Lotus Blog by Ethann Castell | Comments

IT Screen Goddess Calendar

sonja bernhardt — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 11:04:11 AM +1000

hello ethann we have announced intriguing techy geek competitions related to calendar images with placed and hidden technology items. check it out { Link }

IT Screen Goddess Calendar

sonja bernhardt — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 08:19:03 AM +1000

Hello one main aim is to show diversity of women in IT, diversity in ages, roles, hobbies, ethnicity, and body shape - so that young girls get a message that there is no ONE stereotype that works in the industry it is made up of a range of people doing an amazing range of things. It's not about 'pin up stereotypes' it has manymore dimesnations that that. A detail look at the web site explains more:-) - from sonja bernhardt screen goddess IT calednar innovator.

IT Screen Goddess Calendar

Sharon Don ( Dr NO in Screen Goddess Calendar) — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 10:01:03 PM +1000

Actually, the main objective is to raise money and awareness to support women in IT.

Cheers

Sharon

David beats Goliath !!

Sherwin Delfin — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 11:26:39 AM +1000

Congrats!

Scummy Energy Australia

Sherwin Delfin — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 01:59:13 PM +1000

Looks like David vs. Goliath to me. Good luck!

:)

Drunken Sailor

schanice — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 02:29:47 PM +1000

i think sailor has the right to go out and have fun but enough is enough!!!

Displaying Folders by default in Windows

Sihvyl — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 12:28:07 AM +1000

Thanks a lot! This is going to be a great relief...I don't see why Folders aren't displayed by default anyway; they are so much more useful then the stupid folder options.

Freakonomics Freak Out

Ethann Castell — Tue, 4 Oct 2005 10:35:25 AM +1000

Barry - thanks for the link. Bill Bennett makes a classic comment in response to a question about whether Levitt's research was accurate;

"Well, I don't think it is either, I don't think it is either, because first of all, there is just too much that you don't know".

What a great throw away line "there is just too much that you don't know". I think that you could use this in response to just about anything.

Ben - The stand-up comedian analogy is a perfect description of how I felt after reading the book.

Freakonomics Freak Out

Ben Langhinrichs — Mon, 3 Oct 2005 01:13:35 PM +1000

I agree both that it is a fascinating book and that it left me feeling somewhat dissatisfied. There were lots of interesting patterns, some patterns which seemed a bit of a stretch, but too little theme or point. I got to the end feeling like I'd be listening to a stand up comedian getting ina great string of one liners, but without anything to take away from it. A bit too much, "look how clever I am to see this point", and a bitt too little, "here's a conclusion you could draw from all this randomness".

Still, I find that a few things "stuck" with me, and maybe that is enough. Maybe. I just can't tell. I still feel like an opportunity was missed somehow.

Freakonomics Freak Out

Barry — Mon, 3 Oct 2005 12:33:05 PM +1000

And they really are Freaking Out in the US about this following an outrageous, racist comment on national radio by Bill Bennett, former Reagan administration Secretary of Education.

{ Link }

Drowning under Lotusphere presentations ?

Richard Schwartz — Mon, 3 Oct 2005 06:13:02 AM +1000

If you are accepted... practice. That's the best way to overcome the challenge of public speaking. Practice until you know your material cold. Spend time making your demos bulletproof, and write down a set of 100% repeatable setup instructions so that you can be sure that everything will be in exactly the right state at the moment that you need it. And then practice what you will do when your demos blow up on you. Practice in front of a mirror and get your timing down. Practice in front of friends. Practice in front of professional colleagues. Practice in front of a professional speaking coach -- IBM has sometimes offered to provide this, and it may be worth asking about.

Google must really like me

Ben Langhinrichs — Fri, 30 Sep 2005 02:30:05 PM +1000

I think they have something wacky with their numbers right now. They have me at 90,800, and while I may be popular...

Drowning under Lotusphere presentations ?

Ben Langhinrichs — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 04:01:16 AM +1000

A couple of tips after doing several Lotusphere presentations. First, if you pay for Lotusphere at the best rate you can get now, they will refund it if you don't get a speaker's slot. Second, they won't give you more than two sessions as a new presenter. Third, I first spoke at Lotusphere, never having spoken publicly before, and they put me in a 1000 person room (they said) and there were two overflows, but that was back when there were 10000+ people at Lotusphere. You are likely to have a much more reasonable 300 person room and you'll be just fine. I was scared to death, but I liked it so much I did new sessions for the next five years (or so). Now, I'm tired and am doing a booth instead, but I heartily recommend the sessions. It is great fun to be a speaker.

Lotus Notes - just the facts

Ethann Castell — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 07:02:01 PM +1000

That last comment is completely inappropriate :-)

Lotus Notes - just the facts

Ben Langhinrichs — Thu, 8 Sep 2005 12:00:54 PM +1000

#1: If Bob and Rocky had doubts about Notes/Domino, they would hardly go to IBM. Both have "done that" already, and both are too smart to need to go to IBM.

#2: Valid point.

#3: Forbes has done this when things were going great and when things were going horribly, so it just doesn't seem to have much to do with anything.

#4: They seem about the same here as well.

#5: Roughly 80% of the people I know who were in Notes in 2001 are still in Notes, and many are thriving. We must just run in different circles.

#6: Hmmm

#7: Tools vendor Genii Software has been thriving without having to add people.

Speiling mustakes and mixed brain hemisphere dominance

Ben Langhinrichs — Thu, 8 Sep 2005 10:25:23 AM +1000

Spelling and grammar mistakes are hard to avoid, and often require another set of eyes. I have suggested to others before that a "website review" based on the idea of a "code review" for programmers would be a good idea. A group of us could go over one website at a time and pick it apart. Of course, it would be up to the owner to choose which changes to make and which to ignore, but it would be a valuable way to catch spelling and grammar mistakes as well. In my family, we all tend to be editors, so I am pretty good at catching other people's mistakes (I counted several on your website, I'm afraid), but I am not so good at catching my own. Other people are better at UI (I am partially color blind and generally lousy with such things), while still others are good at detecting clicks to goal type numbers (how many clicks does it take a user to get what they want from the site?). I hope you get the idea. I'd be happy to participate in such an exercise, even on an informal basis.

By the way, let me know if you want me to point out the mistakes on your site that I saw. Some people appreciate it, while other people just get annoyed. I personally would rather a friend found the mistakes so I could correct them before a customer finds them and thinks less of me, but I am a bit of a perfectionist.