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Environmental Modeling
The other day I came to an interesting revelation about the way we see the world. Actually, it’s more a theory on development based on the way I think we see the world. All the same, it has some great applications on both software development and marketing strategy. Today, though, I’ll focus more on the background and how it applies to computer theory. We experience the world through our senses. We see the color of an apple. We smell the rich aroma of a baking apple pie. We hear the buzzer on the oven go off. We feel the crispiness…
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Amazing
Every now and then, an advertiser gets it so right that their ad sends shivers down my spine. It’s becoming a rare phenomena these days because so many advertisers copy one another … but when the World Cup started last week, someone did something right. First, you have the Dodge Challenger commercial that debuted with the USA v England match on Saturday. I honestly can’t get enough of that one. It’s edgy. Directly relevant to the demographics who’d be the most likely to watch the match. And above all, it’s memorable and will get people to talk about it. There’s…
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The Importance of Being Well-Read
I decided the other day that I want to hide a geocache of my own, now that I’ve managed to find so many. The difference is – I wanted to make sure my cache was a difficult one to find. Not one of those lift-the-lamp-skirt or look-in-the-crotch-of-the-tree caches you find so many of. So I came up with an inventive design and the perfect location. The next trick was to come up with a good clue. So, building on the reading I’ve done in non-canonical Christian literature, I dug up a passage from the Gospel of Thomas that works perfectly…
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Do You Leave Time on the Table?
How long does it take you to complete a project? When you bid for 1 hour of work, does that actually comprise 1 hours of head’s-down labor, or one hour of total focus on the project? Do you go home at the end of the day and stop working, or do the wheels keep turning long after you’ve punched out for the day? Everyone’s different, and these questions cover very different ground – but the answer to each is important. For instance, I usually bid on projects based on actual, head’s-down labor time. One hour of billed time means I…
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Violent Tranquility
I had the opportunity this weekend to spend some time at Ape Cave in Washington with the Boy Scouts. We spent the weekend camping on the Lewis River and much of Saturday exploring lava tubes higher up on the mountain. It was a great respite from technology (no electricity or cell phones), and it provided me with some inspirational insights about life. At the mouth of Ape Cave, you’re presented with one of the most intersting juxtapositions that exist in nature. On the one hand you have the tranquility of nature – the soft greens of the forest and the…
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Paper Prototyping
The first thing I do when building any new piece of software is build a prototype. Many times, though, that prototype is on paper, not on the the computer. I’d much rather get all the kinks worked out before investing any time staring at a glowing screen wondering why X doesn’t do Y like it’s supposed to. When you’re developing a highly interactive user interface, it can be useful to mock-up the layout on paper first. Then put the wireframe in front of a user and ask them to demonstrate how they’d actually use it. Do they click where you…
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Do Something Worthwhile
This past Saturday, I had the opportunity to work with a few other volunteers at the local Habitat for Humanity work site. I’ve helped out there a few times in the past, and it’s awe-inspiring to see how far the various projects have gotten. Last October, I helped set the floor joists in the foundation on two homes. In January, I got to help roof one home. Last weekend, I was able to help hang drywall in another. It’s fun work, and I know that it’s making a difference in people’s lives. But this past weekend was somewhat bittersweet. The…
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Google Reader API – A Brief Tutorial
A few days ago, I asked a question on Stack Overflow regarding the Google Reader API. What I wanted to do was build a WordPress plug-in that would import my feeds from Google Reader into my dashboard. I’ve already pulled in my site statistics and Facebook, Google Reader is the last holdout keeping me from managing all of my online stuff in one spot. Unfortunately, the best tutorial I could find online (and the one recommended by Stack Overflow users) was written for C# … WordPress runs in PHP. The two languages might look the same, but it would be…
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Patience
One of the most difficult lessons we learn in life is that of patience. It is inevitable that your patience will be tested, but even in the most trying of times we need to stay calm and clear-headed in order to overcome. This past weekend, I was once again reminded of the value of patience as a leadership model. I was camping with roughly 2,000 Boy Scouts at local park (my group was 54-strong). There were a wide range of activities available for the youth – everything from climbing walls to horse riding to a fire truck display and a…
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Do Members Subscribe?
Last weekend I came to the realization that my gym “membership” was, in reality, a service subscription. I have a membership at 24 Hour Fitness, and I love the convenience of being able to work out at any time of day, whenever works best for my schedule. Last month, 24 opened a new gym near my church. I figured it would be a great way to get in a morning workout before church … unfortunately I have a single-gym membership, so regular attendance would be out of the question. To let members experience the new facility, 24 announced that all…