This has nothing to do with my usual posts at benbarden.com, but it's so silly, I couldn't help but point it out.
The final story of Doctor Who with David Tennant as the Doctor was given the title, "The End of Time". However, for quite a while, it seemed as though the first part of this two-part story was without a title.
Then I heard that the first part would have a title consisting of six words. What could they be...?
Today, the Doctor Who website has announced the following:
It has been officially revealed that the title for this year's momentous Christmas Special is: The End of Time, Part One
Well, it certainly has six words.
I should have seen that coming...
Edit: Und ich habe gerade sehr Hunger auf "Türkisch Pfeffer"...
- Je suis ::
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For a while now, I've mostly used TweetDeck to keep up with what's new on Twitter. When I first used TweetDeck, it was a long way ahead of the Twitter website, with plenty of new functionality. However, I've noticed that the gap between the two is quickly closing. There are other Twitter clients too, but as I'm familiar with TweetDeck, this post only compares the Twitter website (hereafter referred to as "Twitter.com") and TweetDeck.
Realtime updates
TweetDeck happily sits on your screen, pushing out tweet after tweet. Twitter.com has recently introduced a feature that notifies you when new tweets are available, but you have to click on the notification box to show them. I quite like this approach - it means I don't lose my place if I'm not ready for new tweets yet. It's especially good if I have Twitter open, but I'm not watching it at the time.
Lists / Groups
TweetDeck has groups, which can be used to separate a large follower list into manageable chunks. However, while the theory is sound, I've never had much of a use for them. Twitter.com recently added lists, which do much the same thing. I like that I can see who's added me to their lists, and I have set up a handful of lists so I can group related people together - but I rarely, if ever, sit on a list page and read the tweets there. Occasionally I go and skim through them. It's handy to see what my work colleagues have been saying, as it is useful to group them all together. That particular list is private - I don't want to share it with people who aren't in the group - but it would be handy if I could have a semi-private list for all members of the group. Something to hope for?
Multiple accounts
This is a key feature that stops me from abandoning TweetDeck completely. I have three Twitter accounts, and it's a huge pain to switch between them at Twitter.com. TweetDeck makes it easy to post under each account without constantly signing in and out. But I'd still have to switch accounts to add new followers on the accounts I'm not signed into. Unfortunatelty, this means I rarely follow people on anything except my main account. This is one thing I'd like to see addressed.
Notifications
TweetDeck is very good for this kind of thing, and it's another reason why I keep using it. If I get a reply, or something comes up in one of the searches I like to keep an eye on, I get a notification popup. Even better than that, I don't have to click a link to switch between views in TweetDeck - unlike Twitter.com, where I'm constantly clicking between "Recent", "Replies", my saved searches, and occasionally DMs.
Saved Searches
This is a tough call. TweetDeck allows you to add an extra column for a saved search. But Twitter.com allows you to perform a one-off search that much more easily, and set it as a saved search if you wish to do so. However, you then have to click the saved search to view its results, while in TweetDeck you can just see it right there. All these TweetDeck options are great, but there's one rather big drawback...
Screen real estate
I use a 15" laptop - pretty small. It's nice, but it's not great for TweetDeck, as it would take up my entire screen if I had four columns open. I used to have a desktop PC with two large monitors, and TweetDeck worked well there. But even when you use TweetDeck on a large screen, it's all too easy to fill up your screen with several columns - and a horizontal scrollbar just isn't the same as being able to see everything at once. On a smaller screen, I find that Twitter.com is much easier to use than TweetDeck.
Retweets
TweetDeck has had a convenient "retweet" link that allows you to take someone else's tweet and share it with your followers. Twitter.com is in the process of implementing a native retweet feature, which should level the playing field somewhat. But as I've only just got it, I haven't really played with it much yet.
Trending Topics
Occasionally, this can be a fun way to see what's popular at the moment, and maybe even meet some new people - if you can ignore the spam (which, by the way, Twitter has been dealing with). It was good on Sunday evening, as I was able to find out who else was watching the latest Doctor Who special. Unfortunately, TweetDeck doesn't seem to have this feature. Well, it's not in the version I have (v0.31.1) anyway...
So which is better?
It's crazy, but because Twitter.com has been adding so many new features recently and TweetDeck continues to be convenient for multiple accounts and notifications, I've actually been using both of them simultaneously. It is difficult to choose between them, but I do think the gap is closing. When I first used TweetDeck, Twitter.com no longer felt like "simple is better". It's possible to keep the interface simple as you add new features. I'm glad that new stuff has been added to Twitter.com.
What do you think? Which is your favourite Twitter client? Why?
Это сообщение адресовано тем, кто интересуется гастролями труппы Льва Додина, гастроли которой проходят на сцене MC93 Bobigny в Париже!
В сообществе, посвященном театру Додина
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mdt_opentheatre, мы публикуем все доступные нам материалы о грандиозных гастролях в Париже, как русских, так и французских СМИ, а еще рассказываем о том, что сопутствует гастролям!Сайт площадки, где проходят гастроли mc93 Bobigny
Every time I get a spam comment on my blog, it usually goes into the spam queue. Occasionally it goes into the Pending queue. This doesn't mean it is a legitimate comment (although the spam queue doesn't guarantee it's spam, either).
The issue is how to identify a spam comment. A lot of blogs seem to fall into one of the following categories:
- They assume that spam goes into the spam queue, and anything else must not be spam.
- They don't know if something is spam or not.
- They approve borderline comments to make the blog look busier.
- They approve relatively non-spammy comments, but then the same person starts posting spam.
Spam is a big problem, but it can be dealt with. I'm not going to tell you to use a specific anti-spam plugin - for instance, I've seen a lot of WordPress blogs who use Akismet but somehow end up with loads of spam on their blogs.
Here are some tips for determining whether a comment is spam or not.
Keyword spam. "Real Estate", "Amoxcillin" and "Make Money Online" are not real names. They are keywords. Some blogs adopt a "no keyword spam" policy and will only let you comment with your real name. I'm not sure this should be an explicit policy - spammers aren't going to come back and check if their comments came up on every blog they posted on. They may not even be visiting the blog directly - their comments could be posted automatically by a script.
Generic comments. If you're ever unsure of a comment, try putting a portion of it into Google. You may have to try a few different variants as it's quite common for spammers to change a word here and there. Here is a spam comment I just received:
Thank you for well written article. But I had difficulty navigating through your website because I kept getting 502 bad gateway error. Just thought to let you know.
On the face of it, this may look like a real comment. However, try putting the following sentence into Google:
But I had difficulty navigating through your website because I kept getting 502 bad gateway error
I found 3,770 results. The reality is that this is a generic comment and it's been posted on a lot of different blogs. It may not always be posted with a link, but there's a reason for that...
Real commenters turning into spammers. You may have noticed that on many blogs, if you post a comment that gets approved, your future comments will be auto-approved. Spammers have realised this, and as a result I've seen a few comments from people who initially post something without a link, but their second or third comment is blatant spam - and it gets approved automatically. Ensure you have comment notifications turned on even if the comments are approved automatically - it's wise to keep an eye on what's being posted on your blog!
Nonsense comments. Now this is a good one. I'm not sure how many of these are blog comments, but try searching Google for the following sentence:
Everything dynamic and very positively!
After a few of these comments across several of my blogs, this annoying phrase started to burn into my mind - a memory I couldn't shift. It seemed to be a very common spam comment. I just searched Google and found 15.4 million results for this phrase. That's ridiculous.
Comments on old posts. Some blogs have started to close old posts to avoid comment spam piling up. I have noticed that my older posts get hit harder than the newer ones, but I only close the posts that attract an unusually high amount of spam - most of my posts do not.
Keeping an eye on your blog will take time, but not doing so can damage your reputation. I've seen some very high profile blogs with horribly spammy comments - even some businesses get spammed.
Don't approve spam comments! Maybe this goes without saying. But you really need to check your comments for spam. Don't think it won't happen to you - maybe it already has.
Try Injader's Spam Rules feature. Completely sick of comment spam, I developed a new feature for Injader where you can easily filter out comments with certain names, URLs, emails, IP addresses or text within the body of the comment. You can read more about this in the Spam Rules guide.
How much spam do you get on your blog? How do you deal with it?
( some pics behind the cut )
1. Where can I take an upper-level history course near the area? Which universities would be relatively easy for an American (who's pretty fluent en français) to still get into and take a course at this coming spring? I know l'Université Paris X Nanterre is there, but apparently their inscription date has already passed. I've already looked into the American University of Paris because I figure it'll be easy to take a course at that will count for credit if I can't find anything else, but I'd prefer to go to a French school if possible.
2. What is the western/northwestern suburbs region like? I've read fairly affluent and there seem to be a number of parks/forested areas on their western side. Is it still easy/inexpensive to get to the Paris city center on the RER if I want to visit and hang out in Paris a lot? Will I feel like Paris is accessible to me, or not, and that I definitely live outside of it? I want any info on Maisons-Laffitte, Sartrouville, Nanterre, Le Vésinet, Colombes, Houilles, Bezons, Saint Germain-en-Laye, Chatou, and the more northernly region (Saint-Leu-La-Forêt, Eaubonne, Épinay-sur-Seine) that you can give me! If there are fun things for young people to do, if there's a nightlife, etc. Or links to useful info...I can read all about them, but hearing information from people who've actually lived in or traveled there is so much more useful to me.
I've only spent a few days in Paris, so I know very little about the regions outside the densely packed center. I would really appreciate any help you guys can give me, and if you live near the region or go to a university in Paris, let me know if you'd be willing to add me as an lj-friend and provide some further advice!
...oh and here are a few videos, ( enjoy. )
I've just released my fifth album of original music, entitled A Change of Scenery. The entire album is available to download or stream online.
Is the Internet stifling new music?
This seems like a good opportunity to comment on an article over at BBC News, where they ask the question: is the Internet stifling new music? The arguments put forth by John Taylor (bassist with Duran Duran) are distilled below:
1. Those of us who before would have been looking towards the current culture for inspiration are now often to be found in various backwaters of older music.
2. The speed and growth of new technology, which has been so heralded and so much fuss has been made of, has actually served to disguise how little real growth is taking place at the artistic level.
3. When artists today are asked to Twitter their every thought, their every action, to record on video their every breath, their every performance, I believe they're diluting their creative powers, their creative potency and the durability of their work. And in the long run I believe they're also diluting the magical power and the magnetic attraction that they can or will ever have over their audience.
I'm not sure I agree with all of this. Let me explain why...
Old classics die hard.
I don't see the problem with looking to older music for inspiration. I do see a slight problem with statements like "there's no good music nowadays", or "nobody can beat (insert popular artist name from yesteryear)". These statements were not made in the above article, but they're in common usage. Will a band ever beat The Beatles? Has Elton John had his day? Can anyone really out-Elvis Elvis? Would they be able to do so without being viewed as an impersonator? Though to be fair, they might just be one.
Listening to music shouldn't only be something we do at the time it's released. Also, for musicians, older music can be influential. I have numerous influences, ranging from classical music to electronic music, 1960s to 1990s and beyond.
While even the tiniest idea from an existing musician can realistically become a totally unique track, as time goes on, more and more music is made, which makes it harder and harder to be truly original. It's not impossible, but even if you think you're producing original music, some listeners may recognise similarities in music that the composers didn't know about.
In my view, there's so much music behind us, it would be daft to completely ignore it and only look at the music of today and tomorrow.
Rise of the robots.
I don't fully understand how the speed and growth of technology is a bad thing. There are many of examples of how existing technology has been used in creative ways.
For instance, The Beatles assembled various bits and pieces together to create Revolution 9, which to be honest I didn't like one bit, but it was - shall we say - an "interesting" listen. Mike Oldfield, multi-instrumentalist who's done a lot more than just Tubular Bells (check out Music of the Spheres, it's well worth a listen), managed to record many different parts on the same tape by covering the erase head on his tape recorder. I'm sure there are numerous other examples. Jean Michel Jarre has used numerous instruments over his career, many of which were new technology at the time he first used them. Would we be better off without these, and other, technological advances?
That's not to say that everyone is being creative or artistic with everything they do. But I see no harm in a bit of experimentation, and to be honest, exploiting technology to see what we can get out of it. The key is in knowing how to identify what works and what doesn't. The usage of new technology is not automatically a bad thing.
Technology aside, could we ever say that musicians always produce excellent material? Of course, it's all subjective - your favourite albums might not hit all the same notes with me. In the technical sense, of course they hit the same notes... just not necessarily the ones I like best!
The Twitter debate.
As for the use, or rather the over-use, of social media sites such as Twitter... it's for you to choose if you use or abuse. I believe that you can use Twitter to connect with your audience, and that not everyone overuses it.
WIth so much music out there, it's more important than ever before that musicians connect with their fanbase. New technology allows us to do that very well indeed. Perhaps some musicians would prefer to be something of an enigma, but equally, fans may prefer not to be shut out.
It's up to you to choose how much you want to put out there about yourself, and I don't agree with violating someone's privacy... but if you try to shut yourself away, you may just find that people pass you by.
Anyway, that's my view - what do you think? Is the Internet stifling new music? And have you heard my new album?
Using the Tube (or the London Underground, if you're not from around here) requires a certain level of understanding to avoid receiving evil glares or a "tut" from one of the many other passengers. Here are 10 tips that you might find beneficial.
1. Don't ignore the ticket barrier that says "Seek assistance". If you try and use a ticket or an Oyster card that flashes up a message, "Seek assistance", best to do so. From time to time you may have better luck on one of the other ticket barriers, but it's worth hunting down the nearest member of staff as soon as you can, so any problems with your ticket or card can be quickly addressed. Don't just keep trying it over and over again.
2. Be careful when it's wet. When it's been raining, the Tube is slippery. Shiny floors and shoes that don't grip are a bad combination, particularly in wet weather. Escalators are potentially lethal. Watch your step!
3. Don't stand on the left. When there's a long line of people standing on the right of an escalator, it's nice to have a clear path so you can walk on the left. I usually walk on the left to get a bit of exercise, and to get around the Tube that little bit faster. It is infuriating to walk partway up or down an escalator only to find you can't get any further because someone or something is blocking the way. That brings me nicely to the next point...
4. One pushchair can create an enormous queue. I certainly wouldn't want to try and use a wheelchair on the Tube, as a lot of the stations just aren't equipped for it. But you'd think that people with a pushchair would understand this too. Nope, instead they just plough on regardless. Some of the escalators are long, and taking a pushchair with you can create a massive queue. It can't be easy for you to get around the Tube with a pushchair - wouldn't it be easier to take the bus? (Thoughts welcome; I'm not sure of the best option here, but I'm not sure the Tube is the best way.)
5. Let people off before you get on. Really, it's just common courtesy, although sometimes there are so many people getting off it's hard to know when you'll be able to get on. But it's going to be a lot slower if everyone gets on before everyone else gets off.
6. Don't try and pull the doors open. If the doors are closing or they have just closed, don't try and get on or off the train. I've actually seen someone trying to pull the doors open from outside. They succeeded, but didn't get on because one of the Tube staff was quite patiently asking them to stop. It's for your own safety really.
7. If loads of people get on but there's another train in 1 minute, it's ok to wait for the next one. I've seen this a lot - a huge crowd of people swarm onto an already-busy train. The result: a very crowded train. Check when the next train is coming - if it'll be there in 1 or 2 minutes, it may be quieter. You do have to get on at some point, and they might all be pretty busy, but this tip has worked for me on a number of occasions - it's worth a shot.
8. Move right down inside the car. With so many people getting on, it's important to make use of the available space. Don't just get on and stand by the door if there's room in front of the seats and other people are getting on behind you. I've seen people who block the empty walkways and force everyone to stand in a big crowd just to get on. A bit silly if you ask me.
9. The driver won't wait for you to sit down. If you get a seat, sit down right away - don't mess around with your coat, bag or hair. I've seen plenty of people who end up sitting on the person next to them because the train set off just as they were sitting down.
10. Hold on! The Tube can be a jerky ride, particularly when it starts and stops, but there can be plenty of bumps along the way. If you can, hold on. There are people who seem to be able to stand without holding on, but if you're not sure you can do it, don't take the risk.
Image credit: Knivesout.
Do you have any tips for the Tube? Is there anything that you find particularly annoying?
"Smart Casual" is a flexible dress code that is open to interpretation, but might cause confusion for some. Is it the best dress code to adopt?
I used to work for an insurance company where all staff had to be smart. Men had no option but to wear a shirt and tie, with smart shoes. This seemed a bit unfair - women had to be smart too, but they had more options than the men did.
Dressing up for an important meeting or an interview is understandable. If you work directly with your customers, then perhaps you have to wear a uniform, or dress smart to give a good impression. That's one thing. But in a company where most staff rarely met with external suppliers let alone our customers, I never really saw the point in everyone being quite so smart.
Perhaps the company believed that a smartly-dressed workforce would behave in a more professional way than if we dressed down. I think this approach can backfire. Having to dress up every day makes me wonder if the company didn't trust its employees to work well unless they're extremely formal. This is absurd. Surely we'd all work better if we can dress comfortably?
The funny thing was that you could dress down on a Friday. Were they accepting the fact that Fridays aren't very productive? Or was it a "reward" for working in smart clothes for 80% of the week? I never quite figured that one out.
I already know that smart casual is a good idea for some companies. I now work for a web agency where the dress code is smart casual. Some people are more casual than smart, but nobody pushes the rule too far. So how does this affect the productivity and engagement of the workforce? Well, to be fair, I don't think things would take a nose-dive if we had to be smart. But I don't know anyone who would prefer to be smart.
Smart casual doesn't have to mean "scruffy", and you can still look semi-smart if you like. For instance, I'd rather wear a smart shirt than a t-shirt. But I find that trainers are a good option because I walk a lot. So I adopt something of a mix-and-match approach.
Smart casual is also easier to change with the weather. I used to find that a suit didn't keep me warm in the winter, but I was too hot in the summer. You do have options, but a smart casual dress code gives you a lot more flexibility.
And flexibility is important. I like to have a say in what I wear to work. When you spend at least 40 hours a week at work (not including the time spent commuting), it's not much fun if you feel uncomfortable for the entire period.
What do you wear to work? Is smart casual a good idea? Why/why not?
(Thanks to my wife, Lauren, for taking this photo. L to R: me, my sister, and my brother. This photo is the first time I've worn a tie since September 2006.)
Page Summary
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/syndicated.gif)
bbarden_com : Doctor Who announces a new episode title [+0] ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
bluemchenblatt : Aaaah! [+3] - bbarden_com : Choosing between Twitter.com and TweetDeck [+0]
- parisians :: faptiz : Festival Lev Dodine à Bobigny! [+0]
- bbarden_com : Blogs must stop letting spam comments through [+0]
- france :: thatquietboy : ceremony at the arc de triomphe, october 7 [+4]
- france :: a_xolotl : Where can I take a history course in Paris? What are the Western suburbs like? [+3]
- bbarden_com : My new album - and is the Internet stifling new music? [+0]
- bbarden_com : Top 10 Tips for the Tube [+0]
- bbarden_com : Smart Casual: the perfect dress code? [+0]