Disqus - Latest Comments for thePuck

Re: Old school writing (by hand) | Broadcasting Brain

thePuck — Thu, 07 May 2009 14:24:08 -0000

Meh...when I was young I skated a lot (skateboarding, not roller) and messed up my wrists because I couldn't stop sticking my hands out when I fell. Eventually I gave it up because of guitar, but it bothers me after about 10 minutes of writing longhand and quickly my whole hand and wrist is burning/aching and getting stiff. Was a real problem in college on blue-book exams. (Philo majors have to write a lot, wasn't as bad in math).

Re: Hedge Fund Resume Writing Tips

thePuck — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:46:59 -0000

Glad you liked it, Michael!

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/04/10-people-to-follow-on-friendfeed-for.html

thePuck — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:36:30 -0000

I have to say I am always really impressed with what Meryn has to say. The others were great choices, too, but Meryn has been impressing me a lot lately.

Re: Retweet is stupid (Scripting News)

thePuck — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 18:27:08 -0000

Now THIS I agree with. The retweet is definitely just voting.

Re: Generation X, Y, Sarah Perez and here we go again?

thePuck — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 19:21:08 -0000

I dunno how I feel about these generational divides. So much of it seems arbitrary. I was born 1977, have been on computers since I was little, started coding when I was 10, and have all the personality traits ascribed to a Y, not an X, although I do have a taste for the grunge music popular during my mid-teens. In general, I think it's more about where your head is at than your cells. Look at Howard Rheingold...he is definitely older (his daughter grew up with my wife, for example) but also definitely "gets it". Then there is one of my clients...who is a couple years younger than me and can't manage IM and replies to emails days later.

Re: How to Get Recognized in Social Media

thePuck — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:20:50 -0000

Great post, Brett, you named some great people as examples and clearly stated some of the standards the web holds people to.

Re: Are You a Brand Loyalist?

thePuck — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 21:34:15 -0000

Good post, Mattie. I think that things like brand loyalty are a way that we have dealt with, as a couple generations now, being the target of so much marketing. We have adapted, forcing the companies to obey us by trading on our own brand loyalty. Think about how the world has gotten in such a short time...it has happened because those with the largest and strongest demographic decided we would speak with our dollars, forcing our aesthetics and ideals into the mainstream.

Anyway, good stuff. :)

Re: I used to say, "I make cameos in people's lives. Right now I'm on hiatus." Well, I'm done with cameos. I want to be a featured player.

thePuck — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 04:38:03 -0000

That's funny. I have been saying for years that I don't want to be a bit part, I want to have lines.

Re: 7 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Me…

thePuck — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 16:12:37 -0000

Neat...empathy is a good thing, even when it can be overwhelming. Oh, and the name is Jansons :p

Re: Content creation and the computing platform you use | Broadcasting Brain

thePuck — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 08:53:15 -0000

1. Both (and Linux). Main box is a Mac and vastly prefer to live there. My laptop and my wife's box are windows, and the house's server is Linux (Debian, headless). If we want to get into geek identity politics, I'm a Mac.

2. Yes. Professionally I am a freelance writer who focuses on new media, such as game content, blogging, copywriting, and SEO. Before that I was in college, before that I owned a bookstore, and before that I worked in IT (ran a NOC for market research company). I am seriously considering trying to get on full-time with a marketing agency. Amateurishly, I play and write music.

3. I am a geek and love a good project, but I got sick of my windows and linux machines being a project when I just needed them to work, so I switched to the top-end iMac and never looked back. I much prefer the integration of all the different apps and the overall consistency of the experience. My productivity increased massively when I switched because I was no longer arguing with my machine. While my Mac is not perfect, it is damn close. I also like having a fully functional desktop that gives me Unix underneath for that sexy combination of form and function.

4. Switch back? No, not in the foreseeable future. Unless one of the relevant OSs really changed direction, there would be no purpose.

5. Microsoft would have to have a massive shift in the way they both build software and how that software interacts with hardware. I want a consistent user experience that allows me to do the things I want to do easily and functionally with as little friction as possible. I do not want to have to "tweak" things anymore to get basic functionality. When I want to do that I can go play with a linux box. My Mac allows me to engage in every aspect of my normal online life with very, very little friction, and that is why I like it. Microsoft has never seemed quite able to manage that, and I don't think they will anytime soon.

6. Well, I am not ambivalent but I am not a blind fan, either. Apple earned my fandom, and if they lost it through some changes, or Microsoft won it, then I would switch.

Re: Never Get Down - Whatever happened to that little bastard from Problem Child?

thePuck — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 12:12:48 -0000

That's funny, he looks like a guy I grew up with.

Re: Indonesian State wants to tag AIDS patients with RFID tags

thePuck — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 02:07:05 -0000

I don't think it's a bad idea to start having penalties for people knowingly infecting people with AIDS or any other terminal or likely to be terminal illness. It's negligent homicide, or at least manslaughter. I don't know exactly how RFID tags will help track that, though.

Re: Chris Brogan’s Advice to Me

thePuck — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 21:57:31 -0000

I'm glad you liked my post, I hope something in there helps you get established.

Re: Someone isn't happy about Obama making nice with Hillary

thePuck — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:36:50 -0000

Then I guess that's what's wrong with politics...when lies, manipulation, and fearmongering are "just politics", we are on a poor road. We should demand a higher ethics from our leaders than ourselves because of the power they wield, not a lesser one. I wouldn't hire someone I knew was a liar and manipulator who will drop any pretense of ethics when it suits their agenda to sweep my floor, much less help govern a nation. Why are our ethical demands of our leaders less than those of average people?

Re: Someone isn't happy about Obama making nice with Hillary

thePuck — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:20:19 -0000

I'm sorry, what about "get over it" is a compelling argument? She showed what kind of person she is, like we all do when the chips are down; why exactly should we ignore her unethical behavior now? She showed how she is willing to play to get her way, and that is not a person who should be in government at all. Culpability and social accountability is the only means we have of confronting and censuring such behavior.

P.S. "Get over it" is what the Prop. 8 supporters keep saying as well...what about this is a compelling argument? It's like Family Guy, where the strongest rhetorical device is just saying "C'mon" or "9/11" over and over. "Get over it" is not an argument, it's an attempt to avoid, discredit, and devalue valid arguments from the other side by acting like they are ridiculous.

Re: Twitter is the new weblog | Broadcasting Brain

thePuck — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 09:03:09 -0000

Oh, of course, and I do get involved in the community, I am a chatter, not just a microblogger. I use it for both. But I understand the people who just use it like a blog, without the chatting and back-and-forth. I'm just not one of them.

Re: Twitter is the new weblog | Broadcasting Brain

thePuck — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 07:56:54 -0000

Definitely. That is one of the reason I don't have a problem with people using it just for that, and not really getting involved in the community. I definitely use microblogs as blogs, as well as for communication, though I am also currently narrowing down my web presence a bit and using FriendFeed as my primary hub.

Re: Sarah Palin on 2012 run: God will provide the answer

thePuck — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 22:19:38 -0000

Gods, even her soundbites are rambling and incoherent. If she does run in 2012, I really hope she takes a few rhetoric and public speaking classes. There might be something in there worth hearing, if it can just make its way out.

Re: You are not a personal brand – you are a character | Broadcasting Brain

thePuck — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 07:58:17 -0000

It has been my name since I was 18...and I am a huge nerd. :p

Re: You are not a personal brand – you are a character | Broadcasting Brain

thePuck — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 07:46:48 -0000

Yup, he was a member of Alpha Flight, Canada's answer to the X-Men. I prefer the version from Gargoyles, voiced by Brent Spiner. The Puck was also a character in Neil Gaiman's Sandman series. I have some great namesakes :p

Re: You are not a personal brand – you are a character | Broadcasting Brain

thePuck — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 07:23:08 -0000

I most definitely think of it like this. When I was deciding how I was going to pursue my online career, I made an active choice to use my nickname (Puck) as my starting point and build a whole theme around it, creating a "character". That was why I used "thePuck", to give it a feel like "The Batman", "The Joker", "The Green Lantern", etc. The whole jester, Midsummer Night's Dream thing falls out of that.

Re: Do you think blogging is dying? | Broadcasting Brain

thePuck — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 16:08:49 -0000

Well, yeah, I mean how can individual bloggers create content at the rate HuffPo or Techcrunch do? Other than Chris Pirillo, of course, who could make a new internet just with what he produces. And the ads and affiliates are getting out of hand, IMO. I took ads of off all my sites except for the Social Media Philosophy Project, because that needs to somehow pay for itself. I am also not accepting approaches from advertisers, because it just got spammy.

But I think individuals are able to build a different kind of following as well...people read HuffPo, but A-listers like Scoble or Darren have influence in a way that the big newspaper-style blogs don't. At least IMO they do. HuffPo I may or may not agree with or be interested in depending on the writer, but I am almost always interested in what Graywolf has to say.

Re: Do you think blogging is dying? | Broadcasting Brain

thePuck — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 15:42:50 -0000

Blogging in not dead, but it has left the realm of "personal journaling" to a certain degree. My main blog acts as a combination of marketing for my personal brand, conversion point for my freelance writing and consulting work, and an online resume and portfolio, so there are many functions besides just the normal sharing of my thoughts and knowledge. In time, I think blogs will morph into many different forms, but never die.

Re: A page full of thank yous for some great people | Broadcasting Brain

thePuck — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 10:25:52 -0000

Thanks so much for the mention, Mark! I sure am getting a lot of warm fuzzies from all the attention lately!

Re: http://michaelfruchter.com/blog/2008/11/10-people-to-follow-on-friendfeed-for-the-month-of-nov/

thePuck — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 22:49:30 -0000

Holy...hi guys, thanks for the mention! I'm really glad you like what I have to say.