can you guess why I found it interesting?
May 20th, 2008 | 
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News, politics
Archive for the 'News' Category
Apr 06NTY: Blog Hysteria
I dislike the New York Times for a number of reasons. Running the ‘General Betray Us‘ ad is one reason. Another, less political one is that you have to register for their website in order to read some of their content, including this article, which I’d like to take a moment to talk about.
The headline is In Web World of 24/7 Stress, Writers Blog Till They Drop and the article talks about the potential health risks of blogging. Health Risks….of blogging. I understand the NYT likes to start a ruckus, and most media outlets like to throw in the scare factor to boost sales, but this is some unnecessary alarmism. They talk about the death of two prominent bloggers within a small time frame, and that:
Other bloggers complain of weight loss or gain, sleep disorders, exhaustion and other maladies born of the nonstop strain of producing for a news and information cycle that is as always-on as the Internet.
Of course they assure us that there is no ‘official diagnosis of death by blogging,’ which anyone with half a brain already knows. What gets me so mad is there is no reason for this article for a few reasons.
- If you don’t take care of yourself, no matter what line of work you are in you will see deteriorating health.
- This makes the blogging industry seem like an evil corporation that over-works their writers (they even draw parallels to a sweatshop).
- They make the entire web-business idea seem like a way to make money at the cost of your health and/or life.
Here is the real deal though- if you are a workaholic, you’ll get like that no matter what you do. Furthermore, if you run your own business, web or brick-and-mortar, it’s going to run you down. The man who owned the deli I used to work at put 60-80 hours a week into that place. I have to run my business in my free time because of school and it takes a toll on me too. They are creating hysteria over nothing. I’m not exactly healthy- is that because I am a web developer and software engineering major? Maybe. Maybe it’s because I’ve been slacking on the gym and eat horribly.
I have half a mind to say that the NYT is just writing what amounts to a smear article against blogging because it’s giving them strong competition and it’s taking away from their revenue. But then I’d be a hypocrite, wouldn’t I?
April 6th, 2008 | | show comment » | Manifesto, News, stupid
Nov 20Yankee Offseason
A lot has happened since my last post about the Yankees, and the news has been mostly good. Jorge and Rivera both came back, renewing their contracts; news I was very happy with. Of course, these two items are overshadowed by the big ticket announcements.
First, Joe Torre has left to manage the Dodgers, and brought Don Mattingly with him. What the Yankees offered Torre was a slap in the face for what Joe has brought to the franchise. He revitalized a team that didn’t see playoff glory in 18 years, and took them to the world stage 5 out of the 12 years he managed. I can’t blame him for leaving. Next, they didn’t choose Mattingly has manager. I like Joe Girardi, but Donnie Baseball bled pinstripes. It will be disappointing to see him in a different uniform.
And now, on to A-Rod. He opted out. He and his agent were asking for $350 Million. But now he’s back. And here is why. A-Rod wanted to stay on the Yankees. His agent is an ass. A-Rod took a healthy $275 Million over 10 years to remain the Yankee’s 3rd baseman. I was saying all along it was his agent who was the one asking too much and A-Rod just went along with it. I’m glad to see he came to his senses and decided to stay.
It’s shaping up to be quite an interesting season. I for one can’t wait until April.
November 20th, 2007 | No Comments » | News, baseball
Oct 23A List Apart Web Design Survey
Last week, popular web development website A List Apart (ALA) released the results of it’s 2007 Web Design Survey. I’ve spent the last few days reading over the 82 page document and found a good amount of the results interesting.
- Over 80% of the respondents were White Males
- 48% came from the USA
- When asked if they were excited by their field, 43.6% said Fequently, 35% said Very Frequently, meaning 78.6% like what they do most of the time.
- About 20% want to start their own business as their next move.
- Of that 20%, 89.9% were men.
- 47.9% are in the salary range of $20,000 - $80,000, where 52.3% have been in the industry 5 years or less.
- 1/2 of the people in my age group (21-24) make less than $20,000. Something to consider is most people who graduate college are 21 or 22.
- ALA found that Job Satisfaction increases with age. I think this is because when starting out, (for me anyway), you’re not doing the cool and exciting stuff you’d like to. My internships consisted mostly of fixing HTML, and not any real development.
- Of those who saw an age bias, Under 21 and 21-24 combined made up for 70.2% of the respondents.
- 22% of female respondents saw gender bias, where only 1.5% of male respondents did. (NOTE- that is 22% of the females, which made up ~16% and 1.5% of the males, which made up ~84%).
What was most surprising to me was how big the gap between male and female respondents is. I knew the computing field is male dominated, but I didn’t think it was that one sided. This survey also gave me a pretty good idea of what I can expect as a salary once I get out of Grad School. You can download and review the results here, and if you are a web professional, I strongly recommend it. It’s extremely informative.
October 23rd, 2007 | No Comments » | Links, News, Websites, computer stuff, design, thoughts
Oct 11The Yankees
With the Yankees’ 2007 Season coming to a close a couple of days ago with their loss against the Indians, there has been a lot of buzz over who will stay and who will go. There has been a lot of buzz about “The end of a dynasty.” There has just been a lot of buzz. The biggest concern for most people is whether Joe Torre will stay or go. The answers to the other questions will follow.
At almost 22 years old, I grew up with Joe Torre as the Yankee manager. Being a baseball fan all my life and making the decision to be a Yankee fan in 1995, I became a die hard. Don Mattingly was my favorite player. I was crushed when they lost against the Mariners in the ALDS. Then Joe Torre was named manager. Derek Jeter became the regular Shortstop. 1996 was a great year for the Yankees. Even after dropping 0-2 against the Braves, I didn’t lose faith- I knew we would win. I was 10 and painfully optimistic. Then again, so was Torre, who told Steinbrenner the same thing. They won their first World Series since 1978, and under the management of Torre, would go on to win in 98, 99 and 2000 as well. They’ve made it to the playoffs every year he’s managed them. Torre is the most successful post season manager in history.
So what’s my point? As I said before, if Torre goes, the other questions will be answered. Mo and Posada have already threatened to leave. They are two staples of the team. A-Rod is up in the air as to if he will opt out of his contract or not, but I bet a Torre firing will make the decision easier. Will it be the end of the Yankee dynasty? Maybe for a while. And as a kid who grew up on a successful Yankee team, I sure as hell don’t want to wait another 18 years for a World Series title. This was a great year for the Yankees. Every player had sometime to offer. They picked up a few great rookies who will only get better with experience. 2008 is shaping up to be great…if Torre stays. If not, the team will fall apart and things won’t look so great anymore.
This team has been through a lot together. Torre is like a father figure to a lot of the team and a hero in New York. I think out of respect, for his skill and insight as well as for his character, George should keep him on until he is ready to leave. Firing Torre will make things much worse. Not better.
October 11th, 2007 | No Comments » | News, baseball, sports
Aug 30Colorado School bans…
Yeah. The game tag. Because kids were getting hurt and being ‘forced to play against their will.’ Here is an idea- Don’t run if you don’t want to play. I don’t know about you, but I think kids are supposed to get hurt. It’s in the job description for being a kid. If schools keep doing this and coddling kids, over-protecting them, I’d imagine it’s not good for their development. It’s not challenging kids to deal with anything. Maybe this isn’t a big deal, but a lot of this has been happening in other schools, banning certain books or other games, etc. Just seems like bad news to me.
August 30th, 2007 | No Comments » | Links, Manifesto, News
