Stephen's Untold Stories

Generation X for me.

Generation X – Born: 1965-1980

Life-Shaping Events

• Stagflation
• Gulf War
• High divorce rates
• Women working
• MTV

Traits

• Pragmatic
• Self-sufficient
• Skeptical
• Flexible
• Individualistic
• “Me” Generation
• Distrust authority

Read the rest here.

I know we all like to be nice and share just about everything, but I respect the wishes of a presenter who chooses not to do so. Here is a great post that illustrates this.

Recently,Chris Penn was asked whether he would post a presentation of his to the web, and he said, “No.”  I have a recording of that presentation, and I am also honoring his “no” and won’t be posting it or my notes to the web.   Why would people very involved in the podcasting community and in shraing, people who host events about group learning decide to say no and withhold information from others?  Chris got a lot of email from people who were upset with him for saying no, for imposing a limit.  Yet my question is “Why do you feel entitled to his presentation and intellectual property for free?”

People were getting upset that he decided he would not share his information out further.  Chris decided to say no, simply and elegantly.  He set a boundary, and people got mad, just like the two year old who’s told it’s bedtime.

My question is this:  If you aren’t willing to attend someone’s session, if you aren’t willing to give him your presence when he speaks, why should he give you his information later on?  What have you done to earn or deserve it?  And why should someone else like me, who may have recorded the session, make that material available to you?

The community doesn’t like the word No.  They will tell you it’s against the very nature of bringing people together to set up limits and boundaries.  But these are the same people who said No to getting up early, to taking in an experience even if it was inconvenient.  The no’s balance out perfectly, and harmony should be restored.

One of the challenges internet communities have is that the all-access pass of communication, 24 x 7, gives an illusion that anything you want should be yours.  And that simply is not true.

Read the rest here.

Some very interesting images.

Information graphics (or infographics) are graphical depictions of data and information. By presenting information in a compact and creative approach, infographics are able to quickly convey knowledge and engage its viewers.

In this collection, you’ll find forty beautiful and educational infographics, displaying the uncommon spectacle of “art meets science”.

Link to site.

I used to enjoy shopping at CompUSA. I hope they can make it all the way back.

Once part of the big three electronics retail stores in the country, CompUSA filed for bankruptcy two years ago. It was not alone: High overheads and the inability to compete with low online prices forced companies such as Circuit City and Ritz Camera into bankruptcy, too. Meanwhile, online players such as Amazon, Buy.com and NewEgg have been growing.

But after a reorganization and a buyout in January last year by Systemax, a major electronics retailer, CompUSA is back in business.

The in-store web access may be the biggest gamble, since it raises the possibility that you might use a CompUSA floor model to find a better deal on Amazon.com for the very computer you’re using to get that information.

Say you are in a CompUSA store trying to decide if that big plasma TV is the one you want. Just tap the keyboard in front of the screen and go online to check out the specs and reviews an even the recommended mounting brackets. There’s also custom information for that particular store, such as how many are in stock.

“We do the same thing with laptops, desktops and monitors,” says Fiorentino. “We are using tech to change the retail experience for the customer and giving them access to all the information on the internet anytime they want during the buying process.” And there are no restrictions. Users can surf the internet, check their Facebook or even Twitter if they want, says Fiorentino.

It may sound like a small change but it is quite different from how Best Buy, Office Depot or other brick-and-mortar stores display information to their customers, says Doug Fleener, president of retail consulting firm Dynamic Experiences and former director of retail for Bose.

“It’s an untested concept,” says Fleener. “We will have to see if customers like to spend their time gathering information while shopping rather than doing it at home.”

Read the rest here.

I have no idea what to blog about. I’m open to suggestions.

Fire away.

Kudos to the team at Georgia Tech for getting this thing off the ground.

The largest unmanned aircraft to rely solely on hydrogen fuel has flown successfully during tests.

The plane, with a 22-foot-wingspan, is powered by a fuel-cell system that generates 500-watts—equal to five bright light bulbs.

The design and geometry of the aircraft and the controlling subsystem technology allowed the feat.

The plane flew as high as 12 feet and stayed airborne for up to a minute at a time.

Fuel cells create electrical current by converting hydrogen and oxygen into water. The advantage of this technology is that it’s pollution-free. These fuel cells, however, don’t produce enough power for the propulsion of larger aircrafts. But they may provide an alternative for smaller and slower vehicles such as the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).

Link to article

Fascinating stuff, and I’m not a numbers guy.

A quirky look at five of the most important numbers in mathematics. Hear about the stark reality behind the imaginary number, try a slice of pi, find out about the natural beauty of the golden ratio, discover why some infinities are bigger than others, and see why nothing really matters.

Link to site

I was pleased to see Atlanta’s Bank of America Building represented. The image is linked to the site which has more information.

Click for larger version

This is one of the most incredible videos I’ve ever seen.

On an August morning in 1978, French filmmaker Claude Lelouch mounted a gyro-stabilized camera to the bumper of a Ferrari 275 GTB and had a friend, a professional Formula 1 racer, drive at breakneck speed through the heart of Paris. The film was limited for technical reasons to 10 minutes; the course was from Porte Dauphine, through the Louvre, to the Basilica of Sacre Coeur.

No streets were closed, for Lelouch was unable to obtain a permit.

The driver completed the course in about 9 minutes, reaching nearly 140 MPH in some stretches. The footage reveals him running real red lights, nearly hitting real pedestrians, and driving the wrong way upreal one-way streets.

Upon showing the film in public for the first time, Lelouch was arrested. He has never revealed the identity of the driver, and thefilm went underground until a DVD release a few years ago.

Link to video (has sound)

Who knew that you could use Alka-Seltzer to unclog a drain?

Or use Crayola chalk to stop slugs?

Or use Listerine to prevent dandruff?

It’s all here!

Wacky Uses Website

It was a nice one today!

I just put this together. You can add your location to the Guestmap so I can see where people are reading this from.

My Guestmap

Does anybody really know what time it is?

Does anybody really care?

Official U.S. time

Including a good Star Wars diagram

Great Diagrams

I wish I could go!

A visit with the Photoshop engineers at 345 Park Avenue, San Jose, CA. June 16 & 17, 2005.

Link to Site

We’ve had a pretty mild summer until recently. Now we’re paying for it!

This field about 4 miles from my house seems to have plenty.

Here is a larger version.

Here is a very nice mosaic of Van Gogh’s Starry Night.

I thought I had seen just about every possible video of 9/11, but I just found these. The 3rd one shows just how fast the 2nd plane was going when it hit.

Link to videos

I generally try to keep things really light, but this is something that I just had to share.

American George Weller was the first foreign reporter to enter Nagasaki following the U.S. atomic attack on the city on Aug. 9, 1945. Weller wrote a series of stories about what he saw in the city, but censors at the  Occupation’s General Headquarters refused to allow the material to be printed. Weller’s stories, written in September 1945, can be found below.

Link to Full Report

American Reporter George Weller