Posts filed under 'Issues'
Here on Quixo we’re fortunate to feature a great new article from Carla Wise on the latest Climate Change studies and, of course, she includes resources for you to get involved and make a difference.
Carla would really like to move on and write about some new issues, but it is kinda hard when the planet is slowly boiling over. If your last climate change update came from an Inconvenient Truth, now’s a good time to educate yourself on the latest global warming.
Check out this review of three different climate change projections that, even in all of their uncertainty, are certain about the urgency of our need to act now: Climate Change Projections: Uncertain but Certainly Worse.
November 16th, 2007
We have a new submission in Carla Wise’s Fun Facts on Global Warming column. She tries to figure out why John Dingell, the staunchly pro-auto industry congress man from Michigan, has suddenly decided to endorse a carbon tax. Is it smoke and mirrors? You decide:
Is John Dingell for real? Floating a carbon tax
September 27th, 2007
Hoo boy. More toy recalls. I really don’t buy into the hysteria and I think there is probably too much emphasis on a few bad toys right now. Generally I’m glad to live in a time where we have monitoring and product recalls.
But the real issue is this — there is a constant market for the newest, cheapest, character branded trinkets. So companies just keep churning out new plastic crap that has an unnecessary environmental impact all the way from production through transportation and finally to its disposal.
The real solution isn’t to more closely monitor China. Really we make better toys that last longer. We don’t need to come up with a new line of toys every few months. Concentrate on making a few simple toys.
And that all comes down to us. Buy the good stuff. By less…
(Here’s our list of the top toys that our kids enjoyed as toddlers and babies. We focus on the best toys that last a long time. Some are plastic and there is a place for plastic. But only when it is not used for some disposable crap that is just going straight to the landfill.)
September 27th, 2007
Well I finally got myself on flippin’ MySpace. Yea, I know, I hear you saying I’m too old for that crap, it is a complete waste of time and, besides, it is sooo last year. You know what I say? Like, whatever.
MySpace actually keeps growing, especially for musicians, film makers and non-profit organizations who want to connect and to have a place where it is easy to post updates, music and videos. In fact, the new non-profit/issues section, “Impact,” is getting revised and improved as we speak. I just keep bumping into people who need professional design for MySpace pages. Thought I might as well join on in.
Myspace was not originally written to be customized or used for anything but personal profiles. And for some reason they refuse to change that. Much whining has been blogged over this. So customizing is a bit limited and takes some ugly code. Still, within those restrictions one can find comfort and there there is plenty you can do (especially if you know a little css and html). And show some restraint. And more restraint. Like anything basic design principles apply — pick a limited cohesive pallet of colors and type faces. Line stuff up. Sketch and mock it up before you try to force it to appear in myspace. Oh, and there are massively helpful css hacking tutorials like this.
So I have some custom pages coming up and I’ll share them when they are ready. And till then, you can stop by my custom Myspace page and befriend me.
August 20th, 2007
It is just so hilarious and sad to read this article in yesterday’s LA Times – educational videos reduce the vocabulary of babies. When I wrote up my best toys for toddlers article a couple of weeks ago I included a mini-rant against dvds for babies and toddlers and Baby Einstein in particular. I think it is pretty self-evident to anyone who has actually watched these videos that they are crap.
If you haven’t seen them, they go something like this: Bad music (the kind that some annoying toys play so you let the batteries wear out), very bad puppetry (the kind you could do yourself, only worse, and without the benefit of seeing a real, loving human), bad video clip (often blurry and poorly edited), repeat, repeat, repeat.
Baby Einstein clearly doesn’t offer anything truly innovative or stimulating and the horrible production value should be a tip off. Nobody spent too much effort making them. “Heck they’re just for babies they won’t know the difference,” evil laugh, sound of carting off bundles of money. These videos are just a mind numbing distractions that a parent can justify because they are well marketed.
And I guess they pulled it off. Disney bought up Baby Einstein. Then, the poster child for reduced vocabulary, President Bush, in one of those ridiculous staged moments of his 2007 State of the Union address, pointed to Baby Einstein founder Julie Aigner-Clark to celebrate her enterprising spirit. Yea, for selling that crap business for $200 million. Go America!
I actually like TV and think it is a powerful educator. Especially when kids get older and can really learn from it. And I can even imagine videos that could be properly researched and well executed so that they stimulated the minds of babies and toddlers. I suggest a video of the kids’ caretaker talking to them and playing with them. But Babies and toddlers can find so much more in the real world like playing with their feet, looking out the window and shaking rattles. Anything.
Anyway, the point is, don’t force your kids to watch this crap. If you just can’t help yourself, show them videos of actual people talking or singing or playing real, good music. Or better yet, give them toys and spend actual time interacting with them.
August 8th, 2007
Ok, I have some new heroes, Catherine Bailey and Robin Petravic. If for no other reason, I’m pleased that they like Orr Hot Springs and Eva Zeisel. But they also purchased Heath Pottery in Sausalito, CA and are running it as a socially responsible business. And they producing a combination of the company’s traditional mid-century designs along with new designs. I get excited whenever I hear about businesses that are integrated with social causes … and with ceramics too, wow.
You can see a nice little interview about them and visit the Heath Ceramics site .
July 25th, 2007
Jonathan Schneider is a nice guy. I get the impression he wants to front a bit of a tough guy image, but he can’t help it. He exudes sincerity and, well, maybe not confidence, but definitely persistence and conviction. It isn’t that he is not confident – he’d have to be to travel to Washington DC, meet with top leaders in the campaign finance reform movement and then create an entertaining documentary about it. But he doesn’t exude any cockiness or snotty pretentiousness.
I guess that’s how he convinced me (and all the other folks who pitched in) to get involved with his new documentary “Mr. Schneider Goes to Washington.” I just helped him design and launch his website which serves the dual role of helping him promote the movie and work to change the way we finance politics in this country. See movie clips and learn about “Americans Pissed-off Enough” at LetsGoAPE.com.
Jonathan is a textbook in how to get services donated or offered at a good rate for a good cause. I list some tips in a separate post here on How to Get Cheap or Donated Web Design Services.
And it helps to have a good cause. I’ve long been convinced that corporate money in government is the primary corrupting influence in America. So anything that will help spread the news is high on my list. Will this film make a dent? Who knows, but at least we’ll have a good time trying.
Jonathan goes to Washington, again, this week to screen the film for some participants and press. We continue to build up the website as movie buzz develops with plans for a Blog and more. If you have access to a good Email-Your-Representative database system please let us know!
July 24th, 2007
Jonathan Schneider of LetsGoAPE.com and the new film “Mr. Schneider Goes to Washington” is a textbook case in how to get services donated or offered at a good rate for a good cause. If you are looking for a designer or other service provider to help you out, be like Jonathan. In fact, I think this stuff might help you even when you are paying top dollar for the services.
- Be nice. Yes, you can be confident, convincing or even brilliant. But really, more importantly, be nice, considerate and personable with the people from whom you are asking help. If you seem like someone who is going to be fun and easy to work with, you are more likely to convince someone to take on the job, and take it at a good rate.
- Be persistent, but not pushy. From the start and through your project, keep calling back and touching base in a helpful available way. Hey, you can’t demand anything when you are trying to get something for free. But if you get some commitments for assistance, the person who offers them to you will feel a personal obligation to follow through. Unless you blow it by being an obnoxious terd. Don’t be afraid to clearly say what you need and call with reminders.
- Be organized. The most time consuming part of any project is tracking down documents, troubleshooting problems or managing an onslaught of requests sent in different documents or phone calls. Try to deliver everything in one package AFTER it has been finalized. Don’t wait for your designer to mock something before you proof read it. If you are organized when you first approach someone, they’ll feel more comfortable offering to help or will be able to offer a lower bid.
- Provide helpful criticism. Designers and other professionals are used to working collaboratively with clients. We use that interaction and feedback to produce a better product. We can handle the criticism. But, boy, compliments are nice too. At the same time, try to stay out of the way a little. Designers can produce some of their best, most inspired work on side projects (and paid ones) when they aren’t being nitpicked on petty stuff. Frequently on web and graphic design jobs, so much time is wasted on picking apart minor aspects of designs that the design no longer works in its entirety. And the designer gets burnt out.
- Keep your volunteers up-to-date about the cause. People help because they care. And they care more if they know what you are working on. Personal updates go a lot farther than cheesy mass emails. But don’t waste their valuable time blathering on.
- Get funding if you can. Graphic and web designers don’t earn that much these days and we really need to get paid for our work. A nice custom website runs thousands or even tens of dollars and take a lot of time. If you have a good plan in place to use your website to improve you organization, you can get funding for it.
(Note: this is not an open call for anyone else who wants free design services. I already get flooded with requests and am very busy. If I can offer some advice I’m glad to help. But I would love to talk to you about interesting paid projects. 
I also can provide consulting services to help you organize your project so that you can properly bid it out and push it through to completion. )
July 24th, 2007
With all the speculation about Yahoo’s woes and Google’s recent climbs in the stock market, I wonder if investors are aware Google’s recent crack down on Made-for-Adsense websites. I absolutely support June 1 ban on spammy sites that that exist only to trick people into clicking on their Pay-per-Click ads. But the big news is that Google has turned a blind eye to these sites and finally started cracking down on June 1.
I am a big Google booster – I greatly respect their services and their philosophy and I have a bit of Google stock in my retirement account. I also follow search engine news pretty closely. There has been a lot of reporting on this issue among web publishers, and a lot of annoying whining. Though I’m far from an insider, I think most who pay attention to these issues know Google is going to take an earnings hit by banning these sites.
Everyone has seen and despises these Made-for-AdSense websites. They are the bane of the Internet. In a word: Evil. You are searching for some product or service and, instead of getting a vendor or some helpful recommendations, you get a page full of ads. They are a complete waste of time and are often carefully disguised to look like a helpful site. These sites are very profitable for their owners because they don’t supply anything of value to the web surfer. A searcher’s only choice is to click one of the many AdSense links that appear more helpful or click the back button. Good sites with quality content don’t earn as much money because people find what they are looking for and often ignore the ads.
So knowing that these sites are one of the most evil annoying things on the web, wasting many hours of searchers’ time, you would have assumed that Google had banned them a long time ago. I always figured they just had a hard time policing all those tricky scammers. I would even submit complaints against the worst violators to Google to help them track down all the scofflaws.
The real news is that Google was allowing these sites to thrive and just finally banned them on June 1. Moreover, prior to the ban, they issued warnings so that these sites could prepare, and, I assume, get ads from another source. And Google is paying out all revenues earned in this deceptive manner. Instead of just outright banning the sites, they send warnings and give the sites time to comply. It is outrageous. By supporting and encouraging the creation of these sites, Google has created this entire annoying phenomenon, profited from it, and are reluctant to stop it. If this ban is not heavy handed enough to have an impact on Google’s profits, then it is not actually broad enough to stop the spread of spammy sites.
It is not like Google has any problem banning people from their AdSense program. Webmaster boards are filled with people who have had their AdSense accounts disabled and earnings confiscated. I myself have a site that tried AdSense during the first months of the program. I worked at a web design company where everyone was intrigued and loved the program. Based on that experience we recommended it to our clients. And suddenly my site was banned for click fraud. I have no idea why – maybe a co-worker innocently clicked on ads in a way that was connected to my account. I don’t know. I do know there was nothing systematic or malicious. Google won’t give information and the ban is permanent. I was incredibly frustrated by this but always took it as a sign that Google has extremely high quality standards and anything that looks remotely fraudulent would be banned. For some reason Google finds the notion of click-fraud to be a larger threat to their advertising program.
Again, I’m a Google supporter and hate it when I hear people complaining about how Google is solely profit driven. I generally think that Google strives to focus on users and tries to avoid profit chasing and marketing gimmicks. So there are only two reasons I can see that Google has taken so long to ban these sites. 1) It is going to greatly impact their revenue. Search and content ads are THE engine that has fed Google’s growth. It is Google’s main, if not only, revenue source. Or 2) Maybe someone has finally found a way to legally challenge Google on these site bans and they are afraid they’ll be slammed in the courts, especially after they allowed MFA sites to fester for so long.
I’m guessing it is financial. That has to be why Google waited so long to ban these sites and why they are doing it in an incremental manner. They also waited to do it until a time when they are diversifying by offering radio and print ads. It is still disgusting that they let this continue for so long.
Though it may hurt me as a stockholder, I have to wonder aloud how this is going to affect Google’s profits. No mistake – even as a stockholder I don’t care if it hurts profits. I would rather they had banned these sites a long time ago. I really wonder if Wall Street is aware of this big change to Google’s revenue source and what impact it could have. I sure hope that I’m missing something here. I recognize that Google is in a tough spot. But they have been earning money through fraud and deceit and I wish they would move more swiftly to change it.
July 18th, 2007
Carla Wise, a conservation biologist who contributed Who Cares about the Polar Bears has started a new column here at Quixo, Fun Facts about Global Warming. She’ll periodically offer updates with the fruits of her research. Her first entry is a review of an nice new resource, Climate Counts. Their website helps consumers track how well companies are addressing climate change. Hey, even if you are some kind of free market freak, you have to agree that the best way to hold corporations accountable is to stop buying their products when they are irresponsible. Check out Carla’s article here, Climate Change Report Card.
And you can read some of Carla’s latest work here at The Huffington Post.
July 2nd, 2007
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