Portfolio Moved
Posted on 07/24/08 at 11:43:12 AMTo a different domain. It's now up at offpixel.com, a domain name which I've been sitting on for a long time. Registered it with Gordon from Linuxinit a long while ago when we were more serious about our whole hosting dealio... needless to say nothing ever happened with it.
I'll be changing the navigation on Central Down to point to the new URL (perhaps with a spiffy little mouse over that lets you know you're leaving the site) when I get the chance.
Art of Peace
Posted on 07/09/08 at 02:39:49 PMSo for those of you who like to track Ian's work experience, you're aware that I'm currently working at ripe in Washington DC. We recently put the finishing touches on a site that's launching today: The Art of Peace Foundation.
I'm going to rip a little bit of content directly from the news posts that have been circling the web to give ya'll a rundown on what it's all about.
"The Art of Peace Foundation announced today that over a dozen of the world's top musical artists, including Sting, Dave Mathews, John Mayer, Suzanne Vega, Rush and Duncan Sheik are coming together for an album entitled, "Songs for Tibet - The Art of Peace." The project is the artists' expression of peace and support for Tibet and the Dalai Lama.
"The album features acoustic songs recorded by the artists that are proactive celebrations of our shared humanity and common search for happiness. The songs themselves reflect the sublime beauty and vulnerabilities experienced in pursuit of happiness, peace and freedom.
"The album will release August 5th, three days before the opening of the Summer Olympics.
"The album will be distributed by bodywisdom media and available for download through most music download sites, including iTunes and The Art of Peace Foundation's website, www.ArtofPeaceFoundation.org. The CD will be also sell through major retailers, including Amazon. " (Source: Sting.com)
Needless to say we're pretty excited about the project. Credit goes to the ripe team for design, DigiTig for help with coding and of course the Art of Peace Foundation itself.
I'll be sure to let everyone know when the CD is available for purchase.
Portfolio Complete (nearly)
Posted on 04/09/08 at 02:59:11 PMSo my portfolio is finally complete. I've been working on it for awhile and have, of course, gone through about ten different layouts. It's up at centraldown.com/portfolio, or you can just click the "Portfolio" link at the top of this page.
I'm pretty happy with it. I still have a few things to add to it, but it is, for the most part, done. Let me know what you think.
In other news, only three weeks until I'm finished with school for good. I can't even begin to tell you how great that feels. It's about time, too. Any longer in academia and I'd probably turn into a foaming-at-the-mouth-and- raving-about-politics-art- and-like-omg-coffee idiot.
Online Lessons IRL
Posted on 02/11/08 at 02:01:53 PMBack when I used to play World of Warcraft and various other MMORPG's, I'd always run into a million beggars. They exist in pretty much all online games... players who are too lazy to go and play the game to make money and would rather make fools of themselves by screaming "HAY, ANY1 GIVE ME MONYE?" in town. My tactic for this was to say, "Sure, I'll give you money." So we'd open trade, I'd drop some huge amount of cash (to a newbie) in the trade window (for example, say 300 gold in WoW), fail to hit the "Accept Trade" button, and then simply walk away from the computer for a half hour. About nine times out of ten, they'd still be there, waiting for me to accept, when I got back.
This has proven to work in real life as well. My phone (not my cellphone) has been targeted by a lot of telemarketers lately. Now, I never give my apartment phone number to anyone. I don't even know the number. I use my cellphone for everything, and since it's on the do not call list, I hardly ever get any unwanted communication. Somehow, however, my super-secret apartment phone number has gotten out... which makes me wonder if Comcast sells phone numbers.
Anyhow, here's a fun tactic for dealing with telemarketers. They call. They offer you some OMG AMAZING deal on something you really don't need (for example, cheaper long distance... which is retarded since mine is free). You say, "Wow, that sounds like an amazing offer! Can you hold on while I find my wallet?" They will, of course, be overjoyed. So set down the phone, and head out for an hour or so to get a burger. Come back and see if they're still on the line.
Now here's an interesting fact, most places telemarketers are not allowed to hang up on you. So you've got maybe a 50% chance that the person is still there. If they are, you say, "Oh, wow, sorry. Couldn't find my wallet. I have it now. What was the deal again?" They'll probably repeat it, whereupon your response should be, "Oh, that's not as good as I thought it was. I'm not interested, thanks."
Works (nearly) every time.
