David Owens

Photo

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 16:47:09 -0500

"I believe the best social program is a job."

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 21:14:51 -0500

“I believe the best social program is a job.”

- Ronald Reagan

The Sorry State of College Emails

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:02:22 -0500

After taking the PSATs last year I naïvely gave the College Board my main email address to send “college information” to. I soon found out, much to my chagrin, that that meant inundating me with at least 10-15 emails a day from various colleges. Tip: Don’t be stupid like me and give your main email address out to services such as this.

It’s not necessarily the fact that all these colleges are emailing me that’s the problem. It’s the way they go about it. I’d be pretty content at going through an inbox filled with emails from colleges if they:

Contained information about the college
Told me why I would want to go to their college above other colleges
Had a short list of majors, with a link to see a full list
Were nicely written
Had a link to the college’s website

But unfortunately almost all of the emails I’ve received thus far haven’t had any of these things. You’d think it would be common sense. Instead, I wade through a stack of emails telling me to “Sign Up” for this and “Click here” to get more information sent to me!

And a link to the actual college website is nowhere to be seen; instead, all links lead to a sign-up page offering no information whatsoever. Yeah, because I’m going to sign up to get more email or snail mail when I could just look on your website. Which I now have to google or guess because you haven’t listed it anywhere in your email.

So I’ve resorted to filtering all of it into a label and only looking at it to basically go through and delete most of them (they’re all pretty much carbon copies of one another, I wonder if they all use the same annoying marketing firm). And some of them still manage to slip through the filter and not mention ‘college’, ‘university’, or even ‘school’.

The sad part is I want to learn more about different colleges and having good, informational emails sent to me would be a benefit. These colleges have meticulously maintained campuses and pretty nice websites, for the most part. Why can’t they give attention to the emails they send out in the same fashion?

PoolTube

Sat, 13 Feb 2010 17:52:34 -0500

PoolTube:

The newly-launched website of the broadcasting class I’m in at school. The fantastic design is by Chris Voll.

"No governments and no authorities are to be held as above criticism, or even denunciation. We know..."

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 18:36:04 -0500

““No governments and no authorities are to be held as above criticism, or even denunciation. We know of no other way of correcting their faults, or restraining their tyrannies, than by open and bold discussion.””

- New York Evening Post editorial

May 16, 1863

My Thoughts on Chrome (aka, "Why I'm Not Going Back to Safari")

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 15:17:59 -0500

I’ve been using Chrome for Mac on and off since before the official beta for Mac was released and it has slowly taken over as my default browser for several reasons.

Speed - Chrome has been hands-down faster for me than Safari. App launch and page loading times are noticeably quicker than in Safari.
Homepage/New Tab Page - I’ve found this to be a great launch page. It’s quick loading time and minimal look make it top Safari’s Top Sites for me. It also includes recently closed tabs (handy when you accidentally close a tab but it’s awhile back in your history).
All-in-one “Omnibox” address and search bar - The built-in search (along with the ability to type a TLD such as “wikipedia.org”, hit the tab key, and search that site) is simple and quick.

The combination of these things make Chrome irresistible. Even if it’s still a beta and a little rough around the edges, it’s still replaced Safari as my everyday browser. Extension support will be icing on the cake once it’s available on the Mac.

That being said, I’d like to see inline PDF viewing and automatic file opening for .zip and automatic mounting for .dmg files, two things Safari has that are marvelous.

Outrage over New York City 'heroin for dummies' fliers

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 15:10:21 -0500

Outrage over New York City 'heroin for dummies' fliers :

How can New York City spend taxpayer dollars on this? This is so ridiculous I thought it was a joke.

Browser Pong

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 19:31:36 -0500

Browser Pong:

Probably the coolest online game I’ve ever seen.

Some photographs from my trip to Boston over the summer....

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 22:14:00 -0500

Some photographs from my trip to Boston over the summer. I’d go back in a heartbeat––it was a great city to visit.

Making me happy today––it is now possible to change the iTunes...

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:40:00 -0500

Making me happy today––it is now possible to change the iTunes grid color back to black rather than white.

yummeh: For some reason I really like looking at this picture. I...

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:34:05 -0400

yummeh:

For some reason I really like looking at this picture.

I feel so bad for the few PC users…but not really.

Maurice Sendak tells parents to go to hell

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:09:00 -0400

Maurice Sendak tells parents to go to hell:

I am laughing so hard right now.

Reporter: “What do you say to parents who think the Wild Things film may be too scary?”

Sendak: “I would tell them to go to hell. That’s a question I will not tolerate.”

Reporter: “Because kids can handle it?”

Sendak: “If they can’t handle it, go home. Or wet your pants. Do whatever you like. But it’s not a question that can be answered.”

(via Daring Fireball)

Driver's ed set for revival in public schools

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:55:50 -0400

Driver's ed set for revival in public schools:

A good move in my opinion. I’m taking it right now, and the in-car experience with an instructor is awesome.

Homecoming game was great!

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 09:56:30 -0400

Homecoming game was great!

To believe in nothing...

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 19:12:51 -0400

saveeg:

…is believing in something.

What an interesting concept. It’s funny how for years (and years…and years…and years…) many have attempted to separate religion from this country. By taking God out of everything, we only base ourselves off of another religion; atheism. Humorous contradiction, isn’t it?

America is a Christian nation…whether you like it or not. “Thomas Jefferson’s own draft bill on freedom of religion reasoned that God’s very nature led him to choose ‘not to propagate His religion by coercion’ but to ‘extend it by its influence on reason alone’.” (48 Liberal Lies About American History) The bold-ed phrases are Jefferson’s words himself. It’s freedom OF religion, not freedom FROM religion.

We have lost all that our founding fathers instituted. We cannot resort to these “non-religious” contradictions and non-christian morals. Besides the fact that it is impossible, it is just completely stupid.

Speak up, Christians!!

How beautifully said.

(via freaktonight)

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 19:12:54 -0400

(via freaktonight)

Webmail Password Leaks Extend to Gmail, Yahoo, AOL

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:12:07 -0400

Webmail Password Leaks Extend to Gmail, Yahoo, AOL:

Don’t be stupid or you’ll get your password stolen. Bottom line.

This is the best flag in the world. (via kottke.org)

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:09:52 -0400

This is the best flag in the world. (via kottke.org)

Spirit Week at LHS!

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 06:40:48 -0400

This is probably one of the few weeks I get excited about the whole school-spirit thing. Yeah, I’m pumped. Yeah, it’s gonna be a good week!

(well, too be honest, I’m mainly excited to help with broadcasting the pep rally. shh.)

As seen in Quincy Market, Boston.

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:01:11 -0400

As seen in Quincy Market, Boston.