All Things Cahill

Blog

  • Veteran’s Day

    In the 11th minute, of the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month…

    Thanks to all now serving and those who have served.

    [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrQnnZJ68Xo[/youtube]

  • Reflections of a Train Wreck

    Perhaps Mike Lupica summed up the last 30 days of Red Sox baseball best:

    “It was like Mookie’s hit took 30 days to roll between Buckner’s legs.”

    Any Red Sox fan with half a brain could not have been shocked by Wednesday’s epic failure.  With the exception of Ellsbury, Pedroia, Aceves and Scoutaro, this was a team that either gave up in early September, or flat out never really cared to begin with.

    I could get into the numbers, such as the 6-18 from Sept. 3, $160,257,476 team salary, the anemic OBP of some of the players, etc.  In my mind, the real problem doesn’t come through in the numbers.  We had guys who were seemingly incapable of making anything happen when it mattered.  Adrian Gonzalez, for one, seemed to pile on the personal numbers at the times when we really didn’t need them.  When we needed that hit, with the game on the line, his bat went silent.  He was not the only one who was AWOL in the clutch.

    There is no tomorrow for this team, and rightfully so.  They wrote their own story, with multi-millionaires whining about their travel accomodations, unable to play when they were needed due to “discomfort”, and with plain old fashion piss poor performance.  This team requires radical surgery if for no other reason than to redeem some shred of dignity in the eyes of the fans.  We need to put a few of these curs down!  Throw some heads on pikes! Geld those horses!

    The mantra for the season, starting in April, was always “This was just one game. We’ll do better tomorrow.” It excused every loss.  In the end, they got what they deserved: any one of those losses would have sent them to Tampa for a tie breaker.  Two would have had them playing in October.

    Perhaps the Red Sox should consider adding a special patch to the uniform of every single player who was on this club, to be worn until they retire, or until the expunge their shame with a World Series.  Brand the bastards so that we might recognize them more clearly in the future.

    Heads will roll, and rightfully so.  I don’t for a second believe this was the fault of Terry Francona.  The issue starts with management, and is reflected in the bloated payroll of the club.  We’ve now got a massive payroll, aging players of suspect  durability, and no clear vision going forward.

    Find the problems and fix them now. We, the fans have a limited tolerance of multi-millionaires who fail.  We made you guys, and you damn well owe us better than you gave this year.

    Here’s a hint: stop with the excuses and own your shame guys.

     

     

  • Widgets – The Special Sauce for Android

    Since January I’ve been rockin’ the HTC Evo 4g after being a long term iPhone user thanks to a ludicrous encounter with AT&T’s braindead customer service team.  In that time, I’ve found the Android experience to be a great one, and in many ways, it’s an improvement over the old iPhone.  I finally pinned down the primary reason the other day:  widgets.

    You see widgets on the Android phone allow me to put the information I want to see right there on my phone’s display.  I don’t need to load an app to get at the info.  I can get a feed of what’s happening with my friends on Facebook, or from Twitter, or from all my social media.  Or perhaps I want to see, at a glance, what’s happening with the Red Sox.  My MLB At Bat app has a widget that lets me see the score of the game without loading the app.

    That’s it: the information I want where I want it, vs. having to load an app to get at it.  Instead of looking like every other phone, my phone now has the information I want, where I want it, vs. having it locked up inside an app.  The information comes to me rather than me having to go and get it…

    Strange that Apple hasn’t seen fit to provide this level of customization for it’s users…

  • The Forgotten 404 Page

    There’s a page on your site that never gets any love.  You don’t really spend time thinking about it, your readers hate it when they see it and Google dings you for search if you don’t have it set up correctly.  The lowly 404 page…

    Admit it, you probably don’t even know what yours looks like.  Why should you?  You setup everything right on the site, then no one should ever see it.

    Wrong…no matter how well you run your site, someone will end up seeing your 404 page.  At that point, you can either give them a fighting chance to find what they want, or you can annoy them and send them running for the hinterlands, never to return.

    Some serious 404 sins:

    • ‘We don’t need no 404’ – Redirect to another page on your site, but don’t tell the user it’s a 404.  Leave them wondering what the heck happened. This tells the customer you think you know better than they do.  Users love that…
    • ‘Show them the laundry’ – give them some error code and tell them to email it to the system adminstrator, who will promptly ignore it.  Nothing says ‘we’re clueless’ better than asking your users to forward 600 lines of “stack trace message” to the “admin”.
    • ‘You have reached the end of the Internet‘ – give them a cute, funny error, but no other option.  They’ll laugh, while they’re typing in the url for your competitor.
    • ‘Nah Nah Nah, you can’t find it‘ – Tell them the paqe they aren’t looking for isn’t there, and nothing else.  Give them no options and they’ll find one…that doesn’t involve you.

    It gets better.  Google has serious issues with sites that implement their 404 pages incorrectly.  Here are their guidelines…

    So what should your 404 page be?  Think of it as an intermediate stop for the wayward traveler.  You need to be there, with something warm and inviting to help them find their way.  Think of the it as the “Chamber of Commerce” page for your site.

    • Provide a clear message – “Sorry, the page you are looking for doesn’t exist.  Maybe we moved it…”
    • Provide a solution – “You might find what you need in our search engine, or possibly in the other links we’ve provided below.”
    • If all else fails, let them contact you – Perhaps I’m old school, but I believe their should always be an email address associated with a website.  If you’re really worried about getting spammed, have them send to you via a contact us form that has anti-spam measures in place.

    WordPress gets it…their latest default theme has most of this built in.  Take a look at my 404 page, by going here.  It is the stock page, with the exception of the gremlin image I added courtesy of our friends at TheOatmeal.com.So what am I missing…what else would the perfect 404 page have?  You know where the comments form is…

  • Gone in 60 Seconds – Survival at Sea Edition

    I saw the video on the news the other night of these guys who’s boat sank and one was able to film the entire episode with his helmet cam.  It was truly scary stuff for any boater, but for me, having been through the same ordeal, it was utterly terrifying.

    Many of you may have heard the story, perhaps told glibly after a few too many beers.  The truth is, that’s generally the only way I can tell it.

    [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4iBoL-KxS8[/youtube]

    On August 14, 2005 at 1:00 pm in the afternoon in 2-3 foot seas off Sakonnet Point in Rhode Island, while fishing for tuna in my boat, I turned to see a monster wave that had appeared out of no where.  The boat filled with water when the wave broke over the stern and in about 60 seconds, my companion Jacob Kasper and myself were in the water.  No distress call, and suddenly our safety gear, all of it was now under water.  You can read the full story, as well as  a long thread about the incident at Reel-Time.com .

    What you don’t get from the video is the sense of dread right after the boat sinks, that feeling that happens when you realize this one, cold, hard fact: at this moment of time, no one knows you are in trouble and no one is coming to help.  You’re on your own.

    In the coming weeks after the event, I realized how backwards most boaters are on safety gear.  Yes, perhaps they have it all, but can they really get it if they need it?  If you’ve got a 35′ sportfisherman, the last place you want to go is up to the anchor compartment to get your crash bag as the boat sinks.

    Here are some tips that every boater should use to be prepared should things go horribly wrong:

    • Have the right safety gear, and have it accessible from the cockpit.
    • Remember that the number of flares you’re required is a minimum.  That number is low.  Carry more…both handhelds and rounds for your gun.
    • Before the boat leaves the dock, give everyone the airline safety speech:
      • The life jackets are here…
      • The flare kit is here…
      • The radio is here.  On top of it are written instructions about how to contact the Coast Guard…
      • Anything else someone might need to know about your boat in the case of emergency.
    • Carry a handheld, waterproof radio on your body, and attached by a lanyard.  This may be the single most important piece of gear besides your life preserver.
    • Make sure you have a life preserver close by.  I usually sit on a seat cushion type so I know right where mine is at all times.

    My congratulations go out to both the boaters who were fished out, as well as the captain and crew of the Patience who rescued them.

    A couple of other things to consider:

    • Have you taken a Power Squadron boating course?  If not, you ought to.  I consider it a requirement for stepping behind the helm, and have always encouraged my crew to take it.
    • Sobering thought: do you realize how few boaters actively monitor channel 16, the distress channel?  Do you?
    • How would you pull a disabled boater out of the water?  This is a huge problem, and many of us have never, ever considered it.  Especially on big boats…

    Be safe out there…

  • WordPress Scalability

    I know why I turn off many of the “tech experts” and “internet celebrities” – they’re wrong so often it makes my head spin.  Take Chris Pirillo today on Google + pitching Tiki as a CMS, as an alternative to WordPress or MediaWiki.

    The statement as to why he doesn’t like WordPress was very plain: “it doesn’t scale”.

    Bullshit on that I say!  It most certainly does scale and I’ve proven that over the years.  Geek.com alone used to withstand regular slashdottings, trips to the Digg homepage, etc.   The site regularly took massive traffic, although it was a long learning process to get there.

    Here is what you need to know to make WordPress scale:

    • To truly scale on epic levels, you’ll need to have the ability to cluster webservers, cluster databases, etc.  Few sites really need that level of hardware, but some will.  If you do, you’ll need to drop your uploads on a common mounted drive, then use a CDN to distribute the images so you don’t really create a single point of failure.
    • You need to install and use the Super Cache plugin.
    • For massive sites, with lots of commenting, use HyperDB to separate your reads and writes.
    • Plugins: for the love of screaming monkeys, stick to only a handful of known, scalable, plugins.  Avoid anything that’s going to hit your DB every single time someone loads a page.  Also make sure the plugin obeys Super Cache.
    • Actually turn on Super Cache…really.
    • If you’re getting hammered by a traffic spike, turn on Super Cache lock down mode.
    • The real truth about WordPress scalability is this: most people don’t have hosting accounts that allow them to get traffic on this level.  Often the host will shut them down for bandwidth abuse, or simply throttle them, making it seem the system isn’t scaling.
    So let’s review – scalability issue in WordPress come down to three things usually:
    • Issues with the host
    • Poor server setup
    • WordPress plugins
    If you need more specifics, catch me on G+ or email me and I’ll be happy to help.

  • America at a Crossroads – Death of Privacy and the Rise of the Machine

    We live at a critical juncture in history.

    Technology has reached a point where it is not only tool which we use to control the world around us, it is now potentially becoming a way for the world to control us.

    Yes, I sound like I should be wearing a tinfoil hat as I write this.  But the truth is that right now, in Massachusetts we have the state police actively scanning the cars on our highways for wants, warrants, parking tickets, everything, automatically, without probable cause.

    The computerized scanners, known as Automatic License Plate Recognition devices, instantly check for police alerts, warrants, traffic violations and parking tickets, which cops say could be an invaluable tool in thwarting crime. (Boston Herald – 7/21/2011 – as linked above)

    When I posted this to Facebook the other day, I had three separate friends report that they had either been stopped by the police based on this information, or had friends who had been.

    Indeed, it’s a wonderful technology for the police, but unfortunately the potential for abuse is simply too great.  The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has already taken the first step over the line, by attempting to create a database of where and when every license plate has been seen by a scanner, regardless of whether that plate was the subject of a warrant or not.

    Civil libertarians are raising the alarm over the state’s plans to create a Big Brother database that could map drivers’ whereabouts with police cruiser-mounted scanners that capture thousands of license plates per hour. (Boston Herald – 7/21/2011 – as linked above)

    This is just the tip of the iceberg.  Last month a Newton man was denied a drivers license when the state ran his license through Federal Government facial recognition software and he was identified, incorrectly, as someone else.

    And apparently, he has company. Last year, the facial recognition system picked out more than 1,000 cases that resulted in State Police investigations, officials say. And some of those people are guilty of nothing more than looking like someone else. Not all go through the long process that Gass says he endured, but each must visit the Registry with proof of their identity. (Boston Globe article 7/17/2011 as linked above)

    That’s just the start.  In September, police forces across the country, MA included, will begin to use handheld facial recognition systems.

    The rollout has raised concerns among some privacy advocates about the potential for misuse. A fundamental question is whether or not using the device in certain ways would constitute a “search” that requires a warrant. Courts haven’t decided the issue.

    It is generally legal for anyone with a camera, including the police, to take pictures of people freely passing through a public space. (One exception: Some courts have limited video surveillance of political protests, saying it violates demonstrators’ First Amendment rights.) (Wall Street Journal – 7/13/2011 as linked above).

    Current versions require them to snap a pic from within 5 feet, but we can expect that envelope to increase.  Will they begin actively scanning faces for potential malefactors?  What is to keep them from scanning everyone entering a large sports event such as the Super Bowl?

    Lump in the privacy concerns that are created by Google and Facebook storing as much information as they can possibly grab via tracking cookies, etc, and it’s beginning to look like a guy (or gal) can’t get a break.

    As has so often been the case in the last decade, the argument for these services comes down to combating potential terrorism.  Think about the arguments that were made for the Patriot Act – that it was a necessary for fighting terrorism.  However, in practice, it has primarily been used as a tool in drug and organized crime prosecutions.

    The truth, to me, is that these tools are simply to easy to abuse.  We cannot allow our government and police to use them against us.

    Choose now…do you want an America with the freedom your parents had, or do you want to live in a police state where literally everything you do is watched and recorded.  Because that is exactly what these systems do, and I fear that unchecked, this ends up like so many bad sci fi movies…

  • Welcome to the “Leper Colony”

    Google + and Facebook both present an interesting question to us eventually; what do we do when we are asked to (or already have) friend someone we’d really rather not have amongst our friends.

    Blocking a user is rather extreme, and often, I don’t want to take the chance that someone might find out I blocked them. Often I have trouble with people who are too verbose, posting 30 tech articles a day that I have no interest in reading.  Other times I friend people I haven’t seen in 20 years, and the first post I get is “Check out this deal!” (and so is the second, third and fourth…).  Then again, there are the folks who send endless Farmville or Mafiawars requests.

    Here is how to remove that stuff so you never see it again, and how you can do it without annoying someone who you might actually need to deal with again in the real world.

    Removing Mafiawars and Farmville Requests
    1. The next time you get a request from one of these (or any other app that posts directly to a Facebook wall) click in the main field of the message.
    2. You will see a gray box appear at the right side of the post.  Click that.
    3. Select “hide all by <Mafiawars, Farmville or whatever app you want to remove> (or just hide the user)

      The application to remove would be Fan Appz (Sorry, I've had FV and MW blocked so long, I can't easily get a picture of how to remove them)

    The Leper Colony

    If you don’t mind the offending user seeing some of your posts in Google + you can create a “Leper Colony” list/circle.  This works very nicely to allow you to block certain users from seeing certain posts, looking at your photos, etc.

    In Google +:
    1. Go to circles
    2. Create a circle called “Leper Colony” or something like “Unknown”
    3. Drag and drop offending users into that circle.  Do not leave them in any other circles.
    4. Now they will only see public posts…so be careful what you post publicly.
    Facebook:

    While Facebook used to support privacy rights by friends lists (the sublists you can create from your “manage friends” page, I was surprised to find that this feature has gone away.  You can either “hide <username>” as outline in the Mafiawars section above, or you will need to block them.  Way to go Facebook…changing privacy settings…again, without letting me know.

    The Golden Rule

    The big thing with all social media is this:  never, ever, rely on the systems privacy settings.  If you don’t want someone to see something, then you better not post it.  Ever…

    Think of it this way: Google has a very, very long memory.  Even of the stuff you’ve deleted.  Merely sanitizing your own Facebook profile or Google + account before you fire off that resume for that dream position at Acme Inc. doesn’t mean they won’t find those pictures of you doing belly shots off an Asian Hooker when you were college.  What happens in Vegas will most certainly dog you all your days if your boneheaded frat bro tags you in a pic that shows you wearing a diaper and drinking been our of a baby bottle during initiation.

     

  • How to know your Web Designer Isn’t…

    I’ve had the opportunity over the years to work with some real first class web designers. People like Mark Hentschel, Jill Cole and Bill Hall, just to name a few.  Unfortunately, there have also been a bunch on the other side who’ve billed themselves as web designers and weren’t…so here’s a list off the warning signs that you’re dealing with a web designer who isn’t a web designer.

    • The design arrives as a flat jpg image that looks like it’s covered in Vaseline.
    • Colors are specified using the Pantone chart.
    • Sizes are specified as Picas.
    • Better yet, there’s no sizes, font info, color info or anything.  They just keep saying “make it look like the picture.”
    Every print designer in the world will tell you they can design for the web.  The truth is, the two are vastly different. I’ve vowed that I will never again accept a job where I have to work with a non-professional web designer.  Life is too short to play “swap the pixel” with a moron who’s learning on the job at my expense.
    If you are a designer, and you want to get the best result, you should really consider providing at the very least:
    Better yet, at this point, a web designer should really be able to deliver a fully functional html/javascript front end with css to which I can hook my stuff up to. That way you’re sure to get what you envisioned.
    I swear, the next time I hear “maybe if we made the font a couple picas larger” I will go postal.

  • Thoughts on Google + After Limited Use

    Okay, I’ve used Google + for a couple days now which makes me utterly qualified to render summary judgement on it.

    I like it.  At least enough that I’ll keep using it for the short term.  I think it quite possibly will bridge the gaps between the public stream which I use Twitter for, meatspace friends who I keep on Facebook and the working world which I avoid on LinkedIn.  Here I can have them all and keep them segregated in circles, allowing me to keep the Tech Gurus from filling my steam with their daily flood of posts (looking at you, Om…) but still allowing me to essentially aggregate their stuff for casual reading later.

    What I like:

    • Posts can be edited.  Wow, welcome to the 21st century…but this is one of those things Facebook sorely lacks.
    • Simple interface that given a little time anyone will be able to use.  Things are right where you would expect them to be.  Unlike on Facebook…
    • Sparks gives me an easy way to find content on topics I am interested in.  Totally lacking in Facebook, with it’s silos.
    • I can finally create a group for sports teams so I only send my stuff when I’m game tweeting to them.  That ought to please Matt B.
    What I don’t like:
    • When G+ makes friend suggestions, it’s merely listing anyone I followed on Buzz or showing me anyone I ever emailed from my gmail account.  That’s lame.  I mean, suggesting I friend the complaint department at Sears?How about analyzing my circles and finding the commonality and making suggestions based on that?
    •  It’s yet another place to connect with the same people.  Time will tell if the real folks make it over.  I’m hoping they will.
    • I’d like to be able to change my default stream circle from all my friends to just my friends circle.  My tech circle will turn the stream into a cesspool if I let it…
    Give it a try and let me know what you think.