thought-after.com » thought-after

The innocent age of comic books

Lafinboy — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 06:30:57 +0000

How the times have changed. Things that seemed so innocent once now have rampant sexual overtones. Just take a look at a few examples from the seemingly harmless comic books of yesteryear.

Archie doesn't know how kinky his girlfriend is

It's not heavy rain, just a golden shower really

The man of steel isn't enough for Lois.

Peter Parkers' aunt has a "Something about Spidey" moment

So that's how he gets the spidey goo in

And finally…

Captain America doesn't need to be ordered to wank

I'm sure there are many, many more examples of past innocence seeming corrupted by present standards. Let me know where they are and I'll make a running series.

Will apathy let the filter in?

Lafinboy — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 11:08:38 +0000

There has been much written about the pro's and con's of the proposed Australian Internet Filter. As a technologist and father I am strongly opposed to it's introduction. As a member of the Australian public I am appalled at the steps that the Government, and in particular, Senator Conroy, have taken to get it introduced.

I have written directly to the Senator, as well as my local MP, requesting answers to several key points that have not been addressed in any public announcements. I have discussed the implications of the introduction of the filter with relatives, friends, and colleagues, and asked them to do as I have, and voice their objections. I will be asking them again, because the more effort we put into stopping it's introduction now, the less chance it has of being implemented.

Nathanael Boehm articulates exactly why we must make the effort now in his blog post "Why we must fight the filter NOW". I advise that you read his post, and if you need more information about the implications of the introduction of the filter visit the No Clean Feed website.

SEO friendly web content management system launched

Lafinboy — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 04:44:11 +0000

After months of fine tuning, and a rebranding, Amplify are pleased to announce the public launch of their search engine optimisation content management system, Boost Optimiser.

Built from the ground up to enable designers and content editors to rapidly build and manage search engine optimised websites, Boost Optimiser fills a gap in many CMSs available today.

Tight integration with Google Analytics and Website Optimizer Tool allows quick development of whole sites, mini-sites and landing pages tailored to rank well with the major search engines.

Online demos of the CMS are available at the Boost Optimiser website, and applications from resellers are welcome. Check it out at www.boostoptimiser.com.au.

Using Gmail Notifier with HTTPS

Lafinboy — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 02:20:47 +0000

Google recently changed an option in Gmail to allow the user to use HTTPS for the whole session, not just the login. As a security conscious user, I immediatelly took advantage of the option and switched over to full time HTTPS communications with Gmail.

The first problem I found with making this choice is that the Gmail Notifier tool does not play nicely with HTTPS, and so could not login and retrieve data from my Gmail account. Bah!!

Luckily, there is a workaround available while Google get an update sorted. Details below are sourced from the Gmail Help Discussion list on Google Groups.

Download http://www.google.com/mail/help/downloads/notifier_https.zip
Open up the folder.
Double-click on the file called notifier_https.reg to install it.
Click 'yes' when you're asked to confirm if you want to add the information to the registry.
Restart the Notifier.

And you're done! The Notifier will now work with Gmail set to always use HTTPS. If you decide you don't want to use that setting anymore, you'll need to install the other file in the zip folder – notifier_https_undo.reg – to reset Notifier.

JQuery port to PHP

Lafinboy — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 04:16:05 +0000

Came across this little gem today, a partial port of JQuery to PHP5. Looks awesome, and I already have several uses for it. Now I'm off to play

PHP developer position available

Lafinboy — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:02:17 +0000

Are you, or do you know, a PHP developer looking for a change of scenery? Is so, I could have just the opportunity you're looking for.

At Amplify we are hiring, and looking for a strong PHP dev with the usual set of skills. The job is a beautiful mix of hardcore exteme programming, laid back maintenance, personal development, and Playstation 3! You can check out the full details of the position on the Work for Amplify page.

You'll be working in a small team of developers, one of whom is me (possibly the main reason for your application), working on a range of new and existing projects. We love our PHP, but also dabble in .NET and Java, as well as all of the fun 2.0 stuff and malarkey that's going around. We even play with 3.0 stuff for fun.

So if you're after a taste of the future, in need of a change of routine, or just want to hang out with a bunch of FIFA08 geeks, give us a call. I look foward to meeting you.

Top 20 marketing buzzwords

Lafinboy — Tue, 15 May 2007 01:31:36 +0000

We all get bombarded with them every day, you can't miss them – marketing buzzwords. The words and phrases that marketing types use to hype up their pitch, to make it sound better than it is. Marketing and sales speak could well be a whole sub-language, and something that future historians would choke on translating.

So what are the top 20 phrases or words that you come across that are seemingly only ever used in marketing or sales pitches? The words themselves aren't necessarily out of the ordinary, but their use may be out of context.

I'll get you started with a few of my own favourites:

leverage
synergic
value proposition
shifting the paradigm

Feel free to add to the list, and we'll see if we can pull together the all time top 20 marketing buzzwords!

Australia SEO agency penalised by Google

Lafinboy — Thu, 10 May 2007 07:42:17 +0000

An interesting development in the life of the Found Agency.

Australian IT – Google penalises black hat tactics Lara Sinclair, MAY 10, 2007

Not sure what their clients must be thinking right now, but I'm sure there is a lot of damage limitation activity going on. The rumours and chinese whispers of the SEO/SEM market will keep this story alive for a while yet.

JOOST – let me in!

Lafinboy — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 04:26:00 +0000

I, like so many thousand other people, have signed up to be a beta tester for the JOOST online TV application. Like the thousand other people I am waiting approval.

If anybody has been approved and issued with tokens from JOOST, and your wondering who you could invite, please consider me. Either post a comment or email me directly. Many thanks…

Update 14 Mar 2007: the offer of an invite from Jason has not come to fruition, so I'm back on the trail of an invite to JOOST. Any help greatly appreciated.

Update 20 Apr 2007: finally have access to the beta release of JOOST, and from what I have seen so far it is a very impressive system. As would be expected, the content is minimal, but that will surely get better as the development process continues.

Back to work

Lafinboy — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 04:34:49 +0000

Hi and happy New Year to you all.

After a family filled, relaxing couple of weeks break over the holiday period I am now back to work.

I managed, through a lot of willpower (and wifely threats!) to keep my PC turned off for the duration of the holidays, so now face the massive task of sifting through emails and comments before I can start work proper. If you have sent me an email or made a comment and I haven't yet responded I apologise, and will get back to you as soon as possible.