Now ... I'm hardly against innovation and fronteering ... but I am somewhat frustrated at a lot of the Internet's focus. We've had Web 1.0 and 2.0 and are looking for 3.0, blah. MS brings out IE 8, Firefox 3 is here and Google launches it's Chrome. With a shonky old HTML foundation there is CSS 1, 2, Javascript Ajax, Flash and Silverlight. Yadda yadda. Where is the grounding? Where are the universal standards?

It's been a fair few years that the Internet has been around as a tool and while it hasn't got the experience of other media, it's certainly no baby. We are still pulling our hair out at cross browser implementations of such basics as html and css ... real core foundation stuff. I remember the same sorts of gripes and issues 10 years back when I started my foray into design for the internet, and there was always the feeling that a solution was around the corner. It'd get sorted, soon, really! Believe me! And ... it hasn't. It's been fobbed off for the most part. Competition is healthy and all that, certainly, but stop trying to create a new bloody set of wheels at every opportunity. Instead of releasing a new browser and a new way to look at things / search things / catalogue things ... get together and sort out a true foundation of standards. Allow the general public some good solid breathing space on a unified stable universal platform and user experience for a couple of years, before slamming more future on the table.

Man o man ... I got nowhere with that. The crap you can spout based on a simple Twitter comment.

September 8, 2028 — A program to introduce genetically engineered killer seals into South African coastal waters to protect swimmers from great white sharks has tragically backfired.

The specially created mammals, known as slasher seals, have not only killed most of the sharks within the region but have devoured the people they were designed to protect, along with common seals, sea lions, dolphin and even whales.

Authorities report that at least three swimmers have been fatally attacked in the week since the slasher seals were released on a trial basis along South Africa's southwestern coast in mid August.  And the carcasses of large sea mammals have been discovered along shorelines throughout the region.

Princeton scientists are now engaged in the dangerous task of trying to round up the seals and take them into a lab to study what went wrong.

Princeton researchers created the slasher seals to protect people from increasingly aggressive sharks along coast lines across the globe. They  combined the DNA of a common seal with that of a great white shark. They also added a sprinkle of genetic material from rodents, which are known to sometimes eat their own kind. This last step was designed to assure that the seals would have an appetite for sharks, despite possessing some of the same DNA.

The result of the project is marine mammals with jaws lethal enough to devour the sharks that normally hunt them.  But what the scientists didn’t count on was that the hybrid creatures would have hybrid appetites. They not only like other sharks, but also human flesh and mammal fat.

"We simply wanted to turn a dangerous predator into prey," said Prof. Münster Macher, head of the project. "But we didn't think this new species would be like gluttonous cannibals."

Witnesses describe the attacks as shocking.

"It's been frightening to watch these cute little seals acting like pit bulls," said Leif Seaver, a lifeguard at Camps Bay beach near Capetown. "Even the sharks were actually screaming as the seals chomped into them."

T. Rhea Hugger of Greenpeace, which has opposed the introduction of the hybrids into the sea, said the group is worried that the killer seals are breeding and will overwhelm the people trying to round them up.

"It's like a horror move," Hugger said. "Princeton has created flippered Frankenstein monsters.  What are they going to do next, create frogs that eat alligators?"

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Reactive advertising is essentially a shift from focusing who gets shown what (content, ads etc.), to how stuff is presented when shown. Reactive ads are shaped by the circumstances for each exposure.

Reactive ads leverage the same pool of mined data that's currently being used for ad targeting, recommendation engines, mash-ups etc. and hits the advertising sweet spot by enabling publishers to better monetize their data and ad inventory, and at the same time responding to advertisers' urgent need for increased visibility and impact of their digital campaigns.

I'll get back to a more complete post on this subject, once I get some feedback from this week, which will be a huge leap forward in making this type of ads come true all over the web.

More posts from me on the subject:

Reactive advertising - a meme is born
Quality of social networking ads
Reactive ads and the Web 2.0 expo

Ronald Earnest Paul (Aug. 20, 1935 --- Nov. 10, 2014), better known as simply Ron Paul, was a Republican congressman from Texas best remembered for his dramatic showing in the 2008 Republican presidential primaries and the small but fervent following that came from it.

Small but fervent is the best way to describe the Republican medical doctor. After more than a decade-and-a-half in Congress, and an earlier third-party bid for the presidency, Paul had developed a reputation for honesty and integrity, and his small district in rural Texas became fervently devoted to him. They accepted the quirk that he would never vote in favor of a resolution unless "expressly authorized by the Constitution" --- earning him the nickname "Dr. No" [1] --- because he had done so well to bring federal earmarks back home with him at each recess of Congress.

Despite fundraising success that eclipsed that of most of the vetted top-tier Republican candidates combined --- he set the single-day record for pre-primary fundraising for his party, a record not to be broken until the 2016 Murkowski campaign --- Paul never mananged a victory in any Republican primary. Due to the preeminence of winner-take-all primaries in the Republican party of the era, won a total of 16 delegates; a simple majority of 1,191 was required to win the nomination.

If he had ran for president in another time, either before the Internet or after the Republican Party found another Reagan-esque charisma with small-government credentials to pin its legacy upon, it's unlikely that his story would have earned even this footnote in American history. As it stands, however, he made an indelible mark upon the progress of the Republican Party like few of his contemporaries.

That small support Paul materialized at the polls was fervent, and possible in large part due to a rabid fanbase on the then-new Internet, a bastion for free networking and wildly erratic sharing of information in its early years. Ron Paul was the unlikeliest candidate for this treatment --- a child of the the Great Depression and the Second World War, he knew little about the limited but popular computing available at the time, least of all the Internet.

Though his supporters would soon became ardent fans of Austrian Economics, Paul's favored economic theory and a defining characteristic of his campaign, most of his support was initially due to his strong criticism of the ongoing Second Iraq War; to his first and most devoted fans, all other concerns had been secondary. As the only Republican to both seek the nomination in 2008 and speak out against the war, this favorite son of a rural congressional district, with the help of an Internet he knew nothing about, attracted the attention of a his following of disaffected Republicans across the country who felt the party of Lincoln had been "hijacked by big-government neoconservatives." [2] This lead one commentator to observe, perhaps unfairly, that his supporters "came for the pacifism but stayed for the economics." [3] However, this never translated into more than a second-place win in primaries, and Paul would soon realize the uneconomical nature of continuing long past opponent John McCain had already achieved a majority of delegates.

Upon quitting his presidential bid in July of 2008, Paul used the remainder of his fundraising success from the Internet to form an Internet-based grassroots movement, codified by Paul's best-selling "manifesto." Like the Bull Moose Party and the Ross Perot-led Reform Party before him, Paul's Campaign for Liberty was a hastily-organized, high-burnout affair largely built on personal devotion to the figurehead at the very top, with very little keeping the diverse membership attached to one another. There was no other figure as admired as Paul in the entire movement, and though he was a picture of robust enthusiasm during his presidential campaign, he was even then also a picture of advanced age. Even as he accepted an ill-fated presidential nomination from not one but two inconsequential third parties --- his first nomination from Constitution Party; his second from the Libertarian Party --- on Sept. 9, 2008, Ron Paul was 73 years old.

Unlike the Bull Moose Party and the Perot-led Reform Party before him, however, Ron Paul's Campaign for Liberty would have a lasting effect on the policies of a major political party in its era. Because Paul would not name a successor before his death, what was left of his movement would be absorbed into what was left of the then-discredited Republican Party. After a disastrous detour under big-government spending policies under the at-the-time enormously unpopular George W. Bush, the Republican Party accepted all the support it could from Paul supporters, in the process modifying its economic and foreign policies to fit the right of the political spectrum.

Whether continued involvement in the Middle East quagmire or the contentious character of the gaffe-laden Biden administration played a larger role in the 2014 Republican takeback of both houses of Congress is debatable; whether the albeit short-lived Campaign for Liberty played the largest is not.

This historian speculates that Paul, at the time of his death, already saw his short-lived burst of political fame as a grand victory for Goldwater conservatism --- Paul, more than any of his supporters, knew his victories would not be from achieving high office. While still waging his 2008 Republican presidential primary bid, he said, prophetically:

"[If] you're in a campaign for only gaining power, that is one thing; if you're in a campaign to influence ideas and the future of the country, it's never over."

Paul didn't live to see the Republican sweep and its resurgence as a political power in the United States, only the favorable polling and prediction of it. Poetically, he died not 12 hours before polls opened on election day.

His legacy lives on as it did then: small, but fervent.

Because he says some funny things.

I'm sure this is the first of many, many similarly titled posts.

Enjoy.

During the Olympics:

The Boy: What's that girl's name?

Shaba: Shawn Johnson.

The Boy: A girl named Shawn!? And her last name is a synonym for penis? What a dumb name. I'm calling her "Shawnson.

Randomly every few days:

The Boy: I'm so glad you're not a crazy Jesus person. And that you're not dumb. Both of those things would be bad.

The Boy on Candy:
Kit Kat bars are evil and should be destroyed along with anything else that contains that wafer crap. It reminds me of Styrofoam.

On the phone:

The Boy: I gave blood today and I felt really weird afterward.

Shaba: Oh?

The Boy: Yea, usually that doesn't happen to me. I give blood every time I can and I never felt queasy like that before.

Shaba: That's odd....I get all queasy if they take more than one test tube out of me. I haven't ever tried to give blood. It's a nice thing to do, I'm just a chicken.

The Boy: I give whenever I can, because I figure I'll probably do something stupid and end up in the hospital. And then they can just give me my blood back and I'll feel awesome, like I just had a kamikaze and a wicked big sandwich. I'd be ready to rock.

While He's Driving During the Rain:
I’m going 15 mph on the highway and it’s drizzling outside. People in VA don’t know how to drive. It’s like if cat’s could drive. They’re all cowering, hands at 10 and 2. Ohhh I increased speed to 30mph! We're really cookin now!

On the Disappointment That Was Hanna (the Hurricane)

I was all excited for my first hurricane. I was going to sit in the garage and play the Scorpions song, you know, really live it up. Everything shut down, the tv said to get cash out of an ATM and stock up on groceries, the whole deal...You know what we got? We got a light shower and a lovely breeze that whispered, "Haannnnaaaa," just to piss me off.

And then it was 80 degrees and sunny. I'm so disappointed.

On me.

Everyday you give me another reason to love you, today's reason is that you've gone to Dolly Parton's Dixie Land Stampede. Just when I think you can't elevate yourself any higher in my opinion you get out a ladder and build a higher platform.

See why I'm hooked?

Also, because I suggested (read:prodded and begged until he agreed) he's now on wordpress too!

Check out The Boy and encourage him to keep up the writing bit.

There are a few more titles that we need to add to the Future/Upcoming pages in addition to those listed by Lexi. One is Giniro no Shina, which has character designs from none other than Carnelian! It's a gorgeous series, and both of us are very excited about it. Another that's just starting, Shina Koi, looks interesting as well. I mean...come on. Kendo and crazy people! How can you say no?

As far as updates on any other series, the editing on Barajou continues, as well as that of Aozora Yell. I'm working on translating Kiss Happiness Kiss myself, so we should have a release soon enough. That's all that I think of at the moment, though it's entirely possible that I'm missing something. For now, have a nice night, and thanks for visiting us!

It All Starts With God

You were born for God’s purposes and until you accept this fact, life will not have much meaning to you. You may ask why I start today’s thoughts so abruptly, but the truth of the matter is, I want to cut right to the chase.

Life is a journey, and not always an easy one. I have always admired Oswald Chamber’s willingness to speak straight to the heart, no matter how deep he must go. Sometimes that means lightly stepping on toes to get there. But let’s face it, we don’t always hear what we want to whether it is in our personal family, workplace, career, ambitions and goals; often things don’t turn out like we’d always wanted or planned them to. You may not have ever considered what God’s purposes might be for you. Do you believe God even has a purpose for your life? Do you believe God even cares?

One of my favorite scriptures is found in the Bible, Jeremiah 29:11. “For I know the plans I have for you, plans of peace and not of harm; plans to give you a future and a hope.” If you can grasp the idea that God, the creator of the universe, has a plan for your life - how different you’ll begin to see everything around you including those things within.

Our lives do have meaning and this meaning has a profound effect on the world in which we live in and the people we interact with. Whether we believe this fact or not, it is true. God was there when we were formed in our Mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13-16), you were considered, created and cared for by the One in Whom all things have their very being. Think about it, what a concept! Since we were created by God, we are to find our purpose in Him as well. Life is not all about us, it is about His purpose for us (Colossians 1:16). Living for God is what life is all about. Join me on a 40 day journey, where you will find the real meaning of your life - a life of real purpose.

He also states, "We are currently preparing students for jobs and technologies that don't yet exist. . . in order to solve problems we don't even know are problems yet." I'm sure that's true. So what are the most important things to teach them? How does this affect businesses and our economic strength?

Take a look at the video: Did You Know 2.0. Then comment here and join the discussion. What do you think?

Afterwards, we ate at Wendy's with my mom and then went on a shopping spree at Target and Sam's Club for our regular needs.  I finally bought crap for my eczema.  So hopefully new treatment will dampen the stress so I can actually focus on other things that matter.

So, I've been thinking about something.  A client of mine (who works for Microsoft) has put it out there that I may have a huge opportunity to get a position as a UI designer, as I hear they are in dire need of them.  I do app UI, but I'm not sure.  I'm too hesitant and too attached to everything out here to move out to Redmond, WA by myself... even if it was to just see how I feel about it.  I have no idea, maybe something entirely new and different maybe better for me.  I just wish if I chose to do it, I wouldn't have to go it alone. =/ 

Maybe I'll chase it later.  For some reason, I really just don't feel ready.  My connections will always be open—yes, I am saying this with high hopes.  Call me stupid if you wish.  We'll see what happens.  Who knows... in a year might be headin' Northwest. ;)

Ok, I'm off.  I have company coming over.  Time to jam on Soul Calibur IV.  Actually... hrm.... 'slam' on Soul Calibur?  lol  Whatever, you know what I mean.  I'm gonna play a damn game.  :)

We choreograph based around flash, style or atmosphere.  We create a blues piece to be sexy, sensual or sultry.  We create a lindy hop choreography to match the music, to evoke a sense of musicality that is built directly off of the rhythm and structure of the music behind it.  To show our athleticism, our creativity, the one-upmanship of our peers.

But why don't we create routines which evoke a particular emotion or injustice that strikes us; using the music as a source of inspiration to show that anger, discontent or joy.  Is our dance limited in its maturity?  I don't believe it has to be.  Perhaps the next step is for our pieces to mean more than just a historical recreation with modern influence; perhaps our step is for our works to be art which evokes some relationship with the world outside of jazz and lindy hop.

My room and the rest of the house are starting to look lived in.  I bought a new bookshelf yesterday at Ikea (which is named Billy by the company and therefore I will refer to it from now on by the same name) and am in love.  Yes, with a piece of furniture.  It is 7 feet tall and beautiful.  I have it filled with my many, many books already.  What's really great about this purchase is the fact that in the future when I have a place of my own, I can buy more of the same style of bookshelves to match.  (My dream is to have a room with at least one wall floor to ceiling bookshelves.)  I am reading Pride ane Prejudice for my senior seminar currently and will finish the book for Tuesday.  I forgot how much I love this book.  It has been one of my all time favorites for quite some time and know that I love it, but re-reading is such an indulgence for me that I rarely allow myself to appreciate my favorites unless I am required to do so.  I think having us read this book first is a good thing because I was able to get into the text quickly and devour the story.  Hopefully when I start George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss this week I will feel the same way.

We are going to see the movie Hamlet 2 this evening.  I am thrilled.  I hear it is hilarious and Hamlet just so happens to be my favorite Shakespearean tragedy.

Next step: You take the very same frog and put him again in the bowl of cold water. Than you heat it up slowly. What will happen? Exactly, the Frog will stay in the bowl and when the water is cooking the frog is dead without realizing what has happened to him.

Why do I tell this story? It is a wonderful example of our association.
Take our community from around 100 years ago and put it into our modern time. What would those people do if they could? Exactly, they would jump out in shock as fast as they could.

Now we do as it has happened up until today:
Example: We take again the community from around 100 years ago and now the development slowly moves toward our time today. What happens? The community is getting used to the conditions and before people realize what has happened, they are dead (spiritually). The question now is: How hot is your water?

Sure, we should look on the positive and bright sight of things in Life, but don't forget to be honest and realistic, so you won't fool yourself in the end.

Let's take together a look at the community and the seeds (in my eyes weed-seeds as I tell my daughter in allegory) that are constantly sown in the gardens (heads) of people.

The modern developments move in the following direction: In schools and among teens everything that is bad is made to look good. To say to their mother: "Old frump, shut up"! is very normal, nothing extraordinary.
In my youth I would never have dared to say such a thing. If people are kind and help others they are called sissies. Someone without guts.

Where else are those weeds sown in our gardens (heads). Everywhere!! Through TV, media, schools, kindergardens. Lets look closer at the Kids-channels on TV. There we find violence, superficial behaviour, meanness, cruelty, materialism, and yes, signs that come from the occult like pentagramms and hexagramms etc. In our days we were still watching Lassy, Daktari, Flipper and Co. Today's children watch Harry Potter, where "white magic" kills and get rid of the "black magic". But what did even Jesus say, when they called Him a devil: "How can the devil cast out devils? If a Kingdom is at strife with itself, how can it exist"?

Just watch for a minute only the advertisement on the MTV-Channel.... (without further comment). Some time ago I showed my daughter some signs of the occultism. Her reaction blew me away. She knew almost all of them from school. And I thought it would shock her.

Jesus said, if we would see dark clouds in the sky, than we know that a storm is coming. How can we be such fools, to discern the signs of the sky, but not the signs times. And He is right. Let's look at the signs of the times: Earthquakes, natural Disasters, Famines, Floods, the Love of people is growing cold. And that reminds me of Matthew 24. It says exactely that in that chapter there. Now you might say: "Oh, come on, it's not that bad, it was always like that", and I can understand you. These thoughts fan fears of the future and many people feel like closing their eyes in hope that the storm will disappear by itself without a trace, so that one can get out of that situation without harm.

But that's not how it will be. It will not get better. The way and the only way: Face those fears directely and overcome them with faith. It's time to get prepared. In my opinion it is five minutes before 12.00 o'clock to gain inner strenght and to prepare us and our children for very bad times.

My answer: think of the frog-principle and how people from 100 years ago would have reacted toward all of this. With pure horror. Don't get callous about the situation of this world because the story will continue until the water is cooking and until you will become total slaves of the state. The only way out will be to jump out of the bowl with God's help and then to stay close to Him. Learn to hear His voice and to read His signs. He still speaks and has not stopped 2000 years ago as most think. The only problem is, that the devil allways screams louder.

Bring yourselves to save pastures by asking our spiritual father in Heaven for forgiveness through Jesus in a prayer.

Dear God, dear Father in Heaven,

I thank you for your Love. Even though there are so many things that I cannot understand, I still believe, that you are there for me and that you have not forgotten about me. I thank you for the good things that you give to me as also for the things that I cannot yet understand. I know you are a friendly, generous and patient father and you only get angry at the lie but not against me. You always loved me and carried my soul from the beginning gently in your hands. You loved me so much, that you gave Jesus, your sweet, innocent, beloved son for all Humanity, as only He was able to pay for the sins of the world. I accept this free gift of eternal life and ask you through Jesus, to guide me on the right path of life, close to your heart. Please help me to learn to love like you do.

In Jesus name, your son / daughter

Jn 3:36
He that believeth in the son has everlasting life. He that believes not in the son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.

We all need forgiveness, because no human being in this world is and will ever be good enough to deserve Heaven . But Jesus paid already your and my punishment. You have the free choice to accept the payment or not, even though our free and stubborn will stands truly sometimes in our way. But that's how it is. In the end nobody can say he did not know. I wish you much power and strenght from God on this rugged and sometimes heavy, stony road.

Joseph Harris
Debt Control Man

Above: Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing, by Richard Hamilton.

Above: The cover of the Usborne Book of the Future, where the first image on our syllabus comes from. See the whole book here.

Apparently ol' Will is a big fan of handheld gaming and can regularly be found scraping away at the touch screen of his DS - most likely playing the DS version of Spore, but he thinks that mobile games may have to change a little in the future.

"It could be about making you more aware of your surroundings than you would have been without the game, rather than focusing on the game and ignoring your surroundings," Will told Pocket Gamer, discussing how he thinks mobile phone games could make much better use of their hardware, such as cameras.

"I can imagine mobile platforms evolving in that way, in that they interact with the world around us in a way that changes our perceptions in a really interesting way," said Wright.

"Games could increase our awareness of our immediate environment, rather than distract us from it."

Hm - sound interesting enough to us, but what do you think? Will mobile games ever have a decent share of the market? Let us know your thoughts in the forums.

I really enjoy writing for Daft Maniacs it allows me to get a little rant out of my body once a week this week will be about global warming along with other things that generally piss me off but I really, really would love to do it as a real job I think I would really enjoy it and would meet deadlines easily so after a while of posting to daft maniacs I might send away to some publications and see what they think, I know I will be signing up to write on the student union magazine for Brighton university it will take an hour a month and give me a huge potential for a future career that I will love to do. In fact I enjoy writing, songs, poems, stories and articles.

So what am I doing, doing a course at university that involves engineering with little writing? well that's the realistic career that wont kill my brain but still keep me interested and is where I would base my life if someone gave me millions I would make and design custom cars and buildings and love every second of it, anyone that has made something and seen it trough from design to making will understand the satisfaction that you get.

Basically I'm just elaborating for myself where I intend to go with my life and if anyone of you want to help with this process please do it will be amazing to design anything with someone else so if you have a serious product but need practicalities to help make it fire away at me.

So my future stands at:
Working for an F1 team or building and designing my own cars.
Being a property developer.
Freelance designer.
Radio presenter.
Journailst.

Looks like I have my work cut out....

F1 Team: Uni
Design cars:  Need money/Uni
Property: Need the money/Uni
Designer: Start doing some now.
Radio: Start show properly
Journalist: Daft maniacs.

WOOO! that was a pointless blog.

And I really miss those times when things seemed to be so much easier! I mean, I could write about my feelings precisely, I wouldn't ramble on, I knew exactly what to say. Now I don't. Now I can't even say what I really want anymore. 

The only one thing I know for sure: I wanna be a diplomat. And it's gonna take lots of hours studying, there will be no holidays, weekends or whatever. Some people would say it's early to start studying for this specific exam, since I still got a couple of years before I am able to take it. Some would say it's already late. I don't know. I know that once I decide I have to start, there will be no procrastinating days or weeks like the three past ones. 

And here I am rambling on the future I am sure about, the dreams I know how to make come true. But what about those dreams we don't see coming? Having a family, kids. It's not all about being successful, is it? And if we don't have a boyfriend, we can't do anything but wait, wish and hope that someone will show up eventually. However, eventually feels a lot different than actually. So we can't help but wonder. And hum one of Billie Holiday's most famous song... Someday he'll come along, The man I love. And he'll be big and strong, The man I love. And when he comes my way, I'll do my best to make him stay.