Help! Our office has an Epson Photo 1400 and I'm trying to print mock ups for trade shows. I can't get the colors to match properly. Any ideas? I know there is software I can get to help, but I can't remember the name.
You're trying to do something called "printer profiling", and it's a bit tricky to do well. The best way is to print a test sheet on the printer and send it to someone who analyzes it and sends you back a profile file. You install that and then your printer should print pretty "standard" colors. It costs about $150 and takes some time though. Lower-end printers are more variable and harder to calibrate/profile.
- Brian Johns
I think you should stop him/her. Primarily if your neighbor has made it an everyday habit.
- Sardar Mohkim Khan
I think they could stop the webcam, if they wanted to. I've blogged about my neighbors and they know it. I've never been asked to stop.
- Admiral Anika
I am guessing this is a "it depends" situation. It depends on what is being shown and what is being said.
- Brian Sullivan
if they are doing something illegal .. perhaps .. if they are just nosy neighbors perhaps not ..
- johnpiercy
Every evening they put up a new blog post documenting the comings and going of everyone in the neighborhood, based on video footage. The camera can only see the front doors and garages of the homes. Occasionally they note when things happen that are out of the ordinary (new person comes home, new car, etc).
- EricaJoy
from IM
Would the coming and goings be time-stamped? It sounds like a base invasion of privacy. Is this in a SFR or in a HOA?
- Admiral Anika
More or less time stamped. No HOA (shudder) or anything.
- EricaJoy
If they say anything slanderous you can, but other than that I doubt that there is easily available recourse
- RAPatton
from iPhone
I remember reading Orwells 1984 in the 60's and thinking how far fetched is that...........well guess what......
- VAL D. Zone
I don't know that the people can stop it, then.
- Admiral Anika
as i said a decade or so ago at PopTech, we don't need to worry about "Big Brother" because technology is going to give us six billion "little brothers". Welcome to the future, kids. ;) [and Val, my point back then was that we were going to experience something akin to the complete reverse of 1984. Orwell was wrong; Huxley was right.]
- Anthony Citrano
I'd take this as a personal invitation to see what kind of crazy (fake) shenanigans I could stage. It would become my mission in life to make it into the blog.
- Dave Roth
I don't think you could force them to stop, but you could ask politely. OR, do the same thing to them.
- Kenton
It may depend on your state law (many states don't allow recordings without permission in situations that are relatively private). However, I'd be very tempted to write a letter, or speak to them in person, about their behavior. As a single woman, I don't think it is very safe for me to have someone announcing whether or not I'm at home, or anyone is visiting me on a regular basis.
- Jennifer Dittrich
Its funny how hypothetical no longer means anything anymore. That being said, this question was a bit of a thought experiment, not something going on in my hood. :) If it were, I'd be Dave, 100% shenanigans at all times.
- EricaJoy
@Jennifer Most laws regarding recordings only apply to audio, I think because when the laws were written, nobody was even thinking about video recordings. So. Video is fair game. So lets imagine you've spoken to the person and they are adamant about continuing the practice. What's your next move?
- EricaJoy
My opinion? You can't stop it. For the most part, while this may feel like a privacy invasion, based on current laws, its not. My personal opinion (not the opinion of my employer) is that privacy is a pure function of how many eyes are watching you. In the past, the eyes watching us were limited to a small circle (neighborhood, coworkers, family). These days each member of that circle...
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- EricaJoy
I guess it wouldn't be much different than the lonely old person sitting there watching out the window all day and night and then writing on a blog about it. This just involves video tape. But there are places were people come and go all the time and could be living in cities where there are cameras recording. Not much we do these days is really private.
- Junebug (aka Sarah Jill)
I will now point a webcam of my mind's eye on EricaJoy's hypotheticals just to keep on eye on them for when they jump from hypo- to hyper-thetical;)
- Micah Wittman
The real question is why would you want to stop them? It sounds like a fun quirky neighbor to me. You could always try a counter offensive and publish personal intel on the neighbor to see if he would stop, but I like the idea of doing crazy things to make the blog. I bet we could even get a couple of clowns to show up at your house or something.
- Davis Freeberg
I would think video of the property would be illegal, but not of the sidewalk/street?
- Alix Whitmire
from iPhone
Pretty sure I would go on the offensive. Not sure you can stop someone from filming your property. If simply asking them to stop didn't work, I'd simply throw up a Posterous solely about them filming and blogging about the neighbors. I would be very invasive and have oodles of fun with it.
- Rahsheen ™, Coach Rah
In California, I believe you can legally videotape/photograph anyone in a public place. Recently, however, someone tried to use a webcam to report/prevent crime in the SF Tenderloin, and they were threatened, and eventually driven out of the neighborhood.
- Cristo
I think it could be potentially dangerous if someone else who reads the blog uses the info for illegal means. Single woman home alone, house empty could get robbed. I guess you could get this on tape but then it would be too late so to speak.
- Paulette Garcia Morris
Because this person has taken the approach of reporting on his blog all the comings and goings and other activities in the neighborhood as news, it's possible if he were to be even remotely considered a "journalist" that you may have room for a lawsuit, since you are not a celebrity and your actions are not newsworthy.
- April Russo (app103)
It turns out it wasn't big brother that we had to fear, it's little brother that's hard to stop
- Davis Freeberg
yes, you can stop it because you have a reasonable expectation of privacy in/around your home. a court would back that.
- Marie is monkeying around
You have a reasonable expectation of privacy within your home. If you had one AROUND your home, every tabloid that posted pics of famous people in their yards would be in deep...
- EricaJoy
If my property had line of sight to the web cam, I'd be investing in some high intensity infra-red generating equipment and use that to jam the web cam video feed. Something like a laser pointer might be enough to do the trick, not sure if you can get an IR one though.
- Ken Gidley
Whoops, Carl sent me a Wave invite, not a Voice invite. I'm already on Wave, looking for a Voice invite.
- Ken Gidley
d'oh! I do have Google Voice, but I don't see any place where it tells me I have invites. Sorry for the mixup
- Carl Haynes
Hmmm. The info on Voice does seem to say that you can be invited by others, maybe I'm misreading it. Thanks for looking.
- Ken Gidley
from faq "We're gradually giving invites to Google Voice users to send to their friends and family. While you may not have invites to give right away, we're adding invites to users' accounts. If you have invites to send, you will see a 'Invite a friend' link on the left side of your Google Voice page." - looks like I don't have any
- Carl Haynes
Ah, OK, thanks Carl. Anyone else got any Voice invites? Thanks.
- Ken Gidley
AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *rapid footsteps, then a thump, as I run away and trip over my feet in my haste to escape*
- Bette Cooper
*cue looming spider shadow behind Bette* "YOU CANNOT ESCAPE, HUMAN"
- Mo Kargas
NNNNNOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mo, you are evil, and you must be destroyed. If I have spider dreams tonight because of you, I will use all the powers at my disposal and hunt. you. down. :-p
- Bette Cooper
*smokes cigar* Well, you're welcome to try. *rides giant spider into the night*
- Mo Kargas
OH NO WAY! I'm never coming there! :(((
- Rochelle
*sighs* Foiled by giant spiders and cigar smoke... for now...
- Bette Cooper
Objects in mirror may be larger than they appear...
- Ken Morley
@Rochelle Ohh you must. That's nothing! Wait to you see the other delightful creatures, like Australians themselves
- Mo Kargas
damn i always thought florida was gangsta when it came to bugs, then i remembered you guys have them all. jeez
- Carlos Ayala
@Mo That's obviously some type of reflection of an optical illusion or something. LOL
- Rahsheen ™, Coach Rah
Looks a garden spider like we have around here. Just be glad it wasn't a wolf spider: those things will make you pee where you stand...
- FFing Enigma (aka Tina)
Did you tell him that unless he is chipping in for gas he has to hoof it?
- Joe Pierce
First the kangaroo tried to drown a dog, then the camels took over town, and now a spider claims Johnny's car. I agree with Lawler - not going to Australia
- Polly Potter
Actually the spider didn't bother me, it's the prospect of right hand drive vehicles that's unnerving.
- Richard Lawler
I once briefly thought about moving to AU, but your spiders quickly changed my mind. I'll stay in NJ, USA where they are much smaller and most are completely harmless. (I think we have only 1 rarely found poisonous spider here...brown recluse http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki...)
- April Russo (app103)
Hey cool - wonder if he is friends with the cockatoo I saw driving a car on Thanksgiving?
- Martha
And now I would think that anyone that never heard of any of these groups....should post a youtube song from them...this is a learning experience...LOL
- Bill Heslin
Yeah Adrian I get it but when was the last time you listened to him as opposed to, say, i dont know, jimi hendrix. Plus dokken sucked. :)~
- Carlos Ayala
i think it was before, but there's others (anthrax was a rap group before heavy metal, ;)
- chaz2b
No worries, I was more of a Iron Maiden, Metallica, and Slayer kinda metal dude (but without the uniform)! Yngwei was... a moment of weakness for me. #metalconfessions
- Adrian
I don't know, Brian. Most of the stuff on this list is in my personal collection. I bet several people on this thread could say the same.
- Bren -- Not Grinchy
from iPhone
Almost every band/artist on this list is in my record collection.
- Mary Carmen
What is your argument, Brian? That nothing on this list is "good" music in your opinion? I'm just not sure what you are trying to get across.
- Bren -- Not Grinchy
from iPhone
My point I guess is the only music on this list that I ever listened to is Jaco Pastorius and Wynton Marsalis - popular music that I know, recognize and like all comes from the '60s and early '70s. Guess when I was a teenager and young adult?
- Brian Sullivan
Who the heck put those on this list! *BLOCKED*
- Alex Scoble
Brian, the majority of my music collection spans the 60-70s. But it includes 80s-present. I think Bren was inspired by the responses in Alex's thread. I think the 80s get typecasted a bit for being nothing but hair metal, but there was so much music happening.
- Mary Carmen
The thing is, Brian, I could make a similar list for the 60s, 70s, 90s, and 00s. I was a teenager in the late 80s and early 90s, but good music is good music, I don't care what decade you came of age.
- Bren -- Not Grinchy
from iPhone
LOL @ Rodfather, I saw Stryper live, but they were opening for Iron Maiden, back in 1985 (freshman year!). Stryper was huge at my Catholic high school.
- Adrian
Haha and I'm Buddhist. I'm reading the words and am like, why is Him always capitalized?
- Rodfather
My co-worker always likes to tell me that 80s music was terrible music, but I refuse to accept his baseless claims. I was born in '83 and I love music from those years. I need to send him this conversation.
- Brad Butner
from twhirl
Nice list. But it's missing The Cars. :) Edit: and Heart, Skid Row
- Kevykev
I have long held that 1984 was the best year for rock/pop albums ever: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... Especially in the USA: Let It Be, Reckoning, Zen Arcade, Double Nickels on the Dime, This Is Spinal Tap, Mr. T's Commandments, etc. etc. etc. (ETA: I was 13 for most of 1984, so that has to be a factor.)
- s t e v e
Sonic Youth? That said, I'm not a huge '80s fan (either music or movies), but maybe I should listen to some more of these people. I've heard some of them, but most of them I only like with reservations (like, I'd like it more if they used less echo effects, or something). Also, aren't a lot of these '70s bands? Like Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Clash...
- Jandy, ConcertMaven of FF
Jandy: my original contention was that there was a lot of good music in the 80s. Many of these bands made music in the 70s, the 90s, and other decades. The thing they all have in common is that they made what I would consider great music in the 80s. Siouxsie, for example, started in the late 70s but made most of the music for which she is best known in the 80s, ditto the Cure.
- Bren -- Not Grinchy
The Cowboy Junkies... and they're still goin' strong! Oh... and The Cars.
- Mark "DerBingle" J
the 80's rocked. and they be-bopped. i loved the 80's. for the music. i was a basketcase teen though
- Morgan Haley
I guess when I say "80's music" I mean something different than if I say "music made in the '80s" - which sounds counterintuitive. It's like when I say I'm not a fan of '80s movies, I don't mean I dislike all movies made in the '80s, but just that the average movie of the '80s and the styles that were common are not as appealing to me as the average movie of most every other decade. I...
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- Jandy, ConcertMaven of FF
I think I know what you mean, Jandy. "stereotypical" music of the '80s (schlock hair metal, vapid pop, etc) might not be everyone's cup of tea, but as this thread shows many bands made music in the 80s that touched people.
- Bren -- Not Grinchy
Slacker Radio Station made from the artists mentioned in this thread: http://slacker.com/r/Kjyp. I haven't gotten them all added yet (and can't guarantee all the songs are from the '80s, as many of the artists span multiple decades, as we discussed). But I actually have to get some work done, so I'm gonna stop tinkering with it and just listen for a bit. :)
- Jandy, ConcertMaven of FF
as long as you're going Police and not Sting, I can get on board with that... :)
- Bren -- Not Grinchy
Nah, Sting was really much more 90's and a very different style on his own. But while Police were late 70's their major fame was 80's and a strong influence for the time imo.
- Rachel Lea Fox
Best Movie EVER was Sting's Bring on the Night. What year was that? 88? 89?
- Gunny doesn't side-hug™
I have a tendency to group music more on decade sound/style rather than actual year it was made. I think there is lots of run over and someone has to get the ball rolling too which often starts late in the decade preceding the one in which it will truly take off and inspire other artists.
- Rachel Lea Fox
Part of the cool-down is to allow the center to cook the rest of the way. I've explained it to Dave, but he's starting to not care. The pie is in danger...
- FFing Enigma (aka Tina)
And this "cook the rest of the way" you speak of, it will make the pie more delicious? I. THINK. NOT.
- Edward Coffey
Vanilla ice cream would reduce the temperature quickly. Just sayin.
- Paul Reynolds
Paul, I like the way you think. A firm education in thermodynamics is important in this day and age.
- Glen Mistletoe
It can't be Pi, it's not round. <groan>
- Ken Gidley
EXACTLY!!! I've been chuckling about making a square pie since I bought the bits yesterday =D
- FFing Enigma (aka Tina)
Marie, I'd have to guess that a round shape helps the pie get evenly done. The corners in this pan got more done than the rest of the edges.
- FFing Enigma (aka Tina)
Fortunately, I didn't announce a "live video event" (Ustream, etc) or other such thing that you'd be sure to want to be a part of... That's the kind of stuff I miss by not reading Twitter in real-time, though in honesty the number of such things I really want to partake in is probably <10% of what shows up in my stream. Anyway, the fact that I don't spend all my time reading tweets is probably a good thing.
- G. Sigh
I find it's hard to really moderate the Twitter stream. I guess I follow too many streams. Some get REAL noisy too (like Spaceflight Now stream, if there's any sort of launch activity, it blows up with updates every few mins)...
- Ken Gidley
So, I've started segregating some of this out via 2 accounts. For example, all musical artists and related stuff go to my other account. Also, does the list functionality help you at all there? Anyway, being able to put things into compartments can be of help. And if anyone in particular is too noisy in a way that pisses me off (@gruber during baseball season) I just un-follow.
- G. Sigh
For awhile I was using Nambu as a Twitter/Friendfeed client, and that allowed me to set up groups of Twitter streams, very handy. There is an iPhone version too, but the devs are working on a new version, doing a private beta, and the older client doesn't work with Snow Leopard, so I'm on Tweetie for Mac (and iPhone) at the moment. Love the simple interface on Tweetie, it needs groups and I'd be pretty well set.
- Ken Gidley
I tried to set up a Room on FF for some of my Twitter traffic, but it was too much hassle to keep the room synced to the people I've followed/unfollowed, etc. If there was a SIMPLE way for FF to log in my Twitter account and grab all my followees, I'd be all over it, but I haven't found that (yet?).
- Ken Gidley
I don't know how much it will help your situation, though I have Brizzly invites still if you want a web interface. It's basically what Twitter.com would be if they actually bothered to make it real.
- G. Sigh
This makes archiving handy as well. Just pull one of the drives off every 6 months or so and store it offsite, replacing it with a new one.
- Kevin Fox
How do you handle the mirroring? Your own script? I think the best right now is the WD green drives. They aren't terribly fast but they are low power and reliable.
- Benjamin Golub
I'm planning on using OS X Server's native RAID functionality. I do like the WD green drives, though they're a bit cagey about their *actual* RPMs. Somewhere between 5400 and 7200. As a network share either is fast enough though.
- Kevin Fox
My experience confirms what Benjamin said. Since a month ago I am using two WD15EADS in a DLINK DNS-323 as RAID-1 and I am very satisfied with the setup. I disabled the spin-down with WDIDLE.exe to address the load count issue, but was not able to successfully use WDTLER to enable TLER on my revision of the disk firmware.
- Vlado Handziski
Another vote for the WD Green drives...though I thought they were all 5400 RPM? Either way, unless you are concerned with super fast access times, for long reads/writes they work just fine for me (mostly to/from a 10,000 RPM drive via eSATA). Also, they are very, very quiet.
- Ryan Kaisoglus
Sadly, I've had a Newer Tech 1TB drive (from OtherWorldComputing, who I love) fail twice in the last year. Sized to fit under a Mini, I really like the form factor, but having to deal with warranty replacements twice in a year sucks. They do have a 3 year warranty at least, but....
- Ken Gidley
Why not use that 4-bay Mac Pro server you've got? If you have 1 drive for the boot/accounts drive then you can make a 3-way RAID with the remaining slots. You've already paid for the enclosure that way and you just need bare drives and a few minutes in Disk Utility.
- Brian Johns
#1 feature I wish friendfeed had: Ability to edit the To: field and photos of a post once you've already posted it. I find myself deleting and reposting things all the time, and it makes me like groups less because I often forget to include the group when i use the bookmarklet.
Argh. 8 days later, Stelr should be available in the app store within the next couple hours at its new price of $0.99. Existing users can upgrade for free.
Correct. You should be able to just go to AppStore on your phone, select Updates, and find it waiting for you.
- Aaron Brethorst
Yep, it was a simple update. Now to try the new app out a bit.
- Ken Gidley
I'm seeing some refresh problems. LIke if I click the filters at the top (Twitter, etc.), then go back to the 'All' view, I get no items at all. Refreshing nor 'Load More Items' work to restore the info - I have to exit the app and relaunch to see the data again. I also saw similar behavior after loading a few pages from a group, then switching to the picture view (which is great), then returning to the group window - no items were listed, couldn't get them to reload without restarting the app.
- Ken Gidley
But the person on the other end needs this app installed, right? I don't think it'll reach critical mass with this name.
- Stephen Mack
from iPhone
The name is the least of its problems. An iPhone-to-iPhone messaging app is doomed to be niche.
- G. Sigh
This app fits a need I have - to be able to chat with my wife as much as we want without needing to use SMS (i.e. we could now bascially cancel the $5/month for 200 SMS on each line) or having to keep restarting AIM or other IM clients that log you off after a few hours. This app lets us text as needed and the push notification lets one person know the other is trying to chat.
- Ken Gidley
Good point, Ken. As long as you get your personal communication group on board, this looks like it fits the bill. Does "text4free" (or whatever the other popular iPhone-only one is called) have push too?
- Stephen Mack
I installed the TextFree Lite app, but found it to be confusing and unreliable. It also seems to suffer from the 'must be on that app' problem, though supposedly you can somehow connect it to your SMS number, but I couldn't figure out how to make that work.
- Ken Gidley
"That's not bad bread, but when I was a boy, the Dutch Crunch had some real crunch to it. Snappy. Not like this weak, only semi-crunchy Dutch Crunch. Can you pass me more of that horseradish? It's not very strong but it makes your cooking taste much better."
- Stephen Mack
I have fond memories of the days when public phones had booths (with doors) around them so that I didn't have to hear your loud chattering as you natter on in all manner of public places, including public bathrooms.
- Spidra Webster
You know, when I was a kid, we didn't have that Twitter thing... if we wanted to tweet at each other, we had to tie rocks to the backs of pigeons and throw them at each other. Talk about a tweet! Damn fool kids...
- Bette Cooper
You call that football with your sissy helmets and pads and cameras and dancing? Where's the mud? Where's the blood? Why do the players have all of their teeth?
- Keith Pelczarski
If you add her, put her on a list. Lock it down. I might recommend no wall, no pictures. This is all assuming you don't have an 'open to everyone' page anyway. If so then she's pretty much seen it already.
- Holly Rae
I'm not a fan of gift cards. They are a ripoff by the stores. Many gift cards lose their value after a short time if not used, and they restrict the receiver to one store.
In retail, "breakage" is the percentage of gift cards that are never redeemed. Financially you have to recognize the liability forever, unless the state allows the retailer to start siphoning off the worth of the card over time. The breakage rate in general is astounding. For some types of retailers' gift cards, up to 40% are not redeemed, meaning the retailer gets to keep the cash as profit.
- Stephen Mack
I believe CA state law doesn't allow Gift Cards to be devalued...
- Ken Gidley
In WA gift cards can't have an expiration date. (I'm also not generally a fan of them, as they're restrictive, unless I know that is where someone shops all of the time.)
- Jennifer Dittrich
MVB - The AmEx ones slowly devalue, as well. I think the key in buying gift cards is to make sure that they are from a store (or restaurant) that someone uses regularly. If you buy me a gift card for a place like Cabela's, chances are I'll never use it, and will probably end up giving it away. If you buy me a gift card for WalMart or Outback or something, I'll definitely use it.
- Curtiss Grymala
I won't ever buy a credit card gift card. For one thing they charge you a fee when you purchase it and they always seem to have odd rules too. I just don't go there.
- Alex Scoble
Please send all unwanted gift cards to me, care of me, 1149 W 190th Street, Suite 1000. Gardena, CA 90248. Thank you.
- Morgan Haley
Morgan, you're probably just going to get a pile of poo in the mall now. :)
- Cristo
I'm always on the fence with Gift Cards. As Stephen Mack clearly stated, there are many cards that are never redeemed. This could be due to the person lost it, doesn't shop there or always forgets to bring it. I try to give cards to those that I know have use the ones I've given in the past. If I didn't hear about your restaurant experience or find out what you bought, it makes me rethink the following year.
- manielse (Mark Nielsen)
BTW- "breakage" is never a term I want to hear from someone at TiVo. I'm still quite happy with my two Lifetime Series 2s (upscaled to 1080i), thank you very much.... :-)
- manielse (Mark Nielsen)
I cannot agree more. Gift cards are just a way to get out more cash out of your pocket.
- ashish
Gift cards scream "I'm socially responsible enough to know I need to get you a gift at this point in time, but here, you pick it out, I can't be bothered."
- SAM
Why is it socially responsible to give people things at particular points in time? Something is seriously wrong with a society that depends on consumerism to thrive.
- Cristo
Convention? i.e. Birthday, Christmas ect... I think gift cards are cop outs at these times... gift cards given randomly=awesome.
- SAM
Why are we required to give gifts for birthdays and at Christmas? We have other conventions in society too, like when cigarette smokers their leave butts on the sidewalk when they're done with them.
- Cristo
I think gift giving can be a symbolic/thought filled/beautiful gesture even if, and sometimes especially when tied into a cultural convention. I just think the style/extravagance/consumerism aspect has gone too far... as we Americans and humans in general have a tendency to do.
- SAM
I have another convention that I've been following. It's called Craiglisting all the gifts that people give me and not buying stuff for people they don't need or want.
- Cristo
Are you completely anti-gift Cristo? If so, why?
- SAM
+1 SAM. These gestures are done with special yearly occasions because unfortunately we don't do them everyday or very rarely for no reason. So, it's a lazy way for us to remind yourself that you are appreciative of that person for all those times you never acknowledged it throughout the year.
- manielse (Mark Nielsen)
SAM, no. I give lots of gifts, but I rarely do it when I'm "suppose to." The reason I don't like receiving gifts unless it's something I really want, is because it creates extra work for me. This is more acute of late as I've been getting rid of stuff for the last three years thats accumulated over a lifetime. I also don't like the waste of natural resources and pollution that are caused by all the consumerism when it's unnecessary.
- Cristo
I agree on the "receiving gifts unless it's something I really want" part. That's why I personally like Gift Cards given to me (but from specific places).
- manielse (Mark Nielsen)
Anybody ever say "I already have this" or "look, my 50th Hawaiian shirt" while sitting around the Christmas tree? But my absolute favorite gifts are the ones engraved with your name, with your birthday or anniversary, and maybe your social security number, just to make sure you can't get rid of it. :)
- Cristo
Yes, I have admittedly. It's hard not to show disgust but some people are just horrible gift givers and they just don't get it. BUT it's the thought that counts even though I'd rather of had no gift than the one actually given (year after year). People know I'm picky, I sense you are too but their are still people who it's not clicked. Try to open that one gift up with a smile, get rid of the gift later.
- manielse (Mark Nielsen)
I like a lot of what you and Mark are saying here... For me... gifts=good if they a) have thought behind them b) hit the target - i.e. are actually useful/appreciated by that person. Otherwise, i'd rather do without as well. Bad gifts to me just say someone doesn't really know me or has picked something up in haste to just go through the holiday motions = useless consumerism. What are some great gifts though? What's the best one you've ever gotten?
- SAM
+1 Ken! Fun tip: if you have an expired gift certificate, take it on a CA vacation or give it to a friend in CA. You can use them here.
- Lo is not learning
A Snow Blower. Why? It wasn't because it was expensive. The December before I had just moved into my first house. As a joke, I left on my parent's answering machine a message that apparently I sung "All I want for Christmas is a Snow Blower" during a major snow storm after shoveling. Naturally I completely forgot about this event. The next year, they got me one and I didn't expect it....
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- manielse (Mark Nielsen)
The only thing that comes to mind in recent years is leather driving gloves and a case of wine (Opolo) I liked. When I was a kid, there were lots of gifts I loved. E.g. Flexible Flyer sled, G.I. Joe stuff, bike, trampoline, swing set.
- Cristo
Cristo, I wish everyone had your attitude about gifts!
- Lo is not learning
I am happy to get anything............
- VAL D. Zone
It doesn't take a lot of money to come up with the perfect gift. What it takes is thought, and that thought is easy when you really care about someone. If I told you the best gift I ever got wasn't for me and it consisted of a couple of used books, a bag of rice, some chopsticks, ginger, soy sauce, etc; would you believe me? http://cranialsoup.blogspot.com/2006...
- April Russo (app103)
In Germany per law gift cards are good for X years no matter what the gift card says about its expiry date (e.g. minimum 2 years, not sure exactly). Not every store owner knows this law though, and service is often bad in Germany, so good luck investing energy to stand up for your right :)
- Philipp Lenssen
Even if they don't lose value, a huge percentage are never redeemed -- lost, stolen, or stuck away somewhere, possibly because the recipient has no nearby locations.
- Stephen Mack
from iPhone
April: "What it takes is thought, and that thought is easy when you really care about someone. " -- Thought is rarely easy for me these days. Figuring out what people want that they don't already have seems like an unnecessary waste of time unless I'm an expert at something they are not.
- Cristo
And "the thought" in my case, is not to give me anything. That is the thought I am most appreciative of.
- Cristo
@Cristo That's the thing, you don't have to "figure it out". When you care about someone, they are in your thoughts when you are apart. Those thoughts will guide you if you let them. You will see (or hear) things that remind you of them, constantly. That is where the gift ideas come from. Buy whatever makes you think of them. I can't shop for people I don't care about. It's forced...
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- April Russo (app103)
April, it's good you know how every other person thinks and feels. I must be from an alien race.
- Cristo
My gifts are not based on what they think and feel. I give from my thoughts and feelings.
- April Russo (app103)
So do I. Which is why I don't subscribe to corporate calls for gift giving at specified times of the year.
- Cristo
It took a long time to get my husband to understand what I was talking about and stop giving me cash for Christmas. I got really tired of it one year and handed him back the cash and sent him out and told him to spend it on anything and everything that reminded him of me. He never made it past the supermarket on the corner and I ended up with some odd gifts, but it showed me what was...
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- April Russo (app103)
The gift I give my wife is helping to clean out all the crap people have given us. It's the thought that counts, and the thought should be "Don't waste resources and fill people's living spaces up with crap."
- Cristo
If you read the blog post I linked to, you would have seen that the most thoughtful gift I was referring to was when someone made my daughter smile, by applying the same gift giving principles I was talking about. He cared about me, and therefore listened to me, and got to know my daughter through me. He sent her a gift that was so perfect for her, yet none of her real life friends knew...
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- April Russo (app103)
April, I don't remember if I read your blog post. My general principle stands. Are there exceptions? Probably. But the reality is that as a macro phenomenon, it's not a net good. And sorry if I didn't read your blog post, but I'm not too into blogs. I'm on FriendFeed for the conversation, and not much else.
- Cristo
Also, why was your husband giving you cash as a gift? Seems weird. My wife buys whatever she wants, so the only time I need to give her cash is if she hasn't gone to the ATM lately.
- Cristo
Maybe I come from a different world than you. There are no ATM machines and we rarely ever have money in our pockets. I usually don't get what I need, nevermind what I want. I usually have to make due with whatever we have and make it work in ways it was never intended.
- April Russo (app103)
Um, okay. If you are poor and live somewhere that is technology repressed, I feel for you. But shouldn't that motivate you to save or work towards changing that position? It doesn't seem like a good argument for the consumeristic gift-giving I'm arguing against.
- Cristo
My gift giving usually isn't very consumerist and I am frugal to a fault. And I am working to change that position I am in, but currently we are in a very deep hole and it is taking a long time for me to dig us out of it. If you want to help, I have some software on my site you can try, and if you like it you can donate what you think the software is worth. http://appsapps.info
- April Russo (app103)
I saw these from my car yesterday at 4:30, from 237/101, on my way to a school meeting. They were circling amazingly fast, doing formations, then one came in for a landing at Moffett no more than 100 feet above my car, making me as giddy. Everyone driving near me had eyes on the jet. Surprised there wasn't an accident to be honest. It was awesome.
- Stephen Mack
There WAS a messy accident on 101 near Ellis between 5:00 and 5:45pm - I was stuck in the back up on 237 trying to get to Mt View for dinner...
- Ken Gidley
Netflix import has gone flooey - I haven't touched my queue in weeks, yet today and a couple days ago, things just appeared on my FF stream....
- Ken Gidley
2009 was the best year ever in our little Fox Hollow haunted yard! Not only did we expand, more than doubling our size, by continuing a full U-shaped path into our co-conspirators yard (The Awesome Lendvays), but we also added 15 actors throughout the haunt...
- Rachel Lea Fox
from Bookmarklet
It was such an awesome night. Our friends really brought the haunt to.. life.
- Kevin Fox
Great blog post, Rachel -- saw a lot of details that I missed when visiting. Great job.
- Stephen Mack
Very cool! Had a fun walk thru on Friday with Lisa, she jumped at least 3 times. :)
- Ken Gidley
It was a lot of fun! I don't understand how you raised more money the first night vs the second? That is strange.
- Dario Gomez
We think it's a shifted perspective on Halloween itself. Off Halloween, you're a guest viewing a presentation someone has put together for you but on Halloween you're going around door-to-door collecting stuff from people. We also didn't push donations hard at all. If we just made the box more visible we'd probably collect a lot more. Nevertheless, the main point was entertainment, not fund-raising, so it was okay.
- Kevin Fox
Perhaps it was more friends/family on Friday, who have a more personal connection to Kevin/Rachel and know about the kitten fostering they do, too.
- Ken Gidley
Amazing job, guys. It's obvious how much effort you put into this. One year i'll make it!
- Ryan Kaisoglus
Ken, I think you are right about the focus. Also on Halloween we had mostly trick-or-treaters who aren't carrying money around. Some of them had parents who might be, but not all parents went through, they just waited out between the driveways the way that they would if the kids were just going up to ring the bell. So they didn't see the donations bucket. Also at one point we...
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- Rachel Lea Fox
Thanks all!! Ryan you totally need to come out!!
- Rachel Lea Fox
Many parents don't carry much besides keys and phones while chaperoning their trick-or-treaters. Did your notice about the event mention donations for the kitties? I don't remember.
- Anne Bouey
Anne, some did and some did not. We weren't pushing the donations real hard or anything. We were just looking at why Friday raised more than Saturday. People out on Halloween just aren't thinking about giving donations.
- Rachel Lea Fox
Sorry if I'm gushing and bumping but I still can't believe how well this year came together!!!
- Rachel Lea Fox
From the post: "Going through a recent paper craft exhibition in Tokyo, simply called ‘Castle on the Ocean’ exhibition, one thing that couldn’t escape an attendee’s attention is a piece of work by a Japanese paper craft genius going by the name Wataru Itou. From the piece of work – a complete city, with all the trappings like a electrical lights and even a train – one would be forgiven for thinking the creator is someone who has been in paper craft for decades. Yet as it turns out, Itou is but ‘just’ a student of art at one of Tokyo’s university. Obviously, there lies a very promising student. Words alone cannot exactly capture the intensity of Itou’s creation."
- Stephen Mack
from Bookmarklet
Very cool. I wonder how long that took to craft? A month? A year? Longer?
- Ken Gidley
Good question, Ken. The article doesn't provide much in the way of detail. It would have to be more than a month, right?
- Stephen Mack