Sometimes when we're using computers a lot we can forget we're dealing with a real person on the other end.
Showing posts with label perspective. Show all posts
Showing posts with label perspective. Show all posts
Wednesday, 21 March 2012
Sunday, 19 December 2010
Blogger is better!
If you've been considering using a free blog service you really can't go past Blogger. I've been toying with the idea of setting up this blog in wordpress.com but after some consideration I've decided in favour of Blogger, specifically, Blogger in Draft.
The final look of a blog is what draws readers in. Simplicity and an uncluttered look are inviting. Widgets on the side add interest without looking too busy. I like to add side widgets with things that interest me and, hopefully, will interest others. Blogger allows me to add widgets using java script but Wordpress doesn't allow this at all, as a security precaution. While I see their point of view, I think this is very limiting. I can add all sorts of interesting side widgets in Blogger but without these Wordpress looks too boring.
Another thing I like also to include is a blog roll of things I like to read. Wordpress gives me a widget to add a blog roll but fails to allow me to add a blog title or snippets of text (which I don't use, but some might like to) in order to tweak the readers' interest. It gives me a title "Blog Roll" and the website link. I can add a description which you can see if you hover over the link. Well, really, I can't be bothered with that when I can get a whole lot more with Blogger and with far less effort!
In Blogger you have a wonderfully wide choice of backgrounds and can change fonts and colours of fonts quite easily in the design view in Blogger in Draft. Also, posts are saved automatically in draft every few minutes - I hardly every have to do it manually. And, one final plus, the post writing window is much bigger, giving you a better view of the finished product. Wordpress' tiny little composing window can be changed to full screen but in order to save it you need to go back to the small window.
Give me Blogger any time! :)
The final look of a blog is what draws readers in. Simplicity and an uncluttered look are inviting. Widgets on the side add interest without looking too busy. I like to add side widgets with things that interest me and, hopefully, will interest others. Blogger allows me to add widgets using java script but Wordpress doesn't allow this at all, as a security precaution. While I see their point of view, I think this is very limiting. I can add all sorts of interesting side widgets in Blogger but without these Wordpress looks too boring.
Another thing I like also to include is a blog roll of things I like to read. Wordpress gives me a widget to add a blog roll but fails to allow me to add a blog title or snippets of text (which I don't use, but some might like to) in order to tweak the readers' interest. It gives me a title "Blog Roll" and the website link. I can add a description which you can see if you hover over the link. Well, really, I can't be bothered with that when I can get a whole lot more with Blogger and with far less effort!
In Blogger you have a wonderfully wide choice of backgrounds and can change fonts and colours of fonts quite easily in the design view in Blogger in Draft. Also, posts are saved automatically in draft every few minutes - I hardly every have to do it manually. And, one final plus, the post writing window is much bigger, giving you a better view of the finished product. Wordpress' tiny little composing window can be changed to full screen but in order to save it you need to go back to the small window.
Give me Blogger any time! :)
Wednesday, 23 June 2010
Those awful vuvuzelas
I recently came across this wonderfully satirical 'news' article:
Spontaneous high-caliber soccer games have thus far plagued every orchestral vuvuzela performance of the season, which opened June 11 at Cape Town Stadium. As musicians took their places in the stands and began warming up for the evening's performance of lighter pieces by post-minimalist composers, they noticed the audience was not sitting in its traditional place in the stadium's central area.
As the Philharmonic learned later, its only spectators were the national football sides of France and Uruguay, who played to a 0-0 tie as the frustrated vuvuzela virtuosi played a full program of concerti written for the distinctive straight plastic horn.
"A virtually empty house is highly unusual in a vuvuzela-mad nation such as South Africa," said first-chair vuvuzela player Moses Mtegume, who is known as the "Father of the Vuvuzela" and considered a national treasure. "And because concerts are held in the round—the better to appreciate the sonorous tonality of the massed instruments—a performer gets a sense of the crowd early."
"It doesn't even seem like these football players are paying attention to us," Mtegume added. "In fact, I would go so far as to say they are trying to ignore us."
The following days, during which a string of large-scale vuvuzela performances were held, saw the unusual events repeat in Johnnesburg, Durban, Pretoria, and Port Elizabeth as audience after audience was driven away by FIFA national football teams. As a result, the South Africa Vuvzela Philharmonic, which is supported solely by money from ticket sales, has suffered staggering losses financially. And the musicians, many of whom trained for years and underwent a harrowing audition process to earn one of the orchestra's 50,000 seats, said the biggest blow was to their professional pride.
"Do you know how difficult it is to get everyone situated, tuned, and focused for a vuvuzela concert?" said Juilliard-trained vuvuzelist Donald Frederick Gordon, a noted soloist and renowned performer whose boyhood dream of playing vuvuzela in every stadium in South Africa is now at risk. "These brash, inconsiderate outbursts of impromptu athletics have made us a laughingstock of the international music community. We have already had cancellations from the Vienna Boy's Choir and guest director Seiji Ozawa, who no doubt fear for their reputation should the Philharmonic continue to be mocked by these incongruous sportsmen." Read more
South African Vuvuzela Philharmonic Angered By Soccer Games Breaking Out During Concerts.
JOHANNESBURG—Members of the South Africa Vuvuzela Philharmonic Orchestra, widely considered to be among the best large-scale monotonic wind instrument ensembles in the world, told reporters Friday they were furious over the recent outbreaks of international soccer matches during their traditional outdoor concerts.
"I cannot imagine what is getting into these football teams that they would suddenly begin full-scale international competition just when we are beginning our 2010 concert series," said Dr. Stefan Coetzee, the Philharmonic's program and concert director. "It is disrespectful to the performers, it is disrespectful to the music itself, and by extension, it is disrespectful to the great nation of South Africa."
Spontaneous high-caliber soccer games have thus far plagued every orchestral vuvuzela performance of the season, which opened June 11 at Cape Town Stadium. As musicians took their places in the stands and began warming up for the evening's performance of lighter pieces by post-minimalist composers, they noticed the audience was not sitting in its traditional place in the stadium's central area.
As the Philharmonic learned later, its only spectators were the national football sides of France and Uruguay, who played to a 0-0 tie as the frustrated vuvuzela virtuosi played a full program of concerti written for the distinctive straight plastic horn.
"A virtually empty house is highly unusual in a vuvuzela-mad nation such as South Africa," said first-chair vuvuzela player Moses Mtegume, who is known as the "Father of the Vuvuzela" and considered a national treasure. "And because concerts are held in the round—the better to appreciate the sonorous tonality of the massed instruments—a performer gets a sense of the crowd early."
"It doesn't even seem like these football players are paying attention to us," Mtegume added. "In fact, I would go so far as to say they are trying to ignore us."
The following days, during which a string of large-scale vuvuzela performances were held, saw the unusual events repeat in Johnnesburg, Durban, Pretoria, and Port Elizabeth as audience after audience was driven away by FIFA national football teams. As a result, the South Africa Vuvzela Philharmonic, which is supported solely by money from ticket sales, has suffered staggering losses financially. And the musicians, many of whom trained for years and underwent a harrowing audition process to earn one of the orchestra's 50,000 seats, said the biggest blow was to their professional pride.
"Do you know how difficult it is to get everyone situated, tuned, and focused for a vuvuzela concert?" said Juilliard-trained vuvuzelist Donald Frederick Gordon, a noted soloist and renowned performer whose boyhood dream of playing vuvuzela in every stadium in South Africa is now at risk. "These brash, inconsiderate outbursts of impromptu athletics have made us a laughingstock of the international music community. We have already had cancellations from the Vienna Boy's Choir and guest director Seiji Ozawa, who no doubt fear for their reputation should the Philharmonic continue to be mocked by these incongruous sportsmen." Read more
Wednesday, 31 March 2010
Every Moment is Precious
To realise the value of one month, ask a mother who has given birth to a premature baby.
To realise the value of one week, ask an editor of a weekly newspaper.
To realise the value of one day, ask a daily wage labourer who has ten kids to feed.
To realise the value of one hour, ask the parent whose child is late.
To realise the value of one minute, ask a person who has missed the train.
To realise the value of one second, ask a person who has survived an accident.
To realise the value of one millisecond, ask a person who has won a silver medal at the Olympics.
To realise the value of one nanosecond, ask the person who has just missed the Rapture!
Time is special. Treasure every moment that you have. Make the most of every moment you are given!
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