Hmm… Do I Want This on a Shirt?
Is this pure genius?
<sarcasm class="severe" onrebuttal="heapScorn()"> You are a good person. </sarcasm>
I might need it on a shirt.
The Utah Jazzinator
I have decided to venture into the wilds of Facebook development, and with the season opener tomorrow for the Utah Jazz what better way to celebrate than writing my own app for the occasion? If you feel so inclined you can follow my development woes at:
http://apps.facebook.com/utahjazzinator/
But be forewarned, this app is NOT in the Facebook directory (they only accept finished apps) and is extremely alpha phase. It does weird stuff. I would be grateful for any comments or input on this project of mine.
It’s time for bed. I hope.
Curiosity Killed the Developer
For a long time I have considered doing freelance web development work on the side, even going so far as to establish an ill-fated company to help facilitate it. What I want to know is why freelancing is so hard? Others seem able to do it, why can’t I make it work?
While sitting in church and trying really hard to listen to the primary program, my mind wandered in and out of these points:
1. Freelancing should be about money, first and foremost
2. Having a great relationship with the client is paramount
3. Dedication comes from believing in the work
4. I should want to do it, not be forced to do it
With this as a base, I came to the conclusion that I would like the following to happen, at some point:
- Find a “few” clients that I truly believe in, and do a lot of development work for free
- Establish a relationship with these clients that would allow me to be the web guy
- Do all the work myself, no outside contracting
- Come to a conclusion for both myself and the client that is fiscally beneficial
In short, I would like a small number of clients that I have an exceptional relationship with, do all the web work required for them, and have it be financially beneficial for both of us. Is that really too much to ask?
Life Sans Politics
Politics has hit a new low with me, seeing Obama supporters treating their candidate like a god from Greek mythology and hearing McCain supporters utter phrases like, “Well, he’s got to be better than the other option!” has pushed me past my breaking point.
Neither candidate will benefit the country, and if you don’t believe me revisit this post in four years and tell me how I am wrong.
Life can be so much more than getting blindingly angry with the general stupidity of this country. I intend to find it, as best I can.
The Value of Null
For awhile I have been under the assumption that everything can be boiled down to only two results. Yes or no, do or don’t, zero or one. At first take this seems like certain fallacy, but upon further study it truly seems suddenly apparent. Kory, what in the world are you talking about? Hmm… Let’s see:
You are driving down the street when you happen upon a fork in the road. Do you go right (0) or left (1)? If you choose left (1) you either take action and go that direction (1a) or you will choose not to take action in following that direction (1b), either way your choice always comes down to 0 or 1.
Kory, what if I choose neither right nor left but rather turn around and go back the way I came? Isn’t that essentially option three? You would think, but even that decision is either choose to make a decision between right and left (0) or not to make a decision between right and left (1). Curious.
Just as the world was beginning to fall into place, I had a paradigm shift of sorts. In Structured Query Language (SQL) when the value of such a decision is unknown or simply nonexistent, it is assigned a label of null. Null, the state of complete unknowing and or total lack of existence. Kory, isn’t that just zero? No, it isn’t. Zero has value, which is no value. You can count zero. If I have three cookies and someone comes along and eats three, I am left with zero. Zero is the state of having or being at nothing.
So, back to the fork in the road. Indeed your existential choices are right (0) or left (1), but if we throw the label of null (N) into the mix we now have a legitimate third option! It’s not a matter of not making a decision, it is the option of simply not existing. You can choose to be an unknown value, a value that has no substance because it just doesn’t exist.
Now, this null is, of course, subjective to the plane that it is labeled on. Null in three dimensions is not necessarily null in four dimensions. I suppose we can think about that at a later time.
Direct Sales, Inspired Model?
As the world economy spins out of control, mind you in a controlled manner nonetheless, it seems that a lot of people are turning towards direct sales as a supplemental or even main source of income.
Over the past few weeks it has been interesting to watch the Dow Jones Industrial Average fall while at the same time comparing it to the major direct sales companies such as Avon. Indeed Avon has taken a hit the past few weeks but if we look at the performance of the DJIA vs. Avon since the first of the year, the chart is pretty interesting.
Since January 1st, 2008 the .DJI has lost almost 30% of it’s value, compared to 16% for AVP. Is this conclusive of anything? Maybe, I haven’t studied it enough to come to any conclusions. One thing I would like to hypothesize is that the direct sales industry isn’t tied to the general economy in means of profitability. I would like to say it runs in opposition to it, but I don’t have statistical data to prove that.
In short, what I want to prove or disprove is that when the general economy falls, the direct sales industry gains. Sorry for the muddled ideas, my brain is occupied with Carlee’s upcoming birthday.
Ali Felski
Came across this beautiful site from one of the many CSS feeds that I have in my reader:
The use of appropriate color balance, the soft and flattened images, the subtle but noticeable patterns all lead to one conclusion: brilliant design.
