Category: Design

the device is designed to be used in the same way as a tampon… This is then inserted by the woman. When the rapist attacks the woman and penetration takes place, the point of his penis will touch the section containing the blade and it (the penis), or at least a part of it, is sliced off.”

I can’t decide if this is entirely justifiable. I imagine that it is, but perhaps a dibilitating electric shock is more in order than a severance. A woman quoted in the article says something to the effect of this device being another precaution the woman has to take, and that any man who rapes should go to prison, end of story. While this is true, I can certainly see the allure an item like this might have to a woman who finds herself in uncomfortable circumstances. Would there be a risk of worse beating, even death, if this were to happen to one man in a group, and the rest decide teach the woman a lesson? I’m not sure… Another thing: Is this item really all that realistic? A woman doesn’t leave the house (I’m expecting) with the possibilty of rape on her mind, let alone the foresight to insert this before going to a party. Maybe more women should think that way. Someone is going to take that sentence the wrong way… All I’m saying is that this device puts the power back in the hands (in a matter of speaking) to the woman. At the risk of sounding like a new-age sensitive man, that’s something I’m all for.

I can’t scream this loud enough: FUCK INTUIT! FUCK WEBTURBOTAX. Fuck ’em all. Here’s what those jerks have done to me:

Two years ago, TurboTax for the Web worked perfect for me. I got my refund from both state and federal in under 2 weeks, and because of my low income then, I didn’t even have to pay for the service. Last year, my employer paid their accountant to do a number of the employees’ taxes. So this year, with perks like a low income and a free tax accountant gone, I figured I’d go back to TurboTax and get it done quickly and easily on the web, complete with electronic filing and refunding. I expected the same service and mediocre interface they had two years ago. This wasn’t the case, on both counts. Fortunately, the interface has gotten much better, and the Java app is much more responsive. Great, wonderful, grand. Their service, on the other hand, has gone to shit.

When I completed my taxes over two weeks ago, I made a mistake: I entered in my wife’s birthday wrong, something I often do. I got an email telling me that the IRS had responded to my electronic transmission, and that I could log in to my account, and see what the status was. It was rejected due to -surprise- the wrong birthdate entered in for the secondary filer. So I fixed that, and resubmitted. Couple days later, I get another email, telling me to check the website again. So I did, and this time, what was the problem? Apparently her social security number was wrong, as well as her birthdate, still. So I check all the sections pertaining to birthdates and social security numbers. Everything matches what’s on her W-2 perfectly. So I wait a few days, figuring I’d let the database get updated or whatever, and resubmit. Same fucking result.

So I check the help sections, and find a section that seems to be what I’m looking for: ‘What if my federal return gets rejected due to a wrong SSN, but I know that it’s right?’ Perfect. What’s their answer? Call the SSA, and verify that they have the correct records. Okay, so I call the 800 number. First call, I get shuffled randomly into finding information about my local office. When I enter in my zipcode, they tell me that they can’t find an office, and to CALL BACK. So I do. Second call, totally different message, and I get put on hold, then hung up on. Third call, same thing. Fourth call, they tell me to call back on a regular business day between the hours of 7am and 7pm.. the only place where it isn’t between those hours is in fucking Hawaii at this point in the day.

So I figure I need to just redo the whole thing by hand. So I call Intuit looking for a refund. First of all, their site says that their support is entirely web-based (web-based help I have like zero confindence in), and that their support costs a certain amount of money PER MINUTE. So I search their web-based help, and there’s a hidden number if you’re looking for a refund. So I call, and after 24 minutes of being on hold, some jerk is trying to tell me that it’s a problem with my ISP’s server and some damn thing with cookies… Don’t try to tell a web designer how the fucking internet works. So I have to PRINT out my return, and mail it, because my ISP’s server is in some sort of loop, and keeps sending the same return over and over again. Fuck those guys, fuck that shit.

I’m one of the biggest web proponents you’ll meet… if it’s web-based, I’ll try it. But it’s this kind of thing that is holding the web back right now.. servers going into loops and poorly designed systems that fail. Like EK at SVN says, the technology should be transparent to the customer.. I shouldn’t have to print out a form that I was expecting to submit electronically just because some dude’s server ain’t working right. If I’m a 40-year old mechanic, how am I supposed to understand cookies and server loops? All I know is that I was told by my son that the web is the future, and that I should file electronically this year. Well screw that and this whole web thing. I can walk down the block to buy a book, and can do my taxes in my kitchen in one night, not three weeks on the web.

Jen has posted a rant on why designers should know the code (HTML, at least…. we’re not talking about Cold Fusion or PHP here) that builds their site designs. Interesting, and I’m always one to advocate that designers know what their designs need in order to function.

This is the last thing anyone needs. It’s called ActionBars, and it’s a GUI-driven application that writes what seems to be a Java applet for navigation on websites, complete with SOUND and rollover and clicked states. Like it was so hard to do in Flash, and like ANY site really needs it, especially using pre-defined color schemes, designs and soundsets. Wonder-fucking-ful. More power to the sub-par designer with no skill or knowledge of the internet. Maybe they should just bundle it with a Photoshop filter package.

Finally, to illustrate the importance for all designers to stick to HTML standards and conventions, Nielsen points to the omnipresent traffic light: “To my knowledge, there is no international standard that red means stop and green means go. But can you imagine what would happen at an intersection if someone decided to change that color convention on their own?

Yeah, great analogy, Jakob… only… to my knowledge, no one has ever DIED because of BAD WEB DESIGN. Jesus.

An open letter from K10k to ‘CEOs of any media companies that are still (barely) alive:

Dear Mr. Bigwig CEO,

We know that your company is going through a hard time right now. We know that it seems like the end is near, and that truly nasty and drastic measures are being considered.

We know that you have probably been forced to fire some of your employees already, and that perhaps you’ll need to fire some more before you can make it back onto the road to profitability.

However, have you ever stopped to consider who it is you are actually firing? Yes, you’re firing production people – the people who helped build your company, who sweated blood & tears & other bodily fluids on super-late-night, we-love-the-company deadlines. You’re firing the backbone of the company – which is pretty damn stupid if you ever want to get back on your feet.

So take a step back – re-evaluate those layoff plans, and start cutting jobs in those sectors that sound oh-so-good when you’re a big company, but that in reality doesn’t do anything but provide a massive drain on company resources (and employee morale). You know who we mean, don’t you? If not, let us spell it out for you:

– Human Resources (no more employee handbooks)

– Project Management (i think we can handle it ourselves,
thank you very much)

– Middle Management (an end to the evil pointy-haired
micro-managing nazis)

– Senior Management (do you really need 6 senior VP’s who know even less about the internet that you do?)

– Anybody who has anything to do with team-building exercises (let’s hold hands – and sing – and perform for each other!)

– Anybody who has anything to do with quality control

That should do the trick. And might also convince the few remaining employees to give your company another chance.

You’re welcome.

Sincerely,
michael + toke + per / K10k”

Just about hit the nail on the head, as far as I’m concerned… If they hired the right people to do the production/design, QA & project management and everybody else on that list aren’t needed.

So I’ve officially entered the 5k contest… Don’t know what that is? It’s this contest for web developers/designers to design and code an HTML page or site wherein the files used do not surpass the filesize of 5k. The rules are a little more complicated than that, but hey. So check out my amended entry… What did I change about it? You can see the original if you are so inclined. The original was 12k, so I had to scale it down just a tad.

My description of it:

This page is a relatively vague and subtle comment on the pervasive nature of not only the internet, but the internet’s chief language: HTML. I felt the need to express myself as an artist, and coding a particular uneventful day (one that did in fact exist) seemed to be a good idea. I had to scale the code down a touch to fit under the 5k margin.