Disqus - Latest Comments for MarkDykeman

Re: Uncategorized – the post unleashed

MarkDykeman — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:47:10 -0000

Twitter is very good at doing a simple thing; Facebook is more like a portal to other things.

Re: Uncategorized – the post unleashed

MarkDykeman — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:17:18 -0000

In any event, you're welcome! ;-)

Re: Uncategorized – the post unleashed

MarkDykeman — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:11:59 -0000

In either case, you're welcome.

Re: Observations on social media and political issues

MarkDykeman — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:06:34 -0000

Undoubtedly taxpayers will wind up footing the bill somehow...

Re: Observations on social media and political issues

MarkDykeman — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:03:14 -0000

edwardsmith_fred: Please see my Nov. 3 update in the blog post above: Premier Graham now says that there's a potential large bill coming due for Mactaquac over the next ten years.

Re: Observations on social media and political issues

MarkDykeman — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:16:43 -0000

edwardsmith_fred:

To your point, the price tag to fix or do something with Mactaquac is unknown, so I wasn't accurate there, although I was trying to go from memory. However, as ClaudeB points out below, the dam does have problems.

As far as NB Power's debt goes, they may have paid down $1.0 billion, but they've taken on additional debt because if you check their annual reports for the past five years (which I did), the net debt is increasing, not decreasing, if you add up the figures available through 2007-2008 - I couldn't find 2008-2009's financial results.

Re: The power of social media to prevent change

MarkDykeman — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:01:59 -0000

That's a good perspective, Bill. Afterall, megaphones and microphones don't actually do anything other than transmit sound, right?

Re: The power of social media to prevent change

MarkDykeman — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 05:38:59 -0000

Thanks Pamela. I think I'm going to create a new blog for this topic. And tax hikes, although I can understand why they're necessary in some cases, are no fun.

Re: 32 Sci-Fi Novels You Should Read

Name — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 02:18:54 -0000

Dan Simmons. Read his books.

Re: The blogosphere is as real as the public in public opinon

syrimne1 — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:36:50 -0000

yeah, absolutely! I totally sympathized with the frustration, both yours and his...I feel the same way a lot myself

Re: The blogosphere is as real as the public in public opinon

MarkDykeman — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:22:45 -0000

I see what you're saying now. I see your point but I can understand some frustration over the "wishy washy" statement as well.

Re: The blogosphere is as real as the public in public opinon

syrimne1 — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 15:28:18 -0000

Oh, agreed - but the "Blogging with Integrity" folks weren't the ones I meant! And they weren't silent...instead they came out with a wishy washy statement, which isn't the same thing at all. I didn't mean to disparage his post, I just think sometimes people inadvertantly fuel phenomena simply by reacting to them...it takes more self-discipline to be silent about it, and try to populate the blogosphere with more intelligent discourse. Those who could contribute a lot sometimes seem to think they need to solve the problem by fighting it directly, and I guess I disagree that that is always the best approach.

Re: The blogosphere is as real as the public in public opinon

MarkDykeman — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 07:16:45 -0000

Perhaps there's a lot of drama there, but I think he had a valid point about the Blogging With Integrity badges and reaction of the other bloggers. It doesn't mean that the female blogger in question would need to be ostracized by her peers or community, but silence would seem to indicate a lack of will to live by the standards implied in the underlying code of conduct.

Re: Newspapers, serendipity, and the time to browse

MarkDykeman — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 12:00:58 -0000

Hah, things they never told you before you became a parent, huh?

Re: Newspapers, serendipity, and the time to browse

MarkDykeman — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 07:00:45 -0000

Great post, Chris. I commented on your blog as well. Thanks!

Re: Newspapers, serendipity, and the time to browse

MarkDykeman — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 09:11:24 -0000

Hi Glen, there does seem to be a difference between how generations get their news. My parents are avid newspaper readers as well, but they've only gotten high speed Internet access during the past couple of years, which makes a difference.

Another thing to consider is that in many cases we're still reading content generated by news organizations, just via electronic media. However, if we slice and dice what we choose to read, we may lose some of the serendipity effect that Mathew wrote about.

Re: Life at the Scale of the Internet

iRountree — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 11:09:42 -0000

Thanks for the recommendation, Mark! That's exactly why I read your stuff; the call to action is nothing more than "Dudes, think about this, will you?" and it's usually work thinking about.

I'll look up the Schwartz book as well.

Re: Life at the Scale of the Internet

MarkDykeman — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 07:01:15 -0000

It looks like I managed to make you care. :)

Barry Schwartz wrote a book on a similar topic called "The Paradox of Choice". There's a Wikipedia article on it which summarizes his case.

Re: Life at the Scale of the Internet

MarkDykeman — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 06:53:44 -0000

Fortunately, it looks like I convinced you to care. :)

I haven't read it but Barry Schwartz wrote "The Paradox of Choice", a book that seems to address a similar concern. Basically, too much choice either drives us back to the familiar or else we don't choose at all and go to something with simpler. You could argue that's why Twitter because successful: it was simple, limited, and easy to learn. There's a more detailed explanation here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Paradox_of_Choice

Re: Five crucial tips for bloggers to profit from forums

Christine Holroyd — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:45:53 -0000

Thanks Mark. I'll need all the luck and determination I can muster I think, but I am feeling super determined.

Re: Five crucial tips for bloggers to profit from forums

MarkDykeman — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 22:01:00 -0000

Good luck! I'm not very strong on the monetization side, but I'm sure that there are plenty of people there who are.

Re: From ProBlogger

iRountree — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:38:52 -0000

Thanks! The fifty or so posts ahead of this were the usual "Akismet, WordPress, Google stuff, did I mention WordPress" type lists. Figured it was worth being different.

Re: Desiderata – a poem by Max Ehrmann

iRountree — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:37:33 -0000

Bizarrely I hadn't heard of it until this weekend. Considering all fhe kerfuffle about complication and speedng the world up, it seemed timely.

Re: Shuddering Geek Moment

iRountree — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:34:02 -0000

What got me was more the density of my people who have blogs and fail to update them - except with the natural "Golly, sorry I haven't written more" - which never fails to amuse.

Re: Shuddering Geek Moment

MarkDykeman — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:45:11 -0000

I only have a small number of "real life" friends who blog. Oh well. I can live with that.