It has been quite some time since I posted a list to the Wednes day Links title.

I first started this as a way of getting my fellow 'multimedia' colleagues interested in the internet and the joys held therein - yes, one might ask oneself why they weren't interested in it in the first place, given it was supposed to be what they did for a living - but people are funny creatures. They sometimes call themselves one thing but do something different: or nothing at all.

The way I tried to ease my colleagues into the wealth that is online was by emailing a list of interesting links via email each Wednesday. Interestingly enough, those who proclaimed to be the developers/designers of the group didn't appreciate the emails, oft deleting them on sight, but those who were of a more academic persuasion found them to be wonderful springboards to an world of ideas.

Shoveling

Maybe it's just the industry - but there are a heck of a lot of bullshitters associated with online web services and products. I guess there are some doctors who bull shit but after a few patients die I suppose their industry does something about it.

Not in my industry - the bullshitters just keep shoveling and shoveling - always able to find another poor client who wants to do extraordinary things but doesn't have enough knowledge to know when they're getting shafted - not until they've sunk lots of their money into very few results.

But look: don't get me started. I spent this morning trying to read my book in a cafe with one such web salesman trying to a) use his computer (had to phone for help with the password back to the office - twice) and b) sell his client on promoting his company with an 'interactive' CD of PDFs (total of 60 pages if my eavesdropping was correct). Not to mention the client had a $1,000 budget and the salesman was saying they couldn't do it for less than $4,000. I left with the salesman urging the client to come up with more investment in the CD, and to buy a domain name ASAP because owning it the longest time was the secret to getting great Google search results.

I hope the client ended up doing a bit more research before committing to anything.

 

Springboard

• I cannot recommend WITS highly enough. This last episode features the distractable John Hodgman with a guest appearance from Neil Gaiman. Grab some snacks with your coffee and spend some quality internet time.
• What happens when you get a professional to design your Lost Cat poster. 
• Get your face in space via one of the two the last shuttle flights.
• Extreme DIY: Building a homemade nuclear reactor in NYC
• Words about the packing tape artwork and see the moving pictures below: